God is Always God

Pūtana's understanding is very significant. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is situated in everyone's heart. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that He gives one necessary intelligence, and He also causes one to forget. Pūtana was immediately aware that the child whom she was observing in the house of Nanda Maharaja was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. He was lying there as a small baby, but that does not mean that He was less powerful. The materialistic theory that God-worship is anthropomorphic is not correct. No living being can become God by undergoing meditation or austerities. God is always God. Krsna as the child-baby is as complete as He is as a full-fledged youth. The Mayavada theory holds that the living entity was formerly God but has now become overwhelmed by the influence of maya. Therefore they say that presently he is not God, but when the influence of maya is taken away, then he again becomes God. This theory cannot be applied to the minute living entities. The living entities are minute parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; they are minute particles or sparks of the supreme fire, but they are not the original fire, or Krsna. Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even from the beginning of His appearance in the house of Vasudeva and Devaki.

Krsna showed the nature of a small baby and closed His eyes, as if to avoid the face of Pūtana. This closing of the eyes is interpreted and studied in different ways by the devotees. Some say that Krsna closed His eyes because He did not like to see the face of Pūtana, who had killed so many children and who had now come to kill Him. Others say that something extraordinary was being dictated to her, and in order to give her assurance, Krsna closed His eyes so that she would not be frightened. And yet others interpret in this way: Krsna appeared to kill the demons and give protection to the devotees, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.8): paritranaya sadhūnam vinasaya ca duskrtam. The first demon to be killed was a woman. According to Vedic rules, the killing of a woman, a brahmana, cows or of a child is forbidden. Krsna was obliged to kill the demon Pūtana, and because the killing of a woman is forbidden according to the Vedic sastra, He could not help but close His eyes. Another interpretation is that Krsna closed His eyes because He simply took Pūtana to be His nurse. Pūtana came to Krsna just to offer her breast for the Lord to suck. Krsna is so merciful that even though He knew Pūtana was there to kill Him, He took her as His nurse or mother.

There are seven kinds of mothers according to Vedic injunction: the real mother, the wife of a teacher or spiritual master, the wife of a king, the wife of a brahmana, the cow, the nurse and the Mother Earth. Because Pūtana came to take Krsna on her lap and offer her breast's milk to be sucked by Him, she was accepted by Krsna as one of His mothers. That is considered to be another reason He closed His eyes: He had to kill a nurse or mother. But His killing of His mother or nurse was no different from His love for His real mother or foster Mother Yasoda. We further understand from Vedic information that Pūtana was also treated as a mother and given the same facility as Yasoda. As Yasoda was given liberation from the material world, so Pūtana was also given liberation. When the baby Krsna closed His eyes, Pūtana took Him on her lap. She did not know that she was holding death personified. If a person mistakes a snake for a rope, he dies. Similarly, Pūtana killed so many babies before meeting Krsna, but now she was accepting the snake that would kill her immediately.