Shloka 14
Dāmodara-līlā: Mother Yaśodā Binds Kṛṣṇa; the Two-Fingers Mystery; Prelude to the Yamala-Arjuna Deliverance
न चान्तर्न बहिर्यस्य न पूर्वं नापि चापरम् । पूर्वापरं बहिश्चान्तर्जगतो यो जगच्च य: ॥ १३ ॥ तं मत्वात्मजमव्यक्तं मर्त्यलिङ्गमधोक्षजम् । गोपिकोलूखले दाम्ना बबन्ध प्राकृतं यथा ॥ १४ ॥
na cāntar na bahir yasya na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar jagato yo jagac ca yaḥ
That unmanifest Adhokṣaja, beyond the reach of the senses, appeared as a human child; mother Yaśodā, thinking Him her ordinary son, bound Him with a rope to the wooden mortar.
In Bhagavad-gītā (10.12), Kṛṣṇa is described as the Supreme Brahman ( paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma ). The word brahma means “the greatest.” Kṛṣṇa is greater than the greatest, being unlimited and all-pervading. How can it be possible for the all-pervading to be measured or bound? Then again, Kṛṣṇa is the time factor. Therefore, He is all-pervading not only in space but also in time. We have measurements of time, but although we are limited by past, present and future, for Kṛṣṇa these do not exist. Every individual person can be measured, but Kṛṣṇa has already shown that although He also is an individual, the entire cosmic manifestation is within His mouth. All these points considered, Kṛṣṇa cannot be measured. How then did Yaśodā want to measure Him and bind Him? We must conclude that this took place simply on the platform of pure transcendental love. This was the only cause.
FAQs
In this verse, the Supreme Lord—beyond inside/outside and beyond the senses (Adhokṣaja)—allows Himself to be bound by Mother Yaśodā’s rope, showing that pure parental love (vatsalya-bhakti) can ‘bind’ Kṛṣṇa.
Seeing Him as her own child in a human-like form, Yaśodā acted as an ordinary mother correcting a mischievous boy, and she tied Him to the mortar—yet the text reveals the profound truth that the bound one is actually the transcendental Lord.
It teaches that sincere, loving devotion and responsibility offered to God—without show or calculation—attracts divine grace more than intellectual pride or mere ritual.