Thoughts on the Mathurâ Lilâ
Kansa was killed and all good men that had fled from Mathurâ returned to it. Krishna fast developed Himself as Íshvara. He restored his Guru’s son to life.
Uddhava, the embodiment of Bhakti Yoga mixed with wisdom, was the messenger of Krishna to the Gopis. It was through him that Sri Krishna sent words of wisdom, which He himself could not have spoken to them at Vrindâvana. For the Gopis would have spurned such words from Him, so great was their personal love for Him. Krishna now placed another ideal before them for meditation. They were now to seek Him, not as the lovely Krishna, playing upon the flute, but as the all-pervading Âtmâ to be known by discriminating wisdom. He asked the Gopis to meditate on this ideal, and He now returned to them as the all-pervading immutable principle in the Universe.
In the stories of Jarâsandha, Yavana and Muchukunda we find the historical Krishna.
Jarâsandha was an incongruous combination of materiality and spirituality, (the two parts which Jiva put together). He was the performer of Vedic Yajnas, the supporter of Brâhmanas, the representative of the old state of things. Naturally therefore he was the most powerful king of his time and the most powerful enemy of Krishna. Vaishnavism had to fight hard with orthodox Brahmânism. Vaishnava kings were put to death in large numbers. Krishna could not kill him on account of his connection with Brâhmanas and with Vedic Yajnas. He even feigned a retreat and fled away to Dvârakâ. Dvârakâ was a spiritual centre on earth, created by Krishna, for the performance of His mission as Avatâra. The town was washed away as soon as Krishna disappeared.
It will be interesting to know the future mission of Muchukunda. But the Bhâgavata is silent about it.