Thursday, March 26th, 2015

Black River, Mauritius
 
Part 2 of “Kids and Krishna”
 
 
At the dawn of adulthood, I was fortunate to stumble upon devotees of Krishna who happen to always carry with them books that expound on the personal concept of God. “God”, I was told by one of the monk by the current name, Bhakti Bringha Govinda Swami, “is forever youthful.”  In fact, out of his kindness, he read to me of the episode of God whom I discovered has a name “Krishna” playing an instrument – the flute - and with that He attracts His friends, family, cows and calves.
 
I was naturally getting excited knowing that God (now Krishna) is tightly bound into all kinds of relationships with boys and girls His age. How He values such relationships becomes evident when we reference the book, “Nectar of Devotion”, authored by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
 
“What a far out aspect of God!” I thought. He has all these amigos whom He sports with. As far as baseball is concerned, Krishna has His own take on it. There as these round-shape green fruits called bael that get tossed back and forth between His friends and Himself. If you close your eyes and meditate on this scene you just might hear the sound of the boys laughing and happily shouting.
These friends of His are understood to be liberated souls, who on the strength of their devotion, rose up to become intimate associates as He shares with them the beautiful rural setting of Vrindavan.
 
Though the name for the boys are gopas and the girls are known as gopis, implying their affection with the culture of raising go (bulls and cows) and having everything to do with delicious dairy preparations. Indeed mouth watering milk sweets such as ladhu, rasagula, sandesh, kheer, and more, were worth dashing for.
 
Krishna catches Himself in antics with the gopas in sneaking out at night with His slightly elder brother, Balarama, in search of butter that is stashed in neighbours homes. This routine practice becomes a relatively “hushed” party with which includes monkeys who always want a piece of the action. If you ask any “kids”, excuse me, children, what they think of a frivolous God like this, they are delighted. Night parties! Monkeys! Butter! Making a mess! Wow! What a blast!
 
In addition to this there are daytime pastimes that carry on where the boys imitate the various animals in their onomatopoetic sounds. They mock peacocks, dogs, frogs and also engage in a type 
of bullfight where two boys portray bulls, charging and locking heads together. When fatigued from play, there is a restful lying on each other's lap that might include a massage.
 
With the gopis there is His transcendental tease playing, most notably when He snatchers their clothes while they are bathing at the Yamuna River. A slight annoyance that would be for the proprietors of the fabric.
 
But here is what stirs the passion in “kids” oops, les enfants, the most. Krishna has an awesome time with terrorists. These ultimate demons were dispatched by tyrant Kamsa at practically every day of Krishna's childhood life. They would come to harass the innocent villagers of Vrindavan. At every encounter, Krishna, although small in size, takes down the largest of them, and even after teaching them a thing or two, He does something ironic that demonstrates true heroism.
(To be continued...)
 
May the Source be with you!
 
8 KM