DhIpAwaLi :Part I : A day to remember KrishNa Bhagavaan /SrImath BhAgavatham: Canto X:Chapter 59

[Guest guest]

Dear KrishNa BhakthAs:

 

On the eve of Naraka Chathurthi and the festival of DhIpAwaLIi ,

let us reflect on BhUmi DEvi's salutations to Her Lord after

NarakAsura Vadham .

 

At the beginning of the Dasama Skandham's Chapter 59 ,

King Parikshith asks Sukha Brahmam to tell him about

the prowes of Lord KrishNa :

 

YaTA hathO BhagavathA BhoumO yEna cha taa: sthriya:

niruddhA yEthadhAchakshva vikramam Saarngadhanvana:

 

(Meaning): Oh Maharishi! Please instruct us on the valour of

BhagavAn KrishNa , the wielder of the mighty bow of Saarngam ,

which was demonstrated by Him during the killing of NarakAsuran ,

the son of BhUmi Devi and in rescuing the women that the asuran

held in prison.

 

Sukha Brahmam starts tellling the story of IndhrA's humilation

by NarakAsuran through the forcible usurpation of IndhrA's

royal umbrella, the taking away of his mother Aditi's ear rings

and other atrocities. Indhra begged Lord KrishNa to control

the power of NarakAsuran by restoring him to his lost kingdom.

He also prayed to the Lord to recover the ear rings of

his Mother.

 

Our Lord responded to IndhrA's request and proceeded on

the back of Garudan with His devi, SathyabhAma to NarakAsuran's

capital of PrAgjyOthisham . Our Lord destroyed the mighty

fortifications of the City and destroyed first MurAsuran with arrows and

Sudarsana chakram. Next our Lord took on the seven sons of

MurAsuran and dispatched them to YamA's abode one by one .

When NarakAsuran saw his army destroyed, he flew in to a mighty

rage and came to batlte with the Lord. Garuda assisted his Lord

in that mighty battle that ensued.

 

Narakan lost many of his weapons and finally took a trident to

attack the Lord and the angry Lord cut off NarakAsuran's head

with His powerful disc , Sudarsanam :

 

Soolam BhoumOchyutham hanthumAdhadhE vithaTOdhyama:

tadhvisargAth poorvamEva Narakasya sirO Hari:

apAharadh gajasTasya chakrENa kshuranEminA

 

--SrImad BhAgavatham: 10.59.21

 

(meaning): The son of Bhumi DEvi, NarakAsuran grabbed a trident

to kill Achyuthan . His attempt was thwarted by KrishNa , who

nullified that attack by cutting off the head of the asuran with

His sharp edged Sudarsana chakram.

 

The relatives of NarakAsuran wailed over His destruction ,

while the sages and dEvAs rained flowers on Lord KrishNa

and eulogized Him.

 

Now , BhUmi Devi , the mother of the Asuran approached

Her Lord with flowers in hand and other presents(gems) and

offered Her salutations to the Lord in the form of a beautiful

Sthuthi ( BhAgavatham: 10.59.25-31) . She recited the many

names of the Lord and begged Her Lord to spare the son of

NarakAsuran ( Bhagadattan) and requested Her Lord to place

His auspicious palm over the head of their grandson .Our most

merciful Lord acceded to the prayerful request of His Devi

and spared the son of NarakAsuran.He also acceded to

His Devi's request for people to remember the Lord's valor

in the fight against adharmam by celebrating Naraka Chathurhti

as a day of light and joy , when all the darkness of ajn~Anam

is banished due to the Lord's grace.

 

On this auspicious occasion of DhIpAwaLi ceelbrating Lord

KrishNA's display of His prowess over NarakAsuran , let us

study the Sthuthi of BhUmi Devi , which is beautiful to reflect :

 

NamastE Deva-dEvEsa Sankha-chakra GadhAdhara

BhakthEcchOpaatha-roopAya ParamAthman namOsthu tE

 

--BhAgavatham: X.59.25

 

(Obesiance to Thee , the Lord of DevAs adorning the Conch,

Chakram and the Mace ! Salutations to Thee , Supreme Being,

who incarnates in different roopams to fulfill the longings of

Your bhaktha janams! )

 

nama: PankajanAbhAya nama: PankajamAlinE !

nama: PankajanEthrAya namstE PannkajAngrayE !

