GopalavimSathi of Vedanta Desika- My offering on Srijayanthi today

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Desika has written devotional hymns on all the archaavathaaras the deities of all the vaishnavite shrines but none of the forms of Lord Narayana seems to be so dear to him as His incarnation

as Krishna. Gopalavimsati, twenty verses in praise of Krishna

is the most exquisite work exuding charm and beauty. Yadhavaabhyudhaya is an epic which seems to be an

elongated version of Gopalavimsati as it elaborates on the

subtle references to the exploits of Krishna

therein but it is rich in poetic skill and intellectual excellence. The most

significant fact which points out to the link between the two works is that the

opening verse of both the works is the same.

 

The mangalasloka is

`vande brindavanacharam vallaveejanavallabham;

jayanteesambhavam DHaama

vyjayantheevibhooshanam.' (Gopalaavimsati-1)

This

verse is rich in meaning and brings out fully the glory of Krishna. It means, `Salutations to Him, who was born on Krishnaashtami, who used to inhabit the Brindavan,

adorned with the garland of forest flowers, self effulgent and loved by gopis.

The four adjectives given to the Lord, namely, brindavanacharam, the one

who roams around in Brindavan, vallveejanavallabham,

the beloved of the gopis, jayantheesambhavam,

born on the day of His avatar, vyjayantheevibhooshanam,

adorned by the forest flowers are rich in meaning as they denote His vathsaltya, souseelya,soulbhya and svamithva.

 

His

Vaathsalya, love towards His

dependents is indicated by Brindhaavanacharam

, which is like that of a cow towards its calf.

Brindha denotes His devotees, for whose protection, avanaaya, He moves about, charathi. This dispels the fear in the heart of His punishment for

the wrong deeds one has committed, svaaparaadha bhaya nivarthakam. Appayya

dikshitha, in his commentary says that

He, who was dhandakaaranyachara, walked

in the dhandaka forest for the protection of the rshis became brindhaavanachara, for the protection

of the cows, in Krishnaavathaara true to His

promise later, `parithraanaaya saadhoonaam vinaasaaya cha dushkrthaam, dharma

samsthaapanaarthaaya samhavaami yuge yuge', I manifest Myself in

each epoch in order to protect the good and to punish the wicked.' The

cows represent the good who resort to the Lord for their welfare. Sentiment,

rasa, exhibited by this epithet is adbhutha, wonder that the lord assumes the form of a cowherd and showers His love to

one and all, man, bird and beast. The same vathsalya as He has shown towards Prahladha so

that Hiranya kasipyu could not harm even

a hair on his body, towards Jatayu in

Ramaavathaara and towards all His dependents in Krishnaavathaara which made

Him even to wash and feed the horses

during the Mahabhaaratha war.

 

Valavee jana vallabham, the beloved

of the gopis, is the epithet chosen for the purpose of indicating His Souseelyam, benevolence. Souseelyam is defined as `mahathah mandhaihi saha neerandhra samslesha svabhaavah, the

close friendship shown by the great towards the humble folk. This quality of

the Lord dispels the fear that He is beyond comprehension. Appayya dikshitha

says that the fact that He who

enjoys the uninterrupted union with

Mahakakshmi was also able to enjoy the company of the simple cowherd girls is

the proof of His souseelya. The term Vallavijana

is used to denote their nomad existence as valla

means movement. The sentiment expressed here is sringara.

 

Desika

uses the epithet Jayanthee sambhavam to denote the soulabhya of the Lord, in taking birth

in the yadhavakula, which removes the

fear that the Lord is unapproachable. Soulabhyam

is labhdhum susakathvam, easy accessibility. The significance of the word jayanthee sambhava instead of Devakisambhava implies that the Lord manifested Himself as

Krishna and was not born, according to His words `sambhavaami yuge yuge' and `yadha yadha hi dharmasya

glaanirbhavathi -------thadhaathmaanam srjamyaham.' Jayanthi

also means jayam thanothi, victorious in the vinaasa

of dushkrtha, indicative of

virarasa. It is interesting to observe here that the words jayanthi and janmaashtami are used only to mark

Krishnajayanthi, janmaashtami avathaara dhinasya jayantheethi vyavahaarah and all

the others are mentioned as Ramanavami

, Nrsimhajayanthi and so on.

 

Dhaamavyjayantheevibhooshanam relates to

the svaamithva, overlordship.. Dhaama means the self effulgent nature and vyjayayanthi which normally means

garland of forest flowers also implies bhoothathanmaathra

adhishtaana devatha the divinity behind the elements. The vanamaala here is the maya of the Lord which He wears like a garland in

His manifestations This indicates that Krishna

is the Parabrahman who is the cause

of this universe created out of His own Maya. The Paravasudeva is referred to by this epithet.

 

The next sloka describes the Gopalayantra.

vaacham nijankarasikaam

prasameekshamaaNah

vaktraaravindhavinivesita paanchajanyah

varNatrikoNa ruchire varapundareeke

badDHaasano jayathi

vallavachakravarthee.(Gopalaimsati-2)

 

The Lord is seated on , a lotus shaped

aasana, varapuNdareeke , which is beautiful, ruchira, and trikoNa , with three angles and contains varNa,

letters of the Gopalamantra.Within a lotus of eight petals there is a

triangle and the varNa, letters represent Vak,Sarasvatidevi, nijaanka rasika, who enjoys the anka , lap, meaning the center of the

yantra. Krishna is looking at her, prasameekshamaaNah, His glances directed towards her to

give jnana . The implication here is that the wisdom of even Sarasvati is from the

Lord only.He has the Panchajanya, the conch which is the source of all sounds

being praNavasvarupa, in His lotus like mouth, Vaktraaravindavinivesitha

paanchajanyah. The Lord is referred to as vallavachakravarthee,the Lord of the cowherds.He is a chakravarthee

, the emperor of the universe though born in the vallaveekula. The rest of the

slokas are beautiful describing the leelas of Krishna

which we shall see presently.

 

AmnaayaganDHirudhithasphurithaadDHaroshtam

aasraavilekshaNam anukshaNamandhahaasam

gopaladimbhavapusham kuhanaajananyaah

praanNsthananDHayam avaimi param

pumaamsam.(Gopalavimsathi-3)

 

 

'I know for certain that this child in the form of

a cowherd is none other than the Supreme

Purusha, whose lower lip trembling when he cries has the fragrance of the

vedas, whose eyes are stained with tears but the next moment lit up with smile,

who drank the life of Poothana , who came disguised as His mother.'

 

Krishna was crying or pretends so because even

though His lower lip was trembling it

gives out the fragrance of the vedas and eyes were full of tears, He gives a

charming smile( perhaps when no one was looking) which belies His grief.

Besides He drank the life of Poothana who came in the guise of His mother. So

Desika says that he is sure that this is none else than the Lord.He uses the

verb 'avaimi' to mean 'I know' to denote that it is his confirmed opinion.

 

The idea in saying that the trembling lip 'sphurithaaDharoshtam, of Krishna, who is

crying,'rudhitha,' smell of vedas, is that whatever sound that came out

of His lips is that is veda.Desika says in his Yadhavaabhyudhaya that Krishna's

first speech and his conversation with His friends and even the sound made by

the cows around Him were nothing but the vedic sound, because He is the

Paramapurusha whose nisvaasa, exhalation is the veda. The veda sabdas became

the cows and the rshis of dandakaranya became

the gopis.