Krishna Bal Leela: Divine Importance

Divine Import of Krishna Leela:
It was the darkest hour of the era. The brutalities perpetrated by despot king Kansa had become unbearable. In such a period of crisis, during the Dwapar Yuga, the Divine Power descended on earth in human form as Krishna. He is Raagi as well as Vairaagi; Nar and Narayan; Chakradhar and Murlidhar - all blending into one incarnation, Krishna.

Krishna Bal Leela

Lord Krishna is one of the most loved and adored Gods of Hindu religion. The foremost reason of the glorification and reverence of Bhagwan Krishna is his Bal Leela. Bal Leela depicts various episodes between the period of his birth till the age of ten. Lord Krishna right from the time of his birth displayed the signs of his divine being.

Killing of Demoness Putana
According to legend, King Kansa wanted to kill Krishna as it was predicted that he would grow up to kill the King. So Demoness Putana went about killing all the male infants in Mathura and other neighboring towns in the move to kill the new born Lord Krishna. She took the form of a beautiful woman and smeared her breast with poison. While roaming from one town to another, she reached Nand baba's house, and saw Bal Krishna lying in the cradle. She then fled with the child and fed Lord Krishna her milk in the vain hope of killing him. Lord Krishna kept smiling and drinking the milk and after a while Putana shrieked with pain. It is said that while sucking the milk, Lord Krishna sucked her life thus killing her.

Overturning the Cart by Lord Krishna
As per a folklore, during one of the birth ceremonies of Lord Krishna, Mata Yashoda kept fast asleep Krishna under a cart full of milk . Lord Krishna started crying for milk after getting up, but Mata Yashoda didn't hear his cries so Lord Krishna kicked the cart with his feet and overturned it. The pots were shattered and milk started flowing into his mouth. When the story of overturned cart was narrated to Mata Yashoda, she could not believe it.


Displaying the Cosmos to Mother Yashoda
Legend has it that one day Mata Yashoda was cuddling Lord Krishna and playing with him. The child lying on his mother's lap yawned and opened his mouth. Mata Yashoda saw the whole universe in his mouth, the sun, the moon and all the stars, the sky, mountains, rivers, islands, oceans, all the continents, all living as well as non living beings.

Killing of Demon Trinivarta
It is believed that King Kansa sent one of his loyal servant, Demon Trinivarta to kill Lord Krishna. The demon took the form of a whirlwind and carried the child away. As soon as the demon reached the sky, he found it difficult to proceed further on account of the heaviness of the child. Unable to bear his own weight as well as the weight of the child, demon Trinivarta fell on the ground and met his fate. His took his original form after the death and Mata Yashoda was astonished to see her child lying on the dead demon.

The Fruit Seller

According to another famous folklore, Lord Krishna went to a woman fruit seller and asked her to give him some fruits in exchange for a handful of grains. The woman took the handful of grains from Lord Krishna and put in her basket and left. On reaching home, the woman was astonished to see her basket full of precious stones and gems instead of grains.


Omnipresent Lord Krishna

Bal Gopal was very mischievous and found great pleasure in playing pranks on gopis. He would steal their milk, butter, break their earthen pots to get butter. One day Lord Krishna, broke all the earthen pots of a gopi in order to get butter. On being caught red handed, the gopi went to mother Yashoda to inform her of her son's mischievous deeds. She was shocked to see the Lord standing next to his mother; Feeling embarrassed she left the place.

Birth of Power Supreme

Shri Krishna, according to belief based on ancient scriptures and astrological estimations was born on either the 18th of July or 21st July 3228 B.C.
Krishna was born in the Dvarpara Yuga as the "dark one". Krishna is the embodiment of love and divine joy, that destroys all pain and sin. Krishna is the protector of sacred utterances and cows. Krishna is a trickster and lover, an instigator of all forms of knowledge and born to establish the religion of love.
Krishna was born as the 8th child of Devaki, sister of the cruel demon king Kansa. The sage Narada had predicted that Kamsa would be killed by his nephew, so the king killed Devaki´s first six children. The 7th, Balarama escaped and the 8th, Krishna, was secretly exchanged for a cowherds daughter.
Krishna was raised in Gokul by his foster parents Yasoda and Nand. He had two other siblings - Balarama and Subhadra. Balarama was Devaki's seventh child who was transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudev's first wife. Subhadra was born to Rohini and Vasudev much after the birth of Krishna and Balarama.
Krishna is the deity of Hasya or Humour and a messenger of peace. His favorite was Rada. This is known as the Krishna Leela.
In Gokul, Nand was the head of the family and of all cow-herders. Nand, along with Yasoda settled in Vrindavan. That is where hundreds of Krishna's childhood stories are based. Folk tales of Krishna as a "maakhan chor" (butter thief), "bansi wala" (flautist), savior of villagers from demons like Kaaliya Naag (A vicious, multi hooded gigantic cobra that poisoned the waters of river Yamuna), Pootna (Demon sent by Kansa to kill Krishna), all originate from Vrindavan. This is also where Krishna lifted a hill called Govardhan parvat on his little finger and defeated God Indra (the king of devs and the God of rain) to protect land and people of Vrindavan.
After Krishna killed Kamsa, he became king. In the great Mahabaratha epic, Krishna spoke memorable words on the essence of Bhakti Yoga or the Yoga of Devotion. They are at the center of the Bhagavad Gita.