Krishnanandalahari- chapter2

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chapter-2 The eve of incarnation

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 the entire 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.Description of the night of Krishnavathaara

Then starts the description of the night of Krishnavathaara. The appearance of the dusk, sandhya, seemed to denote the advent of the Lord. Sandhya, 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 day 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 the 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.