Nārada Visits Dvārakā

This episode is in Chapter 69 of the tenth Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. Nārada heard that Narakāsura had been slain and that Kṛshṇa had married sixteen thousand women at one time. He went to Dvārakā to see this wonder for himself. He went from palace to palace. In each one he found Kṛshṇa in a different form and doing a different duty: playing dice, talking with ministers, bathing, doing yajña (fire rituals), feeding brāhmaṇas, practising with the sword, riding horses and elephants, playing with children, listening to itihāsa and purāṇa, sitting alone in meditation, and more. All this went on at the same time, with one Kṛshṇa in each of the sixteen thousand palaces. Nārada was amazed at the yogamāyā (the divine power of Kṛshṇa) and sang his praises. Kṛshṇa told him that he does all the duties of a householder to set an example for the world.

Nārada’s wish to see

Nārada heard that Narakāsura had been slain. He heard that Kṛshṇa alone had married sixteen thousand royal daughters at the same time. He grew very eager to see this yogamāyā. He said: “How wonderful! One Kṛshṇa, one single body, marrying sixteen thousand women all at once, in each of their separate palaces!” Then Nārada went to Dvārakā. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 69)

Dvārakā described

Dvārakā was a city of great beauty. Its parks and gardens rang with the cries of birds and the hum of bees. Its lakes were full of black lotuses, kamala (lotuses), red lotuses and water lilies, and rājahaṃsa swans and sārasa cranes called loudly there. Nine hundred thousand palaces of crystal and silver shone with emeralds and fittings of gold. The royal roads, markets, crossroads, rest houses, stables, assembly halls and temple courts were all planned perfectly. The streets, market lanes and house doors were sprinkled with water, and banners and awnings gave shade from the sun.

The inner rooms of Kṛshṇa held sixteen thousand separate palaces, one for each wife. Viśvakarmā himself had used up all his skill in building them. Each palace had pillars of coral set with vaidūrya gems, walls set with indranīla gems, floors glowing with matchless light, and ceilings hung with strings of pearls. The beds and seats were of ivory, decorated with fine gems. A thousand maidservants in jewelled necklaces waited on each queen. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 69)

What Nārada saw

Nārada went into one of the great palaces. He found Kṛshṇa sitting on a milk-white bed beside Rukmiṇī. The queen herself was fanning him with a fly-whisk with a golden handle. A thousand maidservants of equal beauty stood by. Kṛshṇa knew Nārada at once. He rose from the bed with respect and laid his jewelled crown at Nārada’s feet as a bow. He washed the ṛshi’s feet and held that water on his own head. He seated him on a seat and worshipped him fully. Then he spoke gently to Nārada: “Revered ṛshi! What can I do for you?”

Nārada answered with praise and then went on. In the next palace he found Kṛshṇa playing dice with his beloved and Uddhava. They rose and honoured him as before. In the third palace Kṛshṇa was hugging and kissing his young children. In another he was bathing. In another he was keeping the āhavanīya and other sacred fires, with offerings. In the next he was doing the pañca-mahāyajñas (the five great daily offerings) to honour the devas, the pitṛs (ancestors) and others. Elsewhere he was feeding brāhmaṇas. Elsewhere he was eating prasāda (food offered and blessed) after them. In one palace he was doing sandhyā-vandana (the prayers at the turning of the day). In another he was saying the Gāyatrī in silence. In another he was perfectly quiet in meditation.

In one palace Kṛshṇa was practising with sword and shield, leaping and turning. In one he was riding horses, in another elephants, in another going about in a chariot. In one he lay resting on his bed. In another, stuti-pāṭhakas (reciters of praise) were singing his praises. In one he was talking over the affairs of the state with Uddhava and Sātyaki. In one he was playing in the water with dancing girls. In one he was decorating cows and giving them to learned brāhmaṇas. In one he was listening to itihāsa and purāṇa. In one he was laughing and joking with his beloved. In one he was following dharma, and in another he was following artha (wealth) and kāma (pleasure) as dharma allows. In one he sat in a quiet room, meditating on the Ātman who is beyond all prakṛti (nature). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 69)

Nārada’s praise and Kṛshṇa’s answer

Nārada saw the same Kṛshṇa doing all these acts of dharma at once in all sixteen thousand palaces, and he was astonished. He smiled and said to Kṛshṇa: “O Yogeśvara! Your yogamāyā is beyond the sight even of Brahmā and Śiva. Yet by serving your feet it shines in my own heart. O Deva-deva! Go on. I ask your leave to travel the worlds, singing aloud your glories that make all the worlds pure.”

Kṛshṇa replied: “O Maharshi! I teach dharma, I follow it myself, and I urge others to follow it. I do this to give teaching to the human world. Let my māyā not make you fall into confusion, my son.”

Śuka ends the account. In this way Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself took the Kṛshṇa avatāra with his yogamāyā. He did all the duties of a householder, in sixteen thousand palaces at the same time, so that those who followed his example would be blessed. Whoever hears or sings of these Kṛshṇa-līlās (the acts of Kṛshṇa) gains bhakti (devotion) that brings moksha (liberation). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 69)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 69