Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
And now, Chapter
7 / Salvation of Trnavarta
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is always full of six opulences
-- namely complete wealth, complete strength, complete fame, complete
knowledge, complete beauty and complete renunciation.
The Lord appears in different complete, eternal forms of incarnation.
The conditioned soul has immense opportunity to hear about the transcendental
activities of the Lord in these different incarnations.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is said, janma karma ca me divyam.
The pastimes and activities of the Lord are not
material; they are beyond the material conception.
But the conditioned soul can benefit by hearing such uncommon
activities.
Hearing is an opportunity to associate with the Lord; to
hear His activities is to evolve to the transcendental nature -- simply
by hearing.
The conditioned soul has a natural aptitude to hear something
about other conditioned souls in the form of fiction, drama and novel.
That inclination to hear something about others may be utilized in
hearing the pastimes of the Lord.
Then one can immediately evolve to his transcendental nature.
Krsna's pastimes are not only beautiful; they are also very pleasing to
the mind.
If someone takes advantage of hearing the pastimes of the Lord, the
material contamination of dust, accumulated in the heart due to long
association with material nature, can be immediately cleansed.
Lord Caitanya also instructed that simply by hearing
the transcendental name of Lord Krsna, one can cleanse the heart of all
material contamination.
There are different processes for self-realization,
but this process of devotional service -- of which hearing is
the most important function -- when adopted by any conditioned soul, will
automatically cleanse him of the material contamination and enable him
to realize his real constitutional position.
Conditional life is due to this contamination only, and as soon as it is cleared off, then
naturally the dormant function of the living entity -- rendering
service to the Lord -- awakens.
By developing his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, one becomes
eligible to create friendship with the devotees.
Maharaja Pariksit recommended, from practical experience, that
everyone try to hear about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord.
This Krsna treatise is meant for that purpose, and the reader may take advantage
in order to attain the ultimate goal of human life.
The Lord, out of His causeless mercy, descends on this material world and
displays His activities just like an ordinary man.
Unfortunately the impious entities or the atheistic class of
men consider Krsna to be an ordinary man like themselves, and so they
deride Him.
This is condemned in the Bhagavad-gita by the Lord Himself when
He says, "Avajananti mam mudhah."
The mudhas, or the rascals, take Krsna to be an ordinary man or a
slightly more powerful man; out of their great misfortune, they cannot
accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Sometimes such unfortunate persons misrepresent themselves
as incarnations of Krsna without referring to the authorized scriptures.
When Krsna grew up a little more, He began to turn Himself backside up; He
did not merely lie down on His back.
And another function was observed by Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja: Krsna's first birthday.
They arranged for Krsna's birthday ceremony, which is still
observed by all followers of the Vedic principles.
(Krsna's birthday ceremony is observed in India by all
Hindus, irrespective of different sectarian views.)
All the cowherd men and women were invited to participate, and
they arrived in jubilation.
A n ice band played, and the people assembled
enjoyed it.
All the learned brahmanas were invited, and they chanted Vedic
hymns for the good fortune of Krsna.
During the chanting of the Vedic hymns and playing of the bands,
Krsna was bathed by mother Yasoda.
This bathing ceremony is technically called abhiseka, and even today this is observed
in all the temples of Vrndavana as Janmastami Day, or the birthday
anniversary of Lord Krsna.
On this occasion, mother Yasoda arranged to distribute a large quantity of
grains, and first-class cows decorated with golden ornaments were made
ready to be given in charity to the learned, respectable brahmanas.
Yasoda took her bath and dressed herself nicely,
and taking child Krsna, duly dressed and bathed, on her lap, she sat down
to hear the Vedic hymns chanted by the brahmanas.
While listening to the chanting of the Vedic hymns, the child appeared to be falling asleep,
and therefore mother Yasoda very silently laid Him down on the
bed.
Being engaged in receiving all the friends, relatives and residents of
Vrndavana on that holy occasion, she forgot to feed the child milk.
He was crying, being hungry, but mother Yasoda could not hear Him cry because
of the various noises.
The child, however, became angry because He was hungry and His mother was
not paying attention to Him.
So He lifted His legs and began to kick His lotus feet just like an ordinary child.
Baby Krsna had been placed underneath a hand-driven cart, and while He
was kicking His legs, He accidentally touched the wheel of the cart,
and it collapsed.
Various kinds of utensils and brass and metal dishes
had been piled up in the handcart, and they all fell down with a great
noise.
The wheel of the cart separated from the axle, and the spokes of
the wheel were all broken and scattered hither and thither.
Mother Yasoda and all the gopis, as well as Maharaja Nanda and the cowherd men, were astonished
as to how the cart could have collapsed by itself.
All the men and women who were assembled for the holy function crowded around and began
to suggest how the cart might have collapsed.
No one could ascertain the cause, but some small
children who were entrusted to play with baby Krsna informed the crowd
that it was due to Krsna's striking His feet against the wheel.
They assured the crowd that they had seen how it
happened with their own eyes, and they strongly asserted the point.
Some were listening to the statement of the small children, but others said, "How
can you believe the statements of these children?"
The cowherd men and women could not understand that the all-powerful Personality
of Godhead was lying there as a baby, and He could do anything.
Both the possible and impossible were in His power.
While the discussion was going on, baby Krsna cried.
Without remonstration, mother Yasoda picked the child
up on her lap and called the learned brahmanas to chant holy Vedic hymns
to counteract the evil spirits.
At the same time she allowed the baby to suck her breast.
If a child sucks the mother's breast nicely, it
is to be understood that he is out of all danger.
After this, all the stronger cowherd men put the broken
cart in order, and all the scattered things were set up nicely as before.
