Krishnanandalahari-chapter7 Govardhana episode continued

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Uplifting of the Govardhana

 

sa leelaya mErumiva dhvitheeyam

gOvarDHanam gOpakula pradheepah

navaprarooDam nihithaika hasthah

nAgO nalasthambamiva ujjahAra

 

Krishna, the light of Gokula, placed one hand on the mountain and lifted it, which was like a second Meru, as playfully as an elephant would lift a nala grass.

 

aDHO mukhAvasTHitha mErukalpam

Sailam samuthkhAya SaraNyagopah

udhanchayath sathvaram oorDHva moolam

chakrE mahEndhram SamithArDha garvam

 

Krishna who was the refuge of the gopas, swiftly uprooted the mountain and turned it upside down like the Meru inverted, and quelled half the arrogance of Indra by his act.

 

The hand of Krishna looked like AdhiSEsha holding the earth.The whiteness of the sandalpaste applied by Nappinna on his arm resembled the colour of Sesha, the fingers resembling the hoods.

 

Here we should note that Krishna not only held the mountain with his whole hand but inverted it, for which there is evidence also in Srimadbhagavatham.

 

 

In srimadbhagavatha the lifting of the mountain is described thus. 'Ithyukthvaa ekena hasthena krthvaa govardhanAchalam dhadhAra leelayA krishnah cchathrAkamiva bAlakah' Krishna lifted the mountain by one hand playfully like an umbrella.'

 

Periazvar describing this incident by 10 verses says that the hand of Krishna looked like adhisesha holding the earth.'padangal palavumudai pAmbaraiyan padarbhoomiyai thAnga kidappavan pol' as the fingers resembled the hoods of the sesha with his hand opened wide, 'thadangai viralaindhum malara vaitthu.'

 

Desika further describes the hand thus: His hands red like lotus were like the base of the opened umbrella, 'abugnarakthAnguli panjaram' and the rays of the rings on His fingers forming the rods 'ratnormikArasmi SalAkamanthah,' it looked like a huge cchathra, umbrella supported by the staff of His arm.

 

Let us also enjoy the words of Periazvar- seppAdudaiya thirumAlavan than senthAmarai kaiviral aindhinaiyum kappAga edutthu mani nedunthoL kAmbAga kodutthu kavittha malai.' The Lord upturned the mountain 'kavitthu,' holding it with His five fingers of His lotus-like hand, with His arm as the supporting stick of the umbrella,aninedum thoL kAmbAga.'The streams of water falling around looked like the pearl strings round the umbrella,'parandhizi theLLaruvi muthuvadam.', All these show without doubt that the Lord held the mountain with His hand and not with His little finger, which must have been the modification for the sake of dramatic element. .Moreover in Bhagavatha itself Krishna tells 'yathopajosham visatha girigartham sagodhanaah,' meaning , enter into these hollows or caves of the mountain along with the cattle etc. and live there. So the beings of gokula were not standing under the mountain but lived comfortably in the caves as in their houses.Unless the mountain was upturned this is not possible as they could not have climbed up the top which was under the rain. So there is ample evidence apart from the azvar and Desika sukthis that Krishna indeed upturned the mountain and He held it with one hand and not with little finger.

 

 

The mountain lit by the fire above(lightning) looked like the prathyasthra, counter weapon of the vajarayudha of Indra.When the mountain was uprooted the ground underneath there was no hollow ground, says Desika, but it was filled with earth by the power of the Lord and grass grew there so that the cattle were able to have their fill.

 

The gopas were inardvently uttering the truth by remarking that when the younger brother is able to bear the mountain,kshamADhara, the elder brother surely will lift the earth.

 

Here Desika gives a quaint description of the sages doing thapas in the mountain.

 

babhuh svaSAkhA graTHithAgra pAdhaih

thapODhanaih sAkam aDHah Sirobhih

krthAbhimukhyAh krthinO mukundhe

thapah prvrttha iva thathra vrkshAh

 

The trees were upside down looking at Krishna and the sages who were doing thapas on their branches were also upside down, unconscious of that fact, engrossed in their contemplation and it looked as though the leaves were also doing thapas.

 

Krishna showed the grass on the inverted mountain slopes and the cows were grazing with their heads lifted.Thus life was going on as usual under the mountain as in Gokula.

 

Periazvar says, 'ilangAzikkai endhai edutttha malai,' the Lord who wears the discus was holding the mountain. he same idea is elaborated by Desika who says,

 

prabhootha DHArA prathipanna Saithyam

prApthAram adhri prabhuh adhbuthAnAm

sudharsanAth aDHikAm anaisheeth

pavithrathAm pANisarojayOgAth

 

The mountain attained more pavithratha, purity than even the sudarsana on being borne by the lotus-like hand of the Lord.the adjectives qualifying Govardhana are also applicable to Sudarsana by means of pun on the words.

 

1.prabhootha DHArA prathipanna saithyam

In the case of the mountain the saithya, coolness is due to prabhootha,abundanance of DHArA, flow of water. With respect to Sudarsana, the saithya,sharpness is due to prabhootha, numerous, DHArA, edges.

2.prApthAram-The mountain was with pra+ apthAram, loud noise of the waterfalls. Sudarsana has got prAptha, spokes, Aram.

