46 / Astonishment and Chivalry

Astonishment

The ecstasy of astonishment in devotional service is perceived in
two ways: directly, by the experience of one’s own eyes, and indi-
rectly, by hearing from others.

When Narada came to see the activities of the Lord at Dvaraka,
and he saw that Krsna was present within every palace in the same
body and was engaged in different activities, he was struck with won-
der. This is one of the examples of astonishment in devotional service
by direct perception. One of the friends of Mother Yasoda says,
‘*Yasoda, just see the fun! On the one hand, there is your child who
is always captivated by sucking the milk from your breast, and on the
other hand there is the great Govardhan Hill which can obsiiict the
passing of the clouds. But still, just see how wonderful it is that this
great Govardhan Hill is resting on the finger of your child’s left hand,
just as though it were a toy. Is this not very mysterious?” This state-
ment is another example of astonishment in devotional service by di-
rect perception.

An instance of astonishment in devotional service by indirect per-
ception occurred when Maharaj Pariksit heard from Sukadeva Go-
svami about Krsna’s killing Narakasura, who had been fighting Krsna
with eleven divisions of aksauhini soldiers. Each division of aksauhini
soldiers contained several thousand elephants, several thousand horses
and chariots, and several hundreds of thousands of infantry soldiers.
Narakasura possessed eleven such divisions, and all of them were

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