Salvation of Trnavarta ol

ship with the Supreme Lord, one becomes eligible to create friendship
with the devotees. Maharaja Pariksit recommended, from practical ex-
perience, that everyone try to hear about the transcendental pastimes of
the Lord. This Krsna treatise is meant for that purpose, and the reader
may take advantage in order to attain the ultimate goal of human life.

The Lord, out of His causeless mercy, descends on this material world
and displays His activities just like an ordinary man. Unfortunately the
impious entities or the atheistic class of men consider Krsna to be an
ordinary man like themselves, and so they deride Him. This is condemned
in the Bhagavad-gita by the Lord Himself when He says, “Avajananti mam
midhah.’’ The miidhas,or the rascals, take Krsna to be an ordinary man or
a slightly more powerful man; out of their great misfortune, they cannot
accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes such
unfortunate persons misrepresent themselves as incarnations of Krsna
without referring to the authorized scriptures.

When Krsna grew up a little more, He began to turn Himself backside
up; He did not merely lie down on His back. And another function was
observed by Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja: Krsna’s first birthday. They
arranged for Krsna’s birthday ceremony, which is still observed by all
followers of the Vedic principles. (Krsna’s birthday ceremony is observed
in India by all Hindus, irrespective of different sectarian views.) All the
cowherd men and women were invited to participate, and they arrived in
jubilation. A nice band played, and the people assembled enjoyed it. All
the learned brahmanas were invited, and they chanted Vedic hymns for
the good fortune of Krsna. During the chanting of the Vedic hymns and
playing of the bands, Krsna was bathed by mother Yagoda. This bathing
ceremony is technically called abhiseka, and even today this is observed in
all the temples of Vrndavana as Janmastami Day or the birthday anniver-
sary of Lord Krsna.

On this occasion, mother Yasoda arranged to distribute a large quantity
of grains, and first-class cows decorated with golden ornaments were made
ready to be given in charity to the learned, respectable brahmanas. YaSoda
took her bath and dressed herself nicely, and taking child Krsna, duly
dressed and bathed, on her lap, she sat down to hear the Vedic hymns
chanted by the brahmanas. While listening to the chanting of the Vedic
hymns, the child appeared to be falling asleep, and therefore mother
Yagoda very silently laid Him down on the bed. Being engaged in receiving
all the friends, relatives and residents of Vrndavana on that holy occasion,
she forgot to feed the child milk. He was crying, being hungry, but mother
Yasoda could not hear Him cry because of the various noises. The child,
