Deliverance of the Yamala-arjuna Trees

TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: One day when mother Yaśodā saw that all the maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of Kṛṣṇa, and in her own way she composed songs and enjoyed singing to herself about all those activities.

COMMENTARY

This chapter describes how Kṛṣṇa stopped Yaśodā from churning yogurt in order to drink her breastmilk, and how Yaśodā put Kṛṣṇa down to go elsewhere.

Verse 1: Kṛṣṇa became angry because He was not finished drinking, so He broke the churning pot, stole butter, and was bound up by Mother Yaśodā.

 

“You bind up the people who are engulfed in theft, anger and other low qualities and make them cry. Now You, who have become implicated in theft, overwhelmed with anger and bound up by Yaśodā, are crying!”

 

The most astonishing and uncommon parental love (vātsalya-prema) wherein Kṛṣṇa became the object (viṣaya) and Nanda and Yaśodā were the shelter (āśrayā) must have been the result of a most extraordinary and unparalleled form of sādhana. Parīkṣit had asked the question to Śukadeva, but the story of Droṇa and Dharā did not reveal such extraordinary sādhana. Seeing that Parīkṣit was not too pleased, Śukadeva told him about Kṛṣṇa’s dāmodara-līlā to give the real answer to Parīkṣit’s question: “What past auspicious activities did Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja perform to achieve the perfection of getting Kṛṣṇa as their son?” (SB 10.8.46)

 

On the Dipavali Day (festival day of lighting ghee lamps), Yaśodā began churning yogurt for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. She became absorbed in thought how from among her husband’s countless cows, there were seven or eight, who were as rare as a horse with one black ear; who ate the most fragrant grass; and who gave the tastiest, fragrant milk for the satisfaction of her son.

 

Yaśodā personally churned because she wanted to make special butter for her son. How could her servants who often burn the milk do this properly? Driven by a stubbornness arising from vātsalya-prema, Yaśodā concluded that others could not do the job properly. From that day forward, Yaśodā resolved that she would prepare all Kṛṣṇa’s butter, milk and other eatables. They would be so tasty that Kṛṣṇa would no longer go to other’s houses to steal. Yaśodā was churning the best yogurt from among countless samples that she had prepared the day before with her own hands.

 

Verse 2: The ladies of Vraja poeticized all of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood activities. Having collected all these songs, mother Yaśodā began to sing these songs in order to pacify her longing to see Kṛṣṇa, who was sleeping in another room.

 

|| 10.9.3 ||

kṣaumaṁ vāsaḥ pṛthu-kaṭi-taṭe bibhratī sūtra-naddhaṁ

putra-sneha-snuta-kuca-yugaṁ jāta-kampaṁ ca subhrūḥ

rajjv-ākarṣa-śrama-bhuja-calat-kaṅkaṇau kuṇḍale ca

svinnaṁ vaktraṁ kabara-vigalan-mālatī nirmamantha

TRANSLATION

Dressed in a saffron-yellow sari, with a belt tied about her full hips, mother Yaśodā pulled on the churning rope, laboring considerably, her bangles and earrings moving and vibrating and her whole body shaking. Because of her intense love for her child, her breasts were wet with milk. Her face, with its very beautiful eyebrows, was wet with perspiration, and mālatī flowers were falling from her hair.

COMMENTARY

This verse presents the ideal of motherly affection for Kṛṣṇa. Anyone interested in cultivating vātsalya-bhava, parental love, should meditate upon the bodily form, qualities, features and affection of mother Yaśodā described here.

 

Yaśodā’s yellow sari (kṣaumaṁ) was very fine, being made from fibers of the atasi tree. According to the Krama Dīpikā, Yaśodā’s complexion was blackish. She wore a belt around her full hips while churning the butter. The beauty of all of Yaśodā’s limbs is indicated just by mentioning her wide hips, moving eyebrows and tinkling bangles. Her arms, tired from churning, and her sweating face both shone. Mālatī flowers fell like drops of rain from Yaśodā’s beautiful hair, which was blacker than a rain cloud.

 

|| 10.9.4 ||

tāṁ stanya-kāma āsādya mathnantīṁ jananīṁ hariḥ

gṛhītvā dadhi-manthānaṁ nyaṣedhat prītim āvahan

TRANSLATION

While mother Yaśodā was churning butter, Lord Kṛṣṇa, desiring to drink the milk of her breast, appeared before her, and in order to increase her transcendental pleasure, He caught hold of the churning rod and began to prevent her from churning.

