Sri Krishna’s Brindavanam and Dvarka Lilas : 3. Glory of Srimad Maha Bhagavatam : Swami Krishnananda

11/01/2019
Sri Krishna’s Brindavanam and Dvarka Lilas : 3

3.1
The lilas, or the plays of God in the form of Sri Krishna, have been inscrutable right from the beginning. The very purpose of the play of God is to manifest those realities which are beyond human comprehension—to stultify human thought, paralyse all human action, stun the individual ego, and transform human nature into divine nature.

Everything is a miracle right from the beginning of Sri Krishna’s life—his birth in a prison, the prison doors opening automatically, the crossing of the Yamuna River, and the various fantastic scenes that are associated with him in the Vrindavana Lila. Boisterous, naughty and uncontrollable is the nature that Sri Krishna demonstrated right from childhood. He was not a simple, obedient, calm and quiet child. He was disobedient, boisterous, rebellious, independent in every way, and if anybody interfered with his independence, he would react with consternation, a wonder which surpasses human understanding.

3.2
He would break pots, steal things, and damage all things, which is not the usual behaviour of a child. He would take away everything that one possesses, and make one feel grieved that valuable things have been lost; but at the same time, he would see to it that he endeared himself to everyone. With all the pranks that he played which were contrary to human expectation, he managed to see to it that he became the most beloved of all the children. Nobody could dislike him, irrespective of his funny behaviour, which was not expected from a little child. So, there was a double behaviour: naughtiness and unpleasantness inflicted upon people and, at the same time, becoming the most beautiful darling of humanity.

3.3
God’s ways are always a combination of opposites. It is not a stereotyped action, as we think. God can create the world, and He can also destroy the world. He can create human beings, and then flood them with heavy rains which damage crops and wash away villages. Even after having created the Earth as an abode for people, He can cause earthquakes, pestilence, disease, and He can also provide the greatest cures. When Sri Krishna was naughty, his mother, out of exhaustion, tied him to a huge pestle, and he used the pestle to which he was tied to uproot a tree—an unthinkable action.

People attributed this kind of event to the operation of a devil, and they poured auspicious mantra-purified water on him to free him from the effects of any kind of adverse forces that they thought were the reason for such catastrophic events such as the falling of a tree for no reason whatsoever, as nobody could imagine that a child could pull out a tree by its roots. He could kick up a row and create a dust storm, and do whatever he liked with his comrades, and yet they loved him immensely.

To be continued ..