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TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTĪ
take it.” Kṛṣṇa wants us to have full experience through which to understand that by material gain we shall never be happy. This is Kṛṣṇa’s desire.
Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, who has full freedom, we too have full freedom, although the quantity of that freedom is quite minute. Although the quantity of salt in a drop of seawater is not comparable to the quantity of salt in the ocean, the chemical composition of both the drop and the ocean is the same. Similarly, whatever we have in a minute quantity is present in its fullness in Kṛṣṇa ( janmādy asya yataḥ ). For example, we have a propensity to steal, to take things that belong to others. Why? Because Kṛṣṇa has the same propensity. Unless the propensity to steal is present in the Absolute Truth, how can it be present in us? Kṛṣṇa is known as “the butter thief.” But Kṛṣṇa’s stealing and our stealing are different. Because we are materially contaminated, our stealing is abominable, whereas on the spiritual, absolute platform the same stealing is so nice that it is enjoyable. Mother Yaśodā therefore enjoys Kṛṣṇa’s activities of stealing. This is the difference between material and spiritual.
Any activities that are spiritual are all-good, and any activities that are material are all-bad. This is the difference between spiritual and material. The so-called morality and goodness of this material world is all bad, but in the spiritual world even so-called immorality is good. This we must understand. For example, to dance with the wives of others at the dead of night is immoral, at least according to the Vedic civilization. Even today in India, a young woman will never be allowed to go to a young man at the dead of night to dance with him. But we shall find in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  that as soon as all the  gopīs , the young cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana, heard Kṛṣṇa’s flute, they immediately came to dance with Him. Now, according to material conceptions this is immoral, but from the spiritual point of view this is in accord with the greatest morality. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore said,  ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā : “Oh, there is no better mode of worship than that which was conceived by the  vraja-vadhūs , the damsels of Vṛndāvana.” After Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, He very strictly avoided association with women. Even in His family life, He never played any jokes with women. He was very humorous, but only with men, not with women. Once He spoke some joking words with His wife, Viṣṇupriyā. When Śacīmātā, Lord Caitanya’s mother, was searching for something, He jokingly said, “Maybe your daughter-in-law has taken it.” But in His whole life these are the only joking words we find in relation to women. He was very strict. After He accepted  sannyāsa , the