I have a good story for this Mother’s Day in the U.S.. It comes from a Hindu myth found in a sacred text called _The Bhagavata Purana_ (8th-10th c), which tells the story of the maternal love of Yasoda for her foster son, the God Krishna.
Yasoda had no idea that she was raising a divine being, and Krishna was a mischievous child. One day when Krishna was playing outside with other children, he put some dirt in his mouth and ate it. When Yasoda found out, she chided her son, who denied any wrongdoing. In a way that mothers across human history might sympathize with, Yasoda challenged young Krishna’s lying by demanding that he open up his mouth.
But when he did, Yasoda saw not dirt but the entire universe — sky, land, oceans, stars, the wind, and all of existence . . . The totality of everything overwhelmed Yasoda, who realized it was only because of divine illusion that she could have concepts such as self-identity. Krishna then stopped Yasoda’s quaking by re-creating the illusion of a world with discrete elements. Yasoda forgot everything and put her little boy on her lap.
The joyful celebration of motherly affection can be seen in this 12th-century statue of Yashoda with her divine son Krishna.
Source(s): Tim Miller, 9/20/2016, “Young Krishna and the Universe in His Mouth.” Image wikipedia. Bhagavata Purana.