3.pavithratha-purity common to both because they were held by the lotus-likehands of the Lord but the mountain had one more special merit than the Sudarsana as it protected the gopas from the vajrayudha of Indra.the word pavithra is derived as pavibhyah, vajrebhyah, from the weapons such as vajra, thrAyatha, protected.

 

So Krishna made the mountain excel even the Sudarsana.The mountains are supposed to fear vajra of Indra because when they had wings once upon a time Indra cut off their wings with his vajra. But on account of being held by the hand of the Lord the mountain got the power to protect from vajra which is the extraordinary feature that gave it superiority over even the Sudarsana.

 

The gopas enjoyed their stay in the caves of the mountain as though at a holiday resort. The gopas considered Krishna as a powerful human being capable of holding the mountain without realising that the Lord of the universe has disguised Himself as a boy, while acting like an extraordianarily strong youth. They, being simple-minded, thought that he is a sarvashakthimAn having seen all his childk hood exploits. The gopis on the other hand wished that the rain will never stop because they enjoyed the company of Krishna without interruption.

 

Govindapattabhishekam

 

The rain continued for seven days and seven nightas nonstop. Even though Krishna could have dispersed the clouds at his will, he did not do so in order to humble Indra and stood there for seven days at the end of which Devendra was ashamed and stopped the clouds understanding the mercy of Krishna who did not destroy him.He became afraid thinking of his offense and came to Krishna on his white elephant, Airavatha. Krishna on seeing him thus subdued, put the mountain back in its place. His friends touched his limbs to see whether he was hurt by standing there so long holding the mountain. Periazvar describs the state of the Lord thus; 'kodiyEru senthamaraiviralgal kolamum azindhitrila vaditrila.' Even the red lacquer on his fingers remained in tact and the fingers did not show any sign of fatigue. Desika says,

Ekathra samrakshathi krshnamEghe

gOthreNa chaikEna gavAm kulAni

aSEsha gothrougha bhidha niyukthaih

meghAyuthaih mOghathamaih babhoove

When the dark,cloud-like Krishna (krishnamEgha -dark,rainbearing,cloud) was protecting the cattle with one mountain(gOthra),the more than ten thousand clouds sent by gOthrabidh, Indra (because he cut off the wings of mountains), became powerless.

 

The next scene is the Govindapattabhisheka by Indra.

 

Indra approached Krishna realising that he is Upendra(vamana). Brahma sent Kamadhenu for the abisheka of Krishna as Govinda. Keeping the Kamadhenu in front, Indra spoke to Krishna.

 

nATha thvayAnarmavihArabhAja

vimohitho viprathisArithascha

akimchanah thvAm aham ASrithah san

kshipthApakArO na bahishkriyArhah

 

Oh Lord! Through your leela you made me deluded (into thinking that I am greater than you) and later you yourself made me repent. Now that I have come to you in helpless state banishing my sinful thought you should not discard me.

 

krthAparAdhEshvapi sanukampam

kshemamkaram kshEthra vivEchakanam

viSvOpakArADHvarabaddhadheeksham

vEdhyam param vedhavidho vidhusthvAm

 

It is known by those well versed in the vedas that you are merciful even towards wrongdoers, benificiary to those whe know the truth about you and has taken a vow in the yajna of protecting the whole word.

 

We are all inert like machines activated by you and to start the rain and stop it are all your leela.

 

gOpAyithum pArayathi thrilOkeem

gOpAyamAnadhapi na thvadhanyah

 

Though you are diguising yourself as a cowherd, who can protect the three worlds except you. The word thrilokee can also be construed to mean the three kinds of people, namely bhaktha,devotee dhvEshya,enemy and udhAseena,indifferent.

 

It is not a wonder that you lifted the mountain because you sustain the whole world through your svarupa viSEsha and vigraha viSEsha.

{ He is in everything and everything is in Him 'mayA thatham idham sarvam jagadhavyakthamoorthinA;mathsTHAni sarvabhoothAni, na chaham thEshvavasTHithah.,'(BG.9-4) The entire world is pervaded by Me, in my unmanifest form;All beings dwell in Me but I do not dwell in them."}

Then Indra told Krishna who protected the gokula that he wanted to do abhisheka of Krishna as Govinda. 'icchami samrakshitha gOvrajam thvam sTHAne gavam indrathaya abhishikthum.'

He further said the name Govinda has been given already as the Lord retrieved the earth as Varaha.(the word go in sanskrit has many meanings besides cow and earth is one of them.)

The Kamadhenu came from the goloka , he said, pleased with Krishna for protecting the cattle and wishes to do abhisheka.Indra thought of the celestial ganges as though wishing to remove the fatigue of Krishna who held the mountain for so long.The devaganga came and Indra informed her of his wish to do abhisheka to Krishna

Indra performed the abhisheka with the water of the celestial Ganges and the milk of Kamadhenu and the earth was sanctified by it falling from the body of Krishna, which appeared to Indra to be relieved of its burden already, the purpose for which Krishna incarnated. Then Krishna was given the name Govinda which was His own and Desika says that Indra was blessed to do Govindapattabhisheka. After that Indra took leave of Krishna and returned to his realm.