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Yadhavaabhyadhaya

 

 

      Yadhavaabhyadhaya is the story of Krishnaavathaara retold by VedantaDesika with a beautiful poetic flavor steeped in bhakthi.

      Desika has written devotional hymns on all the  archaavathaaras the deities of all the vaishnavite shrines but none of the forms of Lord Narayana  seems to be so dear to him as His incarnation as Krishna. Gopalavimsati, twenty verses in praise of Krishna is the most exquisite work exuding charm and beauty. Yadhavaabhyudhaya is an epic which seems to be an elongated version of Gopalavimsati as it elaborates on the subtle references to the exploits of Krishna therein but it is rich in poetic skill and intellectual excellence. The most significant fact which points out to the link between the two works is that the opening verse of both the works is the same. The greatness of Yadhavaabhyudhaya can be understood by the fact that the commentator of the work is none other than Appayya Dikshitha, the well known exponent of Advaita Vedanta.  In this page an endeavor will be made to present this great work in such a way that all can enjoy its richness and beauty, which has been made known only to Sanskrit scholars so far.

First chapter - Prologue

 

      Vedantadesika starts his epic with the mangalasloka

`    'vande  brindavanacharam vallaveejanavallabham;

      jayanteesambhavam dhaama vyjayantheevibhooshanam.' 

      This verse is rich in meaning and brings out fully the glory of Krishna. It means, Salutations to Him, who was born on Krishnaashtami, who used to inhabit the Brindavan, adorned with the garland of forest flowers, self effulgent and loved by gopis. The four adjectives given to the Lord, namely, 

      brindavanacharam,  the one who roams around in Brindavan,

      vallveejanavallabham, the beloved of the gopis,

      jayantheesambhavam, born on the day of His avatar,

      vyjayantheevibhooshanam, adorned by  the forest flowers are rich in meaning as they denote His vathsaltya,  souseelya,soulbhya and svamithva.

His Vaathsalya, love towards His dependents is indicated by Brindhaavanacharam, which is like that of a cow towards its calf. Brindha denotes His devotees, for whose protection, avanaaya, He moves about, charathi. This dispels the fear in the heart of His  punishment for the wrong deeds one has committed, svaaparaadha bhaya nivarthakam. Appayya dikshitha, in his commentary says that He, who was dhandakaaranyachara, walked in the dhandaka forest for the protection of the rishis became brindhaavanachara, for the protection of the cows, in Krishnaavathaara true to His  promise later,

`     'parithraanaaya saadhoonaam  vinaasaaya cha dushkrthaam,
dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya samhavaami yuge yuge',

      I manifest myself in each epoch in order to protect the good and to punish the wicked.' The cows represent the good who resort to the Lord for their welfare. Sentiment, rasa, exhibited by this epithet is adbhutha, wonder  that the lord assumes  the form of a cowherd and showers His love to one and all, man, bird and beast. The same vathsalya  as He has shown towards Prahladha so that  Hiranya kasipyu could not harm  even a hair  on his body, towards Jatayu in Ramaavathaara and towards all His dependents in Krishnaavathaara which made Him  even to wash and feed the horses during the Mahabhaaratha war

Valavee jana vallabham, the beloved of the gopis, is the epithet chosen for the purpose of indicating His Souseelyam, benevolence. Souseelyam is defined as `mahathah mandhaihi saha neerandhra samslesha svabhaavah, the close friendship shown by the great towards the humble folk. This quality of the Lord dispels the fear that He is beyond comprehension. Appayya dikshitha says that the fact that He who enjoys  the uninterrupted union with Mahakakshmi was also able to enjoy the company of the simple cowherd girls is the proof of His souseelya.  The term Vallavijana is used to denote their nomad existence as valla means movement. The sentiment expressed here
is sringara.

Desika uses the epithet Jayanthee sambhavam to denote the soulabhya of the Lord, in taking birth in the yadhavakula, which removes the fear that the Lord is unapproachable. Soulabhyam is labhdhum susakathvam, easy accessibility. The significance of the word jayanthee sambhava  instead of  Devakisambhava  implies that the Lord manifested Himself as Krishna and was not born, according to His words `sambhavaami yuge yuge' and `yadha yadha hi dharmasya glaanirbhavathi -------thadhaathmaanam srjamyaham.' Jayanthi also means jayam thanothi, victorious in the vinaasa of dushkrtha, indicative of virarasa. It is interesting to observe here that the
words jayanthi and janmaashtami are used only to mark  Krishnajayanthi, 'janmaashtami avathaara dhinasya jayantheethi  vyavahaarah'  and  all  the others  are mentioned as  Ramanavami  Nrsimhajayanthi and so on.

Dhaamavyjayantheevibhooshanam relates to the svaamithva, overlordship. Dhaama means the self effulgent nature and vyjayayanthi which normally means garland of forest flowers also implies bhoothathanmaathra adhishtaana devatha the divinity behind the elements. The vanamaala here is the maya of the Lord which He
wears like a garland in His manifestations this indicates that Krishna is the Parabrahman who is the cause of this universe created out of His own Maya. The Paravasudeva is referred to by this epithet.

For a literary work there are four aspects that have to be specified at the outset. First is the grantha the mention of the work itself.

      Secondly the subject matter, vishaya,

      Third is the adhikaari, to whom the work is intended, and

       Lastly the phala or prayojana, the benefit that will accrue by the study of the grantha. Here by the four adjectives given to the Lord in the sloka refer to the above mentioned four requisites of a kavya.

The grantha is Yadhavaabhyudhaya, the glory of Yadhava, Krishna. This is indicated by brindhaavanacharam, the inhabitant of brindhaavan, Krishna. 

      The vishaya is the story of Krishna denoted by jayantheesambhavam, born on Janmaashtami.

      Adhikaari is the one who has love for the Lord. This is shown by the word vallavee jana  vallabham.

       Lastly the phala, fruit of hearing the story of the Lord is Mokha, salvation which is implied by dhaama vyjayanthee vibhooshanam. Knowing Him as Dhaama the Parabhrahman manifest in the garb of a cowherd through His maya, vyjayanthee vibhooshanam, and one gets emancipated.

The glory of the Lord is such that even the Vedas, which are the primary source of knowledge about Him, are not able to do full justice to His description. Desika portrays the Vedas as the bards trying to sing about His merits and he says that when they start
extolling even one of His infinite auspicious attributes, they become tired.

`     'Ekaika gunapraanthe sranthaah nigamavandhinah' 

      Then Desika expresses his humility by saying that under such circumstances what those with limited intellect can expect to accomplish, meaning himself. He goes on to reassure himself that the subject is sourikatha, story of Krishna, which is like nectar that will be relished even if it is told by a dull witted person. He reaffirms his position by claiming that there could be nothing wrong in following the footsteps of the great poets like Valmiki and Vyasa. 

Then Desika extols the kavithva saying that a kavi, poet, whose creation is full of merits such as rasa, bhaava and alamkara is akin to the creator, Brahma, in whom Sarasvathi revels. Rasa is the nine kinds of sentiment, srngara etc. bhaava here means the accompanying moods that go with each sentiment, called vibhaava, anubhaava and sanchaaribhaava and alamkara is the figure of speech. Such poetry is like goddess Sarasvathi expressive beautiful and well adorned with ornaments. The poet who is endowed with all these skills is like Brahma associated with Sarasvathi.

 But should perfection be an essential characteristic in composing poetry? No, says Desika. If a talented dancer makes a slip in her performance a connoisseur will ignore it and will appreciate only the overall effect. Similarly considering the vishayagourava, the merit of the subject matter which is Bhagavatvishaya, story of the Lord, even if there may be any fault, it can be excused.

So, says Desika, "I will now speak of the story of Krishna, which is the nectar emerging out of the ocean of Vyasaveda, the Mahabharatha, without any hesitancy." What is implied here is that the most enjoyable part of Mahabharatha is the story of Krishna.
Vyasaveda may also mean the Vedas, the essence of which is the Lord, as Ramanuja says in the mangala sloka of Sribhaashya, sruthi sirasi vidheepthe brahmani  Srinivaase, the Lord forms the crown of the  Vedas. So the story of Krishna is the sarabhootha, essence of Vedas as well as Mahabharatha which is later given by Vyasa as  Bhagavathapurana like extracting the butter out of the milk of Mahabharatha.

Desika calls the story of Krishna vibhudhajeevaathu, the elixir for vibhudha, devas as the incarnation took place on being entreated by devas and the Bhoodevi. The word vibhudha also means men of wisdom of whom the story of Krishna is the paramoushadham greatest antidote for the ills of the samsara.

In this context it would be interesting to note the peculiar circumstances which made Vyasa write the Bhagavatha purana. The Dasamaskandha, tenth section of Bhagavathapurana contains the story of Krishna, the subject matter of Yadhavaabhyudhaya. It seemed that after Vyasa had finished  Mahabharatha and other vedantic works he became depressed for no reason. Narada came to him and told him that his feeling of depression  born out of dissatisfaction was due to the fact that though he exhaustively wrote about dharma and Vedanta he did not write about the exploits and the glory  of Krishna and the incarnations of the Lord which would inculcate bhakthi . Hence his heart became dry and depressed. Then Narada told him the whole
Bhagavata as he had learnt from Brahma. This was the inducement for Vyasa to write the Bhagavatha purana. That is why Desika calls it vibhudhajeevaathu, the life-giving elixir.

Desika refers to the Lord as Vibhu, and Sreemaan. He is Vibhu, all powerful, all pervading, Sreemaan associated with Sree, Lakshmi. The significance of the two adjectives is given by the words eko vusvamidham chithram ajeejanath. He is eka, one only. `Sadheva soumya idham agra aaseeth, ekameva adhvitheeyam (Chandhogya Up.) Sat alone existed in the beginning, one only without a second.' Hence Brahman, Lord Narayana of Visistadavaita, was both the material and instrumental cause of the Universe. Usually in creation as applied to the worldly things like the creation of a pot the material cause, the mud and the instrumental cause, the potter are different. But before
creation, says the Upanishad there was none else than the Brahman. So Brahman is the upaadhaana karana, material cause and  nimiththa kaarana, instrumental cause. This is indicated by the words svayam and svasmin.

The Lord created the world which Desika describes as chithram, wonderful. He compares it to a painting; chithram which is created by the Lord with the brush of His leela, playful and without effort, and the paint He used was His krpa, infinite mercy. The
canvas was nothing but the Lord Himself, svasmin, in Him, created by Himself, svayam. This is in accordance with the concept of sarira-sariri bhava of Visishtadvaita. The world consisting of sentient and insentient beings is the body of the Lord of which He is the soul. Before creation the world exists in Him in subtle form and after creation it assumes the gross form.

Now what is the purpose of creation?

      To say that it is His leela would make Him a sadist who has created the world full of sorrow and misery for His sport.} No, it is not so, says Desika, because He has coloured it with His krpa. The word leela only denotes that the creation was as effortless as a play for Him. He not only created but also sustains the universe through His acts of mercy. The duhkha  is due to our karma but to protect us by showing the path to emancipation is His act of mercy.

Then Desika traces the clan of yadhu in which the Lord took the incarnation as Krishna.

      The first of the clan was Chandra, the Moon.' Chandramaa manaso jaathah, the Moon was born from the mind of the Lord.'(Purushasuktham) Desika gives the reason as to why the Moon was born out of His mind. The Moon came out as though he is the personification of the prasaadha, grace of the Lord, paripaaalayithavyeshu prasaadha iva, towards the people deserve to be protected, His devotees because the  moon is jagadhaahlaadhakara,  gives happiness to all

Budha, the adhidevatha of the planet Mercury was the son of Moon and Pururavas was the son of Budha. Pururavas, says Desika, was the living example of the efficacy of sathaam aahitha vahneenaam  stheyathaa, the power of aahithaagni  the sacrificial fire, which represents the acts of sacrifice, yajna because it gave him the power of visiting svarga where he fell in love with Urvasi, the celestial damsel and married her.
 
The lineage of Pururavas flourished in all directions of the earth by the fame of his descendants like Ayus and Nahusha, who attained the status of Indra through his merit. When Indra incurred  brahmahaththi dosha, the sin of killing a Brahmin by his slaying
Vrthraasura, who was the son of Thvashta, a Brahmin , he had to leave the svarga and do penance.  Then the devas  put Nahusha in the place of Indra since he has performed hundred asvamedha yagas, which makes him qualified for the post of Indra but he incurred the displeasure of Agasthya and was cursed by him to become a snake.

Yayathi was the son of Nahusha and had three sons and one of them was Yadhu, who was a vadhaanya, very generous and austere and just. Vasudeva, the father of Krishna was born in the clan of Yadhu. Vasudeva was Kasyapa prajaapathi in his previous birth and was the father of both devas and. asuras. His wives Surabhi and Adhithi were born as Rohini and Devaki in next birth and married Vasudeva. When
Vasudeva was born the divine musical instruments, aanaka and dhundhubhi sounded and hence he acquired the name AAnakadhundhubhi.

Vasudeva was the refuge of the good as Lord Vishnu is for the world, the Sun is for light and the sea is for gems.  This implies that he was the sole resort of the good as the earth was burdened with unrighteous kings for whose destruction the Lord descended in the form of Krishna. Even though born of the royal family Vasudeva was intent on attaining mukthi and was not interested in the worldly possessions and became content with whatever came to him of its own accord?

Vasudeva got married to Devaki, the cousin sister of Kamsa whom he loved very much  but hearing the aerial declaration that the eighth son of Devaki will be his killer Kamsa  put them both in prison.

In the meanwhile the devas  were approached by Bhoodevi  who entreated them to relieve her of he burden of adharma  perpetuated by the unrighteous kings who oppressed her like giant mountains. Then they all approached the Lord Narayana  along with Brahma with Bhoodevi in front and started praying to Him.

 The devas praised the Lord thus.

