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VATSA OR THE CALF. SKANDHA X. CHAP. 11. One day Rama, Krishna and other boys were looking after their calves when an Asura, with the intention of killing them, assumed the form of a calf (Vatsa) and got mixed among the herd. Krishna pointed this out to Balarama and silently moved behind the Asura. He held it aloft by the hind feet and tail and gave it such a whirl that its life became extinct. The boys, cried out "Well done! Well done!" and the Devas rained flowers on Krishna. BAKA OR THE CRANE. SKANDHA X. CHAP. 11. One day the Gopa boys went over to a tank to quench their thirst. They saw a huge monster in the form of a Baka (crane). It rushed forth and swallowed Krishna. Krishna caused a burning in its throat and the Asura threw him out. It made a second attack and Krishna held the two beaks and parted them asunder as if they were blades of 284 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana grass, And the Asura died. AGHA OR THE SERPENT. SKANDHA X. CHAP. 12. One day Krishna was playing with the boys in the forest. Agha, the youngest born of Putana and Baka, the Asura whom even the Devas, rendered immortal by Amrita, dreaded, burning with a spirit of revenge at the death of his brother and sister, thought of killing Krishna and all his attendants. He stretched himself forth as a huge serpent, spreading over one yojana, the extremities of his open mouth touching the clouds and the earth. The Gopa boys took the Asura to be the goddess of Vrindavana. "Or if it really be a serpent opening its mouth to kill us, it will instantly be killed like the Asura Vaka." So with their eyes fixed on Krishna they clapped their hands and with a smile entered the mouth of the serpent, even before Krishna had time to warn them. The Asura still waited with its mouth open for Krishna. Krishna thought how he could kill the serpent and at the same time save his companions. On reflection, he himself entered the mouth of the serpent and stretched himself and his comrades. The Asura lost breath and breathed his last. A shining spirit emerged from the Asura body and entered the body of Krishna. Krishna gave fresh life to his comrades by his Amrita bearing looks. Krishna killed Agha in his fifth year, but the Gopa boys who wit- nessed the act said, when Krishna entered his sixth year, that the act was done that very day. "How could that be?" enquired Parikshit. Suka explained this with reference to the following story. BRAHMA AND KRISHNA. SKANDHA X. CHAP. 13-14. When the Asura Agha was killed, Krishna went with his compan- ions to the river bank and said:— "We are hungry, the hour is late. Let us have our meals here. Let the calves drink water and graze on near lands." The Gopa boys Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 285 spread out their stores and improvised plates for eating. While they were engaged in eating, the calves strayed away. The boys became anxious and were about to get up, when Krishna stopped them, say- ing he would find the calves. He left his companions and went on the search. Brahma, who had been witnessing from the high heavens all the deeds of Krishna, even the killing of Agha, with wonder, wanted to have still one more manifestation of his divine powers. Finding opportunity, he removed the calves as well as the Gopa boys to some secure place and disappeared. Krishna could not find the calves and on returning he could not find his companions. He then knew it was all the act of Brahma. To please Brahma, as well as to please the mothers of the Gopa boys, He Himself became so many calves and so many Gopa boys of their very size and form to the minutest detail. The mothers thought they had got their boys and they became even more attached to them. The cows thought they had got their calves and their fondness knew no bounds. Krishna went on playing his manifold parts for one year. Five or six days remaining till the completion of the year, Balarama saw one day that the cows were grazing on the summits of Govardhana, while the calves were grazing at some distance near Vraja. The cows impelled by a fit of attachment breathlessly ran towards the calves even those that had quite lately brought forth younger calves and caressed them profusely. The elder Gopas who were in charge could not restrain them with all their efforts. They felt shame and vexation. But when they themselves approached the calves and their own sons, their anger melted away in deep affection. Balarama thought for a moment. "Never was such love witnessed by me before—this attachment for calves that had been weaned long ago. The people of Vraja have even increasing affection for their own sons even as they had of yore for Krishna. These calves no longer ap- pear to be the incarnations of Rishis, their keepers the Gopa boys do not appear any longer to be the incarnations of the Devas. They look all