krishna in Gokula

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CHAPTER-4 Infant Krishna

Kamsa having heard about the birth of Krishna became

overwhelmed with fear and anger and decided to send evil forces to

kill him. Poothana, who has power of maya, was sent by him to gokula

and she entered while everyone was asleep, taking the form of

Yasodha, and started breastfeeding Krishna who sucked her life along

with milk In Bhagavatha we find detailed description of the Poothana

episode which mentions her killing newborn babies everywhere and

assuming the form of a high born woman which impressed everyone in

Gokula including Rohini and she is said to have offered her poisonous

breast to Krishna. But in the work of Desika the devotional element

reigns supreme rather than the narrative details.

 

Hearing the shouts of Poothana and the crying of Krishna

Yasodha came running and grasped Krishna, 'sasambhramaavegamupethya

bheethaathamagrheeth durgraham aagammaanaam.' He is durgraha not

easily graspable even by aagamaas, ie.vedas and Yasodha grasped Him

so easily. Nanda also came there and was relieved to see that no harm

was done to the child. Poothana fell down dead assuming her real form

and the the gopas cut her large body into pieces and threw them at

the outskirts of the city to be eaten by carnivorous animals. Then

they put on Krishna, the goptha,the protector of all, an ornament, to

ward off the evil effects of the planets, consisting of the

miniatures of Panchaayudha of Narayana, namely sudarsana, the disc,

paanchajanya, the conch, saarnga, the bow,koumodhaki, the mace and

nandhaki, the sword, which in tamil is called aimpadaithaali

 

Desika while describimg the Poothana episode says, 'Sthanyena

krishnah saha poothanaayaah praanaan papau lupthapunarbhvaayaah.'

Krishna drank her life along with milk as a result of which she

attained the state of immortality, lupthapunarbhava. It itself is a

wonder, that to one who gave poison, the Lord repaid with the

purushaarthapradhaana, that is moksha, which is attainable only

through bhakthi.

Yet there is another wonder mentioned by Desika,'yadhadbutham

bhaavayathaam janaanaam sthanandhayathvam na punarbabhoova.' Those

who contemplate on Krishna sucking the breast of Poothana never again

lapse back into the state of shanadhyaithva, suckling infant. That is

they are not born again. Appayya dikshitha commenting on this says

that it is against thatkrathunyaya, the principle called thatkrathu ,

mentioned in the aaranyaka portion of the vedas that by thinking of

something one becomes that. This is further elaborated in a later

chapter which we shall see when we come to it.

 

One more leela of Krishna as an infant is described by

Desika. Once Yasodha placed him near a cart and he started crying

and His feet hit the cart and the mountainous cart fell into pieces

with a great sound. The sakatasura who came to kill Krishna was

destroyed. Bhagavatha does not mention sakatasura but simply desribes

the cart overladen with food toppling over when Krishna kicked at it

and Yasodha and others hazened there hearing the great sound and did

not believe the words of the children that Krishna did it. But in

Yadhvaabhyudhaya and Narayaneeyam we find Sakatasura mentioned and in

Narayaneeyam the poet describes how even the dust of the sakatasura

in the form of cartwheel was not to be found and ascribes it to the

effect of the sarirasambandha of the Lord. Desika says that Yasodha

touched the lotus like foot of Krishna to see whether it was hurt.

BalaKrishna

 

Next Desika presents the picture of crawling Krishna. When krishna

crawled on the floor the dust covered his body all over. Desika says

that the earth goddess tried to embraced him under the pretext of

covering his body with dust. 'prAyO dharithree parishasvajE tham

sApathrapA sAndhrarajacchalEna.'

The joy of Nanda knew no bounds on seeing the face of Krishna which

was nirvyAja mandhasmitha dharsaneeyam, delightful to behold with his

spontaneous smile. When he lisped and pronounced the name of his

mother partly he was acclaimed by all.Everyone was pleased with his

attempt to speak which was fascinating, says Desika, because the

Lord who created all the worlds and gave them name and form, is here

praised by the people in Gokula for uttering his mother's name

partially. The upanishad says that after creating the world of beings

Brahman willed to enter them with their soul to give them name and

form.'anEna jeevEna AthmanA anupravisya nAmrupE vyAkaravANi.' (Chan.6-

3-2)

 

Then Krishna started to speak with clarity and his pronunciation had

the scent of veda, says Desika.' varNasvarAdhivyavasAyabhoomnA

sikshAvidhAm sikshaNam agryam Aseeth.' It was as though he was

teaching the gopis who tried to make him speak through his

pronunciation of letters and the intonation etc. which resembled that

of the vedas.

