For a moment, the whole pasturing ground was overcast with dense darkness from the dust storm, and mother Yaśodā was unable to find her son where she had placed Him.

TRANSLATION

King Parīkṣit said: My lord, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, all the various activities exhibited by the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are certainly pleasing to the ear and to the mind. Simply by one’s hearing of these activities, the dirty things in one’s mind immediately vanish. Generally we are reluctant to hear about the activities of the Lord, but Kṛṣṇa’s childhood activities are so attractive that they are automatically pleasing to the mind and ear. Thus one’s attachment for hearing about material things, which is the root cause of material existence, vanishes, and one gradually develops devotional service to the Supreme Lord, attachment for Him, and friendship with devotees who give us the contribution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you think it fit, kindly speak about those activities of the Lord.

COMMENTARY

The seventh chapter shows the aiśvarya (power and majesty) aspect of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood pastimes. Kṛṣṇa broke the cart after taking His bath and going to sleep. He killed Tṛṇāvarta and showed the whole universe to mother Yaśodā. By sucking Pūtanā’s breast, Kṛṣṇa showed the power of His lips. In the pastime of demolishing the cart, Kṛṣṇa showed the power of His feet, and by killing Tṛṇāvarta, Kṛṣṇa showed the power of His hands. He showed His unlimited powers by revealing the universe twice (in this and the next chapter) to his mother.

 

“My mind is attracted to the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa’s other avatāras, but I am especially greedy to hear Kṛṣṇa’s childhood pastimes.”

 

With this intent, Parīkṣit speaks this verse. “Hearing the pastimes of the different avatāras of the Lord fills me with bliss. But, if you agree then please speak about those pastimes which will destroy one’s apathy and lack of taste for hearing them. Hearing Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental pastimes creates a hankering to hear more, and it purifies the mind of filthy desires. At first rock candy tastes bitter to a man suffering from jaundice, but eventually one regains the power to taste its sweetness. Similarly, a conditioned soul has no attraction to hearing hari-katha, but continual hearing will quickly produce attachment (āśakti), rati (bhāva) and finally prema. In the beginning, one will develop friendship with Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, and at the stage of prema one will feel love for all living beings.”

 

Hearing anything about Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa gradually rids one of indifference to hearing about the Lord and helps one attain prema. But hearing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood quickly brings about Kṛṣṇa-prema.

 

|| 10.7.3 ||

athānyad api kṛṣṇasya tokācaritam adbhutam

mānuṣaṁ lokam āsādya taj-jātim anurundhataḥ

TRANSLATION

Please describe other pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality, who appeared on this planet earth, imitating a human child and performing wonderful activities like killing Pūtanā.

COMMENTARY

In his enthusiasm, Parīkṣit repeats his request to clarify his intention. Being requested by mankind, the Lord appeared on earth (rather than being requested by demigods and appearing on Svarga). In this way Śrī Kṛṣṇa especially blessed the humans on earth.

 

|| 10.7.4 ||

śrī-śuka uvāca

kadācid autthānika-kautukāplave janmarkṣa-yoge samaveta-yoṣitām

vāditra-gīta-dvija-mantra-vācakaiś cakāra sūnor abhiṣecanaṁ satī

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: When mother Yaśodā’s baby was slanting His body to attempt to rise and turn around, this attempt was observed by a Vedic ceremony. In such a ceremony, called utthāna, which is performed when a child is due to leave the house for the first time, the child is properly bathed. Just after Kṛṣṇa turned three months old, mother Yaśodā celebrated this ceremony with other women of the neighborhood. On that day, there was a conjunction of the moon with the constellation Rohiṇī. As the brāhmaṇas joined by chanting Vedic hymns and professional musicians also took part, this great ceremony was observed by mother Yaśodā.

COMMENTARY

kadācit: some time; means this incident took place within three months of the child’s birth. In the Bhāgavatam (2.7.27) it is mentioned that the breaking of the cart occurred when Kṛṣṇa was three months old: trai-māsikasya ca padā sakaṭo ’pavṛttaḥ. The village ladies swelled with joy when baby Kṛṣṇa first rolled over (autthānik). When the moon entered Kṛṣṇa’s birth star (Rohiṇī), Yaśodā and her circle of gopī friends celebrated the event by bathing the child to the accompaniment of music, singing and chanting by the brāhmaṇas.

