Raamo naama babhuva hum thadabalaa Sitethi hum tou
piturvachaa Panchavati vane viharathas thaama haradh Ravanaha
Nidraartham janani kathaamiti Harer hunkaaratas srunvatas
Soumitrekva dhanur dhanur dhanuriti vyagraagirah paathunaha!
Leela Shuka’s fertile imagination transports us to different regions and situations associated with Lord Vishnu and His Krishnavatar! He takes us to the Lord’s abode Vaikunta and the sweet romance between Himself and Goddess Mahalakshmi! As the Divine couple are about to start, Mahalaksmi objects and tries to prevent the Lord's amorous advances! She does not desire to be kissed, embraced or touched by His nails! She is very much afraid of the effects of such actions by the Lord in several instances previously! Lord’s kiss resulted in the terrible death of Putana, the demon sent by Kamsa to kill Krishna! Child Krishna drank away the demon's life along with the milk! When Yasoda tied Krishna to the mortar, He dragged it in between the two “Maddi” trees that crashed with terrible thud! That was because of His embrace! It was Lord's nails that tore the entrails of Hiranyakasipu and saved the world and Prahlaada, His sincere devotee! Hence the fear of the Goddess! She is referring to the Narasimhavatar and Krishnavatars indirectly to dissuade the Lord from approaching Her! The poet hopes that such Krishna, romancing His Lady, should protect him!
One day Yasoda started narrating a story to child Krishna to put him to sleep! “ There was a king by name Rama. Krishna responded by saying hum, hum! His wife was Sita. Hum, Hum! According to the order of his father Dasaratha Rama went to the forest. While they were staying in Panchavati, Ravanasura abducted her. Listening to the story narrated to put Him to sleep and responding with the sounds hum and hum, Krishna called out “ O Soumithri! My Bow, My Bow, where is it?” and exclaimed loudly! Let those words spoken repeatedly by Krishna protect us” says Leela Shuka in this graphic description!
Yasoda narrates the story of Sri Rama thinking that child krishna is ignorant of the story! Little does she realize that the same Paramatma, Lord Vishnu has incarnated as Rama and Krishna! It is a kind of blissful ignorance which allows her to pour her indescribable love and affection on her darling Krishna! She would not be able to enjoy and appreciate the presence of Krishna if she knew that Krishna is the Avatar of Vishnu! Hence, she tells the story of Sri Rama casually to put Krishna to sleep. It is the usual custom and practice of a mother to sing a lullaby or tell a story so that the child will sleep quickly. The moment Krishna heard this statement, He grew enraged, forgot His child nature and called out to Laksmana His brother and questioned repeatedly where His bow and arrows are!
The beauty of the sloka is that the poet presents the picture of Krishna responding to Yasoda's narration! Like all children reacting to the story, Krishna too heard the story and made sounds like “hum, hum”! This ensured Yasoda and she was totally satisfied. She continued the story and said that Sri Rama obeyed the command of His father and went to the forest with His wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. While staying at Panchavati, Ravana, king of Lanka came in disguise and abducted Sita! Krishna remembers the episodes of His previous Avatars and when reminded of such incidents, reacts with anger and heroism! How can we imagine that the Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient Lord would be oblivious of His past avatars, actions and miracles? Probably this sudden fury of Krishna is to impress Yasoda about His Divinity and to prove that He is no ordinary child!
Krishna's sudden reaction, perhaps is to indicate that he was Rama in Treta Yuga who went to the forest and lost his spouse Sita through the evil design of Ravana! The same Rama has come down to earth as Krishna, the son of Devaki and brought up by Yasoda! The word “ Soumitri” refers to Lakshmana, he being the son of Sumitra one of the three wives of Dasaratha. Sri Rama's bow is the legendary invincible “Kodanda” the terror of enemies. Leela Shuka, enjoying this wonderful, rare vision points out that such enraged Krishna should protect him!
No comments:
Post a Comment