SB 10.8.36 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यद्येवं तर्हि व्यादेहीत्युक्त: स भगवान्हरि: । व्यादत्ताव्याहतैश्वर्य: क्रीडामनुजबालक: ॥ ३६ ॥

Verse text

yady evaṁ tarhi vyādehī- ty uktaḥ sa bhagavān hariḥ vyādattāvyāhataiśvaryaḥ krīḍā-manuja-bālakaḥ

Synonyms

yadi — if ; evam — it is so ; tarhi — then ; vyādehi — open Your mouth wide (I want to see) ; iti uktaḥ — in this way ordered by mother Yaśodā ; saḥ — He ; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; hariḥ — the Supreme Lord ; vyādatta — opened His mouth ; avyāhata — aiśvaryaḥ — without minimizing any potencies of absolute opulence ( aiśvaryasya samagrasya ) ; krīḍā — pastimes ; manuja — bālakaḥ — exactly like the child of a human being .

Translation

Mother Yaśodā challenged Kṛṣṇa, “If You have not eaten earth, then open Your mouth wide.” When challenged by His mother in this way, Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, to exhibit pastimes like a human child, opened His mouth. Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is full of all opulences, did not disturb His mother’s parental affection, His opulence was automatically displayed, for Kṛṣṇa’s opulence is never lost at any stage, but is manifest at the proper time.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Mother Yaśodā challenged Kṛṣṇa, "If You have not eaten earth, then open Your mouth wide." When challenged by His mother in this way, Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, to exhibit pastimes like a human child, opened His mouth. Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is full of all opulences, did not disturb His mother's parental affection, His opulence was automatically displayed, for Kṛṣṇa's opulence is never lost at any stage, but is manifest at the proper time. KB 10.8.36 His mother replied, “All right, if You have actually not eaten any clay, then just open Your mouth. I shall see.”

Purport

Without disturbing the ecstasy of His mother’s affection, Kṛṣṇa opened His mouth and displayed His own natural opulences. When a person is given varieties of food, there may be a hundred and one varieties, but if one likes ordinary śāka, spinach, he prefers to eat that. Similarly, although Kṛṣṇa was full of opulences, now, by the order of mother Yaśodā, He opened wide His mouth like a human child and did not neglect the transcendental humor of maternal affection.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Krsna, afraid of punishment told a lie in order that Yasoda could not detect his fault. How could he do this however? If he were to open his mouth the evidence would be found. The answer is given: he possesses unimpeded, non contradictory power (avyahataisvarya). He whose power is undefeated does not seek out this power because of the influence of sweetness of love. But looking for service, it finds some opportunity. Inspired by the boy’s power of satya sankapa (whose very desire must be fulfilled), this unimpeded aisvarya on its own manifested the universal form, and Yasoda, lost in astonishment, forgot to scold her son. Was it necessary for Krsna to taste the sweetness of prema and thus have to show fear of being beaten? He could have stood there without fear, taking the help of his aisvarya sakti, thinking "I am the Lord." The answer is found in the words krida manuja balakah. This means krida pradhana manuja balakah. Krsna was taking the form of a human child to perform mainly playful, sweet pastimes.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

In this pastime Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān, endowed with eternal, unlimited powers, which cause restriction of love in the mind, and is also Hari, auspiciousness with predominant revelation of sweetness, which attracts the mind. He exists without completely (ā) giving up certain (vi) of his powers. Though he does not care for these powers in these pastimes, these powers remain near him and always wait for the opportunity of his particular pastime where they can serve him. He is a human child through his pastimes (kṛīḍā-manauja-bālakaḥ). Or he is a child endowed with humans like Nanda and Yaśodā who are part of his eternal pastimes, unlike humans bound by māyā and karma. As the scriptures state, he is endowed with eternal pastimes. Both he and they make their appearance by his will for producing rasa in his pastimes. The blue lotus of his mouth blossomed by the slight rays from the sun of Yaśodā’s anger. In the previous verse it was mentioned that he glanced about with fearful eyes. Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer of the rasa of his pastimes. The aiśvarya or power of this Kṛṣṇa solves what appears to be unsolvable in order to produce his desired rasa in the pastime, either on its own, or by embracing him (taking his consent). His aiśvarya thus displayed the universe within him, in order to nourish Yaśodā’s prema with astonishment and in order to help her by making his words true when he said he did not eat dirt-- by showing that everything exists within him and by producing a differing mood to erase Yaśodā’s anger. In the pastime with Tṛṇāvarta, his aiśvarya made him heavy. It should be understood that his aiśvarya with its inconceivable power to fulfill his desires reaches its highest perfection in these acts.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Revealing unlimited qualities of Bhagavān (saḥ), the ocean of indescribablely great sweetness, who was the supreme Lord (bhagavān) and who attracted everyone’s heart, opened his mouth. Or he who was full of all powers (bhagavān), who appeared in this world to attract everyone’s heart, whose powers were unobstructed even during his infant pastimes, being superior to Nārāyān, who had power to show the universe with cause and effect in his stomach, opened his mouth. He was a human child performing eternal pastimes. Thus human child form was also eternal. He was a human child performing pastimes. Or he was a child (bālaka) born to play (krīḍām anuja). Or he was a child (bālakaḥ) going quickly (ja) here and there in playing (krīḍām anu), with his hair swining.