“That best among men would not go to sleep without Him, nor would he eat without Him, even if the food brought was very palatable.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kand, 18.30)

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न च तेन विना निद्रां लभते पुरुषोत्तम
मृष्टमन्नमुपानीतमश्नाति न हि तं विना

na ca tena vinā nidrāṃ labhate puruṣottama
mṛṣṭamannamupānītamaśnāti na hi taṃ vinā

“I will admit that this is not my question. I am not plagiarizing, either, because I do not recall the exact wording. Nevertheless, I saw the inquiry somewhere online and found it interesting enough to bring up today. For those of you not familiar, in the Vaishnava tradition of spirituality, which you might say is a carveout of the eternal way of living that is sanatana-dharma, there is focus on the personal side of God. The saguna as opposed to the nirguna. An individual with identifiable features, as opposed to an attributeless light of Truth. A person with many names, but a few that are principal, in the frequency with which they are used.

“For the saguna side, there is a lopsided worship of two figures in particular. They are Krishna and Rama. These two names happen to appear in one of the most famous mantras of this age: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. In the context of our discussion, Rama refers to Ramachandra, who is an avatara of Vishnu. Krishna is also an avatara of Vishnu, at least on the basis of Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana. Certain traditions, such as the one descending from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, say that Krishna is actually the original and that Vishnu is the avatara. Anyway, these are all different manifestations of the same God, one and original.

क्लेशो ऽधिकतरस् तेषाम्
अव्यक्तासक्त-चेतसाम्
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर् दुःखं
देहवद्भिर् अवाप्यते

kleśo ‘dhikataras teṣām
avyaktāsakta-cetasām
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ
dehavadbhir avāpyate

“For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.5)

“The worship of the personal is superior to worship of the impersonal, at least in terms of effectiveness. There is direct confirmation on the matter provided by Krishna Himself, in the famous discussion with Arjuna known as Bhagavad-gita. How do we worship? Well, we can remember. What should we remember? Well, there is the story. Where do we find the story? In many places, across many languages, but the original points of reference are the Puranas, Mahabharata, and Ramayana. You see, Rama has an entire work dedicated to Him, with His name in the title. Rama may also refer to Balarama, who is the elder brother of Krishna. Rama may also refer to Parashurama, who is another avatara of Vishnu.

“Anyway, getting back to the question I lifted from the internet. Some people wonder why there is not much detail provided about the childhood of Ramachandra. By comparison, shastra has significantly more material describing the childhood of Krishna. There is a narrative involving the birth itself, which is actually transcendental in nature. There is story after story in the rural setting of Gokula. Even when the family of Krishna, headed by Nanda Maharaja, decides to move to Vrindavana for safety reasons, the stories continue. Meanwhile, there is hardly anything similar about Rama’s childhood in Ayodhya. Some people want to know why that is?”

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

“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)

There is story after story about Krishna’s childhood because that is when the conflict began. Conflict is part of the arc of your typical story. This conflict happened to commence prior to the arrival of Krishna, even. Devaki was the birth-mother. She was in prison at the time. She was locked up because a voice from the sky warned her cousin-brother that she would give birth to a child who would be his demise. Devaki was going to carry someone in her womb who would kill Kamsa, who was the king of Mathura. The violence began from there. The warning identified the eighth child, but Kamsa decided to kill every newborn Devaki brought into this world. This is an atrocity difficult to comprehend in the modern world, though the same sort of killing takes place. It just happens behind closed doors, prior to the exit from the womb.

Destiny cannot be denied, and so the eighth child did appear. It was Vishnu. As a baby, Krishna showed this vision of Vishnu to the parents, to inform them about the special nature of their child. Krishna then quickly moved to the nearby town of Gokula, without Kamsa finding out. After the king learned of the birth of the child, he sent asura after asura to eliminate the child. This is why we have so many stories of Krishna’s childhood. Each encounter with an asura is like another chapter in a long and beautifully-woven adventure narrative.

You could spend an entire lifetime focusing only on Krishna’s childhood and you would have sufficient material for achieving liberation, which is the end to the cycle of birth and death. Krishna goes on to do so much more as an adult, but the climax in the earlier years is the meeting with Kamsa. With a swift punch, Krishna delivers destiny to the wicked Kamsa in the most dreaded way. The hero defeats the villain. The payback is finally realized. Kamsa gets everything he deserved.

Meanwhile, the story with Shri Rama is different. There are indeed descriptions of His childhood, but they tend to deal more with the people around Him. The father in that case, King Dasharatha, happens to be blessed with four sons at the same time. Rama is like a full incarnation of Vishnu, while the three younger brothers are partial incarnations. There is an immediate pairing off of sorts. Rama and Lakshmana are close. Lakshmana lives up to the name of Ramanuja, which means “younger brother of Rama”, by synchronizing his eating and sleeping habits with Rama. This shows affection, affiliation, and respect. The other two younger brothers, Bharata and Shatrughna, are also close.

The purpose of the Rama avatara is to eliminate the wicked leader known as Ravana, whose influence is disturbing the peaceful sages of the world. Not necessarily from Rama’s childhood, but still when He is young, there are some adventures involving “bad guys”, if you will. The Rakshasa named Maricha once recounted to Ravana an earlier meeting with Rama in the forest. Maricha said that Rama barely had signs of manhood on His face at the time. This means that Rama was young. Even in that youthful form, Rama was able to fearlessly and expertly defend the sacrificial fire of the sage Vishvamitra.

अजातव्यञ्जनश्रीमान्पद्मपत्रनिभेक्षणः
एकवस्त्रधरो धन्वी शिखी कनकमालया

ajāta-vyañjana-śrīmān padma-patra-nibhekṣaṇaḥ
eka-vastra-dharo dhanvī śikhī kanaka-mālayā

“At the time, there were not yet visible any signs of manhood on the boy’s beautiful face, which was dark-blue in complexion and had an all-auspicious gaze. Rama had a gold chain around His neck, a small tuft of hair on His head, wore only one piece of clothing, and held a bow in His hands.” (Maricha speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 38.14)

Goswami Tulsidas includes additional detail about Rama’s childhood, such as the playful swallowing of the crow named Kakabhushundhi, but the priority remains on the adult years. What to speak of different avataras and how much coverage there is of childhood, even the different Puranas cover the same individuals differently. You might only get the Ramayana story in brief in one Purana, while another Purana goes into greater detail. Whatever the case, we should feel eternally blessed to have access to such material, which is transcendental in nature and which brings joy to the heart, especially when received in the proper mood and with the proper understanding.

In Closing:

With vibrant narrative blessed,
One after another passing test.

When asuras to Gokula went,
On orders of Kamsa sent.

That a darling child to kill,
But contradicted Divine will.

It was Krishna surviving every time,
Hari at any age to shine.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, krishna lila, poem, poems, poetry, rama lila, shastra