Canto Ten / CHAPTER NINE

Mother Yaśodā Binds Lord Krishna

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura, quoting from the Vaishnava-toshanī of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, says that the incident of Krishna’s breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yaśodā took place on the Dīpāvalī Day, or Dīpa-mālikā. Even today in India, this festival is generally celebrated very gorgeously in the month of Kārtika by fireworks and lights, especially in Bombay. It is to be understood that among all the cows of Nanda Mahārāja, several of mother Yaśodā’s cows ate only grasses so flavorful that the grasses would automatically flavor the milk. Mother Yaśodā wanted to collect the milk from these cows, make it into yogurt and churn it into butter personally, since she thought that this child Krishna was going to the houses of neighborhood gopas and gopīs to steal butter because He did not like the milk and yogurt ordinarily prepared.

While churning the butter, mother Yaśodā was singing about the childhood activities of Krishna. It was formerly a custom that if one wanted to remember something constantly, he would transform it into poetry or have this done by a professional poet. It appears that mother Yaśodā did not want to forget Krishna’s activities at any time. Therefore she poeticized all of Krishna’s childhood activities, such as the killing of Pūtanā, Aghāsura, Śakatāsura and Trināvarta, and while churning the butter, she sang about these activities in poetical form. This should be the practice of persons eager to remain Krishna conscious twenty-four hours a day. This incident shows how Krishna conscious mother Yaśodā was. To stay in Krishna consciousness, we should follow such persons.

Anyone who desires to be Krishna conscious in motherly affection or parental affection should contemplate the bodily features of mother Yaśodā. It is not that one should desire to become like Yaśodā, for this is Māyāvāda. Either in parental affection or conjugal love, friendship or servitorship — in any way — we must follow in the footsteps of the inhabitants of Vrindāvana, not try to become like them. Therefore this description is provided here. Advanced devotees must cherish this description, always thinking of mother Yaśodā’s features — how she was dressed, how she was working and perspiring, how beautifully the flowers were arranged in her hair, and so on. One should take advantage of the full description provided here by thinking of mother Yaśodā in maternal affection for Krishna.

Krishna was sleeping within the room, and as soon as He got up, He became hungry and went to His mother. Wanting to stop her from churning and drink the milk of her breasts, He stopped her from moving the churning rod.

Everything in the household affairs of mother Yaśodā was meant for Krishna. Although Krishna was drinking the breast milk of mother Yaśodā, when she saw that the milk pan in the kitchen was overflowing, she had to take care of it immediately, and thus she left her son, who then became very angry, not having been fully satisfied with drinking the milk of her breast. Sometimes one must take care of more than one item of important business for the same purpose. Therefore mother Yaśodā was not unjust when she left her son to take care of the overflowing milk. On the platform of love and affection, it is the duty of the devotee to do one thing first and other things later. The proper intuition by which to do this is given by Krishna.

(Bg. 10.10)

In Krishna consciousness, everything is dynamic. Krishna guides the devotee in what to do first and what to do next on the platform of absolute truth.

It is natural that when a child becomes angry he can begin crying with false tears in his eyes. So Krishna did this, and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, He broke the pot with a stone, entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter.

Seeing the pot broken and Krishna not present, Yaśodā definitely concluded that the breaking of the pot was the work of Krishna. There was no doubt about it.

Mother Yaśodā was able to trace Krishna by following His butter-smeared footprints. She saw that Krishna was stealing butter, and thus she smiled. Meanwhile, the crows also entered the room and came out in fear. Thus mother Yaśodā found Krishna stealing butter and very anxiously looking here and there.

Yogīs, mystics, want to catch Krishna as Paramātmā, and with great austerities and penances they try to approach Him, yet they cannot. Here we see, however, that Krishna is going to be caught by Yaśodā and is running away in fear. This illustrates the difference between the bhakta and the yogī. Yogīs cannot reach Krishna, but for pure devotees like mother Yaśodā, Krishna is already caught. Krishna was even afraid of mother Yaśodā’s stick. This was mentioned by Queen Kuntī in her prayers: bhaya-bhāvanayā sthitasya (Bhāg. 1.8.31). Krishna is afraid of mother Yaśodā, and yogīs are afraid of Krishna. Yogīs try to reach Krishna by jñāna-yoga and other yogas, but fail. Yet although mother Yaśodā was a woman, Krishna was afraid of her, as clearly described in this verse.

Yogīs cannot capture Krishna by severe penances and austerities, but mother Yaśodā, despite all obstacles, was finally able to catch Krishna without difficulty. This is the difference between a yogī and a bhakta. Yogīs cannot enter even the effulgence of Krishna. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-anda-koti-kotishu (Brahma-samhitā 5.40). In that effulgence there are millions of universes, but yogīs and jñānīs cannot enter that effulgence even after many, many years of austerities, whereas bhaktas can capture Krishna simply by love and affection. This is the example shown here by mother Yaśodā. Krishna therefore confirms that if one wants to capture Him, one must undertake devotional service.

(Bg. 18.55)

Bhaktas enter even the planet of Krishna very easily, but the less intelligent yogīs and jñānīs, by their meditation, remain running after Krishna. Even if they enter Krishna’s effulgence, they fall down.

From these dealings between mother Yaśodā and Krishna, we can understand the exalted position of a pure devotee in loving service to the Lord. Yogīs, jñānīs, karmīs and Vedāntists cannot even approach Krishna; they must remain very, very far away from Him and try to enter His bodily effulgence, although this also they are unable to do. Great demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva always worship the Lord by meditation and by service. Even the most powerful Yamarāja fears Krishna. Therefore, as we find in the history of Ajāmila, Yamarāja instructed his followers not even to approach the devotees, what to speak of capturing them. In other words, Yamarāja also fears Krishna and Krishna’s devotees. Yet this Krishna became so dependent on mother Yaśodā that when she simply showed Krishna the stick in her hand, Krishna admitted to being an offender and began to cry like an ordinary child. Mother Yaśodā, of course, did not want to chastise her beloved child very much, and therefore she immediately threw her stick away and simply rebuked Krishna, saying, “Now I shall bind You so that You cannot commit any further offensive activities. Nor for the time being can You play with Your playmates.” This shows the position of a pure devotee, in contrast with others, like jñānīs, yogīs and the followers of Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, in regarding the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth.

Mother Yaśodā wanted to bind Krishna not in order to chastise Him but because she thought that the child was so restless that He might leave the house in fear. That would be another disturbance. Therefore, because of full affection, to stop Krishna from leaving the house, she wanted to bind Him with rope. Mother Yaśodā wanted to impress upon Krishna that since He was afraid merely to see her stick, He should not perform such disturbing activities as breaking the container of yogurt and butter and distributing its contents to the monkeys. Mother Yaśodā did not care to understand who Krishna was and how His power spreads everywhere. This is an example of pure love for Krishna.

In Bhagavad-gītā (10.12), Krishna is described as the Supreme Brahman (param brahma param dhāma). The word brahma means “the greatest.” Krishna is greater than the greatest, being unlimited and all-pervading. How can it be possible for the all-pervading to be measured or bound? Then again, Krishna is the time factor. Therefore, He is all-pervading not only in space but also in time. We have measurements of time, but although we are limited by past, present and future, for Krishna these do not exist. Every individual person can be measured, but Krishna has already shown that although He also is an individual, the entire cosmic manifestation is within His mouth. All these points considered, Krishna cannot be measured. How then did Yaśodā want to measure Him and bind Him? We must conclude that this took place simply on the platform of pure transcendental love. This was the only cause.

(Brahma-samhitā 5.33)

Everything is one because Krishna is the supreme cause of everything. Krishna cannot be measured or calculated by Vedic knowledge (vedeshu durlabham). He is available only to devotees (adurlabham ātma-bhaktau). Devotees can handle Him because they act on the basis of loving service (bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvatah). Thus mother Yaśodā wanted to bind Him.

