SB 10.8.31 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

एवं धार्ष्ट्यान्युशति कुरुते मेहनादीनि वास्तौ स्तेयोपायैर्विरचितकृति: सुप्रतीको यथास्ते । इत्थं स्त्रीभि: सभयनयनश्रीमुखालोकिनीभि- र्व्याख्यातार्था प्रहसितमुखी न ह्युपालब्धुमैच्छत् ॥ ३१ ॥

Verse text

evaṁ dhārṣṭyāny uśati kurute mehanādīni vāstau steyopāyair viracita-kṛtiḥ supratīko yathāste itthaṁ strībhiḥ sa-bhaya-nayana-śrī-mukhālokinībhir vyākhyātārthā prahasita-mukhī na hy upālabdhum aicchat

Synonyms

evam — in this way ; dhārṣṭyāni — naughty activities ; uśati — in a neat and clean place ; kurute — sometimes does ; mehana — ādīni — passing stool and urine ; vāstau — in our houses ; steya — upāyaiḥ — and by inventing different devices to steal butter and milk ; viracita — kṛtiḥ — is very expert ; su — pratīkaḥ — is now sitting down here like a very good, well-behaved child ; yathā āste — while staying here ; ittham — all these topics of conversation ; strībhiḥ — by the gopīs ; sa — bhaya — nayana — just now sitting there with fearful eyes ; śrī — mukha — such a beautiful face ; ālokinībhiḥ — by the gopīs, who were enjoying the pleasure of seeing ; vyākhyāta — arthā — and while complaining against Him before mother Yaśodā ; prahasita — mukhī — they were smiling and enjoying ; na — not ; hi — indeed ; upālabdhum — to chastise and threaten (rather, she enjoyed how Kṛṣṇa was sitting there as a very good boy) ; aicchat — she desired .

Translation

“When Kṛṣṇa is caught in His naughty activities, the master of the house will say to Him, ‘Oh, You are a thief,’ and artificially express anger at Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will then reply, ‘I am not a thief. You are a thief.’ Sometimes, being angry, Kṛṣṇa passes urine and stool in a neat, clean place in our houses. But now, our dear friend Yaśodā, this expert thief is sitting before you like a very good boy.” Sometimes all the gopīs would look at Kṛṣṇa sitting there, His eyes fearful so that His mother would not chastise Him, and when they saw Kṛṣṇa’s beautiful face, instead of chastising Him they would simply look upon His face and enjoy transcendental bliss. Mother Yaśodā would mildly smile at all this fun, and she would not want to chastise her blessed transcendental child.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"When Kṛṣṇa is caught in His naughty activities, the master of the house will say to Him, 'Oh, You are a thief,' and artificially express anger at Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will then reply, 'I am not a thief. You are a thief.' Sometimes, being angry, Kṛṣṇa passes urine and stool in a neat, clean place in our houses. But now, our dear friend Yaśodā, this expert thief is sitting before you like a very good boy." Sometimes all the gopīs would look at Kṛṣṇa sitting there, His eyes fearful so that His mother would not chastise Him, and when they saw Kṛṣṇa's beautiful face, instead of chastising Him they would simply look upon His face and enjoy transcendental bliss. Mother Yaśodā would mildly smile at all this fun, and she would not want to chastise her blessed transcendental child. KB 10.8.31 “Sometimes, being unable to steal our butter and yogurt, out of anger They pass urine on the clean floor and sometimes spit on it. Now just see how your boy is hearing these complaints. All day He simply makes arrangements to steal our butter and yogurt, and now He is sitting just like a very silent good boy. Just see His face.” When Mother Yaśodā thought to chastise her boy after hearing all the complaints, she saw His pitiable face, and smiling, she did not chastise Him.