 

|| 10.7.5 ||

nandasya patnī kṛta-majjanādikaṁ vipraiḥ kṛta-svastyayanaṁ supūjitaiḥ

annādya-vāsaḥ-srag-abhīṣṭa-dhenubhiḥ sañjāta-nidrākṣam aśīśayac chanaiḥ

TRANSLATION

After completing the bathing ceremony for the child, mother Yaśodā received the brāhmaṇas by worshiping them with proper respect and giving them ample food grains and other eatables, clothing, desirable cows, and garlands. The brāhmaṇas properly chanted Vedic hymns to observe the auspicious ceremony, and when they finished and mother Yaśodā saw that the child felt sleepy, she lay down on the bed with the child until He was peacefully asleep.

COMMENTARY

After being honored (supūjitaiḥ) by gifts of rice, cloth and money the brāhmaṇas performed the auspicious birth rites. Because Kṛṣṇa had sleepy eyes (sañjāta-nidrākṣam), He was put to rest (aśīsayac). For fear that Kṛṣṇa might wake up, Yaśodā held Him in her lap without moving. Then she lay down with her beloved son on a cot under a cart situated in a spacious courtyard. Upon understanding that Kṛṣṇa was fast asleep, Yaśodā got up very slowly and carefully.

 

|| 10.7.6 ||

autthānikautsukya-manā manasvinī samāgatān pūjayatī vrajaukasaḥ

naivāśṛṇod vai ruditaṁ sutasya sā rudan stanārthī caraṇāv udakṣipat

TRANSLATION

The liberal mother Yaśodā, absorbed in celebrating the utthāna ceremony, was busy receiving guests, worshiping them with all respect and offering them clothing, cows, garlands and grains. Thus she could not hear the child crying for His mother. At that time, the child Kṛṣṇa, demanding to drink the milk of His mother’s breast, angrily threw His legs upward.

COMMENTARY

Because Yaśodā was busy exchanging pleasantries and giving ornaments, garlands, candana, oil and sindhūra to the village ladies who had assembled for the festival, she did not hear Kṛṣṇa crying from hunger (stanārthī) upon His waking. In anger, Kṛṣṇa kicked His legs upward while thinking, “Since you cannot hear My crying, maybe the sound of the cart breaking will catch your attention.”

 

|| 10.7.7 ||

adhaḥ-śayānasya śiśor ano ’lpaka- pravāla-mṛdv-aṅghri-hataṁ vyavartata

vidhvasta-nānā-rāsa-kupya-bhājanaṁ vyatyasta-cakrākṣa-vibhinna-kūbaram

TRANSLATION

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was lying down underneath the handcart in one corner of the courtyard, and although His little legs were as soft as leaves, when He struck the cart with His legs, it turned over violently and collapsed. The wheels separated from the axle, the hubs and spokes fell apart, and the pole of the handcart broke. On the cart there were many little utensils made of various metals, and all of them scattered hither and thither.

COMMENTARY

The cart was struck by the soft lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa as if with very little force. To break the cart Kṛṣṇa did not extend His foot high upward like Vāmana in breaking the shell of the universe, nor did Kṛṣṇa’s feet become hard like Narasimha’s nails to tear apart the hard body of Hiraṇyakaśipu. This rare display of power by Kṛṣṇa, which does not contradict the sweetness of His childhood pastimes, shows the completeness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana.

 

The cart turned upside down and the utensils of gold and silver scattered everywhere. The wheels and axle fell apart and the steering pole broke. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa states that because a heavy demon entered the cart, the wheels sank in the earth and the cart’s height decreased. Thus Kṛṣṇa’s short baby legs could touch the cart.

 

|| 10.7.8 ||

dṛṣṭvā yaśodā-pramukhā vraja-striya autthānike karmaṇi yāḥ samāgatāḥ

nandādayaś cādbhuta-darśanākulāḥ kathaṁ svayaṁ vai śakaṭaṁ viparyagāt

TRANSLATION

When mother Yaśodā and the other ladies who had assembled for the utthāna festival, and all the men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, saw the wonderful situation, they began to wonder how the handcart had collapsed by itself. They began to wander here and there, trying to find the cause, but were unable to do so.

COMMENTARY

Nanda, Yaśodā and the other assembled women and guests became dismayed upon seeing that astonishing event. They asked, “How could the cart fall apart on its own?”

 

|| 10.7.9 ||

ūcur avyavasita-matīn gopān gopīś ca bālakāḥ

rudatānena pādena kṣiptam etan na saṁśayaḥ

TRANSLATION

The assembled cowherd men and ladies began to contemplate how this thing had happened. “Is it the work of some demon or evil planet?” they asked. At that time, the small children present asserted that the cart had been kicked apart by the baby Kṛṣṇa. As soon as the crying baby bad kicked the cart’s wheel, the cart had collapsed. There was no doubt about it.

COMMENTARY

The children who had witnessed the event described it to the gopīs, who could not discern what had happened. The gopīs asked, “Is this the work of some demon or evil planets?”

 

|| 10.7.10 ||

na te śraddadhire gopā bāla-bhāṣitam ity uta

aprameyaṁ balaṁ tasya bālakasya na te viduḥ

TRANSLATION

The assembled gopīs and gopas, unaware that Kṛṣṇa is always unlimited, could not believe that baby Kṛṣṇa had such inconceivable power. They could not believe the statements of the children, and therefore they neglected these statements as being childish talk.

COMMENTARY

The cowherd men did not believe the statements of the children.

 

|| 10.7.11 ||

rudantaṁ sutam ādāya yaśodā graha-śaṅkitā

kṛta-svastyayanaṁ vipraiḥ sūktaiḥ stanam apāyayat

TRANSLATION

Thinking that some bad planet had attacked Kṛṣṇa, mother Yaśodā picked up the crying child and allowed Him to suck her breast. Then she called for experienced brāhmaṇas to chant Vedic hymns and perform an auspicious ritualistic ceremony.

COMMENTARY

Yaśodā had the brāhmaṇas perform svastyayana, chanting mantras to ward off the demons.

 

|| 10.7.12 ||

pūrvavat sthāpitaṁ gopair balibhiḥ sa-paricchadam

viprā hutvārcayāṁ cakrur dadhy-akṣata-kuśāmbubhiḥ

TRANSLATION

After the strong, stout cowherd men assembled the pots and paraphernalia on the handcart and set it up as before, the brāhmaṇas performed a ritualistic ceremony with a fire sacrifice to appease the bad planet, and then, with rice grains, kuśa, water and curd, they worshiped the Supreme Lord.

COMMENTARY

The cart was repaired and placed in its original position by some strong cowherd men. This proves that the cart was very large. The cowherd men worshiped the cart because the cart was one of their main possessions, being the abode of Lakṣmī, and the storehouse of their accumulated wealth.

 

|| 10.7.13-15 ||

ye ’sūyānṛta-dambherṣā-hiṁsā-māna-vivarjitāḥ

na teṣāṁ satya-śīlānām āśiṣo viphalāḥ kṛtāḥ

iti bālakam ādāya sāmarg-yajur-upākṛtaiḥ

jalaiḥ pavitrauṣadhibhir abhiṣicya dvijottamaiḥ

vācayitvā svastyayanaṁ nanda-gopaḥ samāhitaḥ

hutvā cāgniṁ dvijātibhyaḥ prādād annaṁ mahā-guṇam

TRANSLATION

When brāhmaṇas are free from envy, untruthfulness, unnecessary pride, grudges, disturbance by the opulence of others, and false prestige, their blessings never go in vain. Considering this, Nanda Mahārāja soberly took Kṛṣṇa on his lap and invited such truthful brāhmaṇas to perform a ritualistic ceremony according to the holy hymns of the Sāma Veda, Ṛg Veda and Yajur Veda. Then, while the hymns were being chanted, he bathed the child with water mixed with pure herbs, and after performing a fire ceremony, he sumptuously fed all the brāhmaṇas with first-class grains and other food.

COMMENTARY

Knowing that the blessings of brāhmaṇas were good for his child’s welfare, Nanda spoke this verse. Māna means pride. The blessings of qualified brāhmaṇas must bear fruit. Kṛṣṇa was sprinkled with water mixed with sarvauṣadhi and mahauṣadhi, and purified by mantras from the Sāma, Rg and Yajur Veda. Nanda Mahārāja performed a sacrifice, and then fed the brāhmaṇas with tasty aromatic food (mahā-guṇam).

 

|| 10.7.16 ||

gāvaḥ sarva-guṇopetā vāsaḥ-srag-rukma-mālinīḥ

ātmajābhyudayārthāya prādāt te cānvayuñjata

TRANSLATION

Nanda Mahārāja, for the sake of the affluence of his own son Kṛṣṇa, gave the brāhmaṇas cows fully decorated with garments, flower garlands and gold necklaces. These cows, fully qualified to give ample milk, were given to the brāhmaṇas in charity, and the brāhmaṇas accepted them and bestowed blessings upon the whole family, and especially upon Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENTARY

Nanda Mahārāja gave cows endowed with all qualities (sarva-guṇopetā), which means they gave abundant milk. Then (anu) the brāhmaṇas accepted (ayuñjata) the cows. .

