Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 11
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Next chapter, eleven.
Heading: "Killing of Vatsāsura and Bakāsura Demons."
When the two twin trees, yamala-arjuna, fell down on the ground, making a sound like falling of thunderbolt, all the inhabitants of Gokula, including Nanda Mahārāja and other cowherds men, immediately came to the spot. They were very much astonished to see how the two great trees fell suddenly and began to inspect what might be the reason of their falling down. But without finding any cause of their falling down they were puzzled. They also saw child Kṛṣṇa was bound up by ropes of Yaśodā mother with the wooden mortar and began to think how this could be done. "Must have been caused by some demon; otherwise, how it was possible?" At the same time, they were very much perturbed on account of such uncommon incidences always happening in relation with the child Kṛṣṇa.
When the elderly cowherds men were left contemplating, the small children who were playing there informed to the cowherds men that it is due to Kṛṣṇa's pulling down the wooden mortar with the ropes in which He was bound up. "Kṛṣṇa came in between the two trees, and the wooden mortar was topsy-turvied and stuck with the trees. At that time, Kṛṣṇa began to pull the rope and the trees fell down. When the trees fell down, out of the broken trees two very dazzling men came out, and they began to say something to Kṛṣṇa."
Nevertheless, all the cowherds men did not believe the statement of the children that it was due to Kṛṣṇa's pulling the rope with which He was bound up the tree fell down. They could not believe that such thing was at all possible. Some of them, however, believed and said to Nanda Mahārāja that "Your child is a different one than all other childrens. Maybe it might have been done by Him." At that time Nanda Mahārāja began to smile, hearing about the extraordinary abilities of his son, and then he came forward and unlocked the binding just to free his wonderful child.
After thus being freed by Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa was taken by the elderly gopīs on their lap, and they took Him away in the courtyard of the house and began to clap, eulogizing the wonderful activities of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa began to dance with the clapping just like an ordinary child. Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, being completely controlled by the gopīs, sometimes began to sing, began to dance, just like a puppet in their hands.
Next paragraph.
Sometimes mother Yaśodā used to ask child Kṛṣṇa to bring in the wooden plank for sitting, and although the wooden plank for sitting was heavy, not to be carried by the child, still, somehow or other Kṛṣṇa would bring that plank before the mother. Sometimes His father, while worshiping Nārāyaṇa, he would ask his child to bring his wooden slippers, and Kṛṣṇa, with great difficulty, would take the slippers on His head and brought before the father. When He was thus asked to lift some heavy article, and being unable to lift such article, He would simply move His arms. In this way, daily, every moment, He was the reservoir of all pleasure to the parents.
When the Lord was exhibiting such childish activities exchanged between the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and Himself, He wanted to show to the great philosophers and wise men searching after the Absolute Truth how the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead was controlled and subject to the desires of His pure devotees.
One day when a fruit vendor came before the house of Nanda Mahārāja and canvassed for selling fruits, so after hearing the voice, "If somebody wants fruits, one who wants fruits may come and take from me!" child Kṛṣṇa immediately heard and took some grains in His palm and went to take fruits in exchange. In those days, the exchange was bartering; therefore Kṛṣṇa might have seen His parents exchange fruits and other goods by bartering grains, so He imitated His parents. But His palms were very small, and He was not very expert to keep them tight, so they were falling down.
The vendor who came to sell fruits saw it and was very much captivated by the beauty of the Lord. So he (she) immediately accepted whatever few grains were left in His palm and filled up His hands with fruits. In this meantime, she saw that the whole basket of fruit has become filled up with jewels. The Lord is the bestower of all benediction, so if somebody gives something to the Lord, he is not loser; he is gainer by million times, just like the fruit vendor gave some fruit to the Lord and immediately the basket was filled up with jewels.
Next paragraph.
One day Lord Kṛṣṇa, the liberator of the twin arjuna trees, were playing with other children along with Balarāma on the bank of Yamunā, and because it was already late in day, Rohiṇī, mother of Balarāma, went to call them back to home. But Rāma, Balarāma, and Kṛṣṇa were so much overwhelmed with playing with Their children friends that They did not wish to come back, but engaged Themselves in playing more and more. When Rohiṇī, mother of Balarāma, was unable to take Them back home from playing, at that time she went back home and sent mother Yaśodā to call Them again.
