Mother Yaśodā sometimes enjoyed transcendental ecstasy in happiness when her child was saved from a dangerous situation, such as being attacked by Pūtanā or some other demon. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10th Canto, 17th Chapter, 15th verse Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that Mother Yaśodā felt very, very fortunate when she got back her lost child. She immediately placed Him on her lap and began to embrace Him again and again. While she was thus embracing her son repeatedly, torrents of tears fell from her eyes, and she was unable to express her transcendental joy. It is stated in the Vidagdha-mādhava of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, the touch of Your mother is so pleasing and cooling that it surpasses the cooling capacity of the pulp of sandalwood and of bright moonshine mixed with the pulp of uśīra root." (Uśīra is a kind of root which when soaked with water has a very, very cooling effect. It is especially used in the scorching heat of the sun.)
The parental love of Mother Yaśodā for Kṛṣṇa steadily increases, and her love and ecstasy are sometimes described as intense affection and sometimes as overwhelming attachment. An example of attachment for Kṛṣṇa with overwhelming affection is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, 6th Chapter, 27th verse, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī addresses Mahārāj Parīkṣit in this way: "My dear King, when magnanimous Nanda Mahārāj returned from a tour, he began to smell the head of his son, and he was merged in the ecstasy of parental love." A similar statement is there in connection with Mother Yaśodā when she was too anxious to hear the sound of Kṛṣṇa's flute, expecting Him back from the pasturing ground. Because she thought that it was getting very late, her anxiety to hear the sound of Kṛṣṇa's flute became doubled, and milk began to flow out from her breast. In that condition she was sometimes going within the house, sometimes coming out of the house. She was constantly looking to see if Govinda was coming back along the road. When many very great sages were offering prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa, glorifying His activities, the Queen of Gokula, Mother Yaśodā, entered the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, wetting the lower part of her sari with the milk flowing from her breast. This entrance of Mother Yaśodā at Kurukṣetra was not during the Battle of Kurukṣetra. At other times Kṛṣṇa went to Kurukṣetra from His paternal home (Dvārakā) during the solar eclipse, and at these times the residents of Vṛndāvana also went to see Him there.
When Kṛṣṇa arrived at Kurukṣetra in pilgrimage, all the people assembled there began to say that Kṛṣṇa the son of Devakī had arrived. At that time Devakī, just like an affectionate mother, began to pat Kṛṣṇa's face. And again when people cried that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, had come, both King Nanda and Mother Yaśodā became overwhelmed with affection and expressed their great pleasure.
When Mother Yaśodā, the Queen of Gokula, was going to see her son Kṛṣṇa at Kurukṣetra, one of her friends began to address her thus: "My dear Queen, the milk flowing out of your breast-mountain has already whitened the River Ganges, and the tears from your eyes, mixed with black mascara, have already blackened the color of the Yamunā. And as you are standing just between the two rivers, I think there is no need for your anxiety to see your son's face. Your parental affection has already been exhibited to Him by these two rivers!"
The same friend of Mother Yaśodā addressed Kṛṣṇa as follows: "My dear Mukunda, if Mother Yaśodā, the Queen of Gokula, is forced to stand on fire, but is allowed to see Your lotus face, then this fire will appear to her as the Himalayan Mountains: full of ice. In the same way, if she is allowed to stay in the ocean of nectar, but is not allowed to see the lotus face of Your Grace, then even this ocean of nectar will appear to her as an ocean of arsenic poison." Let the anxiety of Mother Yaśodā of Braja, always expecting to see the lotus face of Kṛṣṇa, be glorified all over the universe!
A similar statement was given by Kuntīdevī to Akrūra: "My dear brother Akrūra, my nephew Mukunda is long absent from us. Will you kindly tell Him that His Aunt Kuntī is sitting amongst the enemy and would like to know when she will be able to see His lotus face again?"
