The Deliverance of Sigupala 145

hear further accusations. Thus they left the meeting condemning the action
of Sigupala. It is the Vedic injunction that whenever there is blasphemy of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one must immediately leave. If he
does not do so, he becomes bereft of his pious activities and is degraded to
the lower condition of life.

All the kings present, belonging to the Kuru dynasty, Matsya dynasty,
Kekaya dynasty and Sriijaya dynasty, became very angry and immediately
took up their swords and shields to kill Sigupala. Sisupala was so foolish
that he did not become even slightly agitated, although all the kings present
were ready to kill him. He did not care to think of the pros and cons
of his foolish talking, and when he saw that all the kings were ready
to kill him, instead of stopping, he stood to fight with them and took
up his sword and shield. When Lord Krsna saw that they were going
to engage in fighting in the arena of the auspicious Rajasiiya yajfia, He
personally pacified them. Out of His causeless mercy He Himself decided
to kill Sigupala. When Sigupala was abusing the kings who were about to
attack him, Lord Krsna took up His disc, which was as sharp as the blade of
a razor, and immediately separated the head of Sigup4la from his body.

When Sigupala was thus killed, a great roar and howl went up from the
crowd of that assembly. Taking advantage of that disturbance, the few
kings who were supporters of Sigupala quickly left the assembly out of fear
of their lives. But despite all this, the fortunate Sigupala’s spirit soul imme-
diately merged into the body of Lord Krsna in the presence of all members,
exactly as a burning meteor falls to the surface of the globe. Sigupala’s soul’s
merging into the transcendental body of Krsna reminds us of the story of
Jaya and Vijaya, who fell to the material world from the Vaikuntha planets
upon being cursed by the four Kumiras. For their return to the Vaikuntha
world, it was arranged that both Jaya and Vijaya for three consecutive
births would act as deadly enemies of the Lord, and at the end of these
lives they would again return to the Vaikuntha world and serve the Lord
as His associates.

Although Sigupala acted as the enemy of Krsna, he was not for a single
moment out of Krsna consciousness. He was always absorbed in thought
of Krsna, and thus he got first the salvation of sayujya-mukti, merging into
the existence of the Supreme, and finally became reinstated in his original
position of personal service. The Bhagavad-gita corroborates the fact that
if one is absorbed in the thought of the Supreme Lord at the time of death,
he immediately enters the kingdom of God after quitting his material body.
After the salvation of Sigupala, King Yudhisthira rewarded all the members
present in the sacrificial assembly. He sufficiently remunerated the priests
and the learned sages for their engagement in the execution of the sacrifice,
