The Vision in the River

The sages told the Pandavas of Akrura, the devoted kinsman of Krishna, who was sent to bring the Lord from the cowherds' village to the city, and who, on the way, was granted a wondrous vision of the divine - a tale of pure devotion and of the grace by which the Lord reveals himself to those who love him.

Akrura was a noble and devout man of the Yadava clan, an uncle and kinsman of Krishna, and above all a true devotee, whose heart had long been given to the Lord though he had not yet beheld him. Now the wicked king Kamsa, who ruled at Mathura and who sought Krishna's death, devised a plan to lure the boy from the safety of the cowherds' village; and he chose Akrura to go and fetch Krishna and his brother Balarama to the city, not knowing that Akrura was a devotee whose heart leapt with joy at the errand. So Akrura was sent, by the schemes of a wicked king, on the journey his own devout heart most longed to make: to go and at last behold the Lord.

As Akrura rode in his chariot from Mathura toward the village of the cowherds where Krishna dwelt, his heart overflowed with joy and longing. For all his life he had been a devotee of the Lord, and now at last he was to behold him face to face, to see with his own eyes the Krishna he had loved and worshipped from afar. The whole way he thought of nothing else, his mind fixed wholly on the Lord he was going to meet, his heart trembling with anticipation and devotion.

Akrura mused as he rode on the wonder of his fortune: that he, an ordinary man, should be granted the sight of the Lord himself; that the very feet of Krishna, which the great gods longed to behold, he should soon see and touch. He wondered how the Lord would receive him, whether he would be counted worthy; and his heart swelled with such love and humility and joy together that the journey passed as in a dream of devotion. So great was his longing and his love that, even before he had reached the village, his heart was wholly prepared, a vessel made ready by devotion to receive the grace that was about to be given.

Akrura came at last to the village and beheld Krishna and Balarama, the two divine brothers, radiant and beautiful; and his joy was complete. He leapt down from his chariot and fell at the feet of the Lord, overcome with devotion, his eyes filled with tears of love. And Krishna raised him up and embraced him warmly, receiving his devoted kinsman with affection and honor, and Akrura was welcomed into the home of the cowherds as an honored guest.

That night Akrura was filled with happiness beyond all telling, for he had beheld the Lord he had so longed to see, had fallen at his feet, had been embraced by him. He delivered the message that he had come to bring, and it was agreed that on the morrow he would take Krishna and Balarama with him to Mathura. But the heart of Akrura was so full of the Lord, so steeped in devotion by the sight of him, that the grace of God was ready now to grant him more than the sight of Krishna in his human form: it would grant him, on the journey back, a vision of the Lord's very divinity.

The next day Akrura set out with Krishna and Balarama in his chariot to return to Mathura. On the way they came to the holy river Yamuna; and Akrura, a devout man, asked leave to stop and perform his sacred ablutions and prayers in the river, as was his custom. Krishna and Balarama remained by the chariot on the bank, while Akrura went down into the water to bathe and to offer his devotions in the sacred stream.

And there, standing in the waters of the Yamuna, immersed in his prayers, with his heart still full of the Lord he had just beheld, Akrura was granted a wonder. For as he dipped beneath the surface of the river and looked into the water, he saw there, in the depths of the stream, a vision that took his breath away: he beheld within the waters the divine forms of Krishna and Balarama, though he had left them on the bank above. The Lord, pleased with his devotion, was about to reveal to him, in the heart of the sacred river, the truth of his own divine nature.

In the depths of the Yamuna, Akrura beheld a vision of the Lord's full divinity. He saw, resting upon the coils of the great cosmic serpent, the supreme Lord Vishnu himself in all his glory, dark and radiant, four-armed, bearing the conch and the discus, the mace and the lotus, adorned with the jewel upon his breast and the garland of the forest, served by the gods and sages and all the celestial beings who hymned his praises. And he understood that this supreme Lord and the Krishna he had left upon the bank were one and the same: that the cowherd boy who rode in his chariot was none other than the Lord of all the worlds.

