Chapter XL - 148 Home | Index | Previous | Next

"Her agony was beyond expression. She had not suffered so much humiliation before. She yielded to a great rush of anger. She brought a long thick rope, and went near Him with intent to tie Him fast to the heavy mortar."

"Gopala, knowing her intention, slipped in and out of every door, and dodged her attempts to catch Him. The mother ran behind Him, through every lane and street. She was well on the side of the fat; she had never before run so fast. So, she was soon exhausted; her gait was slowed down soon; she started gasping for breath. Men, women, and children began laughing at her vain pursuit of the little child. They enjoyed the fun, and derived all the more merriment from the prank of Krishna, and the foiled attempt of His mother to bind Him."

"Gopala is omniscient, nothing is hidden from Him. So, he realised that the mother was too tired to move forward, and He allowed Himself to be caught. Yasoda could not lift her hand to beat Him! She caught Him firmly by the hand saying, 'Come home, you thief! It won't be nice if I beat you in the bazaar. I shall teach you a lesson, at home' and she drew Him home. There she dragged Him to the side of a huge stone mortar, so that He could be bound to it by means of a strong rope. The rope she brought was found too short; so, she went in and brought another, for being knotted on to the first. She had to do this, again and again, for, however long the rope, Krishna seemed to grow so big that it would not reach round Him. Just a bit more length was always wanted to admit His being tied! The mother wondered at this amazing development. To what was this miracle to be ascribed? She did not know. At last, she could somehow tie a knot, leaving Him bound to the mortar. Yasoda went into the house and engaged herself in regular household duties."

"Meanwhile, He drew the mortar along, went into the garden with the mortar rolling behind him. There a tree grew with twin trunks side by side, very near each other. The mortar was caught between the twin trunks, and when the divine child gave a slight pull to overcome the obstacle, the tree was uprooted! It fell with a great resounding noise. The noise attracted every one to the house of Yasoda where the tree fell, though there was no rain or storm! Yasoda hurried to see what had happened; she was astounded at what she saw! She saw Gopala in the midst of the fallen foliage, between the enmeshed branches. She groaned aloud and went near the child. Unloosening the rope, she carried away the child and felt quite relieved that He had escaped another terrible calamity."

"'My child! Did you get a fright? O, how wicked I was!', the mother wailed aloud. But, while she was lamenting thus, two divine forms, both male, emerged from the tree? They fell at the feet of Gopala. They stood with folded palms, and said, 'O Lord! We are the sons of Kubera, we are twin brothers, Nalakubara and Manigriva. Through the curse of sage Narada, we were turned into this tree and existed as such. This day has seen the end of that curse, through your grace. If you permit us, we shall go back to our own place.' Thus saying, the two divine forms disappeared. At the sight of those strange divine forms, the people of Gokul were taken aback; they were filled with great joy."

"Though they listened to the glorification of Gopala as God, though they had concrete evidence of His divinity, they relapsed into Maya (delusion) and resumed their conversation about Gopala being the son of Nanda and Yasoda and felt He was their cowherd friend. They were caught up in the coils of illusion."

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