Mother Yasoda Binding Lord Krsna 65
place, fearing punishment.” After she sought all over, she found a big
wooden grinding mortar which was kept upside down, and she found her
son sitting on it. He was taking butter which was hanging from the ceiling
on a swing, and He was feeding it to the monkeys. She saw Krsna looking
this way and that way in fear of her because He was conscious of His
naughty behavior. After seeing her son so engaged, she very silently
approached Him from behind. Krsna, however, quickly saw her coming
at Him with a stick in her hand, and immediately He got down from the
grinding mortar and began to flee in fear.

Mother Yasoda 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, Krsna,
who is never caught by the yogis and speculators, was playing just like a
little child for a great devotee like mother Yasoda. Mother Yasoda,
however, could not easily catch the fast-running child because of her thin
waist and heavy body. Still she tried to follow Him as fast as possible. Her
hair loosened, and the flower in her hair fell to the ground. Although she
was tired, she somehow reached her naughty child and captured Him.
When He was caught, Krsna was almost on the point of crying. He smeared
His hands over His eyes, which were anointed with black eye cosmetics.
The child saw His mother’s face while she stood over Him, and His eyes
became restless from fear. Mother Yasoda could understand that Krsna
was unnecessarily afraid, and for His benefit she wanted to allay His fears.

Being the topmost well-wisher of her child, mother Yasoda began to
think, “If the child is too fearful of me, I don’t know what will happen to
Him.” Mother Yasoda then threw away her stick. In order to punish Him,
she thought to bind His hands with some ropes. She did not know it, but
it was actually impossible for her to bind the Supreme Personality of God-
head. Mother Yasoda was thinking that Krsna was her tiny child; she did
not know that the child had no limitation. There is no inside or outside of
Him, nor beginning or end. He is unlimited and all-pervading. Indeed, He
is Himself the whole cosmic manifestation. Still, mother Yasoda was
thinking of Krsna as her child. Although He is beyond the reach of all
senses, she endeavored to bind Him up to a wooden grinding mortar. But
when she tried to bind Him, she found that the rope she was using was too
short—by two inches. She gathered more ropes from the house and added
to it, but at the end she found the same shortage. In this way, she con-
nected all the ropes available at home, but when the final knot was added,
she saw that it was still two inches too short. Mother Yasoda was smiling,
but she was astonished. How was it happening?
