His lovely form

Seeing Lord Krishna who had been his friend now assume

Viswarupa, Arjuna knew that Krishna was indeed the Supreme One. In the Bhagavad Gita, the words sasisurya netram are used to refer to the Lord’s eyes. In other words, His eyes are like the Sun and the Moon.

This seems contradictory. How can His eyes be like both

the Sun and the Moon? The Sun scorches with its heat, but

the Moon cools with its rays. But there is no need for doubts

in this regard. His eyes are like the hot Sun when He looks at

His enemies and the enemies of His devotees. His eyes are

cool and pleasing when He looks at bhaktas.

Andal also says in Her Tiruppavai that His eyes are like the

Sun and the Moon. The heat from His gaze burns up our

sins, while His mercy grants moksha to those who surrender

to Him, said Valayapet Ramachariar in a discourse.

When the Lord takes the Narasimha avatara for the sake

of Prahlada, the boy devotee, His eyes instil fear in Hiranyakasipu.

But the Lord’s eyes look at Prahlada with love and

kindness. Demons fear Him. Mareecha tells Ravana that he

had already once experienced Lord Rama’s anger and so he

will not oppose Him again. But the sages are not afraid of

Rama.

His form is so lovely to behold that Devaki laments not

having seen Krishna as a baby. Kulasekara Azhvar captures

her sorrow in a verse. Devaki pictures Krishna having been given His bath and put in the cradle. The baby’s fists are clenched. The baby smiles in His sleep. “I didn’t see that smile,” cries Devaki, in Kulasekara Azhvar’s pasuram.

The Lord shows His form to those who love Him. He also

shows it to those who hate Him to frighten them. He shows it

to those who are indifferent to Him to win them over to His

side.