Here is the first chapter in Krishna’s exhibition of unlimited potency to mother Yaśodā when she tried to bind Him: the rope was too short. The Lord had already shown His unlimited potency by killing Pūtanā, Śakatāsura and Trināvarta. Now Krishna exhibited another vibhūti, or display of potency, to mother Yaśodā. “Unless I agree,” Krishna desired to show, “you cannot bind Me.” Thus although mother Yaśodā, in her attempt to bind Krishna, added one rope after another, ultimately she was a failure. When Krishna agreed, however, she was successful. In other words, one must be in transcendental love with Krishna, but that does not mean that one can control Krishna. When Krishna is satisfied with one’s devotional service, He does everything Himself. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adah. He reveals more and more to the devotee as the devotee advances in service. Jihvādau: this service begins with the tongue, with chanting and with taking the prasāda of Krishna.

(Bhakti-rasāmrita-sindhu 1.2.234)

Actually this incident was wonderful because Krishna was only a child with small hands. To bind Him should have required only a rope not more than two feet long. All the ropes in the house combined together might have been hundreds of feet long, but still He was impossible to bind, for all the ropes together were still too short. Naturally mother Yaśodā and her gopī friends thought, “How is this possible?” Seeing this funny affair, all of them were smiling. The first rope was short by a measurement the width of two fingers, and after the second rope was added, it was still two fingers too short. If the shortness of all the ropes were added together, it must have amounted to the width of hundreds of fingers. Certainly this was astonishing. This was another exhibition of Krishna’s inconceivable potency to His mother and His mother’s friends.

When mother Yaśodā and the other ladies finally saw that Krishna, although decorated with many bangles and other jeweled ornaments, could not be bound with all the ropes available in the house, they decided that Krishna was so fortunate that He could not be bound by any material condition. Thus they gave up the idea of binding Him. But in competition between Krishna and His devotee, Krishna sometimes agrees to be defeated. Thus Krishna’s internal energy, yoga-māyā, was brought to work, and Krishna agreed to be bound by mother Yaśodā.

This pastime of Krishna’s is very difficult to understand, but devotees can understand it. It is therefore said, darśayams tad-vidām loka ātmano bhakta-vaśyatām (Bhāg. 10.11.9): the Lord displays the transcendental attribute of coming under the control of His devotees. As stated in the Brahma-samhitā (5.35):

By His one plenary portion as Paramātmā, the Lord controls innumerable universes, with all their demigods; yet He agrees to be controlled by a devotee. In the Upanishads it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can run with more speed than the mind, but here we see that although Krishna wanted to avoid being arrested by His mother, He was finally defeated, and mother Yaśodā captured Him. Lakshmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam: Krishna is served by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune. Nonetheless, He steals butter like one who is poverty-stricken. Yamarāja, the controller of all living entities, fears the order of Krishna, yet Krishna is afraid of His mother’s stick. These contradictions cannot be understood by one who is not a devotee, but a devotee can understand how powerful is unalloyed devotional service to Krishna; it is so powerful that Krishna can be controlled by an unalloyed devotee. This bhritya-vaśyatā does not mean that He is under the control of the servant; rather, He is under the control of the servant’s pure love. In Bhagavad-gītā (1.21) it is said that Krishna became the chariot driver of Arjuna. Arjuna ordered Him, senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthāpaya me ’cyuta: “My dear Krishna, You have agreed to be my charioteer and to execute my orders. Place my chariot between the two armies of soldiers.” Krishna immediately executed this order, and therefore one may argue that Krishna also is not independent. But this is one’s ajñāna, ignorance. Krishna is always fully independent; when He becomes subordinate to His devotees, this is a display of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, the humor of transcendental qualities that increases His transcendental pleasure. Everyone worships Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore He sometimes desires to be controlled by someone else. Such a controller can be no one else but a pure devotee.