 

|| 10.7.17 ||

viprā mantra-vido yuktās tair yāḥ proktās tathāśiṣaḥ

tā niṣphalā bhaviṣyanti na kadācid api sphuṭam

TRANSLATION

The brāhmaṇas, who were completely expert in chanting the Vedic hymns, were all yogīs fully equipped with mystic powers. Whatever blessings they spoke were certainly never fruitless.

COMMENTARY

The brāhmaṇas are described here as yukta, which means they were great yogīs (yoginaḥ), and thus whatever blessings they gave would come true.

 

|| 10.7.18 ||

ekadāroham ārūḍhaṁ lālayantī sutaṁ satī

garimāṇaṁ śiśor voḍhuṁ na sehe giri-kūṭavat

TRANSLATION

One day, a year after Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, mother Yaśodā was patting her son on her lap. But suddenly she felt the child to be heavier than a mountain peak, and she could no longer bear His weight.

COMMENTARY

“What use are all these things for Me, the Lord of all wealth?” This event took place when Kṛṣṇa was one year old. The Bhāgavatam (10.26.6) says: eka-hāyana āsīno hriyamāṇo vihāyasā daityena yas tṛṇāvartam, “The demon Tṛṇāvarta took away Kṛṣṇa when the Lord was one year old.” Yaśodā felt great bliss by placing Kṛṣṇa on her lap and lifting Him up in the air with her two hands. Suddenly Kṛṣṇa became as heavy as a mountain top, and Yaśodā could no longer hold Him. Kṛṣṇa knew that Tṛṇāvarta wanted to kidnap Yaśodā along with Himself. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa displayed His aiśvarya śakti in order to prevent any pain coming to Yaśodā. Becoming heavier than the heaviest, Kṛṣṇa forced Yaśodā to place Him on the ground. “Yaśodā can only lift Me a little, but I want to play in the sky.” Desiring like this, Kṛṣṇa let the asura take Him away.

 

|| 10.7.19 ||

bhūmau nidhāya taṁ gopī vismitā bhāra-pīḍitā

mahā-puruṣam ādadhyau jagatām āsa karmasu

TRANSLATION

Feeling the child to be as heavy as the entire universe and therefore being anxious, thinking that perhaps the child was being attacked by some other ghost or demon, the astonished mother Yaśodā put the child down on the ground and began to think of Nārāyaṇa. Foreseeing disturbances, she called for the brāhmaṇas to counteract this heaviness, and then she engaged in her other household affairs. She had no alternative than to remember the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa, for she could not understand that Kṛṣṇa was the original source of everything.

COMMENTARY

Being disturbed, Yaśodā put Kṛṣṇa on the ground as she wondered how her son had suddenly become so heavy. “Maybe some demon has done this?” Fearing this, Yaśodā took shelter of Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of the universe. Yaśodā glanced upward to Vaikuṇṭha and in meditation said, “O Lord, You have given this son, so now You must protect Him.” Then in great anxiety, Yaśodā went out to call some brāhmaṇas to perform the svastyayana karma (ceremonies for good fortune).

 

|| 10.7.20 ||

daityo nāmnā tṛṇāvartaḥ kaṁsa-bhṛtyaḥ praṇoditaḥ

cakravāta-svarūpeṇa jahārāsīnam arbhakam

TRANSLATION

While the child was sitting on the ground, a demon named Tṛṇāvarta, who was a servant of Kaṁsa’s, came there as a whirlwind, at Kaṁsa’s instigation, and very easily carried the child away into the air.

COMMENTARY

Just at that time, Tṛṇāvarta came and stole the child. By the influence of His aiśvarya śakti Kṛṣṇa became so light that Tṛṇāvarta could lift Him.

 

|| 10.7.21 ||

gokulaṁ sarvam āvṛṇvan muṣṇaṁś cakṣūṁṣi reṇubhiḥ

īrayan sumahā-ghora-śabdena pradiśo diśaḥ

TRANSLATION

Covering the whole land of Gokula with particles of dust, that demon, acting as a strong whirlwind, covered everyone’s vision and began vibrating everywhere with a greatly fearful sound.

COMMENTARY

A tumultuous sound reverberated (īrayan) in all directions.

 

|| 10.7.22 ||

muhūrtam abhavad goṣṭhaṁ rajasā tamasāvṛtam

sutaṁ yaśodā nāpaśyat tasmin nyastavatī yataḥ

TRANSLATION