 

--BhAgavatham: X.59.26

 

( Salutations to Thee , who is lotus-navelled as PadmanAbhan !

Salutations to Thee with Your lotus garlands ! Salutations to

Thee as SenthAmarai KaNNan ! Salutations to Thee , who has

lotus soft feet !)

 

namO BhagavathE Thubhyam VaasudEvAya VishNavE

PurushAya AadhiBheejAya PoorNaBhOdhAya tE nama:

 

---BhAgavatham : 10.59.27

 

Elaborate comments can be written about the Bhagavaan's

Tatthvams that BhUmi DEvi refers to in this slOkam .

 

Our Lord is eulogized here as VaasudEvan, the aadharam (Support for

the Universe and its beings), as VishNu the pervader of every thing

inside and outside ( anthar-bahisccha tath Sarvam vyApya NaarAyaNa:

sTitha:), as the AadhiBheejam ( the seed and source of every

thing , Jagath KaaraNan ) , as Purushan visualized by Pursha

Sooktham and as PoorNaBhOdhan( Omniscient ChidhAnandha

Svaroopan.

 

ajAya janayithrEasya BrahmaNE-anantha-sakthayE

ParAvarAthman BhUthAthman ParamAthman namOasthu tE

 

---Bhaagavatham: X.59.28

 

Salutations are offered by BhUmi PirAtti to Her Lord

as the birthless One and yet manifests both as the cause

and effect(ajAyamAnO BhaudhA vijAyathE) . He is saluted with

three choice nAmAs of " ParAvarAthman, BhUthAthman

and ParamAthman ". These three nAmAs have profound

meanings celebrated in the three rahasyams , AchArya

SrI Sookthis and AzhwAr Paasurams.

 

Next , He is adored as Anantha SakthimAn ( the possessor of

infinite power and valour) ; He is invoked as "Brahma Sabdham "

of the Upanishads , which is commented upon by Sage VyAsa

in Brahma Soothrams.

 

Salutations are made to the ever present Lord without

beginning or end as the Supreme Spirit, infinite power

and as the greatest being .

 

BhUmi Devi now alludes to Her Lord doing His duties of

Creation, protection and dissolution of the Universe and

being the eternal light for all times to come :

 

Thvam vai sishrushoo raja uthkaDam PrabhO

tamO nirOdhAya vibharshyasamvrutha:

sTAnAya satthvam jagathO JagathpathE

kAla: pradhAnam PurushO BhavAn Para:

 

--SrImath BhAgavatham: X.59.29

 

The meaning of the profound slOkam filled with VedAnthic

doctrine is : O Lord of the Worlds (JagathpathE ) !

O Parama PurushA ! It is indeed Yourself , who takes on

the power of rajO guNam for the creation of the universe ,

tamO guNam for its dissolution and satthva guNam for

the protection of the universe that You created ( sishrushoo

TamaO , tamo nirOdhAya , sTAnAya satthvam). You

transcend Kaalam (Time) and Your Moola Prakruthi

(PradhAnam , the material for creation and evolution ).

Your unique and limitless power is not obstructed by

any entity or force.

 

In the concluding verse of the BhU Sthuthi of Lord KrishNa

following the NarakAsura Vadham , BhUmi dientifies Heeself

as PruTvee Svaroopi among pancha bhUthams and touches on

other VedAnthic doctrines on Tathva Thrayam (ChEthanam ,

achEthanam and Iswaran):

 

aham payO jyOthiraTAnilO nabhO

mAthrANi dEvA mana indhriyANi

karthA mahAnithyakhilam charAcharam

ThvayyadhvitheeyE Bhagavannayam brahama:

 

---SrImath BhAgavatham : X.59.30

 

BhUmi PirAtti refers to the ChEthanAchEthana maya Jagath

and its relationship to the Lord , its creator :

I (Earth/PruTvee) , water (aapa:) , Fire (Agni/tEjas) , air (Vaayu) ,

and sky (aakAsam) as Pancha bhUthams , the five objects like

Sound , Touch et al and the deities prsiding over them , the mind (manas ),

sense organs (IndhriyAs) , ahankAram providing the sense of agentship (KarthA),

Mahaatatthvam and Buddhi --all these hierarchies and categories of

evolution odf chEthanams and achEthanams are , O Lord have no comparison

( One without a second/adhvitheeyam) , merely phenomenal in You.

