348 The Nectar of Devotion

Once Mother Yasgoda addressed one of her friends in this way:
“Nanda Maharaj, the leader of the cowherdsmen, worshiped Lord
Visnu along with me, and as a result of this worshiping Krsna has
been saved from the clutches of Piitana and other demons. The twin
arjuna trees were, of course, broken due to a strong wind, and al-
though Krsna appeared to have lifted Govardhan Hill along with
Balarama, | think that Nanda Maharaj actually held the mountain.
Otherwise how could it have been possible for a little boy to lift such
a great hill?” This is another example of ecstasy in parental love. This
kind of parental love is generated in a devotee out of his conviction,
in love, that he himself is superior to Krsna and that without being
taken care of by such devotee Krsna could not possibly live. One devo-
tee therefore prayed to the parents of Lord Krsna as follows: “Let
me take shelter of the elderly parental devotees of Lord Krsna. They
are always anxious to serve Krsna and to maintain Him, and they are
always so kind to Him. Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto
them for being so kind to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who
is the parent of the whole universe!”

There is a similar prayer by a brahmana who says, ““Let others wor-
ship the Vedas and the Upanisads, and let others worship the Maha-
bharata if they are afraid of material existence and want to become
liberated from that condition. But as far as I am concerned, I wish
only to worship Maharaj Nanda because the supreme absolute Per-
sonality of Godhead, Krsna, is crawling in his courtyard as his own
child.”

Following is a list of respectful personalities who enjoy parental
affection toward Krsna: 1) Mother Yasoda, the Queen of Braja, 2)
Maharaj Nanda, the King of Braja, 3) Mother Rohini, the mother of
Balarama, 4) all the elderly gopis whose sons were taken away by
Lord Brahma, 5) Devaki, the wife of Vasudeva, 6) the other fifteen
wives of Vasudeva, 7) Kunti, the mother of Arjuna, 8) Vasudeva, the
real father of Krsna, and 9) Sandipani Muni, Krsna’s teacher. All
these are considered respectable elderly personalities with parental
love for Krsna. This list is in order of superior importance, and thus
we can see that Mother YaSoda and Maharaj Nanda are considered to
be the supermost of all elderly personalities.

