Hare Krsna,
This pastime of Krsna showing the universal form within His mouth to Mother Yasoda is both sweet and philosophically deep. Many questions arose as I was reading and re-reading this pastime. Why did Krsna interrupt Mother Yasoda’s vatsalya-bhava with this minor interruption (of showing the universal form)? Did He have a desire to be scolded by His mother to derive special happiness from her affection? Did Krsna actually eat dirt or pretended to eat dirt? Did Krsna show the universal form to distract Mother Yasoda from scolding Him? I am not sure. There are many angles to understand Krsna’s pastime from.
It becomes easier to understand the pastimes of Krsna through the eyes of a pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. It is also important to keep Krsna at the center of everything -including analysis of this pastime. Also the paribhasa sutra of kṛṣṇa-lila is a great guidance in this context.
[Thank you, dear teachers, for including Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s commentary at the right places. This enhances our understanding.]
The paribhasa sutra of this lila is the verse:
The glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are studied through the three Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the literature of Sāṅkhya-yoga, and other Vaiṣṇava literature, yet mother Yaśodā considered that Supreme Person her ordinary child. (SB 10.8.45)
In Bhagavad Gita we have seen that Arjuna was overcome with fear after seeing Krsna’s universal form. He became disturbed and started offering eloquent prayers to the Lord.
O King, after hearing these words from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the trembling Arjuna offered obeisances with folded hands again and again. He fearfully spoke to Lord Kṛṣṇa in a faltering voice. (BG 11.35)
Contrast this with Mother Yasoda’s reaction. Initially she was also overwhelmed with Krsna’s aisvarya-sakti (awe and reference). But then her vatsalya-prema took over and she again thought of the Lord as her son. Srila Prabhupada explains beautifully that “Yasoda’s love remained unrestricted in spite of seeing Kṛṣṇa’s powers and hearing about the Lord’s powers from the scriptures such as the three Vedas which glorify Kṛṣṇa as the yajna purusa. Without regard for time or place, mother Yasoda considered the all-powerful Lord, who is glorified directly and indirectly in the scriptures, as an ordinary child.” (SB 10.8.45 P)
Yasoda thought, “By the mercy of our powerful family deity Lord Narayana, who has been satisfied with the austerities and worship executed by Nanda and me, and who has been satisfied with the many austerities of Parjanya, I have been given this son, who the karmis glorify as the Absolute Truth propounded in the scriptures. People accept this because of Gargamuni’s statement that Kṛṣṇa is equal in quality to Narayana, and because of the stories of Kṛṣṇa’s killing gigantic demons like Putana and others. Therefore, everyone believes my son is Narayana. But actually He is just my child. If He does not see me for a moment, He becomes very disturbed. I also become disturbed when separated a moment from Him. Our experience is our proof.” (SB 10.8.45 P)
And this is exactly what Krsna desires. He wants His devotees to bind Him with their pure love without any tinge of awe and reverence of His opulence.
“By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbued with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great joy, I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times.” (Damodarastaka 3)
Krsna, being a bhakta vatsalya, also reciprocates accordingly.
“Just as Kṛṣṇa gives results to the karmis who worship Him, He reciprocated with Yasoda’s maternal affection. But Kṛṣṇa could not respond fully to the amount of affection offered by Yasoda. Remaining a debtor, Kṛṣṇa was content to be dependent on Yasoda’s mercy and control and cry for her milk.” (SB 10.8.45 P)
Therefore, “the Lord’s quality of bhakta vatsalya is greater than any of His other spiritual qualities such as purity, mercy or truthfulness. As Kṛṣṇa’s telling a lie springs from this it is not a fault. Rather it is the crown jewel of all great qualities.” (SB 10.8.35 P)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 