SB 1.8.31 – Damodara-lila

Premavatar dasa: Hare Krishna. So, today we are very fortunate, on this auspicious day of Bahula Ashtami. We are having with us His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja. Haribol! So, we will be hearing from Giriraj Swami Maharaja. Maharaja is a very senior disciple of His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, and mercifully, he agreed to give his association on this very auspicious day. Maharaja is in the US and we are in India, and we are celebrating Bahula Ashtami here today.

So, Maharaja will be speaking from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Eighth Chapter, Verse Thirty-One, in relation to dāmodara-līlā. So, thank you very much, Maharaja, for giving your association. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So, I will begin by singing the maṅgala-ācaraṇa prayers and leading a short kirtan, and then we will speak about Mother Yasoda and her son Damodara.

[Prayers]

Hare Krishna. I request the participants on Zoom, as far as possible, to put on your cameras so I can see your moon-like faces.

So, we are in the month of Damodara, during which we celebrate the dāmodara-līlā, the pastime in which Mother Yasoda bound Lord Krishna with ropes. Dama means rope, and udara means belly or abdomen. So, the very name Damodara means Krishna, who is bound around the belly by ropes. So, I will read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Eight, Text Thirty-One.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

A minute ago, the verse was on the screen. If it is on the screen, I will read it from the screen. Otherwise, I’ll read it from the book. Yes. So, we read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Eight: “Prayers by Queen Kuntī,” Text Thirty-One.

TEXT 31

gopy ādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad

yā te daśāśru-kalilāñjana-sambhramākṣam

vaktraṁ ninīya bhaya-bhāvanayā sthitasya

sā māṁ vimohayati bhīr api yad bibheti

TRANSLATION

My dear Kṛṣṇa, Yaśodā took up a rope to bind You when You committed an offense, and Your perturbed eyes overflooded with tears, which washed the mascara from Your eyes. And You were afraid, though fear personified is afraid of You. This sight is bewildering to me.

COMMENT

So, as I read the purport, I will comment, so it won’t be very helpful to have the purport on the screen.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Here is another explanation of the bewilderment created by the pastimes of the Lord. The Supreme Lord is the Supreme in all circumstances, as already explained. Here is a specific example of the Lord’s being the Supreme and at the same time a plaything in the presence of His pure devotee.

COMMENT

So, generally, Lord Krishna is approached with awe and veneration, great respect and obeisance, but sometimes Krishna wants to be chastised. But who can chastise Krishna? Only the purest of devotees to whom the Lord is prepared to become a plaything, as Srila Prabhupada mentions. And this desire of Krishna’s is explained in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Four,

TEXT 17

“All the universe is filled with the conception of My majesty, but love weakened by that sense of majesty does not satisfy Me.

TEXT 18

“If one regards Me as the Supreme Lord and himself as a subordinate, I do not become subservient to his love, nor can it control Me.

TEXT 19

“In whatever transcendental mellow My devotee worships Me, I reciprocate with him. That is My natural behavior.

TEXT 20

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

In whatever way my devotees surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

TEXT 21–22

“If one cherishes pure loving devotion to Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him.

TEXT 24

“Mother sometimes binds Me as her son. She nourishes and protects Me, thinking Me utterly helpless.

TEXT 27–28

“Taking these pure devotees with Me, I shall descend and sport in various wonderful ways, unknown even in Vaikuṇṭha. I shall broadcast such pastimes by which even I am amazed.

COMMENT

And to facilitate Krishna’s pastimes, He invokes His potency known as yogamāyā. There is mahā-māyā and yogamāyā. Mahā-māyā is the potency that deludes the fallen conditioned souls and makes them forget Krishna, but yogamāyā partially reveals Krishna and partially conceals Him. She reveals Him as the perfect person, but she conceals His Godhood from His pure devotees in Goloka Vrindavan, or in Vrindavan on earth when Krishna manifested His pastimes here.

