SB 10.9.11 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कृतागसं तं प्ररुदन्तमक्षिणी कषन्तमञ्जन्मषिणी स्वपाणिना । उद्वीक्षमाणं भयविह्वलेक्षणं हस्ते गृहीत्वा भिषयन्त्यवागुरत् ॥ ११ ॥

Verse text

kṛtāgasaṁ taṁ prarudantam akṣiṇī kaṣantam aṣjan-maṣiṇī sva-pāṇinā udvīkṣamāṇaṁ bhaya-vihvalekṣaṇaṁ haste gṛhītvā bhiṣayanty avāgurat

Synonyms

kṛta — āgasam — who was an offender ; tam — unto Kṛṣṇa ; prarudantam — with a crying attitude ; akṣiṇī — His two eyes ; kaṣantam — rubbing ; aṣjat — maṣiṇī — from whose eyes the blackish ointment was distributed all over His face with tears ; sva — pāṇinā — with His own hand ; udvīkṣamāṇam — who was seen in that attitude by mother Yaśodā ; bhaya — vihvala — īkṣaṇam — whose eyes appeared distressed because of such fear of His mother ; haste — by the hand ; gṛhītvā — catching ; bhiṣayantī — mother Yaśodā was threatening Him ; avāgurat — and thus she very mildly chastised Him .

Translation

When caught by mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa became more and more afraid and admitted to being an offender. As she looked upon Him, she saw that He was crying, His tears mixing with the black ointment around His eyes, and as He rubbed His eyes with His hands, He smeared the ointment all over His face. Mother Yaśodā, catching her beautiful son by the hand, mildly began to chastise Him.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

When caught by mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa became more and more afraid and admitted to being an offender. As she looked upon Him, she saw that He was crying, His tears mixing with the black ointment around His eyes, and as He rubbed His eyes with His hands, He smeared the ointment all over His face. Mother Yaśodā, catching her beautiful son by the hand, mildly began to chastise Him. KB 10.9.11 When He was caught, Kṛṣṇa was almost on the point of crying. He smeared His hands over His eyes, which were anointed with black eye cosmetics. The child saw His mother’s face while she stood over Him, and His eyes became restless from fear.

Purport

From these dealings between mother Yaśodā and Kṛṣṇa, we can understand the exalted position of a pure devotee in loving service to the Lord. Yogīs, jṣānīs, karmīs and Vedāntists cannot even approach Kṛṣṇa; they must remain very, very far away from Him and try to enter His bodily effulgence, although this also they are unable to do. Great demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva always worship the Lord by meditation and by service. Even the most powerful Yamarāja fears Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, as we find in the history of Ajāmila, Yamarāja instructed his followers not even to approach the devotees, what to speak of capturing them. In other words, Yamarāja also fears Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Yet this Kṛṣṇa became so dependent on mother Yaśodā that when she simply showed Kṛṣṇa the stick in her hand, Kṛṣṇa admitted to being an offender and began to cry like an ordinary child. Mother Yaśodā, of course, did not want to chastise her beloved child very much, and therefore she immediately threw her stick away and simply rebuked Kṛṣṇa, saying, “Now I shall bind You so that You cannot commit any further offensive activities. Nor for the time being can You play with Your playmates.” This shows the position of a pure devotee, in contrast with others, like jṣānīs, yogīs and the followers of Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, in regarding the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Not only did Yasoda catch Krsna who cannot be obtained by the yogis. She also scolded him---who is constantly praised by even Brahma and Siva. With a stick she instilled fear in him---who instills fear in time and death personified. With that intent the verse is spoken. He was rubbing (kasantam) his eyes (aksini) smeared with black ointment (anjamasini) with the back of his left hand (sva panina). Mother Yasoda was holding his right hand. She frightened him (bhisayanti) by holding a stick. She began scolding him (avagurat). "You have such a restless nature! Friend of the monkeys! Pot breaker! Where are you going to get butter today? Today I will bind you up so that you cannot go and steal and eat butter with your friends. Are you afraid of being beaten with this stick? " Scolding him, she lifted the stick as if to beat him, though she would never do such a thing.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

He cried excessively, fearing a beating because of having done wrong (kṛtāgasam). Because of tears the mascara was running from his eyes. Though he desired it, she did not wipe his tears with her hand because of his offense. With his hand, he rubbed his own eyes, to produce more tears or to wipe the tears away. His eyes were slightly agitated with fear. Or, in fear he cried. He looked up at her, while she looked at him. She scolded him in order to make him frightened, so that he would become gentle and avoid such acts. “O agitated boy! Cry baby! Greedy boy! Monkey lover! Thief! From now on, I will not give you butter. I will tie you up in the house so that you cannot go anywhere and play. You will not be able to see any of your friends!” With these words she raised the stick as if to beat him. But she did not beat him. Or he looked up at her with fear in his eyes, expressing his pain. Then she scolded him. Or taking his hand which shook in fear, she scolded him for a short time.