Beginning
with His birth in a jail and the immediate rush to
whisk Him away to a new family, across the river, in
Gokul, the Lord was not given an “easy” childhood.
On
the sixth day of the Lord’s life, Putna (the
demoness) made Him drink poison from her breast. In
His third month of life a bullock cart fell on Him.
Then, when He was four, huge trees fell on Him.
At
seven, He was in Govardhan. The people of Govardhan
worshipped Lord Indra, singing his praises and making
daily offerings to him. However, Lord Krishna
admonished them and said that they should worship Lord
Govardhan instead, since it was Govardhan who gave
them land, water, grass for their cows. Yet, the
people were afraid. Lord Indra threatened to wreak
havoc upon their lives if they ceased his worship. As
Lord Indra pummeled the beautiful land of Govardhan
with rain, hail, thunder and lightening, the Lord –
at the age of seven – had to hold up the mountain of
Govardhan over the heads of the people, protecting
them from the violent storm. However, as He held up
this mountain on the tip of His finger, for days and
days as Lord Indra grew more and more furious, we
never see Him angry, nor frustrated, nor disheartened.
No. He is always smiling, even in the midst of the
torrential storm.
A
few short years later, He is forced to kill His uncle,
and before the age of twenty, He had to flee His home
in Mathura, barefoot to Junagar, with nothing but a
small pitambar. For years, then, this King of all
Kings lived in a simple ashram, doing seva for the
saints, with no facilities, no amenities. He had no
coat for winter, no umbrella for the rains…
Yet,
wherever He went, wherever He was, He was always
blissful, always joyful, always shining His divine
light upon others.
We,
on the other hand, get stuck in one traffic jam and
our days are ruined. We have one business failure and
we feel dejected and broken. We become afflicted with
disease and we lose our faith in God.
