Krishna stories from little Bal-Mukunds !!

Krishna and Kaliya

By Yogini

One day Krishna went with his friends to the river Yamuna to play a game with ball.  As they were playing, the ball fell into the river.  Krishna’s friends asked him not to go into the river because the poisonous naag Kaliya.  Krishna climbed the tree of Kadamba and jumped into the river to get the ball.  Krishna found the ball in Kaliya’s lap.  Kaliya’s wife asked Krishna to leave and not to wake him.  Krishna said, “ I will only leave with the ball”.  Krishna took the ball and woke Kaliya. Kaliya got angry and tried to kill Krishna. Krishna defeated Kaliya and ask him to leave river Yamuna and go to the ocean.

Krishna

By Sakshi

This picture shows little Krishna

licking  butter that he stole from

the houses in Gokul. He was very

naughty. Krishna shared his butter

with his friends.

This is Krishna playing a sweet melody on his flute.

Krishna loved his flute.

Everyday people from Gokul used to listen.

It made the day for everyone.

Radha-Kund and Shyama-Kund

By Mini

One day Krishna with his friends went to the gopis. He said “I am a rightous person.” Radha and her friends Lalita and Vishaka said, “You killed a woman. How can you be rightous? You must bathe in the river Yamuna.” Krishna said, “I will bathe in all the rivers together, not only Yamuna.” Radha said, “See, what a foolish person you are? How can you do that?” Krishna made a big whole in the ground. Soon all the holy rivers came and filled the hole with water. “I can do that!” said Radha. She, Lalita and Vishaka began digging a hole. They didn’t get much progress. Krishna once said, “Do you need my help?” but Radha said, “No! We can do it ourselves!” Soon they dug the hole and then  got buckets of water from the Yamuna. They got tired and sat down. Krishna mercifully  put water in Radha’s hole. “I shall bathe in this river,” Said Krishna jumping into Radha’s lake. “I will call it Radha-kund!” “And I shall bathe in this one,” said Radha getting into Krishna’s lake. “I will call it Shyama-kund!” Then every day the friends played there.

Our festivals-Rakshya Bandhan !!

We just celebrated the festival of Rakhsya Bandhan. Do you know how it originated? If no, there is no need to worry. There is a chapter in "Bal-Mukund Festivals on India" book about Rakshya Bandhan. Here we are presenting to you an extract of it, but there is lot more to know about the festival for which you can flip through your own copy of the book. 

The Bhavishya Puran refers to a war between the celestial gods and the demons. The demon King Brutra was advancing and the gods led by Indra were on verge of defeat. Indra approached Brihaspati, the Guru of the celestial gods to find a solution to the situation. Brihaspati asked Indra to tie a sacred thread on his wrist while chanting sacred mantras on Shravan Purnima. Indra tied it on to his hand on the decided day. The power of the sacred thread called “Raksha” helped the celestial gods to victory. The tradition of tying the sacred thread has continued since then.

According to another story, the demon King Bali was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Shree Vishnu was enchanted by his devotion and had taken up the task to guard his kingdom leaving his own abode in Vaikunth. Goddess Lakshmi desired Her Lord to be back in His abode. She went to Bali disguised as the wife of a priest, to seek refuge until Her husband came back. During the Shravan Poornima celebrations, Lakshmi tied the sacred thread to the King. Upon being asked what she wanted, She revealed who She was and why She was there. Having tied the sacred thread on her, the king felt obliged to help her, and requested the Lord to accompany Her. He sacrificed all he had for the Lord and his devoted wife.

Thus, the festival is also called Baleva that is Bali Raja's devotion to the Lord. Since then, it has been a tradition for brothers to invite sisters on Shravan Purnima for the thread tying ceremony, and offer them protection.

Another story relates to Yamraj and Yamuna. It is said that the Raksha Bandhan was a ritual followed by Lord Yamraj, the god of death and his sister Yamuna. Yamuna tied a rakhi to Yamraj. Yamraj was so moved by the serenity of the occasion that he declared that whoever gets a rakhi tied from his sister and promises her protection would become immortal.

Raksha Bandhan is also mentioned in Mahabharat. Lord Krishna advised Yudhishthir to perform the ceremony to protect himself and the army from the dangers of the war. It is said that Draupadi tied a rakhi to Lord Krishna. He felt bound by her sisterly love, and promised her protection.