He is thrivedimadhya dheeptha, shines on the three vedas because He is vedavedya, known through the Vedas. Here it would be interesting to compare the words of Thyagaraja in his kriti `saamajavaragamana' on Krishna. He calls Him `vedasiromaathrja
sapthaswara naadhaachaladheepa,' He shines as the light  on the mountain of naadha, made up of the seven notes, sapthasvara which were born out of the head of vedas, that is pranava.

He is thridhaama, having three abodes, namely, Vaikunta which is His paramapadha, supreme abode, the milky ocean and the surya mandala, disc of the Sun, He is described in the upanishat as  Suryamandalamadhya varthi.

He has five weapons, panchahethayah, shankha, charka gadha ,sharnga and khadga, the Conch, Disc, Mace, Bow and Sword respectively.

He is baahyaanthara havirbhuja, takes the external offering in the yajna and also internal in the form of the self which is offered in devotion and He as varadha, bestows His grace.

His power is independent ananyaadheenamahima and unlimited whereas that of other gods are in His control paraadheenavaibhava and hence limited. Devas beseech Him to protect them as He is dhayaadheenavihara overwhelmed with mercy as shown by His acts like killing Ravana. In this sloka the poetic skill is shown in the choice
of the epithets ananyaadheena svaadheena and dhayadheena.

The Lord is the ocean of mercy, dhayaambhudhi in which His gunas, jnana bala aisvarya ,,shakthi , tejas and virya are the ratnas, gems and the waves are His vyuhas and vibhavas. The six attributes, knowledge, might, sovereignty, power, glory and valiance are called bhagas and hence the name bhagavan. The vyuhas are His
manifestations as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradhyumna and Anirudhdha and the vibhavas are His incarnations. These are metaphorically described as the waves while the gunas are the precious gems which are said to be in the ocean.

The glory of the Lord cannot be ascertained from the Vedas even ,because they are His creation and they are compared to the  travellers who even after travelling from morning till evening  are unable to reach the destination ,namely to describe Him as such.

He puts on different costumes and comes down as incarnations like an actor and He acts according to the role He assumes. This amuses the wise who see Him act like a subordinate, a supplicant and obedient son to His own children and dependents. He is the one who apportions the result of karma to the individuals and it is all His leela which waters the seeds of karma so that it brings forth the sprouts of results, karmaphala. Desika says that this is true with all beings, brahmaadhisthambaparyantham, from the four-faced Brahma down to the blade of grass as everything is His creation only.

He shines in the hearts of the pure in His full splendour and like the Chintamani fulfils all their wishes. Chintamani is a precious gem which is supposed to grant all wishes of the possessor.

To those who have become fatigued by traveling in the desert of samsara the devotion of the Lord serves as a welcome river, flowing with the nectar of His mercy, in which they plunge and enjoy its coolness.

He is the boat that helps those who are caught in the whirlpool of sin to cross
over to the other side.  

He is unparalleled, limitless, and the cause of the universe, Himself uncaused. He is denoted by Pranava, the essence of Vedas and the raft of rescue from the sea of samsara.  Those who seek refuge in Him alone depend only on Him for their redemption and do not adopt any other means except devotion to Him like the chathaka bird which live on rain drops alone. Not seeking any other source of water.

Like the sun that wakes up from sleep the Lord wakes up the jivas from the sleep of ignorance. Hence, the devas entreated Him to dispel their calamity  like the sun  destroys the darkness because Kamsa and others have risen like comets to create disturbances in the world.

Thus entreated by the devas  Bhagavan  appeared before them out of mercy. Desika here gives a beautiful description of the Lord.

The devas saw Him reclined on the couch of Adisesha, like a rain-bearing cloud, dark in hue , on a white cloud of autumn. Adisesha  is supposed to be white in color and sitting on him the  lord presented a picture of a dark cloud on the top of a  white cloud, which is a rare occurrence. This simile is an indication of the wonder the devas experienced on seeing the Lord before them.

The lord was accompanied by Sridevi with lotus in her hand implying His aisvarya, the mastery over the universe. The epithet Lakshmipathi denotes the supreme power combined with mercy of the Lord.

He was adorned with ornaments which were sukumara, slender and not heavy, sukhasparsa, soft of touch on His body and not rough, like sweet smelling flowers, suganshibhih prasoonaih iva, and well suited to His gunas, the infinitely auspicious qualities.  His form is the garden of His gunas and the ornaments were like the flowers in
the garden. Desika expresses his love for the Lord in imagining the ornaments on His body to be tender like flowers. An ardent devotee treats the archa or idol of the Lord as real and cannot bear to see even the stalks of the flowers hurting Him. And arranges the
ornaments on the idol in such a way as not to hurt Him

Every part of His body vying each other in beauty excelled   that of His ornaments and stole the hearts of all beings. The ornaments were beautified by Him and not vice versa. The weapons He was wielding, namely the disc , bow, mace etc. were proclaiming His
natural qualities like valor, power and so on and seemed to forecast the victory of the devas. With His form created by Himself, He shone like a sapphire rising out of the sea of His own splendor.

Along with the Lord came Garuda, who is the embodiment of Vedas, srutiroopa, and covered with the fragrance of the feet of the Lord, being His carrier, signifying the impending war with the asuras. The veda calls Garuda `suparno asi garutman trivrth the
sirah' meaning that Garuda with powerful wings has veda as his head.

The Lord thus presented a picture of a Sun who never sets, a Moon who never wanes and an ocean of nectar which has no bounds to devas. He was shining in His glory which excelled the Sun, was source of joy in His cool mercy, which never diminishes and He was like everlasting nectar to the devas in showering His grace. By
seeing Him thus the eyes of the devas became fruitful and the Lord reassured them with His abhayahasta, showing His hand in a gesture of protection and by His smile that destroys evil by the mere sight of it. The abhayakara and the mandasmita were reassuring enough for them that their prayer is answered even before He began to speak.

 

       Appeal to the lord

      The devas started to tell the Lord that rakshasas who were extinguished previously by Him like moths by the fire, have come back to earth in the form of kshathriyas and the earth is suffering  by their misdeeds and if the Lord does not intervene the earth will be

      submerged into the sea,  not being able to bear their weight. The idea here is that the wicked are burden to the earth. They entreated Him thus: ˜This earth which has you, who is full of with mercy, as its helmsman, should not be allowed to go under.

      Desika provides a beautiful metaphor by referring to the Lord as the central jewel of the girdle of the earth. The devas claimed that the earth deserves the protection of the Lord from the oppression of the wicked kshathriyas . The earth is surrounded by the ocean like a girdle of the Bhoodevi and the Lord shining in the middle of the ocean like a sapphire is like its central gem. Further the devas said that He should free the earth from the burden of these wicked kings and make her shine as the crest jewel of 

      Aadhisesha, meaning that the earth should be made light as a crest jewel for Sesha who supports it on his head.

      Desika, the bhaktha, here comes out with beautiful expression. He makes the devas say ˜Prabhodhasubhagaih smeraih prasannaih sheethalaischa nah 

      kataakshaih plaavaya kshipram krpakodhanvadhoormibhih,

      They pray to him to direct His merciful glances towards them. The glances of the Lord are, Prabhodha subhaga, attractive, He just being awakened from His yoganidra, smera,

      accompanied with His charming smile, prasaana, pleasing, sheethala ,cooling with love and they are like the waves of the sea of His mercy, krpakodhanavadhoormibhih.  Imagining the Lord thus is enough to send a devotee to ecstasy. With these words devas concluded their entreaty asking the Lord to forgive them for their impudence in informing Him the reason of their approaching Him as though He did not know everything being the antharyami, indweller  of all.

      Then Bhoodevi bowed down to Him, who has vowed to protect His dependents, along with the devas and informed Him of her plight. Desika describes her as being beautiful like the Maya of the Lord.The earth assuming the form of   an exemplary damsel,

      vanithaarathnarupini,  of slender waist and large eyes , thanumadhyaa visaalaakshi , is compared by Desika to the enchanting Maya of the Lord. The whole Universe constituted of the five elements is the product of Prakrthi, otherwise known as the Maya of the Lord. 

      Desika’s poetic skill is seen in his further description of Bhoodevi. She was sporting beautiful hair, the natural scent of which attracted the bees that hover on her head presenting a spectacle of her being covered with an umbrella made of peacock feathers. The tears of joy on seeing her Lord formed the beads of pearls that adorn her chest. Her left shoulder throbbed as though desiring the embrace of her Lord which was welcomed by her as a good sign. Desika uses the word Dhakshinaa for the Bhoodevi to imply that

      she is knowledgeable  about the meaning of signs and employs the word dhakshinaadhitharam , the one other than the right  to denote left arm thus enhancing the poetic beauty.

      The Lord replied to them in a voice that echoed the sound of His Paanchajanya. He reassured them by saying that those who follow His command will never come to harm. [Vide: Bhagavatgita-6-40- ˜ na hi kalyanakrth kaschith dhurgathim thaatha gachchathi.] The Lord then promised that He will descend to earth  as an incarnation to lessen the burden of the earth by destroying the evil kshathriyas and will establish dharma and  He asked them to take birth as kings to partake  the result of His deeds. So saying the Lord awaited the right time to enter the garba of Devaki to be born as Krishna. Thus the one in whom the entire world resided came to reside in Devaki.

chapter-2 The eve of incarnation

      Devaki appeared divine because she carried the krishnarasayana, the elixir which is sidhdha and sidhdhanishevitha, resorted to by the sages being sure of effect.

      Devaki  ate the mud, symbolic of the earth, during her pregnancy as if she is showing buy her action, naatitham, that the one who has devoured the whole earth is inside her, 

      'bhukthaa puraa yene vasundharaa  saa sa visvabhoktha mamagarbhabhoothah,’ says  Desika. 

      She dreamt that she was lying on Adhisesha and traveled on Garuda.Utthamur swami explains this as

    `'devakigarbhagantham bhagavanthamprthak paricharithum anishtvaa seshaadhayah devakeesthathvaveshenaiva paricharantheeva.'

      It looked as though Adhisesha and others carried devaki along with the Lord in order to
do service to Him. She walked slowly as if not to burden the earth with the weight of Him who is visvaguru, the mighty Lord who has the entire universe in Him. He is vidvaguru or jagatguru as He was going to impart the Gita to the world and also the greater than the greatest, mahatho mahiyaan. The word `guru ` contains a pun to mean preceptor as well as big.

Description of the night of Krishnavathaara

     Then starts the description of the night of Krishnavathaara.  The appearance of the dusk, sandhya, seemed to denote the advent of the Lord. Sandhya, personified as a damsel, a is compared to the form of the Lord, murdhvishah murthih dhvitheeyaa, on account of the attire of golden hue, suvarnapithaambharavaasinee, and hiding  the Sun with the brilliance of  own light, svadhaamasamchaadhtha suryamurthih. The Sun sinking in the ocean seemed to seek some support avalambhana, by his rays stretched out. He looked like a lotus plucked from the pond of the sky by sandhya and the crest jewel of a serpent plunging into the ocean afraid of Garuda in the form of sandhya.  The richness of poetic imagination of Desika is
illustrated by these words.

At the setting of the Sun, the day being ashtami 8th day of krishnapaksha, dark fortnight, no moon appeared and darkness spread everywhere. Stars looked like a garland of pearls to adorn the Lord on His avathaara prepared by His servant, the Kala, Time. Later when the moon rose the eastern direction looked like Devaki. Thamafprasangena vimuchyamaana gourprabhaa. The paleness of her is the white light, gouraprabhaa of the moon who has risen from darkness as she is going to be freed from her sorrow, thamafprasangena vimuchyamaana. The Moon being the first forefather of the Yadhuvamsa, looked like a purohitha, priest  coming after bath from the ocean to do the samskara, the rites for the newborn.

      The darkness that first came was like the haalaahala, the terrible poison which came out of the milky ocean, namely the eastern direction indicative of the subsequent emergence of Lakshmi, the good fortune of Yadhuvamsa. Desika says later in describing Krishna that Lakshmi was always with the Lord which ever avathara he took because She is inseparable as the sloka goes

     `Raaghavathve bhavathseetharukminee Krishna janamani anyeshuchaavathaareshu  vishnoreshaa anapaayini.'

      It is said that even in Vamanaavathaara Lakshmi was in His chest to hide whom the Lord covered His chest with deerskin lest He could not take away the aisvarya of Bali if he gets the glance of Lakshmi, lakshmikataaksha.

Then the auspicious time for the avathaara drew near. The wicked people like Kamsa  were sleeping and the good were awake like Devaki and Vasudeva.Vadfyagosha of  divine instruments could be heard everywhere. The lamps in the house of Kamsa became extinct for no reason and so did the anguish in the minds of devotees. Ashtami was chosen by the Lord for his avathaara as the eighth child and the next day Navami was going to be the day of the avathara of Yogamaaya. 

      Hence, as Desika puts it, ashtami became prathama and navami, dvitheeya. Krishna appeared at vrishabha lagna when the five planets, Chandra, angaraka, bhudha guru and sani were in exalted position. Desika describes His manifesting Himself as Devaki the  eastern direction produced the Lord ,  the moon implying that He was not born in the usual way but as He says in the Gita `sambhavaami aathmamaayayaa' He only made Himself manifest as the moon coming out in the East.

chapter-3 The birth of krishna

      At the time of the birth of Krishna the whole world seemed to be happy. The directions looked bright devoid of darkness as though the day is born. This implies that the manifestation of the Lord dispelled the darkness in the mind caused by ragadvesha and the hearts of the good became filled with the joy arising out of the understanding of the truth about the manifestation. Among the usual paraphernalia that is described in the puranas and ithihasas when some divine or extraordinary event happens, such as the apsars dancing the trumpets sounding the kinnaras singing in the devaloka, there was cool breeze blowing from the quarters and the clouds thundered  which was like the jayagosha by the devas. Here we see the poetic skill of Desika who says that all the anxieties in the minds of all the people joined together like rivers and fell into the mind of Kamsa, who was the only one agitated to the utmost. Andal addresses the Lord as 'kamsan vayittril neruppenne  ninra nedumaalE', the one who stood like fire in the stomach of Kamsa.

