CHAPTER FORTY-THREE<\/p>\n
Parenthood<\/p>\n
When ecstatic love develops into the relationship of parenthood and becomes steadily established, the relationship is called v\u0101tsalya-rasa. The exhibition of this v\u0101tsalya-rasa standard of devotional service can be found in the dealings of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a with His devotees who represent themselves as superior personalities like father, mother and teacher.<\/p>\n
Learned scholars have described the impetuses for parental love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, existing in the elderly personalities who are in relation with Him, as follows: \u201cThe Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose bodily complexion is just like a bluish, new-grown lotus flower, whose body is very delicate and whose lotus eyes are surrounded by scattered hair as black as bees, was walking on the streets of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana when mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, the beloved wife of Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, saw Him. Immediately the milk began to flow from her breasts, soaking her body.\u201d Some specific provocations for parental love of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are listed as His blackish bodily hue, which is very attractive and pleasing to see, His all-auspicious bodily features, His mildness, His sweet words, His simplicity, His shyness, His humility, His constant readiness to offer respect to the elderly and His charity. All of these qualities are considered ecstatic provocations for parental love.<\/p>\n
In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, eighth chapter, verse 45, it is stated by \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b that mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 accepted Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a as her son, although He is accepted in the Vedas as the king of heaven, in the Upani\u1e63ads as the impersonal Brahman, in philosophy as the supreme male, by the yog\u012bs as the Supersoul and by the devotees as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Once mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 addressed one of her friends in this way: \u201cNanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, the leader of the cowherd men, worshiped Lord Vi\u1e63\u1e47u, along with me, and as a result of this worship, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a has been saved from the clutches of P\u016btan\u0101 and other demons. The twin arjuna trees were, of course, broken due to a strong wind, and although K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a appeared to have lifted Govardhana Hill along with Balar\u0101ma, I think that Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja actually held the mountain. Otherwise how could it have been possible for a little boy to lift such a great hill?\u201d This is another example of ecstasy in parental love. This kind of parental love is generated in a devotee out of his conviction, in love, that he himself is superior to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and that without being taken care of by such a devotee, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a could not possibly live. One devotee therefore prayed to the parents of Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a as follows: \u201cLet me take shelter of the elderly parental devotees of Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. They are always anxious to serve K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and to maintain Him, and they are always so kind to Him. Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto them for being so kind to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the parent of the whole universe!\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a similar prayer by a br\u0101hma\u1e47a who says, \u201cLet others worship the Vedas and the Upani\u1e63ads, and let others worship the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata if they are afraid of material existence and want to become liberated from that condition. But as far as I am concerned, I wish only to worship Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Nanda, because the supreme absolute Personality of Godhead, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, is crawling in his courtyard as his own child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following is a list of respectable personalities who enjoy parental affection toward K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a: (1) mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, the Queen of Vraja, (2) Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Nanda, the King of Vraja, (3) mother Rohi\u1e47\u012b, the mother of Balar\u0101ma, (4) all the elderly gop\u012bs whose sons were taken away by Lord Brahm\u0101, (5) Devak\u012b, the wife of Vasudeva, (6) the other fifteen wives of Vasudeva, (7) Kunt\u012b, the mother of Arjuna, (8) Vasudeva, the real father of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and (9) S\u0101nd\u012bpani Muni, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s teacher. All these are considered respectable elderly personalities with parental love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. This list is in order of superior importance, and thus we can see that mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 and Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Nanda are considered to be the supermost of all elderly personalities.<\/p>\n
In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, ninth chapter, verse 3, \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b gives Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Par\u012bk\u1e63it a description of the form and beauty of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101. He says, \u201cMy dear King, the wide hips of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 were surrounded by silk and linen clothes, and her breasts were flowing with milk because of her affection. When she was churning butter and tightly holding the rope, the bangles on her hands and the earrings on her ears were moving, and from the nice decoration in her hair the flowers were slackening and falling down. Due to her excessive labor, there were drops of perspiration on her face.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is another description of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 in a devotee\u2019s prayer: \u201cLet me be given protection by mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, whose curly hairs are bound with thread, whose hair is very brightly beautified by the vermillion placed in the part and whose bodily frame derides all her ornaments. Her eyes are always engaged in seeing the face of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and thus they are always filled with tears. Her complexion, which resembles the bluish lotus flower, is enhanced in beauty by her dressing herself with many colorful garments. Let her merciful glance fall on all of us so that we may be protected from the clutches of m\u0101y\u0101 and smoothly progress in our devotional service!\u201d<\/p>\n
There is the following description of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101\u2019s affection for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. After rising early in the morning, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 first of all offered her breast milk to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and then she began to chant various mantras for His protection. Then she would decorate His forehead very nicely and bind His arms with protective talismans. By all of these activities, it is definitely understood that she is the emblem of all maternal affection for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
The description of Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja\u2019s bodily features is as follows: The hairs on his head are generally black, but some of them are gray. His garments are of greenish color, like the new-grown leaves of a banyan tree. His belly is fatty, his complexion is exactly like the full moon, and he has a beautiful mustache. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was a baby, one day He was walking in the courtyard, capturing the finger of His father, and because He could not walk steadily He appeared to be almost falling down. While Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja was giving protection to His transcendental son in this way, all of a sudden there were drops of tears in his eyes and he became overwhelmed with joy. Let us all offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of King Nanda!<\/p>\n
Childhood age, childish dress, movements by the child, sweet words spoken by the child, nice smiling and various forms of childish play are considered provocations for increasing parental love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. The childhood ages of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are divided into three periods: the beginning of kaum\u0101ra age, the middle of kaum\u0101ra age and the end of kaum\u0101ra age. During the beginning and middle of the kaum\u0101ra age, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s thighs are fatty, and the inner part of His eyes are whitish. There are signs of teeth coming out, and He is very mild and gentle. He is described as follows: \u201cWhen K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a had only three or four teeth coming out of His gums, His thighs were fatty, His body was very, very short, and He began to enhance the parental love of Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja and mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 with the activities of His childish body. He was sometimes stepping with His legs again and again, sometimes crying, sometimes smiling, sometimes sucking His thumb and sometimes lying down flat. These are some of the different activities of the child K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was lying down flat, sometimes sucking the toes of His feet, sometimes throwing His legs upward, sometimes crying and sometimes smiling, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, seeing her son in such pastimes, did not show any sign of restricting Him, but rather began to watch her child with eagerness, enjoying these childhood pastimes.\u201d In the beginning of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s kaum\u0101ra age, the nails of tigers were set in a golden necklace about His neck. There was protective tilaka on His forehead, black mascara around His eyes and silk thread around His waist. These are the descriptions of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s dress at the beginning of the kaum\u0101ra age.<\/p>\n
When Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja saw the beauty of child K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, with tiger nails on His chest, a complexion like the new-grown tam\u0101la tree, beautifully decorated tilaka made with cow\u2019s urine, arm decorations of nice silk thread, and silk clothes tied around His waist \u2013 when Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja saw his child like this, he never became satiated by the child\u2019s beauty.<\/p>\n
In the middle kaum\u0101ra age, the upper portion of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s hair falls around His eyes. Sometimes He is covered with cloth around the lower part of His body, and sometimes He is completely naked. Sometimes He tries to walk, taking step by step, and sometimes He talks very sweetly, in broken language. These are some of the symptoms of His middle kaum\u0101ra age. He is thus described when mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 once saw Him in His middle kaum\u0101ra age: His scattered hairs were touching His eyebrows, and His eyes were restless, but He could not express His feelings with proper words; still, when He was talking, His talk was so nice and sweet to hear. When mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 looked at His little ears and saw Him naked, trying to run very quickly with His little legs, she was merged into the ocean of nectar. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s ornaments at this age are a pearl hanging from the septum of His nose, butter on His lotuslike palms, and some small bells hanging from His waist. It is stated that when mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 saw that the child was moving, ringing the bells on His waist, smiling at her with a pearl between His nostrils and with butter on His hands, she became wonderfully pleased to see her little child in that fashion.<\/p>\n
While K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was in the middle of His kaum\u0101ra age, His waist became thinner, His chest became broader, and His head was decorated with His curly hairs, resembling the falling of the wings of a crow. These wonderful features of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s body never failed to astonish mother Ya\u015bod\u0101. At the end of His kaum\u0101ra age, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a carried a small stick in His hand, His clothing was a little longer, and He had a knot around His waist, resembling the hood of a snake. In that dress He used to take care of the calves near the house, and sometimes He played with cowherd boys of about the same age. He had a slender flute and a buffalo-horn bugle, and sometimes He played on a flute made from the leaves of trees. These are some of the symptoms of the end of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s kaum\u0101ra age.<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was a little grown up and was taking care of the small calves, He would often go near the forest. And when He was a little bit late returning home, Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja would immediately get up on the candra-\u015b\u0101lik\u0101 (a small shed built on the roof for getting a bird\u2019s-eye view all around), and he would watch for Him. Worrying about the late arrival of his little son, Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja would remain on the candra-\u015b\u0101lik\u0101 until he could indicate to his wife that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, surrounded by His little cowherd friends, was coming back with the calves. Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja would point out the peacock feather on his child\u2019s head and would inform his beloved wife how the child was pleasing his eyes.<\/p>\n
Mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 would then address Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, \u201cSee my dear son, whose eyes are white, who has a turban on His head, a wrapper on His body and leg bells that tinkle very sweetly on His feet. He is coming near, along with His surabhi calves, and just see how He is wandering upon the sacred land of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana!\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Nanda would address his wife, \u201cMy dear Ya\u015bod\u0101, just look at your offspring, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a! See His blackish bodily luster, His eyes tinged with red color, His broad chest and His nice golden necklace! How wonderful He looks, and how He is increasing my transcendental bliss more and more!\u201d<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the beloved son of Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, steps into His kai\u015bora age, although He becomes more beautiful, His parents still consider Him to be in the pauga\u1e47\u1e0da age \u2013 even though He is between the ages of ten and fifteen. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is in His pauga\u1e47\u1e0da age, some of His servants also accept Him as being in the kai\u015bora age. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a performs His childish pastimes, His general practice is to break the milk and yogurt pots, throw the yogurt in the courtyard and steal the cream from the milk. Sometimes He breaks the churning rod and sometimes He throws butter on the fire. In this way, He increases the transcendental pleasure of His mother, Ya\u015bod\u0101.<\/p>\n
In this connection mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 once told Mukhar\u0101, her maidservant, \u201cJust look at K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a looking stealthily toward all sides and slowly stepping forward from the bushes. It appears that He is coming just to steal the butter. Don\u2019t expose yourself or He may understand that we are looking toward Him. I want to enjoy the sight of His eyebrows moving in this cunning way, and I want to see His fearful eyes and beautiful face.\u201d<\/p>\n
In enjoying K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s attitude of stealing butter very stealthily, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 experienced the ecstasy of maternal love by smelling His head, sometimes patting His body with her hand, sometimes offering blessings, sometimes ordering Him, sometimes gazing at Him, sometimes maintaining Him and sometimes giving Him good instructions not to become a thief. Such activities are in maternal ecstatic love. An important point to be observed in this connection is that the childish propensity of stealing is there even in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore this propensity is not artificial. However, in the spiritual relationship there is no inebriety to this stealing propensity, as there is in the material world.<\/p>\n
In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, thirteenth chapter, verse 33, \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b tells King Par\u012bk\u1e63it, \u201cMy dear King, as soon as the elderly gop\u012bs saw their sons coming, there was an inexpressible sign of parental love, and all of them became absorbed in affection. At first they were planning to chastise their sons for stealing butter, but as soon as the sons came before their eyes, they lost all of their angry attitudes and became overwhelmed with affection. They began to embrace their sons and smell their heads. While doing this, they became almost mad after their children.\u201d In their childhood pastimes, all these cowherd boys joined with K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a in stealing butter. But rather than become angry, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 became wet from the milk flowing out of her breasts. Out of her affection for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, she began to smell His head repeatedly.<\/p>\n
