Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
This place lies approximately one mile east of Nanda-bhavana, the birthplace of Kṛṣṇa. Here, the small boy Kṛṣṇa ate earth while playing with the cowherd boys. The boys saw this and told Mother Yaśodā, who asked Balarāma about it. Balarāma verified the fact. She went to Kṛṣṇa and asked Him herself, “Have You eaten clay?”
He replied, “No, Maiyā, I did not eat clay.”
“All right, Kanhaiyā, open Your mouth and show me.” “You can see, Maiyā,” He said as He opened His mouth.
Looking into Kanhaiyā’s mouth, Maiyā became dumbstruck. There, she saw innumerable universes, countless Brahmās, Viṣṇus and Maheśas (Śivas), and all moving and non-moving entities. She closed her eyes in fear and thought, “What is this that I am seeing? Is it an illusion or someone’s magical powers?” Upon opening her eyes, Mother Yaśodā saw that Kanhaiyā was sitting on her lap. She returned to the house and called the brāhmaṇas, who recited blessings to pacify the wrath of the demigods. She also donated cows and other valuables to the brāhmaṇas.
Although Yaśodā-maiyā had directly witnessed Kṛṣṇa’s quality of being Bhagavān (bhagavattā) in the form of seeing countless universes and all animate and inanimate objects situated within His mouth, she never accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord. Her vātsalya-prema, or motherly love, for Him blossomed rather than weakened. By contrast, when Devakī and Vasudeva beheld Kṛṣṇa’s four-armed form, their vātsalya-prema weakened. Similarly, Arjuna’s sakhya-bhāva (mood of friendship) also weakened when he saw Kṛṣṇa’s universal form. Devakī, Vasudeva and Arjuna folded their hands and began to glorify Kṛṣṇa and pray to Him. In Vraja, however, the prema of the Vrajavāsīs does not weaken even when Kṛṣṇa manifests Himself as the Supreme Lord. Their sweet mood towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa never diminishes because they never accept Him as Bhagavān.
Another time, the small boy Kṛṣṇa was playing here with His companions, the cowherd boys, when the boys unexpectedly began to tease Him and laugh and clap. At first, Kanhaiyā could not understand why, but quite soon He did. Dāma, Śrīdāma, Madhumaṅgala and the other cowherd boys were saying, “Nanda Bābā is fair-complexioned and Yaśodā-maiyā is fair-complexioned, but You are black. Why? The fact is that You were not born from Yaśodā-maiyā’s womb. Someone else gave birth to You, but being unable to bring You up, they put You in the hollow of a banyan tree. The supremely merciful Nanda Bābā found You there crying helplessly. He picked You up and placed You in the lap of Mother Yaśodā, but, in reality, You are not the son of Nanda and Yaśodā.”
Kanhaiyā stopped playing and went home weeping. He began to roll around the courtyard, crying. Mother Yaśodā affectionately picked Him up in her arms and tried to find out why He was crying. But today Kanhaiyā refused to sit in her lap. She forcibly took Him in her arms, brushed the dust from His limbs, and asked Him what had happened. After Kanhaiyā calmed down a little, He said, “Dāma, Śrīdāma and the other cowherd boys are saying,
‘You were not born from Maiyā’s womb. Bābā is fair-complexioned and Maiyā is fair-complexioned, so where did You, who are black, come from?’ ”
Hearing this, Maiyā started laughing and said, “O my lālā, who else is saying this?” “Dāū Bhaiyā.”
Maiyā, put her hand on Kṛṣṇa’s forehead and said, “I take an oath before Śrī Nārāyaṇa that You are my son born from my womb. I will chastise those children.” She then began to breast- feed Kṛṣṇa.
In reality, Nanda Bābā was of a fair complexion, but Mother Yaśodā, who was a very beautiful gopī, was slightly dark in hue. How else could Kṛṣṇa have been so beautiful if He had not been born from Mother Yaśodā’s womb? But because Kanhaiyā was somewhat darker than His mother, the boys teased Him about it. This place, which treasures this pastime, can still be seen today.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is a very famous ghata that has been glorified throughout the Vedic literatures as well as innumerable songs and poems of the Vaishnava saints. The pastime at Brahmanda Ghata reveals Krishna to be a small helpless child in the care of His mother, while simultaneously being the Supreme Creator of the entire universe. In regard to this pastime, the word ‘brahmanda’ refers to the ‘material universe’, as well as to Krishna’s ‘universal form’.
One day, when Krishna and Balarama were playing with Their friends by the sacred banks of the Yamuna, some of the boys accused Krishna of eating clay. Even Balarama supported the boys saying that He had eaten clay. Krishna however denied this; nevertheless some of the boys ran off to tell mother Yashoda that Krishna had eaten clay. Mother Yashoda came immediately to chastise Krishna for His naughty behavior, if indeed He had eaten clay as the boys claimed. Krishna denied that He had eaten clay and blamed the other boys, saying that for some reason they were not happy with Him, perhaps because of having lost in a game, and had therefore lodged a false complaint. Krishna informed mother Yashoda that if she cared to look inside His mouth, she could see for herself whether He had eaten clay or not.
Mother Yashoda agreed to this proposal and when Krishna opened His mouth, she looked inside. To her utter astonishment she saw the gigantic universal form including the whole cosmic manifestation with all its divisions of planets and shining stars, the sun and moon, the total material elements, eternal time, outer space, all the great mountains and rivers, the demigods, the living entities, and she could even see herself, with Krishna sitting on her lap drinking her breast milk. Yashoda was totally bewildered by what she saw in Krishna’s mouth, and began to wonder whether she was dreaming or seeing some play of the illusionary energy, or was it some kind of mystic power being displayed by her unusual child. She then began philosophizing in various ways about how she was under the illusion of the bodily concept, thinking King Nanda of the cowherd men to be her husband and Krishna to be her son, and all the wealth and riches within Nanda’s kingdom to be her property. At that moment Krishna expanded His internal yogamaya potency and mother Yashoda immediately forgot about all the weighty philosophical thoughts she was having, and seeing her darling little Krishna sitting before her, took Him on to her lap and once again became overcome in the ecstasy of motherly affection.
