Canto Ten / CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Childhood Pastimes of Krishna

Considering all the circumstances, had this been done by Krishna? He was standing on the spot, and His playmates described that this had been done by Him. Had Krishna actually done this, or were these merely stories? This was a cause of bewilderment.

The cowherd men were very much agitated because the child Krishna, after all, had been standing between the two trees, and if by chance the trees had fallen upon Him, He would have been smashed. But He was standing as He was, and still the things had happened, so who had done all this? How could these events have happened in such a wonderful way? These considerations were some of the reasons they were agitated and bewildered. They thought, however, that by chance Krishna had been saved by God so that nothing had happened to Him.

Krishna’s playmates wanted to inform Krishna’s father of the exact situation by explaining that not only did the trees break, but out of the broken trees came two beautiful men. “All these things happened,” they said. “We have seen them with our own eyes.”

One view was that it was impossible for a small boy like this to have done such a thing as pulling down the trees. But there were doubts because Krishna had been predicted to equal Nārāyana. Therefore the cowherd men were in a dilemma.

Nanda Mahārāja was surprised that Yaśodā, Krishna’s mother, could have bound her beloved child in such a way. Krishna was exchanging love with her. How then could she have been so cruel as to bind Him to the wooden mortar? Nanda Mahārāja understood this exchange of love, and therefore he smiled and released Krishna. In other words, as Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, binds a living entity in fruitive activities, He binds mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja in parental affection. This is His pastime.

That Krishna performed childhood activities to increase the pleasure of His devotees was another transcendental humor. He exhibited these activities not only to the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi, but also to others, who were captivated by His external potency and opulence. Both the internal devotees, who were simply absorbed in love of Krishna, and the external devotees, who were captivated by His unlimited potency, were informed of Krishna’s desire to be submissive to His servants.

Aborigines generally go to the villagers to sell fruits. How much the aborigines were attached to Krishna is here described. Krishna, to show His favor to the aborigines, would immediately go purchase fruits, bartering with paddy in His hand as He had seen others do.

In Bhagavad-gītā (9.26) Krishna says:

Krishna is so kind that if anyone offers Him a leaf, a fruit, a flower or some water, He will immediately accept it. The only condition is that these things should be offered with bhakti (yo me bhaktyā prayacchati). Otherwise, if one is puffed up with false prestige, thinking, “I have so much opulence, and I am giving something to Krishna,” one’s offering will not be accepted by Krishna. The fruit vendor, although a woman belonging to the poor aborigine class, dealt with Krishna with great affection, saying, “Krishna, You have come to me to take some fruit in exchange for grains. All the grains have fallen, but still You may take whatever You like.” Thus she filled Krishna’s palms with whatever fruits He could carry. In exchange, Krishna filled her whole basket with jewels and gold.

From this incident one should learn that for anything offered to Krishna with love and affection, Krishna can reciprocate many millions of times over, both materially and spiritually. The basic principle involved is an exchange of love. Therefore Krishna teaches in Bhagavad-gītā (9.27):

“O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.” With love and affection, one should try to give something to Krishna from one’s source of income. Then one’s life will be successful. Krishna is full in all opulences; He does not need anything from anyone. But if one is prepared to give something to Krishna, that is for one’s own benefit. The example given in this connection is that when one’s real face is decorated, the reflection of one’s face is automatically decorated. Similarly, if we try to serve Krishna with all our opulences, we, as parts and parcels or reflections of Krishna, will become happy in exchange. Krishna is always happy, for He is ātmārāma, fully satisfied with His own opulence.

Mother Yaśodā was more attached to Krishna and Balarāma than Rohinīdevī was, although Rohinīdevī was the mother of Balarāma. Mother Yaśodā sent Rohinīdevī to call Rāma and Krishna from Their play, since it was the right time for lunch. Therefore Rohinīdevī went to call Them, breaking Their engagement in play.

Yaśodām preshayām āsa. These very words show that since Krishna and Balarāma did not care to return in response to the order of Rohinī, Rohinī thought that if Yaśodā called They would have to return, for Yaśodā was more affectionate to Krishna and Balarāma.

The word ajohavīt means “calling them again and again.” “Krishna and Balarāma,” she called, “please come back. You are late for Your lunch. You have played sufficiently. Come back.”

