Yadhavabhyudhaya-story of Krishna by Vedantadesika

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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.

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