Astonishment and Chivalry 370

throwing arrows toward Krsna, but Krsna killed them all, simply by
throwing three arrows from His side. When Maharaj Pariksit heard of
this wonderful victory, he immediately rubbed the tears from his
eyes and became overwhelmed with joy. This instance is an example
of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception through
aural reception.

There is another example of indirect astonishment. Trying to test
Krsna to see if He were truly the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Lord Brahma stole all the cowherd boys and cows from Him. But
after a few seconds, he saw that Krsna was still present with all the
cows, calves and cowherd boys, exactly in the same way as before.
When Lord Brahma described this incident to his associates on the
Satya-loka planet, they all became astonished. Brahma told them
that after taking away all the boys, he saw Krsna again playing with
the same boys in the same fashion. Their bodily complexion was
blackish, almost like Krsna’s, and they all had four arms. The same
calves and cows were still present there, in the same original fashion.
Even while describing this incident, Brahma became almost over-
whelmed. ‘And the most astonishing thing,” he added, “was that
many other Brahmas from many different universes had also come
there to worship Krsna and His associates.”

Similarly, when there was a forest fire in the Bhandiravana, Krsna
instructed His friends to close their eyes tightly, and they all did this.
Then when Krsna had extinguished the fire, the cowherd boys opened
their eyes and saw that they had been relieved from the danger and
that their cows and calves were all safe. They began to perceive the
wonder of the situation simply by guessing how Krsna had saved
them. This is another instance of indirect perception causing aston-
ishment in devotional service.

The activities of a person, even if they are not very extraordinary,
create an impression of wonder in the heart and mind of the person’s
friends. But even very wonderful activities performed by a person
who is not one’s friend will not create any impression. It is because
of love that- one’s wonderful activities create an impression in the
mind.