And by the influence of yogamāyā, the devotees forget that Krishna is God. And by the influence of yogamāyā, Krishna also forgets that He is God. So, when He is afraid of being chastised by Mother Yasoda, He is not pretending. By the influence of yogamāyā, He forgets that He is God and He identifies Himself as the child of Yasoda. And so, when she picks up the stick, He really becomes fearful. And that is the beauty of how the Lord reciprocates with His pure devotees, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord’s pure devotee renders service unto the Lord out of unalloyed love only, and while discharging such devotional service the pure devotee forgets the position of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord also accepts the loving service of His devotees more relishably when the service is rendered spontaneously out of pure affection, without anything of reverential admiration.

COMMENT

We discussed that, and Krishna Himself, as presented to us in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, says the same thing.

PURPORT (continued)

Generally the Lord is worshiped by the devotees in a reverential attitude, but the Lord is meticulously pleased when the devotee, out of pure affection and love, considers the Lord to be less important than himself.

COMMENT

We should understand what pure affection means. The technical word is kevala, mentioned in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It means without consideration whether Krishna is God or not. There is no condition that, “If Krishna is God, I will love Him and serve Him, but not if He is not God.” But on the platform of pure love in Goloka Vrindavan, the pure devotees love Krishna spontaneously, without considering whether He is God or not.

They couldn’t care less if He is God or not, but they are attracted to Him. And the very name Krishna means all-attractive, and they are attracted to Krishna spontaneously, without any consideration of whether He is God or not.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord’s pastimes in the original abode of Goloka Vṛndāvana are exchanged in that spirit. The friends of Kṛṣṇa consider Him one of them. They do not consider Him to be of reverential importance. The parents of the Lord (who are all pure devotees) consider Him a child only. The Lord accepts the chastisements of the parents more cheerfully than the prayers of the Vedic hymns. Similarly, He accepts the reproaches of His fiancees more palatably than the Vedic hymns.

COMMENT

Now, here in this purport, Srila Prabhupada is paraphrasing the statements in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, some of which I quoted. I didn’t read these because I was focusing on vātsalya-rasa and Mother Yasoda’s relationship with Krishna, and so I read Ādi 4.24.

TEXT 24

“Mother sometimes binds Me as her son. She nourishes and protects Me, thinking Me utterly helpless.

TEXT 25

“My friends climb on My shoulders in pure friendship, saying, ‘What kind of big man are You? You and I are equal.’ 

TEXT 26

“If My beloved consort reproaches Me in a sulky mood, that steals My mind from the reverent hymns of the Vedas.

COMMENT

So, exactly these points.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord accepts the chastisements of the parents more cheerfully than the prayers of the Vedic hymns. Similarly, He accepts the reproaches of His fiancees more palatably than the Vedic hymns. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was present in this material world to manifest His eternal pastimes of the transcendental realm of Goloka Vṛndāvana as an attraction for the people in general, He displayed a unique picture of subordination before His foster mother, Yaśodā. 

COMMENT

So, there is Goloka Vrindavan in the spiritual sky, and then there is Gokula Vrindavan in the material world. And I say it’s in the material world, but actually, the spiritual Vrindavan descends into the material world and is spiritual. Although if someone goes to Vrindavan, they will see a lot of dirt and pigs, and monkeys, of course, were there with Krishna. But they will think, What is this? This doesn’t seem spiritual to me. This doesn’t look like the Kingdom of God.

But Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that to preserve the confidentiality of the dhāma, the dhāma is covered by a thin layer of maya. And so, ordinary people, they see that thin layer of maya and they think, What a disgusting place. But pure devotees, they can see beyond that thin covering of maya to the actual spiritual Vrindavan.

So, ultimately, there is no difference between the Goloka Vrindavan in the spiritual world and the Vrindavan manifested in the material world, if we have the eyes to see it. And Srila Prabhupada gives the example of an embassy. For example, say the American embassy in India. Technically and legally, it is not India, it is America. So similarly, when Krishna’s abode descends to the material world, it’s not in the material world, but it is still the spiritual world.

So, now we’ll go back to the beautiful purport.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord, in His naturally childish playful activities, used to spoil the stocked butter of mother Yaśodā by breaking the pots and distributing the contents to His friends and playmates, including the celebrated monkeys of Vṛndāvana, who took advantage of the Lord’s munificence. 

COMMENT

So, many of you are familiar with the story, as related in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Nine: “Mother Yaśodā Binds Lord Kṛṣṇa.” But in brief, Mother Yasoda was feeding Krishna with her breast milk, but then she noticed that the milk pan that was on the fire was starting to boil over. And so, she set aside baby Krishna to tend to the overflowing milk pan, which was necessary. But Krishna, not having been satisfied drinking His mother’s breast milk, which actually is her love, Krishna became angry. And so, He broke the pot of yogurt that His mother was churning into butter, and He distributed its contents. And then, when Mother Yasoda returned from the fire to where she left Krishna, she saw that the pot had been broken and that Krishna was gone, and she concluded that the mischief was the work of Krishna. And His little feet were smeared with butter. And so, she followed those butter smeared footprints to catch Krishna.

And then, there assumed a chase, Mother Yasoda was chasing Krishna. And although Krishna cannot be caught by the greatest jnanis and yogis, but He did allow Himself to be caught by Mother Yasoda. And then she wanted to bind Him with ropes to prevent him from engaging in further mischief. And in one purport in the Tenth Canto, Ninth Chapter, Srila Prabhupada says that the boy, Krishna, was so restless that Mother Yasoda was afraid that He might run away from the house because she had chastised Him. And so, she wanted to bind Him with ropes so He wouldn’t run away. And so, that brings us to this dāmodara-līlā.

PURPORT (continued)

Mother Yaśodā saw this, and out of her pure love she wanted to make a show of punishment for her transcendental child. She took a rope and threatened the Lord that she would tie Him up, as is generally done in the ordinary household. 

COMMENT

And Srila Prabhupada, speaking on this verse once, commented that in India, the parents do that sometimes. If the child is too mischievous, they tie him as a preventive measure against further mischief.

PURPORT (continued)

She took a rope and threatened the Lord that she would tie Him up, as is generally done in the ordinary household. Seeing the rope in the hands of mother Yaśodā, the Lord bowed down His head and began to weep just like a child, and tears rolled down His cheeks, washing off the black ointment smeared about His beautiful eyes.

COMMENT

So, these words in the verse are very significant, which Srila Prabhupada is commenting on here in the purport. And vaktraṁ ninīya, His face was downwards, He was repenting or making a show of repenting for His offense, for His misdeed. And He began to weep just like a child and tears rolled down His cheeks, washing off the black ointment smeared about His beautiful eyes.

Now, Lord Krishna has six opulences. In fact, the word Bhagavān means one who is full in six opulences, who possesses all six opulences in full. Bhaga means opulence, and van means one who possesses. And Srila Prabhupada says that in this pastime, Krishna is showing His opulence of. . .? I’ll give you a few seconds to think. What opulence is Krishna displaying here?

Srila Prabhupada said Krishna is displaying His opulence of beauty, that this sight is so beautiful, so enchanting, so charming. And therefore, in the Dāmodarāṣṭakam, Satyavrata Muni praises, “May this vision always be manifest before my eyes.” Because Krishna is so beautiful.

PURPORT (continued)

Kuntī was conscious of the exalted position of Kṛṣṇa, whereas Yaśodā was not. Therefore Yaśodā’s position was more exalted than Kuntī’s.

COMMENT

Comparatively, Mother Yasoda was acting out of spontaneous love, thinking of Krishna as her son, her subordinate, to whom she was superior as His mother. On that platform of pure love, Mother Yasoda stands superior to Kunti. But although Kunti was a resident of Hastinapura, not of Vrindavan, but she was aware of the Lord’s pastimes in Vrindavan, and she was appreciating the affectionate exchange between Mother Yasoda and child Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Mother Yaśodā got the Lord as her child, and the Lord made her forget altogether that her child was the Lord Himself. 