COMMENTARY

Kṛṣṇa started crying from hunger upon waking in the morning. Leaving His room, Kṛṣṇa approached Yaśodā and held the churning rod to indicate she should stop churning and attend to Him. Yaśodā’s bliss increased unlimitedly upon perceiving Kṛṣṇa’s cleverness.

 

|| 10.9.5 ||

tam aṅkam ārūḍham apāyayat stanaṁ

sneha-snutaṁ sa-smitam īkṣatī mukham

atṛptam utsṛjya javena sā yayāv

utsicyamāne payasi tv adhiśrite

TRANSLATION

Mother Yaśodā then embraced Kṛṣṇa, allowed Him to sit down on her lap, and began to look upon the face of the Lord with great love and affection. Because of her intense affection, milk was flowing from her breast. But when she saw that the milk pan on the oven was boiling over, she immediately left her son to take care of the overflowing milk, although the child was not yet fully satisfied with drinking the milk of His mother’s breast.

COMMENTARY

“Oh how intelligent this child is!” Saying this, Yaśodā stopped churning and put Kṛṣṇa on her lap to feed Him her breast-milk. But why did mother Yaśodā suddenly get up and leave? She got up to attend to the milk boiling over on the stove.

 

But how could Yaśodā show so much interest in the boiling milk that she left Kṛṣṇa unsatisfied and hungry? Yaśodā was so concerned for what Kṛṣṇa would eat and drink that she could temporarily ignore Kṛṣṇa. Only those under the sway of prema can understand or talk about the remarkable actions of one impelled by pure love for Kṛṣṇa. No one else can understand these matters.

 

|| 10.9.6 ||

sañjāta-kopaḥ sphuritāruṇādharaṁ sandaśya dadbhir dadhi-mantha-bhājanam

bhittvā mṛṣāśrur dṛṣad-aśmanā raho jaghāsa haiyaṅgavam antaraṁ gataḥ

TRANSLATION

Being very angry and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, Kṛṣṇa, with false tears in His eyes, broke the container of yogurt with a piece of stone. Then He entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter in a solitary place.

COMMENTARY

Though it was useless (mṛṣāśrur), Kṛṣṇa shed tears as this is the nature of a small child. Kṛṣṇa used a stone (dṛṣad-aśmanā) to make a hole in the pot without making any sound. Then He went into another room and ate the butter made from the previous day’s milk (haiyaṇgavam).

 

|| 10.9.7 ||

uttārya gopī suśṛtaṁ payaḥ punaḥ

praviśya saṁdṛśya ca dadhy-amatrakam

bhagnaṁ vilokya sva-sutasya karma taj

jahāsa taṁ cāpi na tatra paśyatī

TRANSLATION

Mother Yaśodā, after taking down the hot milk from the oven, returned to the churning spot, and when she saw that the container of yogurt was broken and that Kṛṣṇa was not present, she concluded that the breaking of the pot was the work of Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENTARY

After removing the hot milk (suśṛtaṁ payaḥ) from the stove, Yaśodā returned to the churning spot. There she saw the sturdy shiny yogurt pot (dadhy amatrakam) lying broken on the floor. The suffix ka is added to amatrakam out of sympathy for its sorry state. Yaśodā concluded that this was definitely the work of her son. Touching her forefinger to her nose, she started laughing.

 

|| 10.9.8 ||

ulūkhalāṅghrer upari vyavasthitaṁ

markāya kāmaṁ dadataṁ śici sthitam

haiyaṅgavaṁ caurya-viśaṅkitekṣaṇaṁ

nirīkṣya paścāt sutam āgamac chanaiḥ

TRANSLATION

Kṛṣṇa, at that time, was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen, He was looking all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yaśodā, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind.

COMMENTARY

Yaśodā found Kṛṣṇa by following His butter-smeared footprints, and hearing the jingling sound of His waist bells, and the noises in the other room. Surmising that Kṛṣṇa was eating butter, Yaśodā’s face broke into a smile. A few seconds later, she decided to go into the room. But by that time Kṛṣṇa had gone out the back door and into the yard. There Kṛṣṇa sat cross-legged on top of an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices due to fear of crows and other animals. The verse describes this.

