The Killing of the Aghasura Demon 81
played with them, and when the monkeys jumped in a tree, the boys also
followed. When a monkey showed its face and teeth, a boy imitated and
showed his teeth to the monkey. Some of the boys played with the frogs
on the bank of the Yamuna, and when, out of fear, the frogs jumped in
the water, the boys immediately dove in after them, and they would come
out of the water when they saw their own shadows and stand imitating,
making caricatures and laughing. They would also go to an empty well and
make loud sounds, and when the echo came back, they would call it ill
names and laugh.

As stated personally by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the
Bhagavad-gita, He is realized proportionately by transcendentalists as
Brahman, Paramatma and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here, in
confirmation of the same statement, Lord Krsna, who awards the imper-
sonalist Brahman realization by His bodily effulgence, also gives pleasure
to the devotees as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who are
under the spell of external energy, maya, take Him only as a beautiful
child. Yet He gave full transcendental pleasure to the cowherd boys who
played with Him. Only after accumulating heaps of pious activities, those
boys were promoted to personally associate with the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. Who can estimate the transcendental fortune of the residents
of Vrndavana? They were personally visualizing the Supreme Personality
of Godhead face to face, He whom many yogis cannot find even after
undergoing severe austerities, although He is sitting within the heart. This
is also confirmed in the Brahma-samhita. One may search for Krsna the
Supreme Personality of Godhead through the pages of the Vedas and
Upanisads, but if one is fortunate enough to associate with a devotee, he
can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. After accumu-
lating pious activities in many, many previous lives, the cowherd boys
were seeing Krsna face to face and playing with Him as friends. They
could not understand that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
but they were playing as intimate friends with intense love for Him.

When Lord Krsna was enjoying His childhood pastimes with His boy
friends, one Aghasura demon became very impatient. He was unable to
see Krsna playing, so he appeared before the boys intending to kill them
all. This Aghasura was so dangerous that even the denizens of heaven were
afraid of him. Although the denizens of heaven drank nectar daily to
prolong their lives, they were afraid of this Aghasura and were wondering,
“When will the demon be killed?’’ The denizens used to drink nectar to
become immortal, but actually they were not confident of their immor-
tality. On the other hand, the boys who were playing with Krsna had no
