Greatness and Sweetness
[Adi 14]
The early pastimes of Nimai (from birth till five years) are known as the balya-lila. During these years, various astonishing incidents made it obvious that He was not an ordinary child.
Sometimes Sachimata would witness the denizens of heaven queuing up to see Nimai. Jagannatha Misra also had dreams in which he was unequivocally told that Nimai was the Supreme Person. In fact, when Nimai’s parents had His feet examined (from which they could hear the mystical tinkling of ankle bells) the astrologer Nilambhara Chakravarti immediately confirmed that Nimai was none other than Lord Krishna. Nevertheless, the Lord mystically covered His divine identity, allowing His parents to continue expressing the natural concerns of a mother and father. This pure and spontaneous love is what He had come to relish.
From the beginning of His life, Nimai brought everyone closer to God. In His childhood, the village ladies discovered that the only way to stop Nimai crying was to chant the holy names of Krishna. Thus, there was a continual utterance of 'haribol' in the village. When, having eaten dirt, He played devil’s advocate and justified it through impersonal philosophy, His mother reprimanded Him and explained the correct understanding. Nimai was pleased.
Nimai’s childhood was filled with miracles. As a young boy He repeatedly spoiled the offerings made by a devoted brahmana, and later revealed His divine identity as Sri Krishna Himself. When thieves tried to kidnap Him, Nimai mystically disorientated the rogues and led them back to His own home! On another day, Nimai requested prasadam from a distant house and exhibited His omniscient and all-knowing nature.
These displays of greatness were accompanied by wonderfully sweet exchanges. He sported with friends, engaged in mock fights, lovingly stole their eatables, threw tantrums, and sometimes cried when being rebuked by His mother. When young girls would engage in their religious duties, He would disturb their offerings and steal all the paraphernalia for Himself. Such mischievous dealings endeared Him to all the village locals.
Later, the young Nimai met with Laksmipriya, His eternal consort, and Their conjugal love for each other awakened.
The immature observer may consider God’s earthly pastimes to be just like their own. God, they think, is nothing more than a historical figure. Others posit that these descriptions of God are a mythological understanding which helps one in their spiritual infancy. They argue that in an advanced and mature stage of spirituality, one realises that God is ultimately impersonal – beyond the purview of the mind and senses, and not limited by a form. The great Vaishnava teachers have comprehensively refuted these widespread notions of atheism (sunyavada) and impersonalism (nirvisesa). They establish the sweet pastimes of Sri Krishna as factual and divine, eternally enacted within the material cosmos, the spiritual world, and the hearts of His pure devotees.
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