All the elderly Vraja Gopis have the mood, “When will Kṛṣṇa come to our house and we will feed Kṛṣṇa with our own hands, and give Him affection, take Him in our laps and embrace Him.” Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala is filled with the sweet motherly moods of Vatsalya bhava for Kṛṣṇa. Yasoda Mata cooks many things for Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhikā cooks many things, but Kṛṣṇa still isn’t satisfied. Kṛṣṇa goes to the houses of the Vrajabasis. Kṛṣṇa doesn’t consider high or low birth or caste. Whoever calls Him with love, He goes there and eats, feeds them, and teaches the houses the mother gopi’s children to be naughty and disturb the people of the house. If the child isn’t naughty, then the mother’s love and affection will not be as strong with Kṛṣṇa and they won’t remember Kṛṣṇa as much. In the early morning, Kṛṣṇa goes to any house and teaches the children, “Go and let loose the cows and calves.” When the children untie the calves they go drink all the milk of the cows. The householders go to milk the cows, but all the milk was already finished. The mother comes and asks, “Why did you open the calves?” The children said, “Why did you bind them, this was wrong, therefore, we let them loose.”
The mother said, “Now I will bind you, naughty boy! Who taught you to do this?”
They say, “Who taught you to bind the calves?”
When the mother goes to chastise and beat them they hide and run here and there and Kṛṣṇa is smiling from behind in a hidden place. Kṛṣṇa made all the children very naughty and the mothers had no peace. From the early morning Kṛṣṇa has made all plans, “Where going, what stealing, where is the butter and sweets are hidden, who disturbing?”
Kṛṣṇa knows all process to tease and attract the minds of the Vraja Gopis and Vrajabasis.
When the gopis catch Kṛṣṇa stealing, He says, “Am I not your son? How is this stealing, I didn’t steal, you stole everything, you collected everything from this world and hid it in your house, is this your property or Gods? Can you take this with you when you die? I have as much right to it as you do. You collect so many things and hide them, it should go to everyone, not only, “This is mine.” You did wrong, therefore, I took and distributed it. The milk comes in the cow’s breast, wheat, oil, spices, grains, everything comes from the earth and is given by the earth from God, but people steal and collect and hide it in their homes and say, ‘this is mine alone.’ Everything given by God is for everyone. People say, ‘this is mine, my four walls, my house, God gave me, whoever is in this house can have but no one else. Therefore, wherever you hide it I will find and distribute it, this is my service to God, and yet you are calling me A THIEF!!! Wherever you hid it I will take it out and distribute it.”
Another time a gopi catches Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa grabs the neck of the mother and embraces her, sitting in her lap, Kṛṣṇa says, “Oh maiya, mother, why are you angry, did you never drink your mother’s milk, did you drink camel or sour goat milk growing up? Why are you so angry? You won’t let us play; will you only bind us like mice and cats? Everything is for us kids, if we can’t play and eat, then what is the use of everything?” She was very angry, Kṛṣṇa says, “Why are you angry, this will pass to your children, whoever spreads fire, all will suffer and burn? Why do you keep this anger in your heart?” Then her heart melts and she cries and embraces Kṛṣṇa. She sees that if she says one thing, Kṛṣṇa says fifty, and as long as she isn’t pleased and laughing, Kṛṣṇa will never leave. Then when she is laughing and pleased, Kṛṣṇa leaves with the sakhas. In these pastimes, Kṛṣṇa wanders throughout Vraja Bhumi to remove the hidden impurities of our hearts. Without calling, He goes everywhere in Vraja. Therefore, the Vrajabasis have nothing to worry about. This Vraja is pure and all the Vrajabasis hearts are pure by Kṛṣṇa. All the villagers that were in the neighboring areas come and all their hearts are pacified and pleased.
