Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the priest of the Yadu dynasty, namely Garga Muni, who was highly elevated in aus terity and penance, was then inspired by Vasudeva to go see Nanda Mahārāja at his home. (1) When Nanda Mahārāja saw Garga Muni present at his home, Nanda was so pleased that he stood up to receive him with folded hands. Although seeing Garga Muni with his eyes, Nanda Mahārāja could appreci ate that Garga Muni was adhokṣaja; that is, he was not an ordinary person seen by material senses. (2) When Garga Muni had been properly received as a guest and was very com fortably seated, Nanda Mahārāja submitted with gentle and submissive words: Dear sir, be cause you are a devotee, you are full in every thing. Yet my duty is to serve you. Kindly order me. What can I do for you? (3)

O my lord, O great devotee, persons like you move from one place to another not for their own interests but for the sake of poor-hearted gṛhasthas [house holders]. Otherwise they have no interest in go ing from one place to another. (4) O great saintly person, you have compiled the astrolog ical knowledge by which one can understand past and present unseen things. By the strength of this knowledge, any human being can under stand what he has done in his past life and how it affects his present life. This is known to you. (5) My lord, you are the best of the brāhmaṇas, especially because you are fully aware of the jyotiḥ-śāstra, the astrological science. There fore, you are naturally the spiritual master of every human being. This being so, since you have kindly come to my house, kindly execute the reformatory activities for my two sons. (6)

Garga Muni said: My dear Nanda Mahārāja, I am the priestly guide of the Yadu dynasty. This is known everywhere. Therefore, if I perform the purificatory process for your sons, Kaṁsa will consider Them the sons of Devakī. (7) Kaṁsa is both a great diplomat and a very sinful man. Therefore, having heard from Yoga-māyā, the daughter of Devakī, that the child who will kill him has already been born somewhere else, having heard that the eighth pregnancy of Devakī could not bring forth a female child, and having understood your friendship with Vasudeva, Kaṁsa, upon hearing that the purificatory process has been performed by me, the priest of the Yadu dyn asty, may certainly consider all these points and suspect that Kṛṣṇa is the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. Then he might take steps to kill Kṛṣṇa. That would be a catastrophe. (8-9)

Nanda Mahārāja said: My dear great sage, if you think that your performing this process of purification will make Kaṁsa suspicious, then secretly chant the Vedic hymns and per form the purifying process of second birth here in the cow shed of my house, without the knowledge of anyone else, even my relatives, for this process of purification is essential. (10) Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Having thus been especially requested by Nanda Mahārāja to do that which he already desired to do, Garga Muni performed the name-giving ceremony for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma in a solitary place. (11) Garga Muni said: This child, the son of Ro hiṇī, will give all happiness to His relatives and friends by His transcendental qualities. There fore, He will be known as Rāma. And because He will manifest extraordinary bodily strength, He will also be known as Bala. Moreover, be cause He unites two familiesVasudeva’s family and the family of Nanda MahārājaHe will be known as Saṅkarṣaṇa. (12)

Your son Kṛṣṇa ap pears as an incarnation in every millennium. In the past, He assumed three different col orswhite, red and yellowand now He has ap peared in a blackish color. [In another Dvāpara yuga, He appeared (as Lord Rāmacandra) in the color of śuka, a parrot. All such incarnations have now assembled in Kṛṣṇa.] (13) For many reasons, this beautiful son of yours sometimes appeared previously as the son of Vasudeva. Therefore, those who are learned sometimes call this child Vāsudeva. (14) For this son of yours there are many forms and names accord ing to His transcendental qualities and activi ties. These are known to me, but people in gen eral do not understand them. (15) To increase the transcendental bliss of the cowherd men of Gokula, this child will always act auspiciously for you. And by His grace only, you will sur pass all difficulties. (16)

O Nanda Mahārāja, as recorded in history, when there was an irregu lar, incapable government, Indra having been dethroned, and people were being harassed and disturbed by thieves, this child appeared in or der to protect the people and enable them to flourish, and He curbed the rogues and thieves. (17) Demons [asuras] cannot harm the demi gods, who always have Lord Viṣṇu on their side. Similarly, any person or group attached to Kṛṣṇa is extremely fortunate. Because such persons are very much affectionate toward Kṛṣṇa, they cannot be defeated by demons like the associates of Kaṁsa [or by the internal en emies, the senses]. (18) In conclusion, there fore, O Nanda Mahārāja, this child of yours is as good as Nārāyaṇa. In His transcendental qualities, opulence, name, fame and influence, He is exactly like Nārāyaṇa. You should all raise this child very carefully and cautiously. (19) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: After Garga Muni, having instructed Nanda Mahārāja about Kṛṣṇa, departed for his own home, Nanda Mahārāja was very pleased and considered himself full of all good fortune. (20)

After a short time passed, both brothers, Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, began to crawl on the ground of Vraja with the strength of Their hands and knees and thus enjoy Their childhood play. (21) When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, with the strength of Their legs, crawled in the muddy places created in Vraja by cow dung and cow urine, Their crawling resembled the crawling of serpents, and the sound of Their ankle bells was very charming. Very much pleased by the sound of other people’s ankle bells, They used to follow these people as if going to Their mothers, but when They saw that these were other people, They became afraid and returned to Their real mothers, Yaśodā and Rohiṇī. (22) Dressed with muddy earth mixed with cow dung and cow urine, the babies looked very beautiful, and when They went to Their moth ers, both Yaśodā and Rohiṇī picked Them up with great affection, embraced Them and al lowed Them to suck the milk flowing from their breasts. While sucking the breast, the ba bies smiled, and Their small teeth were visible. Their mothers, upon seeing those beautiful teeth, enjoyed great transcendental bliss. (23)

Within the house of Nanda Mahārāja, the cow herd ladies would enjoy seeing the pastimes of the babies Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. The babies would catch the ends of the calves’ tails, and the calves would drag Them here and there. When the ladies saw these pastimes, they certainly stopped their household activities and laughed and enjoyed the incidents. (24) When mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī were unable to protect the babies from calamities threatened by horned cows, by fire, by animals with claws and teeth such as monkeys, dogs and cats, and by thorns, swords and other weapons on the ground, they were always in anxiety, and their household en gagements were disturbed. At that time, they were fully equipoised in the transcendental ec stasy known as the distress of material affec tion, for this was aroused within their minds. (25)

O King Parīkṣit, within a very short time both Rāma and Kṛṣṇa began to walk very easily in Gokula on Their legs, by Their own strength, without the need to crawl. (26) Thereafter, Lord Kṛṣṇa, along with Balarāma, began to play with the other children of the cowherd men, thus awakening the transcendental bliss of the cow herd women. (27) Observing the very attractive childish restlessness of Kṛṣṇa, all the gopīs in the neighborhood, to hear about Kṛṣṇa’s activ ities again and again, would approach mother Yaśodā and speak to her as follows. (28) “Our dear friend Yaśodā, your son some times comes to our houses before the milking of the cows and releases the calves, and when the master of the house becomes angry, your son merely smiles. Sometimes He devises some process by which He steals palatable curd, but ter and milk, which He then eats and drinks. When the monkeys assemble, He divides it with them, and when the monkeys have their bellies so full that they won’t take more, He breaks the pots. Sometimes, if He gets no op portunity to steal butter or milk from a house, He will be angry at the householders, and for His revenge He will agitate the small children by pinching them. Then, when the children begin crying, Kṛṣṇa will go away. (29)

“When the milk and curd are kept high on a swing hanging from the ceiling and Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma cannot reach it, They arrange to reach it by piling up various planks and turning up side down the mortar for grinding spices. Being quite aware of the contents of a pot, They poke holes in it. While the elderly gopīs go about their household affairs, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma sometimes go into a dark room, brightening the place with the valuable jewels and ornaments on Their bodies and taking advantage of this light by stealing. (30) “When Kṛṣṇa is caught in His naughty activities, the master of the house will say to Him, ‘Oh, You are a thief,’ and artificially express anger at Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will then reply, ‘I am not a thief. You are a thief.’ Sometimes, being angry, Kṛṣṇa passes urine and stool in a neat, clean place in our houses. But now, our dear friend Yaśodā, this expert thief is sitting before you like a very good boy.” Sometimes all the gopīs would look at Kṛṣṇa sitting there, His eyes fearful so that His mother would not chastise Him, and when they saw Kṛṣṇa’s beautiful face, instead of chastising Him they would simply look upon His face and enjoy transcendental bliss. Mother Yaśodā would mildly smile at all this fun, and she would not want to chastise her blessed tran scendental child. (31)

One day while Kṛṣṇa was playing with His small playmates, including Balarāma and other sons of the gopas, all His friends came together and lodged a complaint to mother Yaśodā. “Mother,” they submitted, “Kṛṣṇa has eaten earth.” (32) Upon hearing this from Kṛṣṇa’s playmates, mother Yaśodā, who was always full of anxiety over Kṛṣṇa’s welfare, picked Kṛṣṇa up with her hands to look into His mouth and chastise Him. Her eyes fearful, she spoke to her son as follows. (33) Dear Kṛṣṇa, why are You so restless that You have eaten dirt in a solitary place? This complaint has been lodged against You by all Your playmates, including Your elder brother, Balarāma. How is this? (34) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied: My dear mother, I have never eaten dirt. All My friends complain ing against Me are liars. If you think they are being truthful, you can directly look into My mouth and examine it. (35)

Mother Yaśodā challenged Kṛṣṇa, “If You have not eaten earth, then open Your mouth wide.” When challenged by His mother in this way, Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, to exhibit pas times like a human child, opened His mouth. Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is full of all opulences, did not dis turb His mother’s parental affection, His opu lence was automatically displayed, for Kṛṣṇa’s opulence is never lost at any stage, but is man ifest at the proper time. (36) When Kṛṣṇa opened His mouth wide by the order of mother Yaśodā, she saw within His mouth all moving and nonmoving entities, outer space, and all directions, along with mountains, islands, oceans, the surface of the earth, the blowing wind, fire, the moon and the stars. She saw the planetary systems, water, light, air, sky, and creation by transformation of ahaṅkāra. She also saw the senses, the mind, sense perception, and the three qualities, good ness, passion and ignorance. She saw the time allotted for the living entities, she saw natural instinct and the reactions of karma, and she saw desires and different varieties of bodies, mov ing and nonmoving. Seeing all these aspects of the cosmic manifestation, along with herself and Vṛndāvana-dhāma, she became doubtful and fearful of her son’s nature. (37-39)

[Mother Yaśodā began to argue within herself:] Is this a dream, or is it an illusory creation by the exter nal energy? Has this been manifested by my own intelligence, or is it some mystic power of my child? (40) Therefore, let me surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offer my obeisances unto Him, who is beyond the conception of human speculation, the mind, ac tivities, words and arguments, who is the origi nal cause of this cosmic manifestation, by whom the entire cosmos is maintained, and by whom we can conceive of its existence. Let me simply offer my obeisances, for He is beyond my contemplation, speculation and meditation. He is beyond all of my material activities. (41) It is by the influence of the Supreme Lord’s māyā that I am wrongly thinking that Nanda Mahārāja is my husband, that Kṛṣṇa is my son, and that because I am the queen of Nanda Mahārāja, all the wealth of cows and calves are my possessions and all the cowherd men and their wives are my subjects. Actually, I also am eternally subordinate to the Supreme Lord. He is my ultimate shelter. (42)

