Madhumaṅgala Exchanges Clothes with Kṛṣṇa

Another time, while Śrīlā Rūpa Gosvamī was absorbed in his bhajana, he saw Kṛṣṇa going cow grazing with His many friends such as His sakhās Srīdama, Sūdāma, Vasu dhāma, Madhumaṅgala, Subala, Ujvalla, Vasanta, Kokila and many others.

Madhumaṅgala was telling Kṛṣṇa, ‘You always brag that you did this and you did that, and the Vrajavāsīs are always giving you so many nice sweets, especially laḍḍūs. But you don’t know why they give so māny sweets. Do you really want to know why?’

Kṛṣṇa wanted to know why. Madhumaṅgala said,’It is only due to your peacock feather, your yellow pītāmbara cloth and your flute that makes everyone so impressed with you’.

‘I’m telling you Kṛṣṇa, if you give up these things, nobody will notice you and give you any sweets.’

Then Kṛṣṇa, desiring to please his beloved sakhā, suggested they should exchange clothes and paraphernalia. Madhumaṅgala happily agreed. After swapping clothes they continued to wander in the forest.

Meanwhile one demon named Keśī entered the forest. Assuming the form of a giant horse, he began searching to kill Kṛṣṇa on the order of the evil King Kaṃsa. King Kaṃsa had informed Keśī that Kṛṣṇa is dark complexioned, wears a peacock feather, has a yellow pītāmbara cloth and carries a flute.

And so, as Keśī was searching for Kṛṣṇa, he saw one cowherd boy walking happily with a peacock feather on his head, wearing a brilliant yellow pītāmbara cloth and carrying a flute.

Keśī thought that although this cowherd boy was not blackish, he must be wearing some kind of make up to make himself look fair. Convinced that he had found Kṛṣṇa, he immediately attacked Madhumaṅgala with his hind legs. By the grace of providence Keśī missed him, but the force of the wind from his kicking, knocked Madhumaṅgala to the ground some distance away. Shocked, Madhumaṅgala scrambled to his feet and shouted to Kṛṣṇa in great despair ‘Oh this cloth, this flute and this peacock feather of yours is the source of all danger, I don’t want it! I don’t want it anymore!’ He quickly gave back everything to Kṛṣṇa. The Keṣī demon came again to attack but this time Kṛṣṇa caught him and effortlessly killed him.

Rūpa Gosvāmī observed this pastime or līlā in the spiritual world while being situated in his sādhaka-deha in this world.

A pure devotee present in this world in his sādhaka śarīra may at any time travel to the spiritual world and return according to his desire; this is the power of a devotee who is practicing rāgānuga bhakti. There are māny such examples in the scriptures and in the history of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.