TEXT 1
TEXT
sri-suka uvaca
kvacid vanasaya mano dadhad vrajat
pratah samutthaya vayasya-vatsapan
prabodhayan chrnga-ravena caruna
vinirgato vatsa-purahsaro harih
Sukadeva Gosvami continued: O King, one day Krsna decided to take His
breakfast as a picnic in the forest. Having risen early in the morning, He blew
His bugle made of horn and woke all the cowherd boys and calves with its
beautiful sound. Then Krsna and the boys, keeping their respective groups of
calves before them, proceeded from Vrajabhumi to the forest.
TEXT 2
TEXT
tenaiva sakam prthukah sahasrasah
snigdhah susig-vetra-visana-venavah
svan svan sahasropari-sankhyayanvitan
vatsan puraskrtya viniryayur muda
At that time, hundreds and thousands of cowherd boys came out of their
respective homes in Vrajabhumi and joined Krsna, keeping before them their
hundreds and thousands of groups of calves. The boys were very beautiful, and
they were equipped with lunch bags, bugles, flutes, and sticks for controlling
the calves.
TEXT 3
TEXT
krsna-vatsair asankhyatair
yuthi-krtya sva-vatsakan
carayanto ‘rbha-lilabhir
vijahrus tatra tatra ha
Along with the cowherd boys and their own groups of calves, Krsna came out
with an unlimited number of calves assembled. Then all the boys began to sport
in the forest in a greatly playful spirit.
TEXT 4
TEXT
phala-prabala-stavakasumanah-
piccha-dhatubhih
kaca-gunja-mani-svarnabhusita
apy abhusayan
Although all these boys were already decorated by their mothers with
ornaments of kaca, gunja, pearls and gold, when they went into the forest they
further decorated themselves with fruits, green leaves, bunches of flowers,
peacock feathers and soft minerals.
TEXT 5
TEXT
musnanto ‘nyonya-sikyadin
jnatan arac ca ciksipuh
tatratyas ca punar durad
dhasantas ca punar daduh
All the cowherd boys used to steal one another’s lunch bags. When a boy came
to understand that his bag had been taken away, the other boys would throw it
farther away, to a more distant place, and those standing there would throw it
still farther. When the proprietor of the bag became disappointed, the other
boys would laugh, the proprietor would cry, and then the bag would be returned.
TEXT 6
TEXT
yadi duram gatah krsno
vana-sobheksanaya tam
aham purvam aham purvam
iti samsprsya remire
Sometimes Krsna would go to a somewhat distant place to see the beauty of the
forest. Then all the other boys would run to accompany Him, each one saying, “I
shall be the first to run and touch Krsna! I shall touch Krsna first!” In this
way they enjoyed life by repeatedly touching Krsna.
TEXTS 7-11
TEXT
kecid venun vadayanto
dhmantah srngani kecana
kecid bhrngaih pragayantah
kujantah kokilaih pare
vicchayabhih pradhavanto
gacchantah sadhu-hamsakaih
bakair upavisantas ca
nrtyantas ca kalapibhih
vikarsantah kisa-balan
arohantas ca tair druman
vikurvantas ca taih sakam
plavantas ca palasisu
sakam bhekair vilanghantah
saritah srava-samplutah
vihasantah praticchayah
sapantas ca pratisvanan
ittham satam brahma-sukhanubhutya
dasyam gatanam para-daivatena
mayasritanam nara-darakena
sakam vijahruh krta-punya-punjah
All the boys would be differently engaged. Some boys blew their flutes, and
others blew bugles made of horn. Some imitated the buzzing of the bumblebees,
and others imitated the voice of the cuckoo. Some boys imitated flying birds by
running after the birds’ shadows on the ground, some imitated the beautiful
movements and attractive postures of the swans, some sat down with the ducks,
sitting silently, and others imitated the dancing of the peacocks. Some boys
attracted young monkeys in the trees, some jumped into the trees, imitating the
monkeys, some made faces as the monkeys were accustomed to do, and others jumped
from one branch to another. Some boys went to the waterfalls and crossed over
the river, jumping with the frogs, and when they saw their own reflections on
the water they would laugh. They would also condemn the sounds of their own
echoes. In this way, all the cowherd boys used to play with Krsna, who is the
source of the Brahman effulgence for jnanis desiring to merge into that
effulgence, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead for devotees who have
accepted eternal servitorship, and who for ordinary persons is but another
ordinary child. The cowherd boys, having accumulated the results of pious
activities for many lives, were able to associate in this way with the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. How can one explain their great fortune?
