SB 10.9.1 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीशुक उवाच एकदा गृहदासीषु यशोदा नन्दगेहिनी । कर्मान्तरनियुक्तासु निर्ममन्थ स्वयं दधि ॥ १ ॥ यानि यानीह गीतानि तद्बालचरितानि च । दधिनिर्मन्थने काले स्मरन्ती तान्यगायत ॥ २ ॥

Verse text

śrī-śuka uvāca ekadā gṛha-dāsīṣu yaśodā nanda-gehinī karmāntara-niyuktāsu nirmamantha svayaṁ dadhi yāni yānīha gītāni tad-bāla-caritāni ca dadhi-nirmanthane kāle smarantī tāny agāyata

Synonyms

śrī — śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said ; ekadā — one day ; gṛha — dāsīṣu — when all the maidservants of the household were otherwise engaged ; yaśodā — mother Yaśodā ; nanda — gehinī — the queen of Nanda Mahārāja ; karma — antara — in other household affairs ; niyuktāsu — being engaged ; nirmamantha — churned ; svayam — personally ; dadhi — the yogurt ; yāni — all such ; yāni — such ; iha — in this connection ; gītāni — songs ; tat — bāla — caritāni — in which the activities of her own child were enacted ; ca — and ; dadhi — nirmanthane — while churning the yogurt ; kāle — at that time ; smarantī — remembering ; tāni — all of them (in the form of songs) ; agāyata — chanted .

Translation

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: One day when mother Yaśodā saw that all the maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of Kṛṣṇa, and in her own way she composed songs and enjoyed singing to herself about all those activities.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: One day when mother Yaśodā saw that all the maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of Kṛṣṇa, and in her own way she composed songs and enjoyed singing to herself about all those activities. KB 10.9.1-2 Once upon a time, seeing that her maidservant was engaged in different household duties, Mother Yaśodā personally took charge of churning butter. And while she churned butter, she sang the childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and enjoyed thinking of her son.