 

After stealing the butter pot hanging from the ceiling of the storeroom, Kṛṣṇa brought it there. He was afraid of being beaten by his mother for having stolen the butter, so He was anxiously looking hither and thither (caurya viśaṇkitekṣaṇaṇ nirīkṣya) and looking for a path of escape. Seeing Kṛṣṇa from inside the house by craning her neck, Yaśodā then very cautiously and silently approached Him from behind so that Kṛṣṇa could not see her and that she could catch Him in her hands.

 

|| 10.9.9 ||

tām ātta-yaṣṭiṁ prāsamīkṣya satvaras

tato ’varuhyāpasasāra bhītavat

gopy anvadhāvan na yam āpa yogināṁ

kṣamaṁ praveṣṭuṁ tapaseritaṁ manaḥ

TRANSLATION

When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa saw His mother, stick in hand, He very quickly got down from the top of the mortar and began to flee as if very much afraid. Although yogīs try to capture Him as Paramātmā by meditation, desiring to enter into the effulgence of the Lord with great austerities and penances, they fail to reach Him. But mother Yaśodā, thinking that same Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, to be her son, began following Kṛṣṇa to catch Him.

COMMENTARY

Yaśodā held a stick in her hand to instill fear in Kṛṣṇa. He is described as very much afraid (bhītavat), because He understood the great affection of His mother, although internally Kṛṣṇa had no fear. Or it can mean that Kṛṣṇa stood up and fled in a fearful manner.

 

Queen Kunti said in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.8.31): gopy ādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad, yā te daṣāśru-kalilāñjana-sambhramākṣam, vaktraṁ ninīya bhaya-bhāvanayā sthitasya, sā māṁ vimohayaii bhīr api yad bibheti, “O Kṛṣṇa, Yasodā took up a rope to bind You when You committed an offense, and Your perturbed eyes overflooded with tears, which washed the mascara from Your eyes. You were afraid, though fear personified is afraid of You. This sight is bewildering to me.”

 

Yaśodā (gopy) chased her son who can never be attained (na yam āpa) even by great mystics and yogīs (yogināṁ) who perform austerities, penances (tapaseritaṁ) and meditation (manaḥ) to enter (praveṣṭum) Brahman. This point is made clear in verse 21: nāyaṁ sukhāpo bhagavān, “Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not easily attainable.”

 

|| 10.9.10 ||

anvañcamānā jananī bṛhac-calac-

chroṇī-bharākrānta-gatiḥ sumadhyamā

javena visraṁsita-keśa-bandhana-

cyuta-prasūnānugatiḥ parāmṛśat

TRANSLATION

While following Kṛṣṇa, mother Yaśodā, her thin waist overburdened by her heavy breasts, naturally had to reduce her speed. Because of following Kṛṣṇa very swiftly, her hair became loose, and the flowers in her hair were falling after her. Yet she did not fail to capture her son Kṛṣṇa.

 

COMMENTARY

One should not think that just as the yogīs cannot catch Kṛṣṇa, neither could mother Yaśodā. This verse explains that Yaśodā’s hair came undone, and the flowers in her hair fell behind her as if they were following her (cyuta-prasūna anugatiḥ). Yaśodā caught (amṛśat) Kṛṣṇa from behind (parā).

|| 10.9.11 ||

kṛtāgasaṁ taṁ prarudantam akṣiṇī

kaṣantam añjan-maṣiṇī sva-pāṇinā

udvīkṣamāṇaṁ bhaya-vihvalekṣaṇaṁ

haste gṛhītvā bhiṣayanty avāgurat

TRANSLATION

When caught by mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa became more and more afraid and admitted to being an offender. As she looked upon Him, she saw that He was crying, His tears mixing with the black ointment around His eyes, and as He rubbed His eyes with His hands, He smeared the ointment all over His face. Mother Yaśodā, catching her beautiful son by the hand, mildly began to chastise Him.

COMMENTARY

Not only did Yaśodā catch Kṛṣṇa who cannot be realized by the best of yogīs, but she also scolded that Supreme Person, who is constantly praised by Lord Brahmā, Śiva and other exalted demigods. With a stick in her hand Yaśodā instilled fear in Kṛṣṇa, who instills fear in time and death personified. The verse is spoken with this intention.

