(3) Outsmarting Gopal

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Hapaniya Dham, Vyasa Puja Mahotsav
22 October 2019, morning, part 3
Translated from Bengali

নমামীশ্বরং সচ্চিদানন্দরূপং
লসৎ-কুণ্ডলং গোকুলে ভ্রাজমানং ।
যশোদাভিয়োলুখলাদ্ধাবমানং
পরামৃষ্টমত্যং ততো দ্রুত্য গোপ্যা ॥

namamisvaram sach-chid-ananda-rupam
lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam
yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam
paramrstam atyam tato drutya gopya

I am offering my obeisance to the eternal, all-cognisant and blissful Supreme Lord who wears shining earrings and is resplendent in His eternal abode, Gokula, who runs away from a mortar in fear of His Mother Yasoda but is then outsmarted and caught roughly by her.

(Sri Sri Damodara Astakam, 1)

Gopal was very naughty in Gokula. You all know that Gopal is the son of Nanda Maharaj and Mother Yasoda. One time, Mother Yasoda was boiling some milk. The milk was rising high in the pot, so she stirred it to prevent it from boiling over. At this time, Gopal came to her and started crying for her breast milk, 'Give Me some milk!' He kept nagging her like this, and Mother Yasoda got cross and pushed Him away. Gopal got angry. He went to the storeroom where His mother kept yoghurt, curd and butter in pots called sika (শিকা, a pot tied to the ceiling with some rope). He said, 'So, Mother, you are making all this for Me but you are not giving Me your milk? I will show you!' He called all His friends. When they came to the storeroom, Gopal had them stand one on top of another, and then, climbing on their shoulders to reach the pots, He started feeding all the curd to monkeys!

In the meantime, Mother Yasoda finished boiling milk and had set it aside to cool. When she came to see what Gopal was up to, she saw the scene and became very angry. She caught Gopal and decided to punish Him by tying Him up with a rope. They had 900,000 cows at their house – collecting all the rope she could find, she tied it all together, but no matter how much rope she added, she still could not bind Krishna. He is the master of the whole universe – do you think you can bind Him with the rope from 900,000 cows? If you are to bind Him, you can only do it with devotion. So, no matter how many times Mother Yasoda tried, the rope was always two fingers too short. What is the meaning of these two fingers? One finger is effort, and the second finger is mercy. If you make effort, you get mercy.

Gopal's Name Damodar means 'dama' (rope) and 'udara' (belly). Mother Yasoda tied rope around Gopal's belly. Then, she took Him to the mortar stick. In the olden days, they used mortars with big sticks in the middle that were turned by cows or oxen. But did that stop Gopal? Even if He was tied with thousands of ropes, He could still break free and go away! So, Gopal lifted the mortar stick and started crawling away. He went about half a kilometre away from Gokula, to a place where two twin trees, Yamalarjuna, were growing.

A long time before that, there were two demons, Nalakuvar and Manigriv, who were very puffed up because of their immense wealth. One day, they were swimming naked in a pond, doing nonsense with some girls. When Narad Goswami happened to be passing that place, they did not feel shy even in front of him – the girls were embarrassed, but not they. So, Narad Goswami cursed them, 'You will be born as trees in your next life!' Trees stand naked, without any clothes, all their lives... This is how they became those two Yamalarjuna trees. When they heard Narad Goswami's curse, Nalakuvar and Manigriv asked the sage, 'What will become of us, Prabhu? What can we do to save ourselves?' Narad Goswami told them, 'Gopal Krishna will appear in Dvapar-yuga, He will rescue you.'

So, when Gopal was crawling away with the mortar stick tied to His belly, He came to those two trees. Trying to get through between the trees, He felled the two huge ancient trees. This is how the two brothers were rescued – they were born as trees but become delivered in the end.

This is the main meaning of the kirtan that we chant during the Damodar month.

[His Divine Grace resumes chanting Sri Damodara Astakam.]

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }