fi Neu
23 / Delivering the Wives of the Brahmanas
Who Performed Sacrifices

The morning passed, and the cowherd boys were very hungry because
they had not eaten breakfast. They immediately approached Krsna and
Balarama and said, ““Dear Krsna and Balarama, You are both all-powerful;
You can kill many, many demons, but today we are much afflicted with
hunger, and this is disturbing us. Please arrange for something that will
mitigate our hunger.”

Requested in this way by Their friends, Lord Krsna and Balarama
immediately showed compassion on certain wives of brahmanas who were
performing sacrifices. These wives were great devotees of the Lord, and
Krsna took this opportunity to bless them. He said, “My dear friends,
please go to the house of the brahmanas nearby. They are now engaged in
performing Vedic sacrifices known as dngirasa, for they desire elevation to
heavenly planets. All of you please go to them.” Then Lord Krsna warned
His friends, “These brahmanas are not Vaisnavas. They cannot even chant
Our names, Krsna and Balarama. They are very busy in chanting the Vedic
hymns, although the purpose of Vedic knowledge is to find Me. But
because they are not attracted by the names of Krsna and Balarama, you
had better not ask them for anything in My name. Better ask for some
charity in the name of Balarama.”

Charity is generally given to high class brahmanas, but Krsna and
Balarama did not appear in a brahmana family. Balarama was known as
the son of Vasudeva, a ksatriya, and Krsna was known in Vrndavana as the
son of Nanda Maharaja, who was a vaisya. Neither belonged to the
brahmana community. Therefore, Krsna considered that the brahmanas
engaged in performing sacrifices might not be induced to give charity to a
ksatriya and vaisya. “But at least if you utter the name of Balarama, they
may prefer to give in charity to a ksatriya, rather than to Me, because I am
only a vaisya.”

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