| Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 9: Mother Yaśodā Binds Lord Lord Krishna |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.9.13-14
pūrvāparam bahiś cāntar
gopikolūkhale dāmnā
SYNONYMS
na — not; ca — also; antah — interior; na — nor; bahih — exterior; yasya — whose; na — neither; pūrvam — beginning; na — nor; api — indeed; ca — also; aparam — end; pūrva-aparam — the beginning and the end; bahih ca antah — the external and the internal; jagatah — of the whole cosmic manifestation; yah — one who is; jagat ca yah — and who is everything in creation in total; tam — Him; matvā — considering; ātmajam — her own son; avyaktam — the unmanifested; martya-lińgam — appearing as a human being; adhokshajam — beyond sense perception; gopikā — mother Yaśodā; ulūkhale — to the grinding mortar; dāmnā — by a rope; babandha — bound; prākritam yathā — as done to a common human child.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no beginning and no end, no exterior and no interior, no front and no rear. In other words, He is all-pervading. Because He is not under the influence of the element of time, for Him there is no difference between past, present and future; He exists in His own transcendental form at all times. Being absolute, beyond relativity, He is free from distinctions between cause and effect, although He is the cause and effect of everything. That unmanifested person, who is beyond the perception of the senses, had now appeared as a human child, and mother Yaśodā, considering Him her own ordinary child, bound Him to the wooden mortar with a rope.
PURPORT
In Bhagavad-gītā (10.12), Krishna is described as the Supreme Brahman (param brahma param dhāma). The word brahma means "the greatest." Krishna is greater than the greatest, being unlimited and all-pervading. How can it be possible for the all-pervading to be measured or bound? Then again, Krishna is the time factor. Therefore, He is all-pervading not only in space but also in time. We have measurements of time, but although we are limited by past, present and future, for Krishna these do not exist. Every individual person can be measured, but Krishna has already shown that although He also is an individual, the entire cosmic manifestation is within His mouth. All these points considered, Krishna cannot be measured. How then did Yaśodā want to measure Him and bind Him? We must conclude that this took place simply on the platform of pure transcendental love. This was the only cause.
advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam
ādyam purāna-purusham nava-yauvanam ca
vedeshu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau
govindam ādi-purusham tam aham bhajāmi
Everything is one because Krishna is the supreme cause of everything. Krishna cannot be measured or calculated by Vedic knowledge (vedeshu durlabham). He is available only to devotees (adurlabham ātma-bhaktau). Devotees can handle Him because they act on the basis of loving service (bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvatah) [Bg. 18.55]. Thus mother Yaśodā wanted to bind Him.
Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari