How can mother’s milk be bad for the infant?

The World Health Organisation strongly recommends mothers to breast-feed their  infants. They categorically state that it is the ideal food for infants, safe, clean and contains antibodies which help protect against many common childhood illnesses. A mother’s milk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child’s nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one third during the second year of life.

Furthermore, breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests, are less likely to be overweight or obese and less prone to diabetes later in life. And mothers who breastfeed also have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

However, when Krishna appeared on this planet, He was offered the milk by one so-called “mother” and that was definitely not to nourish Him but to kill Him. It so happened that King Kamsa had heard a voice from the sky warning him that the eighth child of Devaki, his newly married sister was going to be the cause of his death. And therefore, he had imprisoned his sister and brother-in-law and was awaiting the birth of their children.

He actually wanted to kill his sister on the spot, but somehow, he Devaki’s husband, Vasudeva, convinced him to spare her life. And he promised Kamsa that he will deliver every child to Kamsa as soon as the child is born, so Kamsa may whatever he wants with the child. 

And it so happened that the eighth child was indeed born and it was Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who immediately told Vasudeva to take him to Gokula on the opposite side of the Yamuna River. Vasudeva did so, and as per Krishna’s instructions brought back the newly born daughter of Nana Maharaja and Yasoda Devi.

Kamsa was informed of the developments and he excitedly came to kill his nemesis, but was surprised to see that it was a girl. Still, he decided to not to take any chances and was about to dash her against a rock when she slipped from his hands and appeared as Durga Devi, the material energy personified.

She chastised him for his dastardly behavior and told him to spare his poor sister and her husband. Kamsa relented and was pondering what to do next when his advisors told him to commit more sinful activities by killing all the newly born babies in the entire neighborhood. He really liked this plan and immediately recruited his close group of nefarious criminals who were great wizards also, to do his bidding. And one of the first of the recruits was an evil witch named Putana.

Now first we shall see this incident taking a top-bottom view and analyze it from Krishna’s point of view. It is mentioned in the Vedic literatures, that even the demons killed by the Lord attain immediate salvation. Putana, for example, was a demoniac witch who wanted to kill Krishna. When Krishna was performing pastimes as a small child, she coated the nipple of her breast with poison and approached Krishna’s home to offer the milk of her breast. “When Krishna sucks my nipple,” she thought, “the child will immediately die.” But that was not possible. Who can kill Krishna? Instead, she herself was killed, for Krishna sucked the nipple and also sucked out her life altogether. But what was the result? Krishna took the bright side. “This demoniac woman came to kill Me,” He thought, “but somehow or other I have sucked her breast milk, so she is My mother.” Thus, Putana attained the position of Krishna’s mother in the spiritual world.

This is explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, where Uddhava says to Vidura that Krishna is so kind that even the witch who wanted to kill Him with poison was accepted as His mother. “Since Krishna is such a kind God,” he said, “whom else shall I worship but Krishna?”

Now, taking a bottom-top angle, Putana is compared to a false guru. Of course, from one point of view if someone is a guru then he cannot be false. Just like a currency note printed by the government cannot be fake, but a similar one printed by a private individual can be immediately deemed to be illegal. Similarly, anyone posing to be a spiritual authority but not interested in taking the student towards Krishna is like the Putana witch.

—Syamananda Dasa