Canto Ten - Chapter 8

Śrī Śuka said: O King, Garga, the greatly austere family priest of the Yadus, went to Nanda's Vraja at Vasudeva's urging.

Overjoyed to see him, Nanda rose with folded hands and bowed before him. Regarding him with the same reverence he bore for Adhokṣaja, he performed his worship.

After the sage had been properly welcomed and comfortably seated, Nanda delighted him with gracious words and said, "O brāhmaṇa, what can we do for one who is already complete?

My lord, when great souls journey among poor-minded householders, it is solely for those householders' supreme good and never for any other purpose.

You have composed that direct yet supersensory science which charts the movement of the heavenly lights and by which a person understands both higher and lower destiny.

You are the foremost knower of Brahman and therefore should perform the purificatory rites for these two boys. A brāhmaṇa is, by birth, the spiritual guide of human society."

Śrī Garga said: I am everywhere known in this world as the preceptor of the Yadus. If I perform the rites for your son, people will suppose that He is Devakī's son.

The evil-minded Kaṃsa knows of your friendship with Ānakadundubhi, and he knows that Devakī's eighth pregnancy could not truly have produced a girl.

He may reflect in this way when he hears what Devakī's daughter said. Although his present suspicion has subsided, he may kill this child, and that would bring calamity upon us.

Śrī Nanda said: Then perform the twice-born rites, preceded by auspicious recitations, secretly in this secluded place, unnoticed even by my own people here in the cowherd settlement.

Śrī Śuka said: Thus entreated, the brāhmaṇa did precisely what he himself had intended. Concealed in a secluded place, he secretly performed the boys' naming ceremony.

Śrī Garga said: Because this son of Rohiṇī delights His friends with His virtues, He will be called Rāma. Because of His surpassing strength He will be known as Bala, and because He unites the Yadus He is also called Saṅkarṣaṇa.

In successive ages this child has assumed bodies of three colors: white, red and yellow. Now He has taken a dark complexion.

At some time in the past this son of yours was born as the son of Vasudeva. Those who know this therefore call the glorious child Vāsudeva.

Your son has many names and many forms corresponding to His qualities and deeds. I know them, but ordinary people do not.

This child, the delight of the cowherds and of Gokula, will bring you every blessing. Through Him you will easily cross every danger.

Long ago, O lord of Vraja, when there was no king and the virtuous were tormented by brigands, this child protected them. Strengthened by Him, they defeated the brigands.

Highly fortunate people who place their love in Him cannot be overcome by enemies, just as the demons cannot overcome those who stand with Viṣṇu.

Therefore this son of Nanda is equal to Nārāyaṇa in qualities, beauty, fame and power. Protect Him with the greatest care.

Śrī Śuka said: Having thus instructed Nanda about his son, Garga returned home. Nanda was filled with delight and considered himself complete in every blessing.

After only a short time, Rāma and Keśava began to play in Gokula, crawling about upon their hands and knees.

Dragging Their two feet as They crawled through the mud of the cowherd settlement, the boys followed the charming sounds of the village. Their hearts delighted by those sounds, They would approach the people and then, like innocently frightened children, hurry back to Their mothers.

The mothers' breasts flowed with milk from tenderness. Taking their own sons in their arms, beautiful with mud adorning Their bodies, they gave Them the breast. Watching the boys drink, and seeing Their innocent smiles and tiny teeth, the mothers attained great joy.

When the two beautiful little boys played within Vraja, They sometimes grasped calves by the tails and were dragged here and there. The women abandoned their household work to watch Them and laughed with delight.

The two boys were utterly absorbed in play and constantly on the move. Their mothers could neither restrain their sons from horned animals, fire, fanged beasts, blades, water, birds and thorns, nor complete their household duties. Their minds became profoundly unsettled.

Within a short time, O royal sage, Rāma and Kṛṣṇa began easily walking through Gokula upon Their feet without scraping Their knees.

Then Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, together with Rāma and His young cowherd companions, played in ways that filled the women of Vraja with joy.

