Lord Krsna Fights with Banasura 67

Lord, all the demigods, including myself and Lord Brahma, as well as great
saintly persons and sages whoshave cleansed their hearts of this material
attachment, have, by Your grace, wholeheartedly taken shelter of Your
lotus feet. We have all taken shelter of You, because we have accepted
You as the Supreme Lord and the dearmost life and soul of all of us. You
are the original cause of this cosmic manifestation, You are its supreme
maintainer, and You are the cause of its dissolution also. You are equal
to everyone, the most peaceful supreme friend of every living entity. You
are the supreme worshipable object for every one of us. My dear Lord, let
us always be engaged in Your transcendental loving service so that we may
get free from this material entanglement.

“Lastly, my Lord, I may inform You that this Banasura is very dear to
me. He has rendered very valuable service unto me; therefore I want to see
him always happy. Being pleased with him, I have given him the assurance
of safety. I pray to You, my Lord, that as You were pleased upon his
forefathers King Prahlada and Bali Maharaja, You will also be pleased
with him.”

After hearing Lord Siva’s prayer, Lord Krsna addressed him also as
lord and said, “My dear Lord Siva, I accept your statements, and your
desire for Banasura is also accepted by Me. I know that this Banasura is the
son of Bali Maharaja, and as such I cannot kill him because that is My
promise. I gave a benediction to King Prahlada that all the demons who
would appear in his family would never be killed by Me. Therefore, with-
out killing this Banasura, I have simply cut off his arms to deprive him of
his false prestige. The large number of soldiers which he was maintaining
became a burden on this earth, and I have killed them all in order to
minimize the burden. Now he has four remaining arms, and he will remain
immortal, without being ‘affected by the material pains and pleasures.
I know that he is one of the chief devotees of your lordship, so you can
now rest assured that henceforward he need have no fear from anything.”

When Banasura was benedicted by Lord Krsna in this way, he came
before the Lord and bowed down before Him, touching his head to the
earth. He immediately arranged to bring Aniruddha along with his daughter
Usa, seated on a nice chariot, and presented them before Lord Krsna.
After this, Lord Krsna took charge of Aniruddha and Usa, who had become
very opulent materially because of the blessings of Lord Siva. Thus,
keeping forward a division of one aksauhini of soldiers, Krsna began to
proceed toward Dvaraka. In the meantime, all the people at Dvaraka,
having received the news that Lord Krsna was returning with
Aniruddha and Usa in great opulence, decorated every corner of the city
