15/ Lord Krsna’s Daily Activities

From the Vedic mantras we learn that the Supreme Personality of God-
head has nothing to do: na tasya karyam kranam ca vidyate. If the
Supreme Lord has nothing to do, then how can we speak of the activities
of the Supreme Lord? From the previous chapter it is clear that no one
can act in the way that Lord Krsna does. We should clearly note this fact:
the activities of the Lord should be followed, but they cannot be imitated.
For example, Krsna’s ideal life as a householder can be followed, but if one
wants to imitate Krsna by expanding into many forms, that is not possible.
We should always remember, therefore, that Lord Krsna, although playing
the part of a human being, nevertheless simultaneously maintains the
position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can follow Lord
Krsna’s dealing with His wives as an ordinary human being, but His dealing
with more than sixteen thousand wives at one time cannot be imitated.
The conclusion is that to become ideal householders we should follow in the
footsteps of Lord Krsna as He displayed His daily activities, but we cannot
imitate Him at any stage of our life.

Lord Krsna used to lie down with His sixteen thousand wives, but also
He would rise up from bed very early in the morning, three hours before
sunrise. By nature’s arrangement the crowing of the cocks warns of the
brahma-muhirta hour. There is no need of alarm clocks; as soon as the
cocks crow early in the morning, it is to be understood that it is time to
rise from bed. Hearing that sound, Krsna would get up from bed, but His
rising early was not very much to the liking of His wives. The wives of
Krsna were so much attached to Him that they would lie in bed embracing
Him, but as soon as the cocks crowed, Krsna’s wives would be very sorry
and would immediately condemn the crowing.

In the garden within the compound of each palace there were parijata
flowers. Parijata is not an artificial flower. We remember that Krsna

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