Chapter 40
Serpent Kaliya
The
Divine Boy, Gopala, was but God who
had taken
human form in sheer sport. He grew up
like human
children and attained the age of five. One
day -
no one can know the significance of His
movements
- He was never in
the habit of communicating to
others, about His
sports or Leelas,
either before or
after; one has only
to observe and obey; no one can
guess their nature
or plumb their meaning whoever
he may be, whatever
his attainments - one day, He
collected the
cattle secretly, so that even the
parents
did not know
anything about it. Every day, the
elder
brother at least
would know and he would also accompany, but, that day,
even he was not aware of
the goings-on.
Krishna got together His comrades
from the cowherd
homes, and proceeded with the
cattle to the bank
of the Yamuna river. He took them
to a deep pool in
the river, which people generally
avoided.
That pool had a
sinister history. Pools such as
that one will
naturally be stagnant and slushy,
but, this
pool was blue in colour and boiling hot; the
water
was bubbling
ceaselessly emitting steam into
the upper
air. A cloud hung over it, in
consequence.
Whoever breathed
that atmosphere fouled by the
fumes breathed his
last, to the consternation and
amazement of all.
Birds that innocently flew over
that pool were so
fatally poisoned that they flapped
their wings
violently in despair and rolled down
dead into
its depths.
Every one in Gokul knew
all about this mortal
trap, this deadly
wonder. They were carefully avoiding approaching it; they
warned their children
against it; they
vigilantly prevented their cattle
from grazing
anywhere near it. Of course, His
comrades
protested
vehemently and pleaded with Krishna
that He
should not go near that pool; they prayed,
long and
loud; but, it was all in vain. He asserted that
He must
go to that very pool; that was His predetermined
destination that day. The boys drew Him back
and did
their best to prevent the inevitable 'disaster'.
He shook
them off, and, removing His clothes
announced,
that He would
delight in swimming, inside that poison pool!
The boys could not
muster enough courage to
warn Him aloud
against the terrors of that pool;
their mild
protestations, He brushed aside.
With a
certain perverse Will of His own, He got upon
a tree
on the bank and plunged into the horrid
pool,
by the side of the
bank. He did not come up for a
long time. The
cowherd boys, for whom Krishna
was the very breath
of their lives, were overwhelmed with fear; they gathered
round the pool and
started calling Him
in unbearable agony, sobbing
and shedding tears
of extreme grief.
Meanwhile, Gopala
appeared above the waters,
shaking the pool
(as if an earthquake was rocking
it) with the
strokes of His swimming. Suddenly,
they saw a huge
serpent following Him, spitting
poison and belching
fire like a volcano, through its
glowing
eyes.
The boys could not look
on, at this dreadful scene, without bawling out, in
uncontrollable anguish, "Krishna! Come on, to the
bank,
come this way,
come, to this bank." Krishna swam
about, as if He did
not hear their prayers. He was
happy in the pool,
thrilled with excitement and
joy. At last, the
serpent succeeded in pursuing
Krishna round the
pool through the high tossing
waves. It wound
itself round His body, gradually
tightening the
grip. Seeing this, some boys ran
as fast
as they could to Gokul, and broke the news
to Nanda
and Yasoda, the father and the mother
of Krishna.
They wept aloud, while telling them
what had
happened.
Immediately, Nanda and
Yasoda, with all the
Gopas and Gopis,
the entire population of Gokul,
ran towards
the poison pool, urged on by fear that
some dire
calamity was about to over-take Krishna. Balarama, the
elder brother too, was among them.
He knew
the strength and skill of Krishna; So, he
calmed
the anxiety of the
parents; he assured them that no
calamity can befall
Krishna; He consoled and conferred confidence in many
ways. Within a short time,
the bank of the
river was packed thick with
people.
On all sides, the
cry of despair, "Krishna!
Krishna!"
was resounding from
every throat, steeped in grief.
Many fainted and
lost consciousness when they cast
their looks at
Krishna and the serpent. Oh, it
was indeed
a heart-rending sight!
Many Gopis could not
bear to see Krishna caught
in the coils of
that mighty monster, dragged down
the blood-red
waters one moment, pulling Himself
up the next,
struggling valiantly with the serpent which was emitting
fiery sparks of poison. Yasoda
and many Gopis
swooned and fell on the sands.
They were
nursed by others back into consciousness;
when they
came to, they wept plaintively and called
out the
name of their beloved Krishna. "My dear
child,
where was this
horrible serpent hiding all this
while?
