Mādhurya Upāsanā: Vātsalya Prema Part 2

The Vātsalya Prema of Vraja Dham is pure Mādhurya Rasa, untouched by the Aishwarya mood of Bhakti. One day, the little child Krishna was playing with His Sakhas. Suddenly, He ate a handful of the dust of Vrindavan. The Sakhas saw this and said, “Kanhaiya! We will tell mother Yashoda what you have done! You ate mud!” Kanhaiya was quite afraid that mother Yashoda might beat Him with her stick today. Nonetheless, all the Sakhas took Kanhaiya to mother Yashoda and told her everything. The Sakhas thought that if they didn’t inform this to mother Yashoda, she would reprimand them later when He would fall sick or develop a stomach pain. “Mother Yashoda, Kanhaiya ate mud!” they said. Mother Yashoda became angry. “Kanhaiya! Did you eat mud?” she asked Kanhaiya. But Kanhaiya didn’t say anything since there was mud in His mouth and as soon as He would speak, mother Yashoda would see the mud. He just shook his head to say no. “Why don’t you speak? Say yes or no,” said mother Yashoda. But Kanhaiya still shook His head and made an “uh-oh” sound to deny it. At this point, He was terrified that mother Yashoda would force Him to open His mouth. How can He avoid getting scolded and beaten up by His mother? If mother Yashoda saw mud in His mouth, all the truth would come out!

Now, Aishwarya Shakti and Mādhurya Shakti of Krishna always serve Him in His pastimes. Whenever He needs their aid, they serve Him accordingly. When Krishna wants to be Mugdha, Mādhurya Shakti serves Him. When He wants to be Sarvagya, Aishwarya Shakti serves Him.

Here, mother Yashoda suspected that something is wrong. Kanhaiya doesn’t want to open His mouth. So she pressed together His cheeks in order to pop His mouth open, saying, “Open! Open your mouth!” Immediately, Aishwarya Shakti took over in order to save Krishna from mother Yashoda’s wrath. Suddenly, mother Yashoda saw the infinite universes inside the little mouth of Kanhaiya! She could not understand what was happening! ‘What is happening? What am I seeing? Why am I seeing infinite universes inside Kanhaiya’s mouth? Is this some black magic or negative influence of celestial bodies? What has happened to my child?’ she thought in amazement and fear. She could see the planet Earth in the universe, in which she saw Bhārat, in which she saw Vraja Dham, in which she was Nandagram, in which she saw Nandabhavan (the house of Nanda Maharaj), where she saw herself holding her child Kanhaiya’s face and looking into his mouth which again contained the infinite universes! She was terrified beyond anything but still, she was not influenced by the Aishwarya Shakti of Krishna. She could not think of her Kanhaiya as God even for a blink of an eye!

‘What has happened to my child? What should I do? How should I save my child?’ she thought, huffing and puffing in panic. ‘O Narayan, please save my child! Please cure my Kanhaiya! I will donate lakhs of cows! I will serve Brāhmins and Sādhus! I will donate a lot of gold and jewels to them!’ She prayed and begged Narayan to save her child Kanhaiya.

Kanhaiya saw that the manifestation of Aishwarya Shakti had frightened mother Yashoda. He told Aishwarya Shakti to go away. “This is my mother! My mother is not influenced by you. She is frightened. You must go away now!” He said to Aishwarya Shakti. Aishwarya Shakti’s influence subsided. Mother Yashoda was relieved to see her child as normal. She hugged Kanhaiya tightly. Tears fell continuously down her cheeks. “Call the Brahmins and priests! Let them perform purification rituals and chant auspicious mantras!” she said. She took her child to the cows and bathed Him in cow dung and urine, which are considered extremely purifying. She also donated gold, jewels, cows, etc as she promised to Narayan. She performed every ritual known to purify Kanhaiya and beget Him auspicious blessings. This is the pure Vātslya Prema of Vraja where the devotee can never think of Krishna as God! Krishna also forgets that He is God and becomes a little child to sit in the lap of His mother and drink her breasts’ nectarine milk full of Vātslya Prema.

