Desikasthothramala-Gopalavimsathi

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Gopalavimsati

 

by

Vedanta Desika

 

 

..

Desika has written devotional hymns on all the archaavathaaras the deities of all the vaishnavite shrines but none of the forms of Lord Narayana seems to be so dear to him as His incarnation

as Krishna. Gopalavimsati, twenty verses in praise of Krishna

is the most exquisite work exuding charm and beauty. Yadhavaabhyudhaya is an epic which seems to be an

elongated version of Gopalavimsati as it elaborates on the

subtle references to the exploits of Krishna

therein but it is rich in poetic skill and intellectual excellence. The most

significant fact which points out to the link between the two works is that the

opening verse of both the works is the same.

 

The mangalasloka is

`vande brindavanacharam vallaveejanavallabham;

jayanteesambhavam DHaama

vyjayantheevibhooshanam.' (Gopalaavimsati-1)

This

verse is rich in meaning and brings out fully the glory of Krishna. It means, `Salutations to Him, who was born on Krishnaashtami, who used to inhabit the

Brindavan, adorned with the garland of forest flowers, self effulgent and loved

by gopis. The four adjectives given to the Lord, namely, brindavanacharam, the one

who roams around in Brindavan, vallveejanavallabham,

the beloved of the gopis, jayantheesambhavam,

born on the day of His avatar, vyjayantheevibhooshanam,

adorned by the forest flowers are rich in meaning as they denote His vathsaltya, souseelya,soulbhya and svamithva.

 

His

Vaathsalya, love towards His

dependents is indicated by Brindhaavanacharam

, which is like that of a cow towards its calf.

Brindha denotes His devotees, for whose protection, avanaaya, He moves about, charathi. This dispels the fear in the heart of His punishment for

the wrong deeds one has committed, svaaparaadha bhaya nivarthakam. Appayya

dikshitha, in his commentary says that

He, who was dhandakaaranyachara, walked

in the dhandaka forest for the protection of the rshis became brindhaavanachara, for the protection

of the cows, in Krishnaavathaara true to His

promise later, `parithraanaaya saadhoonaam vinaasaaya cha dushkrthaam, dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya

samhavaami yuge yuge', I manifest Myself

in each epoch in order to protect the

good and to punish the wicked.' The cows represent the good who resort to the

Lord for their welfare. Sentiment, rasa, exhibited by this epithet is adbhutha,

wonder that the lord assumes the form of a cowherd and showers His love to

one and all, man, bird and beast. The same vathsalya as He has shown towards Prahladha so

that Hiranya kasipyu could not harm even

a hair on his body, towards Jatayu in

Ramaavathaara and towards all His dependents in Krishnaavathaara which made

Him even to wash and feed the horses

during the Mahabhaaratha war.

 

Valavee jana vallabham, the

beloved of the gopis, is the epithet chosen for the purpose of indicating His Souseelyam, benevolence. Souseelyam is defined as `mahathah mandhaihi saha neerandhra samslesha svabhaavah, the

close friendship shown by the great towards the humble folk. This quality of

the Lord dispels the fear that He is beyond comprehension. Appayya dikshitha

says that the fact that He who

enjoys the uninterrupted union with

Mahakakshmi was also able to enjoy the company of the simple cowherd girls is

the proof of His souseelya. The term Vallavijana

is used to denote their nomad existence as valla

means movement. The sentiment expressed here is sringara.

 

Desika

uses the epithet Jayanthee sambhavam to denote the soulabhya of the Lord, in taking birth

in the yadhavakula, which removes the

fear that the Lord is unapproachable. Soulabhyam

is labhdhum susakathvam, easy accessibility. The significance of the word jayanthee sambhava instead of Devakisambhava implies that the Lord manifested Himself as

Krishna and was not born, according to His words `sambhavaami yuge yuge' and `yadha yadha hi dharmasya

glaanirbhavathi -------thadhaathmaanam srjamyaham.' Jayanthi

also means jayam thanothi, victorious in the vinaasa

of dushkrtha, indicative of

virarasa. It is interesting to observe here that the words jayanthi and janmaashtami are used only to mark

Krishnajayanthi, janmaashtami avathaara dhinasya jayantheethi vyavahaarah and all

the others are mentioned as Ramanavami

, Nrsimhajayanthi and so on.

