Why Krsna Came, Yasoda’s Love, and the Method to Approach Him - 04 May 1997 Birmingham pt.2
Srila Gurudeva: There are another two reasons. Drona and Dhara had done so much austerity. They were doing aradhana, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with the goal to obtain love and affection, prema for Him. They wanted to love God like their son. Also there was Kasyapa and Aditi, the first man and woman of this world who also did so much hard austerities for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They also wanted a son like God. Narayana appeared before them and told that He Himself would have to become their son because there is no-one else qualified, nobody like Him. Brahma also gave benediction to Drona and Dhara that they will have affection and love and the Supreme Personality of Godhead will come as their son and that they would support and nourish Him.
So Krsna came in the last part of Dvapara Yuga to establish the Yuga Dharma, and also to kill demons and save the saints.
He appeared in both places, Mathura and Vrindavan. Drona and Dhara were Nanda and Yasoda and Kasyapa and Aditi were Vasudeva and Devaki who, at the time of Krsna’s appearance, where in the prison of Kamsa and Nanda and Yasoda were in Gokul at the bank of the Yamuna.
In the jail He appeared like God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, four handed, with golden jewels and ornaments and looking about sixteen years old. He appeared, He did not come from the womb. At the same time, and at the same moment, He also came from the womb of Mother Yasoda in Gokul, like a little baby, naturally.
In Gokul He played like a little boy, here and there. In boyhood He was so naughty. In jail He had told Vasudeva that they should take Him to Gokul which he did, and then this Krsna, four handed Krsna, was mixed into the two handed form of Krsna and then became a little baby. He then began to weep like an ordinary boy.
At three and a half years old He was so naughty, like most boys are. He used to go to the houses of the other gopas and gopis and steal makhana, misri and all these things. They never wanted that Krsna should come to their house and steal these things. Yasoda knew this was happening and she wanted to make Krsna a good boy. However she didn’t know that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead that has come just like an ordinary boy and a son to her so she was always telling Him that He was a naughty boy and that He should not steal but we know that really Krsna was not a thief or lier, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
He never told lies. There are so many pastimes and now I will come to my subject. Time is short, to explain all the pastimes of Krsna would take at least one month but then we could understand what is real love and affection and who is Krsna, who am I, everything.
One day Yasoda thought that, “My boy is going to be a thief because in my home the milk and butter is not so sweet and my maid servants are not doing well.” So she gave leave to them, and instead she churned curd, to make sweet butter, thinking that if Krsna will take it then He will stop going to other Gopis homes to steal.
She was so beautiful, otherwise how can Krsna be so beautiful. She was wearing a very fine silk saree. She had beautiful earrings and she was doing like this..[Gurudeva does churning motion]. Some sweat, like pearl drops, were coming and she was absorbed in sweetly singing, “Govinda Damodar Madhaveti, Govinda Damodar Madhaveti, Govinda Damodar Madhaveti, Govinda Damodar Madhaveti…Udukalai sam kantatam dhulams ca, gayantam gopya…Govinda Damodar Madhaveti, Govinda Damodar Madhaveti, Govinda Damodar Madhaveti.”
Her bangles were chiming like kartalas and the sound of the churning pot was like the mrdanga, dhik than dhik than, fie on them, fie on them who don’t love Krsna, they never chant Krsna, and never serve Krsna, so fie on them. And those that are serving Krsna, chanting and remembering, are so very, very lucky, but for the others who have the body of a man but never think about Krsna, then fie on them, fie on them.
She was quite absorbed and Krsna was sleeping on the bed. In brahma muhurta, about four in the morning we should be awake. Those that want to be happy should give up their bed early in the morning. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise (Gurudeva chuckling). You should remember all this Vedic culture and knowledge. I am telling only a small part because we don’t have time to tell so much, but at least I am telling something.
So she was absorbed in her singing and churning but now Krsna was awake and weeping. Though He is Para-Brahman Himself, still He was weeping. Previously Drona and Dhara had done so much hard austerities, so that Krsna should come as their son and then they could serve Him.
You should know that we are part and parcel of Krsna and we have some relation to Him in our heart. If there is no relation then there is no service. If a lady is married to someone then they can serve each other. If you have a relation with a child, like if she is your daughter and someone is your wife then you will not treat both like they are your wife. Towards your mother you will have service like she is your mother, wife like a wife, your daughter like a daughter, it all depends on what kind of relation we have.
So if there is no relation then no service. Krsna has some relation with us, by heart and soul, whether we know it or not, relation is there. In Vedic culture this thing has been cultivated. They have realized these things and it has been told in the Srimad Bhagavatam. So here the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has so much opulence, more than any other incarnation, has now become a little boy, the darling son of Mother Yasoda.
Krsna was calling, “Mother, Mother, Mother, I am hungry!” and weeping, tears were coming and He was rubbing His eyes. His kajal mixed with His tears, it was like the Ganga and Yamuna were flowing. His weeping grew louder and louder but Yasoda Maiya was not listening because she was so absorbed in churning.
He came down from His palankar, His bed, and still weeping, He came towards His mother, and with one hand He grabbed the churning stick and with His other hand He clasped the veil of His mother. She looked down at her baby Krsna who looked so beautiful, marvelous and sweet, who was acting like a little boy, not knowing anything, no knowledge, nothing, yet He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
He has forgotten His Godliness, everything, and was just acting like a little boy. So when Mother Yasoda saw that her little boy is so hungry and He is so clever that by one hand He has taken the churning rod and with the other hand He has taken her veil, then she took Him on her lap and gave Him her breast and Krsna began to suck her milk very sweetly while Yasoda very gently caressed Him. Tears were coming to her eyes and such feelings of love and affection were coming to her that her hair was standing on end. This is vatsalya rasa.