Mother Yaśodā, by the grace of the Lord, could understand the real truth. But then again, the supreme master, by the influence of the internal potency, Yoga māyā, inspired her to become absorbed in in tense maternal affection for her son. (43) Im mediately forgetting Yoga-māyā’s illusion that Kṛṣṇa had shown the universal form within His mouth, mother Yaśodā took her son on her lap as before, feeling increased affection in her heart for her transcendental child. (44) The glo ries of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are studied through the three Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the literature of Sāṅkhya-yoga, and other Vaiṣṇava literature, yet mother Yaśodā consid ered that Supreme Person her ordinary child. (45)

Having heard of the great fortune of mother Yaśodā, Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī: O learned brāhmaṇa, mother Yaśodā’s breast milk was sucked by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What past auspicious activities did she and Nanda Mahārāja perform to achieve such perfection in ecstatic love? (46) Although Kṛṣṇa was so pleased with Vasudeva and Devakī that He de scended as their son, they could not enjoy Kṛṣṇa’s magnanimous childhood pastimes, which are so great that simply chanting about them vanquishes the contamination of the ma terial world. Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, however, enjoyed these pastimes fully, and therefore their position is always better than that of Vasudeva and Devakī. (47)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: To follow the or ders of Lord Brahmā, Droṇa, the best of the Va sus, along with his wife, Dharā, spoke to Lord Brahmā in this way. (48) Droṇa and Dharā said: Please permit us to be born on the planet earth so that after our appearance, the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, the supreme con troller and master of all planets, will also ap pear and spread devotional service, the ultimate goal of life, so that those born in this material world may very easily be delivered from the miserable condition of materialistic life by ac cepting this devotional service. (49) When Brahmā said, “Yes, let it be so,” the most for tune Droṇa, who was equal to Bhagavān, ap peared in Vrajapura, Vṛndāvana, as the most fa mous Nanda Mahārāja, and his wife, Dharā, ap peared as mother Yaśodā. (50)

Thereafter, O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the Bhāratas, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead became the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, they maintained continuous, unswerving devotional love in parental affection. And in their associa tion, all the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, the gopas and gopīs, developed the culture of kṛṣṇa-bhakti. (51) Thus the Supreme Personal ity, Kṛṣṇa, along with Balarāma, lived in Vra jabhūmi, Vṛndāvana, just to substantiate the benediction of Brahmā. By exhibiting different pastimes in His childhood, He increased the transcendental pleasure of Nanda and the other inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. (52)

King Parīkṣit said: My lord, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, all the various activities exhibited by the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are certainly pleasing to the ear and to the mind. Simply by one’s hearing of these activities, the dirty things in one’s mind immedi ately vanish. Generally we are reluctant to hear about the activities of the Lord, but Kṛṣṇa’s childhood activities are so attractive that they are automatically pleasing to the mind and ear. Thus one’s attachment for hearing about material things, which is the root cause of material existence, vanishes, and one gradually devel ops devotional service to the Supreme Lord, at tachment for Him, and friendship with devotees who give us the contribution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you think it fit, kindly speak about those activities of the Lord. (1-2)

Please describe other pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality, who appeared on this planet earth, imitating a human child and performing won derful activities like killing Pūtanā. (3) Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: When mother Yaśodā’s baby was slanting His body to at tempt to rise and turn around, this attempt was observed by a Vedic ceremony. In such a cere mony, called utthāna, which is performed when a child is due to leave the house for the first time, the child is properly bathed. Just after Kṛṣṇa turned three months old, mother Yaśodā celebrated this ceremony with other women of the neighborhood. On that day, there was a con junction of the moon with the constellation Ro hiṇī. As the brāhmaṇas joined by chanting Ve dic hymns and professional musicians also took part, this great ceremony was observed by mother Yaśodā. (4)

After completing the bath ing ceremony for the child, mother Yaśodā re ceived the brāhmaṇas by worshiping them with proper respect and giving them ample food grains and other eatables, clothing, desirable cows, and garlands. The brāhmaṇas properly chanted Vedic hymns to observe the auspicious ceremony, and when they finished and mother Yaśodā saw that the child felt sleepy, she lay down on the bed with the child until He was peacefully asleep. (5) The liberal mother Yaśodā, absorbed in celebrating the utthāna ceremony, was busy receiving guests, worship ing them with all respect and offering them clothing, cows, garlands and grains. Thus she could not hear the child crying for His mother. At that time, the child Kṛṣṇa, demanding to drink the milk of His mother’s breast, angrily threw His legs upward. (6)

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was lying down underneath the handcart in one cor ner of the courtyard, and although His little legs were as soft as leaves, when He struck the cart with His legs, it turned over violently and col lapsed. The wheels separated from the axle, the hubs and spokes fell apart, and the pole of the handcart broke. On the cart there were many lit tle utensils made of various metals, and all of them scattered hither and thither. (7) When mother Yaśodā and the other ladies who had as sembled for the utthāna festival, and all the men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, saw the won derful situation, they began to wonder how the handcart had collapsed by itself. They began to wander here and there, trying to find the cause, but were unable to do so. (8) The assembled cowherd men and ladies began to contemplate how this thing had happened. “Is it the work of some demon or evil planet?” they asked. At that time, the small children present asserted that the cart had been kicked apart by the baby Kṛṣṇa. As soon as the crying baby had kicked the cart’s wheel, the cart had collapsed. There was no doubt about it. (9)

The assembled gopīs and gopas, unaware that Kṛṣṇa is always unlim ited, could not believe that baby Kṛṣṇa had such inconceivable power. They could not believe the statements of the children, and therefore they neglected these statements as being child ish talk. (10) Thinking that some bad planet had attacked Kṛṣṇa, mother Yaśodā picked up the crying child and allowed Him to suck her breast. Then she called for experienced brāhmaṇas to chant Vedic hymns and perform an auspicious ritual istic ceremony. (11) After the strong, stout cowherd men assembled the pots and parapher nalia on the handcart and set it up as before, the brāhmaṇas performed a ritualistic ceremony with a fire sacrifice to appease the bad planet, and then, with rice grains, kuśa, water and curd, they worshiped the Supreme Lord. (12)

When brāhmaṇas are free from envy, untruthfulness, unnecessary pride, grudges, disturbance by the opulence of others, and false prestige, their blessings never go in vain. Considering this, Nanda Mahārāja soberly took Kṛṣṇa on his lap and invited such truthful brāhmaṇas to perform a ritualistic ceremony according to the holy hymns of the Sāma Veda, Ṛg Veda and Yajur Veda. Then, while the hymns were being chanted, he bathed the child with water mixed with pure herbs, and after performing a fire cer emony, he sumptuously fed all the brāhmaṇas with first-class grains and other food. (13-15) Nanda Mahārāja, for the sake of the affluence of his own son Kṛṣṇa, gave the brāhmaṇas cows fully decorated with garments, flower garlands and gold necklaces. These cows, fully qualified to give ample milk, were given to the brāhmaṇas in charity, and the brāhmaṇas ac cepted them and bestowed blessings upon the whole family, and especially upon Kṛṣṇa. (16)

The brāhmaṇas, who were completely expert in chanting the Vedic hymns, were all yogīs fully equipped with mystic powers. Whatever bless ings they spoke were certainly never fruitless. (17) One day, a year after Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, mother Yaśodā was patting her son on her lap. But suddenly she felt the child to be heavier than a mountain peak, and she could no longer bear His weight. (18) Feeling the child to be as heavy as the entire universe and therefore being anxious, thinking that perhaps the child was be ing attacked by some other ghost or demon, the astonished mother Yaśodā put the child down on the ground and began to think of Nārāyaṇa. Foreseeing disturbances, she called for the brāhmaṇas to counteract this heaviness, and then she engaged in her other household affairs. She had no alternative than to remember the lo tus feet of Nārāyaṇa, for she could not under stand that Kṛṣṇa was the original source of eve rything. (19)

While the child was sitting on the ground, a demon named Tṛṇāvarta, who was a servant of Kaṁsa’s, came there as a whirlwind, at Kaṁsa’s instigation, and very easily carried the child away into the air. (20) Covering the whole land of Gokula with particles of dust, that de mon, acting as a strong whirlwind, covered everyone’s vision and began vibrating every where with a greatly fearful sound. (21) For a moment, the whole pasturing ground was over cast with dense darkness from the dust storm, and mother Yaśodā was unable to find her son where she had placed Him. (22) Because of the bits of sand thrown about by Tṛṇāvarta, people could not see themselves or anyone else, and thus they were illusioned and disturbed. (23) Because of the dust storm stirred up by the strong whirlwind, mother Yaśodā could find no trace of her son, nor could she understand why. Thus she fell down on the ground like a cow who has lost her calf and began to lament very pitifully. (24)

When the force of the dust storm and the winds subsided, Yaśodā’s friends, the other go pīs, approached mother Yaśodā, hearing her pitiful crying. Not seeing Kṛṣṇa present, they too felt very much aggrieved and joined mother Yaśodā in crying, their eyes full of tears. (25) Having assumed the form of a forceful whirlwind, the demon Tṛṇāvarta took Kṛṣṇa very high in the sky, but when Kṛṣṇa became heavier than the demon, the demon had to stop his force and could go no further. (26) Because of Kṛṣṇa’s weight, Tṛṇāvarta con sidered Him to be like a great mountain or a hunk of iron. But because Kṛṣṇa had caught the demon’s neck, the demon was unable to throw Him off. He therefore thought of the child as wonderful, since he could neither bear the child nor cast aside the burden. (27)

With Kṛṣṇa grasping him by the throat, Tṛṇāvarta choked, unable to make even a sound or even to move his hands and legs. His eyes popping out, the demon lost his life and fell, along with the little boy, down to the ground of Vraja. (28) While the gopīs who had gathered were crying for Kṛṣṇa, the demon fell from the sky onto a big slab of stone, his limbs dislocated, as if he had been pierced by the arrow of Lord Śiva like Tripurāsura. (29) The gopīs immediately picked Kṛṣṇa up from the chest of the demon and delivered Him, free from all inauspicious ness, to mother Yaśodā. Because the child, alt hough taken into the sky by the demon, was un hurt and now free from all danger and misfor tune, the gopīs and cowherd men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, were extremely happy. (30)

It is most astonishing that although this innocent child was taken away by the Rākṣasa to be eaten, He has returned without having been killed or even injured. Because this demon was envious, cruel and sinful, he has been killed for his own sinful activities. This is the law of na ture. An innocent devotee is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and a sinful person is always vanquished for his sin ful life. (31) Nanda Mahārāja and the others said: We must previously have performed aus terities for a very long time, worshiped the Su preme Personality of Godhead, performed pi ous activities for public life, constructing pub lic roads and wells, and also given charity, as a result of which this boy, although faced with death, has returned to give happiness to His rel atives. (32) Having seen all these incidents in Bṛhadvana, Nanda Mahārāja became more and more astonished, and he remembered the words spoken to him by Vasudeva in Mathurā. (33)

