304 The Nectar of Devotion

the animals, the dust caused by the hooves of the calves and cows
covers Your nice face and artistic tilaka, and You appear very dusty.
But when You return home, the milk flowing out of the breasts of
Your mother washes Your face of its dust covering, and it appears
that You are purified by this milk. It is just like when the Deity is
washed during the performance of the abhiseka ceremony.” It is the
custom in the temples of Deities that if there have been some impure
activities, the Deity has to be washed with milk. Krsna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and He was washed by the milk from the
breast of Mother Yasoda, which purified Him from the dust covering.

Sometimes there are examples of Mother Yasoda’s becoming
stunned in ecstasy. This was exhibited when she saw her son lifting
Govardhan Hill. When Krsna was standing, raising the hill, Mother
Yasoda hesitated to embrace Him and became stunned. The danger-
ous position that Krsna had accepted by lifting the hill brought tears
to her eyes. And with her eyes filled with tears she could not see
Krsna anymore, and because her throat was choked up by anxiety
she could not even instruct Krsna as to what He should do in that
position. This is a symptom of becoming stunned in ecstatic love.

Mother Yagoda sometimes enjoyed transcendental ecstasy in hap-
piness when her child was saved from a dangerous situation, such
as being attacked by Putana or some other demon. In Srimad-
Bhagavatam, 10th Canto, 17th Chapter, 15th verse Sukadeva Go-
svami says that Mother Yasoda felt very, very fortunate when she got
back her lost child. She immediately placed Him on her lap and be-
gan to embrace Him again and again. While she was thus embracing
her son repeatedly, torrents of tears fell from her eyes, and she was
unable to express her transcendental joy. It is stated in the Vidagdha-
madhava of Srila Rupa Gosvami: “My dear Krsna, the touch of Your
mother is so pleasing and cooling that it surpasses the cooling capacity
of the pulp of sandalwood and of bright moonshine mixed with the
pulp of usira root.” (Usira is a kind of root which when soaked with
water has a very, very cooling effect. It is especially used in the
scorching heat of the sun.)

The parental love of Mother Yasoda for Krsna steadily increases,
and her love and ecstasy are sometimes described as intense affection