If anyone remembers God in any way by any method, if God obtains a place in their hearts, there will never be any lacking of good qualities or anything needed. As long as we have life, if we kept anyone in our heart other than Paramatma, a bad result will easily show itself, we will always be disturbed and in distress. Sadhus do bhajan, if their hearts are completely clean, and they love Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa enters their heart and fills them with His love and affection, and they become equal to all, they have no attachment or attraction for anything else. They are always with Kṛṣṇa and from there Kṛṣṇa’s love and affection showers and spreads everywhere to all souls. Kṛṣṇa is very happy in Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala, if anyone’s heart is full of complaints; Kṛṣṇa will go to that house a thousand times and be more and more tricky and give them more and more love.
Without a service tendency, you can never make a relationship with God. By chanting, remembering, hearing, or any austerity or practice you cannot make a relationship with Kṛṣṇa and the Vrajabasis. Bhajana means, “Vrajayatu sevayam.” Without service, you can’t make a loving relationship. If anyone has this service tendency, they are greatest souls.After millions of lives of austerities the Rsis came and stayed in Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala. All the Vrajabasis only desire Kṛṣṇa’s happiness. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa goes and tests them, “How much love do you have stocked?” Then He goes and steals, fights, tells against them. Are they ever angry, disturbed, or hateful to Kṛṣṇa? Do they think:
tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.8
One who accepts as Your mercy the reactions of his own karma, enduring it with an undisturbed mind while continuing to practice devotion by offering himself unto You with body, mind and words - such a person is eligible to attain Your lotus feet, which are the shelter of liberation. (or) One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practicing devotion unto You through every thought, word and action - such a person is heir to the land of freedom and attains Your lotus feet.
The Vrajabasis do not think like this. They only think, we must do everything for Kṛṣṇa’s happiness. How will our Kṛṣṇa be pleased? Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu tells,āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ
Śikṣāṣṭaka 8
Let that debauchee (Kṛṣṇa) tightly embrace this maidservant, who is devoted to serving Him, and thus delight Me. Or, let Him trample Me under His feet, or break My heart by not giving Me His darśana. He may do whatever He desires. Even if He sports with His other beloveds directly in front of Me, He is still My prāṇanātha, My life and soul. In My heart, there is none other than Him.
The mood of the Vrajabasis is like this, “Oh Kṛṣṇa, If you like me or don’t like me, or love anyone else in front of me and if you smash, kick or don’t talk with me, there is no problem, you are my beloved and I will never leave you.” Kṛṣṇa checks, He goes to all houses and checks, “Do you love me, are you selfish, is the butter pot yours? Or am I yours? What are you attached to? Kṛṣṇa breaks everything but they say, “You can do as you like, steal, kill, quarrel, insult, do as you like, but I’m yours.” That love is very strong, this is pure willpower. Once an old gopa was guarding one house from Gopala’s antics. Kṛṣṇa and the sakhas came. He said, “Where are you going boys?” Kṛṣṇa and the sakhas say, “We came to see you.” “Why?” “You are old, you have so much knowledge, your brain is sharp, please give us some advice and we will stop our naughty restless nature, we have no pure knowledge, please enlighten us.” The old man becomes very pleased and says, “Yes, sit down. You are very good boys, how can they say you are naughty.” He opened the Ramayana and read and gave them some advice. Kṛṣṇa and the sakhas quickly ran and collected sticks and stones from around the house. The old gopa said, “Why are collecting these?” Kṛṣṇa said, “You have been talking about the Ramayana. Rama, the Ramayana, and Rama lila are non-different, you spoke about Tara, Kara, and Dusana attacking Rama, Laksmana, and Sita in the forest, what if they come here? How can we protect you? Therefore, we brought weapons to fight with the demons. You have so much knowledge and you transferred it to us.” The gopa chuckled happily and said, “Are you boys hungry?” “Yes.” “Do you want buttermilk?” “NO, urggh, buttermilk isn’t sweet, only sour.” Then the gopa calls out and says, “Bring some laddos for these boys.” When they open the door of the house from inside, Kṛṣṇa and the sakhas quickly