- Yaśodā's Vision of the Universal Form -
Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was a boy, one day He was eating clay. His mother asked, "Oh, just open Your mouth. I want to see what You are eating." And Kṛṣṇa showed his mother that millions of planets and millions of skies are within his mouth. So He is the greatest, who can show that "Millions of skies are within Me."
Srila Prabhupada: As a boy Kṛṣṇa was eating clay. Some friends complained to mother Yaśodā that, "You gave Him nice foodstuff, and He is eating clay." So mother called Him: "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, You are eating clay?" Kṛṣṇa said, "No, mother. They're all liars." (laughter) "Oh, Your elder brother Balarāma is also saying." "Oh, He is angry upon Me. He is angry upon Me; therefore He is also speaking lie." Then the boys still stressed, "No, mother. He has eaten clay. We have seen." So mother said, "All right. Open Your mouth. I'll see." So Kṛṣṇa opened His mouth, and she saw the whole material cosmic manifestation. Not only Yaśodā, thousands of Yaśodā and thousands of planets, sun, moons, and everything saw. Mother's thought, "Must be something jugglery. All right. Forget. Don't do it again."
- Krishna's miraculous mouth -
In his childhood Kṛṣṇa would engage in naughty, mischievous activities to the joy of the residents of Vrindavana. The most wonderful of these occurred when Kṛṣṇa’s playmates complained to mother Yaśodā that Kṛṣṇa was eating earth. Mother Yaśodā wanted to open Kṛṣṇa’s mouth to see the evidence so that she could chastise Him. Sometimes she assumed the position of a chastising mother, and at the next moment she was overwhelmed with maternal love.
Once Balarāma and other friends came to Kṛṣṇa's mother Yaśodā and complained to her that "Krishna eats clay while we are playing." the angry Yaśodā immediately called Kṛṣṇa and asked him whether it was rightly complained.
However, Kṛṣṇa denied, telling her that his friends were lying, just to harass Him and get a scolding from the mother. But, Yaśodā was not convinced and insisted that he should open his mouth and show. Immediately, Kṛṣṇa opened his mouth and Yaśodā had a look inside his mouth.
To her surpsrise she saw the whole Universe, 'Vishwa', like sun, moon, planets, oceans, mountains etc.,and she also saw herself with krishna drinking milk on her lap. She thought she was dreaming but soon she came to know the truth and she embraced Kṛṣṇa and loved him.
KRISHNA-Book 1-8 / Yashoda's vision of the Universal Form
When Kṛṣṇa was playing as a child, He ate earth and the playmates complained to mother Yaśodā: "Mother, your son Kṛṣṇa is eating earth." Mother Yaśodā called for explanation: "Kṛṣṇa, why You are eating earth? I have given You sandeśa." Kṛṣṇa said, "No, mother, I have not eaten." "No, Your friends are complaining." "No, they have become My enemies this morning. We had some quarrel. Therefore they have combined together to make Me chastised by you." So in this way... Then mother Yaśodā wanted to solve this problem: "All right, show Your mouth, open Your mouth. I want to see." And when Kṛṣṇa opened the mouth, the mother saw innumerable universes are within the mouth. This is Kṛṣṇa. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Kṛṣṇa enters within the universe, but at the same time, millions of universes are within His mouth. This is the explanation of "the greater than the greatest and the smaller than the smallest." Of course, mother Yaśodā, although she saw, she could not believe it because mother Yaśodā never thought of that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She always thought that "He is my teeny child." That's all. "I have to take care of Him." This is called paternal feelings. Vātsalya-rasa.When Yaśodāmāyi challenged that "Kṛṣṇa, You are eating earth. Your friends are complaining," "No, mother, I did not. They are telling false." "Now Your elder brother, Balarāma, also is saying." "No, He has... This morning He is angry with Me; therefore He has joined with them." "I want to see Your face." So He opened the mouth and the mother saw that millions of Yaśodā and millions of universes are within the mouth. Then she thought, "Maybe something... All right, don't do it." That's all. Finish with this (?). Now Kṛṣṇa, millions of universes within the mouth, He's being punished by Yaśodāmāyi. This is Kṛṣṇa. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. This is Kṛṣṇa.
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| Yashoda's vision of the Universal Form |
Another day, when Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were playing with Their friends, all the boys joined Balarāma and told mother Yaśodā that Kṛṣṇa had eaten clay. On hearing this, mother Yaśodā caught hold of Kṛṣṇa's hand and said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, why have You eaten earth in a solitary place? Just see, all Your friends including Balarāma are complaining about You." Being afraid of His mother, Kṛṣṇa replied, "My dear mother, all these boys, including My elder brother Balarāma, are speaking lies against Me. I have never eaten clay. My elder brother Balarāma, while playing with Me today, became angry, and therefore He has joined with the other boys to complain against Me. They have all combined together to complain so you will be angry and chastise Me. If you think they are truthful, then you can look within My mouth to see whether I have taken clay or not." His mother replied, "All right, if You have actually not taken any clay, then just open Your mouth. I shall see."
