Brindgavansancharee-continued

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There are two ways to mukthi, rasAsvadha, or experiencing the joy of

union with the Lord and brahmajnana, through meditation or

jnanamarga.The upanishad says, 'rasO vai sah;rasam hOvAyamlabDhva

Anandhee bhavathi.' Brahman or Narayana is the rasa and attaining Him

is the bliss. Rasa, Anandha and Brahman are synonymous terms.

 

The rasakreeda signifies the jivas enjoying the bliss with the Lord.

The sages see the leela of the Lord in the world where all the jivas

are around Him holding His hand.So the whole world is the brindavan

and the leela of the Lord in creating sustaining and annihiating is

the rasakreeda. RAsa is also termed as the collection of all the five

vaishnava rasas, namely,dAsya, sakhya, vAtsalya,madhura and shantha.

 

To those who criticise the rasleela the answer would be that Krishna

was only 10 when he was in Brindavan and where does eroticism figure?

Parikshit himself was ignorant on this aspect and asked Shuka how is

it justified for one who incarnated for dharmasamsthapana to play

with the wives of others. And Shuka replied,

gOpeenAm thathpatheenAm cha sarvEshAmEva dhEhinAm yO anthascharathi

so aDHyakshah kreedanEna iha dhEhabhavah

 

The one who is the indweller of the gopis and their husbands and all

beings and the witness self, is now playing in physical form.

 

Srimadbhagavatha says,

rEmE ramESO vrajasundareebhih

yaTHA arbakah svaprathibimba vibhramah.

 

The Lord of Lakshmi enjoyed the company of the cowherd damsels as a

child will revel in his own reflections.

 

The whole of Bhagavatha is considered to be the sarira of the Lord

and the five adhyayas describing rasakreeda are the prANasThAna. It

is bhakthyAh parA kAshTA na sringArasya . It is the height of

devotion and not of physical desire.It is said in Bhagavatha that the

husbands never felt the absence of their wives during the nights of

rasakreeda because their yogasariras were with Krishna while their

bhogasariras were at home doing their duty. As the gopis saw only

Krishna everywhere their love for their kith and kin only

increased,and for the same reason it was reciprocated.

 

 

Vedantadesika in his yadhavabhyudhaya mentions that the brahmacharya

of Krishna was not in any way affected,'na brhmachryam bibhidhE

thadheeyam, and Appayyadikshita , a leading exponent of advaita,

writing commentary on this work says that this is because everythng

is His sarira and He was embracing His own sarira. He quotes the

PAdhmOttharakAnda from PadmapuraNa where Lord Siva tells Parvathi,

who raised the same question, that it is like 'svasariraparishvanga'

embracing oneself.

 

The one who related the story is a parivrajaka brahmajnani and the

one to whom it is told is Parikshit, paramabhagavtha and those who

listened were rshis. All jivas are women and He alone is the Purusha.

(This explanation is given here instead of giving it in the chapter

on rasakrida because it would help understanding and enjoying

Rasakreeda when we come to the chapter.)

 

Krishna the cowherd.

 

Nandha sent Krishna and Balarama to tend the cattle Desika says,

ananya thanthrah svayamEva dhEvAn

padmAsanAdheen prajanayya rakshan

sa rakshakah seerabhrtha saha Aseeth

nEthA gavAm nandhaniyogavarthee.

 

The one who created the devas including Brahma and is their

protector, obeyed the command of Nandha and became a cowherd along

with Balarama.YasOdha worried over his tender feet becoming hurt with

the stony path of the forest as Periazvar says, 'kudaiyum seruppum

kodAdhE----kodiyEn en piLLaiyai pOkkinEn ellE pAvame' imagining

himself as YasOdha.

 

Desika says that the vedas themselves became the cows when their

protector became a cowherd. The cows being the personification of the

vedas, the supreme Being, paramapurusha was their rakshaka.

 

gOpAyamAnE purushE parasmin gOroopathAm vEdhagirO bajanthyah

The sounds made by them when they touched his feet with their mouths

echoed the words pronounced in samagana.

 

bhavyairasEvantha padham thadheeyam

sthObha prathicchandhanibhaih svasabdhaih

 

sthobha are the sabdhas like 'ha, uhA, u' that are uttered in

samagana which resemble the sound made by the cows.

 

Krishna tied and released the cows as required signifying his power

in binding and releasing jeevas.

 

The way Krishna showed his affection to the calves playing with him

seem to teach the cows how to love their calves, 'vAthsalyasiksham

iva vAsudhEvAth.'