It appears that Nanda Mahārāja regularly took his food with his two sons, Krishna and Balarāma. Yaśodā told the other boys, “Now you should go to your homes.” Father and son generally sit together, so mother Yaśodā requested Krishna and Balarāma to return, and she advised the other boys to go home so that their parents would not have to wait for them.

It is a custom of Vedic culture that whenever there is any auspicious ceremony, one should give valuable cows in charity to the brāhmanas. Therefore mother Yaśodā requested Krishna, “Instead of being enthusiastic in playing, now please come and be enthusiastic in charity.” Yajña-dāna-tapah-karma na tyājyam kāryam eva tat. As advised in Bhagavad-gītā (18.5), sacrifice, charity and austerity should never be given up. Yajño dānam tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīshinām: even if one is very much advanced in spiritual life, one should not give up these three duties. To observe one’s birthday ceremony, one should do something in terms of one of these three items (yajña, dāna or tapah), or all of them together.

Generally young boys are competitive. If one friend has done something, another friend also wants to do something. Therefore mother Yaśodā pointed out how Krishna’s playmates were decorated, so that Krishna might be induced to decorate Himself like them.

Krishna is always neat, clean and opulent and does not need to be washed, bathed or dressed, yet mother Yaśodā, because of affection, considered Him her ordinary child and did her duties to keep her son brilliant.

Upananda suggested, “By the mercy of Lord Vishnu, Krishna has always been saved from so many dangerous incidents. Now let us leave this place and go someplace where we may worship Lord Vishnu undisturbed, before there is another cause of death from some demon who may attack us.” A devotee desires only that he may execute devotional service undisturbed. Actually we see, however, that even during the presence of Krishna, when Nanda Mahārāja and the other cowherd men had the Supreme Personality of Godhead in their presence, there were disturbances. Of course, in every case, Krishna came out victorious. The instruction we may derive from this is that we should not be disturbed by so-called disturbances. There have been so many disturbances to our Krishna consciousness movement, but we cannot give up our forward march. On the contrary, people are receiving this movement very enthusiastically all over the world, and they are purchasing literature about Krishna consciousness with redoubled energy. Thus there are both encouragements and disturbances. This was so even in Krishna’s time.

Vrindāvana is situated between Nandeśvara and Mahāvana. Formerly the cowherd men had shifted to Mahāvana, but still there were disturbances. Therefore the cowherd men selected Vrindāvana, which was between the two villages, and decided to go there.

In this connection it is to be noted that although the inhabitants of Gokula were mostly cowherd men and cultivators, they knew how to defend themselves from danger and how to give protection to the women, the old men, the cows and the children, as well as to the brahminical purohitas.

It appears that mother Yaśodā and Rohinī could not be separated from Krishna and Balarāma even for a moment. They used to pass their time either by taking care of Krishna and Balarāma or by chanting about Their pastimes. Thus mother Yaśodā and Rohinī looked very beautiful.

As stated in the Vishnu Purāna:

And as stated in the Hari-vamśa:

There was no need to make fences all around. One side was already defended by thorn trees, and thus the thorn trees, the bullock carts and the animals encircled the inhabitants in their temporary residence.

As soon as Krishna and Balarāma were a little grown up, They were meant for taking care of the calves. Although born of a very well-to-do family, They still had to take care of the calves. This was the system of education. Those who were not born in brāhmana families were not meant for academic education. The brāhmanas were trained in a literary, academic education, the kshatriyas were trained to take care of the state, and the vaiśyas learned how to cultivate the land and take care of the cows and calves. There was no need to waste time going to school to be falsely educated and later increase the numbers of the unemployed. Krishna and Balarāma taught us by Their personal behavior. Krishna took care of the cows and played His flute, and Balarāma took care of agricultural activities with a plow in His hand.

Vrindāvana is full of peacocks. Kūjat-kokila-hamsa-sārasa-ganākīrne mayūrākule. The Vrindāvana forest is always full of cuckoos, ducks, swans, peacocks, cranes and also monkeys, bulls and cows. So Krishna and Balarāma used to imitate the sounds of these animals and enjoy sporting.

The import of the words mugdha iva is that although Krishna knows everything, here He pretended that He did not understand why the demon had entered among the calves, and He informed Baladeva by a sign.

