Subduing Kaliya 123

The wives of the serpent, known as the Nagapatnis, saw that their
husband was being subdued by the kicking of the Lord, within whose
womb the whole universe remains. Kaliya’s wives prepared to worship the
Lord , although, in their haste, their dress, hair and ornaments became
disarrayed. They also surrendered unto the Supreme Lord and began to
pray. They appeared before Him, put forward their offspring and anxiously
offered respectful obeisances, falling down on the hank of the Yamuna.
The Nagapatnis knew that Krsna is the shelter of all surrendered souls, and
they desired to release their husband from the impending danger by
pleasing the Lord with their prayers.

The Nagapatnis began to offer their prayers as follows: “O dear Lord,
You are equal to everyone. For You there is no distinction between Your
sons, friends or enemies. Therefore the punishment which You have so
kindly offered to Kaliya is exactly befitting. O Lord, You have descended
especially for the purpose of annihilating all kinds of disturbing elements
within the world, and because You are the Absolute Truth, there is no
difference between Your mercy and punishment. We think, therefore, that
this apparent punishment to Ka4liya is actually some benediction. We
consider that Your punishment is Your great mercy upon us because when
You punish someone it is to he understood that the reactions of his sinful
activities are eradicated. It is already clear that this creature appearing in
the body of a serpent must have been overburdened with all kinds of sin;
otherwise, how could he have the body of a serpent? Your dancing on his
hoods reduces all the sinful results of actions caused by his having this
body of a serpent. It is, therefore, very auspicious that You have become
angry and have punished him in this way. We are very astonished to see
how You have become so pleased with this serpent who evidently per-
formed various religious activities in his past lives. Everyone must have
been pleased by his undergoing all kinds of penances and austerities, and
he must have executed universal welfare activities for all living creatures.”

The Nagapatnis confirm that one cannot come in contact with Krsna
without having executed pious activities in devotional service in his pre-
vious lives. As Lord Caitanya advised in His Siksdstaka, one has te execute
devotional service by humbly chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, thinking
oneself lower than the straw in the street and not expecting honor for
himself hut offering all kinds of honor to others. The Nagapatnis were
astonished that, although Kaliya had the body of a serpent as the result of
grievous sinful activities, at the same time he was in contact with the Lord
to the extent that the Lord’s lotus feet were touching his hoods. Certainly
this was not the ordinary result of pious activities. These two contra-