TEXT 12
TEXT
yat-pada-pamsur bahu-janma-krcchrato
dhrtatmabhir yogibhir apy alabhyah
sa eva yad-drg-visayah svayam sthitah
kim varnyate distam ato vrajaukasam
Yogis may undergo severe austerities and penances for many births by
practicing yama, niyama, asana and pranayama, none of which are easily
performed. Yet in due course of time, when these yogis attain the perfection of
controlling the mind, they will still be unable to taste even a particle of dust
from the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What then can we
describe about the great fortune of the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi, Vrndavana,
with whom the Supreme Personality of Godhead personally lived and who saw the
Lord face to face?
TEXT 13
TEXT
athagha-namabhyapatan mahasuras
tesam sukha-kridana-viksanaksamah
nityam yad-antar nija-jivitepsubhih
pitamrtair apy amaraih pratiksyate
My dear King Pariksit, thereafter there appeared a great demon named
Aghasura, whose death was being awaited even by the demigods. The demigods drank
nectar every day, but still they feared this great demon and awaited his death.
This demon could not tolerate the transcendental pleasure being enjoyed in the
forest by the cowherd boys.
TEXT 14
TEXT
drstvarbhakan krsna-mukhan aghasurah
kamsanusistah sa baki-bakanujah
ayam tu me sodara-nasa-krt tayor
dvayor mamainam sa-balam hanisye
Aghasura, who had been sent by Kamsa, was the younger brother of Putana and
Bakasura. Therefore when he came and saw Krsna at the head of all the cowherd
boys, he thought, “This Krsna has killed my sister and brother, Putana and
Bakasura. Therefore, in order to please them both, I shall kill this Krsna,
along with His assistants, the other cowherd boys.”
TEXT 15
TEXT
ete yada mat-suhrdos tilapah
krtas tada nasta-sama vrajaukasah
prane gate varsmasu ka nu cinta
prajasavah prana-bhrto hi ye te
Aghasura thought: If somehow or other I can make Krsna and His associates
serve as the last offering of sesame and water for the departed souls of my
brother and sister, then the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi, for whom these boys are
the life and soul, will automatically die. If there is no life, there is no need
for the body; consequently, when their sons are dead, naturally all the
inhabitants of Vraja will die.
TEXT 16
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iti vyavasyajagaram brhad vapuh
sa yojanayama-mahadri-pivaram
dhrtvadbhutam vyatta-guhananam tada
pathi vyaseta grasanasaya khalah
After thus deciding, that crooked Aghasura assumed the form of a huge python,
as thick as a big mountain and as long as eight miles. Having assumed this
wonderful python’s body, he spread his mouth like a big cave in the mountains
and lay down on the road, expecting to swallow Krsna and His associates the
cowherd boys.
TEXT 17
TEXT
dharadharostho jaladottarostho
dary-anananto giri-srnga-damstrah
dhvantantar-asyo vitatadhva-jihvah
parusanila-svasa-daveksanosnah
His lower lip rested on the surface of the earth, and his upper lip was
touching the clouds in the sky. The borders of his mouth resembled the sides of
a big cave in a mountain, and the middle of his mouth was as dark as possible.
His tongue resembled a broad traffic-way, his breath was like a warm wind, and
his eyes blazed like fire.