One day, mother Yaśodā, having taken Kṛṣṇa up and placed Him on her lap, was feed ing Him milk from her breast with maternal af fection. The milk was flowing from her breast, and the child was drinking it. (34) O King Parīkṣit, when the child Kṛṣṇa was almost fin ished drinking His mother’s milk and mother Yaśodā was touching Him and looking at His beautiful, brilliantly smiling face, the baby yawned, and mother Yaśodā saw in His mouth the whole sky, the higher planetary system and the earth, the luminaries in all directions, the sun, the moon, fire, air, the seas, islands, moun tains, rivers, forests, and all kinds of living en tities, moving and nonmoving. (35-36) When mother Yaśodā saw the whole universe within the mouth of her child, her heart began to throb, and in astonishment she wanted to close her restless eyes. (37)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, while Nanda Mahārāja was on the way home, he considered that what Vasudeva had said could not be false or useless. There must have been some danger of disturbances in Gokula. As Nanda Mahārāja thought about the danger for his beautiful son, Kṛṣṇa, he was afraid, and he took shelter at the lotus feet of the supreme controller. (1) While Nanda Mahārāja was returning to Gokula, the same fierce Pūtanā whom Kaṁsa had previously en gaged to kill babies was wandering about in the towns, cities and villages, doing her nefarious duty. (2)

My dear King, wherever people in any position perform their occupational duties of devotional service by chanting and hearing [śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ], there cannot be any danger from bad elements. Therefore, there was no need for anxiety about Gokula while the Supreme Personality of Godhead was person ally present. (3) Once upon a time, Pūtanā Rākṣasī, who could move according to her de sire and was wandering in outer space, con verted herself by mystic power into a very beautiful woman and thus entered Gokula, the abode of Nanda Mahārāja. (4)

Her hips were full, her breasts were large and firm, seeming to overburden her slim waist, and she was dressed very nicely. Her hair, adorned with a garland of mallikā flowers, was scattered about her beau tiful face. Her earrings were brilliant, and as she smiled very attractively, glancing upon every one, her beauty drew the attention of all the in habitants of Vraja, especially the men. When the gopīs saw her, they thought that the beauti ful goddess of fortune, holding a lotus flower in her hand, had come to see her husband, Kṛṣṇa. (5-6) While searching for small children, Pūtanā, whose business was to kill them, entered the house of Nanda Mahārāja unobstructed, having been sent by the superior potency of the Lord. Without asking anyone’s permission, she en tered Nanda Mahārāja’s room, where she saw the child sleeping in bed, His unlimited power covered like a powerful fire covered by ashes. She could understand that this child was not or dinary, but was meant to kill all demons. (7)

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the all-pervading Supersoul, lying on the bed, understood that Pūtanā, a witch who was expert in killing small children, had come to kill Him. Therefore, as if afraid of her, Kṛṣṇa closed His eyes. Thus Pūtanā took upon her lap Him who was to be her own anni hilation, just as an unintelligent person places a sleeping snake on his lap, thinking the snake to be a rope. (8) Pūtanā Rākṣasī’s heart was fierce and cruel, but she looked like a very affection ate mother. Thus she resembled a sharp sword in a soft sheath. Although seeing her within the room, Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, overwhelmed by her beauty, did not stop her, but remained silent be cause she treated the child like a mother. (9)

On that very spot, the fiercely dangerous Rākṣasī took Kṛṣṇa on her lap and pushed her breast into His mouth. The nipple of her breast was smeared with a dangerous, immediately ef fective poison, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, becoming very angry at her, took hold of her breast, squeezed it very hard with both hands, and sucked out both the poi son and her life. (10) Unbearably pressed in every vital point, the demon Pūtanā began to cry, “Please leave me, leave me! Suck my breast no longer!” Perspiring, her eyes wide open and her arms and legs flailing, she cried very loudly again and again. (11) As Pūtanā screamed loudly and forcefully, the earth with its mountains, and outer space with its planets, trembled. The lower planets and all directions vibrated, and people fell down, fearing that thunderbolts were falling upon them. (12)

In this way the demon Pūtanā, very much ag grieved because her breast was being attacked by Kṛṣṇa, lost her life. O King Parīkṣit, opening her mouth wide and spreading her arms, legs and hair, she fell down in the pasturing ground in her original form as a Rākṣasī, as Vṛtrāsura had fallen when killed by the thunderbolt of In dra. (13) O King Parīkṣit, when the gigantic body of Pūtanā fell to the ground, it smashed all the trees within a limit of twelve miles. Appearing in a gigantic body, she was certainly extraordi nary. (14) The Rākṣasī’s mouth was full of teeth, each resembling the front of a plow, her nostrils were deep like mountain caves, and her breasts resembled big slabs of stone fallen from a hill. Her scattered hair was the color of cop per. The sockets of her eyes appeared like deep blind wells, her fearful thighs resembled the banks of a river, her arms, legs and feet seemed like big bridges, and her abdomen appeared like a dried-up lake. The hearts, ears and heads of the cowherd men and women were already shocked by the Rākṣasī’s screaming, and when they saw the fierce wonder of her body, they were even more frightened. (15-17)

Without fear, the child Kṛṣṇa was playing on the upper portion of Pūtanā Rākṣasī’s breast, and when the gopīs saw the child’s wonderful activities, they immediately came forward with great ju bilation and picked Him up. (18) Thereafter, mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, along with the other elderly gopīs, waved about the switch of a cow to give full protection to the child Śrī Kṛṣṇa. (19) The child was thoroughly washed with cow urine and then smeared with the dust raised by the movements of the cows. Then different names of the Lord were applied with cow dung on twelve different parts of His body, beginning with the forehead, as done in applying tilaka. In this way, the child was given protection. (20) The gopīs first executed the process of ācamana, drinking a sip of water from the right hand. They purified their bodies and hands with the nyāsa-mantra and then ap plied the same mantra upon the body of the child. (21)

[Śukadeva Gosvāmī informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that the gopīs, following the proper system, protected Kṛṣṇa, their child, with this mantra.] May Aja protect Your legs, may Maṇimān protect Your knees, Yajña Your thighs, Acyuta the upper part of Your waist, and Hayagrīva Your abdomen. May Keśava protect Your heart, Īśa Your chest, the sun-god Your neck, Viṣṇu Your arms, Urukrama Your face, and Īśvara Your head. May Cakrī protect You from the front; may Śrī Hari, Gadādharī, the carrier of the club, protect You from the back; and may the carrier of the bow, who is known as the enemy of Madhu, and Lord Ajana, the carrier of the sword, protect Your two sides. May Lord Urugāya, the carrier of the conchshell, protect You from all corners; may Upendra protect You from above; may Garuḍa protect You on the ground; and may Lord Haladhara, the Supreme Person, protect You on all sides. (22-23) May Hṛṣīkeśa protect Your senses, and Nārāyaṇa Your life air. May the master of Śvetadvīpa protect the core of Your heart, and may Lord Yogeśvara protect Your mind. (24)

May Lord Pṛśnigarbha protect Your intelligence, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead Your soul. While You are playing, may Govinda protect You, and while You are sleeping may Mādhava protect You. May Lord Vaikuṇṭha protect You while You are walking, and may Lord Nārāyaṇa, the husband of the goddess of fortune, protect You while You are sitting. Similarly, may Lord Yajñabhuk, the fearful enemy of all evil planets, always protect You while You enjoy life. (25-26) The evil witches known as Ḍākinīs, Yātudhānīs and Kuṣmāṇḍas are the greatest enemies of chil dren, and the evil spirits like Bhūtas, Pretas, Piśācas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas and Vināyakas, as well as witches like Koṭarā, Revatī, Jyeṣṭhā, Pūtanā and Mātṛkā, are always ready to give trouble to the body, the life air and the senses, causing loss of memory, madness and bad dreams. Like the most experienced evil stars, they all create great disturbances, especially for children, but one can vanquish them simply by uttering Lord Viṣṇu’s name, for when Lord Viṣṇu’s name resounds, all of them become afraid and go away. (27-29)

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: All the gopīs, headed by mother Yaśodā, were bound by maternal affection. After they thus chanted mantras to protect the child, mother Yaśodā gave the child the nipple of her breast to suck and then got Him to lie down on His bed. (30) Meanwhile, all the cowherd men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, returned from Ma thurā, and when they saw on the way the gigan tic body of Pūtanā lying dead, they were struck with great wonder. (31) Nanda Mahārāja and the other gopas exclaimed: My dear friends, you must know that Ānakadundubhi, Vasudeva, has become a great saint or a master of mystic power. Otherwise how could he have foreseen this calamity and predicted it to us? (32) The inhabitants of Vraja cut the gigantic body of Pūtanā into pieces with the help of axes. Then they threw the pieces far away, cov ered them with wood and burned them to ashes. (33)

Because of Kṛṣṇa’s having sucked the breast of the Rākṣasī Pūtanā, when Kṛṣṇa killed her she was immediately freed of all material contamination. Her sinful reactions automati cally vanished, and therefore when her gigantic body was being burnt, the smoke emanating from her body was fragrant like aguru incense. (34) Pūtanā was always hankering for the blood of human children, and with that desire she came to kill Kṛṣṇa; but because she offered her breast to the Lord, she attained the greatest achievement. What then is to be said of those who had natural devotion and affection for Kṛṣṇa as mothers and who offered Him their breasts to suck or offered something very dear, as a mother offers something to a child? (35 36)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is always situated within the core of the heart of the pure devotee, and He is always of fered prayers by such worshipable personalities as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva. Because Kṛṣṇa embraced Pūtanā’s body with great pleasure and sucked her breast, although she was a great witch, she attained the position of a mother in the transcendental world and thus achieved the highest perfection. What then is to be said of the cows whose nipples Kṛṣṇa sucked with great pleasure and who offered their milk very jubilantly with affection exactly like that of a mother? (37-38) The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the bestower of many ben edictions, including liberation [kaivalya], or oneness with the Brahman effulgence. For that Personality of Godhead, the gopīs always felt maternal love, and Kṛṣṇa sucked their breasts with full satisfaction. Therefore, because of their relationship as mother and son, although the gopīs were engaged in various family activ ities, one should never think that they returned to this material world after leaving their bodies. (39-40)

Upon smelling the fragrance of the smoke emanating from Pūtanā’s burning body, many inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi in distant places were astonished. “Where is this fragrance com ing from?” they asked. Thus they went to the spot where Pūtanā’s body was being burnt. (41) When the inhabitants of Vraja who had come from distant places heard the whole story of how Pūtanā had come and then been killed by Kṛṣṇa, they were certainly astonished, and they offered their blessings to the child for His won derful deed of killing Pūtanā. Nanda Mahārāja, of course, was very much obliged to Vasudeva, who had foreseen the incident, and simply thanked him, thinking how wonderful Vasudeva was. (42)

