View source for This activity of Mother Yasoda is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation

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{{terms|"This activity of Mother Yaśodā is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation"}}
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[[Category:Activities]]
[[Category:Yasoda]]
[[Category:Explain]]
[[Category:Expert Devotees]]
[[Category:Ecstatic Love For Krsna]]
[[Category:Separation From Krsna]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 43 - Parenthood]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
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Another incident demonstrating Yaśodā's extreme love for Kṛṣṇa occurred when Kṛṣṇa went to Mathurā, the kingdom of Kaṁsa. In separation from Kṛṣṇa, Mother Yaśodā was looking at Kṛṣṇa's makeup utensils, and she fell down on the ground almost unconscious, with a great sound. When she was rolling over on the ground, there were many scratches on her body, and in that piteous condition she began to cry, "O my dear son! My dear son!" And she slapped her breasts with her two hands. This activity of Mother Yaśodā is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation. Sometimes there are many other symptoms, such as great anxiety, lamentation, frustration, being stunned, humility, restlessness, madness and illusion.
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[[Vanisource:NOD 43 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 43]]
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When Kṛṣṇa arrived at Kurukṣetra in pilgrimage, all the people assembled there began to say that Kṛṣṇa the son of Devakī had arrived. At that time Devakī, just like an affectionate mother, began to pat Kṛṣṇa's face. And again when people cried that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, had come, both King Nanda and Mother Yaśodā became overwhelmed with affection and expressed their great pleasure.

When Mother Yaśodā, the Queen of Gokula, was going to see her son Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra, one of her friends began to address her thus: "My dear Queen, the milk flowing out of your breast-mountain has already whitened the River Ganges, and the tears from your eyes, mixed with black mascara, have already blackened the color of the Yamunā. And as you are standing just between the two rivers, I think there is no need for your anxiety to see your son's face. Your parental affection has already been exhibited to Him by these two rivers!"

The same friend of Mother Yaśodā addressed Kṛṣṇa as follows: "My dear Mukunda, if Mother Yaśodā, the Queen of Gokula, is forced to stand on fire, but is allowed to see Your lotus face, then this fire will appear to her as the Himalayan Mountains: full of ice. In the same way, if she is allowed to stay in the ocean of nectar, but is not allowed to see the lotus face of Your Grace, then even this ocean of nectar will appear to her as an ocean of arsenic poison." Let the anxiety of Mother Yaśodā of Braja, always expecting to see the lotus face of Kṛṣṇa, be glorified all over the universe!

A similar statement was given by Kuntīdevī to Akrūra: "My dear brother Akrūra, my nephew Mukunda is long absent from us. Will you kindly tell Him that His Aunt Kuntī is sitting amongst the enemy and would like to know when she will be able to see His lotus face again?"

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, [[Vanisource:SB 10.46.28|Tenth Canto, 46th Chapter, 2nd verse]], there is this statement: "When Uddhava was present at Vṛndāvana and was narrating the activities of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, Mother Yaśodā, while hearing this narration, began to pour milk from her breasts and shed tears from her eyes." Another incident demonstrating Yaśodā's extreme love for Kṛṣṇa occurred when Kṛṣṇa went to Mathurā, the kingdom of Kaṁsa. In separation from Kṛṣṇa, Mother Yaśodā was looking at Kṛṣṇa's makeup utensils, and she fell down on the ground almost unconscious, with a great sound. When she was rolling over on the ground, there were many scratches on her body, and in that piteous condition she began to cry, "O my dear son! My dear son!" And she slapped her breasts with her two hands. This activity of Mother Yaśodā is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation. Sometimes there are many other symptoms, such as great anxiety, lamentation, frustration, being stunned, humility, restlessness, madness and illusion.

As far as Mother Yaśodā's anxieties are concerned, when Kṛṣṇa was out of the house in the pasturing ground, a devotee once told her, "Yaśodā, I think your movements have been slackened, and I see that you are full of anxieties. Your two eyes appear to be without any movement, and I feel in your breathing a kind of warmth which is bringing your breast milk to the boiling point. All these conditions prove that out of separation from your son you have a severe headache." These are some of the symptoms of Mother Yaśodā's anxiety for Kṛṣṇa.