This is a comparative study between mother Yaśodā and other devotees of the Lord. As stated in Caitanya-caritāmrita (Ādi 5.142), ekale īśvara krishna, āra saba bhritya: the only supreme master is Krishna, and all others are His servants. Krishna has the transcendental quality of bhritya-vaśyatā, becoming subordinate to His bhritya, or servant. Now, although everyone is bhritya and although Krishna has the quality of becoming subordinate to His bhritya, the position of mother Yaśodā is the greatest. Lord Brahmā is bhritya, a servant of Krishna, and he is ādi-kavi, the original creator of this universe (tene brahma hridā ya ādi-kavaye). Nonetheless, even he could not obtain such mercy as mother Yaśodā. As for Lord Śiva, he is the topmost Vaishnava (vaishnavānām yathā śambhuh). What to speak of Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, the goddess of fortune, Lakshmī, is the Lord’s constant companion in service, since she always associates with His body. But even she could not get such mercy. Therefore Mahārāja Parīkshit was surprised, thinking, “What did mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja do in their previous lives by which they got such a great opportunity, the opportunity to be the affectionate father and mother of Krishna?”

In this verse there are three negative pronouncements — na, na, na. When anything is uttered three times — “do it, do it, do it” — one should understand that this is meant to indicate great stress on a fact. In this verse, we find na lebhire, na lebhire, na lebhire. Yet mother Yaśodā is in the supermost exalted position, and thus Krishna has become completely subordinate to her.

The word vimuktidāt is also significant. There are different types of liberation, such as sāyujya, sālokya, sārūpya, sārshti and sāmīpya, but vimukti means “special mukti.” When after liberation one is situated on the platform of prema-bhakti, one is said to have achieved vimukti, “special mukti.” Therefore the word na is mentioned. That exalted platform of premā is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as premā pum-artho mahān, and mother Yaśodā naturally acts in such an exalted position in loving affairs. She is therefore a nitya-siddha devotee, an expansion of Krishna’s hlādinī potency, His potency to enjoy transcendental bliss through expansions who are special devotees (ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhih). Such devotees are not sādhana-siddha.

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the son of mother Yaśodā, is very easily available to devotees, but not to tapasvīs, yogīs, jñānīs and others who have a bodily concept of life. Although they may sometimes be called śānta-bhaktas, real bhakti begins with dāsya-rasa. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.11):

“As living entities surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prithā.” Everyone is seeking Krishna, for He is the Supersoul of all individual souls. Everyone loves his body and wants to protect it because he is within the body as the soul, and everyone loves the soul because the soul is part and parcel of the Supersoul. Therefore, everyone is actually seeking to achieve happiness by reviving his relationship with the Supersoul. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyah: “By all the Vedas, it is I who am to be known.” Therefore, the karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs and saintly persons are all seeking Krishna. But by following in the footsteps of devotees who are in a direct relationship with Krishna, especially the inhabitants of Vrindāvana, one can reach the supreme position of associating with Krishna. As it is said, vrindāvanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati: Krishna does not leave Vrindāvana even for a moment. The vrindāvana-vāsīs — mother Yaśodā, Krishna’s friends and Krishna’s conjugal lovers, the younger gopīs with whom He dances — have very intimate relationships with Krishna, and if one follows in the footsteps of these devotees, Krishna is available. Although the nitya-siddha expansions of Krishna always remain with Krishna, if those engaged in sādhana-siddhi follow in the footsteps of Krishna’s nitya-siddha associates, such sādhana-siddhas also can easily attain Krishna without difficulty. But there are those who are attached to bodily concepts of life. Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, for example, have very prestigious positions, and thus they have the sense of being very exalted īśvaras. In other words, because Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are guna-avatāras and have exalted positions, they have some small sense of being like Krishna. But the pure devotees who inhabit Vrindāvana do not possess any bodily conception. They are fully dedicated to the service of the Lord in sublime affection, premā. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore recommended, premā pum-artho mahān: the highest perfection of life is premā, pure love in relationship with Krishna. And mother Yaśodā appears to be the topmost of devotees who have attained this perfection.