After tragic killing of each other by men of their Vrishni clan, Balarama and Vasudev give up their bodies through yoga

Last updated on 2nd June 2022

Thirty six years after the Mahabharata war, as cursed by Gandhari as well as by Durvasa and other rishis, the men of the Vrishnis clan of Krishna & Balarama, killed each other (in a "drunken brawl"), excepting for a few which included Krishna, Balarama and their father Vasudev.

Kamala Subramaniam writes that "Disgusted with the drunken brawl, Balarama had already left the place (Prabhaasa near Dwarka) and reached the sea-shore. He had decided to give up his life. He was sitting in the yoga trance." 

Krishna asked Balarama to wait for him (to die/give up his body). Meanwhile Krishna instructed his charioteer Daruka to go to Hastinapura and inform the Pandavas of the horrific and tragic events and also to take care of the women and children left behind in Dwaraka, the capital of the Vrishnis. Krishna also had to inform his father Vasudeva about the horrific events.

After Krishna informs Vasudeva and comes back to Balarama, Kamala Subramaniam writes, "Balarama saw him (Krishna) and went into trance. Krishna stood by and waited and watched. He saw an immense white serpent (Sesha) coming out of the mouth of Balarama." Note that Balarama is viewed as an incarnation of Sesha the serpent on which Vishnu rests, and Krishna is viewed as an incarnation of Vishnu.

Sesha coming out of the mouth of Balarama is understood to have meant Balarama giving up his human body.

Krishna gives up the body next, not by yoga, but after a hunter mistakenly shoots an arrow into Krishna's heel. Kamala Subramaniam writes that Krishna could have given up his body by yoga but chose to die in a human way as he had incarnated as a human (man).

Vasudev, the father of Balarama and Krishna, is alive when Arjuna reaches Dwaraka and meets Vasudev who informs him of the details of the tragedy. Arjuna steels himself and arranges for the last rites of Balarama and Krishna. 

After the next day dawns, Kamala Subramaniam writes, "In the morning he (Arjuna) found that Vasudev had died by going into a yogic trance and abandoning his body."

Thus we know that Balarama and Vasudev gave up their body through yoga.

In later chapter(s) of the book, the death of the Pandavas (except Yudhishtira) is also covered. Shortly after Krishna's death, they renounce the world with an intention of giving up their bodies. With exception of Yudhishtira, they die as they walk in the northward direction (towards Mount Kailash) and not by yogic trance. Yudhishtira is granted the honour of going to heaven in his human form.

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Given below are some of my comments from my associated Facebook post:  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3372961299587090 :

In response to a comment I wrote (slightly edited):

--- - I do not recall reading any reference to golden age in Kali Yuga in the Kamala Subramaniam Mahabharata which I finished reading recently.

I did some Internet search now on it and found a few references to the 10,000 years of golden age in Kali Yuga - https://www.bvashram.org/prophecy-of-the-golden-age-from-brahma-vaivarta-purana/ , https://premunited.com/hindu-prediction-of-golden-age-and-the-2012-mayan-prophecy/ are two of such references.

Both the above references refer to a Brahma Vaivarta Purana (it has a wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_Vaivarta_Purana ) having the prediction of Krishna of 10,000 years of golden age 5,000 years after Kali Yuga starts.

Now when exactly 5,000 years of Kali Yuga would be over and so golden age of 10,000 years would start, seems to be a matter of slight debate. Perhaps it will be in the coming few decades and so in this century, as per some account I read on the Internet - don't know how reliable it is.

I should also say that the Brahma Vaivarta Purana having this 10,000 years golden age prediction of Krishna, is not a very well known Hindu text. At least, I had not really known of it (maybe I read or heard some reference in the past but did not note it). In contrast, the Bhagavad Purana is very famous.

Hope this info. helps.

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About the time frames part: I really do not know. Hindu astronomy seems to have been and is, I believe, very accurate. But, on the other hand, I think such Hindu astronomy scholars do not agree on Kali Yuga start date. So there are some grey areas here, IMHO.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga#Start_date sheds some light on the matter. But I don't know how authoritative it is.

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Yes, I think they say that Krishna died around 5,000 years ago and I believe that.

About the new golden age of 10,000 years , I don't know much. I don't think that is a well known prediction as the concerned scripture is not so well known.

But that does not mean that the concerned scripture is wrong. I just don't know enough about it.

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The key scripture related to Krishna is the Bhagavad Purana (more than Mahabharata I think) and, as far as I know, that scripture (and neither the Mahabharata) make any 10,000 years golden age within Kali Yuga prediction.

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--- I think ISKCON has scholars who have gone very deep into Krishna related scripture. So they are surely way more knowledgeable than me on this topic.

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I have not got much knowledge on this topic. The impression I have, which could be wrong, is that scholars today use astronomical events described in Hindu scripture (position of planets, moon, stars etc.) to arrive at dates of such events. So in what I have read or heard from such scholars (text/video), they do not talk much about Hindu calendars in use then and instead talk of astronomical events (which perhaps were used in Hindu scripture to mark time in a way) described in them to date the events in scripture.

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Oh! I think those numbers would be in scripture itself. Like duration of Kali yuga.

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It seems to me that the ***average*** duration of a year in Hindu calendar is the same as in Gregorian calendar. I use the term average as I believe there is some adjustment done every few years. BTW I am no expert in such matters 🙂.

Here's a relevant wiki extract from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_calendar:

The ancient Hindu calendar conceptual design is also found in the Hebrew calendar, the Chinese calendar, and the Babylonian calendar, but different from the Gregorian calendar.[4] Unlike the Gregorian calendar which adds additional days to the month to adjust for the mismatch between twelve lunar cycles (354 lunar days)[5] and nearly 365 solar days, the Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month, but inserts an extra full month by complex rules, once every 32–33 months, to ensure that the festivals and crop-related rituals fall in the appropriate season.[4][2]

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And there is no single Hindu calendar but many variations as covered in the above wiki page.

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[I thank author Kamala Subramaniam and the publisher of Mahabharata book, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing a few quotes from the above mentioned Mahabharata book on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]