The cowherd women delighted in watching Kṛṣṇa's charming childhood mischief. They gathered before His mother, knowing that she would hear them, and complained as follows:

Sometimes He releases the calves at the wrong time and laughs at the commotion. He devises clever means of theft and eats our delicious yogurt and milk. When the monkeys will eat, He divides it among them; when they will not, He breaks the pot. If He finds nothing, He becomes angry with the household and leaves after making the children cry.

When something is beyond His reach, He arranges stools, mortars and other objects to reach it. If we hide a hanging pot beyond access, that clever boy knows its location and pierces a hole in it. In a dark room He uses the cluster of jewels upon His own body as a lamp, all while the cowherd women are deeply occupied with household duties.

He performs such insolent deeds, even urinating in a freshly cleaned house. After carrying out all His ingenious methods of theft, that beautiful boy sits as though entirely innocent. As the women described His exploits while glancing with fearful eyes at His lovely face, Yaśodā smiled and had no desire to rebuke Him.

One day, while Rāma and the other cowherd boys were playing, they reported to Kṛṣṇa's mother, "Kṛṣṇa has eaten dirt."

Seeking His welfare, Yaśodā took Kṛṣṇa by the hand and reproached Him. His eyes looked anxiously bewildered with fear as she spoke.

Why, unruly child, have You secretly eaten dirt? All these boys who belong to Your group say so, and Your elder brother says so too.

Kṛṣṇa replied: Mother, I have not eaten dirt. They are all accusing Me falsely. If their words are true, then look directly into My mouth.

When she said, "If that is so, open Your mouth," Bhagavān Hari opened it. His divine sovereignty remained unobstructed even as He played the part of a human child.

Within it she saw the universe: the moving and unmoving world, the sky and all directions, the globe of earth with its mountains, islands and oceans, and the air, fire, moon and stars.

She saw the celestial sphere, water, radiant energy, wind and ether; the products of cosmic transformation, the senses, the mind, the subtle sense-objects and the three qualities of nature.

She saw this manifold creation with the individual soul, time, inherent nature, action, latent impressions and the differing subtle bodies. Seeing it in the body of her son, within His opened mouth, she became uncertain about Vraja and even herself.

Is this a dream, or the magic of a god? Is it some delusion of my own understanding? Or is it an innate divine power belonging to this very child of mine?

I bow to that reality which cannot properly be reached by reasoning, mind, thought, action or speech; the exceedingly mysterious ground in which, by which and from which all that appears is perceived.

I think, "I am this body; this man is my husband; this is my son; I am the queen of Vraja's lord and keeper of all his wealth; these cowherd women and men, together with the cattle, are mine." The Lord by whose māyā I hold this mistaken understanding is my refuge.

When the cowherd woman thus understood the truth, the all-powerful Lord spread His Vaiṣṇavī māyā over her, filling it with a mother's love for her son.

At once the cowherd woman lost all memory of that vision. She placed her son upon her lap, and her heart became flooded with increasing affection just as before.

The Vedas and Upaniṣads, the Sāṅkhya and Yoga systems and the Sātvata scriptures sing of Hari's majesty, yet she simply regarded Him as her son.

The noble king said: O brāhmaṇa, what supremely auspicious deed did Nanda perform to receive such a great blessing? And what did greatly fortunate Yaśodā do, that Hari drank from her breast?

Kṛṣṇa's parents did not experience the generous childhood deeds that poets sing even today, deeds that remove the world's impurity.

Śrī Śuka said: Droṇa, the foremost of the Vasus, was preparing with his wife Dharā to carry out Brahmā's commands when he addressed him.

When we are born upon earth and the Supreme Lord Hari, ruler of the universe, appears among us, may we possess the highest devotion to Him, devotion by which the world may easily cross beyond suffering.

Brahmā said, "So be it." The greatly celebrated Droṇa then took birth in Vraja and became known as Nanda, while Dharā became Yaśodā.

Therefore, O descendant of Bharata, the couple possessed the most intense devotion to Bhagavān Janārdana when He became their son, and that devotion spread among the cowherd women and men.

To make Brahmā's word come true, all-powerful Kṛṣṇa dwelt in Vraja together with Rāma and delighted its people through His own pastimes.