(No subject)

[Guest guest]

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya,

 

I greatly enjoyed reading Sri Sadagopan's commentary on the Mukunda Mala.

The commentary was very eloquent and touching indeed. Sri Sadagopan has

very nicely captured the mood and thoughts of Sri Kulashekara Azhwar

in his summary. I am looking forward to part 3 of his commentary.

These posts evoked the memories of the blue-bodied young boy of Brindavan

playing his flute in my mind.

 

Lord Krishna is a personal favorite of mine because of the Soulabhyam

aspect (easy accessibilty) of his Avataram. The Gopis of Brindavan

saw "Para Vasudeva" as their young "tormentor" who stole their butter,

milk and clothes (Gopi Vastra paharakAya Namah is one of the names of

Krishna used while performing Pushpa Archana to Lord Krishna). The

cowherds of Brindavan saw him as their companion and always felt

secure in his company. Due to the maya of the Lord they could not

see him in any other form except for brief glimpses where he performed

extraordinary feats (killing of Aghasura, Dhenukasura, Putana, holding the

Govardhana hill on his little finger, subduing of Kaliya etc). To

Yahsoda he was her darling child. She could experience the love of the Lord

through "Vatsalya" (unmitigated, untainted love like the love of a cow for

its calf) for Krishna.

 

To Sudama, and Arjuna, Krishna was their dear friend.

They were able to see and experience the Vaibhavam of the Lord through

Sakhya Bhava. To the Pandavas, he was their friend Philosopher and guide.

To Bhishma, he was the one who granted Mukti. One of the names of the Lord

that appears in his Shata Divya Namavali is "Bhishma Mukti Pradayakaya

Namaha" The sukshmam here is that during the Mahabharata war, Bhishma was

tired of fighting and at the end of the 8th day of the war, he promised

Duryodhana that he would fight at his very best the next day (9th day).

The reason Bhishma was upset was because he worshipped Krishna every

morning bust since he was fighting the war, he could not worship the

Lord everyday by reciting the Lord's names. Therefore, he promised

Duryodhana that he will make Krishna break his vow of not taking up

weapons in the war (by making the Lord appear before him with Chakram in

hand)

 

On the 9th day of the war, Bhishma promptly began mowing down the

Pandava army so that he could confront Arjuna and get a Darshan of the Lord.

Since Bhishma could not offer flowers to the Lord, he resolved to use his

arrows as flowers and chant the name of the Lord while aiming each arrow

at the Lord. In this manner Bhishma, shot 108 arrows at the Lord while

uttering the Lord's name before shooting each arrow. Sri Veda Vyasa

portrays the Lord as being extremely beautiful when each arrow frm

Bhishma drew his blood. When the last arrow

had been shot, the Lord Madhava was pleased with his devotion and decided to

appear before his devotee. Feigning anger on Arjuna (for apparently being

soft in his methods of fighting against Bhishma), the Lord set out with

Chakram in hand to appear before Bhishma and bless him.

 

Thus, just uttering the name of Lord Krishna is sufficient to destroy

one's sins entirely and pave the way for Moksham. A reference from the

Narayanopanishad says that "Brahmanyo Devaki Putro Brahmanyo MadhusudanOm".

Another reason for my reverence for Lord Krishna is because the saptaswarams

of music originated from his flute (reference, the Kriti Ganamoorthae in the

Ragam Ganamurthy). The easiest path to practice is

 

Eka Mantram: OmithyekAksharam

Eka Nama: Devaki PutronAmam

Eka Seva: Devaki Putro Seva

 

In conclusion, I would like to salute the Lord with the following

Shlokams:

 

SarvopaniShado Gavo Doghda Gopalanandanaha I

Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dugdham Geetamrutamahath II

(In this Shlokam, all the Upanishads are likened to a Cow, Krishna

performs the task of a milk-man milking the cow [upanishads], Arjuna is

the calf that is thirsty for the milk from the Upanishads which is denoted

by Geetamrutam)

 

Vasudevasudam Devam Kamsa Chanura Mardhanam I

Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum II

(Salutations to Lord Krishna, the son of Vasudeva who killed Kamsa, Chanura,

who brought greatest joy to Devaki and who is the teacher of the three worlds).

 

Om Namo Narayanaya,

 

Muralidhar Rangaswamy