"God is always behind every major and minor happening of the world. Sometimes Krishna gives trouble to the youthful gopis by pinching them or harassing them along the way, toppling their head- or hip-held pots of milk, yogurt, and ghee. At other times He sends them gunja-malas or love messages tremulously inscribed with the juice of red roses by His own hand. Whatever He does, He simply wants to increase their affection for Him, to somehow draw their attention toward Him. Similarly, all tribulation as well as all jubilation experienced in the course of life’s sojourn is but Krishna’s attempt to get our attention, to elicit our reciprocation in various ways. In His childhood, Krishna would often break the motherly gopis’ carefully kept pots of yogurt, butter, and ghee, pinch their babies to make them cry, or mischievously urinate on their freshly cleansed floors before escaping; and the gopis, though not catching Him in the act, would easily surmise that it was all His handiwork.
Yet, when they, perturbed and frustrated, would gang up on Mother Yashoda to angrily lodge complaints against Him, they would become charmed and pleased to see Him hiding behind His mother’s dress, pretending to be innocent, His face looking so sweet and adorable. At that time their hearts would melt and they would immediately become overwhelmed with motherly affection, dispossessed of their affected anger and annoyance toward Him and happy to have a good excuse to come to His home to see Him in such a state.
A contemporary example: A prankish young school-boy, sitting behind a sweet young girl in his class, secretly dips the ends of her braids in the ink-pot on his desk. Unknown to the girl, the backside of her nice new dress becomes totally blotched with ink and spoiled when she stands up to go home.
Only at home, when she changes dress, does she come to know, and she at once ascertains the culprit and complains about him to her mother. The next day, following her mother’s advice, she sits across the classroom from him in order to escape his further mischief. But do you think that stops him? Hell no! Desiring her crooked glance, he hurls spitballs across the classroom, bouncing them off the back of her head. At first she pretends not to notice. But after two or three incidents, she becomes
annoyed and turns to see from whence the spit-balls came. And who does she see – the prankish boy, hiding his smile while pretending to know nothing of it. At this point she begins to gather that he must have an interest in her, and she becomes inwardly enchanted and pleased at heart. At recess, when all the boys are playing ball, she, standing on the side, searches and searches among them to find him out in order to witness her prankster’s sportsmanship, but she doesn’t see him anywhere. Does that mean he’s not around? Hell no! Deftly sneaking up from behind, our prankish boy quietly catches a single strand of loose hair from the base of her braid and . . .
ping! . . . “Oww! That hurt!” as she whirls around and spontaneously slaps his face screaming, “Oh, you nonsense!”
Sprightly sprinting away, feeling very satisfied with himself, and considering all his endeavors a success, having caught her notice and achieved her reciprocation, he elatedly muses again and again, “She loves me! She touched me! She actually touched me!” Later, he sends her a box of sweets; still later, he personally hands her a beautiful bouquet of fantastically fragrant flowers . . . and the rest is history. Whether the boy pesters her in this way or that, or gives her a flower or blows her a kiss, in any case, his intention is to somehow get her attention and occupy her thoughts.
In the same way, Krishna just wants to have a relationship with us. So He disturbs us in this way or that, or from time to time sends us some special maha-prasadam or a nice garland of lotus flowers just to in some way or other remind us that He still exists, waiting patiently behind the whole cosmic affair. He has His hand everywhere, and behind that hand is the rest of His person, who is so sweet and adorable and enchanting and full of rasa. So though we may feel mistreated in some way or disturbed or dismayed by various situations, when we see within our heart of hearts the all-attractiveness of His beautiful face, we will no longer feel inclined to bear any grudges. Why?
Because we know He always has our best interest at heart and that, ultimately, He loves us, even if by His prankish behavior He makes us shed a stream of tears for the rest of eternity."
These stories make sense when we are settled, at least for a moment, in the gardens of our hearts, where there is only the slightest distinction between intellect and Transcendence. The farther we are from there, the more the hardships of life seem like punishment or just plain meanness. I want to live in the rose garden.
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