Namaste.

To play with͵ and to see the plays of one‘s growing up child͵ is considered a source of great happiness. (Though in today‘s busy world many might prefer to forgo this in their pursuit of other pleasures). There is something divinely pure in the innocent plays of a child. But even the Avataras were sadly denied of such joys.

The Mahabharata tells us how Sri Krishna undergoes tremendous austerities in the Himalayas for 12 years͵ seeking a son through Lord Shiva‘s grace. At the end of the Tapas Lord Shiva blesses him that he will beget a son from his wife Rukmini. That son Pradyumna however gets snatched away by Sambara Asura. Devi Bhagavatham tells us that the grief stricken Krishna and Rukmini worship the Divine Mother͵ who advises that “while one‘s Karma is to be undergone necessarily͵ Pradyumna is safe and soon come back“. Many years later͵ when Pradyumna attains his youth͵ he returns with his wife to Dwaraka.

Flashback to the Ramayana͵ we find Sri Rama away at the time of birth of his children͵ in the Parnasala of Rshi Valmiki. The children grow up͵ become bards able to recite an entire Itihasa Kavya by memory͵ only then are they united with their father.