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, 46th Chapter, 2nd verse, there is this statement: "When Uddhava was present at Vṛndāvana and was narrating the activities of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, Mother Yaśodā, while hearing this narration, began to pour milk from her breasts and shed tears from her eyes." Another incident demonstrating Yaśodā's extreme love for Kṛṣṇa occurred when Kṛṣṇa went to Mathurā, the kingdom of Kaṁsa. In separation from Kṛṣṇa, Mother Yaśodā was looking at Kṛṣṇa's makeup utensils, and she fell down on the ground almost unconscious, with a great sound. When she was rolling over on the ground, there were many scratches on her body, and in that piteous condition she began to cry, "O my dear son! My dear son!" And she slapped her breasts with her two hands. This activity of Mother Yaśodā is explained by expert devotees as ecstatic love in separation. Sometimes there are many other symptoms, such as great anxiety, lamentation, frustration, being stunned, humility, restlessness, madness and illusion.
As far as Mother Yaśodā's anxieties are concerned, when Kṛṣṇa was out of the house in the pasturing ground, a devotee once told her, "Yaśodā, I think your movements have been slackened, and I see that you are full of anxieties. Your two eyes appear to be without any movement, and I feel in your breathing a kind of warmth which is bringing your breast milk to the boiling point. All these conditions prove that out of separation from your son you have a severe headache." These are some of the symptoms of Mother Yaśodā's anxiety for Kṛṣṇa.
When Akrūra was present in Vṛndāvana and was narrating the activities of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, Mother Yaśodā was informed that Kṛṣṇa had married so many queens and was very busy there in His householder affairs. Hearing this, Mother Yaśodā lamented how unfortunate she was that she could not get her son married just after passing His kaiśora age, and thus she could not receive both her son and daughter-in-law at her home. She exclaimed, "My dear Akrūra, you are simply throwing thunderbolts on my head!" These are the signs of lamentation on the part of Mother Yaśodā in separation from Kṛṣṇa.
Similarly, Mother Yaśodā felt frustration when she thought, "Although I have millions of cows, the milk of these cows could not satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Therefore let a curse be on this milk! And I also am condemned because although I am so opulent in material prosperity, I am now unable to smell the head of my child and feed Him with my breast milk as I used to do when He was here in Vṛndāvana." This is a sign of frustration on the part of Mother Yaśodā in separation from Kṛṣṇa.
One friend of Kṛṣṇa's addressed Him thus: "My dear lotus-eyed one, when You were living in Gokula You were always bearing a stick in Your hand. That stick is now lying idle in the house of Mother Yaśodā, and whenever she sees it she becomes motionless just like the stick." This is the sign of becoming stunned in separation from Kṛṣṇa. In separation from Kṛṣṇa Mother Yaśodā became so humble that she prayed to the creator of the universe, Lord Brahmā, with tears in her eyes: "My dear creator, won't you kindly bring my dear son Kṛṣṇa back to me so that I can see Him at least for a moment?" Sometimes in restlessness like a madwoman Mother Yaśodā used to accuse Nanda Mahārāj, "What are you doing in the palace? You shameless man! Why do people call you the King of Braja? It is very astonishing that while being separated from your dear son Kṛṣṇa, you are still living within Vṛndāvana as a hard-hearted father!"
Someone informed Kṛṣṇa about the madness of Mother Yaśodā in the following words: "In madness Mother Yaśodā has addressed the kadamba trees and inquired from them, 'Where is my son?' Similarly, she has addressed the birds and the drones and inquired from them as to whether Kṛṣṇa has passed before them, and she has inquired if they can say anything about You. In this way, Mother Yaśodā in illusion was asking everybody about You, and she has been wandering all over Vṛndāvana." This is madness in separation from Kṛṣṇa.
When Nanda Mahārāj was accused by Mother Yaśodā of being "hard-hearted," he replied, "My dear Yaśodā, why are you becoming so agitated? Kindly look more carefully. Just see, your son Kṛṣṇa is standing before you! Don't become a madwoman like this. Please keep my home peaceful." And Kṛṣṇa was informed by some friend that His father Nanda was also in illusion in this way, in separation from Him.