TEXT 18
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drstva tam tadrsam sarve
matva vrndavana-sriyam
vyattajagara-tundena
hy utpreksante sma lilaya
Upon seeing this demon’s wonderful form, which resembled a great python, the
boys thought that it must be a beautiful scenic spot of Vrndavana. Thereafter,
they imagined it to be similar to the mouth of a great python. In other words,
the boys, unafraid, thought that it was a statue made in the shape of a great
python for the enjoyment of their pastimes.
TEXT 19
TEXT
aho mitrani gadata
sattva-kutam purah sthitam
asmat-sangrasana-vyattavyala-
tundayate na va
The boys said: Dear friends, is this creature dead, or is it actually a
living python with its mouth spread wide just to swallow us all? Kindly clear up
this doubt.
TEXT 20
TEXT
satyam arka-kararaktam
uttara-hanuvad ghanam
adhara-hanuvad rodhas
tat-praticchayayarunam
Thereafter they decided: Dear friends, this is certainly an animal sitting
here to swallow us all. Its upper lip resembles a cloud reddened by the
sunshine, and its lower lip resembles the reddish shadows of a cloud.
TEXT 21
TEXT
pratispardhete srkkabhyam
savyasavye nagodare
tunga-srngalayo ‘py etas
tad-damstrabhis ca pasyata
On the left and right, the two depressions resembling mountain caves are the
corners of its mouth, and the high mountain peaks are its teeth.
TEXT 22
TEXT
astrtayama-margo ‘yam
rasanam pratigarjati
esam antar-gatam dhvantam
etad apy antar-ananam
In length and breadth the animal’s tongue resembles a broad traffic-way, and
the inside of its mouth is very, very dark, like a cave in a mountain.
TEXT 23
TEXT
davosna-khara-vato ‘yam
svasavad bhati pasyata
tad-dagdha-sattva-durgandho
‘py antar-amisa-gandhavat
The hot fiery wind is the breath coming out of his mouth, which is giving off
the bad smell of burning flesh because of all the dead bodies he has eaten.
TEXT 24
TEXT
asman kim atra grasita nivistan
ayam tatha ced bakavad vinanksyati
ksanad aneneti bakary-usan-mukham
viksyoddhasantah kara-tadanair yayuh
Then the boys said, “Has this living creature come to swallow us? If he does
so, he will immediately be killed like Bakasura, without delay.” Thus they
looked at the beautiful face of Krsna, the enemy of Bakasura, and, laughing
loudly and clapping their hands, they entered the mouth of the python.
TEXT 25
TEXT
ittham mitho ‘tathyam ataj-jna-bhasitam
srutva vicintyety amrsa mrsayate
rakso viditvakhila-bhuta-hrt-sthitah
svanam niroddhum bhagavan mano dadhe
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, who is situated as antaryami,
the Supersoul, in the core of everyone’s heart, heard the boys talking among
themselves about the artificial python. Unknown to them, it was actually
Aghasura, a demon who had appeared as a python. Krsna, knowing this, wanted to
forbid His associates to enter the demon’s mouth.
TEXT 26
TEXT
tavat pravistas tv asurodarantaram
param na girnah sisavah sa-vatsah
pratiksamanena bakari-vesanam
hata-sva-kanta-smaranena raksasa
In the meantime, while Krsna was considering how to stop them, all the
cowherd boys entered the mouth of the demon. The demon, however, did not swallow
them, for he was thinking of his own relatives who had been killed by Krsna and
was just waiting for Krsna to enter his mouth.
TEXT 27
TEXT
tan viksya krsnah sakalabhaya-prado
hy ananya-nathan sva-karad avacyutan
dinams ca mrtyor jatharagni-ghasan
ghrnardito dista-krtena vismitah
Krsna saw that all the cowherd boys, who did not know anyone but Him as their
Lord, had now gone out of His hand and were helpless, having entered like straws
into the fire of the abdomen of Aghasura, who was death personified. It was
intolerable for Krsna to be separated from His friends the cowherd boys.
Therefore, as if seeing that this had been arranged by His internal potency,
Krsna was momentarily struck with wonder and unsure of what to do.
