SB 10.8.35 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

नाहं भक्षितवानम्ब सर्वे मिथ्याभिशंसिन: । यदि सत्यगिरस्तर्हि समक्षं पश्य मे मुखम् ॥ ३५ ॥

Verse text

nāhaṁ bhakṣitavān amba sarve mithyābhiśaṁsinaḥ yadi satya-giras tarhi samakṣaṁ paśya me mukham

Synonyms

na — not ; aham — I ; bhakṣitavān — have eaten dirt ; amba — My dear mother ; sarve — all of them ; mithya — abhiśaṁsinaḥ — all liars, simply complaining against Me so that you may chastise Me ; yadi — if it is actually a fact ; satya — giraḥ — that they have spoken the truth ; tarhi — then ; samakṣam — directly ; paśya — see ; me — My ; mukham — mouth .

Translation

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied: My dear mother, I have never eaten dirt. All My friends complaining against Me are liars. If you think they are being truthful, you can directly look into My mouth and examine it.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied: My dear mother, I have never eaten dirt. All My friends complaining against Me are liars. If you think they are being truthful, you can directly look into My mouth and examine it. KB 10.8.35 Being afraid of His mother, Kṛṣṇa replied, “My dear mother, all these boys, including My elder brother, Balarāma, are speaking lies against Me. I have never eaten any clay. My elder brother, Balarāma, while playing with Me today, became angry, and therefore He has joined with the other boys to complain against Me. They have all combined together to complain so you will be angry and chastise Me. If you think they are truthful, then you can look within My mouth to see whether I have eaten clay or not.”

Purport

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-puṣjāḥ: 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 ).

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

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.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

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.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

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.