The Departure - Krishna Leaves His Body

Dadi: "Guddu beta, today I'll tell you a very deep story - how Lord Krishna left his earthly body. It's beautiful and sad at the same time."

Guddu: "Krishna died? But he's God!"

Dadi: "Gods in human form complete their mission and then return to their eternal nature. Listen carefully, beta."

Guddu: "I'm listening, Dadi."

Dadi: "Thirty-six years had passed since the great war at Kurukshetra. Krishna's own clan, the Yadavas, had become proud and arrogant. They had started disrespecting even sages and holy men."

Guddu: "The same people Krishna had led to victory?"

Dadi: "Yes. Some young Yadava princes once disguised one of their friends as a pregnant woman and went to mock some sages. "Tell us," they joked, "will this woman have a boy or a girl?""

Guddu: "That's so disrespectful!"

Dadi: "The sages saw through their trick and cursed them: "An iron pestle will be born from this 'pregnancy,' and it will destroy your entire clan." The Yadavas were terrified. They ground the pestle to powder and threw it in the sea, but one piece survived. And from the powder, iron-sharp grass grew along the shore."

Guddu: "A curse from a joke?"

Dadi: "Never mock holy people, beta. At a festival in Prabhasa, old grudges surfaced among the Yadavas. They drank too much wine, started arguing, and then grabbed that iron-sharp grass as weapons..."

Guddu: "They killed each other?"

Dadi: "Warriors who had fought side by side, who were family, who had built the great city of Dwaraka together - they slaughtered each other until the shore was red with blood."

Guddu: "And Krishna watched?"

Dadi: "He knew it would happen. He had allowed it. The Yadavas had grown too powerful, too proud. Without this ending, they would have become tyrants themselves. Sometimes destruction is necessary."

Guddu: "What about Balarama?"

Dadi: "Balarama couldn't bear to watch. He sat under a tree, entered deep meditation, and let his life force - the eternal serpent Shesha - leave his body and return to the cosmic ocean. He was done with the world."

Guddu: "So Krishna was alone?"

Dadi: "He wandered into the forest and sat beneath a peepal tree, his left foot resting on his right thigh. A hunter named Jara was tracking deer nearby. Through the leaves, he saw what he thought was a deer's ear - but it was actually the pink sole of Krishna's foot."

Guddu: "Oh no..."

Dadi: "Jara shot his arrow. When he ran forward to claim his kill, he found not a deer but a beautiful dark-skinned man, smiling despite the arrow in his foot."

Guddu: "The hunter shot Krishna?!"

Dadi: "Jara fell to his knees, horrified. "Lord! Forgive me! I didn't know!" But Krishna said gently, "There is nothing to forgive. In another age, when I was Rama, I killed a monkey king named Vali by shooting him from hiding. You were Vali. This arrow completes the balance. You have freed me, not murdered me.""

Guddu: "Even in death, Krishna was teaching?"

Dadi: "He told Jara, "Go in peace. You are blessed. You are the instrument of my liberation.""

Guddu: "What happened next?"

Dadi: "*softly* Krishna sat beneath that tree as his life force withdrew. The gods gathered invisibly. Dwaraka would soon sink beneath the waves. But in his final moments, Krishna smiled."

Guddu: "What was he thinking about?"

Dadi: "Everything. Vrindavan - the butter and flute songs, the cows and cowherd boys, Yashoda's love. Mathura and killing Kansa. Kurukshetra and the Gita. Rukmini and all his queens. Every moment of his life."

Guddu: "Did he have regrets?"

Dadi: "None. He whispered to the universe: "I came to restore dharma. Dharma is restored. I came to protect the righteous. The righteous are protected. I came to destroy evil. Evil is destroyed.""

Guddu: "His mission was complete."

Dadi: "Then he closed his eyes. The form of Krishna - that beautiful, dark-skinned, flute-playing form - became still. But what left that form was eternal. It had existed before the universe and would exist after it ended."

Guddu: "The gods must have been sad."

Dadi: "The gods wept. The earth trembled. The age of heroes ended, and Kali Yuga - the age of darkness - began. Arjuna came and cremated the body, tears streaming down his face."

Guddu: "But Krishna left something behind?"

Dadi: "His words - the Bhagavad Gita. His stories, told and retold for thousands of years. His love, echoing through generations. Somewhere, the story says, in a realm beyond realms, a dark-skinned youth was picking up a flute, getting ready to play."

Guddu: "The song never really ends?"

Dadi: "*smiles* It just changes venues, beta. Krishna is everywhere. Krishna is always. For those who love him, Krishna will never be gone."

Guddu: "That's beautiful and sad, Dadi. I feel like crying."

Dadi: "*hugs Guddu* It's okay to feel that way. Death - even divine death - is bittersweet. But remember what Krishna taught: the soul is eternal. Only the body changes. The real Krishna - the essence - can never die."

Guddu: "And he's still playing his flute somewhere?"

Dadi: "Always, mere bacche. Close your eyes and listen - maybe you'll hear it."

Guddu: "*closes eyes* ... I think I can imagine it, Dadi."

Dadi: "That's enough. That's everything."