Reaching Life’s Perfection 293

clouds which rained over Vrndavana incessantly for seven days. The
whole area began to flood, and the inhabitants became very disturbed.
Although He was only seven years old, Krsna saved the inhabitants of
Vrndavana by lifting Govardhana Hill and holding it up as an umbrella to
shield the village. Lord Krsna thus taught the demigod Indra that his dis-
turbances could be stopped simply by His little finger. Seeing this, Lord
Indra bowed down before Krsna.

Thus Krsna also became known as Gopijana-vallabha, which indicates
that His only business is to protect the gopi-jana. This Krsna conscious-
ness movement aims at teaching people how to become gopi-janas, or
pure lovers of Krsna. When we reach that stage of pure love of God, the
Lord will save us from any danger, even if it means His lifting a hill or a
mountain. Krsna did not have to practice some yoga system in order to
lift Govardhana Hill. As God, He is all-powerful, even as a child. He
played like a child and dealt with others like a child, but when there was
need, He manifested Himself as God Almighty. That is the nature of
Krsna, or God: He does not have to practice meditation or follow some
system of yoga in order to become God. He is not a manufactured type of
God, but is God eternally.

Although He is God, He enjoys loving relationships with His devotees,
and in order to satisfy His devotees, He often takes roles that appear to be
subsidiary. Krsna often likes being the child of a devotee, and thus He
became the beloved child of YaSoda, YaSod4-nandana. Because He is God
and everyone worships Him, no one chastises Him. However, Krsna en-
joys being chastised by His devotee father and mother, and because
Krsna takes pleasure in being chastised, the devotees also take up the
role, saying, ‘‘All right, I shall become Your father and chastise You.”’
Similarly, when Krsna wants to fight, one of His devotees becomes the
demon Hiranyakasipu and fights with Him. In this way, all Krsna’s ac-
tivities are carried out in connection with His devotees. If we aspire to be-
come such associates of Krsna, we must develop Krsna consciousness,
awareness of Krsna.

YaSoda-nandana vraja-jana-rafjana. Krsna’s only business is satisfying
the vraja-janas, and their only business is satisfying Krsna. This is the
reciprocation of love. Yamund-tira-vana-cari: Krsna, the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead, wanders on the banks of the Yamuna to please the
gopis, the cowherd boys, the birds, the bees, and the cows and calves.
These are not ordinary birds, bees, cows, calves, or men; they have all
reached the summit of self-realization and thus, after many, many lives,
have attained a position whereby they can play with Krsna. This Krsna
