Mother Yaśodā Binds Krsna
Then Mother Yaśodā returned to the place where she was churning butter. She saw that a pot of yogurt had been broken and Krsna was nowhere to be seen. She concluded that this must be the mischievous work of her son. She then followed the butter-smeared footprints of her son into the storehouse. Along the way, she picked up a stick.
Quietly, she peeped into the storehouse. Krsna was sitting on a grinding mortar that was used to grind spices. He was eating the butter and at the same time sharing with his monkey friends. His eyes were moving here and there in anxiety of been caught by his mother. But His back was facing the door, so he could not see his mother coming.
Mother Yaśodā made her way to where Krsna was. Standing behind a pillar He could not see her, but the monkeys saw her and they decided that it was time to leave. The monkeys scrambled to get past Mother Yaśodā, while she struggled to catch her Lala.
At the last moment, Krsna saw His mother attacking and he darted off like a flash of lighting. The chase began, with Krsna snaking his way left to right and right to left. Mother Yaśodā followed close by, but due to her age and heavy body she was not able to capture Krsna. Her hair loosened and the flowers on her hair began to fall down.
Then Krsna seeing that his mother was getting tired, he allowed her to capture Him. Seeing the stick in her hand, Krsna became more afraid and decided to admit his offense of breaking the pot of yogurt. Afraid that His Mother was going to beat him with the stick, he began to cry. Rubbing His eyes, the tears mixed with the blackish mascara smeared all over his face.
While all this was going on Krsna’s cowherd friends came. They could not come close because Mother Yaśodā was very angry. Afraid that they may also get a scolding they stood far away. Then all the young Gopis came on the scene, they saw Krsna been chastised by his mother and started to laugh. The grown-up Gopis came and feeling pity for Krsna, they told Mother Yaśodā to leave him.
Krsna been caught by his mother, spoke to her.
“Mata, you have already caught me, why are you holding the stick. Throw it away.” Mother Yaśodā began to softly chastise Him and seeing that he was afraid of the stick, she threw it away. Seeing Mother Yaśodā throwing the cane away, Krsna turned his head in the direction of His friends and laughed but again turned to Mother Yaśodā and started to cry.
Mother Yaśodā, not wanting Krsna to leave the house to create more disturbance, decided to tie him to the grinding mortar. She then gathered all the ropes in Nanda Baba’s palace. She placed Krsna against the grinding mortar, and she began binding Krsna. But every time she came to the end of the rope, the rope was two fingers too short.
More ropes were added and again it was short by two fingers. Mother Yaśodā’s friends were watching and also wanted to join in the fun, they brought all the ropes from their homes and still the ropes were two fingers too short. Then a small girl offered her golden ribbon from her hair and with this ribbon Krsna allowed his mother to bind him. Then Mother Yaśodā and the Gopis all left the place, leaving Krsna tired up. His friends from a distance signalled to Him to go down and crawl. Taking their advice Krsna, went down on His knees and crawled.
