Sri Krishna is the Supreme Lord of Vaishnava devotion, the cowherd of Vrindavan and the charioteer of Arjuna. What does it feel like to stand in a prison cell at midnight and know God is about to be born?
The descent of the Avatar begins in the dark, with chains on Vasudeva's wrists and guards asleep in Mathura. The cosmic drama unfolds through intensely personal acts of divine play as the infant Lord crosses a flooding Yamuna under the canopy of the serpent Shesha. In Gokul and Vrindavan, the Supreme Person allows himself to be raised by Yashoda, who glimpses the entire universe inside his mouth and then forgets it out of maternal love. The narrative follows his joyful childhood pastimes, from lifting Govardhan Hill on one finger to shelter his community from Indra's rains, to dancing the sacred Rasa Lila under the autumn moon. The volume leaves the reader on the banks of the Yamuna, where the forest forever holds the memory of his lotus feet.
- Bound by love: Yashoda attempting to tie her butter-stained son to a grinding stone and continually running out of rope.
- Poisoned waters tamed: a dark boy climbing a kadamba tree and jumping into the river to dance on the hoods of Kaliya.
- Sacred autumn dance: the flute sounding in a silver forest and the gopis coming out to meet their Lord in the Rasa Lila.
Book One of The Ocean of Nectar: A Life of Sri Krishna. The second volume, When God Picked Up the Reins, explores his permanent departure from the cowherd village, the establishment of his kingdom, and his guidance of Arjuna in battle, while the third volume, The Flute That Never Fell Silent, examines his eternal instruction in the Gita and his living worship in songs of devotion.
Readers seeking the history behind the midnight birth of the Avatar in Mathura together with the inner life of Yashoda and the cowherd community of Vrindavan.