Next we have the delightful picture of Krishna trying to

stand. 'thameeshadhutthAya nileenabhArAth samprekshya

dhanthAnkurachAruhAsam;sanAthaneem dhrshtim ananya dhrshtih sAnandham

AlOkatha nandha pathnee.'He tries to stand a little but keeps falling

off and he smiles sweetly showing his budding teeth.Yasodha ho had no

eyes for any thing else, was looking at him, who is the eye of all,

with joy.

Here it would be interesting to see how Periazvar enjoys Krishna

having his first teeth.' kOla narumpavaLa senthuvar vAyinidai komaLa

veLLimuLai pOl sila pallilaga,' in his mouth, red like coral, there

are a few teeth showing like tender shoots of silver.

Yasodha teaches Krishna to walk and Desika enjoys the scene thus:

Yasodha took hold of his hands and made him walk and he keeps falling

now and then pretending that he could not walk more than few steps so

that his mother will pick him up and tries again. Who is he! The one

who measured the threeworlds with three steps and now manifest as a

child in order to protect the world.'padhaisthribhihkrAntha

jagaththrayam tham bhavyAsA bhAvina bAlabhAvam.'

Soon Krishna was walking all around marking the earth with his

footprints as though to put his seal on earth to drive away the

wicked.Next comes the scene where Krishna dances to the tune of the

gopis.

Dancing Krishna

Perhaps the scene opens as the gopis are churning the milk and

Krishna comes there and begs for butter and they tell him to dance if

he wants butter and this is described by Desika as follows:

ya Esha lOkathrayasuthradhArah

paryAyapASthrANi charAcharANi

AnarthayathyadhbhuthacheshtithOasou

nanarthakhElannavaneethakAngkshee

He who is the director of the three worlds causing the movable and

immovable beings enact their role in turn, with His wonderful act,

danced playfully (in front of the gopis) desirous of getting butter.

This Desika names as Navaneetha natyam in his Gopalavimsathi.

AavirbhvathyanibhrthaabharaNam purasthaath

aakunchithaikacharaNam nibhrthaanyapaadham

DHadhnaa nimanTha mukhareNanibaddhathaalam

naatTHasya nandhabhavane navaneethnaatyam

which means,

'Let the vision of Krishna dancing in the house of Nanda, His

ornaments sounding as He dances, with one foot steady and the other

bent , His navaneethnaatya, dance for butter,to the thala of the

churning of milk, appear in front of me'

 

In gokula, keeping close to the churning pot desiring butter, the

body of Krishna is splattered with drops of curd. Desika is reminded

of the form of the Lord splattered with drops of nectar, or milk

while churning the milky ocean.

 

The same idea is expressed by Kulasekhara in Mukundamala where he

says,

 

ksheerasaagaratharangaseekaraasaarathaarakrtha charumoorthaye

bhogibhogasayaneeyasaayine maadhavaaya madhvidvishe namah.

 

Salutations to Madhava ,the killer of Madhu, reclining on the bed of

adisesha, His body charming splattered with the drops from the waves

of the milky ocean, looking as though He is covered with stars.

 

The dance of Krishna desiring butter is described by Leelasuka also

thus:

 

Vadhane navaneethagandDHavaaham vachane thaskarachaathuree DHureeNam

nayanaakuhanaasru asrayetTHaah charaNam komalathaandavam kumaaram

 

Seek the foot of the boy who is dancing gracefully,with His mouth

smelling of butter,His speech showing Him to be the foremost of

cheats, His eyes ( on being told off) full of false tears.

 

The devotees imagine that the reason the Lord left the milky ocean

and came to gokula is because being milky ocean He can get only milk

there and not butter.

 

Perhaps this scene was in the mind of Oothukkadu venkatakavi when he

sang 'AdAdhu asangAdhu vAA kannA.' which is a beautiful song and

should be dealt with separately to bring out its beauty.

 

Krishna the butter thief

 

thrasyan mukundho navaneethachouryAth

nirbhugna gAthrO nibhrtham sayAnah

nijAni nissabdhadhaSAm yayAche

baddhAnjalim bAlavibhooshaNAni

 

Krishna stole butter and was hiding with his body contracted out of

fear from the gopis. Desika calls him Mukundha, the one who gives

Moksha,as well as bhoga, here enacting fear. His limbs were trembling

with fear and he was afraid of being found out by the sound of his

ornaments and hence begged them not to make noise! To think about

this fearful posture of Krishna will remove all our fears.

 

Once Krishna wished for the forest fruits and approached the hunter

girl who was selling them with handful of grains. Desika says , the

one who gives Aranyakaphala wanted Aranyakaphala. The part of veda

taught in the forest is called Aranyaka , that is, upanishads and the

Lord is the giver of the fruit of that knowledge, namely moksha and

here he himself desired aranyakaphala, the forest fruits. There is

pun on the word aranyakla.