Mother Yaśodā was so much affectionate for her sons that as soon as she came out to call Them back to home, her breast was filled up with milk, and she loudly cried, "My dear child, please come back home because Your time for lunch is already past." She began to say as follows: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, the lotus-eyed, my dear child, please come near me and suck my breast. My dear child, You have played enough. You must be very hungry. My dear little child, You must have become very much tired playing for so much time." She also addressed Balarāma and said, "My dear Rāma, the glory of Your family, my dear child, please come back with Your younger brother, Kṛṣṇa immediately. You are so much engaged in playing from morning, now You must be very much tired. Please come back and take Your lunch at home. My dear boys, Your father Nandarāja is waiting for You. He has to eat, so You must come back and make him pleased so that he...
(break) ...lunch at home. My dear boys, Your father Nandarāja is waiting for You. He has to eat, so You must come back and make him pleased so that he can eat also."
As soon as Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma heard that Nanda Mahārāja was waiting for Them and he could not take his food in Their absence...
(break) While Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma was coming back, other playmates complained that "Kṛṣṇa is leaving us just on the point when our playing is on the summit. Next time we shall not allow Kṛṣṇa..."
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Tape number sixteen, Kṛṣṇa. Tape number...
But while thus complaining that Kṛṣṇa was leaving halfway while playing, they would not allow Him to play, Kṛṣṇa became afraid, and so instead of going back home, He came back again to play with the boys. At that time, mother Yaśodā made a sarcastic remarks on the playing children and addressed Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, do You think that You are street boys? You have no home? Please come back to Your home! I see Your body has become so much dirty by playing from morning. Now come home, take Your bath. Besides that, today is Your birthday ceremony; therefore You should come back home and give in charity cows to the brāhmaṇas. Don't You see how Your playmates are decorated by their mother, how they are decorated with ornaments? You should also become cleansed and decorated with nice dress and ornaments like Your friends. Please therefore come back, You take Your bath, dress Yourself nicely, and then again You may go on playing."
Next paragraph.
In this way mother Yaśodā called back Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, who are worshipable by big demigods like Lord Brahmā and Śiva, and she was thinking of Them as her children.
When mother Yaśodā's children, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, came home she bathed Them very nicely and then dressed Them very nicely with ornaments and then called for the brāhmaṇas and through Them gave in charity many cows to the brāhmaṇas on the occasion of Their birthday. In this way they performed the birthday ceremony of Kṛṣṇa at home.
After this incidence, all the elderly members of the cowherds men assembled together, presided by Nanda Mahārāja, and they began to consult amongst themselves how to stop great disturbances in the Mahāvana on account of the demons; how to counteract them. In this meeting Upananda, brother of Nanda Mahārāja, was considered to be learned, experienced and well-wisher of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and leader of the situation. He began to address the meeting as follows. He said, "Well-wishing the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, now we should leave this place for another place, because continually we are finding that great demons are coming here to disturb the peaceful situation, and especially for killing the small children. Just consider how little child Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed by Pūtanā. Somehow or other, by the grace of Lord, He was saved. It was simply by the grace of Lord Hari that Kṛṣṇa was saved from the hands of such a great demon.
"Next, the whirlwind demon took away Kṛṣṇa in the sky, but by the grace of Lord Hari He was saved, and the demon fell down on stone slab and died. And very recently this child was in between these two trees and the tree fell down so violently, and still there was no injury on the body of the child. So Lord Hari saved Him again. Just imagine either this child or any other child who were playing with Him, if some of them would pressed by the falling of the trees, what calamity would have occurred.