 

Kṛṣṇa was rubbing (kaṣantam) His eyes (akṣiṇī), which were smeared with black ointment (añjan-maṣiṇī), with the back of His left hand (sva pāṇinā). Mother Yaśodā held Kṛṣṇa’s right hand and threatened Him (bhiṣayanty) with a stick. Yaśodā mildly chastised Kṛṣṇa: “You have such a restless nature! O friend of the monkeys, the pot breaker! Where will You get butter today? Now I shall bind You so that You cannot steal butter and eat it with Your friends. Are You afraid that I will beat You with this stick?” While rebuking Kṛṣṇa, Yaśodā lifted the stick as if to beat Him, though she would never do such a thing.

 

|| 10.9.12 ||

tyaktvā yaṣṭiṁ sutaṁ bhītaṁ vijñāyārbhaka-vatsalā

iyeṣa kila taṁ baddhuṁ dāmnātad-vīrya-kovidā

TRANSLATION

Mother Yaśodā was always overwhelmed by intense love for Kṛṣṇa, not knowing who Kṛṣṇa was or how powerful He was. Because of maternal affection for Kṛṣṇa, she never even cared to know who He was. Therefore, when she saw that her son had become excessively afraid, she threw the stick away and desired to bind Him so that He would not commit any further naughty activities.

COMMENTARY

Kṛṣṇa pleaded, “Don’t beat me!” Yaśodā: “If You don’t like getting beaten, why did You break the yogurt pot today?”

 

Kṛṣṇa: “I won’t do that anymore! But throw down the stick.”

 

Mother Yaśodā began to worry: “Maybe my son will run away to the forest out of fear, anger or distress.” To prevent this Yaśodā threw away the stick and decided to tie up Kṛṣṇa. Due to being completely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness, Yaśodā had no knowledge how powerful He was (ātad vīrya kovidā).

 

|| 10.9.13-14 ||

na cāntar na bahir yasya na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam

pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar jagato yo jagac ca yaḥ

taṁ matvātmajam avyaktaṁ martya-liṅgam adhokṣajam

gopīkolūkhale dāmnā babandha prākṛtaṁ yathā

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no beginning and no end, no exterior and no interior, no front and no rear. In other words, He is all-pervading. Because He is not under the influence of the element of time, for Him there is no difference between past, present and future; He exists in His own transcendental form at all times. Being absolute, beyond relativity, He is free from distinctions between cause and effect, although He is the cause and effect of everything. That unmanifested person, who is beyond the perception of the senses, had now appeared as a human child, and mother Yaśodā, considering Him her own ordinary child, bound Him to the wooden mortar with a rope.

COMMENTARY

With the ropes of her intense prema, Yaśodā tied up Kṛṣṇa, the all-pervading Lord who binds up everyone from Brahmā to the blade of grass with the modes of material nature. The verse is spoken with this intention.

 

Limited objects can be bound by surrounding them on the outside. But where can one tie the rope on He who is greater than the greatest, and who has no inside or outside? The verse establishes that Kṛṣṇa pervades all space and time as well. Kṛṣṇa cannot be limited by past, present and future. The unlimited can bind the limited, but in this case it was the opposite. The entire universe, which is created by His power, cannot bind Kṛṣṇa, then what to speak of an insignificant rope within that universe. One cannot say that a little boy cannot bind up the universe, because Yaśodā saw the entire cosmic manifestation within His mouth. How then could Yaśodā bind Him?

 

The answer is given: Kṛṣṇa was bound by the uncommon motherly love of Yaśodā who thought of Him as her son (matvā ātmajam). Though Kṛṣṇa is all powerful, by His inconceivable energy He allows Himself to be controlled by love and bound by His beloveds. Kṛṣṇa is called avyaktam (unmanifested) because under the control of love He conceals His powers and appears like a human being (martya lingam), even though He is beyond material sense perception (adhokṣajam). The power of Yaśodā’s love bound up the Lord, who is the aggregate of all consciousness, just as one binds an ordinary child (prākṛtam).

 

|| 10.9.15 ||

tad dāma badhyamānasya svārbhakasya kṛtāgasaḥ

dvy-aṅgulonam abhūt tena sandadhe ’nyac ca gopīkā

TRANSLATION

When mother Yaśodā was trying to bind the offending child, she saw that the binding rope was short by a distance the width of two fingers. Thus she brought another rope to join to it.

