82 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

fear of the demons. They were free of fear. Any material arrangement for
protecting oneself from death is always unsure, but if one is in Krsna
consciousness, then immortality is confidently assured.

The demon Aghasura appeared before Krsna and His friends. Aghasura
happened to be the younger brother of Piitana and Bakasura, and he
thought, “Krsna has killed my brother and sister. Now I shall kill Him
along with all His friends and calves.’ Aghasura was instigated by Karsa,
so he had come with determination. Aghasura also began to think that
when he would offer grains and water in memory of his brother and kill
Krsna and all the cowherd boys, then automatically all the inhabitants of
Vrndavana would die. Generally, for the householders, the children are
the life and breath force. When all the children die, then naturally the
parents also die on account of strong affection for them.

Aghasura, thus deciding to kill all the inhabitants of Vrndavana, ex-
panded himself by the yogic siddhi called mahima. The demons are
generally expert in achieving almost all kinds of mystic powers. In the
yoga system, by the perfection called mahima-siddhi, one can expand
himself as he desires. The demon Aghasura expanded himself up to eight
miles and assumed the shape of a very fat serpent. Having attained this
wonderful body, he stretched his mouth open just like a mountain cave.
Desiring to swallow all the boys at once, including Krsna and Balarama, he
sat on the path.

The demon in the shape of a big fat serpent expanded his lips from land
to sky; his lower lip was touching the ground and his upper lip was
touching the clouds. His jaws appeared like a big mountain cave, without
limitation, and his teeth appeared just like mountain summits. His tongue
appeared to be a broad traffic way, and he was breathing just like a
hurricane. The fire of his eyes was blazing. At first the boys thought that
the demon was a statue, but after examining it, they saw that it was more
like a big serpent lying down in the road and widening his mouth. The
boys began to talk among themselves: ““This figure appears to be a great
animal, and he is sitting in such a posture just to swallow us all. Just see—
is it not a big snake that has widened his mouth to eat all of us?”

One of them said, “Yes, what you say is true. This animal’s upper lip
appears to be just like the sunshine, and its lower lip is just like the
reflection of red sunsh.se on the ground. Bear friends, just look to the
right and left hand side of the mouth of the animal. Its mouth appears to
be like a big mountain cave, and its height cannot be estimated. The chin
is also raised just like a mountain summit. That long highway appears to
be its tongue, and inside the mouth it is as dark as in a mountain cave. The