Likewise we all have a hidden relationship with Krsna. There are five kinds of relation in this world. One is like that there is no relation but something is there like the four Kumaras. They knew that there is a Godhead but they have conception that He is shapeless. However He has some cinmaya shape that is not worldly and so can not be seen or realized by these eyes. So we cannot see, touch or realize Him by the mind.
Sridama and Madhumangal are Krsna’s friends. We know that Lord Rama also has some friends but not like in Vraja.
[Gurudeva calls for kirtan then leads with Namami Nanadana.]
Krsna desired to drink the breast milk of Yasoda. Krsna was weeping, and Yasoda was also weeping. This is called Vatsalya rasa. Here there is a relation between son and mother. Krsna, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we can think Him like He is our child, our son. The best thing though, is to think that Krsna is my beloved, like the gopis, the young lady gopis. They all think that they are the beloved of Krsna and Krsna thinks the same of them. This relation is marvelous and in order to give this relation, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come. We have all relations.
Really sad-guru, a realized soul, one who is very near and dear to Krsna, can give this thing. He can illuminate this mood in the jiva but we need to associate. So if we have that class of association then we will be so lucky to have all these things. Krsna will be our beloved, Krsna will be our son, friend, bosom, and very bosom friend and He will be our Prabhu and then we can serve Him. Yasoda was like so.
In the meantime Yasoda saw that the milk was boiling over in the pot. The milk is thinking, “If I cannot serve Krsna then what is the use of this bogus life.”
A devotee thinks like this, that if he cannot serve Krsna or feeling that he has no love for Krsna, then there is no use for this useless life, so therefore he feels like he should die, from fire or jumping off a mountain.
So Mother Yasoda went at once and saved the milk. In the meantime Krsna broke the vessel and then entered the room where the butter and srikand was stored and Mother Yasoda was searching for Him thinking, “Where has that naughty boy gone?”
At that time Krsna, who was naked, only three and half years of age, stood up on the anukala, the grinding mortar, and taking butter He started to give it to the monkeys and crows. Why? The monkeys had served Him during His Lord Rama pastimes but at that time He could not repay them, so now he was giving them butter. Also He was giving to the crows because they are in the dynasty of Kak Bhusundi, who was very obedient and a very high class of devotee to Lord Rama.
Mother Yasoda took a stick. Krsna saw this and at once He ran away. A yogi, whose mind is fresh, clean and uncontaminated, still cannot catch hold of Krsna’s lotus feet. Even they cannot imagine or touch by heart His lotus feet. Mother Yasoda was running to catch Him, and after catching Him she tied Him and told Him that she would punish Him. Krsna began to weep, “No mother, don’t punish Me!”
All the gopis said, “Oh such a sweet and little boy, how can you punish Him? How can you beat Him with a stick?”
Mother Yasoda replied that, “Maybe He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He is my son and I have to look after Him and see that He doesn’t grow up to be a wicked person.”
So she was going to chastise Him. Lord Brahma cannot do like this, he cannot take the lotus feet of Krsna in his heart, and yet Mother Yasoda was chastising Him, and Krsna was weeping.
She began to tie Krsna to that mortar. She told to her sakhis to bring ropes from their homes. They were bringing and laughing, and she was struggling to bind Him. So they began to bring more and more ropes but each time she was two fingers too short of binding Him and therefore she could not tie Him. The ropes were increasing by miles and miles and going around Krsna’s waist but still they were short by two fingers. There was a golden chain also around His waist that Mother Yasoda had given. That was not increasing but the ropes were increasing and increasing and more and more ropes were being tied together. However, every time, they were still short by two fingers and therefore she could not tie Him.
Krsna is God but still He thought that, “If Mother ties Me then I cannot play with the boys like Sridama, Subal and Madhumangal, and all the cows are just standing and not giving milk. Even with the calves there, if I am not going then they will not give milk.” They are all waiting for Krsna to come and then they will give their milk.
All the little child gopis were there. Srimati Radhika was there, aged about two and a half. They were also waiting to play with Krsna. So then Yogamaya at once came.
Mother Yasoda was perspiring and her complexion became yellow. She was thinking, “Oh Krsna came from my womb but I cannot tie Him. What will the sakhis think if I cannot tie Him? They will laugh at me.”
So she was praying, “Oh Narayan, please save me, otherwise everyone will laugh at me.”
When Krsna saw that she has taken shelter of Narayan, Himself, He became pleased and everything was solved and she was able to bind Him.
There is a philosophy behind this pastime and that is that we should try to love Krsna, we should do sadhana like Mother Yasoda, who had promised that even if it takes the whole day or her whole life, she would bind Krsna, and without doing so she will not take even a glass of water let alone anything to eat. A sadhaka should be like this and always be under the guidance of a pure guru and should serve Krsna. However, this alone is not sufficient, Krsna should also be merciful to the sadhaka.
When Krsna was pleased with Mother Yasoda, seeing that she was doing so much labor for Him, then He let Himself be tied, and that was by her prema and not by any rope. Rope is just an outside thing, He was really only tied by Krsna prema. If there is no prema, then there is nothing.
Prema is two and half letters Pa, Ra and Ma, Prema. So if anyone knows this prema, he is the most learned of all the Vedas, Upanisads, and sastras and if one is not knowing prema, then he is like a foolish animal. So we should try to realize this prema in this human life, otherwise if one becomes an animal, then one cannot realize these things.
I think that the Indian community have these things in their heart and so they should try this and help all others by sharing this Indian philosophy of prema and love which Krsna and especially Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu have brought to this world. So we should take this and chant:
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Gaura Premanade! Jaya Jaya Sri Radhe, Jaya Jaya Sri Radhe, Jaya Jaya Sri Radhe Shyam!