“It is not proper to remain in this place. Let us go to another great forest, as here we have seen numerous calamities which are causes of ruin. The destruction of Putana and the reversal of the cart, and similarly the falling of the trees without the intervention of the wind. Therefore, let us without delay depart from Gokula to Vrindavana, where the earthly calamities will not overpower us.” (Vishnu Purana, 5.6.22-24)

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स्थानेनेह न नः कार्यं व्रजामो ऽन्यन् महावनम्
उत्पाता बहवो ह्य् अत्र दृश्यन्ते नाशहेतवः

पूतनाया विनाशश् च शकटस्य विपर्ययः
विना वातादिदोषेण द्रुमयोः पतनं तथा

वृन्दावनम् इतः स्थानात् तस्माद् गच्छाम मा चिरम्
यावद् भौममहोत्पातदोषो नाभिभवेद् व्रजम्

sthāneneha na naḥ kāryaṃ vrajāmo ‘nyan mahāvanam
utpātā bahavo hy atra dṛśyante nāśahetavaḥ

pūtanāyā vināśaś ca śakaṭasya viparyayaḥ
vinā vātādidoṣeṇa drumayoḥ patanaṃ tathā

vṛndāvanam itaḥ sthānāt tasmād gacchāma mā ciram
yāvad bhaumamahotpātadoṣo nābhibhaved vrajam

The endpoint had been reached. The problem was now too visible to ignore. There was no known cause; at least not one the elders could identify. The children had their ideas. They claimed that the cart crashed from the kicking of an infant. They gave testimony that it was the child who was responsible for knocking down two trees. Nevertheless, the people in charge decided a shift was in order. It was the work of that child all along, in fact, speaking His desires through external events. His message was clear: Vrindavana was the place to go.

If ever involved in a casual conversation that might turn into debate regarding some issue pushed by scientists of the day, the challengers might be asked for their credentials. They are skeptical of the recommendations, after all. Therefore, just what medical school did they go to? How many board certifications do they possess? Just what right do they have to question the scientists, who are the experts regularly appearing on television? The truth is that at the most basic level, any person can be a scientist. In the true sense of the term, there is both observation and experiment. Any person can conduct the experiment and then report their observations.

Even the haughty but acclaimed scientist would tell you that the so-called gold standard of a clinical trial involves double-blindness and a placebo. If testing the safety and efficacy of a medical intervention, one group of participants in the trial receives the medication. The other group receives a placebo, which is an inert substance. That substance might resemble the medication in appearance, but the resemblance ends there. The scientists running the trial do not know which group is which until after observing the results for a suitable period of time.

People might be surprised to learn that at least in the United States of America today, there are medications practically forced upon young children that have never gone through a proper trial with a placebo. Rather, the scientists test against a similar medication, one that might have been licensed decades ago. They then compare the safety data, and if the new medication shows that it has around the same percentage of adverse events, that medication is licensed for use.

The problem is that the original medication tested against might have had upwards of six percent reported adverse events. An adverse event is something bad occurring, up to and including death. Since the new medication then shows a similar level of danger, it gets approved. In a sane world, would anyone knowingly inject their child with a substance that proved to be lethally dangerous to six percent of the patients in a clinical setting? It is almost like the people pushing the medication know that a true placebo group would show zero adverse events; thereby highlighting the dangers of the new medication. The cheaters obfuscate and manipulate in this way, and if any concerned parents should raise objections later on, they are shouted out of the doctor’s office and labelled with vile invectives in the public arena, as a way to discredit their personal testimony.

The cheating notwithstanding, any honest person can conduct informal scientific experiments on their own. If they want to study the effects of coffee, for instance, they try drinking a certain amount each day for a week or two. They then compare changes against their life before, when they weren’t drinking coffee. Sleep patterns. Anxiety. Energy levels. You can even have a placebo control group, where the participants receive water each day instead of coffee. You, as the scientist in the picture, then compare the results and make an honest assessment as to the safety and effectiveness of the intervention being tested.

A long time ago, the people of Gokula had their own clinical trial data to review. The people were not necessarily scientists. They were not looking for a medical cure. One distinction is that they were at the height of purity and good character. They were eligible to receive the Divine vision of the Supreme Lord in His avatara of Vishnu. This placement in Gokula was directly requested. At the behest of the newborn Krishna, the father named Vasudeva took a midnight journey through falling rain to transport Krishna from Mathura to Gokula.

“While Vasudeva was carrying his son Krishna in the falling rain, Lord Shesha in the shape of a serpent spread His hood over the head of Vasudeva so that he would not be hampered by the rainfall. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamuna and saw that the water of the Yamuna was roaring with waves and that the whole span was full of foam. Still, in that furious feature, the river gave passage to Vasudeva to cross, just as the great Indian Ocean gave a path to Lord Rama when He was bridging over the gulf.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume 1, Chapter 3)

While Krishna was everything to the people of Gokula, where the foster parents Nanda and Yashoda were the primary caretakers, there was also danger. Krishna knew what He was doing. He understood that there would be problems from Mathura, all the same. The king named Kamsa wanted Krishna dead. The king previously learned that Devaki’s eighth child would be his doom. Krishna was that eighth child.

Even after the transfer to Gokula, there was the witch who came crashing to the ground. No one suspected a thing, beforehand. They thought it was a beautiful woman wishing to feed an adorable baby Krishna. They did not know she was actually a witch named Putana, who intended to feed poison to Krishna. That young child happened to suck the very life out of her. The poison had no effect, but the association with Krishna at the time of death guaranteed her liberation.

There was the handcart that collapsed. In the middle of a hectic day, you want to place your newborn down for a few minutes. This is not neglect. There was nothing to worry about. It was not like the nearby cart would fall over. Except, it did. The items the cart was holding also fell. Amazingly, the baby Krishna was unharmed. Just as He was seen carefully crawling atop the dead body of Putana, there was no sign of worry or fear.

ऊचुरव्यवसितमतीन् गोपान्गोपीश्च बालका:
रुदतानेन पादेन क्षिप्तमेतन्न संशय:

ūcur avyavasita-matīn
gopān gopīś ca bālakāḥ
rudatānena pādena
kṣiptam etan na saṁśayaḥ

“The assembled cowherd men and ladies began to contemplate how this thing had happened. ‘Is it the work of some demon or evil planet?’ they asked. At that time, the small children present asserted that the cart had been kicked apart by the baby Krishna. As soon as the crying baby had kicked the cart’s wheel, the cart had collapsed. There was no doubt about it.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.7.9)

Then there were the two trees. This was outside the courtyard, after Yashoda had bound Krishna as punishment for breaking a pot of butter. How did the trees fall? How was Krishna nearby, again? Why was the mortar with Him? There is no way that a child could drag a mortar. There is no way that the same child could use the mortar as a sort of pivot to bring down two large trees. There must be some other explanation.

The elders were not going to take any chances. Why tempt fate? The safety signal, if you will, was sufficiently triggered. Gokula was too dangerous, from the threat of earthly calamities alone. The people would abruptly move to a great forest, mahavana. That new place was Vrindavana, which remains cherished to this day.

In Closing:

Cherished to this day,
Place of transcendental play.

People to that area went,
After safety trigger sent.

By dangerous events unexplained,
Sudden falls not obviously blamed.

On nature or some other intervention,
Moving now for future prevention.

Categories: moving to vrindavana

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, krishna lila, poem, poems, poetry, science