Vasudeva became free from his shackles.'Rnaadhiva devakipathih amuchyatha srnkalathah' says Desika, comparing the release from srnkala to that from debt. In fact the word 'rna' could mean debt as well as prarabdhakarma as the saying goes 'rnaanubandhasaarena pasupatni suthaalayaa,' ones acquisition of wealth, son and property is according to prarabdhakarma. Desika asks, 'what is so wonderful about this in front of one who removes the shackles of all bondage?'

Devaki was having Krishna on her lap and shone like a golden mountain which had a peak of indraneelamani,sapphire. Vasudeva saw Him, who had the color of the sea, carrying sanka, conch, chakra the disc, gada,the mace and ambuja, a lotus. Vasudeva prayed to Him to hide His divine form lest Kamsa will come to know His true identity. He praised the Lord as the embodiment of the Veda, who had come to be born as his son due to his prayers in the previous birth. At the same time he was worried about His safety and begs Him to disguise Himself. That is the maya of the Lord!

Then the Lord instructed Vasudeva to take Him to Gokula and leave Him there and bring the female child born to Yasodha to Mathura. Vasudeva took the infant, which the Lord changed Himself into, as requested and the prison gate opened and the guards were fast asleep. When he approached the street the quarters became lighter due to the luster of the body of Krishna. Garuda circled around to ward off the evil forces and Adisesha followed spreading his hoods as an umbrella to protect from the rain.

     'sruthimayo vihagah parithah prabhum vyacharadhaasu vidhoothanisaacharah; anujagaama cha bhoodharapannagahsphuta phanamanidheepaganodvahah.'

       Garuda is  sruthimaya , the personification of vedas, as Yamunacharya calls him 'vedhaathmaa vihagesvarah,' and the Sesha is referred to as Bhoodharapannaga, who followed giving light by the gems on his thousand hoods as though thinking that the Lord needed some light as He had contracted His own tejas. The significance of the word Bhoodharapannaga by Desika is that the Krishnavathara was for the
purpose of lightening the burden of the earth which will also lighten the burden on the head of Sesha who is bhoodhara, bearer of the earth.

Vasudeva carried Krishna as though on the gurudavahana and reached river Yamnna, directed by the moonlight. The land near Yamuna seemed to welcome Vasudeva by its cool breeze to remove the fatigue and the buzzing of the bees, serving as the welcome song.

The description of Yamauna when Vasudeva approached the river  with Krishna brings the poetic fervour of Desika. He says that it looked as though the river is bemoaning the plight of the Lord which made Him take the guise of a mortal, feigning
weakness, 'kuhakadhainyam.' The  lilies, 'asithaneeraja' were closing its eyes, petals, as the morning was approaching and the lotuses had not yet  started to bloom and the chakravaka couple, a kind of birds which become blind in the night were wailing , not being able to see  one another. All this seemed to indicate the mental anguish of
Yamuna, savithuh sutha, the daughter of the Sun.' Nimishithaasithaneerajalochanaa mukulithaabjamukhee  savithussuthaa;lulithadheenarathaangayugasvanaa kuhakadhainyam  asochatheeva prabhoh.'

 The river throwing its waves here and there looked as though, Yamuna, without knowing that all is the leela of the Lord, was throwing up her arms in distress, fearing Kamsa. Yamuna gave way to Vasudeva, looking high in the east and almost dry in the west. It makes the kavi wonder whether she wanted to ascend the vishnupada or was going to the Kalinda Mountain, her father's abode. Thus vasudva crossed the river as if it was  jananasindhu, sea of birth, which he would cross obtaining  the Lord as his offspring.

At the time of the birth of Krishna the whole world seemed to be happy. The directions looked bright devoid of darkness as though the day is born. This implies that the manifestation of the Lord dispelled the darkness in the mind caused by ragadvesha and the hearts of the good became filled with the joy arising out of the understanding of the truth about the manifestation. Among the usual paraphernalia that is described in the puranas and ithihasas when some divine or extraordinary event happens, such as the apsars dancing the trumpets sounding the kinnaras singing in the devaloka, there was cool breeze blowing from the quarters and the clouds thundered which was like the jayagosha by the devas.

Vasudeva entered Gokula where, says Desika, 'svasutham agryam asooyatha rohini,' which implies that he saw his son Balarama also. There he placed Krishna near the sleeping Yasodha and took the female child near her to Mathura. Knowing that the eighth child was born, Kamsa came and took the infant by her legs to strike her on the
rock when she kicked herself free and rose up to the sky and warned kamsa about the birth of Krishna. Her speech is described by Desika thus: 'patu gabheeram udhaaram anaakulam hitham avistharam arthyam aviplavam.' It was patu, sharp and pungent, gabheeram,resonant,udhaaram, distinct, anaakulam, poised, hitham, well wishing, due to her karuna the goddess Durga as she was to be known later, wanted to warn him not to court destruction. It was also avistharam, brief, arthyam, meaningful and aviplavam
unmistakeable.

She said that she was aseshasuraasuramohinee, the deluder of all devas and asuras, being the Maya of the Lord, the destroyer of madhukaitabha, the maya that veils the real nature of the Lord, yavanikaa. Then she warned him that his destroyer is in the house of Nanda, 'Vasathi nandagrhe vibudhadhvishaam dhamayithaa vasudeva
samudbhavah thava naasayitha.' In the Bhagavatha the Yogamaya does not divulge the whereabouts of Krishna but Desika boldly makes her give the address of Krishna perhaps to make it clear to Kamsa that he cannot harm Krishna even if he finds Him.

Then the scene changes and in Gokula yasodha and other regains consciousness from the swoon-like sleep induced by the maya of the Lord and Yasodha found a male child next to her. Desika describes the Lord as the one who is aagamabhooshana, ornament to the vedas, who is enquired into by the sages even now without finding His real nature, became the ornament of the gopas due to destiny of His own making.

After Krishna came to Gokula there was no death of calves and the cows were contented and gave plenty of milk as Andal said, 'vaangakkudam niraikkum vallal perum pasukkal.' The person had no fear from robbers and from disease and Desika says that the life in Gokula resembled that in Krthayuga.

Nanda celebrated the birth of Krishna elaborately. 'Adhichakaara vadhaanyamaneh sriyam vyadhitha  kalpathroranukalpathaam ajanayaccha sutha prasavotsave mahathi megha  vikatthana modhathaam.' That is, Nanda appropriated the glory of
chitamani, the wish-giving gem, by his generosity, which made the kalpataru lose its importance and he outshined the rain giving clouds by his shower of gifts. This made the people of Gokula,says Desika, look down on the Indraloka. The news of the celebratiobns in Gokula pacified the minds of Devaki and Vasudeva who were separated from Krishna, the puraanapurusha, who had come to them through the penance of earlier life.' putram prasooyathapasaa purusham puranam kaalam chiram vidhivasaath kila viprakarshou.'

The two boys, Balarama and Krishna grew up in Gokula like the Moon in sukla paksha creating happiness not only to the inhabitants but also to devas who were eagerly waiting for the destruction of Kamsa and others.

                         

!         CHAPTER-4 Infant Krishna

Kamsa having heard about the birth of Krishna became
overwhelmed with fear and anger and decided to send evil forces to
kill him. Poothana, who has power of maya, was sent by him to gokula and she entered while everyone was asleep, taking the form of
Yasodha, and started breastfeeding Krishna who sucked her life along
with milk In Bhagavatha we find detailed description of the Poothana
episode which mentions her killing newborn babies everywhere and
assuming the form of a high born woman which impressed everyone in Gokula including Rohini and she is said to have offered her poisonous breast to Krishna. But in the work of Desika the devotional element reigns supreme rather than the narrative details.

Hearing the shouts of Poothana and the crying of Krishna
Yasodha came running and grasped Krishna, 'sasambhramaavegamupethya bheethaathamagrheeth durgraham aagammaanaam.' He is durgraha not
easily graspable even by aagamaas, ie.vedas and Yasodha grasped Him so easily. Nanda also came there and was relieved to see that no harm was done to the child. Poothana fell down dead assuming her real form and the the gopas cut her large body into pieces and threw them at the outskirts of the city to be eaten by carnivorous animals. Then they put on Krishna, the goptha,the protector of all, an ornament, to ward off the evil effects of the planets, consisting of the
miniatures of Panchaayudha of Narayana, namely sudarsana, the disc,
paanchajanya, the conch, saarnga, the bow,koumodhaki, the mace and nandhaki, the sword, which in tamil is called aimpadaithaali

Desika while describimg the Poothana episode says, 'Sthanyena
krishnah saha poothanaayaah praanaan papau lupthapunarbhvaayaah.' Krishna drank her life along with milk as a result of which she attained the state of immortality, lupthapunarbhava. It itself is a wonder, that to one who gave poison, the Lord repaid with the
purushaarthapradhaana, that is moksha, which is attainable only
through bhakthi.

Yet there is another wonder mentioned by Desika,'yadhadbutham
bhaavayathaam janaanaam sthanandhayathvam na punarbabhoova.' Those who contemplate on Krishna sucking the breast of Poothana never again
lapse back into the state of shanadhyaithva, suckling infant. That is
they are not born again. Appayya dikshitha commenting on this says
that it is against thatkrathunyaya, the principle called thatkrathu ,
mentioned in the aaranyaka portion of the vedas that by thinking of
something one becomes that. This is further elaborated in a later
chapter which we shall see when we come to it.

One more leela of Krishna as an infant is described by
Desika. Once Yasodha placed him near a cart and he started crying
and His feet hit the cart and the mountainous cart fell into pieces
with a great sound. The sakatasura who came to kill Krishna was
destroyed. Bhagavatha does not mention sakatasura but simply desribes the cart overladen with food toppling over when Krishna kicked at it and Yasodha and others hazened there hearing the great sound and did not believe the words of the children that Krishna did it. But in Yadhvaabhyudhaya and Narayaneeyam we find Sakatasura mentioned and in Narayaneeyam the poet describes how even the dust of the sakatasura in the form of cartwheel was not to be found and ascribes it to the effect of the sarirasambandha of the Lord. Desika says that Yasodha touched the lotus like foot of Krishna to see whether it was hurt.

                               BalaKrishna

 

Next Desika presents the picture of crawling Krishna.  When krishna crawled on the floor the dust covered his body all over. Desika says that the earth goddess   tried to embraced him under the pretext of covering his body with dust. 'prAyO dharithree parishasvajE tham sApathrapA sAndhrarajacchalEna.'

The joy of Nanda knew no bounds on seeing the face of Krishna which was nirvyAja mandhasmitha dharsaneeyam, delightful to behold with his spontaneous smile. When he lisped and pronounced the name of his mother partly he was acclaimed by all.Everyone was pleased with his attempt to speak which  was fascinating, says Desika, because the Lord who created all the worlds and gave them name and form,  is here praised by the people in Gokula for uttering his mother's name partially. The upanishad says that after creating the world of beings Brahman willed to enter them with their soul to give them name and form.'anEna jeevEna AthmanA anupravisya nAmrupE vyAkaravANi.' (Chan.6-3-2)

 

Then Krishna started to speak with clarity and his pronunciation had the scent of veda, says Desika.' varNasvarAdhivyavasAyabhoomnA sikshAvidhAm sikshaNam agryam Aseeth.' It was as though he was teaching the gopis who tried to make him speak through his pronunciation of letters and the intonation etc. which resembled that of the vedas.

Next we have the delightful picture of Krishna trying to stand. 'thameeshadhutthAya nileenabhArAth samprekshya dhanthAnkurachAruhAsam;sanAthaneem dhrshtim ananya dhrshtih sAnandham AlOkatha nandha pathnee.'He tries to stand a little but keeps falling off and he smiles sweetly showing his budding teeth.Yasodha ho had no eyes for any thing else, was looking at him, who is the eye of all, with joy.

Here it would be  interesting to see how Periazvar enjoys Krishna having his first teeth.' kOla narumpavaLa senthuvar vAyinidai komaLa veLLimuLai pOl sila pallilaga,' in his mouth, red like  coral, there are a few teeth showing like tender shoots of silver.

Yasodha teaches Krishna to walk and Desika enjoys the scene thus: Yasodha took hold of his hands and made him walk and he keeps falling now and then pretending that he could not walk more than few steps so that his mother will pick him up and tries again. Who is he! The one who measured the threeworlds with three steps and now manifest as a child in order to protect the world.'padhaisthribhihkrAntha jagaththrayam tham bhavyAsA bhAvina bAlabhAvam.'

Soon Krishna was walking all around marking the earth with his footprints as though to put his seal on earth to drive away the wicked.Next comes the scene where Krishna dances to the tune of the  gopis.

                           Dancing Krishna

Perhaps the scene opens as  the gopis are churning the milk and Krishna comes there and begs for butter and they tell him to dance if he wants butter and this is described by Desika as follows:

ya Esha lOkathrayasuthradhArah

 paryAyapASthrANi charAcharANi

AnarthayathyadhbhuthacheshtithOasou

nanarthakhElannavaneethakAngkshee

He who is the director of the three worlds causing the movable and immovable beings enact their role in turn, with His wonderful act, danced playfully  (in front of the gopis) desirous of getting butter. This Desika names as Navaneetha natyam in his Gopalavimsathi.

AavirbhvathyanibhrthaabharaNam purasthaath

aakunchithaikacharaNam nibhrthaanyapaadham

DHadhnaa nimanTha mukhareNanibaddhathaalam

naatTHasya nandhabhavane navaneethnaatyam

which means,

'Let the vision of Krishna dancing in the house of Nanda, His ornaments sounding as He dances, with one foot steady and the other bent ,  His navaneethnaatya, dance for butter,to the thala of the churning of milk, appear in front of me'

 

In gokula, keeping close to the churning pot desiring butter, the body of Krishna is splattered with drops of curd. Desika is reminded of the form of the  Lord splattered with drops of nectar, or milk while churning the milky ocean.

