MOTHER YASODA CHASES KRSNA
Krsna sat on an upside-down wooden grinding mortar and distributed yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen the milk products, He glanced all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yasoda, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind. When Lord Sri Krsna saw His mother, stick in hand, He very quickly got down from the top of the mortar and began to flee, as if very much afraid. Although yogis try to capture Him as the Supersoul by meditating and performing great austerities and penances, they fail to reach Him. But motherYasoda, thinking that Krsna was her son, began running after Him to catch Him.
While running after Krsna, mother Yasoda had to reduce her speed, for her heavy breasts over- burdened her thin waist. As she followed Krsna very swiftly, her hair became loose, and the flowers in her hair began falling behind her. finally she captured her son, Krsna. When caught by mother Yasoda, Krsna 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 overt His face. Mother Yasoda caught her beautiful son by the hand and mildly began to chastise Him. She was always overwhelmed by intense love for Krsna, not knowing who Krsna was or how powerful He was. Because of maternal affection for Krsna, she never even cared to know who He was. Therefore, when she saw that her son had become excessively afraid, she threw the stick away and decided to bind Him so that He would not do any further mischief.
PAINTING BY DIRGHA – DEVI DASI (1977)