irth as men; and when you think of all that took place throughout
the wonderful childhood of the Lila[10] of Shri Krishna, you
must remember that those who played that act of the drama were the
ordinary men, no ordinary women; they were the Protectors of the worlds
incarnated as cowherds round Him. And the Gopis, the graceful wives of
the shepherds, they were the Rishis of ancient days, who by devotion
to Vishnu had gained the blessing of being incarnated as Gopis, in
order that they might surround His childhood, and pour out their love at
the tiny feet of the boy they saw as boy, of the God they worshipped as
supreme.

[Footnote 10: Play.]

When all these preparations were made for the coming of the child, the
child was born. I am not dwelling on all the well-known incidents that
surrounded His birth, the prophecy that the destroyer of Kamsa was to be
born, the futile shutting up in the dungeon, the chaining with irons, and
all the other follies with which the earthly tyrant strove to make
impossible of accomplishment the decree of the Supreme. You all know how
his plans came to nothing, as the mounds of sand raised by the hands of
children are swept into a level plain when one wave of the sea ripples over
the playground of the child. He was born, born in His four-armed form,
shining out for the moment in the dungeon, which before His birth had been
irradiated by Him through His mother's body, who was said to be like an
alabaster vase--so pure was she--with a flame within it. For the Lord Shri
Krishna was within her womb, herself the alabaster vase which was as a lamp
containing Him, the world's light, so that the glory illuminated the
darkness of the dungeon where she lay. At His birth he came as Vishnu, for
the moment showing Himself with all the signs of the Deity on Him, with the
discus, with the conch, with the shrivatsa on His breast, with all the
recognised emblems of the Lord. But that form quickly vanished, and only
the human child lay before His parents' eyes. And the father, you remember,
taking Him up, passed through the great locked doors and all the rest of
it, and carried Him in safety into his brother's house, where He was to
dwell in the place prepared for His coming.

As a babe He showed forth the power that was in Him, as we shall see,
when we come, to the second stage, the destroyer of the forces of evil.
But for the moment only watch Him as He plays in his foster mother's
house, as He gambols wit