KRSNA BOUND BY HIS MOTHER’S LOVE
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 appealed as a human child, and mother Yasoda, considering Him her own ordinary child, began binding Him to a wooden mortar with a rope.
When mother Yasoda was trying to bind the offending child, she saw that the binding rope was short by a distance the width of two fingers. Thus she brought another rope to join it. This new rope also was short by a measurement of two fingers, and when another rope was joined to it, it was still two fingers too short. As many ropes as she joined, all of them failed; their shortness could not be overcome.
Thus mother Yasoda joined whatever ropes were available in the household, but still she failed in her attempt to bind Krsna Mother Yasoda’s friends, the elder gopis in the neighborhood, smiled and enjoyed the fun. Similarly, mother Yasoda, although laboring in that way, also smiled. All of them were struck with wonder.
Because of mother Yasoda’s hard labor, her whole body became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb fell from her hair. When child Krsna saw His Mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.
The entire universe, with its great, exalted demigods like Lord Siva, Lord Brahma, and Lord Indra, is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet the Supreme Lord has one special transcendental attribute: He comes under the control of His loving devotees. This was now exhibited by Krsna in this pastime.
PAINTING BY RAMANATHA DASA (1977)