100 TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI
for a mother loves her child without any expectation of return. Of course,
although that is generally true, this material world is so polluted that a
mother sometimes thinks, ‘‘My child will grow up and become a man,
and when he earns money, I shall get it.”’ Thus there is still some desire
to get something in exchange. But while loving Krsna there are no selfish
feelings, for that love is unalloyed, free from all material gain (anydbhi-
ldsita-Stinyam).

We should not love Krsna for some material gain. It is not that we
should say, ‘‘Krsna, give us our daily bread, and then I shall love You.
Krsna, give me this or that, and then I shall love You.’’ There should be
no such mercantile exchanges, for Krsna wants unalloyed love.

When Krsna saw mother Yasoda coming with a rope to bind Him, He
immediately became very much afraid, thinking, ‘‘Oh, Mother is going
to bind Me.”’ He began to cry, and the tears washed the mascara from His
eyes. Looking at His mother with great respect, He appealed to her with
feeling, ‘‘Yes, Mother, I have offended you. Kindly excuse Me.” Then
He immediately bowed His head. Kuntidevi appreciated this scene, for
this was another of Krsna’s perfections. Although He is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, He puts Himself under the control of mother
Yasoda. In Bhagavad-gita (7.7) the Lord says, mattah parataram nanyat
kificid asti dhananjaya: ‘‘My dear Arjuna, there is no one superior to
Me.”” Yet that Supreme Personality of Godhead, to whom no one is
superior, bows down to mother Yasoda, accepting, ‘‘My dear Mother,
yes, I am an offender.”

When mother Yasoda saw that Krsna had become too much afraid of
her, she also became disturbed. She did not actually want Krsna to suffer
by her punishment. That was not her purpose. But it is a system, still cur-
rent in India, that when a child creates too much of a disturbance, his
mother may bind him up in one place. That is a very common system, so

+ mother Yasoda adopted it.

This scene is very much appreciated by pure devotees, for it shows
how much greatness there is in the Supreme Person, who plays exactly
like a perfect child. When Krsna plays like a child, He plays perfectly,
when He plays as the husband of sixteen thousand wives He plays per-
fectly, when He plays as the lover of the gopis He plays perfectly, and as
the friend of the cowherd boys He also plays perfectly.

The cowherd boys all depend on Krsna. Once they wanted to take fruit
from a forest of palm trees, but there was a demon named Gardabhasura
who would not allow anyone to enter that forest. Therefore Krsna’s
cowherd boyfriends said to Krsna, ‘‘Krsna, we want to taste that fruit, if
