Devanagari
स्वमातु: स्विन्नगात्राया विस्रस्तकबरस्रज: ।
दृष्ट्वा परिश्रमं कृष्ण: कृपयासीत् स्वबन्धने ॥ १८ ॥
Verse text
sva-mātuḥ svinna-gātrāyā
visrasta-kabara-srajaḥ
dṛṣṭvā pariśramaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ
kṛpayāsīt sva-bandhane
Synonyms
sva
—
mātuḥ — of His own mother (Kṛṣṇa’s mother, Yaśodādevī)
;
svinna
—
gātrāyāḥ — when Kṛṣṇa saw His mother perspiring all over because of unnecessary labor
;
visrasta
—
were falling down
;
kabara
—
from her hair
;
srajaḥ
—
of whom the flowers
;
dṛṣṭvā
—
by seeing the condition of His mother
;
pariśramam
—
He could understand that she was now overworked and feeling fatigued
;
kṛṣṇaḥ
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
kṛpayā
—
by His causeless mercy upon His devotee and mother
;
āsīt
—
agreed
;
sva
—
bandhane — in binding Him .
Translation
Because of mother Yaśodā’s hard labor, her whole body became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When child Kṛṣṇa saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Because of mother Yaśodā's hard labor, her whole body became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When child Kṛṣṇa saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.
KB 10.9.18
In attempting to bind her son, she became tired. She was perspiring, and the garland on her head fell down. Then Lord Kṛṣṇa appreciated the hard labor of His mother, and being compassionate upon her, He agreed to be bound up by the ropes.
Purport
When mother Yaśodā and the other ladies finally saw that Kṛṣṇa, although decorated with many bangles and other jeweled ornaments, could not be bound with all the ropes available in the house, they decided that Kṛṣṇa was so fortunate that He could not be bound by any material condition. Thus they gave up the idea of binding Him. But in competition between Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, Kṛṣṇa sometimes agrees to be defeated. Thus Kṛṣṇa’s internal energy,
yoga-māyā,
was brought to work, and Kṛṣṇa agreed to be bound by mother Yaśodā.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"As you cannot tie up his waist even with all the ropes of the house, then it must be concluded that it is his good fortune that it should not be. Listen Yasoda, give up this attempt!" Though the village women advised in this way, Yasoda was insistent. "Even if evening comes, and I tie together the rope of the whole village, I must find out just once the extent of my son’s waist." If Yasoda, with desire to do good to her son, and being stubborn, would not give up her attempt to bind the Lord, then between the Lord and the devotee, the devotee’s stubbornness prevails. Thus, seeing his mother becoming tired, the Lord gave up his own stubbornness, and by his mercy allowed himself to be tied. His mercy is the king of all saktis, illuminating all else. It melts the heart of the Lord as if it were butter. Mercy’s appearance made the satya sankalpa and vibhuta saktis suddenly disappear. The shortage of two fingers was filled by effort (parisrama) and mercy (krpa). The effort and fatigue due to service and worship ( the steady faith of the devotee --bhakta nistha), and the mercy of the Lord arising from seeing that effort and fatigue ( the steady quality in the Lord--sva nistha)--these two caused the Lord to be bound. As long as these are not there, the rope remains two fingers too short. When these two are there, the Lord is bound. The Lord himself showed to his mother how only love can bind him. This is what the pastime illustrates.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Kṛṣṇa, who performs pastimes to attract all minds, by mercy, agreed to be bound. Seeing his own mother (sva) with greater affection for her than he had for himself, he became merciful, unable to tolerate seeing her suffer, and accepted to be bound up, though it was difficult. The word mātuḥ (of his mother) indicates the main reason, her great motherly affection. Giving up his nature of infantile stubbornness, he became bound just by a second piece of rope, since his vibhūtā-śakti lost hostility to being tied by the rope when he became fixed on being merciful. No other rope was needed. She had become tired because she had to deal with a child strong as a young elephant and had to search for rope.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Most
Kṛṣṇa, who performs pastimes to attract all minds, by mercy, agreed to be bound. Seeing his own mother (sva) with greater affection for her than he had for himself, he became merciful, unable to tolerate seeing her suffer, and accepted to be bound up, though it was difficult. Sva indicates she had stronger affection than Devakī for Kṛṣṇa as her son.
Or seeing her great endeavor, seeing her perspire, and being pained by her efforts, out of mercy, he allowed himself to be tied up by his mother. The garland had fallen from her hair and was strewn about. Or both hair and garland were in disarray.