O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the Kurus, Nanda Mahārāja was very liberal and simple. He immediately took his son Kṛṣṇa on his lap as if Kṛṣṇa had returned from death, and by formally smelling his son’s head, Nanda Mahārāja undoubtedly enjoyed transcendental bliss. (43) Any person who hears with faith and devotion about how Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Per sonality of Godhead, killed Pūtanā, and who thus invests his hearing in such childhood pas times of Kṛṣṇa, certainly attains attachment for Govinda, the supreme, original person. (44)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Nanda Mahārāja was naturally very magnanimous, and when Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa appeared as his son, he was overwhelmed by jubilation. Therefore, after bathing and purifying himself and dressing himself properly, he invited brāhmaṇas who knew how to recite Vedic mantras. After hav ing these qualified brāhmaṇas recite auspicious Vedic hymns, he arranged to have the Vedic birth ceremony celebrated for his newborn child according to the rules and regulations, and he also arranged for worship of the demigods and forefathers. (1-2)

Nanda Mahārāja gave two million cows, completely decorated with cloth and jewels, in charity to the brāhmaṇas. He also gave them seven hills of grain, covered with jewels and with cloth decorated with golden embroidery. (3) O King, by the passing of time, land and other material possessions are purified; by bathing, the body is purified; and by being cleansed, unclean things are purified. By purifi catory ceremonies, birth is purified; by auster ity, the senses are purified; and by worship and charity offered to the brāhmaṇas, material pos sessions are purified. By satisfaction, the mind is purified; and by self-realization, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the soul is purified. (4)

The brāhmaṇas recited auspicious Vedic hymns, which purified the environment by their vibra tion. The experts in reciting old histories like the Purāṇas, the experts in reciting the histories of royal families, and general reciters all chanted, while singers sang and many kinds of musical instruments, like bherīs and dundubhis, played in accompaniment. (5) Vrajapura, the residence of Nanda Mahārāja, was fully deco rated with varieties of festoons and flags, and in different places, gates were made with vari eties of flower garlands, pieces of cloth, and mango leaves. The courtyards, the gates near the roads, and everything within the rooms of the houses were perfectly swept and washed with water. (6) The cows, the bulls and the calves were thor oughly smeared with a mixture of turmeric and oil, mixed with varieties of minerals. Their heads were bedecked with peacock feathers, and they were garlanded and covered with cloth and golden ornaments. (7)

O King Parīkṣit, the cowherd men dressed very opulently with val uable ornaments and garments such as coats and turbans. Decorated in this way and carrying various presentations in their hands, they ap proached the house of Nanda Mahārāja. (8) The gopī wives of the cowherd men were very pleased to hear that mother Yaśodā had given birth to a son, and they began to decorate themselves very nicely with proper dresses, or naments, black ointment for the eyes, and so on. (9) Their lotuslike faces extraordinarily beautiful, being decorated with saffron and newly grown kuṅkuma, the wives of the cow herd men hurried to the house of mother Yaśodā with presentations in their hands. Be cause of natural beauty, the wives had full hips and full breasts, which moved as they hurried along. (10)

In the ears of the gopīs were bril liantly polished jeweled earrings, and from their necks hung metal lockets. Their hands were decorated with bangles, their dresses were of varied colors, and from their hair, flowers fell onto the street like showers. Thus while go ing to the house of Mahārāja Nanda, the gopīs, their earrings, breasts and garlands moving, were brilliantly beautiful. (11) Offering bless ings to the newborn child, Kṛṣṇa, the wives and daughters of the cowherd men said, “May You become the King of Vraja and long maintain all its inhabitants.” They sprinkled a mixture of turmeric powder, oil and water upon the birth less Supreme Lord and offered their prayers. (12)

Now that the all-pervading, unlimited Lord Kṛṣṇa, the master of the cosmic manifes tation, had arrived within the estate of Mahārāja Nanda, various types of musical instruments re sounded to celebrate the great festival. (13) In gladness, the cowherd men enjoyed the great festival by splashing one another’s bodies with a mixture of curd, condensed milk, butter and water. They threw butter on one another and smeared it on one another’s bodies. (14) The great-minded Mahārāja Nanda gave clothing, ornaments and cows in charity to the cowherd men in order to please Lord Viṣṇu, and thus he improved the condition of his own son in all re spects. He distributed charity to the sūtas, the māgadhas, the vandīs, and men of all other pro fessions, according to their educational qualifi cations, and satisfied everyone’s desires. (15 16)

The most fortunate Rohiṇī, the mother of Baladeva, was honored by Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, and thus she also dressed gorgeously and decorated herself with a necklace, a garland and other ornaments. She was busy wandering here and there to receive the women who were guests at the festival. (17) O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the home of Nanda Mahārāja is eternally the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His transcendental qualities and is there fore always naturally endowed with the opu lence of all wealth. Yet beginning from Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance there, it became the place for the pastimes of the goddess of fortune. (18) Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Thereafter, my dear King Parīkṣit, O best protector of the Kuru dynasty, Nanda Mahārāja appointed the local cowherd men to protect Gokula and then went to Mathurā to pay the yearly taxes to King Kaṁsa. (19) When Vasudeva heard that Nanda Mahārāja, his very dear friend and brother, had come to Mathurā and already paid the taxes to Kaṁsa, he went to Nanda Mahārāja’s resi dence. (20)

When Nanda Mahārāja heard that Vasudeva had come, he was overwhelmed with love and affection, being as pleased as if his body had regained its life. Seeing Vasudeva suddenly present, he got up and embraced him with both arms. (21) O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, hav ing thus been received and welcomed by Nanda Mahārāja with honor, Vasudeva sat down very peacefully and inquired about his own two sons because of intense love for them. (22) My dear brother Nanda Mahārāja, at an ad vanced age you had no son at all and were hopeless of having one. Therefore, that you now have a son is a sign of great fortune. (23) It is also by good fortune that I am seeing you. Having obtained this opportunity, I feel as if I have taken birth again. Even though one is pre sent in this world, to meet with intimate friends and dear relatives in this material world is ex tremely difficult. (24)

Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river’s waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together be cause of our varied past deeds and the waves of time. (25) My dear friend Nanda Mahārāja, in the place where you are living with your friends, is the forest favorable for the animals, the cows? I hope there is no disease or incon venience. The place must be full of water, grass and other plants. (26) My son Baladeva, being raised by you and your wife, Yaśodādevī, con siders you His father and mother. Is He living very peacefully in your home with His real mother, Rohiṇī? (27) When one’s friends and relatives are properly situated, one’s religion, economic development and sense gratification, as described in the Vedic literatures, are bene ficial. Otherwise, if one’s friends and relatives are in distress, these three cannot offer any hap piness. (28)

Nanda Mahārāja said: Alas, King Kaṁsa killed so many of your children, born of Devakī. And your one daughter, the youngest child of all, entered the heavenly planets. (29) Every man is certainly controlled by destiny, which determines the results of one’s fruitive activities. In other words, one has a son or daughter because of unseen destiny, and when the son or daughter is no longer present, this also is due to unseen destiny. Destiny is the ul timate controller of everyone. One who knows this is never bewildered. (30) Vasudeva said to Nanda Mahārāja: Now, my dear brother, since you have paid the annual taxes to Kaṁsa and have also seen me, do not stay in this place for many days. It is better to return to Gokula, since I know that there may be some disturbances there. (31) Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After Vasudeva advised Nanda Mahārāja in this way, Nanda Mahārāja and his associates, the cowherd men, took permission from Vasudeva, yoked their bulls to the bullock carts, and started riding for Gokula. (32)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King Parīkṣit, the doors inside and outside the house closed as before. Thereafter, the inhabit ants of the house, especially the watchmen, heard the crying of the newborn child and thus awakened from their beds. (1) Thereafter, all the watchmen very quickly approached King Kaṁsa, the ruler of the Bhoja dynasty, and sub mitted the news of the birth of Devakī’s child. Kaṁsa, who had awaited this news very anx iously, immediately took action. (2) Kaṁsa im mediately got up from bed, thinking, “Here is Kāla, the supreme time factor, which has taken birth to kill me!” Thus overwhelmed, Kaṁsa, his hair scattered on his head, at once ap proached the place where the child had been born. (3)

Devakī helplessly, piteously appealed to Kaṁsa: My dear brother, all good fortune unto you. Don’t kill this girl. She will be your daughter-in-law. Indeed, it is unworthy of you to kill a woman. (4) My dear brother, by the influence of destiny you have already killed many babies, each of them as bright and beautiful as fire. But kindly spare this daughter. Give her to me as your gift. (5) My lord, my brother, I am very poor, being bereft of all my children, but still I am your younger sister, and therefore it would be wor thy of you to give me this last child as a gift. (6) Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Piteously embracing her daughter and crying, Devakī begged Kaṁsa for the child, but he was so cruel that he chastised her and forcibly snatched the child from her hands. (7) Having uprooted all relationships with his sister because of intense selfishness, Kaṁsa, who was sitting on his knees, grasped the newborn child by the legs and tried to dash her against the surface of a stone. (8)

The child, Yoga-māyā-devī, the younger sister of Lord Viṣṇu, slipped upward from Kaṁsa’s hands and appeared in the sky as Devī, the goddess Durgā, with eight arms, com pletely equipped with weapons. (9) The god dess Durgā was decorated with flower gar lands, smeared with sandalwood pulp and dressed with excellent garments and ornaments made of valuable jewels. Holding in her hands a bow, a trident, arrows, a shield, a sword, a conchshell, a disc and a club, and being praised by celestial beings like Apsarās, Kinnaras, Ura gas, Siddhas, Cāraṇas and Gandharvas, who worshiped her with all kinds of presentations, she spoke as follows. (10-11) O Kaṁsa, you fool, what will be the use of killing me? The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has been your enemy from the very beginning and who will certainly kill you, has already taken His birth somewhere else. Therefore, do not un necessarily kill other children. (12)

After speaking to Kaṁsa in this way, the goddess Durgā, Yoga-māyā, appeared in different places, such as Vārāṇasī, and became cele brated by different names, such as Annapūrṇā, Durgā, Kālī and Bhadrā. (13) After hearing the words of the goddess Durgā, Kaṁsa was struck with wonder. Thus he approached his sister Devakī and brother-in law Vasudeva, released them immediately from their shackles, and very humbly spoke as follows. (14) Alas, my sister! Alas, my brother in-law! I am indeed so sinful that exactly like a man-eater [Rākṣasa] who eats his own child, I have killed so many sons born of you. (15) Be ing merciless and cruel, I have forsaken all my relatives and friends. Therefore, like a person who has killed a brāhmaṇa, I do not know to which planet I shall go, either after death or while breathing. (16) Alas, not only human be ings but sometimes even providence lies. And I am so sinful that I believed the omen of provi dence and killed so many of my sister’s chil dren. (17)

O great souls, your children have suf fered their own misfortune. Therefore, please do not lament for them. All living entities are under the control of the Supreme, and they can not always live together. (18) In this world, we can see that pots, dolls and other products of the earth appear, break and then disappear, mixing with the earth. Similarly, the bodies of all con ditioned living entities are annihilated, but the living entities, like the earth itself, are unchang ing and never annihilated [na hanyate han yamāne śarīre]. (19) One who does not understand the constitu tional position of the body and the soul [ātmā] becomes too attached to the bodily concept of life. Consequently, because of attachment to the body and its by-products, he feels affected by union with and separation from his family, society and nation. As long as this continues, one continues his material life. [Otherwise, one is liberated.] (20)