(As baba said in the previous article, Vātsalya Prema consists of the qualities of Dāsya Prema and Sakhya Prema but it also involves disciplining, reprimanding and punishing Krishna when He is naughty.) If a devotee accepts Krishna as God and recognizes His Aishwaryamaya Prakash, the Mādhurya mood of love subsides. Pure Mādhurya Prakash cannot stay at the same place as Aishwaryamaya Prakash. As we discussed before, mother Devaki could never (practically) love Krishna as her son. Although she considered Him as her son and there is some Vātsalya mood, she was always aware of His Lordship. Whereas, Krishna’s Aishwarya could not stay in front of the pure Vātsalya Prema of mother Yashoda. The little child Krishna killed Putanā, Shakatāsura, Trināvarta, etc in front of mother Yashoda, which is impossible for any ordinary human child. He picked up the Govardhan Hill on the tip of His little finger in front of her and yet she could never even think that He is God!

Yes, she knew Gargācharya Muni had said during His naming ceremony that He was adorned with qualities similar to that of Narayan. She thinks that due to the special blessings of Narayan, God’s power acts through Krishna and makes Him do such impossible feats. But it is not Krishna who does all these, it is Narayan’s power. Soon after performing such impossible feats, Krishna comes crying to mother Yashoda, saying, “Maiya, I am so hungry! Give me something to eat, Maiya! Please!” He puts His arms around His mother’s neck and tears fall down His cheeks. Mother Yashoda forgets everything at that moment. She loses all external awareness and gets immersed in the Vātsalya Prema for her child Krishna. On whose lap sits the Pūrna Brahmå Sanātan (meaning, the Supreme Lord who is the complete manifestation of Gyānamaya Prakash, Aishwaryamaya Prakash and Mādhuryamaya Prakash), can such a person still be aware of physical needs like hunger, thirst, etc?!

Such a personification of pure Vātsalya Prema, mother Yashoda also disciplines, reprimands and punishes Krishna when He is naughty. Krishna also accepts the discipline and punishment of mother Yashoda (and other Vātsalya Rasa devotees) and is extremely pleased to relish such Vātsalya Prema! (Since Madhura Rasa consists of the qualities of Dāsya, Sakhya and Vātsalya, the same behaviour can be seen in Madhura Rasa too.) Here is a verse from Chaitanya Charitamrita:

“Priyā yadi māna kari' karaye bhartsana,

veda-stuti haite hare sei mora mana.”

(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 4.26)

Meaning: If My beloved (female) lover reproaches Me in a sulky mood, that steals My mind from the reverent hymns of the Vedas.

The hymns of Vedas are not so pleasing to the ears and heart of Krishna as the chastising and reprimands of Vraja Gopis. This is a unique aspect of Vraja Prema! And Krishna derives so much pleasure out of it that He forgets He is the Supreme Lord of infinite universes!

Krishna gets immense pleasure out of mother Yashoda’s Vātsalya Prema and sits on her lap saying, “maiya, maiya!” to drink her nectarian breast milk. Mother Yashoda also becomes ecstatic with Vātsalya Prema for her child Krishna and loses awareness of her body and surroundings. This kind of Vātsalya Prema does not exist anywhere else.

One day, the child Krishna was playing near the banks of Yamuna with His Sakhas. His body was smeared with dust of Vraja and cow dung. He was playing naked in mud which was now smeared on His face and body. Sri Dāma, Sudāma, Subal, Vasudāma, etc were also playing with Him. At that moment, a Gopi came to fill Yamuna water in her pot. Her eyes fell on the little child Krishna. She was ecstatic to see the beauty of the lotus face of Supreme Lord of infinite universes. She was so immersed in the beauty of child Krishna that she lost all awareness of her body and surroundings!

‘Aha! How can such a beautiful child exist in this world? How did the Vidhātā (the Creator) create such an amazing beauty?’ she thought. ‘But see, the mother of this beautiful child is cruel and hard-hearted! The child is smeared with dirt, mud and cow dung all over his body but the mother is not bothered by it! What kind of mother is she?! If he had been my child, I would have kept him embraced in my arms and never let him play in the dirt!’ She kept gazing at the child Krishna and could not take her eyes off him at all.

Krishna was completely naked. ‘The mother of this child is so hard-hearted! She didn’t even put any clothes on him! If he had been my child, I would have decorated him with beautiful clothes, ornaments and decorations. I would have held him in my arms and never put him down on dirt!’ she thought. Krishna gazed at her with His slant look and then continued playing. After some time, He again looked at her with His slant look. The Gopi was absolutely mesmerized by Krishna’s slant looks and cute face. She wanted to take Krishna in her lap and go home!

Lila Purushottam, Krishna, approached her and gazed innocently at her face.

Gopi: Dear child, what is your name?

Krishna: Kanhaiya!

Gopi: Will you go with me to my home?

Krishna: Yes! I will go!

Gopi: Come, let’s go.

Krishna: No, not like this.

Gopi: Then, what do you want?

Krishna: Tell me, will you love me like my mother?

Gopi: I will love you even more than your mother.

Krishna: Really? You will love me even more than my mother? Okay, then, I will surely go with you!

The Gopi was very happy. She filled her water pot and placed it on her head. She held the water pot with one hand and with the other, she held Krishna’s hand to lead Him home.

Krishna: No, no, take me in your arms!

It was difficult to balance the water pot on the head and carry a child in her arms. But nonetheless, the Gopi picked up Kanhaiya with one hand and carried him on the side. After two minutes of walking, Krishna cried loudly.

Krishna: No, no, no! I will sit on the other side!

Gopi put Him down, held the water pot with the hand she was holding Him and picked up Kanhaiya with the other hand. After two minutes of walking like this, Kanhaiya cried loudly again.

Krishna: No, no, no! Take me on your back!

Gopi did whatever Kanhaiya desired, no matter how difficult it was to balance the water pot and carry Kanhaiya at the same time. But Kanhaiya continued to cry loudly and asked her to change sides. In a few minutes, she was perspiring with exhaustion! Then Kanhaiya said, “No, no, no! Put me down, put me down!” As soon as the Gopi put Him down, Kanhaiya ran away! On reaching some distance, He turned around and said, “Your love for me is nothing like my mother! Had it been her, she would have given me two slaps by now!” And He ran away like the wind!

What Kanhaiya means to say is that the Gopi does not scold, reproach or punish Him for being naughty. What kind of mother does that? If a mother lets her child be naughty, he will become a spoilt, indecent and intolerable person in the future. Nobody will like such a person. If the mother does not discipline her child, she does not love him at all!

Only one who loves and cares for the child will want to discipline him. The Gopi did not scold or discipline Him, although He annoyed her to exhaustion in a few minutes. Kanhaiya says she cannot love Him like mother Yashoda who always thinks about the welfare of her child.

Here, the question is, does mother Yashoda not love Krishna? The Gopi thinks she is cruel and hard-hearted because she lets such a beautiful child play in the dirt and cow dung while naked. Does she not care about Krishna?

The answer is that mother Yashoda’s utmost desire is to let Krishna be happy. She wants her child to play happily and smile. When Kanhaiya plays in dirt, mud and cow dung, sometimes mother Yashoda calls Him, “Kanhaiya, come, my dear. Come!” Kanhaiya refuses to come and says, “No, no! I will not go now! I will go later!” Mother Yashoda thinks, ‘Okay, let the child play happily. He is immersed in playing.” She is happy in Kanhaiya’s happiness and sad in Krishna’s sorrow. It is not that she doesn’t want to bath and decorate her child in beautiful clothes and ornaments. Do Nanda Baba and Mother Yashoda lack in money and possessions? If not, then why do they not decorate their child with valuable ornaments and keep him away from dirt? The truth is that the little child Krishna is happy while playing in mud and they only want Him to be happy. This kind of selfless and pure Vātsalya Prema exists only in Vraja Dham. Even Brahmā and Shiva are not able to partake in such pastimes. What is there to say about ordinary people like you and me?!