Chapter Seven
The Killing of the Demon Tṛṇāvarta
TEXT 6
autthānikautsukya-manā manasvinī
samāgatān pūjayatī vrajaukasaḥ
naivāśṛṇod vai ruditaṁ sutasya sā
rudan stanārthī caraṇāv udakṣipat
SYNONYMS
autthānika-autsukya-manāḥ—mother Yaśodā was very busy celebrating the utthāna ceremony of her child; manasvinī—very liberal in distributing food, clothing, ornaments and cows, according to necessity; samāgatān—to the assembled guests; pūjayatī—just to satisfy them; vraja-okasaḥ—to the inhabitants of Vraja; na—not; eva—certainly; aśṛṇot—did hear; vai—indeed; ruditam—the crying; sutasya—of her child; sā—mother Yaśodā; rudan—crying; stana-arthī—Kṛṣṇa, who was hankering to drink His mother’s milk by sucking her breast; caraṇau udakṣipat—out of anger, threw His two legs hither and thither.
TRANSLATION
The liberal mother Yaśodā, absorbed in celebrating the utthāna ceremony, was busy receiving guests, worshiping 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.
PURPORT
Kṛṣṇa had been placed underneath a household handcart, but this handcart was actually another form of the Śakaṭāsura, a demon who had come there to kill the child. Now, on the plea of demanding to suck His mother’s breast, Kṛṣṇa took this opportunity to kill the demon. Thus He kicked Śakaṭāsura just to expose him. Although Kṛṣṇa’s mother was engaged in receiving guests, Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to draw her attention by killing the Śakaṭāsura, and therefore he kicked that cart-shaped demon. Such are the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wanted to draw the attention of His mother, but while doing so He created a great havoc not understandable by ordinary persons. These narrations are wonderfully enjoyable, and those who are fortunate are struck with wonder upon hearing of these extraordinary activities of the Lord. Although the less intelligent regard them as mythological because a dull brain cannot understand them, they are real facts. These narrations are actually so enjoyable and enlightening that Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Śukadeva Gosvāmī took pleasure in them, and other liberated persons, following in their footsteps, become fully jubilant by hearing about the wonderful activities of the Lord.
TEXT 7
adhaḥ-śayānasya śiśor ano ’lpaka-
pravāla-mṛdv-aṅghri-hataṁ vyavartata
vidhvasta-nānā-rasa-kupya-bhājanaṁ
vyatyasta-cakrākṣa-vibhinna-kūbaram
SYNONYMS
adhaḥ-śayānasya—who was put underneath the handcart; śiśoḥ—of the child; anaḥ—the cart; alpaka—not very much grown; pravāla—just like a new leaf; mṛdu-aṅghri-hatam—struck by His beautiful, delicate legs; vyavartata—turned over and fell down; vidhvasta—scattered; nānā-rasa-kupya-bhājanam—utensils made of various metals; vyatyasta—dislocated; cakra-akṣa—the two wheels and the axle; vibhinna—broken; kūbaram—the pole of the handcart.
TRANSLATION
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was lying down underneath the handcart in one corner 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 collapsed. 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 little utensils made of various metals, and all of them scattered hither and thither.
PURPORT
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has commented on this verse as follows. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was of a very tender age, His hands and legs resembled soft new leaves, yet simply by touching the handcart with His legs, He made the cart fall to pieces. It was quite possible for Him to act in this way and yet not exert Himself very much. The Lord in His Vāmana avatāra had to extend His foot to the greatest height to penetrate the covering of the universe, and when the Lord killed the gigantic demon Hiraṇyakaśipu, He had to assume the special bodily feature of Nṛsiṁhadeva. But in His Kṛṣṇa avatāra, the Lord did not need to exert such energy. Therefore, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam: Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In other incarnations, the Lord had to exert some energy according to the time and circumstances, but in this form He exhibited unlimited potency. Thus the handcart collapsed, its joints broken, and all the metal pots and utensils scattered.
The Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī remarks that although the handcart was higher than the child, the child could easily touch the wheel of the cart, and this was sufficient to send the demon down to the earth. The Lord simultaneously pushed the demon to the earth and superficially broke the handcart.