run inside and eat everything. When Kṛṣṇa comes out the old man caught him. Kṛṣṇa said, “Why did you catch me?” “You are a very haughty and naughty boy! Why are you disturbing everyone, why don’t you sit and eat peacefully like a good boy?” Kṛṣṇa said, “I’m not disturbed, you are disturbed, you caught me, I didn’t catch you, you have this mental disturbance, therefore, you think all are disturbing you!” Then the old man smiles. “You clever boy!” Kṛṣṇa said, “In your old age you have collected many things, but you have no love, you have only this angry mental disease. I only know that in this life, one should be pleased, happy, eat and distribute to everyone.” Then the gopa couldn’t speak and he only watched as Kṛṣṇa walked away, but he could never forget this loving pastime of Kṛṣṇa.No knowledge works in Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala. In this world, we are all defeated by maya and material knowledge which is only ignorance. Kṛṣṇa’s love is very clean.The rsis and sadhus stay in Nandagram with the desire to serve Kṛṣṇa and please Him and make a relationship with Him. Without a service tendency, you can never make a relationship with God. By chanting, remembering, hearing, or any other sadhana you can’t make a loving relationship. If anyone has this service tendency, they are very high and the greatest. After millions of lives of austerities the Rsis came and stayed in Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala. All the Vrajabasis only desire Kṛṣṇa happiness. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa goes and tests, “How much love do you have stocked?” We become disturbed when we do things with our material intelligence, we think, “This is good, this is bad, this is favorable, this is unfavorable.” But Kṛṣṇa says, “You shouldn’t have such a small mentality, everything is God’s property and God has given mercifully to us in this world. Why are you bound within this four-walled home like a prison and thinking that everything you collect is yours? Why are you not making your heart great and open? The whole world is your family, not only a few relatives, the whole world is your home.” Kṛṣṇa goes and breaks all the walls down between the Vrajabasis and brings all together into one big family. Whatever comes with God’s mercy, nothing will ever be short, in heat, cold, happiness, distress, in all circumstances, always remember Kṛṣṇa and nothing will ever be lacking, have an open heart and use everything for the service of Kṛṣṇa and all. For those in whose hearts Kṛṣṇa’s love and attachment comes, they will never be bound with their four-walled prisons (homes). They will realize that everyone is in God’s family, vasudeva kutumbikam, all living beings are in the family of God. All the Vrajabasis are related with Kṛṣṇa. There is no way of purifying our heart and mind by sastra, tapasya, or any other sadhana. Only remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him.
smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ
Padma-Purāṇa
One should always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him. All the rules and prohibitions are subservient to these two principles.
If we meet with Kṛṣṇa then immediately everything will be clean and there will be no hypocrisy. If hypocrisy comes in the heart, we will be bound with that. The silkworm eats many green leaves in a garden and then thinks, “What if other insects come to eat or attack me.” Then the silkworm begins to build a house and becomes trapped inside, he makes the house so strong and tight that it can’t escape and they die inside. If we become bound by attachment and illusion there is no way to get out. Kṛṣṇa says, “Don’t think of your foul walled house as your property, the whole world is your home and four walls, and all people are part of your family. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa goes with bare feet in the early morning to cow graze. Yasoda Mata says, “Take shoes.” Kṛṣṇa says, “Mother earth is so green and beautiful, will one’s mother be happy if I walk with shoes on top of her.” Yasoda says, “At least take an umbrella.” Kṛṣṇa says, “If I take an umbrella the trees and clouds will be sad that they have no service of giving shade and I will be separated from them. One should be open with everyone than love will increase.” Yasoda says, “But the sun will burn you.” Kṛṣṇa says, “If one has a love for everyone there will never be any disturbance.” Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala is filled with Kṛṣṇa’s nāma, rūpa, guṇa and līlā. This is no need for any yoga, tapasya, Veda, Vedanta. Only make a loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa. May we always remember Śrī Vraja Maṇḍala and Kṛṣṇa will enter into our hearts.