Akrura was overwhelmed with awe and ecstasy at the vision. The truth burst upon him that the Krishna he loved was God himself, the supreme reality, the source and lord of all that is; and his heart melted in adoration. He rose up out of the water, trembling with wonder, and looked back to the bank, where Krishna and Balarama sat as before in their human forms; and he looked again into the water, and saw the vision still; and he knew now, beyond all doubt, with whom he journeyed. The Lord had rewarded his devotion with the highest gift: the direct vision of his own divine nature, granted in the heart of the sacred river to the devotee whose heart was ready to receive it.

His heart overflowing with the vision he had been granted, Akrura, still standing in the sacred water, lifted up his voice in a hymn of praise and surrender to the Lord. He praised Krishna as the supreme reality, the source of all the worlds, the soul within all beings, the refuge of those who seek him; and he confessed his own littleness and the greatness of the grace that had been shown him, that the Lord of all should have revealed himself to so humble a devotee. He poured out his love and his wonder and his utter surrender in words of adoration.

And in that hymn Akrura gave thanks not for any worldly gift, but for the supreme gift of the vision itself, the knowledge of who Krishna truly was, the grace of beholding the divine. He asked nothing for himself but to be ever devoted to the Lord, to keep his heart fixed on him forever. So the devotee, granted the highest vision, responded not with pride at his own attainment but with humble praise and surrender, giving all the glory to the Lord whose grace had lifted him; and his hymn became the very pattern of the devotee's response to grace: wonder, gratitude, and the surrender of the whole self to the God revealed.

There was in the tale a teaching the sages drew out with joy: that the Lord reveals himself to those who love him, and that pure devotion is rewarded with the vision of the divine. Akrura had loved the Lord all his life, though he had not yet beheld him; and when at last his devotion had made his heart a ready vessel, the Lord granted him not only the sight of his human form but the vision of his very divinity, revealed in the heart of the sacred river. The vision was the gift of grace, given to the devotion that had prepared the way for it.

The tale taught that such grace is not earned by force or won by cleverness, but is drawn down by love; that the Lord, who is hidden from the proud and the indifferent, reveals himself freely to the heart that loves him and longs for him; and that the highest reward of devotion is not any worldly gain but the vision and the knowledge of God himself. And it taught the devotee's right response to such grace: not pride, but humble praise and surrender, giving all the glory to the Lord. Akrura's vision in the river stood as a sign that to the loving heart, made ready by devotion, the Lord will show himself; and that this showing is the crown and the goal of the whole path of love.

The sages drew the lessons of the tale for the Pandavas.

'See, first, the power of pure devotion to draw down the vision of the divine. Akrura had loved the Lord all his life, and when his devotion had made his heart ready, the Lord rewarded him with the supreme vision of his own divinity, revealed in the heart of the sacred river. The tale teaches that the Lord reveals himself to those who love him; that grace is drawn not by force or cleverness but by devotion; and that the highest reward of the loving heart is the vision and the knowledge of God himself. Love the Lord, then, with a pure and longing heart, and make of your heart a vessel ready to receive him.

'And see the devotee's right response to grace: not pride, but humble praise and surrender. Granted the highest vision, Akrura did not boast of his attainment, but poured out his wonder and gratitude in a hymn of praise, giving all the glory to the Lord and asking only to be ever devoted to him. The tale teaches that when grace is given, the soul should respond with humility and surrender, claiming nothing for itself; for the vision is the gift of the Lord, not the achievement of the devotee. Be devoted, then, and be humble; love the Lord for his own sake; and trust that to the loving and ready heart, the Lord will reveal himself, here or hereafter.'

And the Pandavas, who counted Krishna their dearest friend and had glimpsed his divinity themselves, took to heart the tale of the devotee granted the vision of God in the sacred river.