yadhavabhyudhaya-chapter2

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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 all

the 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.

 

Then starts the description of the night of Krishnavathaara.

The appearance of the dusk, sandhya, seemed to denote the advent of

the Lord. Sandhy, 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 ay 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 he 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.