Text 11
kṛtāgasaṁ taṁ prarudantam akṣiṇī
kaṣantam añjan-maṣiṇī sva-pāṇinā
udvīkṣamāṇaṁ bhaya-vihvalekṣaṇaṁ
haste gṛhītvā bhiṣayanty avāgurat
kṛta-āgasam — who was an offender; tam — unto Kṛṣṇa; prarudantam — with a crying attitude; akṣiṇī — His two eyes; kaṣantam — rubbing; añjat-maṣiṇī — from whose eyes the blackish ointment was distributed all over His face with tears; sva-pāṇinā — with His own hand; udvīkṣamāṇam — who was seen in that attitude by mother Yaśodā; bhaya-vihvala-īkṣaṇam — whose eyes appeared distressed because of such fear of His mother; haste — by the hand; gṛhītvā — catching; bhiṣayantī — mother Yaśodā was threatening Him; avāgurat — and thus she very mildly chastised Him.
When caught by mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa became more and more afraid and admitted to being an offender. As she looked upon Him, she saw that He was crying, His tears mixing with the black ointment around His eyes, and as He rubbed His eyes with His hands, He smeared the ointment all over His face. Mother Yaśodā, catching her beautiful son by the hand, mildly began to chastise Him.
From these dealings between mother Yaśodā and Kṛṣṇa, we can understand the exalted position of a pure devotee in loving service to the Lord. Yogīs, jñānīs, karmīs and Vedāntists cannot even approach Kṛṣṇa; they must remain very, very far away from Him and try to enter His bodily effulgence, although this also they are unable to do. Great demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva always worship the Lord by meditation and by service. Even the most powerful Yamarāja fears Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, as we find in the history of Ajāmila, Yamarāja instructed his followers not even to approach the devotees, what to speak of capturing them. In other words, Yamarāja also fears Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Yet this Kṛṣṇa became so dependent on mother Yaśodā that when she simply showed Kṛṣṇa the stick in her hand, Kṛṣṇa admitted to being an offender and began to cry like an ordinary child. Mother Yaśodā, of course, did not want to chastise her beloved child very much, and therefore she immediately threw her stick away and simply rebuked Kṛṣṇa, saying, “Now I shall bind You so that You cannot commit any further offensive activities. Nor for the time being can You play with Your playmates.” This shows the position of a pure devotee, in contrast with others, like jñānīs, yogīs and the followers of Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, in regarding the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth.