Frequently Asked Questions -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. Krishna,

Rama avathArams are the most enjoyable and divine and

they always enchant us with the wonderful deeds of the

Lord. AzhwArs and Acharyans have deeply immersed

themselves in these avathArams in particular and had

seen the same Rama, Krishna in the archA mUrthys in

Dhivya Desams. These special Rama Krishna avathArams

have got a speciality in them. The Sarvagnan,

SarvEshwaran, Sarva shakthan, the Supreme Lord- who is

unparalleled and Peerless- who has none equal to or

above Him… oppAril appan- ParamAthmA- PurushOtthaman-

Jagath kaarNanan; Jagath rakshakan- The Only One who

could grant mOksham [mOksha pradhan]; the Ultimate

enjoyment for NithyasUris and mukthAs at Srivaikuntam.

One can go on describing and extolling His positions,

Roopam, Swaroopam, vibhuthi (rulership) i.e. this

world [leelA vibhUthi] and Paramapadham [Nithya

vibhUthi], His innumerous kalyANa guNas… In spite of

such Greatest qualities, His dayA [compassion] is

Supreme and the most important One; manisarkaay-

padaathana pattu- For the sake of human beings- what

all troubles; briths (as avathArams) He undertakes. He

took the avathArams in the lowly human forms – and

stoops down so low with such east accessibility to

illiterate Gopas, GopikAs, pasu (cows), pakshis

(jatAyu), monkeys, boatmen- hunters (Guha), et al. His

sowlabhyam [coming down so low] and sowseelyam [easily

accessible for all] is amazingly true and present in

such Greatest Parathvam…

 

He moved with everyone equally and attracted them all

with His sowlabhyam and sowseelyam. He is thus

possessed with the most wonderful gunAs –namely

Sowlabhya, Sowseelyams. Rama is addressed as Gunvaan-

mentioning this gunA especially.

 

KrishnAvathAra sowseelyam is Ultimate and there is no

match for that. aRivonRum illAdha Aykulatthu- He

appeared in the group of cowherd folks who were

completely illiterate; having no saasthra jnAnam- did

not even know how to eat with right hand or left..

[idakkai, valakkai theriyaadha].. He mixed with them

as if He had been a cowherd Boy for ages and even

Devendran, Chathu mukha BrahmA were all misled. He

reared cattle; tendered calves; played with Gopa boys,

shared their food, taking a bite from their palms;

played with Gopikas and danced with them… He allowed

Himself tied down to a mortar by the illiterate Gopa

lady (YasodhA) and NammAzhwAr marveled as His such a

sowseelyam and fainted for about six months it is told

[etthiRam? etthiRam] .

 

This sowseelya gunA which can not be seen in anyone

else in such grandest proportion is the natural

swabhAvam for the Lord.. It is His one of His inherent

kalyANa guNa for the sake of us- due to His mercy,

dayA on us. How many of us understand that? Hardly

any. The Lord Himself says in GitA- avajAnanthi maam

mUDA! …. Sa mahatma sudhurlabha:

 

Ravana talks lowly about Rama coming to the forest,

leaving His coronation for His younger brother;

Sisupalan talked in un-parliamentary language

(sudusol) about the deeds of KaNNan- as cowherd Boy.

 

avyaktham vyakthimApannam manyanthE maam abuddhaya: |

param bhAva majaanantha: mamaavyayam anutthamam ||

 

I, who was born as the son of Vasudevar, am being

considered as if born due to the bondage with Karma;

and they do not understand my supreme sowseelya guNaa.

The same holds good for all His avathArams. Without

understanding His true nature and guNAs, we (people)

talk low about His deeds performed during these

avathArams. Those who do that are foolish; and who

equate Him with them as humans and evaluate His

actions in their view point as humans.

 

Still, it continues. Even today such talking goes on.

Even sincere devotees sometimes get doubts on His

vaali vandham, Gopika dance etc.. The Lord Himself

tells Vaali: sookshuma: paramudhuehEya: Dharmam is

very subtle; it is not easily comprehensible. KaNNan

played with gopa sthrees – and even today many of us

are not able to digest; But we, srivaishnavites,

should never get such thoughts about His such grandest

deeds. But it is essential to get our doubts cleared

so that we reinforce our devotion on Him stronger and

it grows from strength. There is no better time that

talking about it now on His janmAshthami. Please

forgive me if I am again trespassing where fools do

rush in where angels fear to tread. This is only to

clarify the foolish arguments and thoughts in us.