 

Dhaamavyjayantheevibhooshanam relates to

the svaamithva, overlordship.. Dhaama means the self effulgent nature and vyjayayanthi which normally means

garland of forest flowers also implies bhoothathanmaathra

adhishtaana devatha the divinity behind the elements. The vanamaala here is the maya of the Lord which He wears like a garland in

His manifestations This indicates that Krishna

is the Parabrahman who is the cause

of this universe created out of His own Maya. The Paravasudeva is referred to by this epithet.

 

The next sloka describes the Gopalayantra.

vaacham nijankarasikaam prasameekshamaaNah

vaktraaravindhavinivesita paanchajanyah

varNatrikoNa ruchire varapundareeke

badDHaasano jayathi

vallavachakravarthee.(Gopalaimsati-2)

 

The Lord is seated on , a lotus shaped

aasana, varapuNdareeke , which is beautiful, ruchira, and trikoNa , with three angles and contains varNa,

letters of the Gopalamantra.Within a lotus of eight petals there is a

triangle and the varNa, letters represent Vak,Sarasvatidevi, nijaanka rasika, who enjoys the anka , lap, meaning the center of the

yantra. Krishna is looking at her, prasameekshamaaNah, His glances directed towards her to

give jnana . The implication here is that the wisdom of even Sarasvati is from

the Lord only.He has the Panchajanya, the conch which is the source of all

sounds being praNavasvarupa, in His lotus like mouth, Vaktraaravindavinivesitha

paanchajanyah. The Lord is referred to as vallavachakravarthee,the Lord of the cowherds.He is a

chakravarthee , the emperor of the universe though born in the vallaveekula.

The rest of the slokas are beautiful describing the leelas of Krishna

which we shall see presently.

 

AmnaayaganDHirudhithasphurithaadDHaroshtam

aasraavilekshaNam anukshaNamandhahaasam

gopaladimbhavapusham kuhanaajananyaah

praanNsthananDHayam avaimi param

pumaamsam.(Gopalavimsathi-3)

 

 

'I know for certain that this child in the form of

a cowherd is none other than the Supreme

Purusha, whose lower lip trembling when he cries has the fragrance of the

vedas, whose eyes are stained with tears but the next moment lit up with smile,

who drank the life of Poothana , who came disguised as His mother.'

 

Krishna was crying or pretends so because even

though His lower lip was trembling it

gives out the fragrance of the vedas and eyes were full of tears, He gives a

charming smile( perhaps when no one was looking) which belies His grief.

Besides He drank the life of Poothana who came in the guise of His mother. So

Desika says that he is sure that this is none else than the Lord.He uses the

verb 'avaimi' to mean 'I know' to denote that it is his confirmed opinion.

 

The idea in saying that the trembling lip 'sphurithaaDharoshtam, of Krishna, who is

crying,'rudhitha,' smell of vedas, is that whatever sound that came out

of His lips is that is veda.Desika says in his Yadhavaabhyudhaya that Krishna's

first speech and his conversation with His friends and even the sound made by

the cows around Him were nothing but the vedic sound, because He is the

Paramapurusha whose nisvaasa, exhalation is the veda. The veda sabdas became

the cows and the rshis of dandakaranya became

the gopis.

 

AavirbhvathyanibhrthaabharaNam purasthaath

aakunchithaikacharaNam nibhrthaanyapaadham

DHadhnaa nimanTha mukhareNanibaddhathaalam

naatTHasya nandhabhavane navaneethnaatyam (Gopalavimsati-4)

 

'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'

 

Krishna begs for butter and dances to please His

mother to persuade her to give it to Him., . His ornaments shake,anibhrthaabharaNam,

as He dances making beautiful sound. He has one foot bent, aakunchithaikacharaNam

and other foot steady, nibhrthaanyapaadham in dancing a step. What can

be the thala to His dance Desika says the churning of curd making continous

sound ,daDHinimanThamukhara,provides the thaala. Desika calls this navaneethanaatya,

dance for butter.

 

Desika

in his Yadhavabhyudhya, describes this as follows:

 

The lokasuthradhaara, one who is the controller or

director of this world of chit and achit, danced to the wishes of the gopis wishing to get butter. What a wonderful

leela!

 

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.