My dear sister Devakī, all good fortune unto you. Everyone suffers and enjoys the results of his own work under the control of providence. Therefore, although your sons have unfortunately been killed by me, please do not lament for them. (21) In the bodily conception of life, one remains in dark ness, without self-realization, thinking, “I am being killed” or “I have killed my enemies.” As long as a foolish person thus considers the self to be the killer or the killed, he continues to be responsible for material obligations, and conse quently he suffers the reactions of happiness and distress. (22) Kaṁsa begged, “My dear sis ter and brother-in-law, please be merciful to such a poor-hearted person as me, since both of you are saintly persons. Please excuse my atrocities.” Having said this, Kaṁsa fell at the feet of Vasudeva and Devakī, his eyes full of tears of regret. (23)

Fully believing in the words of the goddess Durgā, Kaṁsa exhibited his fa milial affection for Devakī and Vasudeva by immediately releasing them from their iron shackles. (24) When Devakī saw her brother actually repentant while explaining ordained events, she was relieved of all anger. Similarly, Vasudeva was also free from anger. Smiling, he spoke to Kaṁsa as follows. (25) O great per sonality Kaṁsa, only by the influence of igno rance does one accept the material body and bodily ego. What you have said about this phi losophy is correct. Persons in the bodily con cept of life, lacking self-realization, differenti ate in terms of “This is mine” and “This be longs to another.” (26) Persons with the vision of differentiation are imbued with the material qualities lamentation, jubilation, fear, envy, greed, illusion and madness. They are influ enced by the immediate cause, which they are busy counteracting, because they have no knowledge of the remote, supreme cause, the Personality of Godhead. (27)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Thus hav ing been addressed in purity by Devakī and Vasudeva, who were very much appeased, Kaṁsa felt pleased, and with their permission he entered his home. (28) After that night passed, Kaṁsa summoned his ministers and in formed them of all that had been spoken by Yoga-māyā [who had revealed that He who was to slay Kaṁsa had already been born some where else]. (29) After hearing their master’s statement, the envious asuras, who were ene mies of the demigods and were not very expert in their dealings, advised Kaṁsa as follows. (30) If this is so, O King of the Bhoja dynasty, beginning today we shall kill all the children born in all the villages, towns and pasturing grounds within the past ten days or slightly more. (31) The demigods always fear the sound of your bowstring. They are constantly in anx iety, afraid of fighting. Therefore, what can they do by their endeavors to harm you? (32)

While being pierced by your arrows, which you discharged on all sides, some of them, who were injured by the multitude of arrows but who desired to live, fled the battlefield, intent on escaping. (33) Defeated and bereft of all weapons, some of the demigods gave up fighting and praised you with folded hands, and some of them, appearing before you with loos ened garments and hair, said, “O lord, we are very much afraid of you.” (34) When the dem igods are bereft of their chariots, when they for get how to use weapons, when they are fearful or attached to something other than fighting, or when their bows are broken and they have thus lost the ability to fight, Your Majesty does not kill them. (35)

The demigods boast uselessly while away from the battlefield. Only where there is no fighting can they show their prow ess. Therefore, from such demigods we have nothing to fear. As for Lord Viṣṇu, He is in se clusion in the core of the hearts of the yogīs. As for Lord Śiva, he has gone to the forest. And as for Lord Brahmā, he is always engaged in aus terities and meditation. The other demigods, headed by Indra, are devoid of prowess. There fore, you have nothing to fear. (36) Nonethe less, because of their enmity, our opinion is that the demigods should not be neglected. There fore, to uproot them completely, engage us in fighting with them, for we are ready to follow you. (37) As a disease, if initially neglected, be comes acute and impossible to cure, or as the senses, if not controlled at first, are impossible to control later, an enemy, if neglected in the beginning, later becomes insurmountable. (38) The foundation of all the demigods is Lord Viṣṇu, who lives and is worshiped wherever there are religious principles, traditional cul ture, the Vedas, cows, brāhmaṇas, austerities, and sacrifices with proper remuneration. (39)

O King, we, who are your adherents in all re spects, shall therefore kill the Vedic brāhmaṇas, the persons engaged in offering sacrifices and austerities, and the cows that sup ply milk, from which clarified butter is ob tained for the ingredients of sacrifice. (40) The brāhmaṇas, the cows, Vedic knowledge, aus terity, truthfulness, control of the mind and senses, faith, mercy, tolerance and sacrifice are the different parts of the body of Lord Viṣṇu, and they are the paraphernalia for a godly civi lization. (41) Lord Viṣṇu, the Supersoul within the core of everyone’s heart, is the ultimate en emy of the asuras and is therefore known as asura-dviṭ. He is the leader of all the demigods because all the demigods, including Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā, exist under His protection. The great saintly persons, sages and Vaiṣṇavas also depend upon Him. To persecute the Vaiṣṇavas, therefore, is the only way to kill Viṣṇu. (42)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Thus, hav ing considered the instructions of his bad min isters, Kaṁsa, who was bound by the laws of Yamarāja and devoid of good intelligence be cause he was a demon, decided to persecute the saintly persons, the brāhmaṇas, as the only way to achieve his own good fortune. (43) These de mons, the followers of Kaṁsa, were expert at persecuting others, especially the Vaiṣṇavas, and could assume any form they desired. After giving these demons permission to go every where and persecute the saintly persons, Kaṁsa entered his palace. (44) Surcharged with pas sion and ignorance and not knowing what was good or bad for them, the asuras, for whom im pending death was waiting, began the persecu tion of the saintly persons. (45) My dear King, when a man persecutes great souls, all his ben edictions of longevity, beauty, fame, religion, blessings and promotion to higher planets will be destroyed. (46)

Thereafter, at the auspicious time for the ap pearance of the Lord, the entire universe was surcharged with all the qualities of goodness, beauty and peace. The constellation Rohiṇī ap peared, as did stars like Aśvinī. The sun, the moon and the other stars and planets were very peaceful. All directions appeared extremely pleasing, and the beautiful stars twinkled in the cloudless sky. Decorated with towns, villages, mines and pasturing grounds, the earth seemed all-auspicious. The rivers flowed with clear wa ter, and the lakes and vast reservoirs, full of lil ies and lotuses, were extraordinarily beautiful. In the trees and green plants, full of flowers and leaves, pleasing to the eyes, birds like cuckoos and swarms of bees began chanting with sweet voices for the sake of the demigods. A pure breeze began to blow, pleasing the sense of touch and bearing the aroma of flowers, and when the brāhmaṇas engaging in ritualistic cer emonies ignited their fires according to Vedic principles, the fires burned steadily, undis turbed by the breeze. Thus when the birthless Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of God head, was about to appear, the saints and brāhmaṇas, who had always been disturbed by demons like Kaṁsa and his men, felt peace within the core of their hearts, and kettledrums simultaneously vibrated from the upper plane tary system. (1-5)

The Kinnaras and Gandharvas began to sing auspicious songs, the Siddhas and Cāraṇas of fered auspicious prayers, and the Vidyādharīs, along with the Apsarās, began to dance in jubi lation. (6) The demigods and great saintly per sons showered flowers in a joyous mood, and clouds gathered in the sky and very mildly thundered, making sounds like those of the ocean’s waves. Then the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, who is situated in the core of everyone’s heart, appeared from the heart of Devakī in the dense darkness of night, like the full moon rising on the eastern horizon, because Devakī was of the same category as Śrī Kṛṣṇa. (7-8) Vasudeva then saw the newborn child, who had very wonderful lotuslike eyes and who bore in His four hands the four weapons śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and padma. On His chest was the mark of Śrīvatsa and on His neck the brilliant Kaustubha gem. Dressed in yellow, His body blackish like a dense cloud, His scat tered hair fully grown, and His helmet and ear rings sparkling uncommonly with the valuable gem Vaidūrya, the child, decorated with a bril liant belt, armlets, bangles and other orna ments, appeared very wonderful. (9-10)

When Vasudeva saw his extraordinary son, his eyes were struck with wonder. In transcendental ju bilation, he mentally collected ten thousand cows and distributed them among the brāhmaṇas as a transcendental festival. (11) O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, descendant of King Bharata, Vasudeva could understand that this child was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa. Having concluded this without a doubt, he became fearless. Bowing down with folded hands and concentrating his attention, he began to offer prayers to the child, who illumi nated His birthplace by His natural influence. (12)

Vasudeva said: My Lord, You are the Su preme Person, beyond material existence, and You are the Supersoul. Your form can be per ceived by transcendental knowledge, by which You can be understood as the Supreme Person ality of Godhead. I now understand Your posi tion perfectly. (13) My Lord, You are the same person who in the beginning created this mate rial world by His personal external energy. Af ter the creation of this world of three guṇas [sattva, rajas and tamas], You appear to have entered it, although in fact You have not. (14)

The mahat-tattva, the total material energy, is undivided, but because of the material modes of nature, it appears to separate into earth, wa ter, fire, air and ether. Because of the living en ergy [jīva-bhūta], these separated energies combine to make the cosmic manifestation vis ible, but in fact, before the creation of the cos mos, the total energy is already present. There fore, the total material energy never actually enters the creation. Similarly, although You are perceived by our senses because of Your pres ence, You cannot be perceived by the senses, nor experienced by the mind or words [avāṅ mānasa-gocara]. With our senses we can per ceive some things, but not everything; for ex ample, we can use our eyes to see, but not to taste. Consequently, You are beyond percep tion by the senses. Although in touch with the modes of material nature, You are unaffected by them. You are the prime factor in every thing, the all-pervading, undivided Supersoul. For You, therefore, there is no external or inter nal. You never entered the womb of Devakī; ra ther, You existed there already. (15-17)

One who considers his visible body, which is a product of the three modes of nature, to be in dependent of the soul is unaware of the basis of existence, and therefore he is a rascal. Those who are learned have rejected this conclusion because one can understand through full dis cussion that with no basis in soul, the visible body and senses would be insubstantial. None theless, although his conclusion has been re jected, a foolish person considers it a reality. (18) O my Lord, learned Vedic scholars con clude that the creation, maintenance and anni hilation of the entire cosmic manifestation are performed by You, who are free from en deavor, unaffected by the modes of material na ture, and changeless in Your spiritual situation. There are no contradictions in You, who are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrah man. Because the three modes of material na turesattva, rajas and tamasare under Your con trol, everything takes place automatically. (19)

