A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada purport "Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead" Chapter 13: The Stealing of the Boys and Calves by Brahma

While Krsna and Balarama were talking, Brahma returned after a moment's interval (according to the duration of his life). We have information of Lord Brahma's duration of life from the Bhagavad-gita: 1,000 times the duration of the four ages, or 1,000 x 4,320,000 years, constitute Brahma's twelve hours. Similarly, one moment of Brahma's time is equal to one year of our solar calculation. After one moment of Brahma's calculation, Brahma came back to see the fun caused by his stealing the boys and calves. But he was also afraid that he was playing with fire. Krsna was his master, and he had played mischief for fun by taking away His calves and boys. He was really anxious, so he did not stay away very long; he came back after a moment (of his calculation).

He saw that all the boys and calves were playing with Krsna in the same way as when he had come upon them, although he was confident that he had taken them and made them lie down asleep under the spell of his mystic power. Brahma began to think, "All the boys and calves were taken away by me, and I know they are still sleeping. How is it that a similar batch of boys and calves is playing with Krsna? Is it that they are not influenced by my mystic power? Have they been playing continually for one year with Krsna?"

Brahma tried to understand who they were and how they were uninfluenced by his mystic power, but he could not ascertain it. In other words, he himself came under the spell of his own mystic power. The influence of his mystic power appeared like snow in darkness or a glowworm in the daytime. During the night's darkness, the glow worm can show some glittering power, and the snow piled up on the top of a hill or on the ground can shine during the daytime. But at night the snow has no silver glitter, nor does the glowworm have any illuminating power during the daytime.

Similarly, when the small mystic power exhibited by Brahma was before the mystic power of Krsna, it was just like snow at night or a glow worm during the day. When a man of small mystic power wants to show potency in the presence of greater mystic power, he diminishes his own influence; he does not increase it. Even such a great personality as Brahma, when he wanted to show his mystic power before Krsna, became ludicrous. Brahma was thus confused about his own mystic power.

In order to convince Brahma that all those calves and boys were not the original ones, the calves and boys who were playing with Krsna transformed into Visnu forms. Actually, the original ones were sleeping under the spell of Brahma's mystic power, but the present ones, seen by Brahma, were all immediate expansions of Krsna, or Visnu. Visnu is the expansion of Krsna, so the Visnu forms appeared before Brahma. All the Visnu forms were of bluish color and dressed in yellow garments; all of Them had four hands decorated with club, disc, lotus flower and conchshell. On Their heads were glittering golden helmets inlaid with jewels; They were bedecked with pearls and earrings and garlanded with beautiful flowers. On Their chests was the mark of Srivatsa, Their arms were decorated with armlets and other jewelry, and Their necks were just like conchshells. Their legs were decorated with bells, Their waists with golden belts, and Their fingers with jeweled rings.

Brahma also saw that upon the whole body of each Lord Visnu, from the lotus feet up to the top of the head, fresh tulasi leaves and buds had been thrown. Another significant feature of the Visnu forms was that all of Them were looking transcendentally beautiful. Their smiling resembled the moonshine, and Their glancing resembled the early rising of the sun. Just by Their glancing They showed Themselves to be the creators and maintainers of the modes of ignorance and passion. Visnu represents the mode of goodness, Brahma represents the mode of passion, and Lord Siva represents the mode of ignorance. Therefore as the maintainer of everything in the cosmic manifestation, Visnu is also the creator and maintainer of Brahma and Lord Siva.

After this manifestation of Lord Visnu, Brahma saw that many other Brahmas and Sivas and demigods and even insignificant living entities down to the ants and very small straws-movable and immovable living entities-were dancing, surrounding Lord Visnu. Their dancing was accompanied by various kinds of music, and all of Them were worshiping Lord Visnu. Brahma realized that all those Visnu forms were complete in mystic power, from the anima perfection of becoming small like an atom up to becoming infinite like the cosmic manifestation. All the mystic powers of Brahma, Siva, all the demigods and the twenty-four elements of cosmic manifestation were fully represented in the person of Visnu. By the influence of Lord Visnu, all subordinate mystic powers were engaged in His worship. He was being worshiped by time, space, the cosmic manifestation, reformation, desire, activity and the three qualities of material nature. Lord Visnu, Brahma also realized, is the reservoir of all truth, knowledge and bliss. He is the combination of three transcendental features, namely eternity, knowledge and bliss, and He is the object of worship by the followers of the Upanisads.

