Who is stronger, Krishna or Balarama?
Brahmananda das : Prabhupada designed the Krishna and Balarama Deities, the mudra. He made a drawing and gave it to Baradraj to have it made in Jaipur. There is no Krishna Balarama Deity like this with Balarama resting His arm on Krishna's shoulders. There is no Deity like that, Prabhupada made that design. And then he would joke about it, "Who is stronger, Krishna or Balarama?" Bala means strength, He is the strong one, and everyone would say "Balarama." Then Prabhupada said, "Then why Balarama is resting on Krishna? This means Krishna is stronger."
Baradraj das: I went to Jaipur, where the Deities were being carved, and I supervised the carving of the Deities, especially Prabhupada because the carvers, they were working from photographs, often not very good. So the man who was carving Prabhupada was having a really hard time. He was so frustrated because I kept trying to show him things and point out certain things on the photograph of Prabhupada, and they had to actually redo the whole carving at one point because some spot came up on Prabhupada's head. The sculptor finally said, "Now you do it," and he left, because I watched him so I started learning a little bit. So I took over for a little while. Finally the day came when all the Deities were finished, and I brought the Deities to Vrindavan on a train and then a tanga, then I took a rickshaw.
This was early in the morning, 3:00 a.m. or something. Just as I started entering the outskirts of Vrindavan with all the Deities in Their crates, all the peacocks started crying. The hair on my head stood up from that sound. It was an amazing experience.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Brahmananda Dasa
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