40 / Reverential Devotion
of Sons and Other Subordinates

True reverential devotion is exhibited by persons who think them-
selves subordinate to Krsna and by persons who think themselves
sons of Krsna. The best examples of this subordination are Sarana,
Gada and Subhadra. They were all members of the Yadu dynasty,
and they used to always think themselves protected by Krsna. Simi-
larly, Krgna’s sons, such as Pradyumna, Carudesna, and Samba, felt
the same way. Krsna had many sons in Dvaraka. He begot ten sons
by each of His 16,108 queens, and all of these sons, headed by
Pradyumna, Carudesna and Samba, used to think themselves always
protected by Krsna. When Krsna’s sons dined with Him, they would
sometimes open their mouths for Krsna to feed them. Sometimes
when Krsna would pat one of His sons, the son would sit on Krsna’s
lap, and while Krsna was blessing the son’s head by smelling it, the
others would shed tears, thinking how many pious activities he must
have performed in his previous life. Out of Krsna’s many sons,
Pradyumna, a son of Krsna’s chief queen, Rukmini, is considered the
leader. Pradyumna’s bodily features resembled Krsna’s exactly. Pure
devotees of Krsna glorify Pradyumna because he is so fortunate: like
father like son.

There is a description in the Hari-varnsa of Pradyumna’s activities
when he kidnapped Prabhavati. Pradyumna addressed Prabhavati at
that time and said: “My dear Prabhavati, just look at the head of our
family, Sri Krsna: He is Visnu Himself, the supreme driver of Garuda,
and He is our supreme master. Because we have become so proud and
confident of His protecting us, we sometimes do not even care about
fighting with Tripurari [Lord Siva].”

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