Baby Krishna the Butter Thief

Dadi: "Beta, have you ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar?"

Guddu: "Ha! Yes, Dadi! Ma caught me just last week!"

Dadi: "Then you will love this story! It is about the most famous butter thief in all of history - little baby Krishna!"

Guddu: "Krishna stole butter? But he was God!"

Dadi: "That is what makes these stories so delightful, beta. Even though Krishna was the Supreme Being, in Vrindavan he played the role of a mischievous human child. And his favorite mischief? Stealing freshly churned butter!"

Guddu: "Why did he steal butter when his mother could give him butter?"

Dadi: "Ah, that is the mystery! His mother Yashoda kept plenty of butter at home, but Krishna loved the adventure of stealing it from the neighbors even more. He would gather his friends and plan elaborate heists!"

Guddu: "He had a gang?"

Dadi: "Yes! The cowherd boys were his partners in crime. They would work together - one boy would distract a gopi by saying "Your calf has broken loose and is running away!" When the mother ran to catch the calf, Krishna and his friends would sneak into her house and steal all the butter and yogurt!"

Guddu: "That is so clever!"

Dadi: "Very clever, beta. But also very naughty! The gopis would find their butter pots empty and come to Yashoda to complain. "Your son comes to our houses and steals our butter! He stacks tables on top of each other to reach pots we have hidden in high places!""

Guddu: "He climbed up to get them?"

Dadi: "Yes! And if the room was too dark to see, Krishna's whole body glowed with divine light, and he would use that light to find the hidden butter!"

Guddu: "His body glowed?"

Dadi: "He was God, after all, beta! But here is the funny thing - when someone caught him with his hand in a butter pot, Krishna would make the most innocent face and say, "I came here because I thought this was my own home and you are my mother!""

Guddu: "And they believed him?"

Dadi: "How could they be angry at that adorable face? Even when they caught him red-handed, their hearts would melt. But there is one very famous story about what happened when Yashoda tried to catch him."

Guddu: "Tell me, Dadi!"

Dadi: "One day, Yashoda was churning butter while singing songs about her beloved Krishna. The baby came to her, wanting to be fed. She sat him on her lap and began nursing him. But then she remembered - she had left milk boiling on the stove!"

Guddu: "Oh no!"

Dadi: "She quickly put Krishna down and ran to save the milk. Little Krishna was furious! He had been interrupted from his feeding! In anger, he took a stone and broke the pot of freshly churned butter. Then he ran to another room and began eating butter from a hanging pot, feeding some to the monkeys!"

Guddu: "He fed the monkeys?"

Dadi: "Yes! When Yashoda returned and saw the broken pot, she followed Krishna's butter-smeared footprints. She found him sitting on an overturned grinding mortar, reaching up to feed butter to a group of excited monkeys!"

Guddu: "Did she punish him?"

Dadi: "She tried, beta! She picked up a stick and chased him through the house. Krishna ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, looking back with frightened eyes - this almighty God pretending to be scared of his human mother's stick!"

Guddu: "That is so funny!"

Dadi: "Finally she caught him and decided to tie him to the grinding mortar to keep him out of trouble. But here is where the miracle happened. She took a rope to tie him, but it was two inches too short!"

Guddu: "Just two inches?"

Dadi: "She got more rope. Still two inches too short! She gathered every rope in the house, tied them all together - and still the final knot was two inches too short!"

Guddu: "How is that possible?"

Dadi: "Because you cannot bind the infinite unless the infinite allows it, beta. Krishna was demonstrating that he cannot be captured by force - only by love. When Yashoda was exhausted and about to give up, when she approached him not with frustration but with pure love, Krishna allowed himself to be bound."

Guddu: "He let her tie him because she loved him?"

Dadi: "Exactly, beta! The unlimited Supreme can be bound only by the rope of devotion. This is called the Damodar Lila - the story of when God was tied around the belly by his mother's love."

Guddu: "What happened after she tied him?"

Dadi: "While Yashoda was busy with household work, Krishna crawled toward two large trees, dragging the heavy mortar behind him. He squeezed between them, and the mortar got stuck. When he pulled hard, both trees came crashing down!"

Guddu: "He knocked down trees?"

Dadi: "And out of those fallen trees emerged two beautiful divine beings! They were sons of Kubera, the god of wealth, who had been cursed long ago to become trees. By touching them, Krishna freed them from their curse!"

Guddu: "Even his mischief freed people from curses!"

Dadi: "That is the divine play, beta. What looks like naughtiness is actually liberation in disguise."

Guddu: "What does this teach us, Dadi?"

Dadi: "Many beautiful things, my child. First, that the divine can be approached through simple love - even a mother's scolding comes from love. Second, that God cannot be captured by rules and force, only by devotion. Third, that sometimes what looks like trouble is actually bringing freedom. And finally, the most beautiful truth: that God wants to be close to us, wants to play with us, wants to be part of our ordinary lives. Krishna could have sat in heaven being worshipped - instead, he chose to steal butter from neighbors and be chased by his mother with a stick!"

Guddu: "I like that God wants to play with us, Dadi!"

Dadi: "That is the beauty of these stories, beta. They show us that spirituality is not always serious and somber. Sometimes it is joyful and mischievous. Sometimes the divine comes to us not as a distant king but as a naughty child asking for butter."

Guddu: "Can I have some butter now, Dadi?"

Dadi: "Ha! You and Krishna both! Come, let us get some butter - but from our own kitchen, not stolen from neighbors!"