122 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

just on the point of death and that they had no shelter for salvation from
imminent death, Krsna immediately freed Himself. He began to expand
His body, and when the serpent tried to hold Him, he felt a great strain.
On account of the strain, his coils slackened, and he had no other alterna-
tive but to let loose the Personality of Godhead, Krsna, from his grasp.
Kaliya then became very angry, and his great hoods expanded. He ex-
haled poisonous fumes from his nostrils, his eyes blazed like fire, and
flames issued from his mouth. The great serpent remained still for some
time, looking at Krsna. Licking his lips with bifurcated tongues, the serpent
looked at Krsna with double hoods, and his eyesight was full of poison.
Krsna immediately pounced upon him, just as Garuda swoops upon a
snake. Thus attacked, Kaliya looked for an opportunity to bite Him, but
Krsna moved around him. As Krsna and Kaliya moved in a circle, the
serpent gradually became fatigued, and his strength seemed to diminish
considerably. Krsna immediately pressed down the serpent’s hoods and
jumped up on them. The Lord’s lotus feet became tinged with red from
the rays of the jewels on the snake’s hoods. Then He who is the original
artist of all fine arts, such as dancing, began to dance upon the hoods of
the serpent, although they were moving to and fro. Upon seeing this,
denizens from the upper planets began to shower flowers, beat drums,
play different types of flutes and sing various prayers and songs. In this
way, all the denizens of heaven, such as the Gandharvas, Siddhas and
demigods, became very pleased.

While Krsna was dancing on his hoods, Kaliya tried to push Him down
with some of his other hoods. Kaliya had about a hundred hoods, but
Krsna took control of them. He began to dash Kaliya with His lotus feet,
and this was more than the serpent could bear. Gradually, Kaliya was
reduced to struggling for his very life. He vomited all kinds of refuse and
exhaled fire. While throwing up poisonous material from within, Kaliya
became reduced in his sinful situation. Out of great anger, he began to
struggle for existence and tried to raise one of his hoods to kill the Lord.
The Lord immediately captured that hood and subdued it by kicking it
and dancing on it. It actually appeared as if the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Visnu was being worshiped; the poisons emanating from the
mouth of the serpent appeared to be like flower offerings. Kaliya then
began to vomit blood instead of poison; he was completely fatigued. His
whole body appeared to be broken by the kicks of the Lord. Within his
mind, however, he finally began to understand that Krsna was the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and he began to surrender unto Him. He realized
that Krsna was the Supreme Lord, the master of everything.
