“’O naughty child, now try going from here, if you can.’ Having spoken thus, she returned to her household duties.” (Vishnu Purana, 5.6.15)

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यदि शक्नोषि गच्छ त्वम् अतिचञ्चलचेष्टित
इत्य् उक्त्वा च निजं कर्म सा चकार कुटुम्बिनी

yadi śaknoṣi gaccha tvam aticañcalaceṣṭita
ity uktvā ca nijaṃ karma sā cakāra kuṭumbinī

“The following complaint is similar to one that says we are losing our ability to focus. We can no longer concentrate like we used to. We are destroying any potential for the ability in children, by handing them smartphones. It is progressively getting worse. When we were young, the parents would scold us for watching too much television. Go outside, they would say. Read a book, they would strongly recommend. Study some more, they would command. We eventually came to expect the admonition. It is like we had a running clock in our mind. We knew not to watch television for too long, since any hint of what they now call ‘binge-watching’ would set off alarm bells.

“The smartphones have those social media apps with those short-form videos. The videos are made to play on repeat. I swear, I think this is some sort of experiment hatched in the mind of some sick and twisted scientist. Let’s see if we can take rational, capable human beings and turn them into mind-numbed monkeys. Anyway, my issue today is the tightrope we have to walk, in how our equilibrium can be thrown off in mere seconds.

“Hear me out on this one. Let’s say that you are happy. You are at peace. Everything is going well. That can turn around as soon as you open one of these apps. There will always be some bad news, no matter which political party is in power, which team won the championship, or what the podcast host is talking about. There is always some kind of corruption. Even if there is a nonthreatening personality posting content, the comments section always has the negative. No one is free of sin, anymore. There is no attempt to behave professionally or as a gentlemen. There is always some fight. It is difficult to stay out of it. You see someone being abused, and you want to step in and defend them.

“How is anyone supposed to find happiness, then? I try to walk the line myself, to practice what I preach. I avoid all sources of news until at least the nighttime. I do not want my mornings spoiled, for instance. Even then, there is always some corruption that I feel compelled to highlight. This means that there is no peace. Does not Shri Krishna Himself rhetorically ask how anyone can be happy without peace?”

नास्ति बुद्धिर् अयुक्तस्य
न चायुक्तस्य भावना
न चाभावयतः शान्तिर्
अशान्तस्य कुतः सुखम्

nāsti buddhir ayuktasya
na cāyuktasya bhāvanā
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir
aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham

“One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.66)

The concerns are valid. Parents complain that when their adult children visit, for an evening of dining and casual conversation, there is little of the latter. One person has to check the latest stock movements on their computer. Another person is in the middle of a heated conversation via text messaging. Another one has set up a tripod and is filming themselves doing random things around the house. Everyone is too busy, too consumed, to have a civil conversation.

At the same time, when there is bad, there might also be good. When it is easy to become upset, when there is little effort required to find something negative, in the same amount of time we can find something positive. We can turn the mind towards something which will make us think. It might make us rethink, in fact.

For instance, there is the verse from Vishnu Purana describing a mother taunting her son. No, this is not child abuse. It is not an adult getting even with a naughty child. This is not a mother acting out on a fantasy to punish someone who has been annoying her for too long, making her life miserable in the process. Rather, this single verse describes the height in the potential relationship with the Almighty.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that begging for stuff from God is not the best way to approach the person who has everything. If the CEO of the corporation were pleased with us and offered to give anything that we wanted, would it be wise to ask for an extra vacation day added to the calendar? Would we ask them to maybe loosen up the dress code requirements? Get a better brand of coffee for the breakroom? In truth, we could ask them to place us in a higher position. We could get something meaningful out of the process.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead can give us anything, if He is so inclined. We can ask for our daily bread, we can approach Him out of fear, we can maintain a healthy distance such that He does not punish us. These are different ways for the relationship to flow, but the Vaishnava acharyas understand that someone like Yashoda is so advanced that she has actually conquered God.

How can that happen, exactly? Is not the Supreme Lord described by names such as Achyuta and Janardana? If He never falls down and if He maintains all people, how can anyone surpass Him in that role? How could they ever control someone who is uncontrollable? Would that not invalidate the supreme standing? Would that not break the relationship? After all, if we are going to worship God, we want to make sure that it is actually Him and not some imposter.

The explanation is that God volunteers to be overcome. He is won over by outpourings of devotion. He appreciates devotion more than anything else. He even explains that devotion, bhakti, is the only way to properly understand Him.

भक्त्या माम् अभिजानाति
यावान् यश् चास्मि तत्त्वतः
ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा
विशते तद्-अनन्तरम्

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā
viśate tad-anantaram

“One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.55)

Yashoda embodies the kutumbini in the sacred land of Gokula. She is not a scholar of high repute. She is not a priest invited to the home to explain the difference between maya and Brahman. Rather, she is a loving mother. She is the best mother, in that she pays attention to all of her responsibilities. She is not above chasing after Krishna if He does something wrong. She loves Krishna more than anything. She is not ashamed in trying to bind Him, to keep Him in one place, such that she will no longer have to worry about Him finding danger. For this amazing love, Krishna agrees to be bound. He accepts the taunting words from that loving mother. How can anyone remain upset if they contemplate this scene, which can be remembered day after day?

In Closing:

On a Sunday no less,
My goat to get.

That colleague wrongly blaming,
My anger and rage inflaming.

But for peace again to earn,
To that sacred image return.

Of Yashoda her beloved son binding,
God as conquered in Gokula finding.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion