Text 118] Life’s Ultimate Goal 75
PURPORT

Due to envy, many asuras describe Krsna to be like a black crow or an incarna-
tion of a hair. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Sanatana Gosvami how to counteract
all these asuric explanations of Krsna. The word kaka means crow, and kesa means
hair. The asuras describe Krsna as an incarnation of a crow, an incarnation of a
sddra (a blackish tribe) and an incarnation of a hair, not knowing that the word
kesa means ka-isa and that ka means Lord Brahma and isa means Lord. Thus Krsna
is the Lord of Lord Brahma.

Some of Lord Krsna’s pastimes are mentioned in the Mahabharata as mausala-
lila. These include the stories of the destruction of the Yadu dynasty, Krsna’s dis-
appearance, His being pierced by a hunter's arrow, the story of Krsna’s being an
incarnation of a piece of hair (kesa-avatara) as well as mahisi-harana, the kid-
napping of Krsna’s queens. Actually these are not factual but are related for the
bewilderment of the asuras who want to prove that Krsna is an ordinary human
being. They are false in the sense that these pastimes are not eternal, nor are they
transcendental or spiritual. There are many people who are by nature averse to
the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu. Such people are
called asuras. They have mistaken ideas about Krsna. As stated in Bhagavad-gitd,
the asuras are given a chance to forget Krsna more and more, birth after birth.
Thus they make their appearance in a family of asuras and continue this process,
being kept in bewilderment about Krsna. Asuras in the dress of sannydsis even ex-
plain Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam in different ways according to their
own imaginations. Thus they continue to remain asuras birth after birth.

As far as the kesa-avatara (incarnation of hair) is concerned, it is mentioned in
Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.7.26). The Visnu Purana also states: ujjaharatmanah kesau
sita-krsnau maha-bala.

Similarly, in the Mahabharata:

sa Capi kesau harir uccakarta
ekam suklam aparam capi krsnam
tau capi kesavav isatérn yaddnam
kule striyau rohinim devakim ca
tayor eko balabhadro babhtiva
yo ‘sau svetas tasya devasya kesah
krsno dvitiyah kesavah sambabhiva
kesah yo ‘sau varnatah krsna uktah
Thus in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Visnu Purana and Mahabharata there are references
to Krsna and Balarama being incarnations of a black hair and a white hair. It is
