Damodara Pandita explains why Hindus light ghee lamps
Few know the reason why millions of ghee lamps are offered, every single day in this present month of Karttika (morning and evening), to the effigy of baby Krishna being bound to a wooden grinding mortar by his mother Yashoda. Scripture says that Lord Krishna feels so deeply obligated to any one offering a lamp that he offers himself to such a devotee. The history behind this is fascinating!
Yashoda could not sleep peacefully. Her mind was perturbed and beset with worry. “Why is my little Krishna going around stealing butter and yogurt from the neighbours? Is there not enough to eat at home? It’s ruining the reputation of our family!” She had every reason for concern.
Her husband, Nanda, was the king of Vraja whose goshalas housed 900,000 top breed cows. Yashoda had a brainwave. She decided to make such an endless variety of delicious milk preparations with her own hands and feed her mischievous son that he would once and for all forget about stealing from the neighbours.
Having carefully collected the milk of the two most exquisite padmagandha cows from Nanda’s herd of 900,000, Yashoda set it to boil, whilst churning another portion of it to get butter, yogurt and ghee.
Surprisingly, Krishna woke up early that morning. He was hungry. Sleeping children are angelic; wake them and they bring the house down. Yashoda had no choice. She took him on her lap and began to breastfeed him. Her heart was overwhelmed with maternal love just gazing upon the beautiful moonlike face of her little child. She became oblivious of everything around her.
Suddenly the milk began to overflow. Yashoda could never dream of doing such a thing. But circumstances compelled her to put the child down and rush off to take the pot off the fire. Being rudely interrupted from his milk drinking, little Krishna began to cry. He was angry and upset that his mother could have the nerve to set him down like that.
Previously, festivity meant total home production of sweets and savouries because every joint family was adequately equipped with their requisite task force. Today, nuclear family living has disjointed that setup, as a result of which almost everything is purchased outside. Modern day housewives seem to have lost their grit in coping up with the culinary demands of festivity. Two major contributory factors are ill health, which leads to myriad bodily complaints, and lack of positive emotional stamina.
Mental disturbances are no less devastating. They spawn a neurotic approach to child care and nonchalance to domestic responsibilities. To make things worse, social competition and spiraling prices induce an ever growing sense of frustration and despair. In a hectic world where siblings have no time for parents, nor do husbands for their wives, an ever increasing number of housewives are forced onto the back foot and gradually recede into loneliness and depression, thus losing their enthusiasm and determination that are crucial in running a household effectively.
Krishna lost his head because his mother became momentarily preoccupied with the overflowing milk. Hungry children crave for motherly attention. He slipped away into another room and began to break butter pots which left the whole place messy. To aggravate matters, Krishna began to liberally distribute the spoils to hundreds of monkeys. No sane housewife can ever tolerate such a fiasco without exploding.
Yashoda took up a small stick just to admonish (not beat) and sneaked up to her child from behind. Seeing her approach, the monkeys began to disperse. Fearing the worst, Krishna began to run for his life. In spite of her weight, Yashoda caught the child who began to sob uncontrollably. She then bound him to a mortar that was used for churning. This was not an act of cruelty; nor was it a punishment. It was rather a gesture of her motherly affection and concern to protect the child from loitering here and there and harming himself.
Yashoda got engrossed in preparing sweets. Restless Damodara (another name for Krishna because of his belly being bound with rope) began to crawl toward the courtyard dragging the heavy mortar behind him. Suddenly, the grinding mortar got stuck between two giant Yamalarjuna trees. Exerting such unimaginable force, the child tugged so hard that the towering trees came crashing to the ground with a deafening sound.
Everyone came rushing to witness this catastrophe. Krishna was unhurt! What a relief! Nanda hastily untied his precious son from the grinding mortar, took him in his arms and began to caress him. Yashoda came forward to take Krishna in her arms but he looked the other way clinging to his father. This broke her heart even more. She departed weeping inconsolably.
Understanding Yashoda’s pitiful condition, Nanda said, “O Lala! Just see how your mother is crying for you!” The child ran to Yashoda calling, “Mother, I am hungry! Feed me!” Her joy knew no bounds. She fed him with mouthwatering sweets to his heart’s content.
That Karttika morning began with a catastrophe! But Yashoda’s pure motherly affection transformed that nightmare into a tear jerking experience of immortal love that moves hearts even today.
