One day, all the cowherd boys went to the bank of the river Yamuna to water their calves. When the calves drank water from the Yamuna, the boys also drank. After drinking, when they were sitting on the bank of the river, they saw a huge animal which looked something like a heron and was as big as a hill. Its top was as strong as a thunderbolt. When they saw that unusual animal, they became afraid of it. The name of this beast was Bakasura, and he was a friend of Kamsa’s. He appeared on the scene suddenly and immediately attacked Krsna with his pointed, sharp beak and quickly swallowed Him up. When Krsna was thus swallowed, all the boys, headed by Balarama, became almost breathless, as if they had died. But when the Bakasura demon was swallowing up Krsna, he felt a burning, fiery sensation in his throat. This was due to the glowing effulgence of Krsna. The demon quickly threw Krsna up and tried to kill Him by pinching Him in his beak. Bakasura did not know that although Krsna was playing the part of a child of Nanda Maharaja, He was still the original father of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe. Mother Yasoda’s child, who is the reservoir of pleasure for the demigods and who is the maintainer of saintly persons, caught hold of the great gigantic heron by the two halves of his beak and, before His cowherd boyfriends, bifurcated his mouth, just as a child very easily splits a blade of grass.
From the sky, the denizens of the heavenly planets showered flowers like the mallika, the most fragrant of all flowers, as a token of their congratulations. Accompanying the showers of flowers was a vibration of bugles, drums and conchshells.
When the boys saw the showering of flowers and heard the celestial sounds, they became struck with wonder. And when they saw Krsna freed from the mouth of the great demon Bakasura, all of them, including Balarama, were so pleased that it seemed as if they had regained their very source of life. As soon as they saw Krsna coming toward them, they one after another embraced the son of Nanda and held Him to their chests. After this, they assembled all the calves under their charge and began to return home.
When they arrived home, they spoke of the wonderful activities of the son of Nanda. When the gopis and cowherd men all heard the story from the boys, they felt great happiness because naturally they loved Krsna, and by hearing about His glories and victorious activities they became still more affectionate toward Him. Thinking that child Krsna had been saved from the mouth of death, they looked upon His face with great love and affection. They were full of anxiety and could not turn their faces from the vision of Krsna. The gopis and the men began to converse amongst themselves about how wonderful it was that child Krsna had been attacked in so many ways and so many times by so many demons, and yet the demons themselves had been killed and Krsna had remained uninjured. They continued to converse amongst themselves about how so many great demons in such fierce bodies had attacked Krsna to kill Him but, by the grace of Hari, had not been able to cause even a slight injury. Rather, they had died like small flies in a fire. Thus they remembered the words of Garga Muni, who had foretold, by dint of his vast knowledge of the Vedas and astrology, that this boy would be attacked by many demons. Now they were actually seeing that this was coming true, word for word.
– Krishna Book
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