COMMENT

Through the agency of yogamāyā. And as I mentioned, Krishna Himself came under yogamāyā. So, He also forgot His position as the Lord. But Krishna has many potencies, and although in Vrindavan generally, Krishna does not act as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He acts as an ordinary cowherd boy. But when necessary, He does remember. For example, when there is a forest fire. Krishna swallowed the forest fire. So, Krishna has His līlā shakti, His pastime potency. So, when there is need, the līlā shakti intervenes and reminds Krishna that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who has supernatural powers, and that He needs to show those supernatural powers for the sake of His devotees.

Everything Krishna does ultimately is for the sake of His devotees. But here in this case, He is fully under yogamāyā and He has become a plaything in the hands of Mother Yasoda.

PURPORT (continued)

If mother Yaśodā had been conscious of the exalted position of the Lord, she would certainly have hesitated to punish the Lord. But she was made to forget this situation because the Lord wanted to make a complete gesture of childishness before the affectionate Yaśodā. This exchange of love between the mother and the son was performed in a natural way, and Kuntī, remembering the scene, was bewildered, and she could do nothing but praise the transcendental maternal and filial love. Indirectly mother Yaśodā is praised for her unique position of love, for she could control even the all-powerful Lord as her beloved child.

COMMENT

And this statement of Srila Prabhupada’s is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in a very striking verse. This is again Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Nine: “Mother Yaśodā Binds Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

TEXT 20

nemaṁ viriñco na bhavo
na śrīr apy aṅga-saṁśrayā
prasādaṁ lebhire gopī
yat tat prāpa vimuktidāt

TRANSLATION

Neither Lord Brahmā, nor Lord Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yaśodā.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is a comparative study between mother Yaśodā and other devotees of the Lord. As stated in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi 5.142), ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya: the only supreme master is Kṛṣṇa, and all others are His servants. Kṛṣṇa has the transcendental quality of bhṛtya-vaśyatā, becoming subordinate to His bhṛtya, or servant.

COMMENT

That Sanskrit phrase is also mentioned here in this section.

PURPORT (continued)

Kṛṣṇa has the transcendental quality of bhṛtya-vaśyatā, becoming subordinate to His bhṛtya, or servant. Now, although everyone is bhṛtya and although Kṛṣṇa has the quality of becoming subordinate to His bhṛtya, the position of mother Yaśodā is the greatest. Lord Brahmā is bhṛtya, a servant of Kṛṣṇa, and he is ādi-kavi, the original creator of this universe (tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye). Nonetheless, even he could not obtain such mercy as mother Yaśodā. As for Lord Śiva, he is the topmost Vaiṣṇava (vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ). What to speak of Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, is the Lord’s constant companion in service, since she always associates with His body. But even she could not get such mercy. Therefore Mahārāja Parīkṣit was surprised, thinking, “What did mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja do in their previous lives by which they got such a great opportunity, the opportunity to be the affectionate father and mother of Kṛṣṇa?”

In this verse there are three negative pronouncements — na, na, na. When anything is uttered three times — “do it, do it, do it”

COMMENT

“Chant, chant, chant.”

PURPORT (continued)

— one should understand that this is meant to indicate great stress on a fact. In this verse, we find na lebhire, na lebhire, na lebhire. Yet mother Yaśodā is in the supermost exalted position, and thus Kṛṣṇa has become completely subordinate to her.

That exalted platform of premā is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as premā pum-artho mahān, and mother Yaśodā naturally acts in such an exalted position in loving affairs. She is therefore a nitya-siddha devotee, an expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s hlādinī potency, His potency to enjoy transcendental bliss through expansions who are special devotees (ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ).

COMMENT

So, this is an indication of Mother Yasoda’s exalted position, practically more exalted than any other devotee of Krishna. Of course, Srimati Radharani is exalted, but in a different way. But Mother Yasoda is so exalted that, as Prabhupada said, Krishna became a plaything in her hands, and she could chase Krishna and capture Him and ultimately, bind Him with ropes.

