Ananda Vrindavan Champu

Chapter Sixteen

Rescuing Nanda Baba from Varunaloka

The variegated, all-attractive pastimes of Krsna increase the pleasure of those who derive happiness from hearing the expert narrations of the Puranas. Upon hearing Krsna's thrilling exploits one realizes that all other stories are worthless. Because Krsna is an overflowing reservoir of all good qualities, hearing about His activities gives full satisfaction to the ears. His splendid all-attractive transcendental form, gracefully curved from head to toe, is worthy of everyone's respect and worship. Krsna's pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill enchanted the whole universe. The simple wives of the Vraja gopas are famous for relishing pastimes with Krsna that are far more intimate than all the pastimes of Laksmi. On His forehead Krsna wears brilliant tilaka made from kunkuma, and His curly dark blue hair is beautified with magnificent ornaments made from bakula flowers. Krsna defeats thousands of Cupids with His sweet beauty, and He brings ever-increasing good fortune to the Vraja gopis who are expert in the sixty-four arts.

Krsna protects the world from the disturbance of proud atheists. Siva and all the other devatas glorify Him for devastating the demoniac de­scendants of Aditi. He satisfies the hearts of all observers with the exquis­ite pearl necklace sitting on His glistening dark-blue chest. He is called Nandanandana, the beloved son Vrajaraja Nanda. Krsna is also known as Govinda because He lifted Govardhana (govardhana dhrti) to curb the pride of Indra, and because His beauty is enhanced by His natural gravity (govardhana dhrti).

The Supreme Lord passed His days enjoying various loving relation­ships with the inhabitants of Vrndavana. Krsna and His effulgent com­panions continued to perform their pleasing pastimes of herding the mul­titudes of cows. One ekadasi, Nanda Baba, the king of the gopas, happily observed a fast. The next day on dvadasi he had to break the fast at the right moment in order to complete his vow. But due to a short breaking period, he hastily bathed in the Yamuna River at an inappropriate time along with a few pious friends. Even though he had bathed at an inauspi­cious time, Nanda Maharaja did not consider it offensive since he had acted only to honor the dvadasi tithi (time juncture).

Following the rules of scripture, he submerged himself reverently in the Yamuna. But the servants of Varuna angrily arrested Nanda Maharaja ^d put him in great distress for bathing too early in the morning. Nanda Maharaja had impeccable character, but due to a slight deviation from the rules, he was seized by Varuna-deva, the Lord of the waters. Unaware of his destination, Nanda felt completely distraught.

Standing on the bank of the Yamuna, the friends of Nanda Maharaja panicked with fear and confusion. They shouted, "What has happened? What has happened?" Seeing that they could do nothing to help him they approached Krsna, who destroys all fear and spoke anxiously, "Q Krsna, who rewards the pious, punishes the evil, befriends the distressed and delivers the bound! Please help us! Please help us! Something tragic has happened. Some proud persons kidnapped Your father, who is worshipable by Lord Brahma, while he bathed in the Yamuna. Oh mighty-armed one! Please save (trayatam) him! Go there and deliver (atra ayatam) him! Only You can save him from this terrible calamity."

The cowherd men ran helplessly hither and thither on the banks of the Yamuna. Hearing their anguished cries, Krsna considered, "This is the irreversible action of the foolish and lowly servants of Varuna." Thinking like this, Krsna submerged in the Yamuna in order to visit the city of Varuna to bless him with His presence. For some reason, Krsna felt attracted to Varuna even though he had improperly treated His father Nanda Maharaja.

The young gopis of Gokula and everyone else on the bank of the river fell into depression when Krsna left for Varuna's abode. Though the gor­geous Vraja gopis did not always see Krsna, because of their intense at­tachment to Him and because they stayed in His village, they felt they lived in the same house as Krsna. Fearing that He had departed for the other world, the gopis lost all strength and collapsed on the ground. At this perilous time, one moment seemed like a thousand yugas.

In this state the gopis could not hear anything, see anything, or say any­thing. Their minds went with Krsna and their bodies shook uncontrolla­bly. In a world full of changes, pure love is the only constant. Although withering away due to separation from Krsna, Radhika managed to sus­tain Her life by the power of Her Krsna prema. Even though they fanned Radha with lotus and tala leaves and sprinkled Her with sandal water, the priya-sakhis could not reduce Radhika's high fever in separation from Krsna. Luckily, Her friend named Murccha (unconsciousness) arrived to extinguish the fire.

Seeing the filaments of cotton held under Her nose moving slightly with Her breathing, the sakhis understood that Radha still lived. When a smart sakhi said, "Krsna is coming!" Radha opened Her eyes and returned to external consciousness with great difficulty. Not seeing Krsna, however, Radhika just stared into space. Her eyes looked like a pair of blue lotuses painted on a canvas.

Even though Radhika heard Her friends saying, "Krsna will be coming in a moment," She thought, "If one moment becomes like one yuga of time, am I to blame for suffering such pains of separation?" Not seeing Krsna before Her, Radha felt even more anguished. The hot sparks of fire in Her heart shot forth as tears, mixed with Her kajala, and dripped in black streams down Her golden lotus face.

Krsna, the ocean of mercy, proceeded to the abode of Varuna. Upon seeing Him, Varuna humbly and courteously received the Lord. Filled with affection, he worshiped Krsna with arghya and other articles. Varuna praised the effulgent Supreme Lord as the reservoir of all exceptional characteristics, the embodiment of all happiness, and the very form of concentrated bliss and knowledge.

