Sri Krishna Janmastami:
Eternal Pastimes

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami, morning class
3 September 2018, part 3

When Kamsa vented outrage against Krishna, everybody knew that he could not do anything to Krishna, but still they felt Krishna was their child, so, overcome by the vatsalya-rasa, Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj always worried about Gopal. In the end, they decided, "It is not safe for us to stay here in Gokula, we must leave." Raja Vrisabhanu decided to leave too. Where did Raja Vrisabhanu go to? To Varsana. And Nanda Maharaj came to the area that is now known as Nanda-gram, or Nanda-gaon. (When we go to the Vrindavan parikrama, we visit both those places.)

Krishna performed so many pastimes in Nanda-gram, but Kamsa would not stop. Kamsa kept trying to kill Krishna—he had sent many demons (Aghasur, enormous Bakasur, Vatsasur, etc.), but all of them were defeated by Krishna. Entering the belly of Aghasur, Krishna expanded Himself until Aghasur's belly had not burst and all the boys who the serpent had swallowed came out. Knowing Krishna's love for cows and calves, once Vatsasur demon came in disguise of a calf, but when he came closer, Krishna killed him. Krishna also performed Kaliya-daman-lila. Kaliya-nag was a huge snake, but Krishna defeated him too. He did not kill Kaliya, but left His footprint on his head and banished him from Vrindavan. Kaliya still lives near Fiji, there is also a great temple built there. When Krishna banished him, Kaliya said, "How will I go there? Garuda will eat me!" Krishna told him, "Do not worry. When I hit you, I left My footprint on your head. When Garuda sees it, he will not touch you." Krishna performed this pastime to save the Vraja-basis from the poison of Kaliya.

We sing in the kirtan,

jaya radhe, jaya krsna, jaya vrndavana
sri-govinda, gopinatha, madana-mohana

"All glory to Radha, Krishna, and Vrindavan! All glory to Sri Govinda, Gopinath, and Madan Mohan!"

syama-kunda, radha-kunda, giri-govardhana
kalindi yamuna jaya,jaya mahavana

"All glory to Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Govardhan Hill, the River Yamuna, and Mahavan!"

kesi-ghata, vamsi-vata, dvadasa-kanana
yanha saba lila kaila sri-nanda-nandana

"All glory to Kesi Ghat, Vamsi Vat, and Vraja's twelve forests! Nanda's son performed His Pastimes in all of these places."

Krishna performed rasa-lila in Vamsivat, He performed rasa-lila in Seva Kunja, Nidhuvan. He also bestowed mercy on Lord Siva (Gopeshwar Mahadev) and let him enter the rasa-lila. These pastimes are all nitya-rasa, nitya-lila, they are still going on in all those places of Vrindavan. When Mahaprabhu, a combined form of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, came to Vrindavan, He revealed some of those places—Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda and others. There is also Adi Keshav temple in Mathura. When we go to Vrindavan with devotees, we take the darshan of all those places.

কৃষ্ণের যতেক খেলা, সর্ব্বোত্তম নরলীলা,
নরবপু তাহার স্বরূপ ।

krsnera yateka khela, sarvvottama nara-lila,
nara-vapu tahara svarupa

"The highest form of Godhead is Krsna, who plays in His eternal divine pastimes like a human being."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 21.101)

There is also Chir Ghat where Krishna performed the pastime of stealing clothes when He went to bathe in the Yamuna. This is a very high conception. How much one must love the Lord! Vraja gopis left everything—shame, respect, fear—and ran behind Krishna. They did not think of honour, dishonour, shame, etc.

Out of 125 years, Krishna stayed in Dwaraka and Mathura for more than one hundred years and only eleven years in Vraja. In Mathura, He drank milk at the house of Vidura, and Vidura's wife gave Him banana skin instead of bananas—she could never even think that Krishna could come to their house, so being overwhelmed when He came, she went to peel some banana, but instead of bananas she gave Him banana skins. When Vidura saw it, he chastised Her, and then she realised what she had done, "Oh no! I have made a mistake!" Out of joy, she forgot what she was doing, thinking only what she would give Krishna to eat. Sudama Vipra also came to Dvaraka and Krishna ate some chipped rice from his hand.

This Krishna became Gaura in this age, and we are now sitting here in His Sri Nabadwip Dham. It is an offence not to worship Gauranga. Krishna-lila is madhurya (tasting sweetness), and Gaura-lila is audarya-lila (distributing that sweetness). Gauranga magnanimously distributed Krishna-prema.

Krishna also performed Govardhan pastimes and saved all the Vraja-basis from the hands of Indra. Everybody used to worship Indra, but Krishna said, "Leave it all and worship Govardhan! You do not need to worship Indra." Indra got angry with Him and sent so much rain and storm to Vraja. Ananta-nag made himself so big that he sheltered everyone from rain—no rain could enter Vraja. Also, when there was too much rain, Krishna lifted Govardhan with His little finger! That is why His Name is Govardhan-dhari Gopal. There is one beautiful kirtan [His Divine Grace chants]:

mayura-mukuta pitambara-dhari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"He wears a peacock feather crown and yellow garments. He holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

sri-radha-vara kunja-vihari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"He is the beloved of Sri Radha and enjoys in the forest groves. He holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

jaya yasoda-nandana krsna murari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"All glory to the son of Yasoda, Krishna, Murari. Glory to He who holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

jaya gopijana-vallabha vamsi-vihari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

"All glory to the beloved of the gopis, to He who enjoys playing His vamsi flute. Glory to He who holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!"

[His Divine Grace chants 'Mayura-mukuta pitambara-dhari', 'Jaya Radhe jaya Krsna jaya Vrndavan', and 'He deva bhavantam vande' (Krishna Vandana).]

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