What special qualifications must one possess to see the Lord’s Viswarupa? The answer is none. One need not have performed penance. One need not have studied the Sastras, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. If the Lord chooses to reveal His Supremacy to someone, who is to stop Him?
Take the case of Yasoda. Was she educated? Had she resorted to rigorous penance? And yet according to Srimad Bhagavatam, He showed her His Viswarupa. The little baby Krishna was about to be put in His cradle by Yasoda when He yawned. Yasoda saw in His tiny mouth all the worlds.
On another occasion, the mischievous Krishna ate sand, and his playmates ran to Yasoda to alert her. The angry mother summoned her son and asked Him if He had been eating sand. Krishna responded with a stout denial. She then asked Him to open His mouth. What She saw was amazing. She saw in Krishna’s mouth moveable and immoveable things, the sky, the directions, the sun, moon, stars, water, prakrti, Gokula, Nandagopa’s house in Gokula, Yasoda herself in Nandagopa’s house, Krishna with His mouth open, Yasoda peering into His mouth. And in that mouth again She saw the entire scene repeated.
These are the instances of Viswarupa revealed to Yasoda that the Srimad Bhagavatam talks of. But Periazhvar adds one more incident. In one verse, he describes Yasoda giving baby Krishna His bath. She notices inside His mouth all the worlds. She brings other Gopikas to witness this wonder. Acharya Manavala Mamunigal, while explaining this verse, says that soon after, however, Yasoda forgot what she had seen. She continued to see Krishna as her son, and not as the Supreme One, despite what she had been privileged to witness.
