SB 10.8.52

The order to Nanda was that there should be the highest bhakti. That order should be accomplished. With Balarāma Kṛṣṇa lived in Vraja, and gave happiness to Yaśodā and others by his extraordinary infant pastimes. He spread over all of Vraja with his variegated pastimes or he was capable of doing this (vibhuḥ). Having pastimes along with Balarāma suggests special sweetness. Though the Lord appears in order to benefit the world and experience special bliss with his devotees, he also did this to make the instruction of Brahmā true. This was a particular detail. Or he followed the order of Brhmā to avoid being accused of ignoring Vasudeva and Devakī. Otherwise later, when he manifested his powers, Vasudeva and Devakī would lament that they had been neglected in his infant pastimes. (But they could not, since was the order of Brahmā.) The special mercy of the Lord to Nanda and Yaśodā and the cowherd people related to Nanda and Yaśodā more than to Vasudeva and Devakī is shown. That is proper. Vasudeva and Devakī performed austerities to obtain the Lord as their son. Nanda and Yaśodā only prayed for the highest bhakti. The Lord is famous as being affectionate to his devotees. And the benedictions given by his devotees are greater than those given by the Lord himself. That is illustrated in this incident. Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Tenth Canto, Eighth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled, "Lord Kṛṣṇa Shows the Universal Form Within His Mouth." 10.9: Mother Yaśodā Binds Lord Kṛṣṇa verses: Summary, 1-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13-14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 Chapter Summary While mother Yaśodā was allowing Kṛṣṇa to drink her breast milk, she was forced to stop because she saw the milk pan boiling over on the oven. The maidservants being engaged in other business, she stopped allowing Kṛṣṇa to drink from her breast and immediately attended to the overflowing milk pan. Kṛṣṇa became very angry because of His mother's behavior and devised a means of breaking the pots of yogurt. Because He created this disturbance, mother Yaśodā decided to bind Him. These incidents are described in this chapter. One day, the maidservants being engaged in other work, mother Yaśodā was churning the yogurt into butter herself, and in the meantime Kṛṣṇa came and requested her to allow Him to suck her breast milk. Of course, mother Yaśodā immediately allowed Him to do so, but then she saw that the hot milk on the oven was boiling over, and therefore she immediately stopped allowing Kṛṣṇa to drink the milk of her breast and went to stop the milk on the oven from overflowing. Kṛṣṇa, however, having been interrupted in His business of sucking the breast, was very angry. He took a piece of stone, broke the churning pot and entered a room, where He began to eat the freshly churned butter. When mother Yaśodā, after attending to the overflowing milk, returned and saw the pot broken, she could understand that this was the work of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore she went to search for Him. When she entered the room, she saw Kṛṣṇa standing on the ulūkhala, a large mortar for grinding spices. Having turned the mortar upside down, He was stealing butter hanging from a swing and was distributing the butter to the monkeys. As soon as Kṛṣṇa saw that His mother had come, He immediately began to run away, and mother Yaśodā began to follow Him. After going some distance, mother Yaśodā was able to catch Kṛṣṇa, who because of His offense was crying. Mother Yaśodā, of course, threatened to punish Kṛṣṇa if He acted that way again, and she decided to bind Him with rope. Unfortunately, when the time came to knot the rope, the rope with which she wanted to bind Him was short by a distance equal to the width of two fingers. When she made the rope longer by adding another rope, she again saw that it was short by two fingers. Again and again she tried, and again and again she found the rope too short by two fingers. Thus she became very tired, and Kṛṣṇa, seeing His affectionate mother so tired, allowed Himself to be bound. Now, being compassionate, He did not show her His unlimited potency. After mother Yaśodā bound Kṛṣṇa and became engaged in other household affairs, Kṛṣṇa observed two yamala-arjuna trees, which were actually Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, two sons of Kuvera who had been condemned by Nārada Muni to become trees. Kṛṣṇa, by His mercy, now began to proceed toward the trees to fulfill the desire of Nārada Muni.