31-32. Keeping all the old men, women, children and household paraphernalia on the bullock carts and keeping all the cows in front, the cowherd men picked up their bows and arrows with great care and sounded bugles made of horn. O King Pariksit, in this way, with bugles vibrating all around, the cowherd men, accompanied by their priests, began their journey.
33. The cowherd women, riding on the bullock carts, were dressed very nicely with excellent garments, and their bodies, especially their breasts, were decorated with fresh kunkuma powder. As they rode, they began to chant with great pleasure the pastimes of Krishna.
34. Thus hearing about the pastimes of Krishna and Balarama with great pleasure, mother Yasoda and Rohinidevi, so as not to be separated from Krishna and Balarama for even a moment, got up with Them on one bullock cart. In this situation, they all looked very beautiful.
35. In this way they entered Vrndavana, where it is always pleasing to live in all seasons. They made a temporary place to inhabit by placing their bullock carts around them in the shape of a half moon.
36. O King Pariksit, when Rama and Krishna saw Vrndavana, Govardhana and the banks of the River Yamuna, They both enjoyed great pleasure.
37. In this way, Krishna and Balarama, acting like small boys and talking in half-broken language, gave transcendental pleasure to all the inhabitants of Vraja. In due course of time, They became old enough to take care of the calves.
38. Not far away from Their residential quarters, both Krishna and Balarama, equipped with all kinds of playthings, played with other cowherd boys and began to tend the small calves.
39-40. Sometimes Krishna and Balarama would play on Their flutes, sometimes They would throw ropes and stones devised for getting fruits from the trees, sometimes They would throw only stones, and sometimes, Their ankle bells tinkling, They would play football with fruits like bael and amalaki. Sometimes They would cover Themselves with blankets and imitate cows and bulls and fight with one another, roaring loudly, and sometimes They would imitate the voices of the animals. In this way They enjoyed sporting, exactly like two ordinary human children.
41. One day while Rama and Krishna, along with Their playmates, were tending the calves on the bank of the River Yamuna, another demon arrived there, desiring to kill Them.
42. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead saw that the demon had assumed the form of a calf and entered among the groups of other calves, He pointed out to Baladeva, “Here is another demon.” Then He very slowly approached the demon, as if He did not understand the demon’s intentions.
43. Thereafter, Sri Krishna caught the demon by the hind legs and tail, twirled the demon’s whole body very strongly until the demon was dead, and threw him into the top of a kapittha tree, which then fell down, along with the body of the demon, who had assumed a great form.
44. Upon seeing the dead body of the demon, all the cowherd boys exclaimed, “Well done, Krishna! Very good, very good! Thank You.” In the upper planetary system, all the demigods were pleased, and therefore they showered flowers on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
45. After the killing of the demon, Krishna and Balarama finished Their breakfast in the morning, and while continuing to take care of the calves, They wandered here and there. Krishna and Balarama, the Supreme Personalities of Godhead, who maintain the entire creation, now took charge of the calves as if cowherd boys.
46. One day all the boys, including Krishna and Balarama, each boy taking his own group of calves, brought the calves to a reservoir of water, desiring to allow them to drink. After the animals drank water, the boys drank water there also.
47. Right by the reservoir, the boys saw a gigantic body resembling a mountain peak broken and struck down by a thunderbolt. They were afraid even to see such a huge living being.
48. That great-bodied demon was named Bakasura. He had assumed the body of a duck with a very sharp beak. Having come there, he immediately swallowed Krishna.
49. When Balarama and the other boys saw that Krishna had been devoured by the gigantic duck, they became almost unconscious, like senses without life.
50. Krishna, who was the father of Lord Brahma but who was acting as the son of a cowherd man, became like fire, burning the root of the demon’s throat, and the demon Bakasura immediately disgorged Him. When the demon saw that Krishna, although having been swallowed, was unharmed, he immediately attacked Krishna again with his sharp beak.
51. When Krishna, the leader of the Vaisnavas, saw that the demon Bakasura, the friend of Kamsa, was endeavoring to attack Him, with His arms He captured the demon by the two halves of the beak, and in the presence of all the cowherd boys Krishna very easily bifurcated Him, as a child splits a blade of virana grass. By thus killing the demon, Krishna very much pleased the denizens of heaven.
52. At that time, the celestial denizens of the higher planetary system showered mallika-puspa, flowers grown in Nandana-kanana, upon Krishna, the enemy of Bakasura. They also congratulated Him by sounding celestial kettledrums and conchshells and by offering prayers. Seeing this, the cowherd boys were struck with wonder.
53. Just as the senses are pacified when consciousness and life return, so when Krishna was freed from this danger, all the boys, including Balarama, thought that their life had been restored. They embraced Krishna in good consciousness, and then they collected their own calves and returned to Vrajabhumi, where they declared the incident loudly.
54. When the cowherd men and women heard about the killing of Bakasura in the forest, they were very much astonished. Upon seeing Krishna and hearing the story, they received Krishna very eagerly, thinking that Krishna and the other boys had returned from the mouth of death. Thus they looked upon Krishna and the boys with silent eyes, not wanting to turn their eyes aside now that the boys were safe.
55. The cowherd men, headed by Nanda Maharaja, began to contemplate: It is very astonishing that although this boy Krishna has many times faced many varied causes of death, by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead it was these causes of fear that were killed, instead of Him.
56. Although the causes of death, the daityas, were very fierce, they could not kill this boy Krishna. Rather, because they came to kill innocent boys, as soon as they approached they themselves were killed, exactly like flies attacking a fire.
57. The words of persons in full knowledge of Brahman never become untrue. It is very wonderful that whatever Gargamuni predicted we are now actually experiencing in all detail.
58. In this way all the cowherd men, headed by Nanda Maharaja, enjoyed topics about the pastimes of Krishna and Balarama with great transcendental pleasure, and they could not even perceive material tribulations.
59. In this way Krishna and Balarama passed Their childhood age in Vrajabhumi by engaging in activities of childish play, such as playing hide-and-seek, constructing a make-believe bridge on the ocean, and jumping here and there like monkeys.
