YADHAVAABHYUDHAYA of Desika

[Guest guest]

Yadhavaabhyadhaya is the story of Krishnaavathaara

retold by VedantaDesika with a beautiful poetic flavour 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 endeavour 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.

 

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 rshis 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 he 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

mentined 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, 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 can those with limited intellect 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 a 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 a 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 the 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 Himself, 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 discendents 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 te 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 who wakes up from sleep the Lord wakes up the

jives 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 colour 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 valour, 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 splendour.

 

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

the 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 ressuring enough for them

that their prayer is answered even before He began to speak.

[Guest guest]

Oppiliappan, "sarojram18" <sarojram18

wrote:

>

>

 

 

>

I think, vrtrAsura was a great devotee of the Lord, worshipping Him

as sankarshaNa, according to Srimad Bhagavatam. So indra had to leave

svarga as he killed His devotee. Please correct me if I am wrong. I

dont have yAdavAbhyudayam and bhAgavatam with me.

 

dasan

Vishnu

 

> The lineage of Pururavas flourished in all directions of the

> earth by the fame of his discendents 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.

[Guest guest]

Vrthrasura was Chithrakethu in his previous birth and became a great devotee of

Vishnu H ewas cursed by Parvati to beborn a asura because he made fun of Siva

who had Parvati on his lap. When Tvashta did a yaga to create a son who will

kill Indra because Indra had killed his son Visvarupa, which was another story,

Vrthra came out of the sacrificial fire and because he was of brahmin origin,

being created by Tvashta a brahmin Brahmahaththi dhosha came to Indra and not

because he was a devotee of Vishnu. In fact Vishnu Himself advised Indra to get

the backbone of Dhadheechi to make vajrayudha o kill Vrthra, not because He was

unkind to His devotee but only in orer to release His devotee from his curse of

being in a demonical body. This is described in 6th skandha of Bhagavata.

 

Vishnu <vsmvishnu wrote: Oppiliappan,

"sarojram18" <sarojram18

wrote:

>

>

 

 

>

I think, vrtrAsura was a great devotee of the Lord, worshipping Him

as sankarshaNa, according to Srimad Bhagavatam. So indra had to leave

svarga as he killed His devotee. Please correct me if I am wrong. I

dont have yAdavAbhyudayam and bhAgavatam with me.

 

dasan

Vishnu

 

> The lineage of Pururavas flourished in all directions of the

> earth by the fame of his discendents 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fund raising Beliefs Religion

 

 

 

 

Visit your group "Oppiliappan" on the web.

 

Oppiliappan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May god bless you,

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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