Lord Krishna curses his own son

This is another story about Lord Krishna’s notorious son, Samba. Samba misbehaved to such an extent that Krishna became extremely, extremely displeased with him. He told his son, “You have cast a slur upon our family. You have done countless bad things. I cannot tolerate you anymore. The very sight of you is repulsive to me!”

Krishna went on scolding Samba and insulting him in this manner. Krishna’s wife, Jambavati, was also present. Finally, Krishna’s anger reached its zenith. He said, “I am so disgusted with you that I am cursing you. You will contract leprosy.”

Lo and behold, Samba immediately started suffering from leprosy. His body became disfigured overnight and he was in great agony from the disease.

Lord Krishna’s wife could not endure seeing her son tortured in this way. With tears streaming from her eyes, she approached her husband. “What have you done?” she said. “I cannot bear to see Samba in such pain. He is, after all, our own son.”

Krishna relented and said to his son, “All right, this is what you can do to be cured. First, you have to pray to Surya, the sun god. Then you must bathe in the river Chandrabhaga. When you immerse yourself in the water, you will be cured.”

By this time, Samba could not even get up. He asked pitifully, “How can I go there in this condition, Father?”

“You have to go to the river,” answered Krishna in a stern voice.

Samba began pleading with Krishna. “I know that you have the capacity to cure me right here. Please lift your curse.”

“I am not going to cure you,” said Krishna.

Jambavati appealed to her husband. “You are the cause of his disease. Therefore, you must either take him to the river or cure him here.”

Finally, Krishna agreed to take his son to the river. Because Samba could no longer walk, Krishna carried him the entire way. When they arrived at the banks of the river, Samba prayed to the sun god and then entered into the river. Krishna bathed his son in the water and, when Samba emerged, he found that he was completely cured. Krishna’s curse had been nullified.

In those days, a curse was something to be feared! Nowadays, people curse each other at every second, but their curses do not have any power. Otherwise, so many serious calamities would have taken place. With all the mistakes that we make in our daily lives, we would have died long ago if we had really been cursed. Fortunately, there is no fire inside the words as there was in those ancient times.