When the unbounded was bound…
Gopi, 12 years
Who could imagine that the most supreme and powerful being, God himself, would run in fear of another person?
If that’s difficult to imagine, what about God being physically caught and tied up with a rope? Seems difficult indeed!
Lord Krishna’s Damodar-Lila shows us how, with the Supreme Lord, even the unimaginable is possible!
On the day of Diwali, mother Yashoda was churning butter for her beloved son Krishna while singing His glories. Baby Krishna woke up feeling hungry and approached Mother Yashoda for milk. But she was so absorbed that she didn’t notice.
Krishna then held her churning rod to grab her attention and asked her to feed Him. Mother Yashoda started feeding Krishna with her breast milk. She suddenly realised that the milk that she had left for heating on the stove was boiling. So mother Yashoda kept Krishna aside and immediately rushed to save the milk from spilling.
This enraged little Krishna who felt neglected. His hunger wasn’t satisfied, still, His mother had left Him for some milk. In anger, he picked up a stone and broke the pot of butter. Then he inverted and climbed on a wooden grinding mortar, called out to monkeys and began distributing the butter to the monkeys.
Meanwhile, Mother Yashoda came back and saw the broken pot. She immediately understood that this was surely Krishna’s mischief so she took a stick in her hand and followed the little buttery footprints of Little Krishna.
When the monkeys saw mother Yashoda approaching with a stick in her hand, they jumped off in fear and started running. Krishna also jumped off the grinding mortar and began to run. Mother Yashoda started chasing him.
In the Krishna Book, Srila Prabhupada has explained that in reality, no one is able to catch Krishna. Indeed, many great yogis and saints spent many thousands of years trying to catch Krishna, but all of these attempts ended up in vain.
Mother Yaśodā chased Him to all corners, trying to capture the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never approached even by the meditations of great yogis. In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is never caught by the yogīs and speculators, was playing just like a little child for such a great devotee as Mother Yaśodā.” — Krishna Book Chapter 9
Mother Yashoda became very tired, yet she was so determined and sincere in her desire to catch and train baby Krishna that eventually Lord Krishna felt compassion for her in her sincere efforts and allowed her to catch Him.
To discipline Krishna, mother Yashoda attempted to tie Krishna up to a grinding mortar with some rope. However, to her astonishment, whenever she tried to tie Krishna up, the rope always ended up being two fingers short. She did not give up. In this way, she ended up adding one hundred and fifty feet of rope together but still, she was not successful in tying up Krishna.
Mother Yashoda was astonished seeing this miraculous pastime of her child. She became very exhausted. Lord Krishna appreciated the hard labour of His mother and being compassionate upon her, He agreed to be bound up by the ropes.
It was not the ropes that could bind Lord Krishna, but Mother Yashoda’s unconditional love.
Lord Krishna, Himself declares that He can be conquered only by the pure love of His devotees, and the pastime here demonstrates that He was indeed bound by such love. But what exactly is the process of binding Krishna and developing pure love?
There are two factors, signified by the two fingers by which the rope was short. One finger represents the devotee’s endeavour and the other represents the mercy of the Lord. If we, as devotees, do our best endeavour under the guidance of Guru, Krishna will become pleased and give us mercy, thereby filling the two fingers’ gap.
