After saving mother Earth from the clutches of the cruel
asura Hiranyaksha, Lord Vishnu, as Narasimha ,kills his vicious
brother Hiranyakasipu and showers his grace on the great child devotee
Prahlada! That was in Krutha Yuga and the first part of the boon granted to his
dwarapalakas Jaya and Vijaya who attained salvation. In their second birth as
Ravana and Kumbhakarna the Lord descended as Sri Rama and saved the Devas by Killing
them. That was in Tretha Yuga The last
and final birth of the dwarapalakas was that of Sisupala and Dantavaktra the
personification of evil and terror!
Lord Krishna’s avatar, thus comes in Dwapara Yuga that became
notorious for the evil and unrighteous acts of kings like Kamsa, Jarasandha and
Sisupala. True to the saying ‘ yadayadahi dharmasya glanirbhavathi
Bharatha abhyutthana madharmasya
thadatmanam srujamyaham’ the Lord took avatar as Krishna in the Yadava
community. Sri Rama chose Kausalya as his mother while Krishna chose Devaki and
Vasdeva as his parents. While Sri Rams totally compressed his divinity and
exhibited the qualities of an ordinary mortal and suffered all the vicissitudes
of royal and family life, it was not so with Krishna. Adi kavi Valmiki praises
Sri Rama as “Ramo vigrahavan dhamaha”.
Krishna was
born in the prison to Devaki in his original resplendent form with four hands,
the conch and the disc! The parents were overwhelmed with excitement and
indescribable joy. Soon the child transformed itself
into an ordinary baby! From the beginning Krishna exhibited his divinity
and celestial powers! The prison doors open by themselves, the Yamuna cleaves
to allow Vasudeva to take the child to Gokulam and in the terrible downpour
Adisesha becomes the umbrella to protect the child!
The word
Krishna means black. Krishna is black in color! Black has its own beauty. ‘
karshati iti Krishnaha’—one who attracts others is Krishna. Krishna’s life at
Gokulam is full of divine leelas or
sports significant among them being the killing of Putana sent by Kamsa.
Krishna destroys other demons like Sakatasura, Bakasura! Kaliya mardana and lifting the
Govardhana giri proclaim his divinity beyond doubt! The romantic aspect
of his life with the mystic Radha is often misrepresented. Her pure and
unsullied Love for Krishna is that of the Jivatma
or the individual soul for the
Absolute soul or Paramatma. The love of the gopikas who leave their homes to see Krishna
is also of the same kind. The Bhagavatha Purana describes in detail the ‘ Rasa
Leela’ where Krishna assumes myriad
forms to play with individual gopikas. Krishnavataris considered as “
PURNAVATAR”.
The
greatest and the most difficult part of the avatar is ‘dharma
samsthapana’-establishing righteousness. Krishna is called ‘Pandava
pakshapati’—biased towards the Pandavas. He is the constant companion, friend, philosopher, and guide to Arjuna and the Pandavas. The greatest contribution of
the avatar to the universe is his ‘ Bhagavadgita’ which Swami Vivekananda calls
“ Universal Scripture”. It is the discourse to Arjuna on the battle field of
Kurukshetra. When Arjuna vacillates and becomes despondent and refuses to wage
war and kill his teachers and kin, Krishna disabuses his mind and eggs him on
to action.” Do your duty”, says he, “Don’t expect any reward. You are only an
instrument in my hands. “Nimttamatram bhava savyasachin” He counsels the path
of total surrender to God and with faith. Karma leads to bhakti or devotion to
God which later flowers into Jnana or Knowledge. As the Pandavas stood for
dharma Lord Krishna stood by them and saved them from every critical situation!
Thus
Krishnavatar is a clarion call for humanity to tread the path of Karma and
dharma! This means right conduct, patience, tolerance, devotion to God and
duty, love and compassion for all creatures and service without self to society
at large. We do not find many of these qualities in this Kali Yuga Let us try
to cultivate at least a few of these traits!
No comments:
Post a Comment