My Lord, Your form is transcendental to the three material modes, yet for the maintenance of the three worlds, You assume the white color of Viṣṇu in goodness; for creation, which is surrounded by the quality of passion, You ap pear reddish; and at the end, when there is a need for annihilation, which is surrounded by ignorance, You appear blackish. (20) O my Lord, proprietor of all creation, You have now appeared in my house, desiring to protect this world. I am sure that You will kill all the armies that are moving all over the world under the leadership of politicians who are dressed as kṣatriya rulers but who are factually demons. They must be killed by You for the protection of the innocent public. (21) O my Lord, Lord of the demigods, after hearing the prophecy that You would take birth in our home and kill him, this uncivilized Kaṁsa killed so many of Your elder brothers. As soon as he hears from his lieutenants that You have appeared, he will im mediately come with weapons to kill You. (22)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Thereafter, having seen that her child had all the symptoms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Devakī, who was very much afraid of Kaṁsa and unusually astonished, began to offer pray ers to the Lord. (23) Śrī Devakī said: My dear Lord, there are different Vedas, some of which describe You as unperceivable through words and the mind. Yet You are the origin of the entire cosmic manifestation. You are Brahman, the greatest of everything, full of effulgence like the sun. You have no material cause, You are free from change and deviation, and You have no mate rial desires. Thus the Vedas say that You are the substance. Therefore, my Lord, You are di rectly the origin of all Vedic statements, and by understanding You, one gradually understands everything. You are different from the light of Brahman and Paramātmā, yet You are not dif ferent from them. Everything emanates from You. Indeed, You are the cause of all causes, Lord Viṣṇu, the light of all transcendental knowledge. (24)

After millions of years, at the time of cosmic annihilation, when everything, manifested and unmanifested, is annihilated by the force of time, the five gross elements enter into the sub tle conception, and the manifested categories enter into the unmanifested substance. At that time, You alone remain, and You are known as Ananta Śeṣa-nāga. (25) O inaugurator of the material energy, this wonderful creation works under the control of powerful time, which is di vided into seconds, minutes, hours and years. This element of time, which extends for many millions of years, is but another form of Lord Viṣṇu. For Your pastimes, You act as the con troller of time, but You are the reservoir of all good fortune. Let me offer my full surrender unto Your Lordship. (26) No one in this mate rial world has become free from the four prin ciples birth, death, old age and disease, even by fleeing to various planets. But now that You have appeared, My Lord, death is fleeing in fear of You, and the living entities, having obtained shelter at Your lotus feet by Your mercy, are sleeping in full mental peace. (27)

My Lord, be cause You dispel all the fear of Your devotees, I request You to save us and give us protection from the terrible fear of Kaṁsa. Your form as Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is appreciated by yogīs in meditation. Please make this form invisible to those who see with material eyes. (28) O Madhusūdana, because of Your appearance, I am becoming more and more anxious in fear of Kaṁsa. Therefore, please arrange for that sinful Kaṁsa to be una ble to understand that You have taken birth from my womb. (29) O my Lord, You are the all-pervading Supreme Personality of God head, and Your transcendental four-armed form, holding conchshell, disc, club and lotus, is unnatural for this world. Please withdraw this form [and become just like a natural human child so that I may try to hide You somewhere]. (30)

At the time of devastation, the entire cos mos, containing all created moving and non moving entities, enters Your transcendental body and is held there without difficulty. But now this transcendental form has taken birth from my womb. People will not be able to be lieve this, and I shall become an object of ridi cule. (31) The Supreme Personality of Godhead re plied: My dear mother, best of the chaste, in your previous birth, in the Svāyambhuva mil lennium, you were known as Pṛśni, and Vasudeva, who was the most pious Prajāpati, was named Sutapā. (32) When both of you were ordered by Lord Brahmā to create prog eny, you first underwent severe austerities by controlling your senses. (33) My dear father and mother, you endured rain, wind, strong sun, scorching heat and severe cold, suffering all sorts of inconvenience according to different seasons. By practicing prāṇāyāma to control the air within the body through yoga, and by eating only air and dry leaves fallen from the trees, you cleansed from your minds all dirty things. In this way, desiring a benediction from Me, you worshiped Me with peaceful minds. (34-35)

Thus you spent twelve thousand celestial years performing difficult activities of tapasya in consciousness of Me [Kṛṣṇa consciousness]. (36) O sinless mother Devakī, after the expiry of twelve thousand celestial years, in which you constantly contemplated Me within the core of your heart with great faith, devotion and auster ity, I was very much satisfied with you. Since I am the best of all bestowers of benediction, I appeared in this same form as Kṛṣṇa to ask you to take from Me the benediction you desired. You then expressed your desire to have a son exactly like Me. (37-38) Being husband and wife but always sonless, you were attracted by sexual desires, for by the influence of de vamāyā, transcendental love, you wanted to have Me as your son. Therefore, you never de sired to be liberated from this material world. (39)

After you received that benediction and I disappeared, you engaged yourselves in sex to have a son like Me, and I fulfilled your desire. (40) Since I found no one else as highly ele vated as you in simplicity and other qualities of good character, I appeared in this world as Pṛśnigarbha, or one who is celebrated as having taken birth from Pṛśni. (41) In the next millen nium, I again appeared from the two of you, who appeared as My mother, Aditi, and My fa ther, Kaśyapa. I was known as Upendra, and because of being a dwarf, I was also known as Vāmana. (42) O supremely chaste mother, I, the same personality, have now appeared of you both as your son for the third time. Take My words as the truth. (43) I have shown you this form of Viṣṇu just to remind you of My previous births. Otherwise, if I appeared like an ordinary human child, you would not believe that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, has indeed appeared. (44)

Both of you, husband and wife, constantly think of Me as your son, but always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By thus thinking of Me constantly with love and affection, you will achieve the highest perfec tion: returning home, back to Godhead. (45) Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After thus in structing His father and mother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, remained si lent. In their presence, by His internal energy, He then transformed Himself into a small hu man child. [In other words, He transformed Himself into His original form: kṛṣṇas tu bha gavān svayam.] (46) Thereafter, exactly when Vasudeva, being inspired by the Supreme Per sonality of Godhead, was about to take the newborn child from the delivery room, Yoga māyā, the Lord’s spiritual energy, took birth as the daughter of the wife of Mahārāja Nanda. (47)

By the influence of Yoga-māyā, all the doorkeepers fell fast asleep, their senses unable to work, and the other inhabitants of the house also fell deeply asleep. When the sun rises, the darkness automatically disappears; similarly, when Vasudeva appeared, the closed doors, which were strongly pinned with iron and locked with iron chains, opened automatically. Since the clouds in the sky were mildly thun dering and showering, Ananta-nāga, an expan sion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, followed Vasudeva, beginning from the door, with hoods expanded to protect Vasudeva and the transcendental child. (48-49) Because of constant rain sent by the demigod Indra, the  river Yamunā was filled with deep water, foam ing about with fiercely whirling waves. But as the great Indian Ocean had formerly given way to Lord Rāmacandra by allowing Him to con struct a bridge, the river Yamunā gave way to Vasudeva and allowed him to cross. (50)

When Vasudeva reached the house of Nanda Mahārāja, he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep. Thus he placed his own son on the bed of Yaśodā, picked up her daughter, an expansion of Yoga-māyā, and then returned to his residence, the prison house of Kaṁsa. (51) Vasudeva placed the female child on the bed of Devakī, bound his legs with the iron shack les, and thus remained there as before. (52) Ex hausted by the labor of childbirth, Yaśodā was overwhelmed with sleep and unable to under stand what kind of child had been born to her. (53)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Under the protec tion of Magadharāja, Jarāsandha, the powerful Kaṁsa began persecuting the kings of the Yadu dynasty. In this he had the cooperation of de mons like Pralamba, Baka, Cāṇūra, Tṛṇāvarta, Aghāsura, Muṣṭika, Ariṣṭa, Dvivida, Pūtanā, Keśī, Dhenuka, Bāṇāsura, Narakāsura and many other demoniac kings on the surface of the earth. (1-2) Persecuted by the demoniac kings, the Yādavas left their own kingdom and entered various others, like those of the Kurus, Pañcālas, Kekayas, Śālvas, Vidarbhas, Niṣadhas, Videhas and Kośalas. (3)

Some of their relatives, however, began to follow Kaṁsa’s principles and act in his service. After Kaṁsa, the son of Ugrasena, killed the six sons of Devakī, a plenary portion of Kṛṣṇa entered her womb as her seventh child, arousing her pleasure and her lamentation. That plenary por tion is celebrated by great sages as Ananta, who belongs to Kṛṣṇa’s second quadruple expan sion. (4-5) To protect the Yadus, His personal devotees, from Kaṁsa’s attack, the Personality of God head, Viśvātmā, the Supreme Soul of everyone, ordered Yoga-māyā as follows. (6) The Lord ordered Yoga-māyā: O My po tency, who are worshipable for the entire world and whose nature is to bestow good fortune upon all living entities, go to Vraja, where there live many cowherd men and their wives. In that very beautiful land, where many cows reside, Rohiṇī, the wife of Vasudeva, is living at the home of Nanda Mahārāja. Other wives of Vasudeva are also living there incognito be cause of fear of Kaṁsa. Please go there. (7)

Within the womb of Devakī is My partial ple nary expansion known as Saṅkarṣaṇa or Śeṣa. Without difficulty, transfer Him into the womb of Rohiṇī. (8) O all-auspicious Yoga-māyā, I shall then appear with My full six opulences as the son of Devakī, and you will appear as the daughter of mother Yaśodā, the queen of Mahārāja Nanda. (9) By sacrifices of animals, ordinary human beings will worship you gor geously, with various paraphernalia, because you are supreme in fulfilling the material de sires of everyone. (10) Lord Kṛṣṇa blessed Māyādevī by saying: In different places on the surface of the earth, people will give you dif ferent names, such as Durgā, Bhadrakālī, Vi jayā, Vaiṣṇavī, Kumudā, Caṇḍikā, Kṛṣṇā, Mādhavī, Kanyakā, Māyā, Nārāyaṇī, Īśānī, Śāradā and Ambikā. (11-12)

The son of Rohiṇī will also be celebrated as Saṅkarṣaṇa because of being sent from the womb of Devakī to the womb of Rohiṇī. He will be called Rāma because of His ability to please all the inhabitants of Gokula, and He will be known as Balabhadra because of His ex tensive physical strength. (13) Thus instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Yoga-māyā immediately agreed. With the Vedic mantra om, she confirmed that she would do what He asked. Thus having ac cepted the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, she circumambulated Him and started for the place on earth known as Nanda gokula. There she did everything just as she had been told. (14) When the child of Devakī was attracted and transferred into the womb of Ro hiṇī by Yoga-māyā, Devakī seemed to have a miscarriage. Thus all the inhabitants of the pal ace loudly lamented, “Alas, Devakī has lost her child!” (15) Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul of all living entities and who vanquishes all the fear of His devotees, en tered the mind of Vasudeva in full opulence. (16)

While carrying the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within the core of his heart, Vasudeva bore the Lord’s transcenden tally illuminating effulgence, and thus he be came as bright as the sun. He was therefore very difficult to see or approach through sen sory perception. Indeed, he was unapproacha ble and unperceivable even for such formidable men as Kaṁsa, and not only for Kaṁsa but for all living entities. (17) Thereafter, accompanied by plenary expansions, the fully opulent Su preme Personality of Godhead, who is all-aus picious for the entire universe, was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devakī. Devakī, having thus been initiated by Vasudeva, became beautiful by carrying Lord Kṛṣṇa, the original consciousness for everyone, the cause of all causes, within the core of her heart, just as the east becomes beautiful by car rying the rising moon. (18)