 

 The same idea is expressed by Kulasekhara in Mukundamala where he says,

 

ksheerasaagaratharangaseekaraasaarathaarakrtha charumoorthaye

bhogibhogasayaneeyasaayine maadhavaaya madhvidvishe namah.

 

Salutations to Madhava ,the killer of Madhu, reclining on the bed of adisesha, His body charming splattered with the drops from the waves of the milky ocean, looking as though He is covered with stars.

 

The dance of Krishna desiring butter is described by Leelasuka also thus:

 

Vadhane navaneethagandDHavaaham vachane thaskarachaathuree DHureeNam

nayanaakuhanaasru asrayetTHaah charaNam komalathaandavam kumaaram

 

Seek the foot of the boy who is dancing gracefully,with His mouth smelling of butter,His speech  showing Him to be the foremost of cheats, His eyes ( on being told off) full of false tears.

 

The devotees imagine that the reason the Lord left the milky ocean and came to gokula is because being milky ocean He can get only milk there and not butter.

 

Perhaps this scene was in the mind of Oothukkadu venkatakavi when he sang 'AdAdhu asangAdhu vAA kannA.' which is a beautiful song and should be dealt with separately to bring out its beauty.

 

              Krishna the butter thief

 

thrasyan mukundho navaneethachouryAth

nirbhugna gAthrO nibhrtham sayAnah

nijAni nissabdhadhaSAm yayAche

baddhAnjalim bAlavibhooshaNAni

 

Krishna stole butter and was hiding with his body contracted out of fear from the gopis. Desika calls him Mukundha, the one who gives Moksha,as well as bhoga, here enacting fear. His limbs were trembling with fear and he was afraid of being found out by the sound of his ornaments and hence begged them not to make noise! To think about this fearful posture of Krishna will remove all our fears.

 

Once Krishna wished for the forest fruits and approached the hunter girl who was selling them with handful of grains. Desika says , the one who gives Aranyakaphala wanted Aranyakaphala. The part of veda taught in the forest is called Aranyaka , that is, upanishads and the Lord is the giver of the fruit of that knowledge, namely moksha and here he himself desired aranyakaphala, the forest fruits. There is pun on the word aranyakla.

 

He carried a handful of grains to buy the fruits as is the custom in those days and being a child, all the grains were falling off from his hands when he ran towards the vendor.There were only few grains and what the hunter girl saw was his hand marked with the sign of conch and disc (sujAtharEkhAthmaka sankachakram) She thought that she should give herself to those hands, which is of course more desirable to the Lord than the fruits as He expects only the heart of the devotee more than the other offerings. Then she filled his hands with fruits and her basket was immediately filled with precious gems.Desika refers to him as kreedAsisu, one who appeared as a child by his leela.The gems were not in any way inferior to Kousthubha,'rathnaisthadhA kousthubha nirvisEshaih.'

 

Krishna was frequently engaged in some mischief or other like stealing butter, freeing the calves even when it was not milking time,  and other such deeds and once his long suffering mother wanted to tie him to the mortar to keep him out of mischief. Desika says that the mortar has done some punya to acquire that  good fortune that Yasodha wanted to tie Krishna to it. 'ulookhalE kuthrachith AtthapuNyE.' Desika uses a pun on the word banDHu by saying that she wished to tie him banDHum iyEsha who is the relative of the good, sathAm banDHuh. The punyaphala of the mortar was to have the contact of the body of tne Lord and also serving the purpose of his further deed , namely the freeing of the sons of Kubera from their curse.

 

Then comes the description of the difficulty Yasodha was experiencing in tying him to the mortar. Bhagavatha says that whatever rope she tried it was found two inches short, dhvayangulOnam.

 

Aneetham agrE nija banDHanArTHam

dhAmAkhilam samhitham apyapoorNam

nireekshya nirviNNa DHiyOjananyAh

sankOcha shakthyA sa babhoova vanDHyah

 

On seeing that all the ropes  even when joined together were not enough due to his maya his mother became desperate. Then krishna took pity on her and made himself small enough to be tied while he made the ropes short earlier.

 

The sight of Krishna bound to the mortar was enjoyed by the devotees variously.

 

Leelasuka says,

 

varamimam upadhEsam AdhriyaDHvam

nigamavanEshu nithAntha chAra khinnAh

vichinutha bhavnEshu vallaveenAm

upanishadharTHam ulookhalE nibaddham

 

Listen to this best advice, you who are fatgued  in wandering in the forest of vedas! The Brahman of the upanishads whom you try to find, is bound to the mortar here in the house of the milkmaids.

 

Desika himself refers to Krishna as Brahmakishora, Brahman in form of a child in Gopalavimsathi.

 

Those who think of the Lord in this state of being bound to the mortar will be freed from the bondage of karma without any effort on their part.Desika further says ,'thapasvinee thathkrathuneethirAdhya savreedam AraNya kaTHAsu thasTHou. The rule  called thatthkrathu in vedanta is that whatever one thinks on so he becomes. In the case of Krishna, whatever leela of Bhagavn one thinks of, the result is just the opposite.This is illustrated by Desika saying, those who think of Krishna as being bound they get freedom from their bondage. And he says that with a poetic expression. The thathkrathu nyaya went and hid itself in the stories of the forest out of shame on its failure. Aranyakas are the upanishads which contain this nyaya and hence the word Aranyaka is used as a pun to denote forest.

 

The eyes of Krishna were full of tears and that amused the onlookers because he looked like an elephant bound to its post. Desika describes this in Gopalavimsathi thus. Yasodha is grasping Krishna in her hand and threatens him and Krishna is seen crying and smudging the eyeliner applied to his eyes with his hand. What a delightful picture of the leela of the Lord! Desika calls him miThyAgOpa, the pseudo cowherd in Gopalavimsathi  because being visvagoptha, the protector of the whole universe, he is now pretending to be a cowherd boy feigning fear

 

.Then Desika describes very briefly the release of the sons of Kubera from their curse.Krishna dragged the mortar playfully and it was stopped by the two twin trees  and when dragged further by him it uprooted the trees. The two sons of Kubera, Nalakoobara and Manigreeva who were cursed by the sage Narada to become trees got back their original form.Bhagavatha says that Krishna thought that the sage Narada is dear to him and the time has come to fulfil his promise to the yakshas and hence he enacted this scene.The two yakshas bowed down to Krishna and went their way.

 devarshirme priyathamah yadhimou dhanaddhaathmajou

thatthathaa saadhayishyaami yadhgeetham thanmahaathmanaa (Bh.10-10-25)

"the devarshi Narada  is dear to me and these are the sons of Kubera(who is also a devotee) and hence I will fulfill what has been promised by Narada."

 

 

As he took the form of a lion-man to prove the words of Prahlada and the boon of Brahma, both of whom were  His devotees, now he allowed HImself to be bound to the mortar in order to free the twins and to prove the words of Narada . That is the karunaa of the Lord.

 

 

 

 

Almost immediately Desika switches to the migration of the residents of Gokula to Brindvan.

 

                              BrindhavanasanchAree

 

Desika says that Krishna made the woods fertile by mere will.There is nothing to be surprised with this, says Desika , because he is the one who created the moon, the lord of all the herbs, who delights the whole universe  with his will at the beginning of creation.Now he has become like a  moon to the cowherds, gODHanavamsachandhrah, whose wealth are the cows and made brindavanam a fertile land for the sake of the cows. He is sathAm gOptha., protector of the good and by his glances which were like rising waves of the sea made the Brindavanam look like the youth of the earth, abounding in fruits flowers and grass.The grass was sweet and the ground was soft with them devoid of stones or thorns and the trees outdid the kalpaka vrksha by their bounty of fruits and flowers.The gopas were thrilled to find such a place of habitation.NammAzvar says in his thiruvaimozi 'dhivatthilum pasu nirai mEyppu uvatthi,' the Lord left the vaikunta and came to Gokula and relished the caring for the cattle more than residing in Vaikunta.

 

Desika mentions the killing of ThrnAvartha and BakAsura very briefly and proceeds to describe the pavai nonbu of the cowherd girls and stealing their clothes by Krishna.Bhagavtha mentions this vratha as the worship of Devi Kathyayani in the month of margasira (hEmanthE praTHamE mAsi) by the young gopis wishing the union with Krishna, reciting the following sloka: sloka

'kArthyAyaani mahAmAyE mahAyOginyaDheesvari nandhgOpasutham dhEvi pathim mE kuru thEnamah.'

 

Desika describes the gopivashtrApaharaNa thus:

 

niSAthyayE snAna samudhyathAnAm

nikshiptham AbheerakumArikANAm

koolAdhupAdhAya dhukoolajAlam

kundhADHirooDO mumudhE mukundhah

 

When the young cowherd girls went to the river yamuna in the early morning to take bath and left their garments made of white silk on the bank, Krishna took them from there and climbed the  kundha tree with delight.

 

Utthamur swami comments on this sloka saying that first it was koola dhukoola sangamam the garments, dhukoola,  had the contact with the bank and then there was kundhamukundha sangamam, the contact with the branch of the kundha tree and with Mukundha.The kooladhukoola sangamam denotes leaving the old vasanas and bathe in Krishnanubhava and the kundhamukundhasangamam implies mukthi as the word Mukundha means the one who gives mukthi,mukthim dhadhAthi ithi mukundhah, Kum, sin, dhyathi, destroys ithi kundhah. So kundha -mukundha  sangamam means that the Lord destroys all the sin and gives moksha.

 

When they requested him to give back their garments he made them come out and pray to him with folded hands This was to make them cast off their dhEhAthmabuddhi only when they become qualified for mukthi. The Lord has already willed to give them mukthi after their present life and only wanted to create the desire in them.He says in Gita 'vAsAmsi jeerNAni yaTHA vihAya ---thaTHA sarirANI vihAya jeerNAni anYANi samyAthi navAni dhEhee,just as one casts off the old clothes and put on new ones the soul casts off the old body and takes a new one.' But until there is total surrender this changing of bodies will go on. When the soul surrenders the Lord gives a new awareness under the pretext of  giving back  their garments which have undergone change on account of kundhamukundha sambandha.This is the significance  behind the episode of gopivasthrApahaharaNam.

 

Krishna became the capilal of Anandhasamrajya for gopis.His vilAsas , actions, were like the army protecting the kingdom.His lustre ,kAnthi was the protecting wall, his sport was like a preventive measure for the non-entry of others. This means that the premebhakthi was the exclusive area of the gopis and could not be penetrated by others due to their lack of understanding.

 

When Krishna returned from the forest after tending the cattle the young girls of Gokula felt as though they were attacked by a fourfold army of cupid.The chathurangasena of a king,namely. ratha,gaja,thuraga padhAthi, in this case was the sound of the flute, the dust on his body,the sunlight playing on his body at sunset and the garland of forest flowers he was wearing. Each one of them stole the heart of the gopis and they felt as though being attacked by the God of love.

 

Krishna resembled a tree by his peacock feathers looking like green branches and the cows took shelter in him as in the shadow of a tree.

Desika seems to be enthralled with the peacock feathers, which is obvious even from his Gopalavimsathi and here dedicates four slokas to describe Krishna adorned with peacock feathers.

 

Krishna shone like a mountain of sapphire with the peacock feathers and they created a magical effect of love on the others (  peacock feathers are found in the hand of magicians to effect the illusion).

 

Yasodha touched the peacock feathers that adorned his crown again and again and was delighted. Desika uses  two adjectives to describe Krishna, mugDHAnganA mOhanavamsika, the one who enchants the beautiful cowherd girls by his flute playing and maneeshiNAm mAngalika,one who effects auspicious happenings for those who meditate on him. That is his maya deludes those who do not have the knowledge of his real nature as the supreme self but for those who have conquered the maya and know him as he is, It fetches auspicious results. But the gopis are blessed even if they were deluded by his maya into believing that he was mortal because their desire was towards him and not on worldly things.

 

The dark hue of the peacock feathers made also the golden hued Lakshmi in his chest to appear dark.The implication here is that Lakshmi abides in the heart of the Lord in whchever form he appears. That is why  when he came as Vamana he covered his chest with his upper garment(angavastra), says one commentator, because he did not want Lakshmi to look at Bali as otherwise it will not be possible to take away  the possessions of Bali once he gets the Lakshmikataksham.

 

Krishna came playing his flute which seemed to reply to the message sent out by the glances of the gopis.This idea we see even in Gopalavimsathi in sloka 15.Desika says that the gopis are making sound with their bracelets keeping time to the music and it looks as though the flute is conversing with the bracelets.Krishna was also dancing while he came playing the flute, a dance called AbheeranAtyam, the dance of the cowherd.Desika says the music was something not known even to Thumburu and Narada. Desika calls Krishna, rAgAbDHi, the sea of music and he seemed to attract the whole world by his music. There is pun in the word raga meaning both attachment and tune.He created raga, attachment towards him through his raga.

 

Desika describes the state of the mind of the gopis who looked at Krishna by a beautiful sloka.

 

apathrapAsaikatham AsrithAnAm

rAgOdhaDHou krishnamukhEndhununnE

hasthAvalambO na babhoova thAsAm

uthpakshmaNAm uthkalikApluthAnAm

 

The face of Krishna was like the moon, krishnamukhEndhu, that caused the waves of desire to rise in the sea of love, rAgAbDHi. The gopis tried to ascend on the sand hill made of bashfulness., apathrapAsaikatha, due to the fear of censure, in order to escape being immersed in the sea, and looked up to get some support,uthpakshma  but not finding any, hasthAvalamba,were deeply immersed in their love.

 

At this juncture Desika asserts that there was no brahmacharyabhanga to Krishna by sporting with the gopis which is  proved in  the incident of saving the life of Parikshith who was born charred by the apandavAsthra of Asvatthama. In Mahabharatha Krishna says 'yadhi mE brahmacharyam syAth sathyam cha mayi thishTathi avyAhatham mamaiSvaryam thEmna jeevathu bAlakah,' that if he is a true brahmachari and there is truth in him and if his mastery is untarnished this child should live.And Parikshith came back to life.

