View source for Nanda Maharaja also must have performed many great sacrifices and pious activities for Lord Krsna to become his son and address him as "father"

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[[Category:Nanda]]
[[Category:Also]]
[[Category:Must]]
[[Category:Performing Great Sacrifices]]
[[Category:Pious Activities]]
[[Category:Krsna]]
[[Category:Son of Nanda]]
[[Category:Addressed]]
[[Category:Father]]
[[Category:Krsna Book Chapter 08 - Vision of the Universal Form]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead</h3>
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Certainly mother Yaśodā had executed many, many pious activities, as a result of which she got the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as her son who sucked milk from her breast. Similarly, Nanda Mahārāja also must have performed many great sacrifices and pious activities for Lord Kṛṣṇa to become his son and address him as “father.” But it is surprising that Vasudeva and Devakī did not enjoy the transcendental bliss of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood pastimes, although Kṛṣṇa was their real son.
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[[Vanisource:KB 8|Krsna Book, 8]]
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When the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa was so ordered by His mother, He immediately opened His mouth just like an ordinary boy. Then mother Yaśodā saw within that mouth the complete opulence of creation. She saw the entire outer space in all directions, mountains, islands, oceans, seas, planets, air, fire, moon and stars. Along with the moon and the stars she also saw all the elements—water, sky and the extensive ethereal existence, along with the total ego and its products, namely the senses, the controllers of the senses, all the demigods and the objects of the senses like sound and smell. Within His mouth she also saw the three qualities of material nature, all living entities, eternal time, material nature, spiritual nature, activity, consciousness and different forms of the whole creation. Yaśodā could find within the mouth of her child everything necessary for cosmic manifestation. She also saw, within His mouth, herself taking Kṛṣṇa on her lap and having Him suck her breast. Upon seeing all this, she became struck with awe and began to wonder whether she were dreaming or actually seeing something extraordinary. She concluded that she was either dreaming or seeing the play of the illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She thought that she had become mad, mentally deranged, to see all those wonderful things. Then she thought, “It may be cosmic mystic power attained by my child, and therefore I am perplexed by such visions within His mouth. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond the expression of consciousness, mind, work and philosophical speculation, and whose different energies produce everything manifested and unmanifested. Under His energy, bodily self and bodily possessions are conceived.” She then said, “Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Him under whose illusory energy I am thinking that Nanda Mahārāja is my husband and Kṛṣṇa is my son, that all the properties of Nanda Mahārāja belong to me and that all the cowherd men and women are my subjects. All this misconception is due to the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord. So let me pray to Him that He may protect me always.”

While mother Yaśodā was thinking in this high philosophical way, Lord Kṛṣṇa again expanded His internal energy just to bewilder her with maternal affection. Immediately mother Yaśodā forgot all philosophical speculation and accepted Kṛṣṇa as her own child. She took Him on her lap and became overwhelmed with maternal affection. She thus began to think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is understood through the processes of cultivating knowledge derived from the Upaniṣads and the Vedānta-sūtra, practicing mystic yoga and studying Sāṅkhya philosophy, as her own begotten child.

Certainly mother Yaśodā had executed many, many pious activities, as a result of which she got the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as her son who sucked milk from her breast. Similarly, Nanda Mahārāja also must have performed many great sacrifices and pious activities for Lord Kṛṣṇa to become his son and address him as “father.” But it is surprising that Vasudeva and Devakī did not enjoy the transcendental bliss of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood pastimes, although Kṛṣṇa was their real son. The childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are glorified even today by many sages and saintly persons, but Vasudeva and Devakī could not enjoy such childhood pastimes personally. The reason for this was explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit as follows.

When the best of the Vasus, named Droṇa, and his wife Dharā were ordered to increase progeny by Lord Brahmā, they said unto him, “Dear father, we are seeking your benediction. When we take birth again within the universe, may the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in His most attractive feature of childhood absorb our whole attention. May our dealings with Him be so powerful that simply by hearing of these childhood activities of His, anyone will very easily cross over the nescience of birth and death.” Lord Brahmā agreed to give them the benediction, and as a result the same Droṇa appeared as Nanda Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana, and the same Dharā appeared as mother Yaśodā, the wife of Nanda Mahārāja.
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