Devakī then kept within herself the Supreme Personality of God head, the cause of all causes, the foundation of the entire cosmos, but because she was under arrest in the house of Kaṁsa, she was like the flames of a fire covered by the walls of a pot, or like a person who has knowledge but cannot distribute it to the world for the benefit of hu man society. (19) Because the Supreme Person ality of Godhead was within her womb, Devakī illuminated the entire atmosphere in the place where she was confined. Seeing her jubilant, pure and smiling, Kaṁsa thought, “The Su preme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, who is now within her, will kill me. Devakī has never before looked so brilliant and jubilant.” (20) Kaṁsa thought: What is my duty now? The Su preme Lord, who knows His purpose will not give up His prowess. Devakī is a woman, she is my sister, and moreover she is now pregnant. If I kill her, my reputation, opulence and duration of life will certainly be vanquished. (21)

A person who is very cruel is regarded as dead even while living, for while he is living or after his death, everyone condemns him. And after the death of a person in the bodily concept of life, he is undoubtedly transferred to the hell known as Andhatama. (22) Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Deliberating in this way, Kaṁsa, although de termined to continue in enmity toward the Su preme Personality of Godhead, refrained from the vicious killing of his sister. He decided to wait until the Lord was born and then do what was needed. (23) While sitting on his throne or in his sitting room, while lying on his bed, or, indeed, while situated anywhere, and while eat ing, sleeping or walking, Kaṁsa saw only his enemy, the Supreme Lord, Hṛṣīkeśa. In other words, by thinking of his all-pervading enemy, Kaṁsa became unfavorably Kṛṣṇa conscious. (24)

Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, accompanied by great sages like Nārada, Devala and Vyāsa and by other demigods like Indra, Candra and Varuṇa, invisibly approached the room of Devakī, where they all joined in offering their respectful obeisances and prayers to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can be stow blessings upon everyone. (25) The demigods prayed: O Lord, You never deviate from Your vow, which is always per fect because whatever You decide is perfectly correct and cannot be stopped by anyone. Being present in the three phases of cosmic manifes tation, creation, maintenance and annihilation, You are the Supreme Truth. Indeed, unless one is completely truthful, one cannot achieve Your favor, which therefore cannot be achieved by hypocrites. You are the active principle, the real truth, in all the ingredients of creation, and therefore You are known as antaryāmī, the in ner force. You are equal to everyone, and Your instructions apply for everyone, for all time. You are the beginning of all truth. Therefore, offering our obeisances, we surrender unto You. Kindly give us protection. (26)

The body [the total body and the individual body are of the same composition] may figuratively be called “the original tree.” From this tree, which fully depends on the ground of material nature, come two kinds of fruit the enjoyment of hap piness and the suffering of distress. The cause of the tree, forming its three roots, is associa tion with the three modes of material nature goodness, passion and ignorance. The fruits of bodily happiness have four tastes religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation which are experienced through five senses for acquiring knowledge in the midst of six circumstances: lamentation, illusion, old age, death, hunger and thirst. The seven layers of bark covering the tree are skin, blood, mus cle, fat, bone, marrow and semen, and the eight branches of the tree are the five gross and three subtle elements earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. The tree of the body has nine hollows the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, the rectum and the genitals and ten leaves, the ten airs passing through the body. In this tree of the body there are two birds: one is the individual soul, and the other is the Supersoul. (27)

The efficient cause of this material world, manifested with its many vari eties as the original tree, is You, O Lord. You are also the maintainer of this material world, and after annihilation You are the one in whom everything is conserved. Those who are cov ered by Your external energy cannot see You behind this manifestation, but theirs is not the vision of learned devotees. (28) O Lord, You are always in full knowledge, and to bring all good fortune to all living entities, You appear in different incarnations, all of them transcen dental to the material creation. When You ap pear in these incarnations, You are pleasing to the pious and religious devotees, but for non devotees You are the annihilator. (29) O lotus eyed Lord, by concentrating one’s meditation on Your lotus feet, which are the reservoir of all existence, and by accepting those lotus feet as the boat by which to cross the ocean of nes cience, one follows in the footsteps of mahāja nas [great saints, sages and devotees]. By this simple process, one can cross the ocean of nes cience as easily as one steps over the hoofprint of a calf. (30)

O Lord, who resemble the shin ing sun, You are always ready to fulfill the de sire of Your devotee, and therefore You are known as a desire tree [vāñchā-kalpataru]. When ācāryas completely take shelter under Your lotus feet in order to cross the fierce ocean of nescience, they leave behind on earth the method by which they cross, and because You are very merciful to Your other devotees, You accept this method to help them. (31)

[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord’s lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have ac cepted different processes for attaining salva tion. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think them selves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet. (32) O Mādhava, Supreme Per sonality of Godhead, Lord of the goddess of fortune, if devotees completely in love with You sometimes fall from the path of devotion, they do not fall like nondevotees, for You still protect them. Thus they fearlessly traverse the heads of their opponents and continue to pro gress in devotional service. (33)

O Lord, during the time of maintenance You manifest several incarnations, all with transcendental bodies, be yond the material modes of nature. When You appear in this way, You bestow all good fortune upon the living entities by teaching them to per form Vedic activities such as ritualistic ceremo nies, mystic yoga, austerities, penances, and ul timately samādhi, ecstatic absorption in thoughts of You. Thus You are worshiped by the Vedic principles. (34) O Lord, cause of all causes, if Your transcendental body were not beyond the modes of material nature, one could not understand the difference between matter and transcendence. Only by Your presence can one understand the transcendental nature of Your Lordship, who are the controller of mate rial nature. Your transcendental nature is very difficult to understand unless one is influenced by the presence of Your transcendental form. (35) O Lord, Your transcendental name and form are not ascertained by those who merely speculate on the path of imagination. Your name, form and attributes can be ascertained only through devotional service. (36)

Even while engaged in various activities, devotees whose minds are completely absorbed at Your lotus feet, and who constantly hear, chant, con template and cause others to remember Your transcendental names and forms, are always on the transcendental platform, and thus they can understand the Supreme Personality of God head. (37) O Lord, we are fortunate because the heavy burden of the demons upon this earth is immediately removed by Your appearance. In deed, we are certainly fortunate, for we shall be able to see upon this earth and in the heavenly planets the marks of lotus, conchshell, club and disc that adorn Your lotus feet. (38) O Supreme Lord, You are not an ordinary living entity ap pearing in this material world as a result of fru itive activities. Therefore, Your appearance or birth in this world has no other cause than Your pleasure potency. Similarly, the living entities, who are part of You, have no cause for miseries like birth, death and old age, except when these living entities are conducted by Your external energy. (39)

O supreme controller, Your Lord ship previously accepted incarnations as a fish, a horse, a tortoise, Narasiṁhadeva, a boar, a swan, Lord Rāmacandra, Paraśurāma and, among the demigods, Vāmanadeva, to protect the entire world by Your mercy. Now please protect us again by Your mercy by diminishing the disturbances in this world. O Kṛṣṇa, best of the Yadus, we respectfully offer our obeisances unto You. (40) O mother Devakī, by your good fortune and ours, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, with all His plenary por tions, such as Baladeva, is now within your womb. Therefore, you need not fear Kaṁsa, who has decided to be killed by the Lord. Your eternal son, Kṛṣṇa, will be the protector of the entire Yadu dynasty. (41) After thus offering prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, the Tran scendence, all the demigods, with Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva before them, returned to their homes in the heavenly planets. (42)

King Parīkṣit said: My dear lord, you have elaborately described the dynasties of both the moon-god and the sun-god, with the exalted and wonderful character of their kings. (1) O best of munis, you have also described the de scendants of Yadu, who were very pious and strictly adherent to religious principles. Now, if you will, kindly describe the wonderful, glori ous activities of Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, who ap peared in that Yadu dynasty with Baladeva, His plenary expansion. (2) The Supersoul, the Su preme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the cause of the cosmic manifestation, appeared in the dynasty of Yadu. Please tell me elaborately about His glorious activities and character, from the beginning to the end of His life. (3)

Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the paramparā sys tem, that is, it is conveyed from the spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, tem porary glorification of this cosmic manifesta tion. Descriptions of the Lord are the right med icine for the conditioned soul undergoing re peated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord ex cept a butcher or one who is killing his own self? (4) Taking the boat of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, my grandfather Arjuna and others crossed the ocean of the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, in which such commanders as Bhīṣmadeva resembled great fish that could very easily have swal lowed them. By the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, my grandfathers crossed this ocean, which was very difficult to cross, as easily as one steps over the hoofprint of a calf. Because my mother surrendered unto Lord Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, the Lord, Sudarśana-cakra in hand, entered her womb and saved my body, the body of the last remaining descendant of the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas, which was almost destroyed by the fiery weapon of Aśvatthāmā. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, appearing within and outside of all materially embodied living beings by His own potency in the forms of eternal time that is, as Paramātmā and as virāṭ-rūpa gave liberation to everyone, either as cruel death or as life. Kindly enlighten me by describing His transcendental character istics. (5-7)

My dear Śukadeva Gosvāmī, you have al ready explained that Saṅkarṣaṇa, who belongs to the second quadruple, appeared as the son of Rohiṇī named Balarāma. If Balarāma was not transferred from one body to another, how is it possible that He was first in the womb of Devakī and then in the womb of Rohiṇī? Kindly explain this to me. (8) Why did Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, leave the house of His father, Vasudeva, and transfer Himself to the house of Nanda in Vṛndāvana? Where did the Lord, the master of the Yadu dynasty, live with His relatives in Vṛndāvana? (9) Lord Kṛṣṇa lived both in Vṛndāvana and in Mathurā. What did He do there? Why did He kill Kaṁsa, His mother’s brother? Such killing is not at all sanctioned in the śāstras. (10) Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has no material body, yet He appears as a hu man being. For how many years did He live with the descendants of Vṛṣṇi? How many wives did He marry, and for how many years did He live in Dvārakā? (11) O great sage, who know everything about Kṛṣṇa, please describe in detail all the activities of which I have in quired and also those of which I have not, for I have full faith and am very eager to hear of them. (12)

Because of my vow on the verge of death, I have given up even drinking water, yet because I am drinking the nectar of topics about Kṛṣṇa, which is flowing from the lotus mouth of your Lordship, my hunger and thirst, which are extremely difficult to bear, cannot hinder me. (13) Sūta Gosvāmī said: O son of Bhṛgu, after Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the most respectable devo tee, the son of Vyāsadeva, heard the pious ques tions of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he thanked the King with great respect. Then he began to discourse on topics concerning Kṛṣṇa, which are the rem edy for all sufferings in this Age of Kali. (14) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O Your Majesty, best of all saintly kings, because you are greatly attracted to topics of Vāsudeva, it is certain that your intelligence is firmly fixed in spiritual un derstanding, which is the only true goal for hu manity. Because that attraction is unceasing, it is certainly sublime. (15)