 

There is another story to illustrate this.

Once Krishna told a gopi to take food for Vyasa who was at the other side of river Yamuna. But she was not able to cross the river as Yamuna was in spate. Krishna told her to pray that if Krishna was a nithya  brahmachari the river should part. Probably the gopi had her own doubts but she had explicit faith in Krishna and did as he told her and the river parted and she went to the other side and gave the food to Vyasa. But  again there was flood and she could not go back . Then Vyasa told her that if he was  nithya upavasi the river will part. This time the girl was really perplexed because just then he ate the whole food brought by her and termed himself a nithya upavasi. She expressed her doubt to Vyasa and also told him what Krishna  said about Himself.. Vyasa explained that  both of them being jeevanmukthas  the function of their bodies did not touch their real Self.  The real ‘I’ which is the pure Self is neither the doer nor the enjoyer.

 

What does this mean?The Lord is the inner self of all and the experience of the body does not touch the self. The whole world is the sarira of the Lord and the experiences  iof the world do not touch Him who is the self.Krishna, being the supreme self, all the experiences are for the others and not for Him. He appears to have the experience  through His maya.

 

 

There are two ways to mukthi, rasAsvadha, or experiencing the joy of union with the Lord and brahmajnana, through meditation or jnanamarga.The upanishad says, 'rasO vai sah;rasam hOvAyamlabDhva Anandhee bhavathi.' Brahman or Narayana is the rasa and attaining Him is the bliss. Rasa, Anandha and Brahman are synonymous terms.

 

The rasakreeda signifies the jivas enjoying the bliss with the Lord. The sages see the leela of the Lord in the world where all the jivas are around Him holding His hand.So the whole world is the brindavan and the leela of the Lord in creating sustaining and annihiating is the rasakreeda. RAsa is also termed as the collection of all the five vaishnava rasas, namely,dAsya, sakhya, vAtsalya,madhura and shantha.

 

To those who criticise the rasleela the answer would be that Krishna was only 10 when he was in Brindavan and where does eroticism figure? Parikshit himself was ignorant on this aspect and asked Shuka how is it justified for one who incarnated for dharmasamsthapana  to play with the wives of others. And Shuka replied,

 gOpeenAm thathpatheenAm cha sarvEshAmEva dhEhinAm yO anthascharathi so aDHyakshah kreedanEna iha dhEhabhavah

 

The one who is the indweller of the gopis and their husbands and all beings and the witness self,  is now playing in physical form.

 

Srimadbhagavatha says,

rEmE ramESO vrajasundareebhih

yaTHA arbakah svaprathibimba vibhramah.

 

The Lord of Lakshmi enjoyed the company of the cowherd damsels as a child will revel in his own reflections.

 

The whole of Bhagavatha is considered to be the sarira of the Lord and the five adhyayas describing rasakreeda are the prANasThAna. It is bhakthyAh parA kAshTA na sringArasya . It is the height of devotion and not of physical desire.It is said in Bhagavatha that the husbands never felt the absence of their wives during the nights of rasakreeda because their yogasariras were with Krishna while their bhogasariras were at home doing their duty. As the gopis saw only Krishna everywhere their love for their kith and kin only increased,and for the same reason it was reciprocated.

 

 

Vedantadesika  mentions that the brahmacharya of Krishna was not in any way affected,'na brhmachryam bibhidhE thadheeyam, and Appayyadikshita , a leading exponent of advaita, writing commentary on this work says that this is because everythng is His sarira and He was embracing His own sarira. He quotes the PAdhmOttharakAnda from PadmapuraNa where Lord Siva tells Parvathi, who raised the same question, that it is like 'svasariraparishvanga'  embracing oneself.

 

The one who related the story is a parivrajaka brahmajnani and the one to whom it is told is Parikshit, paramabhagavtha and those who listened were rshis. All jivas are women and He alone is the Purusha.

(This explanation is given here instead of giving it in the chapter on rasakrida because it would help understanding and enjoying Rasakreeda when we come to the chapter.)

 

               Krishna  the cowherd.

 

Nandha sent Krishna and Balarama to tend the cattle Desika says,

ananya thanthrah svayamEva dhEvAn

padmAsanAdheen prajanayya rakshan

sa rakshakah seerabhrtha saha Aseeth

nEthA gavAm nandhaniyogavarthee.

 

The one who created the devas including Brahma and is their protector, obeyed the command of Nandha and became a cowherd along with Balarama.YasOdha worried over his tender feet becoming hurt with the stony path of the forest as Periazvar says, 'kudaiyum seruppum kodAdhE----kodiyEn en piLLaiyai pOkkinEn ellE pAvame' imagining himself as YasOdha.

 

Desika says that the vedas themselves became the cows when their protector became a cowherd. The cows being the personification of the vedas, the supreme Being, paramapurusha was their rakshaka.

 

gOpAyamAnE purushE parasmin gOroopathAm vEdhagirO bajanthyah

 The sounds made by them when they touched his feet with their mouths echoed the words pronounced in samagana.

 

bhavyairasEvantha padham thadheeyam

sthObha prathicchandhanibhaih svasabdhaih

 

sthobha are the sabdhas like 'ha, uhA, u' that are uttered in samagana which resemble the sound made by the cows.

 

Krishna tied and released the cows as required signifying his power  in binding and releasing jeevas.

 

The way Krishna showed his affection to the calves playing with him seem to teach the cows how to love their calves, 'vAthsalyasiksham iva vAsudhEvAth.'

Whenever the other cowherd boys felt hungry Krishna gave them curd rice, dhaDHyanna out of his hand which is described by Desika as madhuplutha, dripping with honey.The boys gave him delicius fruits they gathered in the forest and he ate them with relish after giving them first to Balarama. He ate the sesha of the sesha!

 

The Brindavana appeared as something that was never seen in any yuga, says Desika. being protected by Narayana with Sesha who is like His arm, that is, Krishna and Balarama, the brindhavana with its herds of cows, vyAprtha dhEnu brindham was true to its name.

 

The brindhavana was full of deep pools, abundant grass, shady and even in the hot summer it was cool for the cows and the cowherds.The cows never had any fear from disease,demons and wild animals. The gopas being under the care of Vasudeva, never experienced the natural calamities like athivrshti, flood and anAvrshti, draught etc and also any obstacles from other beings. so they enjoyed a prosperity not obtained in any other yuga 'apoorvayugAnubhoothi.'

 

Desika here alludes to an episode according to which the crown of Lord Vishnu was stolen by Bali and Garuda brought it back in KrishnAvathAra.

 

Garuda gave a crown to Krishna which , Desika says , rightly belonged to him being robbed from him while he was sleeping in his seshasayana by Bali.

The words describing the arrival of Garuda is much more enchanting than the story itself.

AghrAtha varthmAnam aranyabhAgEshu

AraNyakaih AsrithaDHEnubhAvaih

kEnApi thasyApahrtham kireetam

prathyAharan praukshatha pathrinAThah

 

 

Desika says that Garuda found Krishna by the cows which were smelling the path followed by him. Here the word 'AraNyakaih Asritha DHEnubhAvaih' means that the vedas which became the cows and Garuda being the personification of vedas, 'vedAthmA vihagEsvarah' found the Lord who is vedavedhya, known only from the vedas.

 

The yajnapathni upAkhyAna is mentioned briefly by Desika in one sloka. When the cowherd boys became hungry Krishna told them to go to the  nearby yajnasAla and ask the rshis there for food, which was refused to them by the rshis who were learned in vedas but did not know the import of the vedas, the Lord Himself,  whom all offerings in all yajnas go to and  who had come as a cowherd.But their wives steeped in bhakthi obliged courting the anger of their husbands Due to the grace os the LOrd the rshis understood their mistake and praised their wives for their bhakthi.

 

Then Desika describes how Krishna was enjoying the company of the calves and vice versa. They are compared with saints filled with devotion, bhakthibharAvanamrAn as they imitated their behaviour.They closed their eyes, nimeelithAkshAn on being touched by him,and were drowsy being fondled by his hand and with their attention only on him., ananyAbhimukhAn. The calves went to the places where there is no grass because they were green with the hue of Krishna.On returning he himself fed them by taking them to their mothers as they were parisramsrAnthapadhAh, tired after roaming in the forest.

 

The scene in which Krishna is returning from the forest is described thus.Coming at a distance with the cows,he became the cause of brightening of the faces of the gopis with joy, ullAsa, as the rising sun causing the blossoming of lotuses. The word 'gObih' means also 'by rays ' and 'ullasa' is joy as well as blossoming. When he came playing  his flute his lustre gave so much joy to the girls that it looked as though the whole world was enchanted by his peacock feathers.

 

How did the wmenfolk of the gokula enjoyed his presence is given in a beautiful sloka by Desika.

bAlam tharuNyah tharuNam cha bAlAh

tham avarjyantha samAnabhAvAh

thadhadhbhutham thasya vilOkanam vA

thasyaiva sarvArha rasAthmathA vA

 

He was loved by young women  and by young girls alike as though he was of their age group.Desika says it is to be ascertained whether this wonder is due to his maya or his being the essence of everything, 'rasO vai sah.'

 

Further Desika says that both Balrama and Krishna were looked upon differently by different groups of people. They were sons to their parents, handsome young men to young women, ancient, puraANapurushas to the wise old men who knew about their avathararahasya.

 

Desika also mentions the marriage of Krishna  to Nappinna in his young age by taming seven bulls. She is said to be the daughter of the sister of Nandhgopa and mentioned as sathya in Bhagavatham  and  her marriage with Krishna is mentioned only after that of Rukmini and sathyabhAma.She was supposed to be the incarnation of Neela devi as Rukmini was sreedevi and sathyabhama was bhoodevi.

 

                              Kaliyamardana

 

After a brief mention of the killing of Denuka and Pralamba Desika starts relating the episode of kAliya.

 

once Krishna was away from Balarama and went to a hitherto unseen spot on Yamuna. He saw that the part of the river there was made black with the poison of Kaliya. He climbed on a kadhamba tree on the bank which remained kAshTamAthram, a bare branch because hte leavs were burnt with the vapours of the poison. At the touch of the feet of Krishna the tree sprouted and blossomed.Krishna jumped into the pool of water like the manthra mountain into the milky ocean and all the snakes except kaliya left the place and went to the sea out of fear on seeing Krishna jumping in with anger like the Garuda himself.tehnL kaliy rose with a fierce form and entwined the body of Krishna who pushed him aside and jumped on one of his hoods.

 

Desika describes Krishna on the hood of Kaliya thus:

 

sadhyO mahaneelamayeem mukundhah

sapadhmarAgAmiva padha peeteem

krAman phaNAn kAliyapannagasya

grasthOdhithO bhAnurivbhabhAsE

 

Krishna stepping on the hood pf Kaliya which looked like his footrest made of blue sapphire studded with ruby wiht the red eyes of Kaliya on his black hood.Krishna shone like the sun rising while being grasped by Rahu. 

 

When Krishna started dancing on the hoods of Kaliya it reminded of His subduing the five indhriyas of His devotees extricating the poison of the sensual desires. The underlying implication of these words is that when the mind, instead of being under the sway of the five senses, climbs over them and dances with the ecstasy of the love for the Lord, the senses like KAliya are subdued and leave the mind in peace.This can be done only when the Lord takes possession of the mind.

 

The dance of Krishna on KAliya, the KAliyanarthana, was performed on the head of Kaliya as the stage and the sound of the waces of Yamuna served as the play of Mridhanga. He looked as though he is  everywhere like the moon  reflected in the waves.Desika refers to Him as Ananthain to indicate that there is no antha, end for the dance of the Lord.

 

When Kaliya could not endure it any longer his wives came out and entreated Krishna to show mercy at which Krishna relented and gave him reprieve. Devas expressed their joy on seeing the wonderful dance of Krishna and Kaliya also praised him along with his wives.The sloka describing this is beautiful, being full of yamaka, alliteration like 'leelApathncharaNaleelAhathiksharitha hAlAhal nijaphaNe,'etc.

 

KAliya was given refuge by Krishna who sent him to the sea asuring him that Garuda will not harm him as his heads are stamped with the sign of the feet of the Lord. Thus Yamuna was freed of the poison of KAliya and because of the contact of the body of Krishna became even more glorified than the ganga who had the only merit that she sprung from the feet of the Lord. Desika says that KAliya reached the place where the Lord has his yoganidra, namely the sea thus the Lord has given place for KAliya in His own abode. Such is the mercy of the Lord to those who surrender to Him.

 

End of fourth chapter of Yadhavabhyudhaya

 

 

Chapter5

 

The advent of seasons

 

The summer, bringing ripe mangoes, fragrance of patala flowers and jasmin in full bloom, seemed as though it has come to pay its respects to Krishna and Balarama.

 

Even though it was summer the trees in the forest gave enough shade for the cattle, growing dense as though by the music that flowed from the flute of Krishna, krthAvasEkA iva krshnageethaih.

 

Neither were the trees uprooted by pravAtha, strong wind, nor were they burnt by forest fire because they were protected by Krishna as were the cattle.So for both the gopas and the cattle the summer that advanced after the spring was not in any way unwelcome due to their proximity to Yamuna and its forests. The cattle never felt the heat , says Desika , because they were enjoying the shower of nectar from  the KrishnamEgha, dark clouds in the  form of Krishna, and grazed happily.

 

Then came the rainy season.Desika calls the varsharthu as 'vichithrasamyOdhaya mEchakAngee mEghAviLA mAdhavayOgavELA.'

 

The mountains were like kings whose abhisheka was performed by the rain-bearing clouds serving as the pots and their neerajana was done by them with lightning.The description of Desika of the rainy season reminds one of Kalidasa.The rows of  clouds were the army of Cupid,the lightning was like the lustre of his sword,the thunder was his conch, the rainbow was his bow and the storks flying above were like his flag.This picture is to show the virahathapa of the damsels who are separated from their lovers because of rainy season.

 

The next sloka is even more beautiful.

