मैया! मैं नहिं माखन खायो।
जानि परै ये सखा सबै मिलि मेरो मुख लपटायो॥
देखि तुही छींके पर भाजन ऊँचे धरि लटकायो।
हौं जु कहत नान्हें कर अपने मैं कैसे करि पायो॥
मुख दधि पोंछि बुद्धि इक कीन्हीं दोना पीठि दुरायो।
डारि साँटि मुसुकाइ जसोदा स्यामहिं कंठ लगायो॥
बाल बिनोद मोद मन मोह्यो भक्ति प्रताप दिखायो।
सूरदास जसुमति को यह सुख सिव बिरंचि नहिं पायो॥
Maiya! main nahin makhan khayo,
jani parai ye sakha sabai mili mero mukh lapatayo.
Dekhi tuhi chhinke par bhajan unche dhari latakayo,
haun ju kahat nanhen kar apne main kaise kari payo.
Mukh dadhi ponchhi buddhi ik kinhin dona pithi durayo,
dari santi musukai Jasoda Syamahin kanth lagayo.
Bal binod mod man mohyo bhakti pratap dikhayo,
Surdas Jasumati ko yah sukh Siv Biranchi nahin payo.
Meaning
“Mother, I didn’t eat the butter! It looks to me as if all my friends got together and smeared it on my face.
Look for yourself: you hung the pot high up on the sling. I’m telling you, with these tiny hands of mine, how could I reach it?”
He wiped the curd off his mouth, had a clever idea and hid the leaf-cup behind his back. Yashoda threw down her stick, smiled and hugged Shyam to her.
The child’s play charmed her heart with delight and showed the power of devotion. Surdas says: the joy Yashoda had, even Shiva and Brahma never had.
About this bhajan
The best-known of Surdas’s balleela padas. Little Krishna has been caught with butter on his face and argues his case like a small lawyer: blame the friends, blame the high sling, look at my short arms. Then he hides the leaf-cup behind his back, and Yashoda gives up. In the last line Surdas steps in to say what the scene means for a devotee: a mother’s love is a joy denied even to Shiva and Brahma. It is sung at every Janmashtami and is often the first Surdas a child performs on stage.
Sursagar, Dasham Skandh (balleela), raga Ramkali; text as on Kavita Kosh