How to Carry Your Baby - Monkey Way or the Cat Way

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami: One morning Prabhupada arrived in the park, stepped out of his car and waited for the devotees who came in another car to join him. Lilavati Dasi had difficulty getting out of the car, because she had her baby Subhadra in a carrier on her back. When she finally did get out of the car, Prabhupada turned and laughed at her, saying, "Ah, burden of affection". 'Yes, Swamiji,' Lilavati replied. They all began to walk together along the path. "So there are two ways to carry a baby," Prabhupada said, tapping his cane on the ground in time with his regular stride. "There is the monkey way and the cat way. Do you know this?" 'No, Swamiji,' said Lilavati.

"Well, which way do you think is better?" Prabhupada asked her. "The monkey way or the cat way?" She could not understand or imagine what he meant. Prabhupada continued, "The monkey baby climbs on the back of the mother and holds on and this is the way he travels, and the kitten is carried in the teeth of the mother. So which is better?"

Lilavati could still not understand which way could be better, and they both sounded very difficult to her. "Well," Prabhupada said, "The monkey baby is very small and very weak and he is holding on to the mother by his own strength, but the kitten is being supported by the strength of the mother. So which way do you think is better?" Then she understood. 'The cat way is better.' "Yes," Prabhupada said, "That is the difference between the yogi and the devotee. The yogi is trying to climb on the back of the Absolute Truth by his own strength but he is very weak, so he will fall, but a devotee, he cries out for Krishna". As he spoke the word Krishna, Prabhupada held his arms up high; looked up at the clear morning sky and said, "A devotee cries out for Krishna, and Krishna picks him up."