Santana Gopala Charitram

In the sacred city of Dwārakā there lived a pious brahmana and his devoted wife who, though blessed with great knowledge and devotion, remained childless for many years. With unwavering faith they prayed to Lord Krishna to bless them with progeny, and in time the brahmana's wife conceived. But their joy turned to grief, for the newborn mysteriously vanished moments after birth. Again the wife conceived, and again the same tragedy struck, and so it repeated nine times — each child vanishing without a trace at the very moment of birth.

Filled with sorrow and frustration, the brahmana lamented before the royal court, going from one minister to another, until at last he reached the gates of Krishna's palace and cried out in despair, accusing the Yādava king of failing to protect his people.

Seeing his plight, Arjuna stepped forward and vowed upon his kshatriya dharma that he would retrieve the child, and that if he failed he would enter fire and end his life. When the brahmana's wife conceived for the tenth time, Arjuna stood guard with his celestial weapons, raising an impenetrable barrier of divine arrows around their home so that no force, earthly or celestial, could breach it. Yet at the moment of birth the child vanished just as before.

Stunned and humiliated, Arjuna searched the heavens and the netherworld with his divine vision, and finding nothing, prepared to honor his vow and enter the fire.

Before he could, Krishna intervened, smiling, and bade Arjuna come with Him to search for the missing children together. Mounting His celestial chariot, Krishna bore Arjuna beyond the earthly realms into a vast and terrifying expanse of absolute darkness, a void where neither sun nor moon nor star could penetrate, where time itself seemed to dissolve.

Sensing Arjuna's unease, Krishna summoned His Sudarshana Chakra, and the divine discus, radiant like a thousand suns, cut through the darkness and illuminated the path ahead, revealing a cosmic ocean of swirling energies and celestial pathways unknown to mortals. Guided by its light, the chariot advanced unhindered, and Arjuna understood that without Krishna's presence no being, however mighty, could cross that realm.

Their journey led them to Karya Vaikuṇṭham, where Lord Maha-Vishṇu Himself resided in all His glory, surrounded by celestial beings — and there before Him sat the missing children, unharmed, their faces glowing with divine radiance. Maha-Vishṇu revealed that it was He who had brought the children there, for He had desired to behold Krishna's divine form; now that His wish was fulfilled, they would be returned.

With reverence Krishna and Arjuna gathered the children and descended to Dwārakā, where the griefstricken parents wept with joy to embrace their long-lost sons. Arjuna, humbled by all he had witnessed, understood at last that Krishna, whom he had known as his dear friend, charioteer, and guide, was none other than the Supreme Lord, beyond time and space and comprehension.

According to tradition, along with returning the children Krishna gifted the brahmana a divine idol of Maha-Vishṇu, the very form He and Arjuna had beheld in Karya Vaikuṇṭham, as a blessing for uninterrupted progeny and prosperity. This idol is believed to be the one now worshipped as Poornathrayeesa in the Poornathrayeesha Temple at Tripunithura in Kerala, a revered site where devotees seek the Lord's blessings for children and the well-being of their families.