TEXT 8
dṛṣṭvā yaśodā-pramukhā vraja-striya
autthānike karmaṇi yāḥ samāgatāḥ
nandādayaś cādbhuta-darśanākulāḥ
kathaṁ svayaṁ vai śakaṭaṁ viparyagāt
SYNONYMS
dṛṣṭvā—after seeing; yaśodā-pramukhāḥ—headed by mother Yaśodā; vraja-striyaḥ—all the ladies of Vraja; autthānike karmaṇi—in the celebration of the utthāna ceremony; yāḥ—those who; samāgatāḥ—assembled there; nanda-ādayaḥ ca—and the men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja; adbhuta-darśana—by seeing the wonderful calamity (that the heavily loaded cart had broken upon the small baby, who still lay there unhurt); ākulāḥ—and thus they were very much perturbed as to how it had happened; katham—how; svayam—by itself; vai—indeed; śakaṭam—the handcart; viparyagāt—became so heavily damaged, dismantled.
TRANSLATION
When mother Yaśodā and the other ladies who had assembled for the utthāna festival, and all the men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, saw the wonderful 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.
TEXT 9
ūcur avyavasita-matīn
gopān gopīś ca bālakāḥ
rudatānena pādena
kṣiptam etan na saṁśayaḥ
SYNONYMS
ūcuḥ—said; avyavasita-matīn—who had lost all intelligence in the present situation; gopān—to the cowherd men; gopīḥ ca—and to the ladies; bālakāḥ—the children; rudatā anena—as soon as the child cried; pādena—with one leg; kṣiptam etat—this cart was dashed apart and immediately fell dismantled; na saṁśayaḥ—there is no doubt about it.
TRANSLATION
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 bad kicked the cart’s wheel, the cart had collapsed. There was no doubt about it.
PURPORT
We have heard of people’s being haunted by ghosts. Having no gross material body, a ghost seeks shelter of a gross body to stay in and haunt. The Śakaṭāsura was a ghost who had taken shelter of the handcart and was looking for the opportunity to do mischief to Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa kicked the cart with His small and very delicate legs, the ghost was immediately pushed down to the earth and his shelter dismantled, as already described. This was possible for Kṛṣṇa because He has full potency, as confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.32):
aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
Kṛṣṇa’s body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], or ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-vigraha. That is, any of the parts of His ānanda-cinmaya body can act for any other part. Such are the inconceivable potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord does not need to acquire these potencies; He already has them. Thus Kṛṣṇa kicked His little legs, and His whole purpose was fulfilled. Also, when the handcart broke, an ordinary child could have been injured in many ways, but because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He enjoyed the dismantling of the cart, and nothing injured Him. Everything done by Him is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, full transcendental bliss. Thus Kṛṣṇa factually enjoyed.
The nearby children saw that actually Kṛṣṇa had kicked the wheel of the cart and this was how the accident happened. By the arrangement of yogamāyā, all the gopīs and gopas thought that the accident had taken place because of some bad planet or some ghost, but in fact everything was done by Kṛṣṇa and enjoyed by Him. Those who enjoy the activities of Kṛṣṇa are also on the platform of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa; they are liberated from the material platform. When one develops the practice of hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā, he is certainly transcendental to material existence, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]). Unless one is on the spiritual platform, one cannot enjoy the transcendental activities of Kṛṣṇa; or in other words, whoever engages in hearing the transcendental activities of Kṛṣṇa is not on the material platform, but on the transcendental, spiritual platform.
TEXT 10
na te śraddadhire gopā
bāla-bhāṣitam ity uta
aprameyaṁ balaṁ tasya
bālakasya na te viduḥ
SYNONYMS
na—not; te—the cowherd men and ladies; śraddadhire—put their faith (in such statements); gopāḥ—the cowherd men and women; bāla-bhāṣitam—childish talk from the assembled children; iti uta—thus spoken; aprameyam—unlimited, inconceivable; balam—the power; tasya bālakasya—of the small baby Kṛṣṇa; na—not; te—the gopīs and gopas; viduḥ—were aware of.
TRANSLATION
The assembled gopīs and gopas, unaware that Kṛṣṇa is always unlimited, 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 childish talk.
TEXT 11
rudantaṁ sutam ādāya
yaśodā graha-śaṅkitā
kṛta-svastyayanaṁ vipraiḥ
sūktaiḥ stanam apāyayat
SYNONYMS
rudantam—crying; sutam—son; ādāya—picking up; yaśodā—mother Yaśodā; graha-śaṅkitā—fearing some bad planet; kṛta-svastyayanam—immediately performed a ritualistic ceremony for good fortune; vipraiḥ—by calling all the brāhmaṇas; sūktaiḥ—by Vedic hymns; stanam—her breast; apāyayat—made the child suck.
TRANSLATION
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 ritualistic ceremony.
PURPORT
Whenever there is some danger or some inauspicious occurrence, it is the custom of Vedic civilization to have qualified brāhmaṇas immediately chant Vedic hymns to counteract it. Mother Yaśodā did this properly and allowed the baby to suck her breast.
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