And just before concluding, I will mention that when Mother Yasoda initially tried to bind Krishna with ropes, the ropes were always the width of two fingers too short. So, she got more ropes and added it, but still, two fingers too short. And she kept adding ropes, and she had a lot of ropes because they were in a cowherd community so they needed a lot of ropes. And she kept adding more ropes, and she was always two fingers too short. And this was very surprising because every morning, Yasoda would help Krishna to get dressed, and she would tie His belt around His waist and she never had any trouble. Just a little belt, no trouble. But now with ropes and ropes and ropes, even her friends were bringing their ropes, she couldn’t bind Krishna, always two fingers too short.

But in the end, Krishna, seeing her hard labor, was merciful to her and allowed her to bind Him. And in that verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are two significant words. One is pariśrama, which means one’s own endeavor or hard labor, and the other is kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, which means Krishna’s mercy. And the acharyas explain that the width of two fingers was covered by those two elements. One width was covered by pariśrama, by Mother Yasoda’s earnest endeavor, and the other was covered by kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, by Krishna’s mercy.

And so, in our devotional efforts, these two elements are required for success: our own effort, and Krishna’s mercy. If we think, I won’t make any effort, I’ll just pray to Krishna for His mercy, that will not be sufficient. And if we think, I’ll be successful just by my own efforts, I don’t need Krishna’s mercy, that also will not work. So, we need that combination of pariśrama and kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, and then we can bind Krishna. When we chant our japa, we are trying to bind Krishna in our minds, and sometimes it’s not easy. But when these two ingredients combine; pariśrama, our effort, and kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, Krishna’s mercy, we will be able to bind Krishna. I mean, we are not really binding Him, but out of His mercy, He will allow us to bind Him, by His mercy.

So, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this relishable pastime, and if we have time, we can take questions and comments. Oh, I see there is already a question in the chat. So, of course, I do prefer if the people who have the questions are on Zoom, they can ask me directly and I can see them and answer them. So, Premavatar Prabhu?

Premavatar dasa: Yes, Maharaja. Jayesh, you can ask your question.

Jayesh dasa: Daṇḍavat-praṇāmās, Maharaja. Can you please hear me?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I can hear you.

Jayesh dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. My question is, Krishna is the Supreme Lord, and yogamāyā is His potency. So, how is it possible that Krishna is being controlled by His own potency? Is He not pretending to be feared?

Giriraj Swami: Well, she is His servant. Of course, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya, only Krishna is the Supreme Controller and everyone is His servant. But that’s her service, to make Him forget that He is God, so that He can enjoy His pastimes with His pure devotees in His Vrindavan dhāma. That’s her service. I mean, this may not be the best example, but once, I was at Bhaktivedanta manor, and there was a devotee. He was a dentist, and instead of using an anesthetic, he could hypnotize his patients so that they wouldn’t feel the pain when he did his dental work on them.

So, I mean, in a way, he is the servant of his patient, but his patient willingly comes under the spell of his hypnotism. And then, when the hypnotism is no longer required, then he comes out of that. So, yogamāyā is a very, very important aspect of Vraja līlā, very important. Thank you, that was a good question.

Premavatar dasa: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. So, thank you very much for your auspicious association on this auspicious day, Bahula Ashtami, and we express our heartfelt gratitude for accepting to bless us and enlightening us with a deeper understanding of such an important topic, dāmodara-līlā. And you shared so many wonderful relevant purports of Srila Prabhupada. Thank you very much, Maharaja, for your valuable association. Hare Krishna. His Holiness Bhakti Prema Swami Maharaja is there? Maharaja, would you like to say something?

Bhakti Prema Swami: Daṇḍavat-praṇāmās, Maharaja. I request that at least every month, one such class if you give us, we will be very grateful to you.

Giriraj Swami: It would be an honor and privilege and pleasure to serve you all in service to Srila Prabhupada and His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja.

Bhakti Prema Swami: Thank you, Maharaja. Thank you very much, Maharaja, for accepting our request.

Giriraj Swami: Jaya! Krishna willing.

Premavatar dasa: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Guru Maharaja ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Hare Krishna, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: So, are we ending now? No, I don’t mind, but if we are ending now, I would like to conclude by offering Vaishnava praṇāma.

Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone and are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

[Prayers]