She said the moon had conjoined with the auspicious star of Krishna’s birth; so it was necessary for Krishna to be clean and give donation of cows to the brahmanas. When Krishna still refused, mother Yashoda realized Krishna loves his friends more than anything else. She then summoned Krishna’s competition verve: “Just see oh darling, all the boys of your age have taken bath and are eating food at home, dressed so nicely. Why you both are not like them? Come home now.” Even this appeal of mother Yashoda fell on deaf ears. Then she ran to Balaram and Krishna, grabbed them by her both hands and took them home.
Just then, Krishna’s friends complained, “Oh Krishna, this is not fair. Just when we were winning, you abandon play. We’ll not play with you next time, for you are not sporting.”
When Krishna heard this, fear gripped him. He immediately released Himself from mother Yashoda’s grip, and ran back to play with His friends.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who causes terror in the hearts of the most ferocious demons, is afraid of losing association of His friends. He prefers to be controlled and scolded by His loving parents and friends, than get worshipped by the powerful demi-gods- devtaas, the controllers of the universe.
On another occasion, after the Govardhan pastime, when Indra came along with Surabhi cow, to beg forgiveness from Krishna, many devtaas offered elaborate prayers to Krishna. Krishna remained formal, disinterested, and more eager to finish the session with the big demigods, and was desperate to rush back to play with His friends.
Srila Prabhupada often revealed to us that in Vrindavan Krishna is full of sweetness- the most loving person who simply wishes to love and be loved by His devotees.
That’s why Srila Prabhupada said the thing that would please him the most is if we ‘love Krishna.’
Srila Prabhupada also said if we sincerely chant Hare Krishna we’ll find it easier to remember and love Krishna.
The month of Kartik offers an opportunity to chant attentively, for the Lord’s pleasure.
One important key for blissful chanting that I learnt from Bhurijan pr, during the Govardhan retreat many years ago, is to LISTEN TO ONE MAHAMANTRA. Recently, I learnt from him, an even more powerful method to chant effectively.