The general activities of all the mothers of the cowherd boys were to kiss them, to embrace them, to call them by their names and sometimes to chastise them mildly for their stealing habits. These manifestations of parental love are called s\u0101ttvika ecstasy, wherein manifestations of eight kinds of ecstatic symptoms are visible in full. In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, thirteenth chapter, verse 22, \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b tells King Par\u012bk\u1e63it, \u201cAll the mothers of the cowherd boys were illusioned by the covering influence of the yoga-m\u0101y\u0101 potency of the Personality of Godhead, and as soon as they heard the flute playing of their boys, they immediately stood up and mentally embraced their sons, who had been created by the direct internal potency of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Accepting them as their born sons, they lifted them into their arms and began to embrace them, resting the children\u2019s bodies upon their own. The emotions created by this incident were sweeter than nectar turned into a palatable intoxicant, and the milk flowing out of their breasts was immediately drunk up by the children.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Lalita-m\u0101dhava, compiled by R\u016bpa Gosv\u0101m\u012b, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is addressed as follows: \u201cMy dear K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, when You are engaged in herding the animals, the dust caused by the hooves of the calves and cows covers Your nice face and artistic tilaka, and You appear very dusty. But when You return home, the milk flowing out of the breasts of Your mother washes Your face of its dust covering and You appear to be purified by this milk, just as when the Deity is washed during the performance of the abhi\u1e63eka ceremony.\u201d It is the custom in the temples of Deities that if there have been some impure activities, the Deity has to be washed with milk. K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He was washed by the milk from the breast of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, which purified Him from the dust covering.<\/p>\n
Sometimes there are examples of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101\u2019s becoming stunned in ecstasy. This was exhibited when she saw her son lifting Govardhana Hill. When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was standing, raising the hill, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 hesitated to embrace Him and became stunned. The dangerous position that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a had accepted by lifting the hill brought tears to her eyes. With her eyes filled with tears she could not see K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a anymore, and because her throat was choked up by anxiety she could not even instruct K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a as to what He should do in that position. This is a symptom of becoming stunned in ecstatic love.<\/p>\n
Mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 sometimes enjoyed transcendental ecstasy in happiness when her child was saved from a dangerous situation, such as being attacked by P\u016btan\u0101 or some other demon. In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, seventeenth chapter, verse 19, \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b says that mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 felt very, very fortunate when she got back her lost child. She immediately placed Him on her lap and began to embrace Him again and again. While she was thus embracing her son repeatedly, torrents of tears fell from her eyes, and she was unable to express her transcendental joy. It is stated in the Vidagdha-m\u0101dhava of \u015ar\u012bla R\u016bpa Gosv\u0101m\u012b, \u201cMy dear K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the touch of Your mother is so pleasing and cooling that it surpasses the cooling capacity of the pulp of sandalwood and of bright moonshine mixed with the pulp of u\u015b\u012bra root.\u201d (U\u015b\u012bra is a kind of root which when soaked with water has a very, very cooling effect. It is especially used in the scorching heat of the sun.)<\/p>\n
The parental love of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a steadily increases, and her love and ecstasy are sometimes described as intense affection and sometimes as overwhelming attachment. An example of attachment for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a with overwhelming affection is given in \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, sixth chapter, verse 43, where \u015aukadeva Gosv\u0101m\u012b addresses Mah\u0101r\u0101ja Par\u012bk\u1e63it in this way: \u201cMy dear King, when magnanimous Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja returned from Mathur\u0101, he began to smell the head of his son, and he was merged in the ecstasy of parental love.\u201d A similar statement is there in connection with mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 when she was too anxious to hear the sound of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s flute, expecting Him back from the pasturing ground. Because she thought that it was getting very late, her anxiety to hear the sound of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s flute became doubled, and milk began to flow from her breast. In that condition she was sometimes going within the house, sometimes coming out of the house. She was constantly looking to see if Govinda was coming back along the road. When many very great sages were offering prayers to Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, glorifying His activities, the Queen of Gokula, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, entered the Battlefield of Kuruk\u1e63etra, wetting the lower part of her s\u0101r\u012b with the milk flowing from her breast. This entrance of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 at Kuruk\u1e63etra was not during the Battle of Kuruk\u1e63etra. At other times K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a went to Kuruk\u1e63etra from His paternal home (Dv\u0101rak\u0101) during the solar eclipse, and at these times the residents of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana also went to see Him there.<\/p>\n