 

After listening to the moving sthOthram of Him , the Lord as Protector of

all, who sought His refuge blesses Bhagadattan and then enters the prosperous

city of his father . There , He saw more than 16,000 young women languishing

in the prisons of NarakAsuran .They were brought by force by NarakAsuran

when he defeated the kings in battle. These young women were blessed to see

Lord KrishNa and chose Him in their minds as their husband . Lord KrishNa

responded to their wishes and sent them to His city of DhwAraka and later

married every one of them and established them in individual houses and

took 16,000 plus roopams of Himself to stay with them and enjoy their

company as the Master of their houses.

 

Immediately after NarakAsura Vadham , our Lord went with His divine consort

SathyabhAma to Indhra lOkam and returned the ear rings stolen by Narakan

to Aditi , the mothe rof Indhra. At IndhrA's garden , SathyabhAma saw the heavenly

tree of PaarijAtham and responding to His wife's request had the tree pulled up

by its roots and sent it to DhwArakA to be planted in SathyabhAma's garden .

Garuda transported the tree on his back to DhwArakA . Indhran , who had just

fell at the feet for saving him from the terrors of Narakan now began to fight

with the Lord for removing the PaarijAtha tree from his garden .LOrd KrishNa ,

the Master of Indhra and his deva gaNams defeated Indhran in the fight between

them and taught Indhra a lesson and then returned to DhwArakai.

 

Sukha Brahmam summarizes the ingratitude of Indhran through a beautiful verse:

 

yayAcha aanamya kirIDakODibhi: paadhou sprusann Achyutham arTasaadhanam

sidhdArTa yEthEna vigruhyatE mahAnahO surANAm cha tamO dhigADyathAm

 

---SrImath BhAgavatham: X.59.41

 

First , Indhran was expressing his gratefulness by falling at the feet of

the Lord , who came to his rescue and granted him back his isvaryam.

Next , when the PaarijAtha tree from his kingdom was desired by

the Lord to please His dear consort , the same Indhran fought with the Lord

for protecting "his wealth". Bhagavan was arTa Saadhanam for Indhran.

He gained his wealth (SidhArTan) with the Lord's assistance . After gaining

his wish , he went on to fight with his Lord . Sukha Brahmam is filled with

disgust over the ungratefulness of Indharan and states : " Fie (Shame) on

the stupidity of the DevAs and their king , Indhran! Fie on the wealth ,

which begets stupidity ! "

 

PaarijAtha tree apaharaNam from Svarga lOkam and the marriage of

the Lord with the 16,000 plus young women at DhwArakai by

DhwArakAdhIsan are the celebrated topics of great UpanyAsakAs

based on AzhwAr's SrI Sookthis celebrating these topics .These

HarikathA KaalakshEpams are important for KrishNanusamaraNam

particularly on this DhIpAwaLi day linked with Lord KrishNA's Vaibhavam.

 

adiyEn will conclude this DhIpAwaLi SamarpaNam to the Lord with

rememberance of a great slOkam from the Dasama Skandham ( X .87.23):

 

" Through rememberance , Thy antagonists attained to the same spiritual

goal as the sages, who had established complete control over their vital

forces , mind and senses, and meditated on Thee , we (the Sruthi dEvathAs) ,

who look upon Thee as equally present everywhere and ever commune with

Thy lotus feet , and the women ( The GopikAs of BrundhAvanam) who longed

for the embrace of Thy arms , powerful and handsome like AdhisEshA ,

are of equal worth. WHATEVER THE NATURE OF THE PASSION THAT

MOVES THE DEVOTEE , IF IT MAKES him INTENSELY THINK OF THEE ,

THY GRACE FALLS ON him ".

 

NamO VaasudEvAya , NamO Naraka nAsanAya, NamO BhUmi VallabhAya !

NamO JyOthi SvaroopAyA ! NamO Devaki NandanAya !

 

SrImath Azhagiya Singar Thiruvadi , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

SubhAnu Samavathsaram , KrishNa Chaturdasi , Hastha Nakshathram