The brahmanas thereafter began to offer oblations to the sacrificial fire
with yogurt, butter, kusa grass, and water.
They worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead for the good fortune
of the child.
The brahmanas who were present at that time were all qualified because they
were not envious; they never indulged in untruthfulness, they were never
proud, they were nonviolent, and they never claimed any false prestige.
They were all bona fide brahmanas, and there was no reason to think that
their blessing would be useless.
With firm faith in the qualified brahmanas, Nanda Maharaja took his child on
his lap and bathed Him with water mixed with various herbs while the brahmanas
chanted hymns from the Rk, Yajus and Sama Vedas.
It is said that without being a qualified brahmana, one should not read the
mantras of the Vedas.
Here is the proof that the brahmanas were qualified
with all the brahminical symptoms.
Maharaja Nanda also had full faith in them.
Therefore they were allowed to perform the ritualistic ceremonies by
chanting the Vedic mantras.
There are many different varieties of sacrifices recommended for different purposes,
but the mantras are all to be chanted by qualified brahmanas.
And because in this age of Kali such qualified brahmanas are not available, all
Vedic ritualistic sacrifices are forbidden.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore recommended only one
kind of sacrifice in this age -- namely sankirtana yajna, or simply
chanting the mahamantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
As the brahmanas chanted the Vedic hymns and performed the ritualistic
ceremonies for the second time, Nanda Maharaja again gave huge quantities
of grains and many cows to them.
All the cows which were given in charity were covered with nice gold-embroidered garments,
and their horns were bedecked with golden rings; their hooves were
covered with silver plate, and they wore garlands of flowers.
He gave so many cows just for the welfare of his wonderful child, and the brahmanas
in return bestowed their heartfelt blessing.
And the blessings offered by the able brahmanas were
never to be baffled.
One day, shortly after this ceremony, when mother Yasoda was patting her
baby on her lap, the baby felt too heavy, and being unable to carry Him,
she unwillingly placed Him on the ground.
After a while, she became engaged in household affairs.
At that time, one of the servants of Kamsa, known as Trnavarta, as instructed by Kamsa,
appeared there in the shape of a whirlwind.
He picked the child up on his shoulders and raised a great
dust storm all over Vrndavana.
Because of this, everyone's eyes became covered within a few moments, and the whole
area of Vrndavana became densely dark so that no one could see himself
or anyone else.
During this great catastrophe, mother Yasoda could not
see her baby, who was taken away by the whirlwind, and she began to cry
very piteously.
She fell down on the ground exactly like a cow who has just
lost her calf.
When mother Yasoda was so piteously crying, all the cowherd
women immediately came and began to look for the baby, but they were
disappointed and could not find Him.
The Trnavarta demon who took baby Krsna on his shoulder went high in
the sky, but the baby assumed such a weight that suddenly he could not go
any further, and he had to stop his whirlwind activities.
Baby Krsna made Himself heavy and began to weigh down the
demon.
The Lord caught hold of his neck.
Trnavarta felt the baby to be as heavy as a big mountain, and he
tried to get out of His clutches, but he was unable to do so, and his eyes
popped out from their sockets.
Crying very fiercely, he fell down to the ground of Vrndavana and died.
The demon fell exactly like Tripurasura, who was pierced by the arrow of Lord Siva.
He hit the stone ground, and his limbs were smashed.
His body became visible to all the inhabitants of
Vrndavana.
When the gopis saw the demon killed and child Krsna very happily playing on
his body, they immediately picked Krsna up with great affection.
The cowherd men and women became very happy to
get back their beloved child Krsna.
At that time they began to talk about how wonderful it was that the
demon took away the child to devour Him but could not do so; instead he
fell down dead.
Some of them supported the situation: "This is proper
because those who are too sinful die from their sinful reactions, and
child Krsna is pious; therefore He is saved from all kinds of fearful
situations.
And we too must have performed great sacrifices in our
previous lives, worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, giving
great wealth in charity and acting philanthropically for the general
welfare of men.
Because of such pious activities, the child is saved from
all danger."
The gopis assembled there spoke among themselves: "What sort of austerities
and penances we must have undergone in our previous lives!
We must have worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
offered different kinds of sacrifices, made charities and performed many
welfare activities for the public such as growing banyan trees and excavating
wells.
As a result of these pious activities, we have got back our
child, even though He was supposed to be dead.
Now He has come back to enliven His relatives."
After observing such wonderful happenings, Nanda
Maharaja began to think of the words of Vasudeva again and again.
After this incident, when Yasoda once was nursing her child and patting Him
with great affection, there streamed a profuse supply of milk from her
breast, and when she opened the mouth of the child with her fingers, she
suddenly saw the universal manifestation within His mouth.
She saw within the mouth of Krsna the whole sky, including
the luminaries, stars in all directions, the sun, moon, fire, air, seas,
islands, mountains, rivers, forests, and all other movable and immovable
entities.
Upon seeing this, mother Yasoda's heart began to throb, and
she murmured within herself, "How wonderful this is!"
She could not express anything, but simply closed her
eyes.
She was absorbed in wonderful thoughts.
Krsna's showing the universal form of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, even when lying down on the lap of His mother, proves that the
Supreme Personality of Godhead is always the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
whether He is manifested as a child on the lap of His mother or as a charioteer
on the battlefield of Kuruksetra.
The concoction of the impersonalist, that one can become God by
meditation or by some artificial material activities, is herewith declared
false.
God is always God in any condition or status, and the living
entities are always the parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord.
They can never be equal to the inconceivable supernatural
power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventh Chapter of Krsna,
"Salvation of Trnavarta."