Why did Krishna say to Arjuna that he had not shown the Universal Form to anyone else when he had shown it to Yashoda and Duryodhana?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question, why does Krishna tell Arjuna that he has never shown the universal form to anyone else before when he had actually shown the universal form to Duryodhana as well as Yashoda? Answer, the universal form or virat rupa is one word that can refer to many different things. For example, even if we just compare the three occasions that I mentioned here, among those three, just compare say Yashodamayi and Arjuna. So, in Yashoda’s case, she saw Krishna open his mouth and in that mouth, she saw the full universe.
So, it is not exactly the same as what Arjuna saw. Arjuna saw in front of him, not in Krishna’s body or Krishna’s mouth, but Krishna became invisible to his vision. And he saw actually the whole universe expanding in all directions around him.
Yashodamayi, when she closed her eyes, she no longer saw the Krishna’s form. When she looked around, she was not seeing the universal form, but only in Krishna’s mouth. But for Krishna, I was saying that, the offer your obeisances from ahead and from behind and from all directions.
That universal form was pervading everywhere. So, that’s why universal form doesn’t necessarily refer to one specific manifestation. So, the idea of the universal form is that God expands all over the universe.
The universe is the form of the Lord and that can be revealed in various ways. So, specifically coming to this question, in the universal form, within the universe, there are two primary aspects, that is space and time. Einstein called it space-time.
So, in the forms which were shown to Yashodamayi and Duryodhana, basically the space aspect was shown. And that Kaala Rupa, that means Krishna acting as time and destroying the inimical warriors, was not shown to Yashodamayi because that was not relevant over there. And to Duryodhana, Krishna had gone on a peace mission and Krishna wanted Duryodhana to use his free will properly and to demonstrate the power that was there.
He showed the Vishwa Rupa that was there. Krishna showing how all the universe and universal beings were around him, emanating through him and around him, pervading, surrounding him. But because Duryodhana was so obstinate and Krishna wanted Duryodhana to, if he was not going to change his free will, then he was going to let him continue with his obstinacy and bear the consequences.
So, Krishna did not show the Kaala Rupa to Duryodhana. Now, why did he show it to Arjuna? Because Krishna wanted to make the point to Arjuna that you need to be an instrument in my fight, to fulfil my will. And if you don’t become an instrument, still the warriors will be killed.
It is not that by avoiding your duty as a warrior, you will be able to save the opponents. So, to demonstrate this point, the Acharya has explained, Chakravarti Pada and others, that in 4.24, Krishna has said, this Brahma verse metaphorically means that, oh Arjuna, become a Yajna Brahmin. And your Yajna sthali is the Kurukshetra battlefield and your bow is the sacrificial ladle, the spoon and the Yajna will be the battle and the Ahuti that is to be offered is the Kauravas.
So, this section in the fourth chapter is talking about sacrifice. And then he says that actually, I will be accepting that sacrifice. And so, what Krishna demonstrated in the 11th chapter was the acceptance of that sacrifice.
So, generally in a Yajna from the Yajna sthali, a fire comes out and the Ahuti goes in. So, similarly, with this Kala Rupa, the fire was coming out and it was shown that, all the warriors were going into the mouth of this Ugra Rupa. So, this was shown by Krishna to Arjuna to inspire Arjuna to not give in to weak mindedness, but to stick to his duty knowing that he could not avoid the will of the Lord from being implemented, if not through him, then in spite of him, without him.
Of course, Krishna showed the same Vishwa Rupa later as described in the Ashwamedha Parva in the Mahabharata. He showed it to Tanka Rishi in 1454-4 in the Mahabharata. So, essentially, because the Kala Rupa was not shown, so that is why Krishna is saying, Adrishta Purvam Rishito Smibhum.
Adrishta Purvam that this form