HARE KRISHNA
In this katha we shall see the supreme's leela, how shree krishna englufs forest -fire and saves his fellow cowboys.
Krishna's popularity among his mates rested on his mischievous pranks. Early in the morning his mates used to come to his house and called him out for play. As soon as Krishna heard their call, he used to come out and ploy with them. The most favorite game with Krishna and his mates was hide-and-seek. At times, Krishna disappeared from a place where there was nothing to hide behind. All his mates would feel surprised and would begin to find him out. When they were unsuccessful, they doubted that Kansa's men might have abducted Krishna. So, they would call out his name loudly in worry. When Krishna saw his mates worried for him, he would appear smiling from behind them and again run forward coiling out, 'Catch me! Catch me!' and the confused mates would again follow him but only to find him missing again. When the mates were tired of discovering Krishna, they would sit under some fruit-tree, Krishna would drop a ripe fruit from above and say, "Here I am." Balram would keep smiling at his pranks standing at a distance because he knew fully well the secrets of his naughty moves.
All the cowboys were very happy playing with Krishna . They used to drove their cattle to the bank of the Yamuna and left them to graze there. Now the cowboys planned to seat Krishna in the center and surround him to enjoy their food sharing it with one another. They washed their hands and sat under a shady tree. Some of them placed their meals on leaves and some on stones. Some of them placed their food on the grass while others held it in their hands. In order to express their gratitude to Krishna, they formed a plate out of wild flowers and placed his food on it. Now the cowboys began to eat the food sharing it among themselves. Each cowboy tried to put something into Krishna's mouth with his own hands. Krishna was beside himself with joy to see the untold love of his mates for him. So, he was accepting gladly whatever each of them put into his mouth. How joyful this meal sharing would have been in the company of Sri Krishna! Such an occasion is indeed not easily available to angels even. How enviable was the good luck of the cowboys of Vrindavan! Even the gods were very rarely able to have a glimpse of Lord Vishnu, but these cowboys were enjoying His company constantly as His chums. They dined, played, grazed cattle, danced and sang in His company in Vrindavan. Krishna used to indulge in various playful activities along with his mates. To hop like frogs, to try to fly like birds, to frisk like deer, to dance as peacocks, to roar like a lion and to copy the cries of various birds and animals were some of these activities. The cowboys felt fearless and happy in the company of Krishna. They had intense love and devotion towards their friend Krishna. They used to make garlands of multi-colored wild flowers for him and put them round his neck. Not only this, they used to adorn him in various ways with a view to win his favor. How strange it is that the cowboys could enjoy the close company of Lord Vishnu whereas even gods could have His glimpse only from a distance and saints and ascetics had to take recourse to various yoga-modes to concentrate on His form! Anybody and everybody felt envious of the cowboys and wanted to emulate them. How fortunate were these rustic cowboys to have Lady Luck smile upon them!. To accompany the cowboys for grazing his calves was the daily routine of Krishna now. The cows and the calves kept grazing while Krishna, along with his mates, indulged in various playful activities and thus they all enjoyed themselves.
One day when Krishna was engaged in play with his friends, the cattle strayed to a distance and reached a forest with dense growth of a wild grass. Roaming there, they lost the way and began to low aloud to attract the attention of their grazers. Hearing the loud cries of the cattle, the cowboys were reminded of them and so went about looking for them. Soon they reached the forest with the wild grass where their cattle were roaming. Unfortunately, the grass burst into flames due to a jungle-fire just at the moment and the cowboys felt worried about the safety of their cattle that could be roasted alive. They ail requested Krishna to do something to save their cattle. Krishna smiled and asked his friends to close their eyes for a while. The cowboys felt amazed at first but when asked again they complied with Krishna's suggestion in implicit faith. As soon as they closed their eyes, Krishna began to swallow the jungle fire and in a few moments there was not even a sign of it anywhere. All the mates praised Krishna for his miracle.
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