A groan arose from the wild beasts in the forest, as if in the hand of death they were trapped. The sun vanished from the skies, and all Nature seemed clothed with the garment of sadness.
Then forth the sun burst in glorious splendor, as the joy of the smile of the Lord of Love awoke in potency to bless all living things whereon it had fallen.
And sweet Brindāban in silence lay, forever blessed and forever beloved, for the Feet of Him, who was God, had walked there and made holy its soil.
CHAPTER XXIX.
And the chariot, bearing Akrura, Rāma and Krishna, was followed close by the carts bearing Nanda and the Gopas, who carried gifts for the king Kangsa, to whom all must present the best of their store.
On reaching the banks of the Jumnā, Krishna and Rāma in sportiveness descended from the chariot and dipped in the sacred waters of the river, then ascended again to the chariot.
Whereat Akrura, the ambassador, had a dip in the water, too, reciting the sacred texts in the meanwhile, when, lo, in the waters where he stood he beheld the laughing Krishna and Rāma, sitting in the lap of the god of water.
Amazed and bewildered, he gazed towards the chariot where last he had seen the brothers, and there they sat talking, as when he had left them.
Again he dipped his head 'neath the waves of the water and again he saw Rāma and Krishna, and knew that his senses were not deluded,
Krishna, though seemingly a youth with all a youth's sportiveness and play, yet was the Lord Incarnate.