Trnavarta

(From Madhurya-Tattva-Vijnana, by Sri Ananta Dasa Babaji Maharaja)


On another day, Mata Yasomati had taken Sri Nandanandana onto her lap and was nursing him, caressing him, kissing his face and so on. Suddenly, the child became as heavy as a mountain peak. Incapable of carrying him and fearful that he may be harmed, she placed him close by and sought protection at the feet of Sri Narayana. A demon named Trnavarta, sent by Kamsa, then arrived in Vraja and covered all of Gokula with dust, obstructing everyone’s vision and filling every direction with a terrible howl. Stealing Sri Nandanandana away, he flew off into the sky. If Sri Krishna had not made his body heavy, Trnavarta, in the form of a whirlwind, might have also taken Mata Yasomati with him into the sky, possibly causing her great harm. So to prevent this, by his inconceivable power, he caused the heavy weight to manifest within him. Oppressed by the thick dust and tiny pieces of stone scattered by Trnavarta, the residents of Gokula were overcome with confusion. They were completely unable to see themselves or each other or know what to do. When the blustering dust storm began, Yasoda was powerless to see or even search for her son. Overwhelmed with grief, like a cow whose newborn calf has died, she began to roll on the ground and weep in a piteous voice. After some time, when the terrible winds had subsided, the neighborhood gopikas heard the sound of crying in Yasoda’s home. They quickly arrived there, and not seeing Nandanandana, with tearful eyes they began to cry and pour forth their sorrow.

Trnavarta, shaped like a whirlwind, had taken Nandanandana very high into the sky. Just as a baby being held aloft might be frightened and grasp the neck of the person lifting him, Sri Nandanandana, playing the role of a child, held firmly to Trnavarta’s neck. Feeling Nandanandana to be like a mountain, the asura was unable to bear the weight any longer. He tried to pull the child from his throat, only to find it was an impossible feat. Sri Nandanandana clinched the demon’s throat so forcefully that he was no longer able to move his hands or feet. His eyes popped out and he was unable to even cry out in pain. His lifeless body, along with Sri Nandanandana, fell from high in the sky upon a piece of stone in the grazing ground. The gopis then discovered that Trnavarta’s monstrous body had been smashed like Tripurasura torn apart by Shiva’s arrow. They found Sri Krishna, freed from the jaws of death and in good condition, still hanging on Trnavarta’s chest where he had been placed by the demon as he carried him through the air. The gopis returned Krishna safely to Yasomati and everyone was completely astounded. Sri Nanda and the other gopas, as well as Sri Yasoda and the gopis all floated in an ocean of joy as they each got to hold Sri Krishna in their laps.

Sri Nanda and the gopas began to say to each other, “Ah! How amazing! Even though he was carried toward his death by the rAkSasa, this child has been returned to us. Cruel-natured wicked people are destroyed by their own sins, while those who are good-natured, having integrity, are freed from all kinds of troubles.” If one sees the manifestation of inconceivable power behind all these pastimes of Sri Krishna’s childhood, it may remind him of an emperor who, intoxicated by drinking fine wine, has forgotten his kingly power and lives like the poorest of the poor. In the same way, Sri Krishna, the possessor of boundless power and the lord of the universe, intoxicated by drinking the wine of vatsalya-rasa shared with Sri Nanda-Yasoda and the gopas and gopis of Vraja, forgets his own natural divinity and plays like an ordinary child. His boundless, inconceivable energies accomplish all these difficult feats of demon-killing and so on from behind his nara-lila without disturbing his absorption in the enjoyment of rasa. It is for this reason that vraja-lila has so much madhurya!