Krsna Recovers the Son of His Teacher 285

It is customary, after being initiated in the Gayatri mantra, for one to
live away from home for some time under the care of the dcarya in order
to be trained in spiritual life. During this period one has to work under
the spiritual master as an ordinary menial servant. There are many rules
and regulations for a brahmacari living under the care of an acarya, and
both Lord Krsna and Balarama strictly followed those regulative principles
while living under the instruction of their spiritual master, Sandipani Muni,
in his place in northern India. According to scriptural injunctions, a
spiritual master should be respected and be regarded on an equal level
with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Both Krsna and Balarama
exactly followed those principles with great devotion and underwent
the regulations of brahmacarya, and thus They satisfied Their spiritual
master, who instructed Them in Vedic knowledge. Being very satis-
fied, Sandipani Muni instructed Them in all the intricacies of Vedic
wisdom as well as in supplementary literatures such as the Upanisads.
Because Krsna and Balarama happened to be ksatriyas, They were
specifically trained in military science, politics and mathematics. In
politics there are six departments of knowledge—how to make peace,
how to fight, how to pacify,, how to divide and rule, how to give
shelter, etc. All these items were fully explained and instructed to Krsna
and Balarama.

The ocean is the source of water in a river. The cloud is created by the
evaporation of ocean water, and the same water is distributed as rain all
over the surface of the earth and then returns toward the ocean in rivers.
So Krsna and Balarama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are the
source of all kinds of knowledge, but because They were playing like
ordinary human boys, They set the example so that everyone would
receive knowledge from the right source. Thus They agreed to take know-
ledge from a spiritual master.

After hearing only once from the teacher, Krsna and Balarama learned
all the arts and sciences. In sixty-four days and sixty-four nights They
learned all the necessary arts and sciences that are required in human
society. During daytime They took lessons on a subject from the teacher,
and by nightfall, after having heard from the teacher, They were expert
in that department of knowledge.

First of all They learned how to sing, how to compose songs and how
to recognize the different tunes; They learned the favorable and un-
favorable accents and meters, how to sing different kinds of rhythms and
meledies, and how to follow them by beating different kinds of drums.
They learned how to dance with rhythm, melody and different songs.
