TEXT 29
vatsan muncan kvacid asamaye krosa-sanjata-hasah
steyam svadv atty atha dadhi-payah kalpitaih steya-yogaih
markan bhoksyan vibhajati sa cen natti bhandam bhinnatti
dravyalabhe sagrha-kupito yaty upakrosya tokan
SYNONYMS
vatsanthe calves; muncanreleasing; kvacitsometimes; asamayeat odd times; krosa-sanjata-hasahafter this, when the head of the house is angry, Krsna begins to smile; steyamobtained by stealing; svaduvery tasteful; attieats; athathus; dadhi-payahpot of curd and milk; kalpitaihdevised; steya-yogaihby some sort of stealing process; markanto the monkeys; bhoksyangiving to eat; vibhajatidivides their portion; sahthe monkey; cetif; nanot; attieats; bhandamthe pot; bhinnattiHe breaks; dravya-alabhewhen eatables are unavailable or He cannot find such pots; sa-grha-kupitahHe becomes angry at the residents of the house; yatiHe goes away; upakrosyairritating and pinching; tokanthe small children.
TRANSLATION
Our dear friend Yasoda, your son sometimes comes to our houses before the milking of the cows and releases the calves, and when the master of the house becomes angry, your son merely smiles. Sometimes He devises some process by which He steals palatable curd, butter and milk, which He then eats and drinks. When the monkeys assemble, He divides it with them, and when the monkeys have their bellies so full that they wont take more, He breaks the pots. Sometimes, if He gets no opportunity to steal butter or milk from a house, He will be angry at the householders, and for His revenge He will agitate the small children by pinching them. Then, when the children begin crying, Krsna will go away.
PURPORT
The narration of Krsnas naughty childhood activities would be presented to mother Yasoda in the form of complaints. Sometimes Krsna would enter the house of a neighbor, and if He found no one there, He would release the calves before the time for the cows to be milked. The calves are actually supposed to be released when their mothers are milked, but Krsna would release them before that time, and naturally the calves would drink all the milk from their mothers. When the cowherd men saw this, they would chase Krsna and try to catch Him, saying, Here is Krsna doing mischief, but He would flee and enter another house, where He would again devise some means to steal butter and curd. Then the cowherd men would again try to capture Him, saying, Here is the butter thief. Better capture Him! And they would be angry. But Krsna would simply smile, and they would forget everything. Sometimes, in their presence, He would begin eating the curd and butter. There was no need for Krsna to eat butter, since His belly was always full, but He would try to eat it, or else He would break the pots and distribute the contents to the monkeys. In this way, Krsna was always engaged in mischief-making. If in any house He could not find any butter or curd to steal, He would go into a room and agitate the small children sleeping there by pinching them, and when they cried He would go away.

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