COMMENTARY

Though Yaśodā could bind her child by love, and though the size of her lap was small, still the small form of the boy was all-powerful. This is shown in three verses.

 

Kṛṣṇa was thinking, “I cannot be bound up because I must do my daily duties of stealing yogurt and playing with My friends.” Kṛṣṇa’s vibhūti-śakti (the power to show or reveal His opulence) inspired by His satya saṅkalpa-śakti (the power to fulfill each and every desire of the Lord) suddenly entered into His body at that time. Thus, the rope remained two fingers too short no matter how many ropes Yaśodā tied together.

 

|| 10.9.16 ||

yadāsīt tad api nyūnaṁ tenānyad api sandadhe

tad api dvy-aṅgulaṁ nyūnaṁ yad yad ādatta bandhanam

TRANSLATION

This new rope also was short by a measurement of two fingers, and when another rope was joined to it, it was still two fingers too short. As many ropes as she joined, all of them failed; their shortness could not be overcome.

COMMENTARY

Bandhanam means the rope for binding Kṛṣṇa. Whatever ropes Yaśodā joined were two fingers short.

 

|| 10.9.17 ||

evaṁ sva-geha-dāmāni yaśodā sandadhaty api

gopīnāṁ susmayantīnāṁ smayantī vismitābhavat

TRANSLATION

Thus mother Yaśodā joined whatever ropes were available in the household, but still she failed in her attempt to bind Kṛṣṇa. Mother Yaśodā’s friends, the elderly gopīs in the neighborhood, were smiling and enjoying the fun. Similarly, mother Yaśodā, although laboring in that way, was also smiling. All of them were struck with wonder.

COMMENTARY

All the elderly gopīs in the neighborhood were laughing (gopīnāṁ susmayantīnāṁ). In her astonishment (vismitā), Yaśodā thought: “A rope of one hundred hastas (150 feet) does not fit around my son’s waist which measures only one fist. His small waist is not getting any bigger, and the rope is certainly not getting any shorter. But still the rope does not reach around Him. This is the first amazing thing. Furthermore, when I tie the ropes together, each time it is two fingers short, not three or four fingers. That is the second amazing thing.”

 

|| 10.9.18 ||

sva-mātuḥ svinna-gātrāyā visrasta-kabara-srajaḥ

dṛṣṭvā pariśramaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ kṛpayāsīt sva-bandhane

TRANSLATION

Because of mother Yaśodā’s hard labor, her whole body became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When child Kṛṣṇa saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.

COMMENTARY

‘’As you cannot bind Kṛṣṇa even with all the ropes in the house, then it must be concluded that it is His good fortune that it should not be. Listen Yaśodā, give up this attempt!”

 

Though the village women advised in this way, Yaśodā was determined: “Even if evening comes and I tie together all the ropes in the whole village, I must find out just once the extent of My son’s waist.”

 

Yaśodā wanted to teach a lesson to her son. In her persistence, she would not give up her attempt to bind the Lord. In the competition between Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, the devotee’s determination always prevails. Thus, seeing His mother’s fatigue, Lord Kṛṣṇa gave up His own persistence, became merciful and allowed Himself to be tied.

 

Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, which reigns as the king of all His potencies and illuminates all others, melts the heart of the Lord and turns it into butter. The appearance of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy made His satya saṅkalpa and vibhūti śaktis immediately disappear. The distance of two fingers was filled by the devotee’s effort and hard work (pariśramaṁ) and the Lord’s causeless mercy (kṛṣṇa kṛpa). The bhakta-niṣṭhā (firm faith of the devotee) seen in his tireless endeavors to serve and worship the Lord, and the sva-niṣṭhā (the steady quality in the Lord), which brings forth His mercy upon seeing the devotee’s effort and fatigue caused Kṛṣṇa to be bound. In the absence of these two, the rope will remain two fingers too short. But when bhakta-niṣṭhā and sva-niṣṭhā are present the Lord can be bound. In this pastime, Kṛṣṇa showed Yaśodā and the whole world that only love can bind the Supreme Lord.

 

|| 10.9.19 ||

evaṁ sandarśitā hy aṅga hariṇā bhṛtya-vaśyatā

sva-vaśenāpi kṛṣṇena yasyedaṁ seśvaraṁ vaśe

TRANSLATION

O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, this entire universe, with its great, exalted demigods like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā and Lord Indra, is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet the Supreme Lord has one transcendental attribute: He comes under the control of His devotees. This was now exhibited by Kṛṣṇa in this pastime.