Varuna-deva said, "0 jewel of the womb (garbha ratna) of Devaki! You shine brilliantly among the devatas headed by Siva! I offer my respects to you. You descend as an avatara to relieve the earth (ratnagarbha) of her burden (bharavataraka). Your handsome form and qualities defeat the attraction of thousands of Cupids. You stand before us as the spotlessly pure and blissful son of Nanda. The dust (raja) of Your lotus feet has removed my covering of passion (rajas). All the residents of my city have now become purified by Your auspicious presence. Today my birth has become successful.

"Due to possessing fabulous wealth, my knowledge has become cov­ered. Therefore, I could not understand Your infallible position as the master of Maya and the controller of all-devouring time. 0 Madhava! 0 creator of all the universes! You should not keep men like me blinded by Your illusory potency. Even the best muni cannot surpass Your Maya. 0 killer ofAghasura! You have all desirable characteristics! Though my ser­vants think themselves very clever, they do not have a drop of intelli­gence. They have committed a terrible act by bringing your father here. Yet at the same time, they have bestowed a great boon upon me.

"Indeed, I offended You, who are so rarely attained by anyone in this world. Due to pride, I violated the rules of conduct. By keeping the dust of Your lotus feet as the crown jewel on my head, however, I may nullify the poisonous fever caused by my severe offense. 0 Lord of lords! Your splendid complexion easily conquers the glistening trunk of a young tamala tree. Siva, the father of Kartikeya, and all the demigods worship You, whose eyes are beautiful lotus petals, who has a splendidly contoured belly, who radiates a dazzling effulgence, whose graceful arms extend to Your knees, and who wears a gorgeous forest garland. I worship that superexcellent transcendental form."

After praising Krsna, Varuna took sweet, fragrant water in his hands and washed the Lord's lotus feet, which are the abode of auspiciousness. This immediately removed all calamities. Varuna said, "0 Supreme Person, subduer of the demons! Please be merciful to me. Please take whatever jewels You want from my kingdom. Actually, everything here belongs to You. What more can I say? I also belong to You.

"All my pious acts have borne fruit by receiving Your darsana. If the desire to see You arises within a person, it will not disappear all of a sudden. Therefore, just to taste the bliss of seeing You, I have safely kept Your father here. 0 ornament of the earth! Please forgive my offense Though the servant may be forgiven, the master should be punished for the offense of his servant. So I deserve severe punishment for this act." Having given up his false pride, Varuna folded hands and stood meekly before the Lord.

Krsna compassionately said, "0 lord of the waters! I am pleased with your motives and the statements of your love for Me. Keep whatever wealth you have. Although I have come from a distant place, because you are My devotee, this is also My residence." After speaking a few immea­surably sweet words, the son of the king of Vrndavana, placed His father in front and calmly went home.

All directions erupted with an auspicious uproar upon Krsna's return to Vrndavana. The minds of Radhika and the gopis submerged in anxiety and simultaneously floated in liquid currents of nectar. Somehow the gopis quickly revived Radha, and everyone filled with boundless happiness.

Showing Brahman to the Vrajavasis

Nanda Maharaja entered a state of confusion after having seen the im­mense opulence of Varuna's city, the respect he showed Krsna, and after hearing Varuna's praise of his son. With great animation Vraja Nanda explained all his experiences to the Vrajavasis. Although the cowherd men felt happy to hear this, they also felt grave. Without a doubt, they thought that this cowherd boy Krsna must be the Lord of the universe described in the scriptures.

During this exchange, they wondered whether Krsna would show them His great, unlimited aspect as the effulgent impersonal Brahman. Know­ing their desires, Krsna decided to bestow His mercy. To make them real­ize that the personal form of Brahman is more blissful than the imper­sonal Brahman, Krsna temporarily deprived them the taste of prema. Krsna wanted to remove any doubts that the Vrajavasis had about their future destination. Covering their knowledge with the darkness of illusion, Krsna showed them the brilliant impersonal Brahman.

In the Brahman, the gopas could neither taste the bliss of directly fondling Krsna, nor experience the lack of bliss by not fondling Him. The gopas felt pained on being deprived of their previous realization of Krsna. Out of compassion, Krsna removed their bewilderment and withdrew the Brahman effulgence. Then He revealed the Vaikuntha planets, which are full of auspiciousness, ever increasing bliss, and free from all anxieties.

After binding them up in the witch called liberation, Krsna removed the illusion from His loving devotees. By this Krsna showed that His devotees do not attain the painful liberation desired by others. As if awakening from a trance, the Vrajavasis beheld the pleasing Vaikuntha realm that is situated far beyond the modes of material nature. They considered, "Is it possible to hear, touch, smell, or perceive anything in Vaikuntha?"

Although they had experienced merging in the impersonal Brahman and the happiness of Vaikuntha, when they realized that they could not see the face of Krsna, whose sweetness surpasses all, they felt a moment with­out Him to be like a thousand yugas. Without the joy of Krsna's associa­tion, they felt like miserable wretches without any shelter. In order to dissipate their suffering and renew their happiness, Krsna, the reservoir of rasa and cause of all causes, withdrew that vision of Vaikuntha and revealed His sweet personal form in Vrndavana.

Seeing Krsna before them, the Vrajavasis drowned in waves of plea­sure. They realized that Krsna's ever-fresh and enchanting Vrndavana pastimes on earth far surpassed the bliss and wonder of merging in the impersonal Brahman or attaining Vaikuntha. On the other hand, those philosophers, whose intelligence is infected with bad logic and arguments, have great difficulty understanding the supremacy of Krsna. What to speak of miscreants who can neither search for nor attain the Lord.

Simply with a wink, Krsna showed the impersonal Brahman to the resi­dents of Vrndavana. Seeing this as an obstacle to their loving devotion, Krsna immediately withdrew it. Therefore, what is impossible for His lila-sakti?