Purport

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, quoting from the Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, says that the incident of Kṛṣṇa’s breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yaśodā took place on the Dīpāvalī Day, or Dīpa-mālikā. Even today in India, this festival is generally celebrated very gorgeously in the month of Kārtika by fireworks and lights, especially in Bombay. It is to be understood that among all the cows of Nanda Mahārāja, several of mother Yaśodā’s cows ate only grasses so flavorful that the grasses would automatically flavor the milk. Mother Yaśodā wanted to collect the milk from these cows, make it into yogurt and churn it into butter personally, since she thought that this child Kṛṣṇa was going to the houses of neighborhood gopas and gopīs to steal butter because He did not like the milk and yogurt ordinarily prepared. While churning the butter, mother Yaśodā was singing about the childhood activities of Kṛṣṇa. It was formerly a custom that if one wanted to remember something constantly, he would transform it into poetry or have this done by a professional poet. It appears that mother Yaśodā did not want to forget Kṛṣṇa’s activities at any time. Therefore she poeticized all of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood activities, such as the killing of Pūtanā, Aghāsura, Śakaṭāsura and Tṛṇāvarta, and while churning the butter, she sang about these activities in poetical form. This should be the practice of persons eager to remain Kṛṣṇa conscious twenty-four hours a day. This incident shows how Kṛṣṇa conscious mother Yaśodā was. To stay in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should follow such persons.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The ninth chapter describes how Krsna stopped Yasoda from churning the yogurt in order to drink milk, and how Yasoda put Krsna down to go elsewhere. Angry because he was not finished drinking, he broke the churning pot, stole butter and was bound up by Mother Yasoda. You bind up the people who are engulfed in theft, anger and other low qualities, and make them cry. Now you, involved in theft and full of anger, have been bound up by Yasoda and are crying! The astonishing uncommon parental love with Krsna as the object and Nanda and Yasoda as the shelter must have been due to most extraordinary, unparalled sadhana. Pariksit had asked the question to Sukadeva, but the story of Drona and Dhara did not reveal such extraordinary sadhana. Seeing that Pariksit was not too pleased, Sukadeva then began speaking about the pastime of Damodara lila to bring out the real answer to Parikshit’s question. One day, on the festival day of the lamps, Yasoda began churning yogurt , absorbed in thought, how, from among countless cows, there were seven or eight, rare as a horse with one black ear, who were eating the most fragrant grass, and gave the most tasty, fragrant milk, which would be relished by her son. She personally churned, because she was making butter for her son. How could servants who burn the milk know how to do this? Driven by a stubbornness arising from vatsalya prema, she concluded that others could not do the job properly and resolved that from today she would prepare all the boy’s butter, milk and other eatables. They would be so tasty that he will not go to other’s houses to steal. She was churning the best yogurt from among countless samples that she had prepared the day before with her own hands.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Giving an example of an extraordinary pastime suitable to show the real answer to Parīkṣit’s question and giving up the subject of stealing yogurt and milk, Śukadeva remembers and then begins to describe that pastime. Yaśodā means “she who gives fame.” She gave fame to Kṛṣṇa by showing how he is controlled by prema by agreeing to be tied up. Since she is half of her husband’s body, Nanda’s greatness is also suggested in the word nanda-gehinī. One day when all the servants were engaged in other household chores which were not daily, Yaśodā was churning yogurt superior to all other yogurt in order to offer it to the deity for her child’s protection and then offer it to Kṛṣṇa to eat, since she reserved only the best for him. She churned the yogurt with certainty (ni). Otherwise it was impossible that she would alone churn excellent milk from unlimited cows famous in scripture and local culture. The others in the house were engaged in special jobs giving up their regular services since all others were busy. It is understood that the cowherds also on that day were going here and there since they were arranging for the sacrifice to Indra in Vraja since this event took place at the same time as the pastime of Dāmodara during Kārtika month. Indra worship took place during this month, for according to custom and scripture worship of Govardhana (which replaced worship of Indra) takes place on the first lunar day of the waxing moon in Kārtika month. Autumn is described as follows. Pura-grāmeṣv āgrayaṇair indriyaiś ca mahotsavaiḥ: in all the towns and villages people held great festivals, performing the Vedic fire sacrifice for honoring and tasting the first grains of the new harvest. (SB 10.20.48) According to the phrase indram indriya-kāmas tu: one should worship Indra to full all desires of the senses (SB 2.3.3), Indra was the devatā worshipped at this time. She remembered with great affection all the songs about Kṛṣṇa that she sung in the assembly (iha) as she churned the yogurt. When there was opportunity for singing, she sang. The word ca indicates she also remembered all other songs as well. Or she churned the yogurt and sang also. She sang the songs of various poets and those she composed at that instant.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Now the pastime of the Lord’ being bound up by rope, since he was not fully satisfied with the bliss of being scolded in his rasa of being affectionate to the devotee. He desired the bliss of being controlled by his devotee. Yaśodā was called most fortunate. She even more fortunate than Nanda. Her greater fortunate is described now. Yaśodā means “she who gives fame.” She gave fame to Kṛṣṇa as the person who is controlled by his devotee. As the wife of Nanda, she had many servant girls. One day when all the servants were engaged in duties in the house other than churning the yogurt and stirring milk for her son, she began churning only the yogurt, to make butter to feed to her son. It would be impossible to churn the yogurt from all the milk of unlimited cows. She constantly churned (nirmamantha) to make the best butter. She sang all the songs famous in the world, or in Vraja, concerning the activities of her child. She sang about the killing of Pūtanā etc. While churning the yogurt she remembered those songs because her heart was overcome by her affection and because the pastimes were amazing. Or always remembering the activities of her son she sang about them, taking shelter of singing by her nature. She had engaged the servants in other duties so that she could churn the yogurt herself in order to sing about her son’s activities with great affection. And this was by the desire of the Lord to be tied up.