Frequently Asked Questions -Part 2- on Krishna (Let us understand and meditate on His Lotus Feet)- Part 1

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Saturday (AvaNi RohiNi) is Sri Krishna Jayanthi

 

Question 2: What are the avathArams for?

DharmasamsThApanArThAya- to establish and protect

dharma. Sri Rama being the Eka pathni vrathan,

followed strict codes of saasthrAs and set an example

for us. KaNNan hugged these Gopikas; played with them;

and Vedas and saasthrAs may roar saying He is

Parathvam and is unaffected; But is that approapriate

for KaNNan to do that? hugging other women? Can that

be termed as establishing Dharma? How can we say that

He followed saasthrAs and established, protected

Dharma in His KrishnA avathAram as avathaarams?

 

Answer: Same question was raised by Parvathi to Rudra:

Rudra replied promptly†swaSareeraparishvangAth rathi

naasthi varaananE.. – We, jeevathmAs are in each body.

We are always united with our bodies. There is

absolutely no dhosham for that. There is no enjoyment

also with that unity; There is no ApAsam also in that.

Only when we hug the body which does not belong to us

– it is different and hence a paapam- dhOsham etc..

Then only does the problem arise. Iswaran – vibhu; He

manifests everywhere; anatharbahischathas sarva vyApya

nArAyaNasthitha: - Narayanan manifests and pervades

everywhere inside and outside of everything and

everyone; We are all His sareeram; He houses Himself

in us and He houses us all as well; He hugs His own

body- can it have dhosham? was Rudra’s quip.. This

aspect is mentioned by swamy desikan in the above

sloka- as vibhO… He manifests and pervades everywhere.

Even for that matter, vaayu, air spreads everywhere

and hugs all. Is it his paapam? Is it dhosham? When

Vaayu himself doe not do anything worng, what can we

mention about the SarvEshwaran? We are all his

sareeram and when He hugs us- there is no dhosham

thus. Even Chathu mukha Brahma and others longed for

being born in Gopa kulam to be hugged by KaNNan;

Vishnu purANa also mentions this: vyApi vaaayuriva

sthiTha:

 

Generally- among humans- there are kaamukhars (those

who are mad after sensual pleasures and carnal

desires); There also few virakhthars (those who detach

themselves from getting such thoughts and are

vairAgis) They even spurn thinking of women and hate

them as mere one collection of flesh, bones, blood.

OOnidai chuvar vaitthu enbu thooN naatti- says

Thirumangai AzhwAr- This body is with the lowly hair,

the wall of skins, flesh; bone as pillars and

reinforcing members to support. Thus these two kinds

of people exist in the world; Sri Krishna did not have

mOham (desire) for these Gopikas and their bodies; Not

dwEsham (dislike or hatred); They are His body after

all. Not due to his karma, but by His own very nature

as Their Lord. How can there be desire or hatred?

Swamy Desikan says this in Yadavabhyudhayam:

 

na khalvamushya pramadhAmadhAnDhyam na kuthsanam

tatthadhabhIshtadhAthu: |

na DharmasamsThApana vADhaganDha SuddhAnuChinthayA hi

Subhasya leelA ||

 

Thus, KaNNan, hugging His own bodies namely Gopikas,

there is nothing against dharma; In fact, the

hunsbands of these Gopikas should have got angry at

these acts; Never did they get angry. Because KaNNan

was in their hearts and they too belong to Him;

Bhagwaan entered into their hearts as well, lured them

with His divine charning form and united with their

jeevans… thaan otti vandhu, thani nenjai vanjitthu,

oonotti vandhu uyirinil kalandhu… [says NammAzhwAr in

Thirumaynozhi]. These people had the same experience

and enjoyment. Thus for the, there was nothing wrong

seen in KaNNan’s acts and they could not talk ill

about KaNNan. It is one of KaNNan’s leelAs. Sage Sukha

mentioned in Srimad Bhagawatham:

 

gOpInAm tathpathInAm Cha sarvEShAmEva dhEhinAm |

yO(S)nthasvarathi sO(S)Dhyaksha: kreedanEnEha

dhEhabhAk||

 

Sri Vishnu purANa refers to this. Swamy desikan thus

touches upon of all of them as vibhO: to assert these

truths.

 

Question 3: Ok. Everyone and everything is His

sareeram; When such is the case, why did KaNNan choose

only those Gopasthrees specially; and in particular?

Why did He bless them with such enjoyment? If He does

not have humanly desires, anger and hatred as He is

the Lord, why did He have to hug the Gopa sthrees?

Gopikas also- why did they fall in love with Him? Even

if KaNNan- being the Lord- does not have any dhOsham,

and is not affected by paapam, punyam and he is not

affected by Karma- still the poor Gopikas get these

dhoshams as they desired for another Purushan [other

than their own husbands].. How can KaNNan be a party

to such paapams committed by Gopikas?

 

Answer: Once, the Apsarasthrees [dancing damsels] in

deva loka, by hearing about the most beautiful –

dhivya sowndharyam of the Lord Sriya: Pathi Sriman

Narayanan and prayed to Him continuously like penance

for blessing them with his dhivya sowndharya roopam

for them to enjoy. Bhagawaan appeared before them and

said, “Do not worry. I am pleased by your prayers. I

will fulfill your desires. I will appear as KaNNan in

Gokulam during Krishna avathAram and you all appear as

Gopa sthrees. Your prayers will be fulfilled. “ Thus

He blessed them with His divine body and its charm.

They were born as these Gopa sthrees. This purANA

explains. Thus due to their puNya phalam, their past

prayers, they are blessed with this Anandham and it is

Bhagawaan’s organizing things to fulfill His devotees’

prayers. None gets any dhOsham due to these acts.

Punya paapams also vary for humans and Devas.

Devasthrees thus do not get any dhosham due to these

acts and their past prayers only get answered. Also it

is told that rishis in Rama avathAram wanted to enjoy

His dhivya sowndharya ThirumEni when they enjoyed

seeing His ThirumEni; Rama let them be born as Gopa

sthrees probably for their prayers to be fulfilled as

well. All his avathArams had to meet very many

conditions and fulfill all these inter related

incidents.

 

This is mentioned by swami Desikan as

aChapilasparSanamAthraleelA.. In the next sloka he

says.. thatthadhabhIShtadhAthu:

 

Question 4: Still, one thing is not understood. Deva

sthrees could have simply got married to KaNNan and

enjoyed Him as His spouses. They could have got their

prayers fulfilled; instead, why should they be born as

Gopa sthrees, leave their husbands, in-laws, children

and run to KaNNan? Why should KaNNan allow this? How

can this be establishment of Dharma? This act is

against the manushya dharma.

[Good question... Let us look at it morrow]

 

Anything found good in these posts is

only due to the wonderful original article written by

Sri U Ve Dr Vasudevachar Swami from Swamy Desikan’s

excellent analysis. Mistakes, errors, omissions are

entirely mine

 

Regards

Sarvam krishnarpaNamasthu

Namo Narayana

dAsan