Narayana Krishna

Tenth Canto Chapter Twenty-six

In this chapter, the inhabitants of Brindavan discuss about Krishna’s transcendence

Maharishi Śuka continued, “The cowherds and their families who were awestruck by the transcendental sports exhibited by Krishna, extensively sang His glories, every waking moment. No other thought occupied their minds.

Those who were ignorant of His powers, gathered together and said, “Activities of little Krishna are truly amazing. His birth among us, the village rustics, is unworthy. How are we to accept that such a supreme personality has taken birth amongst us? What are we to make out of it? How could it be possible for an ordinary seven-year old boy to hold up an entire mountain with one hand for a period of one week as effortlessly as an elephant would hold a lotus in its trunk? The entire incident is perplexing’.”

The Lord had enveloped everyone in His illusion and as such they found His deeds perplexing. In one second He envelops them in illusion and the next second He frees them from illusion. He then throws them back into it again. This is His sport. These cowherds could not even fathom how a seven-year-old boy could lift up an entire mountain playfully with one hand? How could he hold it up for a week?

They continued, ‘Even as a tiny infant, who was but a few days old, he sucked the breast of the mighty demoness Putana, the vile demoness sent by Kamsa, and along with the milk he sucked away her life-force as effortlessly as time sucks away the life-span of the living entity.

When he was 3 months of age, he was asleep under the cart, when in a fit of anger, this boy kicked the cart using his feet causing the cart to turn topsy-turvy. Isn’t this astonishing? When he was a year old, the demon Trṇavarta came like a huge whirlwind and carried away to the skies the boy who was seated within his home’.”

The members of the clan were recounting Krishna’s feats. They could not comprehend His actions that were beyond human range. The Lord had thrown them into illusion and as such they failed to understand that the Supreme Entity, who is the Lord for the entire creation, had manifested amidst them. As such in great awe they were extolling His transcendental deeds.

“At that moment Krishna, who was still a tiny infant, squeezed the neck of that infallible demon Tŗnavarta thereby killing him. Around this time, he would steal butter from his home. Angered with his deeds, Yashoda tied him to a stone mortar. This boy dragged the stone mortar between the two gigantic Arjuna trees causing them to come crashing to the ground. Aha! How astonishing this is! From the time of his birth, this boy has been displaying one mystical feat or another. How is it possible for a toddler to fell two gigantic, fearsome trees?

On another occasion, this boy went to the forests along with Balarama and other cowherd boys. While he was tending to the cows, all of a sudden in the form of a crane (Bakasura) a ferocious demon rushed towards him. With his arms Krishna effortlessly tore apart the mouth of that crane leading to its death.

With the intent of killing Krishna, another demon assumed the form of a calf and entered the herd. Identifying the demon that had mingled with the herd, Krishna sportily killed him and flung the carcass far away. The carcass landed with a thud on a wood apple tree, causing the wood apples to come crashing to the ground. Have we not witnessed this earlier?

Together with Balarama, our Krishna killed the demon Dhenukasura – the demon who was in the guise of a donkey, along with all his relatives who had also assumed the forms of donkeys. In addition to killing the demons, these boys rendered the garden of palm trees free from the clutches of demons. They flung the carcases of the demons atop the huge palm trees causing the palm fruits to fall to the ground in large quantities.

One morning this boy had the horrifying demon Pralamba killed in the hands of Balarama. Furthermore, He also rescued the boys and the calves from the terrible forest fire which was spreading rapidly engulfing everything.”

It was as if these cowherds had maintained a diary of His deeds. They were recounting one after another the events as they had taken place. His transcendental deeds filled them with mixed emotions. As they recollected his divine deeds, they were laughing, crying, trembling, overflowing with love and simultaneously filled with anxiousness. Krishna’s mystical deeds were beyond any logic and appeared perplexing.

They still continued, ‘On another occasion, Krishna danced on the hoods of the venomous serpent Kaliya and thereby subduing his pride. He drove it away from the lake which it had thus far rendered poisonous. With this He rendered the waters free from poison. Aha! What to say of this divine deed! Any amount of time falls short when we begin to describe his infinite glories!

O Nanda Maharaja! All of us here have unexplainable love towards your son which cannot be easily given up. Day by day, in fact, with every passing minute our love towards your son only intensifies. Just as a person cannot give up breathing, we are unable to give him up. He has become one with our breath.

O king, this boy too has natural love for us all. What could be the reason behind it? O ruler of Gokula, how can a mere seven-year-old boy lift up with one hand a heavy gigantic mountain? We are unable to understand the reason behind this unbelievable feat of his. We are perplexed. We are now suspicious of your son. We are unable to decipher his deeds. How are we to understand the deeds of this boy, who mingles like a child amidst the children of his age?’- asked the people”.

Krishna Narayana