 

mrdhangaDHeerasthanithO vihAyAh

soudhamaneesambhrtha chArulAsyAh

babhou navAnAm prabhavO rasAnam

rathipriyasyEva natasya rangah

Cupid, rathipriya, is portrayed as the dancer, nata, here. Sringara is supposed to be the rasaraja, king of sentiments which is here referred to as 'navAnAm prabhavO rasah,' the prime among the rasas.His dance was lasya, a kind of gentle dance,performed by the damsels in the form of lightning, soudhAmanee, and the mridhanga, talavadhya is provided by the thunder of the clouds.

 

The gopas lived in the caves of the Govardhana mountain when the land was flooded. Then by the will of Krishna the rains stopped.Desika says that he removed the clouds that covered the sun and the moon as though removing the hands that covered his eyes.(sun and the moon are said to be the eyes of the Lord.)

 

In describing the advent of autumn Desika turns poetic and his objects of comparison are in keeping with his philosophical erudity.The sky with black and white clouds seemed to him like half-baked aspirants who stagger with their doubts uncleared.

 

The bees leaving the flowers in the hills and going to those in the plains like lotuses, is compared to the people who leave those who have lost their riches and going to the freshly rich.

 

The array of clouds, that looked like the yoganidra of the Lord, diappeared and the saradrthu advanced.The clouds were white like the pious man who is pure in and out and they stayed in the path of stars, sathpaTham, that is the sky The clouds are referred to as charAcharEshu Ahitha jeevanAh, the source of life to all, similar to a hospitable grhasTha, who gives food and other things to all who come to him, and who stays in the path of good Sathpathah.These traits are denoted by the swans that flocked to the sky, meaning that the swans which come back to the land from the Manasa lake where they go in the rainy season, indicate the advent of sardrthu. Here the swans, hamsagaNa, imply the sannysis who come back to receive the hospitality of the householders after their chathurmasyavratha during the rainy season when they stay in  one  place.

 

sukhAvagAhyaih sutharAm athushyath

svAdhOttharaih Sourih apEthapankaih

prasannaSeethaih anaghaih payObhih

svabhakthachitthaih iva yAmuneeyaih

 

Krishna was pleased with the waters of Yamuna which was easy to enter, clear of mud,sweet,cool and capable of destroying the sin by its purity, because it reminded him of the minds of his devotees. Their minds are also easy to enter for the good, clear of any impurities,sweet-natured, peaceful and removes the sin of others by their good thoughts. The word yAmuneeya refers to Yamunacharya who guides the minds of devotees. All the adjectives also apply to him, who is the foremost of the devotees, directly.

 

The water of the river was gradually shrinking and the marks made by the receding waves looked like the steps for Lakshmi who wishes to come to her abode of lotuses.

 

The rainy season was like the yoganidra of the Lord when the whole world merges in Him and the saradrthu is compared to the time of creation because no activity takes  place in the rainy season and all the acts of dharma can begin only in the autumn.

 

The following sloka is very beautiful.

 

avyAsangam jalaDHisayanAth utTHithasya AthmaDHAmnah

pathyuh puNyam praTHamanayana spandhitham prApthukAmA

nithyApoorva SruthiparimaLam nyastha leelAravindhA

pAdhAmbOjam saha vasuDHayA dDHArayAmAsa padmA   

 

    Lakshmi  along with  Bhoo devi caught hold of the  feet of the Lord so that they will receive His first glance before His eyes come into contact with anything else and she put down the lotus in her hand to do so. The lotus-like feet of the Lord are always filled with the fragrance of the vedas and hence she preferred it to the lotus in her hand.The reason for her and Bhoodevi to wait for His first glance is to plead for the devotees before He sees their faults due to poorvakarma and secure HIs grace for them.The purushakara of the divine mother is implied by this.Here it is interesting to remember the Thiruppavai pasuram 'angaNmAjnAklatthu,' where Andal prays for the first glance to fall on them as Krishna opens his eyes slowly for which the acharyas give beautiful explanation.

 

Then the gopas started thinking about the Indra puja and the next chapter deals with Krishna arguing them out of it and they worshipping the Govardhana mountain instead.

 

chapter-6  chithrasarga

 

This chapter is called chithrasarga because it abounds in chithraslokas,the slokas with alliteration containing one or more syllable repeated etc which are made  into chithrabandhas.

 

Krishna advises to worship Govardhana

When Nandha with gopas was preparing to do Indrapooja, Krishna approached him and said thus:

 

vidhithavAniva vijnApayAmyaham

 srnutha mE SakunEriva bhaAshitham

prTHukabuddhiraham prTHuchEthasah

 prabhavathO bhavathO na hi SikshayE

 

This is a delightful sloka in which Desika makes Krishna speak like a humble boy towards his elders.

He says," I speak as though I know everything and hear my words as though it is from a parrot.(Sakuni here means birds in general like parrot etc.) I am with meagre intellect and I cannot advise great wise men like you. What is meant here by the word parrot is that he is not telling something new but only what has been taught to him by his elders already because in the next verse he says, 'nigamadhrshtam idham nikhilEna vah,you have already learnt this through the vedas.'

 

What is it? 'athiyajEtha nijAm yadhi dhEvathAm ubhayathah chyavathE jushathE api agham,' if one leaves his own God and worship another he is abandoned by both and incurs sin. All things mountains and the like are the manifestations of Narayana and the Govardhana mountain is the cause of rain for the gokulam and also provides grass and other vegetation for people and the cattle and not Indra. The very name of the mountain as Govardhana shows that through it alone the cattle flourish.

 

bahumathO manujA dhaDhathE DHrthim

bahumathO api ayam ananyaDHrthih sathAm

giriSathOnnathimAnaDHikah

giriSathOpakrthOpi maheebhrthah

 

This sloka contains yamakachathushtayam, two words in the poorvArDha,first half and two in UtthrArDha, second half  repeated.

It means that  this mountain give joy to all and extolled by the good as  the best . It is even more praiseworthy than even the Himalayas which gives joy to Gireesa(Siva) being greater than hundreds of hills.(Pun on the word girisathah, as 'of GiriSa,' and 'hundred hills.'

 

So. said Krishna , this mountain should be worshipped as Lord Narayana Himself. Krishna reassures Nandha that if Indra gets angry on his pooja being stopped and attacks, Balarama will  conquer him with his plough as his weapon.This mountain, says Krishna is the gOthra, protector of the cattle and near whereas Indra is 'gOthrbith,' destroyer of mountains and is far away.

Krishna praises Nandha as being wiser than Brhaspathi and asks him to contemplate on this matter.The sloka is rich with alliteration.

 

DHishaNAtheetha DHishaNa lOkaneeyASthu lOkanee

suDHarE asmin vasuDHarE thAtha thEjasvithAthathE

 

Dhishanaatheetha means wiser than Brhaspathi(DhishaNA), second DHishaNA means buddhi. the word lOkaneeya means lOkaneethi and lOkanee denotes perception.The mountains are called vasudDHara , support of the earth while suDHara means the best land meaning the mountain.

 

After this there are many chithra slokas with various bandhachithras, the letters of which are portrayed in a pattern to form gomuthrika bandha etc., all of them extolling the glory of Govardhana.

 

The skilful construction of words are found in the following slokas:

 

!. EkakriyAnvithaslOkAvrtthih

The same sloka split up  differently giving different meaning.

 

abhrAnthamathiSayyEha virAjitha thamAgamE

niSAmayAleenaghanam sAlougham athi nandhanam (6-77)

 

The verb is niSAmaya, see. Split up as abhrAntham athiSayya  iha virAjithathamA agamE Aleenaghanam athinandhanam sAlougham niSamaya, it gives the meaning 'see the groups of sala trees, which are extending beyond the sky and in them the clouds are hanging.

When split in another way as 'thathama, Sayya iha vi rAji agamE aleenaghanam athinandhanam sAlOgham niSAmaya,' Oh Prosperous one, in this mountain where the birds rest, see the waterfalls delightful  with the groups of bees hovering around the trees'

2. Dvayakshara slokas

 

The whole sloka made up of two alphabets:

charucheeree ruchA rOchee ruruchArairachrcharuh

chirOccharochiracharo ruchoro ruchirAcharah   (6-78)

The two alphabets are adhanthya , not belonging to those of dental class.There are other slokas with  only dental alphbets, (6-79 to92) and slokas with the same akshara in each padha such as

rururooruriraroram dhoodhadheem dhadhadhAdhidhah

lAlilOlAlileelAlO hAhAhoohoohahEha hi (6-95)

 

3. EkAkahara slokas

 

Only one alphabet  used through out:

 

nAnAnAnAnAnAnAnA nAnAnAnAnAnAnAnA

nAnAnAnAnAnAnAnA nAnAnAnAnAnAnAnA (6-96)

For this sloka there are four different meanings given by commentators.Other similar slokas are,

 

nayAnayAnayAnaya nayAnayAnayAnaya

nayAnayAnayAnaya nayAnayAnayAnaya (6-97)

 

prathilOma of the same,

 

yAnayAnayAnayAna yAnayAnayAnayAna

yAnayAnayAnayAna yAnayAnayAnayAna (6-98)

 

The last type is called sarvathO badhram which goes like this;

 

mAyAbhAsA sAbhAyAma yAsoothAya yathAsooya

bhAthAyAyA yAythAbhA  sA yayage gEyAyaAsA (6-99)

 

In the end of the chithrasarga Desika says,

 

aklishtachithram idham athra manAg iva uktham

chithrAyuthAni suvachAni punasthaTHApi

krthyam vibhoh nigamaneeyam ananyabhakthaih

ArADhyathAm harirasou prthiveedhrAthmA (6-108)

 

There are so many wonders (chithram) in this mountain.Only a little has been said and there are more than ten thousand yet to be seen.But the main purpose is to do the worship of Lord Hari in the form of the mountain with unswerving devotion, giving up all other thoughts.

 

By this sloka Desika hints that he is capable of writing much more chithraslokas than what is given here but since the main purpose of the work is to describe the glory of the Lord Hari he has mentioned only a few.

 

At this moment the aged gopas saw a male form in the mountain which looked like the Lord Himself, a split image of Krishna, and Nandha too seeing it thought that all their prayers were answered.

 

Chapter 7-GovarDHanOdDHAraNam

 

Indra's anger

 

The gopas worshipped the devatha that appeared in the mountain who was none other than Krishna himself and he also joined them in the worship, thus worshipping himself by himself. By instructing them on worship of Govardhana, he also became their acharya, thus was his delightful leela.

 

Indra became furious on finding the gopas worshipping the mountain instead of him,and decided to send torrents of rain to flood the gokula. Desika says that he is ungrateful because he has been propitiated till  then by the gopas and forgot all that and intended to harm them proving that  those who are ungrateful show their mean-mindedness. 'krathAnabhijnEshu kim AnrSamsyam.'

 

Indra commanded the group of clouds called samvarthaka which have the power of giving out rain heavy enough to make all the seas merge during the time of deluge. Desika describes the rain that followed thus:

pradheepithAn kOpahuthASa bhoomnA

peethOdhaDHeen vAriDharAyuDHoghAn

maruthbhujEna thvaritham maruthvAn

prAyunktha ghOshAbhimukham saghOshAn

 

Indra sent the samvarthaka clouds which looked like weapons,advancing towards the village of the gopas with tumultous noise, burnt in the fire of anger, dipped in the sea and  thrown by the arm of the wind .

 

The clouds, with thoudands  of lightning and thunder, presented a picture of Indra  himself mounted on the vehicle of the cloud with his bow and vajrAyuDHa advancing with the view of destroying them with eyes like thousand fire.

 

Indra is described as being hidden behind the clouds as though hidden by the trees in the shore of the ocean called the sky in order to hunf the gopas like a hunter. Desika says that he was hiding like a owl afraid of the lustre of the Lord, which shines in all His three abodes, exceeding that of the Sun.The three abodes of the Lord are, 'ambhasya pAre, bhuvansyamaDhye nAkasya prshTE ithi sTHAnathrayam,'(Utthamur Swami) Vaikunta, Milky ocean on Adhisesha and on earth in the form of archavathara.

 

The sound of the vrshti is described as

gambheera garjApatahapraNAdham

prArabDHAjhanjhAnila nAdha geetham

thatidhbhirApAdhitha thANdavam thath

kAlasya sangeetham apoorvam Aseeth

 

The tumultous thunder was the drum,the torrential rain and the stormy wind was the music and the lightnings supplied the dance. Thus it was  the music of deluge, never experienced before.

 

 The net of clouds woven with lightning in the darkness was spread by Indra due to his mrgayEcchA, desire for hunt.The sky that looked like a sea with bheemapayOdhanakram, frightening whales of clouds, veechigaNAvakeerNam, filled with waves of rain which fell like big serpents,  pushed by the forceful wind.

 

All this made the gopas agitated and frightened when Krishna pacified them with his abhayamudra  'ASvasayAmasa karENa Sourih', reassuring hand.He did not  stop the rain at the outset because he wished to show the gopas that the mountain which they worshipped will protect them from any calamity. that was why he did not resort to arms to fight Indra.

 

Next comes the description of GOvarDhanOddDhAraNam.

 

Uplifting of the Govardhana

 

sa leelaya mErumiva dhvitheeyam

gOvarDHanam gOpakula pradheepah

navaprarooDam nihithaika hasthah

nAgO nalasthambamiva ujjahAra

 

Krishna, the light  of Gokula, placed one hand on the mountain and  lifted it, which was like a second Meru, as playfully as an elephant would lift a nala grass.

 

aDHO mukhAvasTHitha mErukalpam

Sailam samuthkhAya SaraNyagopah

udhanchayath sathvaram oorDHva moolam

chakrE mahEndhram SamithArDha garvam

 

Krishna who was the refuge of the gopas, swiftly uprooted the mountain and turned it upside down like the Meru inverted, and quelled half the arrogance of Indra by his act.

 

The hand of Krishna looked like AdhiSEsha holding the earth.The whiteness of the sandalpaste applied by Nappinna on his arm resembled the colour of Sesha, the fingers resembling the hoods.

