Krishna’s Guru Dakshina: Why Couldn’t Sandhipani Save His Son?

After their studies, Krishna and Balarama asked their teacher, Sandhipani, for guru dakshina. The guru didn’t request gold or fame. He said, “Bring back my son,” who had been lost to the sea. The boys searched the ocean, took the conch of the asura Panchajana, and finally went to the realm of Death. The son returned—alive.

Why didn’t the guru do it himself?

1) Law and Love

A realized teacher honors law—not only human rules, but the deeper order of cause and effect. Love does not mean “I bend the cosmos for my preference.” Sandhipani’s wisdom was to keep his heart pure and his action aligned.

2) The Dharma of a Teacher

A true guru is a conductor, not a stage magician. His role is to transmit clarity and method, not to perform miracles for personal need. Using occult power for private ends frays the very fabric a teacher protects.

3) Adhikāra—Right to Act

In sacred work there is adhikāra: fitness, permission, and capacity. Krishna’s birth, purpose, and power made him the rightful one to intervene. By asking for this dakshina, Sandhipani placed the act within dharma, turning a private grief into a lesson that served the world.

4) Completing the Education

The request wasn’t a reward; it was the final class. Krishna had learned wisdom and weaponry; now he must use both for restoration, not display. The conch he carries thereafter is a reminder: sound should summon life, not boast.

5) Humility Before Time

Even great beings bow to Time. The guru did not bargain with Death; he acknowledged its place and invited the one destined to cross that threshold. Humility is not helplessness—it is precision.

What This Teaches Us

• Role clarity: Do what is truly yours to do; ask help where it isn’t.

• Means matter: Power without alignment corrupts.

• Grief with grace: Feel fully, act cleanly, avoid manipulative shortcuts.

• Make endings medicinal: The right request can turn pain into learning for many.

A Small Practice (3 Minutes)

• Breathe: Exhale a shade longer than you inhale.

• Ask: Is this mine to do? If yes—do it cleanly. If no—who is fit to help?

• Offer: Whisper, “May this action serve more than me,” and move.

The story isn’t about a guru who “couldn’t.” It’s about a guru who wouldn’t violate dharma, and a disciple who fulfilled it.