Krishna killed the demon in such a way as to get the kapittha fruits to fall so that He and Balarāma and the other boys could take advantage of the opportunity to eat them. The kapittha is sometimes called kshatbelphala. The pulp of this fruit is very palatable. It is sweet and sour, and everyone likes it.

Paritrānāya sādhūnām vināśāya ca dushkritām. Krishna’s daily business here in this material world was to kill the dushkritīs. This did not hamper His daily affairs, for it was routine work. While He tended the calves on the bank of the river Yamunā, two or three incidents took place every day, and although these were serious, killing the demons one after another appeared to be His daily routine work.

Although Balarāma can do everything, because of intense affection for His brother He was momentarily bewildered. A similar thing is stated to have happened in connection with rukminī-harana, the kidnapping of Rukminī. When Krishna, after kidnapping Rukminī, was attacked by all the kings, Rukminī was momentarily bewildered, until the Lord took the proper steps.

Although Krishna is always as soft as a lotus, within the throat of Bakāsura He created a burning sensation of being hotter than fire. Although Krishna’s whole body is sweeter than sugar candy, Bakāsura tasted bitterness and therefore immediately vomited Krishna up. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.11), ye yathā mām prapadyante tāms tathaiva bhajāmy aham. When Krishna is accepted as an enemy, He becomes the most intolerable object for the nondevotee, who cannot tolerate Krishna within or without. Here this is shown by the example of Bakāsura.

It was the practice of the inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi to compose poetry about the incidents that occurred in the forest when Krishna performed His different activities of killing the asuras. They would compose all the stories in poetry or have this done by professional poets, and then they would sing about these incidents. Thus it is written here that the boys sang very loudly.

Because of intense love for Krishna, the cowherd men and women simply remained silent, thinking of how Krishna and the boys had been saved. The cowherd men and women looked upon Krishna and the boys and did not desire to turn their eyes aside.

The cowherd men innocently thought, “Because our Krishna is innocent, the causes of death that appeared before Him were themselves killed instead of Krishna. This is the greatest grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

Nanda Mahārāja innocently thought, “Perhaps this boy Krishna formerly killed all these demons, and therefore in this life they are envious and are attacking Him. But Krishna is a fire, and they are flies, and in a fight between fire and flies, the fire is always victorious.” Fighting is always taking place between the demons and the power of the Supreme Personality. Paritrānāya sādhūnām vināśāya ca dushkritām (Bg. 4.8). Anyone who is against the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be killed, life after life. Ordinary living beings are subject to karma, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always victorious over the demons.

The purpose of human life is indicated in the Brahma-sūtra: athāto brahma jijñāsā. To make one’s life perfect — in the past, present and future — one must learn about Brahman. Because of intense affection, Nanda Mahārāja could not understand Krishna as He is. Garga Muni was able to know everything, past, present and future, by studying the Vedas, but Nanda Mahārāja could not understand Krishna directly. Because of his intense love for Krishna, he forgot who Krishna was and could not understand Krishna’s potency. Although Krishna is Nārāyana Himself, Garga Muni did not disclose this. Thus Nanda Mahārāja appreciated the words of Garga Muni, but because of his deep affection he could not understand who Krishna was, although Garga Muni had said that Krishna’s qualities would be exactly like those of Nārāyana.

Here is an instruction about the result of studying or discussing the krishna-līlās that appear in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Sadyo hridy avarudhyate ’tra kritibhih śuśrūshubhis tat-kshanāt (Bhāg. 1.1.2). Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā in Vrindāvana appeared like ordinary persons of this material world, but they never felt the tribulations of this world, although they sometimes met many dangerous situations created by the demons. This is a practical example. If we follow in the footsteps of Nanda Mahārāja and the gopas, we can all be happy simply by discussing the activities of Krishna.

(Bhāg. 1.7.6)

Vyāsadeva has given this literature so that everyone may understand one’s transcendental position simply by discussing bhāgavata-kathā. Even at the present moment, everyone everywhere can be happy and free from material tribulations by following Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There is no need of austerities and penances, which in this age are very difficult to perform. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore declared, sarvātma-snapanam param vijayate śrī-krishna-sankīrtanam. By our Krishna consciousness movement, we are trying to distribute Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam so that anyone in any part of the world can be absorbed in the Krishna consciousness movement by chanting and hearing about the activities of Krishna and be free from all material tribulations.