Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.8.35
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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amba
—
O My dear mother
Vocative of ambā. The most intimate Vedic address for mother — used in the Upaniṣads, used by Kṛṣṇa here. Gauḍīya: the Supreme Lord, whom the Vedas address with elaborate epithets, here says amba — and that word is His own deepest mantra in vātsalya-līlā.
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mithya - abhiśaṁsinaḥ
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false accusers, liars
Mithyā (false) + abhi-śaṁsin (one who declares against). The compound Kṛṣṇa playfully turns on His own friends. The verse stages mock-litigation — Bhagavān as defendant in His mother's court.
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satya - giraḥ
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of truthful speech (the accusers being truthful)
Satya (true) + gir (speech). Conditional: 'IF they speak truth'. Kṛṣṇa offers His mouth precisely because He knows the cosmic content there will exceed any accusation — the largest defense is the largest disclosure.
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samakṣam
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directly, before your eyes
Sam (with) + akṣa (eye). 'With one's eyes-co-present'. He invites direct ocular verification. Gauḍīya: the gesture parallels darśana-bhakti — the Lord asking the devotee to see Him directly rather than infer.
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mukham
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(My) mouth
Accusative of mukha. The verse-key noun. In three verses this mukham will reveal the entire universe (10.8.37–39). The verse plants the cosmic invitation in the casual diction of a child opening his mouth.
Kṛṣṇa presented Himself as an innocent child to increase the transcendental ecstasy of maternal affection. As described in the śāstra, tāḍana-bhayān mithyoktir vātsalya-rasa-poṣikā. This means that sometimes a small child speaks lies. For example, he may have stolen something or eaten something and yet deny that he has done so. We ordinarily see this in the material world, but in relation to Kṛṣṇa it is different; such activities are meant to endow the devotee with transcendental ecstasy. The Supreme Personality of Godhead was playing as a liar and accusing all the other devotees of being liars. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.12.11), kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ: a devotee may attain such an ecstatic position after many, many births of devotional service. Persons who have amassed the results of a vast amount of pious activities can attain the stage of associating with Kṛṣṇa and playing with Him like ordinary playmates. One should not consider these transactions of transcendental service to be untruthful accusations. One should never accuse such devotees of being ordinary boys speaking lies, for they attained this stage of associating with Kṛṣṇa by great austerities ( tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca ).
Krsna said, "I did not eat dirt." To tell a lie for fear of being beaten is natural for a child, and is a nourisher of the vatsalya bhava. Vatsalya and other rasas spring from prema, and prema has its source in the devotee. It arises in the devotee because of the affection of the Lord (bhakta vatsala). This quality of the Lord is greater than any other spiritual quality such as truthfulness, purity or mercy. As Krsna’s telling a lie springs from this bhakta vatsalya, he has no fault rather it is the crown jewel of all great qualities.
I did not eat dirt. Though this was a lie, there is no fault since it is part of his pastimes as a small child. Rather this becomes a good quality since by describing it Śukadeva derives bliss, and by hearing it the devotees derive bliss. O mother! He tries to stimulate her affection because he fears getting beaten. Balarāma should not be distinguished from the others. All the boys are liars. He said “Look in my mouth” because he thought there were be no traces in his mouth. He had swallowed all the dirt.
I did not eat dirt. Since he only pretended to eat dirt, he spoke the truth. Others lied. Or he spoke a lie in fear, and this was not a fault. Or, he spoke a lie to give pleasure to special devotees. He calls to his mother out of fear of being beaten, to increase her affection for him. “All are liars including the elder gopīs who spoke lies.” Or “From this, you can infer that the gopīs were also lying. Look in my mouth.” Since he had pretended to eat dirt, they were lying. Or if he did eat the dirt, he believed all the signs of eating dirt had been removed. Or by showing something astonishing he would distract attention from his act.
- Refuse the impersonalist habit of reducing Kṛṣṇa to a symbol — read this pastime today as a real exchange between a real Person and His mother.
- Notice when you envy the intimacy of Vraja devotees and offer one act of sādhana today as the slow tapasya that earns such association across many births.
- Speak to Kṛṣṇa in your own words this evening as Yaśodā did — directly, personally, without philosophical distance — and ask Him to reveal Himself in your heart.
A son asked whether he stole the honey holds out his hands — palms open, eyes wide, voice innocent — knowing his mother already loves him too much to read the smudge at the corner of his mouth. Kṛṣṇa offers His open mouth to Yaśodā in exactly that gesture, mādhurya wearing the costume of bāla-naivety.
My note
Source: vedabase.io