January 16, 2013
“Stop Kanhaiya! Don’t swallow the mud!” Yashoda screamed as she ran across the courtyard.
Baby Krishna looked up innocently at Yashoda, as though to say, “Who? Me? Now, what did I do?”
“Beta! Kanhaiya! Open your mouth. NOW!”
Kṛṣṇa knew there was no hoodwinking his mother in this state of panic. His heart melted. He looked up with big eyes at his mother’s concerned face. He opened his mouth wide. Suddenly, the world she knew vanished. All Yashoda saw was the entire universe of stars, planets, galaxies, the past, present and future all swirling around rushing past, tearing apart her very concept of the world. “Kanhaaaaaaaaa! I can’t....” and Yashoda swooned. To the world, she lay unconscious but the wondrous expression on her face indicated that she was in a trance of Krishna-mayam-jagat.
This story that I first heard as a Chinmaya Balavihar child always fascinated me. “Really?” I thought? Could even a divine child make the entire universe appear in his mouth? “Why did he show Yashoda maiya something that made her fall unconscious.” After prasadam that day, the questions vanished but the vision the story promised stayed with me.
This vishwarūpa or the Lord's cosmic form is a recurring theme in the Purāṇas. In future posts, I will continue this theme and discuss how we can accessed this cosmic form of the Lord with ease.
Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post
“Stop Kanhaiya! Don’t swallow the mud!” Yashoda screamed as she ran across the courtyard.
Baby Krishna looked up innocently at Yashoda, as though to say, “Who? Me? Now, what did I do?”
“Beta! Kanhaiya! Open your mouth. NOW!”
Kṛṣṇa knew there was no hoodwinking his mother in this state of panic. His heart melted. He looked up with big eyes at his mother’s concerned face. He opened his mouth wide. Suddenly, the world she knew vanished. All Yashoda saw was the entire universe of stars, planets, galaxies, the past, present and future all swirling around rushing past, tearing apart her very concept of the world. “Kanhaaaaaaaaa! I can’t....” and Yashoda swooned. To the world, she lay unconscious but the wondrous expression on her face indicated that she was in a trance of Krishna-mayam-jagat.
This story that I first heard as a Chinmaya Balavihar child always fascinated me. “Really?” I thought? Could even a divine child make the entire universe appear in his mouth? “Why did he show Yashoda maiya something that made her fall unconscious.” After prasadam that day, the questions vanished but the vision the story promised stayed with me.
This vishwarūpa or the Lord's cosmic form is a recurring theme in the Purāṇas. In future posts, I will continue this theme and discuss how we can accessed this cosmic form of the Lord with ease.
Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post
PS: Picture shown is from the San Diego Museum of Art collection available via Flickr
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