Exploiting Affection

By krishnasmercy on October 3, 2025 • ( 0 )

“When all the demon’s life air had passed away through that hole in the top of his head, Krishna glanced over the dead calves and cowherd boys and brought them back to life. Then Mukunda, who can give one liberation, came out from the demon’s mouth with His friends and the calves.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.12.32)

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तेनैव सर्वेषु बहिर्गतेषु
प्राणेषु वत्सान् सुहृद: परेतान्
द‍ृष्टय‍ा स्वयोत्थाप्य तदन्वित: पुन-
र्वक्त्रान्मुकुन्दो भगवान् विनिर्ययौ

tenaiva sarveṣu bahir gateṣu
prāṇeṣu vatsān suhṛdaḥ paretān
dṛṣṭyā svayotthāpya tad-anvitaḥ punar
vaktrān mukundo bhagavān viniryayau

“Listen, these are some of the mental exercises I play. I guess it is borne out of frustration, out of disappointment, and out of sadness from what I witness over the course of the life experience. I wholeheartedly believe Goswami Tulsidas when he refers to this place as shokadhama. We should not expect happiness even in a dream, unless and until we acknowledge, accept, and connect with the reality that is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is kindly available through His names, such as Rama and Krishna.”

तब लगि कुसल न जीव कहुँ सपनेहुँ मन बिश्राम
जब लगि भजत न राम कहुँ सोकधाम तजि काम

taba lagi kusala na jīva kahum̐ sapanehum̐ mana biśrāma
jaba lagi bhajata na rāma kahum̐ sokadhāma taji kāma

“For as long as there is not devotion to Shri Rama and the release of material desires, which are like an abode of grief, the living being should not expect to find welfare and peace of mind, even in a dream.” (Dohavali, 131)

“The game I play is contemplating the worst kinds of human behavior. If I were hosting an awards show in my mind, where this is one of the categories, who or what would fill the roster of nominees? Perhaps abusing children. Stealing from the elderly. Taking from friends and family without acknowledging their support. To me, the winner would be what I refer to as ‘exploiting affection.’

“We can actually go to Krishna-lila to see many examples of this. Especially in the time spent in Gokula, where the young Krishna is the foster child to Nanda Maharaja and mother Yashoda. There is the king of the neighboring town of Mathura. The leader named Kamsa wants to take out Krishna. He wants to do it in an underhanded way; maybe to avoid suspicion. If people know you are on the prowl, they might better prepare. They can try to protect Krishna in the same way that Vasudeva, the birth-father, initially transported the child across the Yamuna River, in the dead of night.”

“While Vasudeva was carrying his son Krishna in the falling rain, Lord Shesha in the shape of a serpent spread His hood over the head of Vasudeva so that he would not be hampered by the rainfall. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamuna and saw that the water of the Yamuna was roaring with waves and that the whole span was full of foam. Still, in that furious feature, the river gave passage to Vasudeva to cross, just as the great Indian Ocean gave a path to Lord Rama when He was bridging over the gulf.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume 1, Chapter 3)

“Kamsa enlists henchmen. These are friends he can trust. Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap. They have abilities unique to their circumstances, but there is a common theme. These demons, known as asuras, exploit vulnerabilities. They understand that the cowherd boys are dear to Krishna. They know that Krishna loves the cows and the children of the cows. In fact, everyone in Gokula is dear to that beautiful youth, who is known as Shyamasundara.

“Look at the Aghasura demon. He takes the shape of a python, which then expands to the size of a cave. The python opens its mouth, which is thus the opening to the cave. Aghasura wants to lure Krishna’s friends to enter. That will get Krishna’s attention. Everyone will thus be swallowed. Rather than announce your presence and directly deal with a child, of all people, Aghasura has to cheat.

“To me, that is the worst kind of behavior. What are you afraid of? Why can’t you be straightforward? If you are so proud of your mahima-siddhi, in being able to expand to a large size on a whim, why not show off a little? Why do you have to trick people? Why do you have to pounce on the affection they have for dependents? It is like those thriller movies with that one famous actor, where he always promises to avenge the perpetrator asking for ransom.”

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that the experience within the material nature features exploitation throughout. Every person has to become a diplomat, of sorts, in order to survive. We don’t tell the boss at work how we really feel about them. We know they are corrupt. We know that their “we are a family” line is total nonsense. The sentiment is not genuine. Nevertheless, we suppress our tendency for truth. We sacrifice in order to earn a living, which pays for food, clothing, and shelter.

“The material world is so made that unless one becomes a clever diplomat, his life will be a failure. Not to speak of human society, even the society of lower animals, the birds and bees, cleverly manages its bodily demands of eating, sleeping and mating. Human society competes nationally or individually, and in the attempt to be successful the entire human society becomes full of diplomacy. We should always remember that in spite of all diplomacy and all intelligence in the struggle for our existence, everything will end in a second by the supreme will. Therefore, all our attempts to become happy in this material world are simply a delusion offered by maya.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.30.9 Purport)

What to speak of strangers, even immediate family can exhibit the same tendency. The wife exploits the affection the husband has for their children. The husband exploits the lack of professional skills in the wife. The children might one day scheme to steal the property of the parents. They are too eager to take, and so they do not have the patience to wait for the inheritance. They might cleverly manipulate the will, when no one is looking.

While Kamsa’s associates like Putana, Trinavarta, and Aghasura do not play fair, Krishna has no problem. He enters the arena, as created by the adversaries. Krishna can cheat better than they can. If Putana wants an innocent baby to suck milk from the breast, Krishna will extract better than anyone could ever imagine. If Trinavarta is expert at sweeping up innocent victims and whirling them high in the sky, Krishna can make that same expert helpless in trying to hold up the heaviest object imaginable.

Krishna did not need to exploit vulnerability in Aghasura. Krishna dealt with the situation directly. He also entered the mouth of the python. He followed His friends. Krishna then expanded His own size. That was fair game, as already exhibited by the challenger. The champion maintained His title by growing to such a volume that the challenger could no longer tolerate the situation. Aghasura had nowhere else to go. His very life air was forced out the top. That life air then kindly went into Krishna, assuring liberation.