Srimad Bhagavatam — Dashama Skandha, Shloka 36
Garga Muni Names Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma; the Butter-Thief Pastimes; Yaśodā Sees the Universe in Kṛṣṇa’s Mouth
यद्येवं तर्हि व्यादेहीत्युक्त: स भगवान्हरि: । व्यादत्ताव्याहतैश्वर्य: क्रीडामनुजबालक: ॥ ३६ ॥
yady evaṁ tarhi vyādehī- ty uktaḥ sa bhagavān hariḥ vyādattāvyāhataiśvaryaḥ krīḍā-manuja-bālakaḥ
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.
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.
FAQs
This verse says that although Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān with undiminished divine opulence, He opens His mouth playfully like a normal child, revealing how the Lord voluntarily accepts human-like pastimes to delight devotees.
In the surrounding narrative, the elders suspect Kṛṣṇa has eaten dirt; when He is challenged, “Then open Your mouth,” He complies—setting the stage for the famous revelation of His divine nature within a simple domestic moment.
It teaches that God can be approached with intimacy and love, not only awe; cultivate sincere, childlike trust and affectionate devotion while remembering the Lord’s greatness remains intact.