Brahma realized that all the different forms of boys and calves transformed into Visnu forms were not transformed by a mysticism of the type that a yogi or a demigod can display by specific powers invested in him. The calves and boys transformed into visnu-mürtis, or Visnu forms, were not displays of visnu-maya, or Visnu's energy, but were Visnu Himself. The respective qualifications of Visnu and visnu-maya are just like fire and heat. In the heat there is the qualification of fire, namely warmth; and yet heat is not fire. The manifestation of the Visnu forms of the boys and calves was not like the heat but was rather the fire-they were all actually Visnu.

Factually, the qualification of Visnu is full truth, full knowledge and full bliss. Another example can be given with material objects, which are reflected in many, many forms. For example, the sun is reflected in many waterpots, but the reflections of the sun in the many pots are not actually the sun. There is no actual heat or light from the suns in the pots, although they appear like the sun. But the forms which Krsna assumed were each and every one full Visnu. The specific word used in this connection is satya-jïananantananda: satya means truth; jïana, full knowledge; ananta, unlimited; and ananda, full bliss.

The glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are so great that the impersonalistic followers of the Upanisads cannot reach the platform of knowledge to understand them. Especially the transcendental forms of the Lord are beyond the reach of the impersonalists, who can only understand, through studying the Upanisads, that the Absolute Truth is not matter, or is not materially restricted. From Krsna's expansion into Visnu forms, Lord Brahma could understand by his limited potency that everything movable and immovable within the cosmic manifestation is existing due to the expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord.

When Brahma was thus standing baffled in his limited power and conscious of his limited activities within the eleven senses, he could realize that he was also a creation of the material energy, just like a puppet. As a puppet has no independent power to dance but dances according to the direction of the puppet master, so the demigods and living entities are all subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is stated in the Caitanya-caritamrta, the only master is Krsna, and all others are His servants. The whole world is under the waves of the material spell, and beings are floating like straws in water. So their struggle for existence is continuing. But as soon as one becomes conscious that he is the eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this maya, or illusory struggle for existence, is immediately stopped.

Lord Brahma, who has full control over the goddess of learning and who is considered to be the best authority in Vedic knowledge, was thus perplexed, being unable to understand the extraordinary power manifested by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the mundane world, even a personality like Brahma is unable to understand the mystic power of the Supreme Lord. Not only did Brahma fail to understand, but he was perplexed even to see the display which was being manifested by Krsna before him.

Krsna took compassion upon Brahma because of his inability to see how Krsna was displaying the forms of Visnu and transforming Himself into calves and cowherd boys, and thus, while fully manifesting the Visnu expansions, He suddenly pulled His curtain of yogamaya over the scene. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not visible due to the curtain spread by yogamaya. That which covers the reality is maha-maya, or the external energy, which does not allow a conditioned soul to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead beyond the cosmic manifestation. But the energy which partially manifests the Supreme Personality of Godhead and partially does not allow one to see is called yogamaya. Brahma is not an ordinary conditioned soul. He is far, far superior to all the other demigods, and yet he could not comprehend the display of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore Krsna willingly stopped manifesting any further potency. The conditioned soul not only becomes bewildered but is completely unable to understand. The curtain of yogamaya was drawn so that Brahma would not become more and more perplexed.

When Brahma was relieved from his perplexity, he appeared to awaken from an almost dead state, and he began to open his eyes with great difficulty. Thus he could see the external cosmic manifestation with common eyes. He saw all around him the superexcellent view of Vrndavana-full with trees-which is the source of life for all living entities. He could appreciate the transcendental land of Vrndavana, where all the living entities are transcendental to ordinary nature. In the forest of Vrndavana, even ferocious animals like tigers live peacefully along with the deer and human beings. He could understand that because of the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vrndavana is transcendental to all other places and is free of lust and greed.

Brahma thus found Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, playing the part of a small cowherd boy; he saw that little child with a lump of food in His left hand, searching out His friends and calves, just as He had actually been doing one year before, after their disappearance.

Immediately Brahma descended from his great swan carrier and fell down before the Lord just like a golden stick. The word used among the Vaisnavas for offering respect is danòavat. This word means "falling down like a stick"; one should offer respect to the superior Vaisnava by falling down straight, with his body just like a stick. So Brahma fell down before the Lord just like a stick to offer respect; and because the complexion of Brahma is golden, he appeared to be like a golden stick lying down before Lord Krsna. All the four helmets on the heads of Brahma touched the lotus feet of Krsna. Brahma, being very joyful, began to shed tears, and he washed the lotus feet of Krsna with his tears. Repeatedly he fell and rose as he recalled the wonderful activities of the Lord. After repeating obeisances for a long time, Brahma stood up and smeared his hands over his eyes. Seeing the Lord before him, he, trembling, began to offer prayers with great respect, humility and attention.