The Rajasuya and the End of Shishupala

At Yudhishthira's Rajasuya, Krishna received the first honour; when Shishupala's insults passed the hundred Krishna had promised to forgive, the Sudarshana chakra ended his life and his light merged into the Lord.

With Jarasandha gone and the captive kings set free, Yudhishthira performed the great Rajasuya sacrifice at Indraprastha. Kings, sages and Brahmins came from every land, and Krishna himself supervised the arrangements, even taking up the humble service of washing the feet of the guests.

When the time came for the agra-puja, the first and highest honour, Yudhishthira asked the assembly whom they should worship first. Sahadeva, the youngest Pandava, rose and said that it must be Krishna, for he is the soul of all beings and the sacrifice itself. In the Mahabharata it is Bhishma who gives this counsel, and the Pandavas follow it. Most of the assembly agreed with joy, and Yudhishthira washed Krishna's feet and sprinkled the water on his own head.

Shishupala, king of Chedi, could not bear it. He was Krishna's cousin, the son of his father's sister, and he had long hated him, especially since Rukmini, who was to have been given to him, had chosen Krishna instead. He rose and poured out insults, calling Krishna a cowherd without lineage or virtue, unfit to be honoured before kings and sages. Some kings covered their ears and some rose in anger to attack him, but Krishna sat calmly and said nothing.

The Mahabharata explains why. Shishupala had been born with three eyes and four arms, and a heavenly voice had said that his extra limbs would vanish when a certain person took him in his lap, and that the same person would one day be the cause of his death. When the infant was placed in Krishna's lap, the extra eye and arms disappeared. His frightened mother begged Krishna to spare her son, and Krishna promised to forgive him a hundred offences.

That day Shishupala crossed the limit. When his offences passed the hundred, Krishna released the Sudarshana chakra, and it severed Shishupala's head in front of the whole assembly. Then everyone saw a wondrous sight. A light rose from Shishupala's body and entered Krishna, as a meteor falls into the earth. The Bhagavatam explains that by thinking of Krishna constantly, even in enmity, Shishupala had become absorbed in him. Tradition holds that he was Jaya, the gatekeeper of Vaikuntha, completing the third of his births as an enemy of the Lord before returning home.

This leela teaches that the Lord's patience is vast but not endless, and that his grace is so great that even one who remembers him with hatred is finally drawn into him.

Source

Shrimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, ch. 74; Mahabharata, Sabha Parva

Place

Indraprastha

Lesson

The Lord's patience is vast but not endless, and even one who remembers him in enmity is drawn into him.