 

Here we should note that Krishna not only held the mountain with his whole hand but inverted it, for which there is evidence also in Srimadbhagavatham.

 

 

In srimadbhagavatha the lifting of the mountain is described thus. 'Ithyukthvaa ekena hasthena krthvaa govardhanAchalam dhadhAra leelayA krishnah cchathrAkamiva bAlakah' Krishna lifted the mountain by one hand playfully like an umbrella.'

 

 Periazvar describing this incident by 10 verses says that the hand  of Krishna looked like adhisesha holding the earth.'padangal palavumudai  pAmbaraiyan padarbhoomiyai thAnga kidappavan pol' as the fingers  resembled the hoods of the sesha with his hand opened wide, 'thadangai  viralaindhum malara vaitthu.'

 

 Desika further describes the hand thus: His hands red like lotus were like the base of the opened umbrella, 'abugnarakthAnguli  panjaram' and the rays of the rings on His fingers forming the  rods 'ratnormikArasmi SalAkamanthah,' it looked like a huge cchathra, umbrella supported by the staff of  His arm.

 

Let us also enjoy the words of Periazvar- seppAdudaiya thirumAlavan than senthAmarai kaiviral aindhinaiyum kappAga edutthu mani nedunthoL kAmbAga kodutthu kavittha malai.' The Lord upturned the mountain 'kavitthu,' holding it with His five  fingers of His lotus-like hand, with His arm as the supporting stick of  the umbrella,aninedum thoL kAmbAga.'The streams of water falling  around looked like the pearl strings round the umbrella,'parandhizi theLLaruvi muthuvadam.', All these show without doubt that the Lord held the mountain with His  hand and not with His little finger, which must have been the modification  for the sake of dramatic element. .Moreover in Bhagavatha itself Krishna tells 'yathopajosham visatha girigartham sagodhanaah,' meaning , enter into these hollows or caves of the mountain along with the cattle etc. and live there. So the beings of gokula were not standing under the mountain but lived comfortably in the caves as in their houses.Unless the mountain was upturned this is not possible as they could not have climbed up the top which was under the rain. So there is ample evidence apart from the azvar and Desika sukthis that Krishna indeed upturned the mountain and He held it with one hand and not with little finger.

 

 

The mountain lit by the fire above(lightning) looked like the prathyasthra, counter weapon of the vajarayudha of Indra.When the mountain was uprooted the ground underneath there was no hollow ground,  says Desika, but it was filled with earth by the power of the Lord and grass grew there so that the cattle were able to have their fill.

 

The gopas were inardvently uttering the truth by remarking that when the younger brother is able to bear the mountain,kshamADhara, the elder brother surely will lift the earth.

 

Here Desika gives a quaint description of the sages doing thapas in the mountain.

 

babhuh svaSAkhA graTHithAgra pAdhaih

thapODhanaih sAkam aDHah Sirobhih

krthAbhimukhyAh krthinO mukundhe

thapah prvrttha iva thathra vrkshAh

 

The trees were upside down looking at Krishna and the sages who were doing thapas on their branches were also upside down, unconscious of that fact, engrossed  in their contemplation and it looked as though the leaves were also doing thapas.

 

Krishna showed the grass on the inverted mountain slopes and the cows were grazing with their heads lifted.Thus life was going on as usual under the mountain as in Gokula.

 

Periazvar says, 'ilangAzikkai endhai edutttha malai,' the Lord who wears the discus was holding the mountain. he same idea is elaborated by Desika who says,

 

prabhootha DHArA prathipanna Saithyam

prApthAram adhri  prabhuh adhbuthAnAm

sudharsanAth aDHikAm anaisheeth

pavithrathAm pANisarojayOgAth

 

The mountain attained more pavithratha, purity than even the sudarsana on being borne by the lotus-like hand of the Lord.the adjectives qualifying Govardhana are also applicable to Sudarsana by means of pun on the words.

 

1.prabhootha DHArA prathipanna saithyam

In the case of the mountain the saithya, coolness is due to prabhootha,abundanance of DHArA, flow of water. With respect to Sudarsana, the saithya,sharpness  is due to prabhootha, numerous, DHArA, edges.

2.prApthAram-The mountain was with pra+ apthAram, loud noise of the waterfalls. Sudarsana has got prAptha, spokes, Aram.

3.pavithratha-purity common to both because they were held by the lotus-likehands of the Lord but the mountain had one more special merit than the Sudarsana as it protected the gopas from the vajrayudha of Indra.the word pavithra is derived as  pavibhyah, vajrebhyah, from the weapons such as vajra, thrAyatha, protected.

 

So Krishna made the mountain excel even the Sudarsana.The mountains are supposed to fear vajra of Indra because when they had wings once upon a time  Indra  cut off their wings with his vajra. But on account of being held by the hand of the Lord the mountain got the power to protect from vajra which is the extraordinary feature that gave it superiority over even the Sudarsana.

 

       The gopas enjoyed their stay in the caves of the mountain as though at a holiday resort. The gopas considered Krishna as a powerful human being capable of holding the mountain without realising that the Lord of the universe has disguised Himself as a boy, while acting like an extraordianarily  strong youth. They, being simple-minded, thought that he is a sarvashakthimAn having seen all his childk hood exploits. The gopis on the other hand wished that the rain will never stop because they enjoyed the company of Krishna without interruption.

 

       

                Govindapattabhishekam     

 

        The rain continued for seven days and seven nightas nonstop. Even though Krishna could have dispersed the clouds at his will, he did not do so in order to humble Indra and stood there for seven days at the end of which Devendra was ashamed and stopped the clouds understanding the mercy of Krishna who did not destroy him.He became afraid thinking of his offense and came to Krishna on his white elephant, Airavatha. Krishna on seeing him thus subdued, put the mountain back in its place. His friends touched his limbs to see whether he was hurt by standing there so long holding the mountain. Periazvar describs the state of the Lord thus; 'kodiyEru senthamaraiviralgal kolamum azindhitrila vaditrila.' Even the red lacquer on his fingers remained in tact and the fingers did not show any sign of fatigue. Desika says,

        Ekathra samrakshathi krshnamEghe

          gOthreNa chaikEna gavAm kulAni

          aSEsha gothrougha bhidha niyukthaih

          meghAyuthaih mOghathamaih babhoove

         

          When the dark,cloud-like Krishna (krishnamEgha -dark,rainbearing,cloud) was protecting tthe cattle with one mountain(gOthra),the more than ten thousand clouds sent by gOthrabidh, Indra (because he cut off the wings of mountains), became powerless.

 

The next scene is the Govindapattabhisheka by Indra.

 

Indra approached Krishna realising that he is Upendra(vamana). Brahma sent Kamadhenu for the abisheka of Krishna as Govinda. Keeping the Kamadhenu in front, Indra spoke to Krishna.

 

nATha thvayAnarmavihArabhAja

vimohitho viprathisArithascha

akimchanah thvAm aham ASrithah san

kshipthApakArO na bahishkriyArhah

 

Oh Lord! Through your leela you made me deluded (into thinking that I am greater than you) and later you yourself made me repent. Now that I have come to you in helpless state banishing my sinful thought you should not discard me.

 

krthAparAdhEshvapi sanukampam

kshemamkaram kshEthra vivEchakanam

viSvOpakArADHvarabaddhadheeksham

vEdhyam param vedhavidho vidhusthvAm

 

It is known by those well versed in the vedas that you are merciful even towards wrongdoers, benificiary to those whe know the truth about you and has taken a vow in the yajna of protecting the whole word.

 

We are all inert like machines activated by you and to start the rain and stop it are all your leela.

 

gOpAyithum pArayathi thrilOkeem

gOpAyamAnadhapi na thvadhanyah

 

Though you are diguising yourself as a cowherd, who can protect the three worlds except you. The word thrilokee can also be construed to mean the three kinds of people, namely bhaktha,devotee dhvEshya,enemy and udhAseena,indifferent.

 

It is not a wonder that you lifted the mountain  because you sustain the whole world through your svarupa viSEsha and vigraha viSEsha.

{ He is in everything and everything is in Him 'mayA thatham idham sarvam jagadhavyakthamoorthinA;mathsTHAni sarvabhoothAni, na chaham thEshvavasTHithah.,'(BG.9-4) The entire world is pervaded by Me, in my unmanifest form;All beings dwell in Me but I do not dwell in them."}

Then Indra told Krishna who protected the gokula that he wanted to do abhisheka of Krishna as Govinda. 'icchami samrakshitha gOvrajam thvam sTHAne gavam indrathaya abhishikthum.'

He further said the name Govinda has been given already as the Lord retrieved the earth as Varaha.(the word go in sanskrit has many meanings besides cow and earth is one of them.)

The Kamadhenu came from the goloka , he said, pleased with Krishna for protecting the cattle and wishes to do abhisheka.Indra thought of the celestial ganges as though wishing to remove the fatigue of Krishna who held the mountain for so long.The devaganga came and Indra informed her of his wish to do abhisheka to Krishna

Indra performed the abhisheka with the water of the celestial Ganges and the milk of Kamadhenu and the earth was sanctified by it falling from the body of Krishna, which appeared to Indra to be relieved of its burden already, the purpose for which Krishna incarnated.  Then Krishna was given the name Govinda which was His own and Desika says that Indra was blessed to do Govindapattabhisheka. After that Indra took leave of Krishna and returned to his realm.

 

Chapter-8-Venuganam and Rasakreeda

 

Advent of the Spring season

It was spring time in Brindavan The wind was soft and gentle and Krishna enjoyed it in the company of young damsels and Balarama. Spring is the time of love and the god of love, Manmatha was not far behind.

The cuckoos, with their shrill note of Panchama svara, seemed to give their blessings to Manmatha,who has the bow called pundra and arrows of flowers and wishes to conquer the world.

The champak flowers with their red tips shone like the flames of the lamps for the festival of Kama.

The malaymArutham, southerly wind, which rose from the river Thamraparni, wandered around, strewing flowers all around, like the elephant with rut belonging to the god of love.

The Thamraparni is described as mukthApaga,the source of pearls. it is also the land of mukthas, released souls like Nammazvar.

In Bhagavatha it is said that there will be great bhakthas in the south and in the west during kaliyuga, in the lands where the rivers Thamraparni, Karveri and Mahanadhi flow.

kalou khalu bhavishyanthi nAraynaparAyaNAh

kvachit kvachit mahArAja dhravidEshu cha bhooriSah

thAmraparNee nadhee yathra krthamAlA payasvinee

kAvEree cha mahApuNya pratheechee cha Mahanadhee

Most of the azvars and acharyas were found in the land of Thamraparni and Kaveri and great devotees belong to the land of Mahanadhi.

Hence the southerly wind coming from Thamraparni, like an elephant emerges after dipping in the river roamed around everywhere reachng the land of Brindavan. This denotes the atmostphere of bhakthi in the scene  of rasakreeda.

The wind rising from its dip in the river implies coolness and carrying flowers in its wake denotes the fragrance thus pleasing to the senses.

When the bees sat on the flowers and rose from them it looked like the bowstring of Kama bending and stretching.The karnikara flowers, orange in colour, shaking with the breeze seemed to do the mangalarathi for Manmatha.

When Krishna entered the forest, the flowers fell from trees and did abhisheka for him.Krishna showed the delightful scene to Balarama and compared the forest to the garden of Kubera.

All animals shed their natural enmity and lion cubs and elephent cubs  played happily together as though born of same mother drinking the milk of the she-lion..'simheevaSAsthanyavidhO bhajanthE subhrAthrthAm kEsaridhanthipOthAh.'

Krishna said that the forest deities were singing as though pleased with the white colour of the body of Balarma which is like the moon to the chakora birds.( the legendary  chakora birds were said to thrive only on moonlight.)

The river Yamunaa was fanning with her lotuses and it looked like Balarama with his blue garment with its white colour and its blue  flowers ( indraneela)

Then inspired by the beauty of the scene Krishna started playing the flute as though calling the gopis.Desika describes this as,

prAyasthadhAhvAnavidhou niyOkthum

pragrhya vENum prathipanna dhoothyam

nyavESayath kungmalithE saleelam

bibmbAdharE soochitha chittha rAgE.

He put the flute on his closed lips as though to send it as a messenger to convey his love to the gopis.

Then starts the descriprtion of the venugana and the arrival of gopis for Rasakreeda.

 

VenugAnam

In Bhagavatham we have the following sloka which shows that the rasaleela took place in autumn and not in spring.

bhagavanapi thA rAthreeh SaradhOtpulla mallikAh

veekshya ranthum manaschakrE yogamAyam upASrithah (Bh.10-29-1)

The Lord seeing the nights of autumn with jasmine blossoms wished to perform His leela making use of His yogamaya.

But Desika describes the season as spring, perhaps  thinking that spring season is more appropriate than autumn for rAsa, which is permissible as poetic freedom.

The  music that flowed from the flute of Krishna was like a second veda.

mukundha vakthrAnila vAdhyamAnaH

vEnuh babhou veda iva dhvitheeyah

rAgAvadheenAm rahasA yadhEkam

geethAthmanAm thasya nidhAnam Aseeth

The sound of the flute was the secret call of the gopis in the form of music to denote the utmost love.This was compared to the veda through pun on the words, geetha, raga and rahasa. Raga denotes the attachment and Bhagavatgita is the cause of removing it and contains the secret of the upanishads.

The venugana enslaved all beings from Brahma down to animals and birds. 'ayathnanishpanna manassamAdheen AbrahmakAn AthanuthEva janthoon.' All beings resembled the yogins by their concentrated listening to the music as though in samadhi. All beings stood still as in a painting,'AlEkhya nishpandha mrgadhvijAni.' Periazvar who has allotted ten pasurams to describe the venugana says 'ezudhu chitthirangal pOla ninranavE.' Not only the animate but also the plants and trees were attracted by the music, says Perizvar, describibg how the trees bent down towards the direction of music and showered flowers  etc.

