I’ll share another leela (Divine pastime) with you which took place on Barsana Hill in Sankari Khor.
One day, a Gopi was passing through Sankari Khor, and she was all alone, and she was holding a pot of curd on her head. She was going to sell it. She was taking the shortcut from Barsana village through that rocky passageway between Vilasgarh and Mor Kuti. To save time, she went through that Sankari Khor.
But Krishna, catching her in this vulnerable state all alone, jumped out. He was waiting there in Sankari Khor. He jumped out in front of her and demanded the curd tax. He said,
“You have to give Me some of your curd!”
And that Gopi said, “What makes You think I would do that? Why would I give You any of my curd?”
So Kanha says, “Gopi, you must be new around here. That’s why you don’t know who I am. You don’t realize who you’re talking to!”
The Gopi says, “I don’t think You realize who you’re talking to. I’m not just some Gopi. I’m one of Radharani’s personal friends.”
Krishna kept persisting.
So the Gopi said, “Okay, okay, look, I’ll give You a lot of curd, more than You can hold in Your hands, but go and find a leaf that we can put it in. Then I’ll give it to You in the leaf.”
So little Kanha says, “Okay, okay, I’ll go just now!”
And he goes off into the kunj (grove) looking for a leaf. And by the time he found a big leaf and came back, the Gopi was gone.
She ran away from there without having to give any of her curd to Krishna. And she went and found Radha and the other Gopis and told them what had happened.
So Radha said, “Okay.”
In fact, they were just nearby. Of course, this happened on Barsana Hill, and Radha’s palace is just a few minutes’ walk from Sankari Khor. So She went and told Radha. Radha said,
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”
She sent another Gopi and said, “You are going to be the bait. Go and start heading down to Sankari Khor with a pot of curd on your head. And when Krishna jumps out in front of you, because He will, then just signal to us. And all the Gopis will go and surround Krishna and trap Him. Then what I want you to do is one of you take one of your chunaris (scarves) and tie His hands up and tie Him to a tree. And then make Him grab His ears like this and do ‘uthak baithak’ - उठक-बैठक - (ear-holding squats) and say that He’s sorry and He’ll never do it again. When He’s done all of this, then call for Me.”
So the Gopis did. They followed Radha Rani’s plan to a tee. That Gopi headed down through the pass. Krishna jumped out in front of her. She signaled to the other Gopis, and they came running and surrounded Kanha. And now He was the one who was all alone and caught. And they tied Him up. And they made Him grab His ears and do ‘uthak baithak’ (ear-holding squats) and beg for forgiveness. And then they called Radha. And Radha came and said,
“Are You ever going to do this naughtiness again?”
Krishna promised He wouldn’t. So she gave the signal to the Gopis to release Him. And He ran home; He ran back to mother Yadsoda. He got out of there as quickly as He could!
