Deliverance of Mucukunda 341
and many other demons. They have acted as My enemies and have been
killed by Me. The demon who was present before you also acted as My
enemy, and you have very kindly burned him into ashes by glancing over
him. My dear King Mucukunda, you are My great devotee, and just to
show you My causeless mercy, I have appeared in this form. I am very
affectionately inclined toward My devotees, and in your previous life,
before your present condition, you acted as My great devotee and prayed
for My causeless mercy. I have, therefore, come to see you to fulfill your
desire. Now you can see Me to your heart’s content. My dear King, now
you can ask from Me any benediction that you wish, and I am prepared to
fulfill your desire. It is my eternal principle that anyone who comes under
My shelter must have all his desires fulfilled by My grace.”

When Lord Krsna ordered King Mucukunda to ask a benediction from
Him, the King became very joyful, and he immediately remembered the
prediction of Gargamuni, who had foretold long before that in the twenty-
eighth millennium of Vaivasvata Manu, Lord Krsna would appear on this
planet. As soon as he remembered this prediction, he began to understand
that the Supreme Person, Narayana, was present before Him as Lord
Krsna. He immediately fell down at His lotus feet and began to pray as
follows.

“My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I can understand
that all living entities on this planet are illusioned by Your external
energy and are enamored of the illusory satisfaction of sense gratification.
Being fully engaged in illusory activities, they are reluctant to worship
Your lotus feet, and because they are unaware of the benefits of surren-
dering unto Your lotus feet they are subjected to various miserable
conditions of material existence. They are foolishly attached to so-called
society, friendship and love, which simply produce different kinds of
miserable conditions. Illusioned by Your external energy, everyone, both
man and woman, is attached to this material existence, and all are engaged
in cheating one another in a great society of the cheaters and the cheated.
These foolish persons do not know how fortunate they are to have
obtained this human form of life, and they are reluctant to worship Your
lotus feet. By the influence of Your external energy, they are simply
attached to the glare of material activities. They are attached to so-called
society, friendship and love like dumb animals that have fallen into a dark
well.” The example of a dark well is given because in the fields there are
many wells, unused for years and covered over by grass, and the poor
animals, without knowing of them, fall into them, and unless they are
rescued, they die. Being captivated by a few blades of grass, the animals
