Part 15 Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please Accept Our Humble

The Lord of Sweetness - Part 15

Date: 2021-01-24 Author: Harshita Haribaskar

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled "Lord of Sweetness", wherein we were meditating on the beauty of the Lord and some of the practical lessons we can learn from the song Madhurashtakam composed by Sri Vallabhacarya. In the previous offerings we were meditating on the sweetness of Krishna's deeds and liberation. Now we shall meditate on the glories described by Sri Vallabhacarya in the fifth stanza of this ashtakam.

23. Sweetness of Krishna's stealing - haraṇaṁ madhuraṁ: The whole Damodar pastime began because the Lord was sitting on top of a big wooden grinding mortar, and stealing butter from the high hanging pots, and was feeding it to the monkeys. He is known as Makhan Chor, the butter thief. But why does Krishna steal? He is the owner of everything. What is the need for Him to "steal"? Well if He owns everything, then He is not stealing anything. He is doing it for the pleasure of His devotees. Whenever the Lord used to steal, the gopis would come and complain to Mother Yashoda. They would say, "Now we are lodging all these complaints, and Krishna is looking at the floor as if He is completely innocent. But we know very well that in His mind, He is plotting as to when He's going to steal our butter."

But this conversation would take place every day because the gopis wanted an excuse to talk about Krishna. Now, we know that butter is dear to the Lord. Hence when our hearts become soft and sweet like butter, by churning through the process of bhakti, Krishna will steal our hearts. Sri Bilvamangala Thakura in the Chorashtakam very lovingly describes, "O stealer of my everything! O Thief! Today I have imprisoned You in the miserable prison- house of my heart which is very fearful due to the terrible darkness of my ignorance, and there for a very long time, You will remain, receiving appropriate punishment for Your crimes of thievery! O Krsna, thief of my everything! The noose of my devotion remaining forever tight, You will continue to reside in the prison-house of my heart because I will not release You for millions of aeons." If we establish the Lord in the temple of our hearts, each ounce of blood flowing through our body will be purified and hence we will become healthy, happy, see the Lord in the hearts of everyone.

24. Sweetness of Krishna 'pleasing His devotees' - ramaṇaṁ madhuraṁ: Lord being the source of all transcendental pleasure - gives pleasure to His eternal associate who assist Him in various pastimes and also to all those who simply hear about or read these pastimes. In Damodar lila, Lord gives transcendental pleasure to mother Yashoda and all her neighbours, who happily watched Yashoda trying to punish her darling son Krishna. The mother-son affection is one of the most purest forms of love in this world. As mother Yashoda began to get tired, trying to increase the length of rope to tie her mischievous son, the Lord appreciated her hard labour and He agreed to be bound up by the ropes just to please her. Similarly, the Lord also feels transcendental pleasure and eagerly agrees to be controlled by the love of His pure devotee. This was exemplified by Krishna's surrender unto His mother Yashoda. Krishna became obedient to His mother's sweet punishment. Service to one's parents is very sweet to the Lord. In Pandarpur pastime also we find how Lord along with His consort Rukmini devi - pleased with the service done by His devotee Pundalik to his parents, agreed to wait on the stone offered by Pundalik as he was busy serving his parents. When Pundalika comes out, he begs for pardon but far from being displeased, the Lord is taken over by Pundalik's love for his parents and grants a boon. Pundalika requests the Lord to stay back on Earth and bless all His true devotees. He agrees to take the form of Vithoba, or God who stood upon a brick, and a temple comes up there. This temple is known as the Vithoba Temple in Maharashtra. The Lord's intense love for His mother is an example for us to always be respectful and grateful to our parents, who have become the medium for us in this world to help us practice Krsna Consciousness.

Krishna willing we shall meditate on the other glorious features of the Lord in the subsequent offering.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Harshita, Prerna, Mayukha.