"So considering all these incidences, we must know that this place is no more safe. Let us leave this place for another. We have been all saved from different calamities by the grace of Lord Hari. Now we should be cautious enough to leave this place and reside somewhere else, where we can peacefully live. I think therefore that we should all go to the forest known as Vṛndāvana, where just now there are newly grown plants and herbs, and it is very suitable for pasturing ground of your cows, and we cowherds men and our families, the gopīs with children, can very peacefully live there. Because, near Vṛndāvana there is Govardhana Hill, which is very beautiful, and there are newly grown grass and fodder for the animals. So there will be no difficulty for our living in that place. I therefore suggest that in that beautiful place we shall immediately start for, and there is no necessity of wasting time anymore. Let us saddle all our carts immediately, and if you so like, then immediately let us go there, keeping all the cows in front."
On hearing the statement of Upananda, all the cowherds men immediately agreed and they said, "It is very well. It is very well. Let us immediately go there." In this way they loaded their all household furniture, utensils, on the carts, and they prepared for going to Vṛndāvana. All the old men of the village, children and women of the family were arranged to be seated on the carts, along with furniture and utensils, and the cowherds men equipped themselves with bows and arrows to follow the carts. All the cows, bulls along with their calves were placed in the front, and the cowherds men surrounded all the flocks of animals as well as the carts with their bows and arrows, and began to blow on their horns, bugles. In this way, with tumultuous sounds, they started for Vṛndāvana.
And what to speak of the damsels of Vraja? All of them seated on the carts, very beautiful dress with ornaments and costly sārīs, and as usual they began to chant the pastimes of child Kṛṣṇa while they were going to Vṛndāvana while gorgeously dressed. Mother Yaśodā and mother Rohiṇī also were especially seated on a separate cart, and Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were seated on their respective laps. While mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī was driving on the cart, they were talking with Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and feeling the pleasure of such talks. They looked very, very beautiful.
In this way, after reaching Vṛndāvana, the place where everyone lives eternally, very peacefully and happily, they encircled the place by keeping the carts also, and they began to construct their places of residence. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, after reaching Vṛndāvana and seeing the beautiful scenic appearance of Vṛndāvana, Govardhana, on the bank of River Yamunā, felt very much happy. In this way, while They were growing by Their age and talking with Their parents and inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, everyone residents of Vṛndāvana felt very much happy, and in the meantime grew sufficiently just to take care of the calves. The cowherds boys are trained from the very beginning of their childhood to take care of the cows. The first responsibility was to take charge of the little calf. So Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were given charge of the calves in the beginning.
In this way Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, along with other little cowherds boys, went into the pasturing ground taking charge of the calves as well as playing with playmates. While taking care of the calves, sometimes the two brothers used to play on Their flutes. Sometimes They used to play with āmalakī fruits and bael fruits just like small children play with balls. Sometimes They used to dance with simply twinkling sounds of the ankle bells, and sometimes the boys were made into bulls and cows by covering with blankets, and Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma also used to play like that. The two brothers sometimes used to imitate the sound of bulls and cows. Sometimes They used to imitate bullfighting amongst themselves. Sometimes They used to imitate the sounds of various animals and birds. In this way, They enjoyed Their childhood pastimes like ordinary mundane children.
Next paragraph.
Once upon a time, when Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were playing on the bank of the Yamunā, one demon of the name Vatsāsura assumed the shape of a calf and came there desiring to kill Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. When taking the shape of a calf, the demon mingled with other calves, without knowing as to whom he came to kill. However, when the demon mixed with other calves, Kṛṣṇa specifically marked it, and He immediately indicated Balarāma about the entrance of the demon. So both the brothers silently followed the demon and came near him. Kṛṣṇa immediately caught hold of the demon’s (assumed as a calf) two hind legs along with the tail and began to whip round very forcibly, and threw him up on the tree. In the meantime, the demon lost his life and fell down on the ground from the top of the tree. When the demon fell down on ground dead, all the playmates of Kṛṣṇa congratulated Him, "Well done! Well done!" and the demigods from the sky began to shower flowers with great satisfaction. In this way, the maintainers of the complete creation, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, used to take care of the calves from morning every day and thus enjoyed Their childhood pastimes as cowherds boy in Vṛndāvana.
Next paragraph.
