The Mischief of Krishna

i.

When Krishna was a little boy he was famous for his bad behavior. Everywhere he went he acted mischievously, but concealed this from his mother, Yasoda. Though the gopis and gopas, and even his brother, Balarama, complained in loving anger of Krishna’s bad habits and small transgressions, Yasoda would not believe them. One day, while Balarama and other boys were playing, they saw Krishna putting mud into his mouth. At once they called out to Yasoda and accused Krishna. Krishna, whose eyes grew very wide, and who put upon his face an appearance of fear, denied that he had eaten dirt. Yasoda scolded her son. She said, ‘There is dirt on your cheek!’ but he denied it again. 

Angrily, she took his hand and brought him inside and said, ‘Then open your mouth and let me see.’

Krishna did as his mother asked and opened his mouth. Yasoda peered within and she trembled at what she saw. In her little boy’s mouth she saw all gods and demons, and all the creatures of the world. She saw Indra in his palace, Vayu among the clouds, and the Goddess crowned by the pleiades. Above she saw the heavens and the circle of the constellations; she saw the moon and Surya in the sky shining brightly. Below, she saw the gates of hell and all its denizens. On the earth she saw green fields, farmland, forests, rivers and seas. She saw howling storms and golden clouds over oceans and continents. 

Beyond this she saw Brahma upon his throne at the end of a lotus. She saw Shiva with his bow surrounded in burning light. And beyond even these, she saw Vishnu and his countless arms, bellies, mouths, and eyes. She saw no beginning and no end. She saw all things, moving and unmoving in every direction. From above she saw her own village where Balarama and the other boys played outside; she saw within her own home; she saw herself peering into her son’s mouth. 

Terror filled her and she fell back. She said, ‘You are not my son, but are the very form of God. Who am I? I am nothing, possessing nothing, knowing nothing. You are not my son, but I am your servant and seek your protection from what I have seen. I seek refuge in God from God!’

Krishna closed his mouth and said, ‘Pay no attention to a little mud in the mouth of the One who devours worlds.’ Taking pity on his mother, feeling only affection for her and seeing her love for him, both as her child and as God made manifest, he stole from her mind the memory of what she saw. At once, she was composed and at ease. She laughed at her little boy and set him on her lap, with a heart full of love.

ii.

Because of Krishna’s mischief, Yasoda, his mother, decided to punish him. 

Krishna had run away from her when she caught him misbehaving. He had broken a pot of butter and was feedings its contents to the monkeys that lived in the trees by the window. Seeing this, Yasoda chased Krishna through their home. When she caught him, she resolved to bind him with rope to keep him near and out of trouble. 

As she wrapped the rope around him, she found it was two fingers short. She took another length and tied it to the rope around Krishna, and found that now it was three fingers short. At last, she gathered up every piece of rope in her home, yet every time she knotted another length, she found it shorter still. Pitying his mother, Krishna at last allowed himself to be bound.

What knot can hold the sun, what rope has length,

To tether it to earth, or sap its strength?