When K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a arrived at Kuruk\u1e63etra on pilgrimage, all the people assembled there began to say that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the son of Devak\u012b, had arrived. At that time, Devak\u012b, just like an affectionate mother, began to pat K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s face. And again when people cried that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, the son of Vasudeva, had come, both King Nanda and mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 became overwhelmed with affection and expressed their great pleasure.<\/p>\n
When mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, the Queen of Gokula, was going to see her son K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a at Kuruk\u1e63etra, one of her friends addressed her thus: \u201cMy dear Queen, the milk flowing out of your breast-mountain has already whitened the river Ganges, and the tears from your eyes, mixed with black mascara, have already blackened the color of the Yamun\u0101. And as you are standing just between the two rivers, I think that there is no need for your anxiety to see your son\u2019s face. Your parental affection has already been exhibited to Him by these two rivers!\u201d<\/p>\n
The same friend of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 addressed K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a as follows: \u201cMy dear Mukunda, if mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, the Queen of Gokula, is forced to stand on fire but is allowed to see Your lotus face, then this fire will appear to her like the Himalaya Mountains: full of ice. In the same way, if she is allowed to stay in the ocean of nectar but is not allowed to see the lotus face of Your Grace, then even this ocean of nectar will appear to her like an ocean of arsenic poison.\u201d Let the anxiety of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 of Vraja, always expecting to see the lotus face of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, be glorified all over the universe!<\/p>\n
A similar statement was given by Kunt\u012bdev\u012b to Akr\u016bra: \u201cMy dear brother Akr\u016bra, my nephew Mukunda is long absent from us. Will you kindly tell Him that His aunt Kunt\u012b is sitting among the enemy and would like to know when she will be able to see His lotus face again?\u201d<\/p>\n
In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, Tenth Canto, forty-sixth chapter, verse 28, there is this statement: \u201cWhen Uddhava was present at V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana and was narrating the activities of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a in Dv\u0101rak\u0101, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, while hearing this narration, began to pour milk from her breasts and shed tears from her eyes.\u201d Another incident demonstrating Ya\u015bod\u0101\u2019s extreme love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a occurred when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a went to Mathur\u0101, the kingdom of Ka\u1e41sa. In separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 was looking at K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s makeup utensils, and she fell down on the ground almost unconscious, with a great sound. When she was rolling over on the ground, there were many scratches on her body, and in that piteous condition she began to cry, \u201cO my dear son! My dear son!\u201d And she slapped her breasts with her two hands. This activity of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation. Sometimes there are many other symptoms, such as great anxiety, lamentation, frustration, being stunned, humility, restlessness, madness and illusion.<\/p>\n
As far as mother Ya\u015bod\u0101\u2019s anxieties are concerned, when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was out of the house in the pasturing ground, a devotee once told her, \u201cYa\u015bod\u0101, I think your movements have been slackened, and I see that you are full of anxieties. Your two eyes appear to be without any movement, and I feel in your breathing a kind of warmth, which is bringing your breast milk to the boiling point. All these conditions prove that out of separation from your son you have a severe headache.\u201d These are some of the symptoms of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101\u2019s anxiety for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
When Akr\u016bra was present in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana and was narrating the activities of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a in Dv\u0101rak\u0101, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 was informed that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a had married so many queens and was very busy there in His householder affairs. Hearing this, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 lamented how unfortunate she was that she could not get her son married just after He passed His kai\u015bora age and that she therefore could not receive both her son and daughter-in-law at her home. She exclaimed, \u201cMy dear Akr\u016bra, you are simply throwing thunderbolts on my head!\u201d These are signs of lamentation on the part of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 in separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
Similarly, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 felt frustration when she thought, \u201cAlthough I have millions of cows, the milk of these cows could not satisfy K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Therefore let a curse be on this milk! And I also am condemned, because although I am so opulent in material prosperity, I am now unable to smell the head of my child and feed Him with my breast milk as I used to do when He was here in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana.\u201d This is a sign of frustration on the part of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 in separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