When the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa was so ordered by His mother, He immediately opened His mouth just like an ordinary boy. Then mother Yaśodā saw within that mouth the complete opulence of creation. She saw the entire outer space in all directions, mountains, islands, oceans, seas, planets, air, fire, moon and stars. Along with the moon and the stars she also saw the entire elements, water, sky, the extensive ethereal existence along with the total ego and the products of the senses and the controller of the senses, all the demigods, the objects of the senses like sound, smell, etc., and the three qualities of material nature. She also could perceive that within His mouth were all living entities, eternal time, material nature, spiritual nature, activity, consciousness and different forms of the whole creation. Yaśodā could find within the mouth of her child everything necessary for cosmic manifestation. She also saw, within His mouth, herself taking Kṛṣṇa on her lap and having Him sucking her breast. Upon seeing all this, she became struck with awe and began to wonder whether she were dreaming or actually seeing something extraordinary. She concluded that she was either dreaming or seeing the play of the illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She thought that she had become mad, mentally deranged, to see all those wonderful things. Then she thought, "It may be cosmic mystic power attained by my child, and therefore I am perplexed by such visions within His mouth. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead under whose energy bodily self and bodily possessions are conceived." She then said, "Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Him, under whose illusory energy I am thinking that Nanda Mahārāja is my husband and Kṛṣṇa is my son, that all the properties of Nanda Mahārāja belong to me and that all the cowherd men and women are my subjects. All this misconception is due to the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord. So let me pray to Him that He may protect me always."
While mother Yaśodā was thinking in this high philosophical way, Lord Kṛṣṇa again expanded His internal energy just to bewilder her with maternal affection. Immediately mother Yaśodā forgot all philosophical speculation and accepted Kṛṣṇa as her own child. She took Him on her lap and became overwhelmed with maternal affection. She thus began to think, "Kṛṣṇa is not understandable to the masses through the gross process of knowledge, but He can be received through the Upaniṣads and the Vedānta or mystic Yoga system and Saṅkhya philosophy." Then she began to think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as her own begotten child.
Certainly mother Yaśodā had executed many, many pious activities as a result of which she got the Absolute Truth, Supreme Personality of Godhead, as her son who sucked milk from her breast. Similarly, Nanda Mahārāja also must have performed many great sacrifices and pious activities for Lord Kṛṣṇa to become his son and address him as father. But it is surprising that Vasudeva and Devakī did not enjoy the transcendental bliss of Kṛṣṇa's childhood pastimes, although Kṛṣṇa was their real son.
Text 1
Dāmodarāṣṭakam
itīdṛk sva-līlābhir ānanda-kuṇḍe
sva-ghoṣaḿ nimajjantam ākhyāpayantam
tadīyeṣita-jñeṣu bhaktair jitatvaḿ
punaḥ prematas taḿ śatāvṛtti vande
iti īdṛk–displaying in this way (childhood pastimes such as the Dāmodara-līlā and so forth); sva-līlābhiḥ–by His own pastimes; ānandakuṇḍe–in a pool of bliss; sva-ghoṣam–His own family and the other residents of Gokula; nimajjantam–immersing; ākhyāpayantam–makes known; tadīya-īśita-jñeṣu–to those desirous of knowing His majesty (aiśvarya); bhaktaiḥ jitatvam–His quality of being conquered by His loving devotees (who are devoid of aiśvarya-jñāna); punaḥ–again; premataḥ–with love and devotion; tam–unto that Lord Dāmodara; śataāvṛtti–hundreds and hundreds of times; vande–I praise.Those superexcellent pastimes of Lord Krsna’s babyhood drowned the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy. To the devotees who are attracted only to His majestic aspect of Narayana in Vaikuntha, the Lord herein reveals: "I am conquered and overwhelmed by pure loving devotion." To the Supreme Lord, Damodara, my obeisances hundreds and hundreds of times. (Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭakam, Text 1)
Purport: The attributes of His excellent qualities, guna-visesa, are described in this verse. The first word, iti, indicates this Damodara lila, or all of His childhood pastimes like the Damodara lila. Next, sva-lilabhih denotes His own transcendental pastimes by which (sva-ghosam) all the residents of Gokula become immersed in pools of ecstatic mellows (ananda-kunde nimajjantam). The word sva connotes svasya, His own glory, or svanam, the glories of the residents of Gokula, which are displayed by these pastimes (akyapayantam). Moreover, sva-ghosam may refer to child Krishna, since He is also a resident of Gokula.
Then a warning to those who cultivate knowledge of His majesty and opulence (tadiyesita-jnesu). He only reveals Himself to the pure devotees (bhaktair jitatvam), being conquered by their love. Again, this is proclaimed for all to know (akhyapayantam).
"To pure devotees throughout the world who could understand His activities, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, exhibited how much He can be subdued by His devotees, His servants. In this way He increased the pleasure of the Vrajavasis by His childhood activities." (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.11.9)
Only by pure love and devotion (prematah) can the Lord be known as He is. So let us offer obeisances (vande) unto Him (tam) hundreds and hundreds of times (satavrtti). A further meaning can be gained from the above Bhagavatam verse, that obeisances are offered hundreds of times to the process of devotional service, bhakti, which subdues the object of our love, Sri Krishna.
THE END
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These beautiful paintings below have been published in marathi magazines 4-5 decades ago. Magazines like Ratnadeep, Yogini etc or 'Diwali Anka' (as would be called in marathi) would have those as inserts, pages or sometimes as Ads.
Most of the paintings are by eminent artists Raghuvir Mulgaokar (Mulgaonkar) & some by Shri Dalal.
The most notable thing about these paintings is the beautiful & adorable depiction of Indian GODS. The original art work mustve have been astounding.