like thee O Krishna! Wherein lies the mystery?" Krishna ex- plained to Rama what had happened. Brahma appeared after a Truti (fraction of a moment) of his own measure. He saw the boys, he saw the calves. He could not make any distinction between those he placed under his own Maya and those brought into existence by the 286 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana Maya of Krishna. The foggy darkness is overpowered by the dark- ness of the night. The light of the glowworm vanishes before the light of the day. To delude Krishna, Brahma became deluded himself. In another moment Brahma saw the calves and the boys each and all bearing four hands, the divine weapons and all the divine powers. They shone in resplendent glory. Brahma became overpowered, stu- pefied. Recovering himself, he found once more Sri Krishna alone, searching for the calves and boys in Vrindavana. He fell at the feet of Krishna, again and again, his four heads with their crowns rolling on the ground and with tears in his eyes, he glorified Krishna. (The glorification is a long one. Only one sloka is given here.) "It is only he who lives on, anxiously looking out for Thy favor, bearing through the workings of his own Karma as a matter of course and making obeisance to Thee in heart, words and body, that can get the heritage of Mukti (As one must be living, so that a particular her- itage may vest in him, so the Bhakta must keep up his individuality to get the heritage of Mukti)." Parikshit asked. "How could the people of Vraja have greater love for Krishna than for their own sons?" Suka replied:— "Self, O King, is the most beloved of all things not so beloved are one’s sons or wealth. Therefore, O king, people love themselves better than they do their sons, their riches or their homes. Those that deem their body to be their own Atma or self, love that body more than anything else. "But the body only becomes dear as it pertains to self. It can not be as dear as self. For when the body wears away, the desire to live on is still strong. "Therefore Atma or self is most dear to all beings and the whole of this Universe is for that self. "But know thou this Krishna to be the Self of all selves, the Atma of all Atmas. For the good of the Universe, he also looks by Maya as one possessed of a body. Those that know Krishna know that all movable and immovable beings are but His forms and that nothing else exists. "Of all things, the ultimate reality is Existence’. Krishna is the reality of Existence itself. So there is nothing besides Krishna." Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 287 Here ends the Kumara Lila of Krishna. The Pouganda Lila is now to commence. (Kumara is a boy below five, Pouganda is boyhood from the 5th to the 16th year). END OF KUMARA LILA DHENUKA. SKANDHA X. CHAP. 15. On attaining the Pouganda age, Rama and Krishna were placed in charge of cows. Vrindavana looked gay and Krishna amused himself with his companions in the forests. One day Sridaman, Subala, Stoka and other companions spoke to Rama and Krishna "Not far off is a forest of palm trees (Tala). Tala fruits fall in abundance there, but one Asura Dhenuka, with many of his kin obstruct all access to them. The Asura has the form of an Ass. We smell the fragrance of the fruits even from here. They are very tempting indeed." Rama boldly entered that forest and gave a shake to the Tala trees, and TAlas fell in abundance. Roused by the noise, the Ass rushed forth and kicked Rama with its hind feet. The Asura brayed and made a second rush, when Rama held it by the hind feet and whirling it round in the skies threw It dead on the trees. The kith and kin of the Asura then came rushing forth, but they were one and all killed by Rama and Krishna. When they returned to Vrindavana the Gopis who had been feeling the separation went out to receive them and, being pleased to see them, cast bashful glances at them. THE KALIYA SERPENT AND THE FIRE. SKANDHA X. CHAP. 16-17. The Nagas or serpents made offerings to Garuda on appointed days. Kaliya, proud of his own valour, did not make any offering himself and snatched away the offerings made by others. Garuda at- tacked him and, being overpowered in the fight, Kaliya sought shelter in a deep pool of water in the Yamuna. Of yore, Garuda had caught a fish in that pool of water and was about to eat it, when Rishi Soubhari asked him not to eat, but Garuda heeded not his words. The wailings of the fish moved the tender heart 288 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana of the Rishi and for their future good he cursed Garuda with death, if he entered the pool any more. Kaliya knew about this and he therefore sought protection in that pool of water with his family. The water became deadly poison and even the adjoining air breathed poisonous death. One day Krishna went with all his companions, other than Rama, to the Yamuna side.