Krishna Anubhava Yatra - DAKOR - I

[Guest guest]

SrI:Sri Renganathaya nama:Dear Swamin: adiyEn namaskArams::Herewith adiyEn would like to share the first day anubhavam in Sri Geetha KrishnaYatra. We reached Vadodara on 2nd Oct 09 and moved towards Dakor - a near by placewhere Sri Ranchoddhraiji Temple is present.Sri Bhagavtham - 10th Skandham - 51 AdhyayamAs per the above, the legend is, Jarasandhan fought with Lord Krishna for 18 times.Each times he was lost in the battle. Between Jarasandhan's 17th and 18th battle, Kalayavanan came to knew through Narada that, Yadhavas are in par with his power and strength. Hence he came with his 3 crore peoples and attacked Yadhavas at Mathura.On knewing this, Sri Krishna dicussed the issues with Balarama. "The problems are directed from two different points towards Yadhavas. One point from Jarasandhanwho may come at any time to fought with Yadhavas for 18th time. Another point from Kalayavanan who is now ready to fought. At this juncture, it's best to create anisland city in sea and shift all Yadhavas there safely during the battle with Kalayavanan"The city that Lord Krishna created was called "Dwaraka" which was about 120 miles inlength and breadth. Then through His Powers, shifted all Yadhavas from Madhura to Dwaraka. These miraculous incident happened with in a night.Then Lord Krishna returned to Madhura and after discussion with Balaram, He cameout from the palace with His four arms, without any divyAyudhams, lotus like eyes,Sri Vatsam, Koustubam and Vanamaalai ... all which symbolized and identified thatHe is none other than Lord Vasudevan from Paramapadam(Sri Krishnan!). Kalayavananwho already heard about the identity of Lord Krishna through Narada, saw Sri Krishnacoming out from the palace. Kalayavanan decided to fought with Sri Krishna with out anyweapons and followed Him.But Sri Krishna started ran and Kalayavanan warned Him not to run away from battle field. (Hence He is called as Ranchhodraiji : Ran - Battle Field :: Chhod - run away from battle :: Rai - Prabhu ). Sri Krishna dragged Kalayavanan up to a cave where KingMusukundan was in sleep. Kalayavanan entered inside the cave and found a man lyingasleep. He thought that the man was none other than Sri Krishna and hence disturbedthe man who found lying on floor. But the man (King Musukundan) awoke and opened his eyes and searched for the person who disturbed him from sleep. Immediately Kalayavananwas burnt into ash by the fire from Musukundan eyes.King Musukundan was from Ishvaku vamsam. He saved Indra and devars from rAkshashasfor many years. By his service, dEvas was so happy and requested him to receive boon.Musukundan asked dEvas that, he need a good place to sleep since he fought with rAkshashaswithout sleep for many years. Devas pointed out a cave and granted Musukundan that he could sleep inside the cave and if any would disturb him from sleep would be burnt into ash. Using this boon, Lord Krishna killed Kalayavanan through Musukundan and gave darshanto him. Since Lord Krishna escaped with out fight (ran away from battle) with KalayavananHe is called as RANCHHODRAIJI in Dakor Dwaraka!The above legend is from the book given by Sri U.ve.Velukkudi Krishnan swamin onDivyadesa Mahatmyam during YATRA and from Swamins Upanyasam.This emperuman was in Main Dwaraka(Gomati Dwaraka) during previous years. Then how He was transferred from Gomati Dwaraka to Dakor Dwaraka? This legend is a very interesting one.Below is the legend as per the temple.The legend of Bodana'Vijayanand Bodana', a rajput of Dakor, becomes a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna.He used to let the basil plant (Tulsi) grow in an earthen pot with him on his palmand used to go every six months to Dwarika to worship Lord Krishna with the said Tulsileaves . He did this continuously, unfailingly and untiringly till he was 72 years he then began to find it increasingly difficult to pursue this ritual. Seeing his plight, Lord Krishna told him that on his ensuing visit to Dwarika, he should bring a bullock-cart with him and Lord Krishna would accompany him to Dakor as he was exceedingly pleased with his devotion. Accordingly, Bodana went with bullock-cart to Dwarika. The hereditary priests of Dwarika (Gugli brahmins) asked him as to why he had brought a cart with him. Whereupon, Bodana replied that he had done so to take away Lord Krishna. Looking to the ramshackle cart, they did not believe him but nevertheless locked and sealed the sanctum sanctorum of Dwarika Temple for the night. At mid night, Lord Krishna broke open all the doors, awoke Bodana and told him to take him to Dakor. Shortly afterwards, Lord Krishna called upon Bodana to rest in the bullock-cart and drove the cart himself till reached the vicinity of Dakor. Here (near Bileshwar Mahadev on Dakor-Nadiad road) they rested for some time, touching and holding a branch of neem tree. He woke up Bodana and asked him to take over. Since that day, this neem tree is found to have one sweet branch though the rest of the branches are bitter and it forms the subject of a well-known Gujarati song (bhajan).In Dwarika, the Gugli brahmins finding the image missing chased Bodana and came to Dakor in pursuit. Bodana was frightened but Lord Krishna told him to hide the idol of the deity in the Gomti tank and meet the Guglis. Accordingly, Bodana hid the idol and went to meet the Guglis with a pot of curd to pacify them. They became angry and one of them threw a spear at him. He fell down dead While hurting Bodana with a spear it also hurt the image of the deity hidden in Gomti tank and the water turned red with Lord Krishna's (Ranchhodraiji's) blood. It is said that even today the earth of Gomti tank where the image lay is red while rest of the tank is of brown mud. In the midst of Gomti tank, over the place where Lord Krishna was hidden, a small temple having the Lord's foot-prints is constructed and this temple is linked with the bank of Gomti Tank by a bridge.Even with the death of Bodana, the Guglis were not appeased. Requesting Lord Krishna to return to Dwarika, they sat on the bank of Gomti tank and went on a hunger strike. At last, Lord Ranchhodraiji (Krishna) directed Gangabai, wife of Bodana, to give gold equivalent of his weight and ask the Guglis to return to Dwarika. Poor lady, the widow of Bodana, was a pauper and could not afford doing so. By a miracle, the idol became as light as a golden nose-ring (1, 1/4 val i.e.1/2 gram in weight) which was all that the widow of Bodana, Gangabai, had . The Guglis were disappointed but the Lord mercifully directed that they would find after six months an exact replica of the idol in Sevaradhan Vav (well with steps) at Dwarika. The impatient Guglis looked for the idol sometime earlier than they were told and as a result, found an idol which, though similar to the original one, was smaller.Even today on every purnima (full moon), pilgrims walk here from far away places to commemorate Bodana's devotion.Please ENJOY the picturesque slideshow of Shri RANCHHODRAIJI temple fromthe Gujarat Govt Website.http://www.gujarattourism.com/showpage.aspx?contentid=229ENJOY HIS DARSHAN from the temple website:http://www.ranchhodraijidakor.com/JAI RANCHHODRAIJIadiyEn,senthil.b