Category:Krsna and Yogurt
Theme Analysis
The childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana are famously characterized by His interaction with milk products, specifically yogurt. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that these activities, while appearing as ordinary mischief, are transcendental pastimes (līlā) designed to reciprocate the pure love of His devotees. The act of Kṛṣṇa breaking yogurt pots and stealing their contents is a central theme in the Dāmodara-līlā, which took place on Dīpāvalī. This incident highlights the Lord's desire to be captured by the love of Mother Yaśodā. Beyond the intimate pastimes, yogurt serves a functional role in Vedic culture as an essential ingredient in Deity worship (pañcāmṛta) and as a staple for the cowherd boys during their forest excursions. Philosophically, the relationship between milk and yogurt is used as an analogy for universal knowledge; just as knowing milk allows one to understand all its derivatives, knowing Kṛṣṇa allows one to understand the entire creation. Whether He is distributing yogurt to the monkeys or sharing it with His friends on the banks of the Yamunā, Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that Kṛṣṇa uses this simple dairy product to weave a complex tapestry of spiritual emotion and educational analogy.
- The Mischievous Thief: Kṛṣṇa's activities of stealing yogurt and butter from the gopīs are meant to increase their attachment to Him. Even when He breaks the containers out of feigned anger or distributes the contents to monkeys, His actions are celebrated as the peak of transcendental affection.
- The Dāmodara Incident: The breaking of a yogurt pot is the catalyst for the famous pastime where Mother Yaśodā binds Kṛṣṇa with ropes. This specific event, occurring on Dīpāvalī, is celebrated annually as a reminder of the Lord's submissiveness to the love of His servants.
- Ritual and Practical Use: Yogurt is a primary substance used for bathing the Deity and is a constant companion for the cowherd boys. Kṛṣṇa is often described sitting like the whorl of a lotus, surrounded by friends, holding a lump of rice mixed with yogurt.
- Analogy for Absolute Truth: The transformation of milk into yogurt is a recurring Vedic metaphor. Śrīla Prabhupāda uses the "milk product" analogy to explain that everything in the universe is a product of Kṛṣṇa, and thus knowing Him is the key to universal knowledge.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Breaking the Pots of Love - Kṛṣṇa and Yogurt in Vṛndāvana.
Pages in category "Krsna and Yogurt"
The following 39 pages are in this category, out of 39 total.
A
- After the bathing ceremony was finished, incense and lamps were burned and all kinds of food offered before the Deity. These foods included yogurt, milk and as many sweetmeats as were received
- At that time, Krsna became very much afraid of Jarati and went to His elder brother Baladeva. He said, "My dear brother, I have stolen yogurt! Just see - Jarati is coming hurriedly to catch Me!"
I
- If we (the elder gopis) keep our stock of yogurt, butter and milk in a solitary dark place, your Krsna and Balarama find it in the darkness by the glaring effulgence of the ornaments and jewels on Their bodies
- If you know what is milk, then you know what is butter, what is cheese, what is yogurt, everything, because everything is milk product. So if you know Krsna, everything is Krsna product, so you know everything. That is universal knowledge
- In His (Krsna's) left palm He was holding a lump of food prepared with yogurt, butter, rice and pieces of fruit salad, which could be seen through His petallike finger-joints
K
- Krsna assured His friends, "Let us silently steal butter and yogurt without making any disturbance"
- Krsna immediately opened His mouth, but instead of giving Him sugar candy with yogurt, the friend dropped a flower in His mouth
- Krsna was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked - SB 10.9.8
M
- Mother Yasoda returned to the churning place after setting the overflowing milk pan in order. She saw the broken pot, in which the churning yogurt had been kept. Since she could not find her boy (Krsna), she concluded that the broken pot was His work
- Mother Yasoda wanted to impress upon Krsna that since He was afraid merely to see her stick, He should not perform such disturbing activities as breaking the container of yogurt and butter and distributing its contents to the monkeys
