Srimad Bhagavatam – day 604
Symbolism behind Yashoda chasing little Krishna
Narayana
The Supreme Lord Srihari is beyond perception. Tasmin pade’stu mama cittamagocare’pi- this Lord is beyond the perception of the mind (chitta) and senses. People mistakenly presume that during deep meditation they can see the Lord. But it is not so. The spiritual aspirant should relentlessly continue to be in the state of meditation. He should consider meditation itself as God. Such Supreme Lord incarnated in human form as Krishna.
“Mother Yashoda now fervently chased little Krishna, trying to catch him, just as Yogis try to catch Him through the process of meditation”.
The mind tries to catch the Supreme Lord, nevertheless it fails as it cannot steadily focus upon Him. It appears as if He is running and the mind is chasing Him. Such Lord, who is beyond the perception of the mind, appeared before Yashoda. To all the residents of Gokula He appeared as a son, friend, brother, uncle, and relative. All the pious residents of that era saw the Lord in human form. To Arjuna He showed his universal form. Each of His incarnations is sacred. Which incarnation can we hold on to?
The five elements, the rivers, mountains, oceans, planets, stars and every other object of this creation is pervaded by Him alone! If someone were to ask- ‘what is the form of the Supreme Lord’, then it can be said that He is an embodiment of everything in the creation. He pervades everything. He is everything. He himself is the creation! He is fire, He exists within fire. He is illumination and He exists within illumination. We cannot perceive the original form of that Supreme Lord. We can see Him only in the form of this creation. The cowherds and milkmaids of Gokula were fortunate to see that Supreme Lord.
We should try to stop our mind from running hither and tither and should instead fix it exclusively upon Him. We should willingly restrain it and direct it towards Him. Even if we try to fix it totally upon Him, He will not remain steady there. He will run. Our Self (atma) should run along with Him. Likewise, Yashoda was running behind her son. How fortunate was mother Yashoda! How fortunate are we to be blessed with this opportunity to listen to this incident!
“In order to catch the Supreme Lord, Yashoda speedily chased him. Due to her body weight, the slender waisted Yashoda was fatigued due to running”.
The ‘mind’ called Yashoda was fervently chasing the Lord trying to catch Him. With her mind she was trying to catch the Lord who existed as another mind and was trying to absorb His mind into hers. The ‘mind’ called Yashoda slowly began to give up trying to catch him.
People get tired and decide to stop their efforts. However the spiritual aspirant should, without giving up, unrelentingly continue to chase the Lord. This is true sadhana; it is true penance. It is the meaning of successful penance.
“Because of running fervently trying to catch Krishna, Yashoda’s braid became loose and the flowers held in her braid began to slip and fall one by one”.
Here it implies that due to continuously chasing the Lord, the various forms of impurities that attach to the mind in the form of sins or in the form of subtle impressions of past actions (vāsana) slowly fall away one by one. They are compared to the flowers. This is the result of continuous sadhana.
“By then Krishna began to wail loudly. Even though he was at fault, he now began to wail”.
Children who get terrified when their mischief comes to the notice of elders, cry in tension. They howl even before elders rebuke them. Their loud screams draw the attention of the neighbours who presume that the parents are heartlessly beating the infant. This trait is visible even in birds. The mischievous parrots pretentiously shriek as if they are being attacked. It becomes difficult to pacify them at that stage.
If an infant is rebuked even slightly he/she will cry piteously for long. The parents then have to spend a lot of time cajoling the child, notwithstanding the fact that he/she was at fault. They have to ensure that the child forgets the mistake itself. Until then the child won’t smile. Here Krishna was at fault. He had broken the pot and spilled its contents. He had taken away the butter stored in the pot and was feeding it to the monkey. As if this was inadequate, he made his mother run all over the house. In the end however when his mother was nearing him, he began to wail loudly as if he was terrified. Realizing that her speed had slackened, he intensified his crying.
“As he rubbed his eyes with his hands while crying, the kohl that was anointed to his eyes spread everywhere rendering his face totally black. He looked at his mother trembling in fright. Yashoda caught his hand and was about to reprimand him. Yashoda, whose heart overflowed with love towards her little son, failed to realize his true capacities. She did not know who he was. Nevertheless, she could not get herself to beat him. She felt helpless. Even though she wanted to beat him, she could not”.
Narayana