The Ganges, emanat ing from the toe of Lord Viṣṇu, purifies the three worlds, the upper, middle and lower plan etary systems. Similarly, when one asks ques tions about the pastimes and characteristics of Lord Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, three varieties of men are purified: the speaker or preacher, he who inquires, and the people in general who listen. (16) Once when mother earth was overburdened by hundreds of thousands of military phalanxes of various conceited demons dressed like kings, she approached Lord Brahmā for relief. (17) Mother earth assumed the form of a cow. Very much distressed, with tears in her eyes, she ap peared before Lord Brahmā and told him about her misfortune(18) Thereafter, having heard of the distress of mother earth, Lord Brahmā, with mother earth, Lord Śiva and all the other demi gods, approached the shore of the Ocean of Milk. (19)

After reaching the shore of the Ocean of Milk, the demigods worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, the master of the whole universe, the supreme God of all gods, who provides for everyone and di minishes everyone’s suffering. With great at tention, they worshiped Lord Viṣṇu, who lies on the Ocean of Milk, by reciting the Vedic mantras known as the Puruṣa-sūkta. (20) While in trance, Lord Brahmā heard the words of Lord Viṣṇu vibrating in the sky. Thus he told the demigods: O demigods, hear from me the order of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supreme Person, and execute it attentively without delay. (21) Lord Brahmā informed the demigods: Before we submitted our petition to the Lord, He was already aware of the distress on earth. Conse quently, for as long as the Lord moves on earth to diminish its burden by His own potency in the form of time, all of you demigods should appear through plenary portions as sons and grandsons in the family of the Yadus. (22)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who has full potency, will personally appear as the son of Vasudeva. Therefore, all the wives of the demigods should also appear in order to satisfy Him. (23) The foremost manifestation of Kṛṣṇa is Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is known as Ananta. He is the origin of all incarnations within this material world. Previous to the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, this original Saṅkarṣaṇa will appear as Baladeva, just to please the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental pastimes. (24) The potency of the Lord, known as viṣṇu-māyā, who is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will also appear with Lord Kṛṣṇa. This potency, acting in different capacities, captivates all the worlds, both material and spiritual. At the request of her master, she will appear with her different potencies in order to execute the work of the Lord. (25)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: After thus advising the demigods and pacifying mother earth, the very powerful Lord Brahmā, who is the master of all other Prajāpatis and is there fore known as Prajāpati-pati, returned to his own abode, Brahmaloka. (26) Formerly, Śūrasena, the chief of the Yadu dynasty, had gone to live in the city of Mathurā. There he enjoyed the places known as Māthura and Śūrasena. (27) Since that time, the city of Ma thurā had been the capital of all the kings of the Yadu dynasty. The city and district of Mathurā are very intimately connected with Kṛṣṇa, for Lord Kṛṣṇa lives there eternally. (28) Some time ago, Vasudeva, who belonged to the dem igod family [or to the Śūra dynasty], married Devakī. After the marriage, he mounted his chariot to return home with his newly married wife. (29)

Kaṁsa, the son of King Ugrasena, in order to please his sister Devakī on the occasion of her marriage, took charge of the reins of the horses and became the chariot driver. He was surrounded by hundreds of golden chariots. (30) Devakī’s father, King Devaka, was very much affectionate to his daughter. Therefore, while she and her husband were leaving home, he gave her a dowry of four hundred elephants nicely decorated with golden garlands. He also gave ten thousand horses, eighteen hundred chariots, and two hundred very beautiful young maidservants, fully decorated with ornaments. (31-32) O beloved son, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, when the bride and bridegroom were ready to start, conch shells, bugles, drums and kettle drums all vibrated in concert for their auspi cious departure. (33) While Kaṁsa, controlling the reins of the horses, was driving the chariot along the way, an unembodied voice addressed him, “You foolish rascal, the eighth child of the woman you are carrying will kill you!” (34)

Kaṁsa was a condemned personality in the Bhoja dynasty because he was envious and sin ful. Therefore, upon hearing this omen from the sky, he caught hold of his sister’s hair with his left hand and took up his sword with his right hand to sever her head from her body. (35) Wanting to pacify Kaṁsa, who was so cruel and envious that he was shamelessly ready to kill his sister, the great soul Vasudeva, who was to be the father of Kṛṣṇa, spoke to him in the following words. (36) Vasudeva said: My dear brother-in-law Kaṁsa, you are the pride of your family, the Bhoja dynasty, and great heroes praise your qualities. How could such a qualified person as you kill a woman, your own sister, especially on the occasion of her marriage? (37) O great hero, one who takes birth is sure to die, for death is born with the body. One may die today or after hundreds of years, but death is sure for every living entity. (38)

When the present body turns to dust and is again reduced to five ele ments: earth, water, fire, air and ether, the pro prietor of the body, the living being, automati cally receives another body of material ele ments according to his fruitive activities. When the next body is obtained, he gives up the pre sent body. (39) Just as a person traveling on the road rests one foot on the ground and then lifts the other, or as a worm on a vegetable transfers itself to one leaf and then gives up the previous one, the conditioned soul takes shelter of an other body and then gives up the one he had be fore. (40) Having experienced a situation by seeing or hearing about it, one contemplates and speculates about that situation, and thus one surrenders to it, not considering his present body. Similarly, by mental adjustments one dreams at night of living under different cir cumstances, in different bodies, and forgets his actual position. Under this same process, one gives up his present body and accepts another [tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ]. (41)

At the time of death, according to the thinking, feeling and willing of the mind, which is involved in frui tive activities, one receives a particular body. In other words, the body develops according to the activities of the mind. Changes of body are due to the flickering of the mind, for otherwise the soul could remain in its original, spiritual body. (42) When the luminaries in the sky, such as the moon, the sun and the stars, are reflected in liquids like oil or water, they appear to be of different shapes sometimes round, sometimes long, and so on because of the movements of the wind. Similarly, when the living entity, the soul, is absorbed in materialistic thoughts, he accepts various manifestations as his own iden tity because of ignorance. In other words, one is bewildered by mental concoctions because of agitation from the material modes of nature. (43)

Therefore, since envious, impious activi ties cause a body in which one suffers in the next life, why should one act impiously? Con sidering one’s welfare, one should not envy an yone, for an envious person must always fear harm from his enemies, either in this life or in the next. (44) As your younger sister, this poor girl Devakī is like your own daughter and de serves to be affectionately maintained. You are merciful, and therefore you should not kill her. Indeed, she deserves your affection. (45) Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: O best of the Kuru dynasty, Kaṁsa was fiercely cruel and was actually a follower of the Rākṣasas. There fore, he could be neither pacified nor terrified by the good instructions given by Vasudeva. He did not care about the results of sinful activities, either in this life or in the next. (46)

When Vasudeva saw that Kaṁsa was determined to kill his sister Devakī, he thought to himself very deeply. Considering the imminent danger of death, he thought of another plan to stop Kaṁsa. (47) As long as he has intelligence and bodily strength, an intelligent person must try to avoid death. This is the duty of every embod ied person. But if death cannot be avoided in spite of one’s endeavors, a person facing death commits no offense. (48) Vasudeva consid ered: By delivering all my sons to Kaṁsa, who is death personified, I shall save the life of Devakī. Perhaps Kaṁsa will die before my sons take birth, or, since he is already destined to die at the hands of my son, one of my sons may kill him. For the time being, let me promise to hand over my sons so that Kaṁsa will give up this immediate threat, and if in due course of time Kaṁsa dies, I shall have nothing to fear. (49 50)

When a fire, for some unseen reason, leaps over one piece of wood and sets fire to the next, the reason is destiny. Similarly, when a living being accepts one kind of body and leaves aside another, there is no other reason than unseen destiny. (51) After thus considering the matter as far as his knowledge would allow, Vasudeva submitted his proposal to the sinful Kaṁsa with great respect. (52) Vasudeva’s mind was full of anxiety because his wife was facing danger, but in order to please the cruel, shameless and sin ful Kaṁsa, he externally smiled and spoke to him as follows. (53) Vasudeva said: O best of the sober, you have nothing to fear from your sister Devakī because of what you have heard from the un seen omen. The cause of death will be her sons. Therefore, I promise that when she gives birth to the sons from whom your fear has arisen, I shall deliver them all unto your hands. (54)

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: Kaṁsa agreed to the logical arguments of Vasudeva, and, having full faith in Vasudeva’s words, he refrained from killing his sister. Vasudeva, being pleased with Kaṁsa, pacified him further and entered his own house. (55) Each year thereafter, in due course of time, Devakī, the mother of God and all the demi gods, gave birth to a child. Thus she bore eight sons, one after another, and a daughter named Subhadrā. (56) Vasudeva was very much dis turbed by fear of becoming a liar by breaking his promise. Thus with great pain he delivered his first-born son, named Kīrtimān, into the hands of Kaṁsa. (57) What is painful for saintly persons who strictly adhere to the truth? How could there not be independence for pure devotees who know the Supreme Lord as the substance? What deeds are forbidden for per sons of the lowest character? And what cannot be given up for the sake of Lord Kṛṣṇa by those who have fully surrendered at His lotus feet? (58)

My dear King Parīkṣit, when Kaṁsa saw that Vasudeva, being situated in truthfulness, was completely equipoised in giving him the child, he was very happy. Therefore, with a smiling face, he spoke as follows. (59) O Vasudeva, you may take back your child and go home. I have no fear of your first child. It is the eighth child of you and Devakī I am con cerned with because that is the child by whom I am destined to be killed. (60) Vasudeva agreed and took his child back home, but be cause Kaṁsa had no character and no self-con trol, Vasudeva knew that he could not rely on Kaṁsa’s word. (61) The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, headed by Nanda Mahārāja and including his associate cowherd men and their wives, were none but denizens of the heavenly planets, O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the descendants of Bharata, and so too were the descendants of the Vṛṣṇi dyn asty, headed by Vasudeva and Devakī and the other women of the dynasty of Yadu. The friends, relatives and well-wishers of both Nanda Mahārāja and Vasudeva and even those who externally appeared to be followers of Kaṁsa were all demigods. (62-63)

Once the great saint Nārada approached Kaṁsa and in formed him of how the demoniac persons who were a great burden on the earth were going to be killed. Thus Kaṁsa was placed into great fear and doubt. (64) After the departure of the great saint Nārada, Kaṁsa thought that all the members of the Yadu dynasty were demigods and that any of the children born from the womb of Devakī might be Viṣṇu. Fearing his death, Kaṁsa arrested Vasudeva and Devakī and chained them with iron shackles. Suspect ing each of the children to be Viṣṇu, Kaṁsa killed them one after another because of the prophecy that Viṣṇu would kill him. (65-66) Kings greedy for sense gratification on this earth almost always kill their enemies indis criminately. To satisfy their own whims, they may kill anyone, even their mothers, fathers, brothers or friends. (67) In his previous birth, Kaṁsa had been a great demon named Kālanemi and been killed by Viṣṇu. Upon learning this information from Nārada, Kaṁsa became envious of everyone connected with the Yadu dynasty. (68) Kaṁsa, the most pow erful son of Ugrasena, even imprisoned his own father, the King of the Yadu, Bhoja and Andhaka dynasties, and personally ruled the states known as Śūrasena. (69)