TEXT 28
TEXT
krtyam kim atrasya khalasya jivanam
na va amisam ca satam vihimsanam
dvayam katham syad iti samvicintya
jnatvavisat tundam asesa-drg gharih
Now, what was to be done? How could both the killing of this demon and the
saving of the devotees be performed simultaneously? Krsna, being unlimitedly
potent, decided to wait for an intelligent means by which He could
simultaneously save the boys and kill the demon. Then He entered the mouth of
Aghasura.
TEXT 29
TEXT
tada ghana-cchada deva
bhayad dha-heti cukrusuh
jahrsur ye ca kamsadyah
kaunapas tv agha-bandhav
When Krsna entered the mouth of Aghasura, the demigods hidden behind the
clouds exclaimed, “Alas! Alas!” But the friends of Aghasura, like Kamsa and
other demons, were jubilant.
TEXT 30
TEXT
tac chrutva bhagavan krsnas
tv avyayah sarbha-vatsakam
curni-cikirsor atmanam
tarasa vavrdhe gale
When the invincible Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, heard the demigods
crying “Alas! Alas!” from behind the clouds, He immediately enlarged Himself
within the demon’s throat, just to save Himself and the cowherd boys, His own
associates, from the demon who wished to smash them.
TEXT 31
TEXT
tato ‘tikayasya niruddha-margino
hy udgirna-drster bhramatas tv itas tatah
purno ‘ntar-ange pavano niruddho
murdhan vinirbhidya vinirgato bahih
Then, because Krsna had increased the size of His body, the demon extended
his own body to a very large size. Nonetheless, his breathing stopped, he
suffocated, and his eyes rolled here and there and popped out. The demon’s life
air, however, could not pass through any outlet, and therefore it finally burst
out through a hole in the top of the demon’s head.
TEXT 32
TEXT
tenaiva sarvesu bahir gatesu
pranesu vatsan suhrdah paretan
drstya svayotthapya tad-anvitah punar
vaktran mukundo bhagavan viniryayau
When all the demon’s life air had passed away through that hole in the top of
his head, Krsna glanced over the dead calves and cowherd boys and brought them
back to life. Then Mukunda, who can give one liberation, came out from the
demon’s mouth with His friends and the calves.
TEXT 33
TEXT
pinahi-bhogotthitam adbhutam mahaj
jyotih sva-dhamna jvalayad diso dasa
pratiksya khe ‘vasthitam isa-nirgamam
vivesa tasmin misatam divaukasam
From the body of the gigantic python, a glaring effulgence came out,
illuminating all directions, and stayed individually in the sky until Krsna came
out from the corpse’s mouth. Then, as all the demigods looked on, this
effulgence entered into Krsna’s body.
TEXT 34
TEXT
tato ‘tihrstah sva-krto ‘krtarhanam
puspaih suga apsarasas ca nartanaih
gitaih sura vadya-dharas ca vadyakaih
stavais ca vipra jaya-nihsvanair ganah
Thereafter, everyone being pleased, the demigods began to shower flowers from
Nandana-kanana, the celestial dancing girls began to dance, and the Gandharvas,
who are famous for singing, offered songs of prayer. The drummers began to beat
their kettledrums, and the brahmanas offered Vedic hymns. In this way, both in
the heavens and on earth, everyone began to perform his own duties, glorifying
the Lord.
TEXT 35
TEXT
tad-adbhuta-stotra-suvadya-gitikajayadi-
naikotsava-mangala-svanan
srutva sva-dhamno ‘nty aja agato ‘cirad
drstva mahisasya jagama vismayam
When Lord Brahma heard the wonderful ceremony going on near his planet,
accompanied by music and songs and sounds of “Jaya! Jaya!” he immediately came
down to see the function. Upon seeing so much glorification of Lord Krsna, he
was completely astonished.
TEXT 36
TEXT
rajann ajagaram carma
suskam vrndavane ‘dbhutam
vrajaukasam bahu-titham
babhuvakrida-gahvaram
O King Pariksit, when the python-shaped body of Aghasura dried up into merely
a big skin, it became a wonderful place for the inhabitants of Vrndavana to
visit, and it remained so for a long, long time.
