330 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

which was impossible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He felt
that Arjuna was promising something beyond his power. The brahmana
said, “I consider your promise to be like that of an inexperienced child. I
cannot put my faith in your promise.”

Arjuna then understood that the brahmana had lost all faith in the
ksatriya kings. Therefore, to encourage him, Arjuna spoke as if criticizing
even his friend, Lord Krsna. While Lord Krsna and others were listening, he
specifically attacked Krsna by saying, ‘““My dear brahmana, I am neither
Sankarsana nor Krsna nor one of Krsna’s sons like Pradyumna or
Aniruddha. My name is Arjuna, and I carry the bow known as Gandiva.
You cannot insult me because I have satisfied even Lord Siva by my
prowess when we were both hunting in the forest. I had a fight with Lord
Siva, who appeared before me as a hunter, and when I satisfied him by my
prowess, he gave me the weapon known as pasupatastra. Do not doubt my
chivalry. I shall bring back your sons even if I have to fight with death
personified.”” When the brahmana was assured by Arjuna in such exalted
words, he somehow or other was convinced, and thus he returned home.

When the brahmana’s wife was to give birth to another child, the
brahmana began to chant, “My dear Arjuna, please come now and save my
child.” After hearing him, Arjuna immediately prepared himself by
touching sanctified water and uttering holy mantras to protect his bows
and arrows from danger. He specifically took the arrow which was pre-
sented to him by Lord Siva, and while going out, he began to remember
Lord Siva and his great favor. In this way, he appeared in front of the
maternity home, equipped with his bow, known as Gandiva, and with
various other weapons.

It appears that Arjuna did not leave Dvaraka because he had to fulfill
his promise to the brahmana. He was called at night when the brahmana’s
wife was to give birth to the child. While going to the maternity home to
attend to the delivery case of the brahmana’s wife, Arjuna remembered
Lord Siva, and not his friend Krsna; he thought that since Krsna could not
gve protection to the brahmana, it was better to take shelter of Lord

iva. This is another instance of how a person takes shelter of the demigods.
This is explained in the Bhagavad-gita: kamais tais tair hrta-jfianah: a
person who loses his intelligence because of greediness and lust forgets
the Supreme Personality of Godhead and takes shelter of the demigods.
Of course, Arjuna was not an ordinary living entity, but because of his
friendly dealings with Krsna, he thought that Krsna was unable to give
protectionto the brahmana and that he would do better to remember Lord
Siva. Later on it was proved that Arjuna’s taking shelter of Lord Siva