Why did it emerge
now?" lamented Yasoda, in
despair.
A few of His comrades
sobbed, "Cannot the serpent strike its fangs on us,
instead of wounding
Krishna? Can it not
release Gopala?"
Some cowherd
maidens, prepared
themselves to plunge into the pool
so that the
serpents may give up Krishna and
attack
them, instead. "We
shall give up our lives, so that
Krishna may be
saved", they declared. But,
Balarama
stood in their way;
he assured them that Krishna
will come out
unscathed, that no harm can
approach
him; he called out
to Krishna to come to them soon,
after triumphing
over the monster.
Many Gopis prayed
ardently for victory to
Krishna, for, "The
safety of Krishna is the safety of
the worlds. Our
Krishna is the sole Sovereign of all the Worlds.
Therefore, may Krishna
be released
quickly, from the stranglehold of
the serpent".
Their prayers were addressed to the
very Krishna
whom they wished to save, by means of
the prayer!
They opened their eyes, even while
praying,
to find out whether
He had released Himself already.
The huge gathering
on the river-bank was awaiting,
with eyes that did
not even wink, the release of
Krishna, that may
happen any moment; They were
overpowered by fear
and anxiety, hope and faith.
At that moment, 0, how
can I contemplate and
describe that
scene, to you, King?" - Suka could
not proceed,
He could not suppress the flow of Ananda,
grief, wonder and
adoration that rose from his
heart.
He was so overcome
that he covered his face behind
his clasped palms
in a vain effort to suppress his
tears.
Parikshith saw this and
he exclaimed, "Master!
Master! What wonder
is this? What happened later?
What calamity
intervened that you are grieving
thus? Please tell
me quick."
Suka recovered his
composure, wiping the flow
of tears with the
end of his ochre robe. He said,
"Maharaja! No
calamity took place, yet, this
wonder
happened. Krishna
grew so fast, so big and so tall
every moment that
the serpent had to uncoil from
around Him, ring by
ring. When the Gopas and
Gopis saw the
little child growing before their
very eyes,
they were struck with amazement and joy.
At last,
the serpent had to release its hold. It was
too exhausted
to do any harm; still, its anger
was
unabated; so, it
vomited poison into the waters and
the air.
It lifted its hoods every few moments, and
fixed
its glare on
Krishna as if its desire to finish Him
was still
unquenched.
Meanwhile, Krishna
caught it by its tail, and
whirled the serpent
pretty fast; He beat the surface
of the
water with its body. This forced the serpent
to hang
down its heads, but, with great effort it struggled to
keep them erect over the waters. Then, Krishna jumped
upon it and holding the tail in
one hand,
He decided to dance upon the line of
hoods!
The serpent could
not beat the weight of the Lord,
stepping merrily
from hood to hood; it was bleeding
profusely from nose
and mouth; it whined piteously
through pain and
shame. It could scarcely breathe.
It was about to
die.
Seeing this, the people
who were gathered on
the bank shouted,
in their joy and confidence,
"Krishna! Come over
to the bank, now. You have
saved us all from
this monster. The crisis is over.
You have won the
victory; our prayers have been
answered. We have
won the fruit of our good deeds."
While the cowherds
were thus exulting over the
amazing turn of
events, the serpentesses, who were
the consorts of the
monster, rose from the depths of
the pool, sobbing
aloud, and in great anguish. They
fell at the feet of
Krishna and prayed, "Lord! You
have incarnated
with the avowed object of
punishing
the wicked and the
vicious; so, your trampling on
this monster and
curbing his pride is right and proper. It is but just.
You have merely carried out Your
Task and Mission.
But, however cruel our husband
was, we are sure
that his nature has been transformed when Your Feet were
planted on his heads. Pardon him, O Lord and give us back
our husband, with
your gracious
blessings. Save him and bless him
that he
no longer cause any living thing any harm."
The Lord condescended
to grant their prayers.
He pardoned the
monster, Kaliya. He released him,
with the
admonition: "Henceforth, do not inflict injury on any
one, without provocation, be Sathwic
in nature. I bless
you that no one will harm you
and provoke you
into vengeance. You carry on your
heads My Footprints
and so, even your natural enemy
the Garuda eagle,
will not harm you any more. Go
and live in peace."
(See also the Srîmad Bhâgavatam, Canto 10,
Chapter 16: Krishna
Chastises the Serpent
Kâliya)
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