Text 11
girau nilīnāv ājñāya
nādhigamya padaṁ nṛpa
dadāha girim edhobhiḥ
samantād agnim utsṛjan
girau — on the mountain; nilīnau — hiding; ājñāya — being aware; na adhigamya — not finding; padam — Their location; nṛpa — O King (Parīkṣit); dadāha — he set ablaze; girim — the mountain; edhobhiḥ — with firewood; samantāt — on all sides; agnim — fire; utsṛjan — generating.
Although he knew They were hiding on the mountain, Jarāsandha could find no trace of Them. Therefore, O King, he placed firewood on all sides and set the mountain ablaze.
Clearly we are observing one of the Supreme Lord’s transcendental pastimes. Although the Bhāgavatam states that the two Lords, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, were “exhausted,” even in Their so-called exhausted state They were able to quickly climb a high mountain and shortly thereafter jump off it to the ground. It would be unwise and illogical to ignore the whole picture the sages are giving us here and instead try to pick apart isolated descriptions. Clearly we are watching the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the midst of His spiritual pastimes; we are not observing an ordinary human being. Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma were still quite young men when this pastime took place, and one can easily see in these descriptions how They must have been enjoying Themselves, eagerly fleeing from the somewhat ridiculous King Jarāsandha, racing up a mountain, jumping off and totally befuddling the constantly failing demon, who somehow or other never lost confidence in himself. Seen without envy or quarrelsomeness, the Lord’s pastimes are immensely entertaining.