Then krishna blew his horn which was like Panchajanya and sang songs, the standard of which was beyond the comprehension of even the gAndharvaveda.

AdhyApayAmAsa sa srngamagryam

shankham thathAbhootham iva AthmayOgAth

jagou cha gEyAni bahooni yEshAm

gAndharva vedo api na paradhrSvA

Desika describes the music thus:

thrisTHAnayukthasvarabhooshitham thath

thriDHA sTHitham grAmaviSEsha yogAth

aranjayath sapthajaganthyayathnAth

geetham harErAhrtha kinnarougham

The music of Krishna  attracted even the kinnaras, who are supposed to be skilled in music, and delighted all the worlds with its reach in three octaves, mandhra,madhya and thAra sThAyees,based on the three svaras,shadja, madhyama and gandhara, that arise from the three sources of sound, heart, throat and the head.

The music that came from the flute of Krishna was like manthra which pulled the gopis. (Perhaps like the sarpa manthra chanted to draw the snakes out of their residence!) It was like a dialogue between him and the gopis declaring his intention to enjoy their company.Hence the gopis started from their homes towards him. They proceeded to the place where Krishna was as though drawn by a rope, guNAvakrshtAh, being drawn by his gunas, the word guna meaning both rope and attributes.

AdhiSyamAnAm priyavamSanAdhaih

ASAm nijASAm iva nirvighAthAm

thaTHAsTHithAm prAsTHishatha ASu DHanyAm

Asanna sanDHyADhika rAgabhAjah

The gopis hurried towards the direction where Krishna stood playing the flute and their love, raga, was even more than the raga (colour) of the sandhya, the sunset.Desika refers to the direction, ASA, where Krishna was, by the epithets nijASAm nirvighAtham aAdhiSyamAnAm, that which indicated the unobstructed fulfilment of their desires and dhanyAm, blessed because of the association with Krishna.

They rushed towards Krishna, not heeding the words of elders, because they were like rivers,overflowing with raga,(melody of the music as well as their love) rushing towards the sea of nectar, Krishna, who is the destroyer of all misery.

aninyirE rAgamayaiH mahOghaih

klESApaham krishna suDHA payODHim

As the rivers gather momentum by the great floods and rush towards the sea, the gopis, filled with raga , love for Krishna, were drawn by the raga from his flute and sped towards the sea of nectar, Krishna, who is klESapaha,the remover of all troubles.Bhakthi is like a river rushing towards the Lord, unmindful of all worldly obstacles, drawn by His gunas, and knowing Him to be the only source of joy unmixed by klESA, ills of the samsara.

The quick breathing of the gopis went before them, says Desika,as though wishing to bring Krishna,who is with sadhAgathiprArThana.

Let us see what this means:

sadhAgathi has three meanings, namely devas, Vayu, the windgod and the etymological meaning, of  sath+Agathi, welcome.Krishna is referred to as sadhAgathiprArThanA samEtha because,

1. He was prayed to (prArThithah) by the devas (sadhAgathins) and Vayu wanted to bring him near them.

2.Vayu thought that Krishna  was praying to him and hurried to unite him with the gopis.

3. Krishna desired the sadhAgathi of the gopis, that is to welcome them and hence Vayu wanted to bring him to them.

When the gopis went in a hurry the pearls from their neck ornaments fell on the floor and it looked as though they were the flowers strewn on a stage by the suthradhara before the beginning of a dance, thus foretold the beginning of the rAsa.

They saw Krishna standing under a kadamba tree in a delightful pose playing the flute which Desika describes thus:

avasThitham kvapi kadhamba moolE

valgusmitham vadhitha manjuvENum

sAcheekrthAksham dhadhrSuh tharuNyah

svAdhyam sathAm svasthika chArujangham

He was standing under a kadamba tree with a beautiful smile,playing the flute.He was looking at the holes of the flute with half closed eyes and having one  knee bent and crossed. Desika describes his pose as 'svAdhyam sathAm' delightful to the sages

Periazvar describes this beautifully as "idavanarai idatthOLodu saitthu, irukaikooda puruvam nerindhEra" and "siruviralgal thadavu ipparimara, chengan kOda seyyavAi koppaLippa"

'Krishna bent his left hip and left shoulder with both hands together, with arched eyebrows,his fingers moving along the flute and his eyes like red lotus slanted and his red lips puckered'

Among the gopis who came and surrounded him, Krishna shone  like a king elephant among his herd of female elephants with his garland of peacock feathers flowing like the rut and the flute resembling the trumpeting sound of the elephant.

RAsakreeda- The significance

The gopis came and surrounded Krishna.To them Krishna appeared as the moon who never undergoes waning and waxing, and loki the god p of love who has given up his bow of sugarcane and tookflute in his hand because the sound of the flute ws lke the arrows of the cupd for them.

Here even before he starts to describe the rasakreeda Desika explains the significance and purity of  it in order to dispel any notion of worldly love-sport.He says,

surAnganAbhih samayE DhrthAyAm

svEnEva gopAkrthibhoomikyAm

akarmavaSyasya vibhOh thadhAseeth

archAphalasparSanamAthr leelA

The gopis were suppose to be the celetial damsels who took the incarnation of cowherd girls while the Lord put on the costume of a cowherd and it is not due to karma that He was born as the son of Devaki. So the whole thing was a drama and it wasnot due to the desire for carnal pleasures.The janma of the celestial damsels as gopis was the fruit of their worship.

na khalu amushya pramadha madhAnDhyam

na kuthsanam thath thath abheeshTa dhAthuH

na Dharma samsThApana bADha ganDHaH

SuddhAnuchinthyA hi SubhasyaleelA

Krishna did not play with gopis because He was attracted by them. This  was no misconduct on the part of Him who is the real Self of all and who gives each one the fruit of their desire.And hence there was not even a trace of deviation from His role of establishing DHarma.Desika further says that this leela of Bhagavan who has all the auspicious qualities is to be contemplated only through pure mind as that of the yogis.

The conduct of the gopis, says Desika is to be viewed thus: They have forsaken the path of the worldly dharma and even disobeyed their elders but it is not to be condemned because they followed the highest dharma, thier guide in that path being the Lord Himself who taught detachment thrugh Gita later on.

As Bhishma said to Yudhishtira in instructing him about dharma,  'Esha mE sarvaDHarmANAm DharmO aDHikathamO mathah;yadhbhakthyA pundareekAksham sthavairarchEth naraH sadhA.' The greatest dharma is the devotion to the Lord, weighed against which all the worldly dharma comes to a nought. We had the example of Meera and other wp omen saints even in kaliyuga to prove this. It is the soulabhya, souSeelya and vAthsalya of the Lord that while even the rshis have to struggle hard to get the pure devotion, the simple gopis and the wives of the rshis  were blessed with parA- bhakthi, which is different from para-bhakthi as it is wongly understood by the uninitiated.

Suka says  to parikshith in Bhagavatha that Krishna played with the gopis as a child plays with his own reflection.Krishna was the Lord who is inside not only the gopis but also their husbands and it was the play of the Self with the bodies it occupies.Moreover the gopis saw Krishn aeverywhere and aklso in their husbands and hence their love for their husbands only grew. They also never missed their wives from their side and such is the mAya of the Lord.Above all it should be remembered that Krishna was only ten at that time. Th joy experienced by the gopis in the company of Krishna is described by Desiks as 'abhinna bAhyAntharam aikarasyAth AmOdham anyOnyasaganDham ApuH.' Krishna gave them flowers picked by Him and their happiness was equally experienced both inside and outside. The bAhya or external joy was due to Krishna doing things to please them and the internal joy is because they enjoyed His presence in their heart.

 

Rasakreeda -a description

 Gopis, for a moment, were overwhelmed with pride that Krishna found them attractive and Krishna knowing this disappeared from their midst.Desika says He was near but they could not see Him.'aviprakarshE api thiraskariNyA klrpthAvrthim krshNam aneekshamANAh.' The Lord is always near but only we fail to see Him due to our ego born out of ignorance.

Not able to see Krishna the gopis became miserable and they began to sing about His gunas and actions.. This act of the gopis is described as the famous Gopikageetham in Srimadbhagavatham.Desika devotes only two slokas for this.

VileenachitthA vishamAshthra thApAth

vilApayanthyO vasuDHAm vilApaih

adhrSyaroopasya hareragAyan

guNAn charithrANi cha gopakanyAH

Miserable,struck with the arrows of Cupid,  melting the very earth by lamentations, they started to sing  about the gunas and actions of Hari who concealed Himself.

mukundha viSlEsha vimOhithAnAm

samSrooyamANAni muhuH vanAnthE

Sama praDHAni AthmavidhAm abhoovan

thrayyanthaganDHeeni vachAmsi thAsAm

The words of the songs of the gopis reverberated throughout the forest. Desika says that it carried the fragrance of the upanishads and provided peace to the enlightened souls. The upanishad declares 'rasO vai saH,' He is the essence of all sentiments attaining whom one enjoys bliss.So the words of gopis steeped in rasAnubhava were in reality the words of the upanishad.

The Lord appeared before them, which, Desika says, is the proof that He gives His darsan when he wants to grace the devotee after concealing Himself by mAya in order to ripen their devotion. The gopis were delighted  beyond measure to see Krishna in front of them with a smile resembling a full blown lotus, wearing yellow garment on His blue form,which attracted even the god of love. This sloka by Desika is the reflection of that in Srimadbhagavatham, 'ThAsam Avirabhooth SouriH smayamAbna mukhAmbujaH, peethAmbaraDHara srgvee  sAkshAth manmaThamanmaThaH.'

The gopis felt as though they got into another life on seeing Krishna.He was yOgaiH alakshyaH, not perceptible even by yoga,but to the gopis he was praNayAparADHee, erring lover and they attacked him by their glances like arrows flung from the bow-like brows. He, the eternal lover,  pacified them by signs and glances individually without the knowledge of each other.

Then starts the rAsa, the dance of gopis and Krishna. Desika describes this in two slokas briefly and says Krishna joined hands with all of them taking many forms alternatively dancing. This is as described by Leelasuka in his KrishnakarNAmrtha in which he devoted eight slokas to describe the rasakreeda.The first sloka runs as follows.

'anganAm anganAm antharE madhavO

mAdhavam mAdhavam anthareNA anganA

itTham AkalpithE mandalE maDHyagah

sanjagou vENunA dhEvakeenandhanaH.' (KK.2.35)

In the circle consisting of Krishna alternately between each gopi Krishna stood in the middle playing flute.

Desika says that the Lord who removes the delusion (bhrama) of those who surrender to His feet made the gopis have bhrama, revolving in the dance. 'padhASrithAnAm bhramaSanthihEthuH priyAsahasram bhramayAMschakAra.'

 He, who makes all beings move like puppets through His mAya, stood as an illustration of His own mAya by making the gopis dance as He wished.

SvamAyayA ghoorNayathO mahathyA

viSvAni bhoothAni vibhOrajasram

lambAlakAnam lalithasmithAnAm

lAbhAth svayam labhDhamanoratho abhooth

The circle of the rAsa dance by its fast movement looked like a wheel with no space in between.There was a shower of flowers from the heaven and the sound of instruments and celestial damsels danced on seeing the Rasakreeda. After dancing for a long time Krishna sat on the floor and the gopis fanned him by the branches having leaves and flowers and Desika says that Krishna shone like a blue mountain surrounded by peacocks.

Afterwards krishna entered the river Yamuna with them as though to get rid of the fatigue due to rAsakreeda. Desika describes this in a poetic manner.

mukhEna thasya dhvijarAjabhasa

thArAbhirAmENa thamopahena

premOdhaDHim varDHayathA priyANAm

samchikshipe thathra sarOjakAnthih

The face of Krishna was like the moon, beautiful with  the stars,  dispelling the darkness, with its dark eyes which removes the darkness of ignorance. Like the moon his face made the ocean of love of the gopis to rise and  lotuses in the  river closed as though with the lustre of his moon-like face.

Krishna and the gopis played spraying water on each other and eyes of the gopis, closing  when krishna sprayed water on them, were like lotuses closing on the rise of moon , his face resembling the moon.The dark waters of Yamuna became white with the sandal pastes on their bodies and red with their vermilion on their foreheads looking like the Ganges and the Sona river alternatively.

The river Yamuna also attained her purusharTha  by the union of Krishna like the gopis. The red lac on their feet , their eye-liner and their sandalpaste were washed off by the river as though out of jeolousy for their beauty but they shone even more beautiful without the decorations.

The water level rising due to the numerous gopis entering it made the lotuses immersed in water and it is imagined by Desika that they were ashamed of the beauty of the damsels and hid their faces in water.The red eyes of the gopis due to the play in water looked as though they were intoxicated  with the love of Krishna.

prayApithE gopikayA kadhAchith

krishnAnanam keechakyanthra thOye

nimeelanOnmeelanathasthadheeyAn

nakthamdhivam thathkshaNadhrSyam Aseeth

The eyelids of Krishna were closing and opening alternatively when some gopi sprayed water on him and it was like the illustration of day and night. When his eyes were open it was like day for them and when they closed it was like the night.The day is when the world is awake and means that the Lord has opened is eyes. The night is when the world merges in Him when He is in His yoganidhra.

A gopi went behind Krishna and hugged him tightly so that the others could spray water on him. This incident is reversed by  Desika in his Gopalavimsathi where he says that Krishna went behind a gopi and held her tight so that she could not escape and others sprayed water on her.At the end of the play in water the river Yamuna herself came with a dvine form and worshipped Krishna.The celestial damsels came and dressed him with divine garments.Desika describes Krishna as 'uttharantham sarithah pravAhath utthArakam pankamayAh payODHeH,' He who helps all out of the sinful sea of samsara,Himself came out of the water.

Then all of them returned to gokula and Desika briefly mentions the destruction of Arishtasura, who chased the cattle in the form of a bull and was killed by Krishna.Thus ends the Krishnaleela in Brindavan and the time has come for him to leave for Mathura.

Story of Krishna -End of Part 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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