Again the cowherds, including Krishna, went with their cows to give them
drink, and also to quench their own great thirst. Sporting on the banks
of the lake, they suddenly saw a monster crane coming towards them, with
great flapping wings.
Affrighted they turned, all but Krishna, to flee, but ere a moment had
passed, the huge bird had devoured Krishna.
But only an instant He was lost to sight, for before the boys knew what
calamity had come upon them, the bird in great haste gave up the prey
that brought to his throat the sensation of burning. For when Krishna
entered his body it was as if liquid fire poured all through him.
Then seeing Krishna again in the midst of the boys, lo, with the beak
and the talon he again made for Him, but Krishna seized the beak with
His hands and ripped the great body in halves, even as women tear in
half fine linen which requires no effort, and the demon was again
allayed.
Again it happened that the boys with Krishna sought the forests, in
sport to engage.
While bounding in frolicsome play, they beheld at a distance a huge
serpent stretched forth in its length, like a range of hills. Wide open
its mouth was, and close to the path of the boys it lay.
In an instant within it they walked, all but Krishna, who contemplated
the monster, with eyes full of power; then straight into its jaws He too
went.
But now the hideous serpent writhed in pain and, like monstrous bellows,
its great sides heaved; for Krishna had expanded within its throat, till
it expired, shaking all the earth in its throes of death.
And the boys laughed in glee as out of the great jaws of the serpent
they walked.
But Krishna lifted His eyes to the sky and illumined all the heavens
became. For the Dispenser of all Light destroyed the evil that sought to
reign in that land where Love dwelt, and with mighty strength He felled
the feeble hands of Evil to the ground. For, where Krishna was,
illumination was and darkness could not draw life.
The deadly shade of Sin sought to blight and blast the garden where
Truth bloomed fair and tall; but so ripe with Love it was that it could
not on that soil take root, to create its evil nor yet prevent the good.
For the Knower of all that is knowable saw with His all-seeing eye the
spirit of every stress and storm and laid it low ere its brewing began.
And thus His blessing gave increase to plenty, and virtue it added unto
good, and unto them that loved in that realm of Love, stones were as
bread, and wormwood as sweetness was.
Evil is sin and hateful to Love. And Krishna had the longing and the
power He wielded to save His world from the pestilent blast of the sin
that in boldness sought to destroy it.
As Love He came, the Maker of Man and of the Universe, to rescue man,
His creation, from the rottenness of his own doings.