Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.9.11

kritāgasam tam prarudantam akshinī

kashantam añjan-mashinī sva-pāninā

udvīkshamānam bhaya-vihvalekshanam

haste grihītvā bhishayanty avāgurat

SYNONYMS

krita-āgasam — who was an offender; tam — unto Krishna; prarudantam — with a crying attitude; akshinī — His two eyes; kashantam — rubbing; añjat-mashinī — from whose eyes the blackish ointment was distributed all over His face with tears; sva-pāninā — with His own hand; udvīkshamānam — who was seen in that attitude by mother Yaśodā; bhaya-vihvala-īkshanam — whose eyes appeared distressed because of such fear of His mother; haste — by the hand; grihītvā — catching; bhishayantī — mother Yaśodā was threatening Him; avāgurat — and thus she very mildly chastised Him.

TRANSLATION

When caught by mother Yaśodā, Krishna became more and more afraid and admitted to being an offender. As she looked upon Him, she saw that He was crying, His tears mixing with the black ointment around His eyes, and as He rubbed His eyes with His hands, He smeared the ointment all over His face. Mother Yaśodā, catching her beautiful son by the hand, mildly began to chastise Him.

PURPORT

From these dealings between mother Yaśodā and Krishna, we can understand the exalted position of a pure devotee in loving service to the Lord. Yogīs, jñānīs, karmīs and Vedāntists cannot even approach Krishna; they must remain very, very far away from Him and try to enter His bodily effulgence, although this also they are unable to do. Great demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva always worship the Lord by meditation and by service. Even the most powerful Yamarāja fears Krishna. Therefore, as we find in the history of Ajāmila, Yamarāja instructed his followers not even to approach the devotees, what to speak of capturing them. In other words, Yamarāja also fears Krishna and Krishna's devotees. Yet this Krishna became so dependent on mother Yaśodā that when she simply showed Krishna the stick in her hand, Krishna admitted to being an offender and began to cry like an ordinary child. Mother Yaśodā, of course, did not want to chastise her beloved child very much, and therefore she immediately threw her stick away and simply rebuked Krishna, saying, "Now I shall bind You so that You cannot commit any further offensive activities. Nor for the time being can You play with Your playmates." This shows the position of a pure devotee, in contrast with others, like jñānīs, yogīs and the followers of Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, in regarding the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth.

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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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