FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.9.4

తాం స్తన్యకామ ఆసాద్య మథ్నన్తీం జననీం హరి: । గృహీత్వా దధిమన్థానం న్యషేధత్ ప్రీతిమావహన్ ॥ ౪ ॥
tāṁ stanya-kāma āsādya
[taam stanya-kaama aasaadya]
mathnantīṁ jananīṁ hariḥ
[mathnanteem jananeem harih]
gṛhītvā dadhi-manthānaṁ
[griheetvaa dadhi-manthaanam]
nyaṣedhat prītim āvahan
[nyashedhat preetim aavahan]
tām — unto mother Yaśodā stanya - kāmaḥ — Kṛṣṇa, who was desiring to drink her breast milk āsādya — appearing before her mathnantīm — while she was churning butter jananīm — to the mother hariḥ — Kṛṣṇa gṛhītvā — catching dadhi - manthānam — the churning rod nyaṣedhat — forbade prītim āvahan — creating a situation of love and affection .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
tāṁ stanya-kāma āsādya
tām
unto mother Yaśodā
stanya - kāmaḥ
Kṛṣṇa, who was desiring to drink her breast milk
āsādya
appearing before her
mathnantīṁ jananīṁ hariḥ
mathnantīm
while she was churning butter
jananīm
to the mother
hariḥ
Kṛṣṇa
gṛhītvā dadhi-manthānaṁ
gṛhītvā
catching
dadhi - manthānam
the churning rod
nyaṣedhat prītim āvahan
nyaṣedhat
forbade
prītim āvahan
creating a situation of love and affection .
  • stanya-kāmaḥ — desiring to drink her breast milk
    Compound: stanya (breast milk) + kāmaḥ (desiring). The Supreme, who pervades all and lacks nothing, has elected to want something specific from one devotee. Gauḍīya doctrine: Bhagavān is svayaṁ-pūrṇa yet His prema makes Him appear hungry.
  • hariḥ — Kṛṣṇa
    From √hṛ (to steal, to remove). Hari is the one who steals hearts and removes sins. In this verse He literally steals Yaśodā's churning attention; the Bhāgavatam is making the etymology visible.
  • gṛhītvā — catching
    Absolutive of √grah. Note the reversal — He grasps the rod that grasps Him. Later in this chapter (verse 9) Yaśodā tries to grasp Him and He flees; here He grasps her tool first. The chapter is a study in who catches whom.
  • nyaṣedhat — He forbade
    Imperfect from nis + √sidh — He prohibits her work. The Lord forbidding His devotee's labor in order to receive her directly — a Gauḍīya emblem for kṛpā interrupting sādhana.
  • prītim āvahan — creating a situation of love and affection
    prītim (love, affection) + āvahan (bringing about). The motive is explicit: He stages this interruption to manufacture more occasion for vātsalya. Līlā is engineered for the devotee's rasa, not for any need of His own.
While mother Yaśodā was churning butter, Lord Kṛṣṇa, desiring to drink the milk of her breast, appeared before her, and in order to increase her transcendental pleasure, He caught hold of the churning rod and began to prevent her from churning.

Kṛṣṇa was sleeping within the room, and as soon as He got up, He became hungry and went to His mother. Wanting to stop her from churning and drink the milk of her breasts, He stopped her from moving the churning rod.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
While mother Yaśodā was churning butter, Lord Kṛṣṇa, desiring to drink the milk of her breast, appeared before her, and in order to increase her transcendental pleasure, He caught hold of the churning rod and began to prevent her from churning.
Commentary

Waking up in the morning, leaving the room, Krsna began crying from hunger. He thus approached Yasoda (asadya), and held the churning rod, indicating to her that she should stop churning and give him attention. Yasoda understood his cleverness, and this increased her bliss.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Hungry according to his infant pastimes filled with affection for his mother, he desired her milk. He approached Yaśodā filled with affection for him since she was his mother. Śukadeva describes Kṛṣṇa’s inner emotion. By this she attained complete (ā- vahan) happiness because of his attempt to drink her milk, because of his ability to stop her churning and because of his cleverness by grabbing the rod. He was most attractive at this time (hariḥ). It should be understood that he had just risen from bed since the churning was done during early morning in Kārtika month, and he had not yet met his friends.

Related values
Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Seva (Service / Selfless Action)Prema (Divine Love)Vinaya (Humility / Modesty)Hrih (Modesty / Sense of Shame)Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)
Related verses
Kṛṣṇa interrupts mother Yaśodā's churning to drink her milk — the Lord lets Himself be 'held' by the loving service of His devotee.
Practical Applications
  • Notice one task today where Kṛṣṇa is asking you to pause your 'churning' and attend to what He actually wants from you in that moment.
  • Before any service today, offer it inwardly to Kṛṣṇa as Yaśodā offered her milk — let the act itself become the meeting.
  • Refuse to treat bhakti as one more item on your list; let Him interrupt your schedule and receive the interruption as His mercy.

A king's son sometimes pulls a courtier's sleeve to demand attention — the kingdom waits, the throne is forgotten, because the boy has decided this is the moment. Kṛṣṇa, ruler of all, pulls Yaśodā's churning rod for the same reason: He has elected, in love, to be the one who needs her right now.

Prahlāda interrupted

Prahlāda was so absorbed in remembering Viṣṇu that his teachers, his father, even his classmates could not pull him back to lessons. Hari kept interrupting the curriculum of an asura kingdom (SB 7.5).

The Lord stops the churning of every conditioned agenda. In Yaśodā's case He stops the literal churn; in Prahlāda's case He stops the rote of demoniac schooling — same gesture, different scale.

Dhruva's vision in the forest

Five-year-old Dhruva sat in the forest tapasvī-style, breath halted, mind one-pointed. The Lord appeared and touched His conch to Dhruva's cheek — interrupting the meditation itself to give what no meditation could earn (SB 4.8–9).

Kṛṣṇa cuts in when love is ready, not when technique is complete. He caught Yaśodā's rod for the same reason He touched Dhruva's cheek: the devotee was the destination.

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