348 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

quantity of soldiers and resources of Jarasandha. Without any weapons
He left the battlefield. Although His lotus feet were as soft as the petals of
the lotus flower, He proceeded for a very long distance on foot.

This time, Jarasandha thought that Krsna and Balarama were very much
afraid of His military strength and were fleeing from the battlefield. He
began to follow Them with all his chariots, horses and infantry. He thought
Krsna and Balarama to be ordinary human beings, and he was trying to
measure the activities of the Lord. Krsna is known as Ranchor, which
means “one who has left the battlefield.” In India, especially in Gujarat,
there are many temples of Krsna which are known as temples of Ranchorji.
Ordinarily, if a king leaves the battlefield without fighting he is called a
coward, but when Krsna enacts this pastime, leaving the battlefield without
fighting, He is worshiped by the devotee. A demon always tries to measure
the opulence of Krsna, whereas the devotee never tries to measure His
strength and opulence, but always surrenders unto Him and worships Him.
By following the footsteps of pure devotees we can know that Krsna, the
Ranchorji, did not leave the battlefield because He was afraid, but because
He had some other purpose. The purpose, as it will be revealed, was to
attend to a confidential letter sent by Rukmini, His future first wife. The
act of Krsna’s leaving the battlefield is a display of one of His six opu-
lences. Krsna is the supreme powerful, the supreme wealthy, the supreme
famous, the supreme wise, the supreme beautiful; similarly He is the
supreme renouncer. Srimad-Bhdgavatam clearly states that He left the
battlefield in spite of having ample military strength. Even without His
militia, however, He alone would have been sufficient to defeat the
army of Jarasandha, as He had done seventeen times before. Therefore,
His leaving the battlefield is an example of His supermost opulence of
renunciation.

After traversing a very long distance, the brothers pretended to become
very tired. To mitigate Their weariness They climbed up a very high
mountain several miles above sea level. This mountain was called Pravarsana
due to constant rain. The peak was always covered with clouds sent by
Indra. Jarasandha took it for granted that the two brothers were afraid of
his military power and had hidden Themselves at the top of the mountain.
First he tried to find Them, searching for a long time, but when he failed
he decided to trap and kill Them by setting fires around the peak. He
therefore surrounded the peak with oil and set it on fire. As the blaze
spread more and more, Krsna and Balarama jumped from the top of the
mountain down to the ground—a distance of eighty-eight miles. Thus, while
the peak was burning up, Krsna and Balarama escaped without being seen