Purport

Kṛṣṇa’s business in the neighborhood was not only to steal but sometimes to pass stool and urine in a neat, clean house. When caught by the master of the house, Kṛṣṇa would chastise him, saying, “You are a thief.” Aside from being a thief in His childhood affairs, Kṛṣṇa acted as an expert thief when He was young by attracting young girls and enjoying them in the rāsa dance. This is Kṛṣṇa’s business. He is also violent, as the killer of many demons. Although mundane people like nonviolence and other such brilliant qualities, God, the Absolute Truth, being always the same, is good in any activities, even so-called immoral activities like stealing, killing and violence. Kṛṣṇa is always pure, and He is always the Supreme Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa may do anything supposedly abominable in material life, yet still He is attractive. Therefore His name is Kṛṣṇa, meaning “all-attractive.” This is the platform on which transcendental loving affairs and service are exchanged. Because of the features of Kṛṣṇa’s face, the mothers were so attracted that they could not chastise Him. Instead of chastising Him, they smiled and enjoyed hearing of Kṛṣṇa’s activities. Thus the gopīs remained satisfied, and Kṛṣṇa enjoyed their happiness. Therefore another name of Kṛṣṇa is Gopī-jana-vallabha because He invented such activities to please the gopīs.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"It is not only that he steals. O Yasoda, blissful on hearing the pastimes of your son, o famous one, he passes urine and stool (mehanadini) in the room cleaned for worship (vastau), thus making it contaminated (dharstyani). And he also pulls the women’s braids and saris, proposes marriage to them, and kicks them. You will also earn a lot of wealth through this son. Now he is stealing yogurt but when he grows he will steal others money and wives. He looks very innocent in front of you (supratikah)." Now the result of the gopis loving criticism is stated. Krsna showed fear in his eyes, from fear that Yasoda would beat him. His beautiful face was trembling. The gopis could not help but look at that charming face. All was explained to Yasoda (vyakhyata artha), who had become blissful on seeing his face splendid with many emotions, and with hearing and seeing his exploits. She smiled (prahasita mukha) and had no desire to scold him. "By my son’s disturbance, let them drown in bliss. And when these incidents have come to me, let those stories drown me in bliss." This sense should be supplied though unwritten here.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Seeing the child in fear, they summarized the acts and told another incident for laughter’s sake. He is expert at stealing. He does other naughty acts. He pulls the upper cloth of some elderly, laughing women relatives of the gopīs and orders them around like women of his own house. Moreover he urinates in their houses. They cannot constantly clean up the mess. Please come and see this. See, it is he who has done this and not anyone else. They all speak. Now he is sitting quietly. Having described the pastimes filled with prema, Śukadeva describes Yaśodā’s prema. The result of their scolding him with prema and joking is described. He had fearful eyes. Having heard all the complaints, but being confident, she smiled very slightly (prahasita-mukhī) because of the fickle activities of her son and the amusing accusations of the gopīs. She could not scold him. Instead she said with affection, “O child! Why do you do such things to these people?” Having verified what he did, they had come here to scold him. Understanding that his mother was lax, he would come again to our houses and perform pranks. He could not be restricted except by his mother. jagaj-jana-mala-dhvaṁsi-śravaṇa-smṛti-kīrtanām mala-mūtrādi-rahitāḥ puṇyaślokā iti smrṭāḥ The Lord is without urine and stool. Glorifying him, remembering him and hearing about him destroys the impurities of all people. tvak-śmaśru-roma-nakha-keśa-pinaddham antar māṁsāsthi-rakta-kṛmi-viṭ-kapha-pitta-vātam jīvac-chavaṁ bhajati kānta-matir vimūḍhā yā te padābja-makarandam ajighratī strī A woman who fails to relish the fragrance of the honey of your lotus feet becomes totally befooled, and thus she accepts as her husband or lover a living corpse covered with skin, whiskers, nails, head-hair and body-hair and filled with flesh, bones, blood, parasites, feces, mucus, bile and air. S B 10.60.45 According to the words of Rukmiṇī, though it is not possible for the Lord to have urine and stool, for the pleasure of infant pastimes illusory urine and stool were produced. The word uśati comes from the root vaś, meaning to shine. Thus the word means “pleasant.”

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

They give an example. The word evam connects this verse with the previous one. He urinates and does other despicable acts such as spitting and passing stool. O pure woman (uśati)! Such a son is not suitable for you. This is a joke among elder women. jagaj-jana-mala-dhvaṁsi-śravaṇa-smṛti-kīrtanām mala-mūtrādi-rahitāḥ puṇyaślokā iti smrṭāḥ The Lord is without urine and stool. Glorifying him, remembering him and hearing about him destroys the impurities of all people. Even exalted persons do not have urine and stool. How can the pinnacle of the pure urinate? Yet it is said atha kṛṣṇaś ca rāmaś ca kṛta-śaucau parantapa: the two purified themselves to be without fault. (SB 10.43.1) It is also said: tvak-śmaśru-roma-nakha-keśa-pinaddham antar māṁsāsthi-rakta-kṛmi-viṭ-kapha-pitta-vātam jīvac-chavaṁ bhajati kānta-matir vimūḍhā yā te padābja-makarandam ajighratī strī A woman who fails to relish the fragrance of the honey of your lotus feet becomes totally befooled, and thus she accepts as her husband or lover a living corpse covered with skin, whiskers, nails, head-hair and body-hair and filled with flesh, bones, blood, parasites, feces, mucus, bile and air. S B 10.60.45 Rukmiṇī is also without such impurities. That is true. He made the monkeys and other animals urinate. Or he did this to give joy to his devotees, by showing his fickle childhood pastimes, though by his very nature he has no such activities. He has nothing disgusting like urine or stool. Like his form and name, his pastimes are extraordinary, full of eternity, knowledge and bliss. Having explained in this way (ittham), they looked at his face with its frightened eyes. The goal was to scold him. Understanding the purpose of his appearance or the success of her birth (arthā), or having a son with such impudent actions, she just smiled, because of joy from his fickle actions, or to sympathize with the women who enjoyed his antics, and did not desire to scold him. The truth is this. He had a desire to be scolded by his mother, to derive special happiness from his mother’s affection. She did not fulfil that desire out of affection for her son.