SrI Jayanthi -an insight into KaNNan's dhivya chEshtithams- Part 1

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

Today is Sri Krishna Jayanthi. JanmAshtami... 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. Thsee special Rama Krishna avathArams

have got a spociality in them. The Sarvagnan,

SarvEshwaran, Sarva shakthan, the Supreme Lord- who is

unpapalleled 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 [comnpassion] 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 Vaudevar, 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 ultilate 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.

 

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.

 

Let us look at other doubts that may arise in us

tomorrow. Tomorrow also the world celebrates SrI

Jayanthi.. 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

 

Sarvam SrI KrishNArpaNamasthu

AchAryan ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan madhavakkannan