Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.8.29

vatsān muñcan kvacid asamaye krośa-sañjāta-hāsah

steyam svādv atty atha dadhi-payah kalpitaih steya-yogaih

markān bhokshyan vibhajati sa cen nātti bhāndam bhinnatti

dravyālābhe sagriha-kupito yāty upakrośya tokān

SYNONYMS

vatsān — the calves; muñcan — releasing; kvacit — sometimes; asamaye — at odd times; krośa-sañjāta-hāsah — after this, when the head of the house is angry, Krishna begins to smile; steyam — obtained by stealing; svādu — very tasteful; atti — eats; atha — thus; dadhi-payah — pot of curd and milk; kalpitaih — devised; steya-yogaih — by some sort of stealing process; markān — to the monkeys; bhokshyan — giving to eat; vibhajati — divides their portion; sah — the monkey; cet — if; na — not; atti — eats; bhāndam — the pot; bhinnatti — He breaks; dravya-alābhe — when eatables are unavailable or He cannot find such pots; sa-griha-kupitah — He becomes angry at the residents of the house; yāti — He goes away; upakrośya — irritating and pinching; tokān — the small children.

TRANSLATION

"Our dear friend Yaśodā, your son sometimes comes to our houses before the milking of the cows and releases the calves, and when the master of the house becomes angry, your son merely smiles. Sometimes He devises some process by which He steals palatable curd, butter and milk, which He then eats and drinks. When the monkeys assemble, He divides it with them, and when the monkeys have their bellies so full that they won't take more, He breaks the pots. Sometimes, if He gets no opportunity to steal butter or milk from a house, He will be angry at the householders, and for His revenge He will agitate the small children by pinching them. Then, when the children begin crying, Krishna will go away.

PURPORT

The narration of Krishna's naughty childhood activities would be presented to mother Yaśodā in the form of complaints. Sometimes Krishna would enter the house of a neighbor, and if He found no one there, He would release the calves before the time for the cows to be milked. The calves are actually supposed to be released when their mothers are milked, but Krishna would release them before that time, and naturally the calves would drink all the milk from their mothers. When the cowherd men saw this, they would chase Krishna and try to catch Him, saying, "Here is Krishna doing mischief," but He would flee and enter another house, where He would again devise some means to steal butter and curd. Then the cowherd men would again try to capture Him, saying, "Here is the butter thief. Better capture Him!" And they would be angry. But Krishna would simply smile, and they would forget everything. Sometimes, in their presence, He would begin eating the curd and butter. There was no need for Krishna to eat butter, since His belly was always full, but He would try to eat it, or else He would break the pots and distribute the contents to the monkeys. In this way, Krishna was always engaged in mischief-making. If in any house He could not find any butter or curd to steal, He would go into a room and agitate the small children sleeping there by pinching them, and when they cried He would go away.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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