Once upon a time, all the cowherds boy went to the bank of the river Yamunā just to get their calves drinking water. And when the calves drank water, usually the boys also drank water from the river Yamunā. After drinking water, when they were sitting on the bank of the Yamunā, they saw a huge animal which was as big as a hill, and the top of the animal was as strong as the thunderbolt. When they saw that unusual animal, they became afraid of it. The name of this animal was Bakāsura. This Bakāsura was a friend of Kaṁsa, and he appeared on the scene and immediately, with his pointed and sharp beaks, attacked Kṛṣṇa and swallowed up within the mouth.
When Kṛṣṇa was thus swallowed up by the Bakāsura, all the cowherds boy, headed by Balarāma, became almost breathless, as if the senses and sense organs of a dead body. But the demon Bakāsura, when it was swallowing up Kṛṣṇa, it felt a burning sensation on the throat as if a blazing fire was there, and it was due to the glowing effulgence of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The demon Bakāsura could not swallow Kṛṣṇa. He got Him out again and tried to kill Him by the pinching beaks. The demon Bakāsura did not know that Kṛṣṇa, although was playing the part of a child of Nanda Mahārāja, still, He is the original father of Lord Brahmā, the creator of the universe.
This time the child of mother Yaśodā, who is the reservoir of pleasure for the demigods and who is the maintainer of saintly persons, just in the front of His cowherds boyfriends immediately caught hold of the beaks of the great gigantic duck-like demon who was a friend of King Kaṁsa and, catching the beaks with His two hands, bifurcated the mouth, just like a child tears a blade of grass very easily. At that time the denizens of heavenly planets immediately showered flowers like cāmeli, the most fragrant of all flowers, as token of their congratulation from the sky, and with the showers of flower there was a vibration of bugles and drums and conchshell.
When the cowherds boy saw such showering of flowers and heard the celestial sound, they simply became struck with wonder what was happening there. But all the cowherds boy, including Baladeva, when they saw that Kṛṣṇa out of the mouth of the great demon Bakāsura, they were so much pleased, as if they got back their source of life. As soon as they saw Kṛṣṇa was coming towards them, immediately all of them, one after another, embraced the son of Nanda, colliding their respective chest, and after this, they assembled all the calves under their charge and began to return to home. And when they came home, they began to speak of the wonderful activities of the son of Nanda.
All the gopīs and cowherds men, when they heard from the boys about the wonderful activities of Kṛṣṇa, they felt too much happy, because naturally they loved Kṛṣṇa, and when they heard about His glories and victorious activities, they became still more affectionate to Him. Thinking that the child Kṛṣṇa was saved from the mouth of death, they began to see the face of Kṛṣṇa with great love and affection, with full of anxieties, but they could not turn their face from the vision of Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs and the cowherds men began to converse amongst themselves that "It is very wonderful that this child Kṛṣṇa was attacked in so many ways and so many times by so many demons, but after all, the demons themselves were killed without any injury to the body of the child."
They continued to converse amongst themselves that "So many great demons in such fierceful body attacked Kṛṣṇa to kill Him, but by the grace of Hari they could not cause even a slight injury on His body. But on the other hand they died, as if the small flies fall down itself in the fire and meet with death." Thus they began to remember the words of Gargācārya, who foretold, by dint of his vast knowledge in the Vedas and astrology, that this boy would be attacked by many demons and so He should be given all protection. "Now we actually see that his foretelling is coming to be true, word to word."
In this way, all the elderly cowherds men, including King Nanda Mahārāja, used to talk of the wonderful activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, and they were always so much absorbed in such talk that they forgot the threefold miseries of this material existence. This is the effect of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What was enjoyed 5,000 years ago by Nanda Mahārāja, still it can be enjoyed by persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness simply by talking about the transcendental pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates.
Thus both Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa enjoyed Their childhood pastimes, imitating the monkeys of Lord Rāmacandra, who constructed the bridge on the ocean and who jumped over the country Ceylon. And They used to imitate such playing amongst Their friends and happily passed Their childhood life.
Next paragraph.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Eleventh Chapter of Kṛṣṇa in the matter of "Killing the Demon of the name Vatsāsura and Bakāsura."