Devotion to Lord Krishna, basic theme of the Scriptures

December 31, 2004

Pranam to all Vaishnavas,

Devotion to Lord Krishna , basic theme of the Scriptures

Devotion to Lord Krishna is the underlying theme of the scriptural texts like the Puranas. They describe the glory of Krishna, the Supreme Being, in His incarnations, with the objective of helping devotees to attain concentration of mind and thus enhance their devotion.

Great achievements which stand the test of time are possible only by divine grace. A person's skill and intellectual acumen alone will not by themselves make for excellence unless coupled with Krishna's grace which is channelised through one's devotion. Likewise, there is a vast difference between the knowledge acquired through human intellect and that which results due to the grace of Lord Krishna.

The scriptural tradition owes it origin to Veda Vyasa whose pioneering work was the codification of the Vedas into four. His original name Krishna Dwaipanya has almost been forgotten as he came to be called as Vyasa after the marathon task he did of dividing the Veda, which existed till then in one whole, into four sections for the purpose of easy mastery as he intuited with his foresight that human beings with passage of time will not be able to master the entire Veda and perform all the prescribed sacrifices. Then he completed the epic Mahabharata which is hailed as the digest of the Veda for the laity.

Even after accomplishing all these great tasks the Sage did not get peace of mind and he sat reflecting about it on the bank of the river, Saraswati, when the divine sage, Narada, appeared before him and he voiced his predicament to him after receiving him with due respect.

Narada pointed out that he had not adequately sung the glory of Lord Krishna in his works and hence he had not achieved the peace of mind he yearned. The sage told Vyasa, ``With a concentrated mind recall the exploits of Sri Hari... with a view to the liberation of the entire humanity. The wise have declared that the abiding purpose of man's austere penance, sacred knowledge, sacrificial performances, recitation of the Vedas with correct intonation, enlightenment and bestowal of gifts is to recount the virtues of that Lord of excellent fame.''

It was to highlight that devotion to Krishna was the central theme of the scriptures that Vyasa composed the Bhagavata Purana at Narada's behest. This Purana is glorified as the very essence of the Vedas and the Narayaneeyam written by Narayana Bhattatri about four centuries ago within the precincts of the Guruvayur temple is venerated with equal respect and is a condensation of the Bhagavata Purana.

Tradition recounts that Bhattatri while composing Narayaneeyam paused at the end of every canto of 10 verses by posing a question to Lord Krishna whether He had performed the deeds related in it and He acknowledged them and thus the work got the seal of approval from Krishna Himself. Just as Vyasa composed the Bhagavata at Narada's instance, Bhattatri composed the Narayaneeyam at Lord Krishna's behest.

The scriptures are not easy to comprehend for the layman and hence at Lord Krishna’s behest a wide-ranging texts based on the scriptures have been written by His messengers over the centuries to cater to the different levels of His devotees. As it may not be humanly possible to master all these texts it is enough if one peruses that which is within one's grasp and progress spiritually instead of frittering away the precious time one has at one's disposal to fathom all the texts.

The clear message all these texts convey is that the goal of human birth is liberation from worldly bondage and that refuge in Lord Krishna is the way to deliverance. The hymn Tiruppavai composed by Sage Andal, one of the Azhwars of the Srivaishnava tradition, is one of the texts considered important for spiritual evolution. This hymn has the ring of absolute conviction of one who speaks from own experience. She says with certainty that the Supreme Being who incarnated as Krishna is the one in whom we must take refuge.

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya!!!

SriKrishna's Dasi, Jayamma.