Sri UpakAra Sangraham Part - 39

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srI:

SrI upakAra sangraham – 39

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adikAram – 1

poorva upakAra paramparai

(The Foremost Series of Favours)

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SECTION – 5 (7)

(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for

MOKSHAM)

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Propagation of VedAs and related scriptures through

the ages has been ensured by the Lord with the help of

AzhvArs and AchAryas. However, they also had to face

difficulties, when things went beyond their control.

On those occasions, the Lord had to come down to the

earth to save these scriptures. This has been

discussed by SwAmi Desikan in the previous sub-section

6.

SwAmi Desikan reveals in this sub-section how the

Lord also had to rush to the earth to safeguard the

righteousness as laid down by the scriptures:

 

(7) ippadip pravruttamAna shAsttirattil

pratipAditmAna dharmattinudaiya

samyak-sthApanartha-mAka, “samBhavAmi yugE yugE”

enkiRapdiyE avatarittatuvum;

 

In order to well establish the dharma as declared by

the scriptures which have been thus brought out, the

Lord took births or incarnations. This is another

favour conferred by Him. The Lord Himself has stated

this in the Bhagvadgita, which is a record of Sri

Krishna’s statements on dharma while instructing

Arjuna on the battlefield, KurkshEtra, just before the

start of the MahAbhArata war. He also revealed about

his incarnations in this sloka which SwAmi Desikan

quotes here:

 

“samBhavAmi yukE yukE” --- I am born every yuga.

(Bhagvadgita, 4-8)

 

Now we shall consider the entire sloka:

 

pritrANAya sadhoonAm vinAshAya ca duShkrutAm /

dharmasthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE //

(Bhagavdgita, 4-8)

 

(For the protection of the good, and also for the

destruction of the evil-doers, for the firm

establishment of dharma, I am born from age to age.)

 

This is the part of the five slOkas (4 – 5-8) in

which the Lord as GitAchArya Sri Krishna reveals the

secret of His incarnations. One of the purposes for

which He takes birth is to restore dharma, the

virtuous conduct in the world. This is a favour

conferred by the Lord on those jIvAs who desire to

adopt the means for Mokaham, in particular, who seeks

prapatti as an independent means. He helps this

devotee by affording him the knowledge of the great

qualities of the Lord who is sought as the refuge. The

Lord also helps to develop supreme faith,

mahAvishvAsa, in the mind of the seeker after

salvation.

The Lord’s incarnations are countless, of which ten

are the most prominent. These incarnations are taken

by Him for various purposes. Out of them, a few are

only for establishing the dharma as delineated by the

VEdAs and other shAstrAs. Of them, five are the most

prominent;

 

1) Incarnation as a Swan (HamsAvatAra) – The Lord took

this birth in krutayuga. According to SrImad

BhAgavata, the sons born out of the mind of BrahmA,

namely, Sanaka, Sanandana, SanAtana and SanatkumAra,

all sages. When they were in the form infants, they

were asked by their father to do creation of beings in

the world. But they as they were the incarnation of

the sattvika nature, they were not prepared to

undertake creation. They wanted to undertake yOga and

approached BrahmA and requsted him to tell them about

the subtle form of the yOga. As BrahmA, however, was

not aware of it, he undertook meditation on the

Supreme Lord. As a result, the Lord appeared before

him in the form of a swan, and instructed the sages,

in the presence of BrahmA, about the high tattvas,

jIva, prakruti and Ishvara. (SrImad Bhagavata, 11-13)

 

2) Incarnation as a Fish (MatsyAvatAra) – The Lord

incarnated as Fish during the time of Vaivashvata Manu

or Satyavrata Manu, the son of VivasvAn. Once, while

BrahmA was reciting Vedas, an asura, HayagrIva by

name, stole the Vedas from the side of BrahmAand he

went with them to the bottom of the ocean and hid

himself there. So, the Lord decided to take the form

of a fish to recover the Vedas.

 

Vaisvashvata Manu was doing penance in BadarIkAshrama.

He got down into the river KrutamAlA to take a bath. A

small fish told him that it was afraid of large fishes

and requested him to protect it. The kind Manu took

the fish in his hand and put it in an earthen-pot and

brought it up. In a few days the fish began to grow

and when the pot became insufficient, the Manu put it

in a larger pot. When that also became too small, he

placed the fish in a pond. As the pond became too

small, the fish was put in the Ganges river at its

request. After a few days, the Ganges also could not

accommodate the fish which had grown bigger. The fish

told the Manu that within seven days, there would be a

great flood in world. Hence, he should make a boat and

take seven hermit-sages with him in the boat and

escape. It promised to help him. The Manu also

arranged an immensely large boat and carried out the

instruction of the fish. In seven days rains started

in torrents and everything in the world were immersed

in the flood. A horn sprouted from the head of the

fish. Manu tied the boat on that horn. The fish

reached the HimAlayas with the boat. The boat was tied

to the peak of the mountain. When the rain ceased, it

was seen that everything in the world had been

destroyed except the Man and the seven sages and some

of the germs, saved in the boat.

Satyavrata Manu prayed to the Lord in the form of the

fish to be his AchArya and instruct him about the

tattvas. The Lord did the same. He also killed the

asura HayagrIva and restored the VEdas to BrahmA.

 

3) Incarnation as HayagrIva – When BrahmA appeared on

the Lotus sprouted from the navel of the Lord lying on

the Milky Ocean, He taught BrahmA all the Vedas to

enable him to do creation. Before BrahmA’s appearance,

two water drops had appeared on the lotus leave as

willed by the Lord Himself. One drop turned into an

asura, Madhu, representing the tamas quality, while

the second one became another asura, Kaitabha,

representing the rajas quality. They rose up through

the lotus stem and came to the flower where Brahma had

converted the four Vedas into four babies. The two

auras stole away the four VEedas in the form of the

babies and went to nether world and hid themselves. At

the request of BrahmA, the Lord took a form of white

colour with a head of a horse, went into the nether

world and recovered the Vedas after killing the demons

and returned to BrahmA enabling him to do the

creation.

 

4) Incarnation as nara-nArAyaNa – The Lord took birth

as two sons of Dharma PrajApathi through his wife,

Moorti, who was the daughter of Daksha PrajApathi.

They were nArayaNa and nara. nArAyaNa instructed

NArada and other sages, in BadarikAshrama, on the

spiritual principles.

 

5) Incarnation as Krishna – The Lord in His

incarnation of SrI Krishna taught the essential

aspects of dharma to Arjuna which is the Bhagavadgita.

 

Thus the Lord incarnated in order to protect the

Dharma and did another favour for the virtuous.

 

(To continue)

dAsan

Anbil S.SrInivAsan

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