- Mother Yasoda would inform them (the elder gopis, "All right, keep your butter and yogurt carefully so that They (Krsna and Balarama) may not reach it"
O
- Once one of Krsna's friends informed Him, "My dear Krsna, if You will open Your mouth, then I shall give You one nice sugar candy mixed with yogurt"
- Once when Krsna was stealing yogurt, Jarati, the headmistress of the house, could detect His activities, and she was therefore coming very hurriedly to catch Him
- One day when Krsna was engaged in stealing butter and yogurt in the house of Jatila, He assured His friends, "My dear friends, I know that this old lady is now sleeping very profoundly because she is breathing very deeply"
- One should bathe the Lord with water in which nicely scented flowers have been soaking for some time. (16) After bathing the body of the Lord with water, one should bathe Him with milk. (17) Then one should bathe Him with yogurt
S
- She (mother Yasoda) thought that this child Krsna was going to the houses of neighborhood gopas and gopis to steal butter because He did not like the milk and yogurt ordinarily prepared
- Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, quoting from the Vaisnava-tosani of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, says that the incident of Krsna's breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yasoda took place on the Dipavali Day, or Dipa-malika
- Sukadeva Gosvami said, "In His (Krsna's) left hand He would hold a lump of rice paste with yogurt, and in His fingers would be pilu, the king of fruits"
T
- The brahmanas thereafter began to offer oblations to the sacrificial fire with yogurt, butter, kusa grass and water. They worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead for the good fortune of the child (Lord Krsna)
- The devotee's prayer continues, "You (Krsna) broke the box containing yogurt, and because of that Mother Yasoda considered You an offender and tied You with rope to the household grinding mortar"
- The elder gopis said, "If by chance They (Krsna and Balarama) cannot find the hidden butter and yogurt, They go to our little babies and pinch their bodies so that they cry, and then They go away"
- The elder gopis said, "If They (Krsna and Balarama) cannot reach (the butter and yogurt), They make a hole in the pot. We think therefore that you’d better take all the jeweled ornaments from the bodies of your children"
- The elder gopis said, "Now just see how your boy (Krsna) is hearing these complaints. All day He simply makes arrangements to steal our butter and yogurt, and now He is sitting just like a very silent good boy. Just see His face"
- The elder gopis said, "Sometimes They steal butter, yogurt & milk & distribute them to the monkeys. When the monkeys are well fed & do not take any more, then your boys chide," 'This milk & butter and yogurt are useless - even the monkeys won't take it'
- The elder gopis said, "Sometimes, being unable to steal our butter and yogurt, out of anger They (Krsna and Balarama) pass urine on the clean floor and sometimes spit on it"
- The elder gopis said, "When Krsna and Balarama are caught stealing the yogurt and butter, They say," ‘Why do you charge Us with stealing? Do you think that butter and yogurt are in scarcity in Our house?'
- The elder gopis said, "Your Krsna and Balarama find great pleasure in stealing our stock of yogurt and butter from wherever we keep it"
- The gopis, being naturally very affectionate to Krsna, began to offer Him yogurt mixed with their tears, and they poured incessant blessings upon Him
- The great reservoir of pleasure, Lord Sri Krsna, thus thought to Himself, "Mother Yasoda first of all left without feeding Me sufficient milk, and therefore I broke the pot of yogurt and distributed the stock butter in charity to the monkeys"
- The incident of Krsna's breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yasoda took place on the Dipavali Day, or Dipa-malika
- Thus Lord Krsna, still carrying the lump of yogurt-and-rice preparation in His left hand, immediately started to search out the calves in the caves and bushes. He searched in the mountain holes and in the forests, but nowhere could He find them
W
- When Krsna and Balarama were in the forest, mother Yasoda used to send Them some fruits, sweetmeats and rice mixed with yogurt. Krsna would take them, sit down on a slab of stone on the bank of the Yamuna, and call His friends to join Him
- When Krsna performs His childish pastimes, His general practice is to break the milk and yogurt pots, throw the yogurt in the courtyard and steal the cream from the milk