TEXT 37
TEXT
etat kaumarajam karma
harer atmahi-moksanam
mrtyoh paugandake bala
drstvocur vismita vraje
This incident of Krsna’s saving Himself and His associates from death and of
giving deliverance to Aghasura, who had assumed the form of a python, took place
when Krsna was five years old. It was disclosed in Vrajabhumi after one year, as
if it had taken place on that very day.
TEXT 38
TEXT
naitad vicitram manujarbha-mayinah
paravaranam paramasya vedhasah
agho ‘pi yat-sparsana-dhauta-patakah
prapatma-samyam tv asatam sudurlabham
Krsna is the cause of all causes. The causes and effects of the material
world, both higher and lower, are all created by the Supreme Lord, the original
controller. When Krsna appeared as the son of Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda, He did
so by His causeless mercy. Consequently, for Him to exhibit His unlimited
opulence was not at all wonderful. Indeed, He showed such great mercy that even
Aghasura, the most sinful miscreant, was elevated to being one of His associates
and achieving sarupya-mukti, which is actually impossible for materially
contaminated persons to attain.
TEXT 39
TEXT
sakrd yad-anga-pratimantar-ahita
manomayi bhagavatim dadau gatim
sa eva nityatma-sukhanubhuty-abhivyudasta-
mayo ‘ntar-gato hi kim punah
If even only once or even by force one brings the form of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead into one’s mind, one can attain the supreme salvation by
the mercy of Krsna, as did Aghasura. What then is to be said of those whose
hearts the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters when He appears as an
incarnation, or those who always think of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the
source of transcendental bliss for all living entities and by whom all illusion
is completely removed?
TEXT 40
TEXT
sri-suta uvaca
ittham dvija yadavadeva-dattah
srutva sva-ratus caritam vicitram
papraccha bhuyo ‘pi tad eva punyam
vaiyasakim yan nigrhita-cetah
Sri Suta Gosvami said: O learned saints, the childhood pastimes of Sri Krsna
are very wonderful. Maharaja Pariksit, after hearing about those pastimes of
Krsna, who had saved him in the womb of his mother, became steady in his mind
and again inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami to hear about those pious activities.
TEXT 41
TEXT
sri-rajovaca
brahman kalantara-krtam
tat-kalinam katham bhavet
yat kaumare hari-krtam
jaguh paugandake ‘rbhakah
Maharaja Pariksit inquired: O great sage, how could things done in the past
have been described as being done at the present? Lord Sri Krsna performed this
pastime of killing Aghasura during His kaumara age. How then, during His
pauganda age, could the boys have described this incident as having happened
recently?
TEXT 42
TEXT
tad bruhi me maha-yogin
param kautuhalam guro
nunam etad dharer eva
maya bhavati nanyatha
O greatest yogi, my spiritual master, kindly describe why this happened. I am
very much curious to know about it. I think that it was nothing but another
illusion due to Krsna.
TEXT 43
TEXT
vayam dhanyatama loke
guro ‘pi ksatra-bandhavah
vayam pibamo muhus tvattah
punyam krsna-kathamrtam
O my lord, my spiritual master, although we are the lowest of ksatriyas, we
are glorified and benefited because we have the opportunity of always hearing
from you the nectar of the pious activities of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead.
TEXT 44
TEXT
sri-suta uvaca
ittham sma prstah sa tu badarayanis
tat-smaritananta-hrtakhilendriyah
krcchrat punar labdha-bahir-drsih sanaih
pratyaha tam bhagavatottamottama
Suta Gosvami said: O Saunaka, greatest of saints and devotees, when Maharaja
Pariksit inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami in this way, Sukadeva Gosvami,
immediately remembering subject matters about Krsna within the core of his
heart, externally lost contact with the actions of his senses. Thereafter, with
great difficulty, he revived his external sensory perception and began to speak
to Maharaja Pariksit about krsna-katha.
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