The Deliverance of Sisupala 143
garments of yellow color, and heaps of jewelry and ornaments were
presented before Him for His use.

King Yudhisthira felt such ecstasy by honoring Krsna, who was his only
lovable object, that tears glided down from his eyes, and although He
wanted to, he could not see Lord Krsna very well. Lord Krsna was thus
worshiped by King Yudhisthira. At that time all the members present in
that assembly stood up with folded hands and began to chant, “Jaya!
Jaya! Namah! Namah!” When all joined together to offer their respectful
obeisances to Krsna, there were showers of flowers from the sky.

In that meeting, King Sisupala was also present. He was an avowed
enemy of Krsna for many reasons, especially because of Krsna’s having
stolen Rukmini from the marriage ceremony; therefore, he could not
tolerate such honor to Krsna and glorification of His qualities. Instead of
being happy to hear the glories of the Lord, he became very angry. When
everyone offered respect to Krsna by standing up, Sisupala remained in his
seat, but when he became angry at Krsna’s being honored, Sigupala stood
up suddenly, and, raising his hand, began to speak very strongly and fear-
lessly against Lord Krsna. He spoke in such a way that Lord Krsna could
hear him very distinctly.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I can appreciate now the statement of the Vedas
that, after all, time is the predominating factor. In spite of all endeavors to
the contrary, the time element executes its own plan without opposition.
For example, one may try his best to live, but when the time for death
comes, no one can check it. I see here that although there are many
stalwart personalities present in this assembly, the influence of time is so
strong that they have been misled by the statement of a boy who has
foolishly spoken about Krsna. There are many learned sages and elderly
persons present, but still they have’ accepted the statement of a foolish
boy. This means that by the influence of time, even the intelligence of such
honored persons as are present in this meeting can be misdirected. I fully
agree with the respectable persons present here that they are competent
enough to select the personality who can be first worshiped, but I cannot
agree with the statement of a boy like Sahadeva, who has spoken so highly
about Krsna and has recommended that Krsna is fit to accept the first
worship in the sacrifice. I can see that in this meeting there are many
personalities who have undergone great austerities, who are highly learned
and who have performed many penances. By their knowledge and direction,
they can deliver many persons who are suffering from the pangs of material
existence. There are great rsis here whose knowledge has no bounds, as
well as many self-realized persons and brahmanas also, and therefore I
think that any one of them could have been selected for the first worship