Swamy desikan himself most mercifully has enlisted the

Freqently Asked Questions on this incident and

answered to clarify our doubts. It is Swamy who

blessed us with the unparalleled abhaya pradhAna

saaram to clarify many aspects on Saranagathi during

RamavathAram. Swamy mentions in his

yaadhavaabhyudhayam about Krishna avathAram and let us

enjoy them and get our doubts cleared. [reference: the

most brilliant article written by Naavalpaakam SrI U

VE Dr Vasudevachariar Swamy, Trivandhrum in Sri

Hayagriva Priya and I was so lured by the article that

I wished to share with all of you- anything good in

these posts is only due to the wonderful original

article and Swamy Desikan’s excellent analysis.

Mistakes, errors, omissions are entirely mine. Sri

Vasudevachar Swamy is the one who wrote the Tamil

meanings for Swamy Desikan Dhivya sahasranaamam

released and as blessed by Srimad PaRavaakkOttai

Andavan Swami. Also, asmadhAchAryan His Holiness

Srimad PaRavaakkOttai ANdavan Sri Gopala Desika

Mahadesikan Swami had delivered a two hours upanyasam

on this subject few years ago on a sravaNam day -

wonderfully quoting the very reference which is in

this article. It is Acharya anugraham that I am able

to find the same reference in this article and we

share here now]

 

It may take a few posts and the article is a bit long

and hence we will cover it as a series.

 

suraanganaabhi: samayE Gruthaayaam swEnaiva gOpAkruthi

bhUmikAyAm |

akarmavaSyasya vibhOsthadhAseeth

arChAphalasparSanamaathraleelA ||

[from Yadavabhyudhayam- 8.67]

 

This sloka- a wonderful sloka- has answers for many

questions.

 

1. Question: The ultimate pinnacle of Sowlabhyam

[eLimai] – joined hands with Gopa sthrees and enjoyed

being with them, united with them. Even some of them

were married [to others]. They too were happy being

with Him. This is against saasthrAs. Does this deed

bring a bad name for KaNNan?

 

Answer: We should first of all, not think that He

[bhagwaan] and us- as one jaathi (one group). He is

Iswaran; Lord; ruler of all of us; It is His sankalpam

even for our very existence; breathing. He is never

touched by punya, paapams; He is akilahEya

prathyaneekan (untouched by imperfections; or bad

guNAs); He is not bound by Karma at all; His birth is

an avathAram for the sake of us. We are all bound

always by Karma; We are tied down by our papams and

punyams. He is above vidhi nishEdha saasthrAs;

SaasthrAs are for us to be on right track for getting

rid of our paapams, and accrual of punyas and to

please Him as SaasthrAs are His agnyA- instructions.

Sage Vyasa also says clearly: aroopavadhEva hi

tathpraDhAnathvaath. Bhagawaan DOES not belong to

human race; He is in manidha jaathi at all. We can not

hold Him down with the rules laid down for us.

 

Also, We can not compare and equate our actions with

his dhivya chEshtithams )leelAs); Can we lift the huge

Govardhana mountain with the little finger as a Boy?

Can we dance on top of many heads of poisnous snake

Kaalingan? Sage Suka takes the example of Rudra

himself to explain this in Srimad Bhaagawatham:

Bhagawaan’e leelAs are very many. Rudra’s leelas are

few; Even them, we can not do or perform. Rudra drank

the poison and did not perish [as it was Deva kaaryam

and the Lord Sriman Narayanan blessed him to undertake

the task]. Can we drink poison and survive? When such

is case with Iswaran, why to talk about SarvEswaran?

 

Hence, KaNNan does not belong to us – human race.

Iswaran; Parabrahmam- is He. Veda declares Him as

apahathapaapma. Swamy EmperumAnAr Sri Ramanuja

comments this as: by His nature, He is not bounded by

Karma [apahathakarmathvam,

karmavaSyathAgandharahithatattvam ithyarTTha: ]

 

So, if some of His acts appear to us the acts of

paapam, He is unbounded and untouched by such acts at

all. Hence, will paapam never ever affect or come to

Him due to these acts?- the question does not arise at

all for Him… Swamy desikan touches upon this aspect in

the above sloka with the word.. akarmavaSya.. Thus He

does not belong to jeeva jaathi; and also He is our

Ruler, Lordship and Isawaran and due to both aspects,

He does not get affected by Karma and Punya paapams

says engaLAzhwAn in the commentary on Vishnu purANa

for the same subject under IswaratvEna apahathapaapmatvaat..

 

Hence no dhOsham for Him.

 

More queries and answers- in next post - tomorrow

Regards