KRSNA AND BALARAMA STEAL BUTTER FROM THE GOPIS
All the gopi friends of Yasoda and Rohini enjoyed the naughty childish activities of Krsna and Balarama in Vrndavana. In order to enjoy further transcendental bliss, they all assembled and went to mother Yasoda to lodge complaints against the restless boys. They said, “Dear Yasoda, why don’t you restrict your naughty Krsna? He comes to our houses with Balarama every morning and evening, and before the milking of the cows They free the calves, and the calves drink all the cows’ milk. So when we go to milk the cows, we find no milk, and we have to return with empty pots. If we warn Krsna and Balarama not to do this, They simply smile charmingly. We cannot do anything.
Krsna and Balarama find great pleasure in stealing our stock of yogurt and butter from wherever we keep it. When Krsna and Balarama are caught stealing the yogurt and butter, They say, ‘Why do you charge Us with stealing? Do you think that butter and yogurt are scarce in Our house? Sometimes They steal butter, yogurt, and milk and distribute them to the monkeys. When the monkeys are well fed and do not take any more, your boys chide, ‘This milk and butter and yogurt are useless-even the monkeys won’t take it.’ Then They break the pots and throw them hither and thither.
“If we keep our stock of butter and yogurt high on the ceiling, in a pot hanging on a swing, although it is beyond Their reach They try to reach it by piling all kinds of wooden planks on top of a grinding machine. And if They still cannot reach the mouth of the pot, They poke a hole in the bottom.”
PAINTING BY MURALIDHARA DASA (1977)