The Story of Shishupaal

Today, I got to watch the Shishupaalvadh story in Shri Krishna.

Right at the beginning of Raajsooya yagya that King Yudhishthir is performing with his brothers and family and relatives, they are doing pooja of Shri Krishna and that's when Shishupaal starts insulting Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna had vowed to forgive 100 sins of Shishupaal to his aunt (Shishupaal's mother, sister of Vasudev) and after that he will kill him. So when the number of sins exceeds this count, Shishupaal is killed with Shri Krishna Bhagwaan's chakra. But even then, at the end Shishupaal claims moksha and Goddess Laxmi sends a "divya vimaan" (divine airplane) for Shishupaal.

Apparently, three births earlier, Shishupaal was Jay - a paarshad (gatekeepers) of Vaikunth (abode of Lord Vishnu) along with another paarshad Vijay. Whan sanatkumaar (sons of Lord Brahma) arrive at the entrance of Vaikunth, Jay-Vijay restrict them from entering Vaikunth. This is when they are cursed by the sanatkumaars to take birth as humans on earth.

Their first birth was as Hiranyaaksh and Hiranyakashipu and they were freed from that life by Lord Vishnu being born as Nrusinh bhagwaan. Then their second birth was as Raavan and Kumbhkarna and they achieved liberation with the help of Lord Raam. Then in their third birth, they came as Shishupaal and Dantavakra respectively. Shishupaal gets mukti by help from Lord Krishna. And Dantavakra is freed in the war he has with Lord Krishna when he attacks Dwarika.

At the time of Shishupaal-vadh, Bhishma pitamaha chants the following shlok:

mukam karoti vaachaalam pangum langhayate girim
yatkripaa tamaham vande parmaanandmaadhavam

Translation: With your blessings, a mute (speechless) gains speech (vaachaa) and a crippled is able to climb a mountain. O supreme blissful, Lord Maadhav, I salute You.

Shri Krishna even helps His enemies, His haters because they are making that effort to think of Him even in that form.