One friend of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s addressed Him thus: \u201cMy dear lotus-eyed one, when You were living in Gokula You were always bearing a stick in Your hand. That stick is now lying idle in the house of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, and whenever she sees it she becomes motionless just like the stick.\u201d This is a sign of becoming stunned in separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. In separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 became so humble that she prayed to the creator of the universe, Lord Brahm\u0101, with tears in her eyes, \u201cMy dear creator, won\u2019t you kindly bring my dear son K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a back to me so that I can see Him at least for a moment?\u201d Sometimes, in restlessness like a madwoman, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 used to accuse Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, \u201cWhat are you doing in the palace? You shameless man! Why do people call you the King of Vraja? It is very astonishing that while being separated from your dear son K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, you are still living within V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana as a hardhearted father!\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone informed K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a about the madness of mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 in the following words: \u201cIn madness mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 has addressed the kadamba trees and inquired from them, \u2018Where is my son?\u2019 Similarly, she has addressed the birds and the drones and inquired from them whether K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a has passed before them, and she has inquired if they can say anything about You. In this way, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 in illusion was asking everybody about You, and she has been wandering all over V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana.\u201d This is madness in separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
When Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja was accused by mother Ya\u015bod\u0101 of being \u201chardhearted,\u201d he replied, \u201cMy dear Ya\u015bod\u0101, why are you becoming so agitated? Kindly look more carefully. Just see, your son K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is standing before you! Don\u2019t become a madwoman like this. Please keep my home peaceful.\u201d And K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was informed by some friend that His father Nanda was also in illusion in this way, in separation from Him.<\/p>\n
When all the wives of Vasudeva were present in the arena of Ka\u1e41sa, they saw the most pleasing bodily features of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and immediately, out of parental affection, milk began to flow from their breasts, and the lower parts of their s\u0101r\u012bs became wet. This symptom of ecstatic love is an example of the result of fulfillment of desire.<\/p>\n
In the First Canto of \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam, eleventh chapter, verse 29, it is stated, \u201cWhen K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a entered Dv\u0101rak\u0101 after finishing the Battle of Kuruk\u1e63etra, He first of all saw His mother and all His different stepmothers and offered His respectful obeisances unto their feet. The mothers immediately took K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a upon their laps, and because of their parental affection, there was milk flowing out of their breasts. So their breast milk, mixed with the water of tears, became the first offering to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.\u201d This is one of the examples of being satisfied after a great separation.<\/p>\n
There is a similar statement in the Lalita-m\u0101dhava: \u201cHow wonderful it is that Ya\u015bod\u0101, the wife of King Nanda, out of her parental affection for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, mixed her tears and the milk from her breasts and thus bathed her dear son K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.\u201d In Vidagdha-m\u0101dhava, a devotee addresses Lord K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a as follows: \u201cMy dear Mukunda, just after seeing Your face, which was full with the scent of the lotus flower, mother Ya\u015bod\u0101, being attracted by the moonlight of Your face, became so overjoyed in her affection that immediately from the nipples of her water-potlike breasts, milk began to flow.\u201d She was thus constantly engaged in supplying milk to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a after wetting the covering cloth over the jug.<\/p>\n
These are some of the signs of parental love for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a by His mother, His father and elderly persons. Symptoms of ecstatic love in parental affection are expressed when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is accepted as the son. These constant transcendental emotions for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are called steady ecstasy in parental love.<\/p>\n
\u015ar\u012bla R\u016bpa Gosv\u0101m\u012b states herein that according to some learned scholars, the three kinds of transcendental mellow so far described \u2013 namely, servitude, fraternity and parental affection \u2013 are sometimes mixed. For example, the fraternal feelings of Balar\u0101ma are mixed with servitude and parental affection. Similarly, King Yudhi\u1e63\u1e6dhira\u2019s attraction for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is also mixed with parental affection and servitude. Similarly, the transcendental mellow of Ugrasena, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s grandfather, is mixed with servitude and parental affection. The affection of all the elderly gop\u012bs in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana is a mixture of parental love, servitude and fraternity. The affection of the sons of M\u0101dr\u012b \u2013 Nakula and Sahadeva \u2013 as well as the affection of the sage N\u0101rada, is a mixture of friendship and servitude. The affection of Lord \u015aiva, Garu\u1e0da and Uddhava is a mixture of servitude and fraternity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE Parenthood When ecstatic love develops into the relationship of parenthood and becomes steadily established, the relationship is called v\u0101tsalya-rasa. The exhibition of this v\u0101tsalya-rasa standard of devotional service can be found in the dealings … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 07:15:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}