When Akrūra was present in Vṛndāvana and was narrating the activities of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, Mother Yaśodā was informed that Kṛṣṇa had married so many queens and was very busy there in His householder affairs. Hearing this, Mother Yaśodā lamented how unfortunate she was that she could not get her son married just after passing His kaiśora age, and thus she could not receive both her son and daughter-in-law at her home. She exclaimed, "My dear Akrūra, you are simply throwing thunderbolts on my head!" These are the signs of lamentation on the part of Mother Yaśodā in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

Similarly, Mother Yaśodā felt frustration when she thought, "Although I have millions of cows, the milk of these cows could not satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Therefore let a curse be on this milk! And I also am condemned because although I am so opulent in material prosperity, I am now unable to smell the head of my child and feed Him with my breast milk as I used to do when He was here in Vṛndāvana." This is a sign of frustration on the part of Mother Yaśodā in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

One friend of Kṛṣṇa's addressed Him thus: "My dear lotus-eyed one, when You were living in Gokula You were always bearing a stick in Your hand. That stick is now lying idle in the house of Mother Yaśodā, and whenever she sees it she becomes motionless just like the stick." This is the sign of becoming stunned in separation from Kṛṣṇa. In separation from Kṛṣṇa Mother Yaśodā became so humble that she prayed to the creator of the universe, Lord Brahmā, with tears in her eyes: "My dear creator, won't you kindly bring my dear son Kṛṣṇa back to me so that I can see Him at least for a moment?" Sometimes in restlessness like a madwoman Mother Yaśodā used to accuse Nanda Mahārāj, "What are you doing in the palace? You shameless man! Why do people call you the King of Braja? It is very astonishing that while being separated from your dear son Kṛṣṇa, you are still living within Vṛndāvana as a hard-hearted father!"

Someone informed Kṛṣṇa about the madness of Mother Yaśodā in the following words: "In madness Mother Yaśodā has addressed the kadamba trees and inquired from them, 'Where is my son?' Similarly, she has addressed the birds and the drones and inquired from them as to whether Kṛṣṇa has passed before them, and she has inquired if they can say anything about You. In this way, Mother Yaśodā in illusion was asking everybody about You, and she has been wandering all over Vṛndāvana." This is madness in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

When Nanda Mahārāj was accused by Mother Yaśodā of being "hard-hearted," he replied, "My dear Yaśodā, why are you becoming so agitated? Kindly look more carefully. Just see, your son Kṛṣṇa is standing before you! Don't become a madwoman like this. Please keep my home peaceful." And Kṛṣṇa was informed by some friend that His father Nanda was also in illusion in this way, in separation from Him.

When all the wives of Vasudeva were present in the arena of Kaṁsa, they saw the most pleasing bodily features of Kṛṣṇa, and immediately, out of parental affection, milk began to flow from their breasts, and the lower parts of their saris became wet. This symptom of ecstatic love is an example of the result of fulfillment of desire.

In the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, [[Vanisource:SB 1.11.29|11th Chapter, 25th verse]], it is stated, "When Kṛṣṇa entered Dvārakā after finishing the Battle of Kurukṣetra, He first of all saw His mother and all His different stepmothers and offered His respectful obeisances unto their feet. The mothers immediately took Kṛṣṇa upon their laps, and because of their parental affection, there was milk flowing out of their breasts. So their breast milk, mixed with the water of tears, became the first offering to Kṛṣṇa. This is one of the examples of being satisfied after a great separation.

There is a similar statement in the Lalita-mādhava: "How wonderful it is that Yaśodā, the wife of King Nanda, out of her parental fection for Kṛṣṇa, mixed her tears and the milk from her breasts and thus bathed her dear son Kṛṣṇa." In Vidagdha-mādhava, a devotee addresses Lord Kṛṣṇa as follows: "My dear Mukunda, just after seeing Your face full with the flavor of the lotus flower, and being attracted by the moonlight of Your face, Mother Yaśodā became so overjoyed in her affection that immediately from the nipples of her waterpot-like breasts, milk began to flow." She was thus constantly engaged in supplying milk to Kṛṣṇa after wetting the covering cloth over the jug.

These are some of the signs of parental love for Kṛṣṇa by His mother, father and elderly persons. Symptoms of ecstatic love in parental affection are expressed when Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the son. These constant transcendental emotions for Kṛṣṇa are called steady ecstasy in parental love.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states herein that according to some learned scholars, the three kinds of transcendental mellow so far described—namely, servitude, fraternity and parental affection—are sometimes mixed up. For example, the fraternal feelings of Balarāma are mixed with servitude and parental affection. Similarly, King Yudhiṣṭhira's attraction for Kṛṣṇa is also mixed with parental affection and servitude. Similarly, the transcendental mellow of Ugrasena, Kṛṣṇa's grandfather, is mixed with servitude and parental affection. The affection of all the elderly gopīs in Vṛndāvana is a mixture of parental love, servitude and fraternity. The affection of the sons of Mādrī, Nakula and Sahadeva, as well as the affection of sage Nārada, is a mixture of friendship and servitude. The affection of Lord Śiva, Garuḍa and Uddhava is a mixture of servitude and fraternity.
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