COMMENTARY

Though Kṛṣṇa possesses all possible powers; He is bound and controlled by prema. This bondage, however, being the most astonishing attribute of the Lord, is not a fault but a beautiful transcendental ornament in Kṛṣṇa’s personality.

 

By His very nature Kṛṣṇa is self-satisfied (ātma rāma), yet He suffers from hunger. He is āpta-kāma (automatically fulfills all of His desires), yet He is dissatisfied and desirous of prema. Though Kṛṣṇa is the personification of peace and pure goodness, He becomes angry. Kṛṣṇa is the master of the goddess of fortune, yet He steals butter like a beggar. Though Kṛṣṇa instills fear in all through time and death, He flees in fear of Yaśodā’s stick. Though Kṛṣṇa travels at the speed of mind, He is easily caught by the firm grip of His mother. Though Kṛṣṇa is condensed bliss (sāndrānanda), He cries in sorrow. Though Kṛṣṇa is unlimited and all-pervading, He is limited by being tied up.

 

In all these incidents, Kṛṣṇa was directly revealing to Yaśodā His innate quality of being controlled by His devotee. All of this cannot be explained as simply an act or imitation performed by Kṛṣṇa. Such explanations arise from ignorance, and have no proof to support them. Realizing this quality of the Lord, Brahmā, Śiva and Sanat-kumāra became truly astonished.

 

The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.11.9) states: darśayaṁs tad-vidāṁ loka ātmano bhṛtya-vaśyatām vrajasyovāha vai harṣaṁ bhagavān bāla-ceṣṭitaiḥ, “To pure devotees throughout the world who could understand His activities, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, exhibited how much He can be subdued by His devotees, His servants. In this way He increased the pleasure of the Vrajavāsīs by His childhood activities.”

 

sva vaśena: within the control only of His own self; Though Kṛṣṇa is independent (sva vaśena), where do we see His control? Kṛṣṇa controls the entire universe along with millions of powerful demigods (yasyedaṁ seśvaraṁ vase). Although Kṛṣṇa is the fully independent, supreme controller, He becomes controlled by the prema of His devotees. This prema, the essence of Kṛṣṇa’s cit-śakti, gives rise to the Lord’s highest bliss. That has been explained previously.

 

|| 10.9.20 ||

nemaṁ viriñco na bhavo na śrīr apy aṅga-saṁśrayā

prasādaṁ lebhire gopī yat tat prāpa vimuktidāt

TRANSLATION

Neither Lord Brahmā, nor Lord Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yaśodā.

COMMENTARY

This verse is spoken on seeing the exceptional devotion of the queen of Vraja, who among all the devotees brought Kṛṣṇa under Her control. vimukti: here means viśeṣa-mukti, specialized liberation or prema. Vimuktidāt means Kṛṣṇa, the giver of prema.

viriñco: Lord Brahmā; The inconceivable mercy that Yaśodā obtained from Kṛṣṇa, the giver of prema, was never received by Brahmā, Śiva (bhavo), or even Laksmī-devi (srīr).

 

This verse contains three negative pronouncements; nemaṁ, na bhavo and na śrīr. Three repetitions emphasize the exceeding absence of mercy offered to these personalities. However, with the word “indeed” (apy) the sentence can mean that even though they received mercy, it was not to the extent of Yaśodā.

 

Lord Brahmā is the son of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the ādi-guru of the devotees, sa ādi-devo jagatāṁ paro guru (Bhag. 2.9.5). As the topmost Vaiṣṇava (vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ), Śiva is considered superior to Brahmā. The goddess of fortune, Laksmī, who resides on the chest of Viṣṇu, is superior to even Śiva and Brahmā, the shelters of sākhya and dāsya rasa.

 

Nevertheless, mother Yaśodā is in the supermost exalted position because she alone obtained such extraordinary mercy from the Lord. It is wrong to think that Yaśodā is a sādhana siddha, who got a boon from Brahmā in her previous life time as Dharā. The prema of Yaśodā cannot be attained as a result of Brahmā’s boon, for Brahmā himself prays to become a blade of grass in Vraja. Indeed, Brahmā is counted in a much, much lower class.

 

Śukadeva says, “O Parīksit! Although you know about the Nanda and Yaśodā who are famous in the scriptures as nitya-siddhas, in answer to your casual question (10.8.46) about their austerities in previous lives I told the story of Droṇa and Dharā, who are very small expansions of Nanda and Yaśodā.”

 

|| 10.9.21 ||

nāyaṁ sukhāpo bhagavān dehināṁ gopīkā-sutaḥ

jñānināṁ cātma-bhūtānāṁ yathā bhaktimatām iha

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā, is accessible to devotees engaged in spontaneous loving service, but He is not as easily accessible to mental speculators, to those striving for self-realization by severe austerities and penances, or to those who consider the body the same as the self.

COMMENTARY

The Bhāgavatam propounds kṛṣṇa-prema as the highest goal of all human endeavors. Prema is permanently situated in Kṛṣṇa’s eternally liberated associates, nitya-siddha parikaras. Among nitya-siddhas, the Vrajavāsīs (residents of Gokula) Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja are the best because they control Kṛṣṇa by their vatsalya-prema, parental love. One who follows in the footsteps of nitya-siddhas like mother Yaśodā can easily obtain kṛṣṇa-prema. Kṛṣṇa is not available to others. With this intent the verse is spoken.

dehināṁ gopīkā sutaḥ: The son of the gopī, Kṛṣṇa, is not easily attainable by devotees who still identify with the body (dehināṁ), nor by the self-satisfied who no longer identify with the body (jñānināṁ). Although they may sometimes be called śānta-bhaktas, or devotees of sorts, they never get the opportunity to serve Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana. They can attain the qualification to serve Kṛṣṇa only by practicing sādhana-bhakti under the guidance of the inhabitants of Vraja.

 

ātma bhutānāṁ: Brahmā, Śiva and Laksmī, mentioned in the previous verse, are ātma bhutā (related with the Lord). Brahmā and Śiva are avatāras of Kṛṣṇa, and Laksmī is His svarūpa-śakti. Yet even these three cannot easily attain Kṛṣṇa, the son of a gopī.

 

bhaktimatām iha: devotees in this world; This indicates that those who are devoted to Yaśodā or other residents of Vṛndāvana, who are fixed in sākhya, vātsalya or mādhurya rasa, will easily attain Vraja Kṛṣṇa.

 

The svarūpa of bhakti has been defined in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.87.23): striya uragendra-bhoga-bhuja-daṇḍa-viṣakta-dhiyo, “How can we, the śrutis, get bodies like the gopī, who hold Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet on their breasts and are embraced by His serpentine arms?” The śrutis and munis attained Kṛṣṇa in Vraja by serving Him in allegiance to the Vraja-gopīs. Brahmā, Śiva and Laksmī could not become subservient to the Vraja-gopīs due to identifying with their positions on their own planets. Others do not surrender and follow the Vrajavāsīs because of insufficient guidance or a lack of taste.

 

|| 10.9.22 ||

kṛṣṇas tu gṛha-kṛtyeṣu vyagrāyāṁ mātari prabhuḥ

adrākṣīd arjunau pūrvaṁ guhyakau dhanadātmajau

TRANSLATION

While mother Yaśodā was very busy with household affairs, the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, observed twin trees known as yamala-arjuna, which in a former millennium had been the demigod sons of Kuvera.

COMMENTARY

Though bound by His devotee, Kṛṣṇa is still able to liberate others as will be seen in Chapter Ten.

 

|| 10.9.23 ||

purā nārada-śāpena vṛkṣatāṁ prāpitau madāt

nalakūvara-maṇigrīvāv iti khyātau śriyānvitau

TRANSLATION

In their former birth, these two sons, known as Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, were extremely opulent and fortunate. But because of pride and false prestige, they did not care about anyone, and thus Nārada Muni cursed them to become trees.

COMMENTARY

“Out of debt to My mother, I have been bound by her. What can I do to clear this debt?” Thinking in this way, Kṛṣṇa liberated the two trees situated in the yard.

 

Thus ends the commentary on the Ninth Chapter of the Tenth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.

 

Chapter Ten

 

|| 10.10.1 ||

śrī-rājovāca

kathyatāṁ bhagavann etat tayoḥ śāpasya kāraṇam

yat tad vigarhitaṁ karma yena vā devarṣes tamaḥ