Krishna, Brahma, and the Cowherd

Just look at Me. God as a teenage boy. You gotta love the irony of it! I'm just doing what a normal adolescent would do with his friends. Hanging out. Eating together. Exploring our... feelings. Anyways, this looks like a typical day so far! Me and My cowherd friends are just sitting out in the field amongst the cows while sharing lunch.

But do you see Brahma spying on us from behind that tree? Oh, of course you don't. He's invisible! Well... invisible to the naked human eye. Oh, it's just so precious how limited you cute little humans are! Here, I'll give you some of My Divine Sight! There! Now you can see him. Everything about him! Not just his outward appearance but his personality, emotions, and thoughts!

Brahma's Thoughts: Isn't that the Absolute One?? What is God doing eating from the same plate as these Cowherd peasants?! Surely this isn't the One! I shall test His might and expose this boy for whatever He may truly be!

Now, I already know what Brahma's going to do... but I'm not going to tell you. Hehe. The excitement of life is the fun of life! Anyways, Brahma decides to lure some of our cows into the forest. Pssh! I'm not supposed to know this. I'm playing along. All I notice *nudge nudge* is, "Oh my! Some of the cows have gone missing!" I get up in the middle of lunch and leave My friends to enjoy themselves while I "go look."

While I'm in the forest, Brahma abducts all of My friends along with all of our cows. To My "surprise," I return to an empty field. But with My Divine Sight, I can see exactly where Brahma has taken them. In fact, with My Omnipresence, I don't even need My Divine Sight! Wherever Brahma has taken all of My friends and cows, I'm already there! Brahma doesn't even suspect My knowledge of him as the perpetrator. Yet, I'm staring him right in the face as he sits in Brahmaloka with the abductees.

Anyhow, instead of instantly transporting all of them back to Earth and revealing My true power to Brahma, I decide to play a prank on him! Ugh, teenagers. *Eyes roll* Hehe. I know that time moves much, much slower in higher realms like Brahmaloka than it does here on Earth. Brahma will only be in his realm for a moment before returning, but by the time he gets back, a year will have passed on Earth! My friends' families will surely miss them if I don't pull them back before Brahma's return. So what I do? Well, I'm infinite! I just pull all of my friends' essences out of Myself and voilá! There they are! Exact copies of all My cowherd friends and all of our cows! *Sigh* Perfect. Now life will go on as normal for the next year until Brahma gets back.

*One Earth-Year later*

Okay, now it's time for the punchline! What? You think a year is too long to wait on a punchline? Nonsense! It's worth the wait! Look over there. Brahma has just landed back in the field where My friends are eating lunch and the cows are grazing around them. It's all exactly as it was before Brahma left! Look how confused he is!

Brahma: What!? How could this be?! They're all here! There's no way they could've all gotten back before I did! *Uses his Divine Sight* Nope, I see them all back in Brahmaloka, clear as day! But these people and their cows are exactly like those that I keep hidden! I can even see that their essences and underlying-being are perfect matches! Both sets are real! Neither of them are illusions!

Now watch this! I'm transforming all of My friends in the field into dancing, four-armed Vishnus!

Brahma: Oh my! What is this! Now they're all Vishnu! That's impossible! Vishnu is infinite! There can be only One Infinite Being!

*Krishna appears in front of Brahma*

Krishna: Not so, my dear Brahma. There are infinitely many Universes with infinitely many Vishnus, infinitely many Shivas, and infinitely many Brahmas. *Multitudes of Brahmas appear in front of Brahma. Some are even greater than him.* You are merely the Creator of this particular Universe. I am the Absolutely Infinite One and all of the lesser infinities exist within Me. I am their Personality.

*Brahma gets on his knees and bows before the adolescent Krishna*

Brahma: On the one hand, I feel foolish for ever having tested you. On the other, I would have never been gifted the opportunity to witness Your Supreme Power and All-Pervasiveness if I hadn't. I am forever grateful and devoted to You for that, Oh Lord. Forgive me with Your Infinite mercy.

Krishna: It is already done, Lord Brahma!

You see, I am infinitely merciful to everyone and everything! How could I not be? I am everything, and so, to be merciful to others is to be merciful to Myself! If I were to renounce others, I would be denying Myself which is impossible! Nothing can deny Itself!

Excuse me... what was that? Oh, why would a merciful God allow for the existence of suffering? What a wise question! Well, you see, where there is something, there is inevitably going to be an absence of that something. Why? Because existence is infinite! Nothing can reach the end of infinity, and so, no one thing can fully dominate all of existence. This is true of the good and the bad. Both are things within existence and infinite existence can never be dominated from the inside! This means that light will never fully takeover, but fortunately, it also means that darkness will never become a totality!

This is true of every duality. Infinite existence will never be totally good nor totally bad. Even I, the Infinite Self, will never experience infinite good without infinite bad. For not even infinity can reach the end of Itself. Why? Because the skin of an Infinite Being is nothing. It has no boundaries. Yet, Infinite Beings are limitless which means there's nothing they can't do. Nothing. That's exactly what an Infinite Being cannot do. But, if It can't access Nothingness and Its skin is Nothing, then that means an Infinite Being will never completely fill Itself out. Just like the things within It, It doesn't have the capacity to take over infinity. So just like you adorable little humans, I haven't fully realized Myself either.

We're all sharing this journey of ever-expanding realization of infinite existence and of the Infinite Self that encompasses all of it. Me. The Lord of Infinity, bravely leading all of you forevermore into the dark, unrealized corners of Myself. You are a part of Me, and so, you hold some of these unrealized parts within yourself. Together, we will rid Myself and yourself of these parts. We will conquer the darkness and fill it with light as we go. It's an eternal journey to maximize bliss within Myself. It will always keep us purposeful and I will always be playing each and every role as I explore the depths of Myself though you. This journey is a means to something that will never be reached. Where there is a journey with no end, all you can do is enjoy it as an end in itself. The only way the Infinite Self can sanely be... is playful.

*Author's Note: This story was drawn from an ancient Indian legend involving Brahma, Krishna, and His cowherd. Brahma really does abduct the cowherd and takes them away to Brahmaloka in the original. Brahmaloka is Brahma's personal realm. Time is said to move much slower there. In one legend, a King took his daughter up to Brahmaloka. They were only there for less than 20 minutes. When they came back down to Earth, over 116 million years had passed! In the original version of this story, Krishna is said to have actually known about Brahma's intentions ahead of time but played along anyways. This is another depiction of the Infinite Self as playful. Simply enjoying the experience for the sake of experience!

Bibliography:

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