All the vraja-gopis complained to Yashoda Mata, "You please keep your son under control."

Yashoda Mata replied, "He is good only."

Vraja-gopis said, "No, He is very mischievous. When we sleep at night, out of fear of thieves, we keep a lamp burning through the night. He, along with other mischievous cowherd boys, comes to our house and blows it out. Then He steals yogurt and butter from our house. Is this good? He does this every day."

Yashoda Mata got worried about this. She asked Krishna, "Did you do so?" Krishna said, "They all are lying." As Krishna did not appear so mischievous, Yashoda Mata became perplexed.

On the other side, the gopas went to Nanda Baba and said, "Please keep your son under control." Nanda Baba asked, "What happened? What has He done?" They said the same thing as the gopis said to Yashoda Mata.

Yashoda Mata and Nanda Baba both started worrying. Nanda Baba asked Krishna, "Have you done so?" Krishna replied, "They all are lying." Yashoda Mata and Nanda Baba thought, "Seeing Krishna, it does not seem that He is lying."

In reality, whatever the gopa-gopis make is for Krishna only. But when they go to Nanda Baba and tell him, "You please send your son to our house. We will feed Him,"

Nanda Baba says, "We have ten thousand cows. Our son will not eat anywhere else. Do we have any scarcity?"

What would the gopa-gopis do now? Yashoda Mata also said the same thing. Because Yashoda Mata and Nanda Baba refused to send Him to their house, the gopa-gopis were very disturbed. Seeing their disturbed state, Krishna also requested Yashoda Mata and Nanda Baba to allow Him to go to their houses and accept the eatables. They both chastised Him even more, saying that He had developed greed to eat at others’ houses. Now what will He do? To fulfil the desire of the gopa-gopis, He became a thief.

One day Yashoda Mata herself saw the mischievous acts of Krishna. That day there were no maidservants in the house, and Yashoda Mata herself was churning yogurt in a big earthen pot. While churning, she was singing the glories of Krishna about killing Putana and other demons. At that time Krishna came to her. He was hungry. He indicated to his mother, "You stop churning, I am hungry, suckle me."

Yashoda Mata said, "No, there are no maid servants. Who will take out butter? Do not disturb me. Keep silent."

Krishna was disturbed, "No, I am hungry. You stop this."

Ultimately, when Yashoda Mata did not stop, Krishna caught hold of her hand along with the churning rod to stop her. Krishna's eyes looked so beautiful. Yashoda Mata got attracted to see Him. Murmuring, "Oh, so much disturbance," she took Him in her lap and started suckling Him.

In the meantime, she had kept one pot on the oven to boil milk. While she was suckling Krishna, the milk swelled up and started spilling over. Yashoda Mata hurriedly told Krishna, "You go down. Everything will be spoiled. You go down."

Krishna said, "No, I am hungry. I shall not go down."

Then, forcefully keeping Him down, she went to attend the milk. Krishna became very angry, thinking, "I am so hungry, and mother has put me down to attend to the milk."

He decided, "I shall destroy everything. I shall break the earthen pot." He also had the fear that if mother saw Him doing so, she would punish Him. He brought one stone and broke the earthen pot silently so that mother would not hear the sound of it. There were many pots there of butter, yogurt, and other things. Krishna was so angry that He broke all the pots. There were pots which were kept hanging also so that Krishna could not touch them. But is it possible to restrict Krishna? The one in whose stomach the whole brahmanda rests — can He not touch those pots? He climbed upon the mortar and, with a stick in His hand, broke all those pots also. He Himself was eating and also feeding the monkeys. Krishna was accepting all different preparations because they were from different cows to fulfill their desires. Outside people may see that He is spoiling everything.

Yashoda Mata, on her return, saw that nobody was there and the earthen pots were broken. She then understood why all the gopa-gopis used to complain to her about Krishna. She decided, "As Krishna has become so naughty, I have to punish Him. Where is He?" She then saw Him mounting on the mortar, facing backward, doing all the mischief. She took one cane in her hand to beat Him.

Out of affection, she does not see Him as the Supreme Lord; she sees Him as her small child. She is thinking, "If I do not punish and restrain Him, then His future will be bad." She is going towards Krishna slowly. She was about to catch hold of Him, and at that moment Krishna saw her and made a great leap from the mortar and ran. Yashoda Mata, thinking, "Today I should not spare Him," also started running behind Him. Krishna was swiftly running, but mother was fat. She had difficulty in running. But she had decided, "I shall catch hold of Him and punish Him; otherwise His future will be bad." The Supreme Lord's future will be bad! She tried hard but could not catch hold of Him. She was now tired and perspiring. Though nobody can catch hold of Krishna, attracted by the pure affection of His mother, knowing that she wanted to catch Him, He reduced His speed of running. Mother caught hold of Him and, with the stick in hand, started threatening Him, saying, "You go to others’ houses to steal and do all these nuisances." Seeing the stick, Krishna started crying loudly; tears started rolling down from His eyes. He, by whom the god of death is afraid, all the demigods including Brahma and Mahadeva are afraid—yet by seeing the stick of Yashoda Mata, He was crying tremendously, shouting in a loud voice.

Satyavrata Muni, in Damodarastakam, described the catching hold of Krishna by Yashoda Mata a little differently. He described that Mother Yashoda, running swiftly behind Krishna, caught Him from behind; whereas in Srimad Bhagavatam, it is written that ultimately Krishna accepted the binding.

When Yashoda Mata saw that Krishna was crying so loudly, she thought, "If out of fear my most beloved child Krishna flees from this place, then I shall die. This child has no sense. He is so small, He has no knowledge. By beating Him what benefit shall I get?" She threw the cane away, took the child in her lap, and tried to pacify Him. Afterwards she thought, "I shall have to fasten the child. There is no other way." She tried to fasten the child by taking the measurement of His stomach. But every time the rope was two fingers short. She thought, "What is this? Why is this happening?"

She kept on joining new rope to the existing one and it became more than one mile long, but she still could not fasten Him. All the gopis were laughing, seeing her trying to fasten Him. Yashoda Mata could not understand what was happening there. Ultimately, seeing the tiredness and tremendous affection of the mother, Krishna accepted the binding. She could bind Him with the first rope that she had tried before.

Each time the rope was two fingers short. One finger indicates the grace of Krishna and the other the sincere effort of service. Yashoda Mata did not stop her service. It is said, harī se lāgā rah re bhāī, terī banat banat ban jāī — if one continues sincere efforts of service, he will surely succeed in getting the grace of the Lord. Ultimately, Krishna is subdued by her devotion. Without the grace of Krishna, you cannot get Him. But to get the grace, you must have the serving mood. If we have the serving mood, then Gurudev and Krishna will grace us. They are all-merciful; They are gracing, but we have to attract Their grace by sincere effort of service.