{"id":51687,"date":"2022-10-13T11:46:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T09:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/166070296456"},"modified":"2022-10-13T11:46:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T09:46:08","slug":"damodara-was-not-bound-by-ordinary-ropes-but-with-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=51687","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDamodara was not bound by ordinary ropes, but with the ropes of His mother\u2019s unmatched love\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cDamodara was not bound by ordinary ropes, but with the ropes of His mother\u2019s unmatched love\u201d
\n\u201cBecause mother loves the most\u2026in this material world, there is no comparison of mother\u2019s love. Without any exchange. Even in this material world. Mother loves the child without any expectation of return generally\u2026that is called unalloyed love. Anyabhilasita-sunyam, free from all material gain.\u201d- Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam1.8.31 lecture, Los Angeles, April 23, 1973
\n\u2014-
\nJust imagine how great her love must be if she thought that she can catch and bind the Lord of the Universe!
\nShe is aware of the miraculous feats her son performs, but her love \u2018blinds\u2019 her from knowing the truth of His majesty. Srila Visvanatha Cakravati Thakur likens this to a piece of straw in a boiling pot of milk. Sometimes it rises to the surface, and the magnanimity of the Lord is revealed within the mind, but then it goes back under the foam, and it is forgotten again, and Krishna is just a naughty little boy.
\nMother Yashoda\u2019s love is unmatched in purity and is unlike any other that even the infinite Lord who pervades the entire creation is bound by her love. Her entire being is devoted to the comfort, pleasure and happiness of her darling little boy.
\n\u201c(Yasoda) thought, \u201cBy the grace of my husband our household has become famous for sheltering Gopala, and I in turn have become famous as Yasoda, one who gives fame.\u201d
\nBut there was more to it than that! The truth of the matter is that by her love for her son, Mother Yasoda is so great that she gives fame to Krishna, to her noble husband, and to their family lineage.
\n\u2026It is difficult to describe the transcendental exchange between Yasoda and Krishna. Although resembling a mother breastfeeding her child, it was much, much more than that. Krishna was not just drinking ambrosial milk, He was drinking the liquid form of maternal love, and Mother Yasoda was not just breastfeeding Him, but pouring the very essence of her heart into Him.
\nIn the mundane variant of such a relationship, the infant is the recipient and the mother the benefactor, but in this sacred exchange\u2014 the original maternal relationship\u2014 Krishna fully reciprocated with Yasoda, giving as much as He was taking.
\nWhile touching Yasoda Devi\u2019s breast with the devotion that a pujari touches a deity, a current of love passed from son to mother, increasing her bliss immeasurably. And although laying on her lap, Krishna also entered His mother\u2019s heart, wherein she not only felt the bliss He was enjoying but also the love for her that He was radiating.
\nAs a result they both became ensnared in a kind of spiritual rivalry in which each spontaneously outdid the other in mutual offerings of ever-ascending love. This contest of love filled the kitchen with auspiciousness, and with its rays it invoked the highest ecstasy in all creatures nearby.
\nFinally love reached the stage at which both Yasoda\u2019s and Krishna\u2019s hearts melted, and in that condition they both thought that one could not be without the other for even a fraction of a moment.
\nYasoda Devi thought, \u201cI shall die if I am ever separated from Him.\u201d Krishna looked at His mother, \u201cHow could I ever be without her?\u201d
\n\u2026Although Krishna had descended to earth to broadcast His unlimited qualities, especially His submission to His devotees, it was His love for His mother and her love for Him that were the deciding factors in His agreeing to be bound. That reciprocity of love was so intense that it erased from His mind the purpose of His incarnation. Krishna agreed to be bound. Not because being bound was a part of an eternal pastime, but because His mother wanted it\u201d. – (Adapted from Sivarama Swami\u2019s Sri Damodara Janani)
\nThe Lord was bound due to the unprecedented love of Mother Yasoda. There is nothing greater than love; love conquers all. Damodara was not bound by ordinary ropes, but with the ropes of His mother\u2019s unmatched love. Being the perfect example of maternal love she cantered her life around her Damodara. With every action, word or thought, her only concern was the comfort and happiness of her son.
\nDespite the entanglements of the material world, we should strive for even just a fraction of the love Mother Yasoda posses for her Madhava. The month of Kartik is a perfect opportunity to try our level best for making the Lord the center of our very own lives.
\n\u201cAs Satya-yuga is the best of yugas, as the Vedas are the best of scriptures, as Ganga is the best of rivers, so Kartik is the best of months, the most dear to Lord Krsna\u201d \u2013 Skanda Purana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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“Damodara was not bound by ordinary ropes, but with the ropes of His mother’s unmatched love”
\n“Because mother loves the most…in this material world, there is no comparison of mother’s love. Without any exchange. Even in this material world. Mother loves the child without any expectation of return generally…that is called unalloyed love. Anyabhilasita-sunyam, free from all material gain.”- Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam1.8.31 lecture, Los Angeles, April 23, 1973
\n—-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102927,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51687\/revisions\/102927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}