Krishna Leela - 1

Upon His birth Krishna had instructed that He be carried to Gokula, and that in His place the newborn daughter of Yashodā and Nanda be brought back. As Vasudeva took the child in his arms, the chains that had bound him fell away and the prison doors swung open. He placed the infant in a basket, set the basket upon his head, and stepped out into the storming night, past the sleeping guards, for fate itself was clearing his path. Ādishesha appeared above him, spreading his hoods like an umbrella to shield the Lord from the rain.

The first trial was the Yamunā, swollen and raging. As Vasudeva stepped into the waters they rose higher and higher, as though testing his resolve — until they touched the tiny feet of the Lord, and at once the river subsided and parted to make a path. Vasudeva crossed to Gokula, where Yashodā lay asleep, exhausted from childbirth. He exchanged the children and returned to Mathurā, and as he entered his cell the chains clamped shut once more.

Soon the newborn girl cried out, waking the guards, who ran to inform Kaṃsa that Devakī's child had been born.

Kaṃsa stormed into the dungeon and snatched the infant from Devakī's arms. Though her parents pleaded that the prophecy had spoken of a son, not a daughter, he showed no mercy and raised the child to dash her against the stone floor. But she slipped from his grasp and soared into the sky, revealing herself as Yogamaya, the celestial goddess. She declared that there was no meaning in trying to stop fate, that the one destined to end him still lived — and vanished.

Kaṃsa was left baffled and afraid, for he had slaughtered six children and yet the true threat had escaped him.

He summoned the demoness Poothana, who could change her appearance at will and withstand any poison, and ordered her to seek out every newborn in the neighboring villages and kill them by feeding them poisoned milk. She swept across the land, slaying infants, until she reached Gokula, where Krishna was but a few days old. Disguised as a beautiful, affectionate woman, she was welcomed into Nanda's home and took the child to her poison-coated breast to feed Him.

But Krishna was no ordinary child; as she fed Him, she felt a terrible pain, for He was drawing out not milk but her very life. She struggled to pull away, but His tiny hands held her fast, until with a final scream she collapsed, her true demonic form revealed. The villagers gathered in horror to find the massive, grotesque body lifeless upon the ground — and Krishna sitting peacefully beside it, playing in the dust.

When word of Poothana's death reached Kaṃsa, he sent Shakatasura, a demon who could take the form of a cart and crush whoever lay beneath it. Arriving in Gokula to find the village celebrating Krishna's first birthday, he slipped in among the festivities. As part of the celebration the child was laid to rest beneath a large cart, and Shakatasura took that very cart's form, waiting to strike. But Krishna, in His play, stretched out His tiny legs and kicked, and the massive cart shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Undeterred, Kaṃsa next sent Trinavrata, who could command the wind. Finding Yashodā carrying Krishna, he raised a violent storm and, as Krishna magically increased His weight so that Yashodā had to set Him down, he scooped the child into the sky to drop Him to his death. But Krishna grew heavier and heavier, and, latching onto the demon's throat, strangled him, so that Trinavrata plummeted lifeless to the ground with the child sitting calmly upon his chest. Again and again Kaṃsa sent demons, and none returned.

A few years passed, and Krishna had nearly turned four. One day, as He played, His brother Balarāma saw Him eating mud and ran to tell Yashodā. When she questioned Him, Krishna denied it, but seeing the mud on His hands she asked Him to open His mouth — and within it she beheld the entire universe: the sun, the moon, and all the planets, then Indra-Lok, Kailāsha, Brahmā-Lok, and finally Vaikuṇṭham itself. Unable to comprehend the vision, she forgot why she had come and returned home in a daze.

In such ways the Lord revealed His nature again and again, though the people of Gokula saw only their beloved child.

Krishna was fond of stealing butter from the homes of the gopis, and one day, when the women complained, Yashodā in her anger tied Him to a heavy stone mortar and went to finish her work. But Krishna dragged the stone into a nearby forest, where he saw two intertwined trees with a narrow gap between them. He slipped through, but the stone would not pass, and as He pulled, the two trees were uprooted with a great crash.

From them emerged two Gandharvas who had long ago been cursed by a sage to stand as trees; the Lord had promised to release them when He came as Krishna, and in uprooting the trees He fulfilled His word.