Whenever the other cowherd boys felt hungry Krishna gave them curd

rice, dhaDHyanna out of his hand which is described by Desika as

madhuplutha, dripping with honey.The boys gave him delicius fruits

they gathered in the forest and he ate them with relish after giving

them first to Balarama. He ate the sesha of the sesha!

 

The Brindavana appeared as something that was never seen in any yuga,

says Desika. being protected by Narayana with Sesha who is like His

arm, that is, Krishna and Balarama, the brindhavana with its herds of

cows, vyAprtha dhEnu brindham was true to its name.

 

The brindhavana was full of deep pools, abundant grass, shady and

even in the hot summer it was cool for the cows and the cowherds.The

cows never had any fear from disease,demons and wild animals. The

gopas being under the care of Vasudeva, never experienced the natural

calamities like athivrshti, flood and anAvrshti, draught etc and also

any obstacles from other beings. so they enjoyed a prosperity not

obtained in any other yuga 'apoorvayugAnubhoothi.'

 

Desika here alludes to an episode according to which the crown of

Lord Vishnu was stolen by Bali and Garuda brought it back in

KrishnAvathAra.

 

Garuda gave a crown to Krishna which , Desika says , rightly belonged

to him being robbed from him while he was sleeping in his seshasayana

by Bali.

The words describing the arrival of Garuda is much more enchanting

than the story itself.

AghrAtha varthmAnam aranyabhAgEshu

AraNyakaih AsrithaDHEnubhAvaih

kEnApi thasyApahrtham kireetam

prathyAharan praukshatha pathrinAThah

 

 

Desika says that Garuda found Krishna by the cows which were smelling

the path followed by him. Here the word 'AraNyakaih Asritha

DHEnubhAvaih' means that the vedas which became the cows and Garuda

being the personification of vedas, 'vedAthmA vihagEsvarah' found the

Lord who is vedavedhya, known only from the vedas.

 

The yajnapathni upAkhyAna is mentioned briefly by Desika in one

sloka. When the cowherd boys became hungry Krishna told them to go to

the nearby yajnasAla and ask the rshis there for food, which was

refused to them by the rshis who were learned in vedas but did not

know the import of the vedas, the Lord Himself, whom all offerings

in all yajnas go to and who had come as a cowherd.But their wives

steeped in bhakthi obliged courting the anger of their husbands Due

to the grace os the LOrd the rshis understood their mistake and

praised their wives for their bhakthi.

 

Then Desika describes how Krishna was enjoying the company of the

calves and vice versa. They are compared with saints filled with

devotion, bhakthibharAvanamrAn as they imitated their behaviour.They

closed their eyes, nimeelithAkshAn on being touched by him,and were

drowsy being fondled by his hand and with their attention only on

him., ananyAbhimukhAn. The calves went to the places where there is

no grass because they were green with the hue of Krishna.On returning

he himself fed them by taking them to their mothers as they were

parisramsrAnthapadhAh, tired after roaming in the forest.

 

The scene in which Krishna is returning from the forest is described

thus.Coming at a distance with the cows,he became the cause of

brightening of the faces of the gopis with joy, ullAsa, as the rising

sun causing the blossoming of lotuses. The word 'gObih' means

also 'by rays ' and 'ullasa' is joy as well as blossoming. When he

came playing his flute his lustre gave so much joy to the girls that

it looked as though the whole world was enchanted by his peacock

feathers.

 

How did the wmenfolk of the gokula enjoyed his presence is given in a

beautiful sloka by Desika.

bAlam tharuNyah tharuNam cha bAlAh

tham avarjyantha samAnabhAvAh

thadhadhbhutham thasya vilOkanam vA

thasyaiva sarvArha rasAthmathA vA

 

He was loved by young women and by young girls alike as though he

was of their age group.Desika says it is to be ascertained whether

this wonder is due to his maya or his being the essence of

everything, 'rasO vai sah.'

 

Further Desika says that both Balrama and Krishna were looked upon

differently by different groups of people. They were sons to their

parents, handsome young men to young women, ancient, puraANapurushas

to the wise old men who knew about their avathararahasya.

 

Desika also mentions the marriage of Krishna to Nappinna in his

young age by taming seven bulls. She is said to be the daughter of

the sister of Nandhgopa and mentioned as sathya in Bhagavatham and

her marriage with Krishna is mentioned only after that of Rukmini and

sathyabhAma.She was supposed to be the incarnation of Neela devi as

Rukmini was sreedevi and sathyabhama was bhoodevi.