Question: Maharaj Paraksit was protected by Lord Krishna from the womb of Uttara because he was a spotless pure devotee. Now if that is the case:
a) Normally it is told that such an elevated devotee doesn’t have to take a rebirth and that he goes directly back to Godhead. Why should Paraksit Maharaj take a rebirth?
b) If he was saved from the womb by Lord Krishna, when he had a death incurred by a sin, why was he not saved by the Supreme Personality?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
a) Conditioned souls take birth forced by their past karma. However, for a spotless devotee like Maharaja Pariksit there is no question of sin. The birth and disappearance of a pure devotee are both orchestrated by Krishna’s divine will. Much as Krishna Himself takes birth from the womb of Devaki, the birth of pure devotees is under the shelter of internal potency, and they appear amongst us to benefit the conditioned souls.
The characteristic of a pure devotee is that he simply wants to serve Krishna and is not even interested in his own liberation. He is not even interested in going back to Vaikuntha and does not mind taking repeated births, if by so doing he can serve the Lord. Lord Caitanya prays in this way in His Siksastaka prayers (Verse 4). Similarly, Prahlada Maharaja also prays to Lord Nrsimhadeva that he is not so much concerned about crossing over material existence but would rather remain in the material world and preach the Lord’s glories to the foolish materialists. In fact even if the pure devotee happens to be in hellish planets, they are actually in Godhead, because their consciousness is always absorbed in Krishna’s lotus feet. [Please refer to our discussion on “Going back to Godhead”, Digest 64]
b) In the same vein, the apparent cursing of Maharaja Pariksit and his being killed by the snake-bird were not due to sinful reaction but due to Krishna’s inexplicable will. King Pariksit, although powerful enough to easily counteract the curse of the young son of a brahmana, he did not do so, because he understood that this was somehow Krishna’s plan and accepted it as such. The dramatic unfolding of events leading to Maharaja Pariksit sitting down on the bank of Ganges awaiting death was orchestrated by the Lord, and in this way the stage was set for Srimad Bhagavatam to be spoken by Sukadeva Goswami for the benefit of the entire humanity. [Please refer SB 1.18.27–47]
