Chapter 13...THE STEALING OF THE BOYS AND CALVES BY BRAHMA. (Part 4) When the cows were running down from the top of Govardhana Hill, the men who were taking care of them tried to stop them. Elderly cows are taken care of by the men, and the calves are taken care of by the boys; and as far as possible, the calves are kept separate from the cows, so that the calves do not drink all the available milk. Therefore the men who were taking care of the cows on the top of Govardhana Hill tried to stop them, but they failed. Baffled by their failure, they were feeling ashamed and angry. They were very unhappy, but when they came down and saw their children taking care of the calves, they all of a sudden became very affectionate toward the children. It was very astonishing. Although the men came down disappointed, baffled and angry, as soon as they saw their own children, their hearts melted with great affection. At once their anger, dissatisfaction and unhappiness disappeared. They began to show paternal love for the children, and with great affection they lifted them in their arms and embraced them. They began to smell their childrens heads and enjoy their company with great happiness. After embracing their children, the men again took the cows back to the top of Govardhana Hill. Along the way they began to think of their children, and affectionate tears fell from their eyes. When Balarama saw this extraordinary exchange of affection between the cows and their calves and between the fathers and their children--when neither the calves nor the children needed so much care--He began to wonder why this extraordinary thing happened. He was astonished to see all the residents of Vrndavana so affectionate for their own children, exactly as they had been for Krsna. Similarly, the cows had grown affectionate for their calves--as much as for Krsna. Balarama therefore concluded that the extraordinary show of affection was something mystical, either performed by the demigods or by some powerful man. Otherwise, how could this wonderful change take place? He concluded that this mystical change must have been caused by Krsna, whom Balarama considered His worshipable Personality of Godhead. He thought, It was arranged by Krsna, and even I could not check its mystic power. Thus Balarama understood that all those boys and calves were only expansions of Krsna. Balarama inquired from Krsna about the actual situation. He said, My dear Krsna, in the beginning I thought that all these cows, calves and cowherd boys were either great sages and saintly persons or demigods, but at the present it appears that they are actually Your expansions. They are all You; You Yourself are playing as the calves and cows and boys. What is the mystery of this situation? Where have those other calves and cows and boys gone? And why are You expanding Yourself as the cows, calves and boys? Will You kindly tell Me what is the cause? At the request of Balarama, Krsna briefly explained the whole situation: how the calves and boys were stolen by Brahma and how He was concealing the incident by expanding Himself so people would not know that the original cows, calves, and boys were missing. While Krsna and Balarama were talking, Brahma returned after a moments interval (according to the duration of his life). We have information of Lord Brahmas duration of life from the Bhagavad-gita: 1,000 times the duration of the four ages, or 4,300,000 x 1,000, comprise Brahmas twelve hours. Similarly, one moment of Brahma is equal to one year of our solar calculation. After one moment of Brahmas calculation, Brahma came back to see the fun caused by his stealing the boys and calves. But he was also afraid that he was playing with fire. Krsna was his master, and he had played mischief for fun by taking away His calves and boys. He was really anxious, so he did not stay away very long; he came back after a moment (of his calculation). He saw that all the boys, calves and cows were playing with Krsna in the same way as when he had come upon them, although he was confident that he had taken them and made them lie down asleep under the spell of his mystic power. Brahma began to think, All the boys, calves and cows were taken away by me, and I know they are still sleeping. How is it that a similar batch of cows, boys and calves are playing with Krsna? Is it that they are not influenced by my mystic power? Have they been playing continually for one year with Krsna? Brahma tried to understand who they were and how they were uninfluenced by his mystic power, but he could not ascertain it. In other words, he himself came under the spell of his own mystic power. The influence of his mystic power appeared like snow in darkness or the glow worm in daytime. During the nights darkness, the glow worm can show some glittering power, and the snow piled up on the top of a hill or on the ground can shine during the daytime. But at night the snow has no silver glitter; nor does the glow worm have any illuminating power during the daytime. Similarly, when the small mystic power exhibited by Brahma was before the mystic power of Krsna, it was just like snow or the glow worm. When a man of small mystic power wants to show potency in the presence of greater mystic power, he diminishes his own influence; he does not increase it. Even a great personality like Brahma, when he wanted to show his mystic power before Krsna, became ludicrous. Brahma was thus confused about his own mystic power.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:06:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015