Krsna Recovers the Son of His Teacher 287
represent a man going home. Krsna and Balarama also learned the art of
architecture—how to construct residential buildings. They learned to recog-
nize valuable jewels by studying the luster and the quality of their colors.
Then They learned the art of setting jewels with gold and silver. They also
learned how to study soil to find minerals. This study of soil is now a
greatly specialized science, but formerly it was common knowledge even
for the ordinary man. They learned to study herbs and plants and to
extract medicine from the elements. By studying the different species of
plants, They learned how to crossbreed plants and get different types of
fruits. They learned how to train and engage lambs and cocks in fighting for
sporting purposes. They then learned how to teach parrots to speak and
answer the questions of human beings.

They learned practical psychology—how to influence another’s mind and
thus induce another to act according to one’s own desire. Sometimes this
is called hypnotism. They learned how to wash hair, dye it in different
colors and curl it in different ways. They learned the art of telling what is
written in someone’s book without actually seeing it. They learned to tell
what is contained in another’s fist. Sometimes children imitate this art,
although not very accurately. One child keeps something within his fist
and asks his friend, “Can you tell what is within?” and the friend gives
some suggestion, although He actually cannot tell. But there is an art by
which one can understand and actually tell what is held within the fist.

Krsna and Balarama learned how to speak and understand the languages
of various countries. They learned not only the languages of human beings.
Krsna could also speak even with animals and birds. Evidence of this is
found in Vaisnava literature compiled by the Gosvamis. Then They learned
how to make carriages and airplanes from flowers. It is said in the
Ramayana that after defeating Ravana, Ramacandra was carried from
Lanka to Bharatavarsa ona plane of flowers called puspa-ratha. Krsna then
learned the art of foretelling events by seeing signs. In a book called
Khanar vacana, the various types of signs and omens are described. If, when
one is going out, one sees someone with a bucket full of water, that is a
very good sign. But if one sees someone with an empty bucket, it is not a
very good sign. Similarly, if one sees cow’s milk along with her calf, it is a
good sign. The result of understanding these signs is that one can foretell
events, and Krsna learned the science. Krsna also learned the art of com-
posing matrka. A matrka is a crossword section with three letters in a line;
counting any three from any side, it will count nine. The matrkas are of
different kinds and are for different purposes.

Krsna learned the art of cutting valuable stones such as diamonds, and
