Krishna Leela - 3

Other demons came, and each met his end. Aghasura, who could take the form of a colossal python, opened his cavernous mouth like the mouth of a cave; Krishna's friends wandered in one by one and fell senseless, and when Krishna entered to save them the demon snapped his jaws shut. But Krishna expanded His form until Aghasura's body burst apart, and His friends awoke unharmed. Bakasura, the monstrous crane sent by Kaṃsa, swallowed Krishna whole, only to be forced to disgorge Him and have his beak split in two.

Dhenukasura, a demon in the form of a rampaging donkey who ruled a grove of sweet fruits, charged at Krishna and Balarāma when they entered his domain; Balarāma seized him by the hind legs and hurled him against a tree, ending him in an instant, and the grove flourished once more.

Once Krishna saw the villagers preparing their yearly worship of Indra for the sake of good rains. He stopped them, reasoning that the clouds give rain as part of their nature, just as rivers flow and cows give milk, and that they would do better to honor Govardhan Hill, which truly sustained them with pasture, water, and fruit. Persuaded, the villagers turned their worship to Govardhan, and Indra, enraged by the slight, loosed a furious storm upon Vrindāvana that raged for seven days and nights.

But Krishna lifted the entire hill upon the little finger of His hand and held it aloft like a vast umbrella, and beneath it all the people and their cattle sheltered unharmed. When at last Indra saw that none had been hurt, his pride crumbled; he descended and bowed before Krishna, begging forgiveness, and understood that no one under the shelter of the Lord could be harmed.

Even Brahmā, curious about the nature of this cowherd child, once used his power to hide away all the cowherd boys and calves while Krishna was at play. But Krishna, beyond all illusion, expanded Himself into countless identical forms — every voice, every laugh, every gesture perfectly replicated — so that for an entire year life in Vrindāvana continued unchanged, the mothers loving their children even more deeply, unaware that they embraced the Supreme Himself.

When Brahmā returned expecting confusion, he beheld instead countless forms of Vishṇu, each radiant and adorned, attended by the Devas, and he fell to his knees, overwhelmed, and begged forgiveness for daring to test the source of all creation. The boys and calves were returned, and Krishna played on as before, the people of Vrindāvana blissfully unaware of the cosmic drama that had unfolded in their midst.