Śrī Kṛshṇa’s Stotra to Balarāma (Brahma Purāṇa)
Śrī Kṛshṇa Kṛta Balarāma Stotra · śrī kṛshṇa kṛta balarāma stotra, “the stotra to Balarāma spoken by Śrī Kṛshṇa”
Śrī Kṛshṇa’s Stotra to Balarāma is the short praise with which Śrī Kṛshṇa reminded his elder brother of his true nature, when the asura Pralamba, disguised as a gopa, was carrying Balarāma away. It is told in the Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 187, in Vyāsa‘s account to the munis of the childhood of Kṛshṇa and Balarāma in the vraja. Kṛshṇa calls Balarāma the self of all and the ruler of the whole world, and tells him that when the world was one ocean the two of them were the one sole Parabrahma. Reminded, Balarāma slays Pralamba with a single blow.
The setting
After the donkey-asura and his brothers were slain, the palm forest became a happy place of play for the gopas and gopīs. The two brothers, the rulers of all the worlds who had entered the earth honouring the human state, roamed there with the calves’ ropes on their shoulders and garlands of forest flowers, playing the games of the land.
Pralambāsura slipped in among the gopas in the guise of a gopa, seeking his chance to kill them. In a game of carrying one another on the shoulders Kṛshṇa was paired with the gopa Śrīdāma and Balarāma with Pralamba; the losers had to carry the winners to the Bhāṇḍīra tree and back. Balarāma defeated Pralamba, and the dānava, as if he had lost, lifted Balarāma and went off with him. Then, as if the weight were too much, he swelled his body like a rain cloud into a terrible form, the earth shaking under his feet. Balarāma called out: “Kṛshṇa! A rākshasa, grown like a great mountain, in a māyā form of a cowherd, is carrying me off. Tell me what I should do now.”
The stotra
Govinda smiled, knowing Balarāma‘s strength and valour, and said:
- “You are the self of all, the secret of all secrets. Your taking a human form is for play.”
- “For some reason you have become my elder brother, you, the ruler of the whole world. Remember your own form, which is the cause of all.”
- “When the whole world became one ocean, you and I together were the one sole Parabrahma; to sustain this world we became separate. This is the truth.”
- “So, knowing yourself, kill this dānava. Having taken on the human state, do good to our people and kin.”
The slaying of Pralamba
Reminded thus by Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, Halī, the bearer of the plough, smiled gently, seized Pralamba, raised him up, and, his eyes turned red, struck him with his fist on the crown of the head. Pralamba’s eyes burst out, his head split, and he fell to the ground vomiting blood and died. The gopas cried, “Well done, well done!” and praised Rāma, and Balarāma came back to Gokula with the gopas and Kṛshṇa.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 187
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 187