Krishna and Balarama – Applied Indology

One of the twelve enchanting principal forests of Vraja that is being recreated with the vast greens around the Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir at Krishna Bhumi is the forest of Talavana. The forest gets its name from the ‘Tala’ or Palm trees that grew in abundance in this specific part of Vrindavana. Situated about six miles south of Mathura and two and half miles south-west of Madhuvana is the forest of Talavana.

Talavana is where Lord Krishna, along with His elder brother Balarama, passed the childhood age known as kaumara and stepped into the age of pauganda, over six years old, they got the permission to take the cattles out for grazing. At that time, all the cowherd men conferred and agreed to give those boys who had passed their fifth year, charge of the cows in the pasturing ground. Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama were appointed to take care of the cows on the 8th lunar day of the bright fortnight of Karthika.
Along with their fellow cowherds, the two brothers too began to take their cattle to the different forests and pastures of Vrindavana.

Krishna’s uncle and the cruel king of Mathura, Kamsa had appointed one of his followers and a Dhaitya, Dhenukasura, to guard this forest. A dhaitya who is a donkey lived there and survived on deer meat. Dhenukasura had carefully performed this duty along with his wives and sons, killing anyone who entered the forest to collect or eat the ‘Tala’ fruits from the palm trees. Only Kamsa and his followers were allowed to enjoy the forest’s sweet fruits.

One day, while herding the cows, Krishna and Balarama together with the cowherd boys wandered near Talvana. Krishna saw all the trees, overloaded with fruits and fresh twigs, bending down to touch the ground. But the boys were scared as the forest was guarded by the demon Dhenukasura who killed anyone trying to eat fruits from the forest.

Krishna then spoke to His elder brother Balarama : “My dear brother, You are superior to all of us, Just see how these trees, full with fruits, have bent down, It appears that they are trying to get out of the darkness of being obliged to accept the form of trees. Actually, the trees born in the land of Vrindavana are not ordinary living entities. Having held the impersonal point of view in their past lives, they are now put into this stationary condition of life, Generally the trees are living entities in the modes of darkness. “

The Gopas described the forest of Talavana which is one of the 12 forests of Vraja. The intimate friends Sridama, Subala and Stoka among the cowherds, Sridama began to address Balarama with great love and affection: “Dear Balarama, You are very powerful; Your arms are very strong. You are very expert in killing all kinds of disturbing Asuras. Will You kindly note that just near this place there is a big forest of the name Talavana. This forest is full of palm trees, and all the trees are filled with fruits. Some are falling down, and some of them are very ripe even on the trees. It is a very nice place, but because of a great dhaitya, Dhenukasura, it is very difficult to go there. No one can reach the trees to collect the fruits.

Dear Krishna and Balarama, “this Dhaitya is present there in the form of an ass / donkey, and he is surrounded by similar Dhaitya friends who assume the same shape. All of them are very strong, so it is very difficult to approach this place. Not even animals go there, and not even birds venture there; they have all left. One can only appreciate the sweet aroma that is coming from that place. It appears that up until now, no one has tasted the sweet fruits there. Balarama, let us all go there and enjoy these fruits. The aroma of the fruits is now spread everywhere. Don’t You smell it from here?”

They began to proceed towards the forest, surrounded by all their friends. Immediately upon entering the Talavana forest, Balarama began to shake the trees with His arms, exhibiting the strength of an elephant. Because of this, all the ripe fruits fell down on the ground. The fruits started to fall making a heap of sweet fruits under the trees. As the cowherds began enjoying fruits they made great noise as well. Upon hearing the sound of the falling fruits, the Dhaitya Dhenukasura, began to approach with great force, shaking the whole field so that all the trees began to move as if there was an earthquake. The Dhaitya appeared first before Balarama and began to kick His chest with his hind legs. At first, Balarama did not say anything, but the dhaitya with great anger began to kick Balarama again more vehemently. This time Balarama immediately caught hold of the legs of the ass with one hand and, wheeling him around, threw him into the treetops. While he was being wheeled around by Balarama, the dhaitya lost his life.

Balarama threw the dhaitya into the biggest palm tree about, and the Dhenukasura’s body was so heavy that the palm tree fell upon other trees, and several fell down. It appeared as if a great hurricane had passed through the forest, and all the trees were falling down, one after another.

Balarama is the Avatara of Ananta Shesa Naga, who is holding all the planets on the hoods of His millions of heads. The whole cosmic manifestation is maintained by Him exactly as two threads hold the weaving of a cloth.

After the dhaitya was thrown into the trees, all the friends and associates of Dhenukasura immediately assembled and attacked Balarama and Krishna with great force. They were determined to retaliate and avenge the death of their friend. But Krishna and Balarama began to catch each of the donkeys by the hind legs and, exactly in the same way, wheeled them around. Thus They killed all of them by throwing them into the palm trees. Hearing of this great incident, the Upa devas / demigods from the higher planets began to shower flowers on Krishna and Balarama and began to beat their drums and offer devotional prayers.

A few days after the killing of Dhenukasura and his followers, people began coming to Talavana and collect fruits while animals returned to graze on its lush grasslands again fearlessly.

Dhenukasura was a Donkey /Ass. The nature of a Donkey is to be a beast of burden. Dhenukasura represents ignorance of knowledge of the soul through gross materialistic intelligence, or jackass-like foolishness. The dhaitya Dhenukasura represents the bad mentality of overburdened load-carrying.

As long as we continue in this material conception of life we will remain like donkeys carrying the burden of all of our past sins of all our previous lives, and suffering the Karmic consequences of all those sins. Also like donkeys, all over the world, people are struggling very very hard, just for existence in this world. Even if they have a lot, they still work so hard, out of greed, just to maintain or increase it.

With all these enormous efforts we are just creating a massive kingdom of Dhenukasuras where egoistic desires for enjoying selfishly are creating bitterness and separating friend from friend, individuals from family and society, husband from wife, nation from nation and ultimately living entity from God. Thus we are working so hard like asses just to be kicked by Maya (illusory energy of the Lord) again and again and again. The only way to attain solace in this situation is to take shelter of the Guru and render loving devotional service unto Paramathma.

People are so attached to the literal meanings of the scriptures, they cannot appreciate the unconventional path of spontaneous devotional service. They tend to fall back into gross materialism.

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About Author:
Subhasini BA, is a Screenplay writer, Director, creative director, costume designer and producer, whose work has featured in some of the most prestigious film festivals in the country and internationally. She has collaborated on several film projects juggling different roles. 

In beginning of her career, she worked as Associate director and Costume Designer with the acclaimed director Girish Kasaravalli. She’s written and directed a documentary film on the famed Krishna Temple in Udupi, and also written plays, screenplays for films and short form content for some of the leading technology companies in India, including Microsoft, Akamai Technologies, LAM Research, and SAP. 

With Knowledge in Sanskrit, Subhasini is a seeker of the Eternal Truth / Santana Dharma, writes on dharma. She is passionate about History, Mythology, Philosophy and Spirituality. She believes Dharma is the manifestation of the natural strength of every living soul.
She lives in Cincinnati.

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