 

He carried a handful of grains to buy the fruits as is the custom in

those days and being a child, all the grains were falling off from

his hands when he ran towards the vendor.There were only few grains

and what the hunter girl saw was his hand marked with the sign of

conch and disc (sujAtharEkhAthmaka sankachakram) She thought that she

should give herself to those hands, which is of course more desirable

to the Lord than the fruits as He expects only the heart of the

devotee more than the other offerings. Then she filled his hands with

fruits and her basket was immediately filled with precious

gems.Desika refers to him as kreedAsisu, one who appeared as a child

by his leela.The gems were not in any way inferior to

Kousthubha,'rathnaisthadhA kousthubha nirvisEshaih.'

 

Krishna was frequently engaged in some mischief or other like

stealing butter, freeing the calves even when it was not milking

time, and other such deeds and once his long suffering mother wanted

to tie him to the mortar to keep him out of mischief. Desika says

that the mortar has done some punya to acquire that good fortune

that Yasodha wanted to tie Krishna to it. 'ulookhalE kuthrachith

AtthapuNyE.' Desika uses a pun on the word banDHu by saying that she

wished to tie him banDHum iyEsha who is the relative of the good,

sathAm banDHuh. The punyaphala of the mortar was to have the contact

of the body of tne Lord and also serving the purpose of his further

deed , namely the freeing of the sons of Kubera from their curse.

 

Then comes the description of the difficulty Yasodha was experiencing

in tying him to the mortar. Bhagavatha says that whatever rope she

tried it was found two inches short, dhvayangulOnam.

 

Aneetham agrE nija banDHanArTHam

dhAmAkhilam samhitham apyapoorNam

nireekshya nirviNNa DHiyOjananyAh

sankOcha shakthyA sa babhoova vanDHyah

 

On seeing that all the ropes even when joined together were not

enough due to his maya his mother became desperate. Then krishna took

pity on her and made himself small enough to be tied while he made

the ropes short earlier.

 

The sight of Krishna bound to the mortar was enjoyed by the devotees

variously.

 

Leelasuka says,

 

varamimam upadhEsam AdhriyaDHvam

nigamavanEshu nithAntha chAra khinnAh

vichinutha bhavnEshu vallaveenAm

upanishadharTHam ulookhalE nibaddham

 

Listen to this best advice, you who are fatgued in wandering in the

forest of vedas! The Brahman of the upanishads whom you try to find,

is bound to the mortar here in the house of the milkmaids.

 

Desika himself refers to Krishna as Brahmakishora, Brahman in form of

a child in Gopalavimsathi.

 

Those who think of the Lord in this state of being bound to the

mortar will be freed from the bondage of karma without any effort on

their part.Desika further says ,'thapasvinee thathkrathuneethirAdhya

savreedam AraNya kaTHAsu thasTHou. The rule called thatthkrathu in

vedanta is that whatever one thinks on so he becomes. In the case of

Krishna, whatever leela of Bhagavn one thinks of, the result is just

the opposite.This is illustrated by Desika saying, those who think of

Krishna as being bound they get freedom from their bondage. And he

says that with a poetic expression. The thathkrathu nyaya went and

hid itself in the stories of the forest out of shame on its failure.

Aranyakas are the upanishads which contain this nyaya and hence the

word Aranyaka is used as a pun to denote forest.

 

The eyes of Krishna were full of tears and that amused the onlookers

because he looked like an elephant bound to its post. Desika

describes this in Gopalavimsathi thus. Yasodha is grasping Krishna in

her hand and threatens him and Krishna is seen crying and smudging

the eyeliner applied to his eyes with his hand. What a delightful

picture of the leela of the Lord! Desika calls him miThyAgOpa, the

pseudo cowherd in Gopalavimsathi because being visvagoptha, the

protector of the whole universe, he is now pretending to be a cowherd

boy feigning fear

 

..Then Desika describes very briefly the release of the sons of Kubera

from their curse.Krishna dragged the mortar playfully and it was

stopped by the two twin trees and when dragged further by him it

uprooted the trees. The two sons of Kubera, Nalakoobara and

Manigreeva who were cursed by the sage Narada to become trees got

back their original form.Bhagavatha says that Krishna thought that

the sage Narada is dear to him and the time has come to fulfil his

promise to the yakshas and hence he enacted this scene.The two

yakshas bowed down to Krishna and went their way.

devarshirme priyathamah yadhimou dhanaddhaathmajou

thatthathaa saadhayishyaami yadhgeetham thanmahaathmanaa (Bh.10-10-25)

" the devarshi Narada is dear to me and these are the sons of Kubera

(who is also a devotee) and hence I will fulfill what has been

promised by Narada. "

 

 

As he took the form of a lion-man to prove the words of Prahlada and

the boon of Brahma, both of whom were His devotees, now he allowed

HImself to be bound to the mortar in order to free the twins and to

prove the words of Narada . That is the karunaa of the Lord.

 

 

 

 

Almost immmediately Desika switches to the migration of the residents

of Gokula to Brindvan.