Nanda and the Serpent
This episode is told in Chapter 28 of the tenth Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. Nanda, the chief of Gokula and the foster father of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa, went on a pilgrimage to Ambikāvana. At night a great serpent seized him on the river bank. Kṛshṇa touched the serpent with his foot and freed the being trapped inside it. This was the vidyādhara Sudarśana, on whom the Aṅgiras ṛshis had laid a śāpa (a curse). After this Kṛshṇa showed the gathered gopas a vision of Vaikuṇṭha in the water of a holy lake. It made them understand more deeply who their child really was.
The pilgrimage to Ambikāvana
This came after the events at Govardhana: the lifting of the mountain, the surrender of Indra, and the Govinda abhisheka (the sacred bathing and crowning of Kṛshṇa as Govinda). Nanda then arranged a Śiva pilgrimage to Ambikāvana. This was the holy grove in the region of Kurudeśa that held the shrine of Ambikā, the consort of Śiva. The gopas and gopīs came on the pilgrimage and kept the usual practices of tīrtha-yātrā (a journey to holy places).
As the custom of the pilgrimage requires, Nanda kept an Ekādaśī fast with a sincere heart. Then, in the early hours before dawn, he went to bathe in the river, as is the rite on such holy occasions. He went into the river in the dark. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 28)
Nanda is seized by the serpent
While Nanda bathed in the dark before dawn, a huge serpent seized him. It coiled around him and began to drag him under the water. Nanda was helpless and afraid. He cried out to Kṛshṇa: “O Govinda! Save me! This creature is eating me!”
The gopas heard his cry and ran to the river bank in alarm. But none of them could do anything against the great serpent. They stood on the bank and called Kṛshṇa’s name. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 28)
Sudarśana the vidyādhara is freed
Kṛshṇa came at once. He had no weapons and he did not struggle. He only touched the serpent with his foot, an easy and divine movement. The moment the foot of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa touched the body of the serpent, the creature was changed. The huge snake form melted into light. In front of Kṛshṇa stood a shining being of divine look. He was a vidyādhara (one of a class of heavenly beings who serve the devas) named Sudarśana.
Sudarśana told his story. He had been a vidyādhara of great beauty and great pride. Once he had mocked and laughed at the Aṅgiras ṛshis because of how they looked. The ṛshis were hurt by his pride and his disrespect. They laid a śāpa on him: he was to take the form of a serpent and stay bound in it until the foot of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself touched him. That moment had now come.
Sudarśana bowed to Kṛshṇa. He said that the suffering of the śāpa had been a blessing in disguise. It had brought him close to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and given him the highest grace, the touch of Kṛshṇa’s own foot. Then he rose to the realm of the devas, set free. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 28)
The vision of Vaikuṇṭha in the lake
Nanda was freed and the people had got over their fear. Then Kṛshṇa gathered the gopas at a holy lake nearby. As an act of great grace, he showed them a vision of Vaikuṇṭha, the highest home of Bhagavān Vishṇu. It appeared in the still water of the lake.
The gopas looked at what seemed a different world altogether. It was the eternal divine world, full of shining beings, divine light and beauty beyond this world. They saw what lies beyond their daily lives: the source and base of all that exists, from which Kṛshṇa himself had come down to be their child.
For the people of Gokula this vision confirmed what Gargācārya had quietly told Nanda at the nāmakaraṇa (the naming ceremony). He had said that the child playing among them was Paramātmā in human form. First there was the episode at Govardhana, and now this vision. They had always held their idea of Kṛshṇa with a mixture of loving devotion and wonder, and it grew deeper still. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 28)
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 28