Sri Jayanthi: The birth of Lord KrishNA and the AzhwAr's anubhavam of Sri KrishNa ParamAthmA

[Guest guest]

Namo NaarAyaNAya !

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Dear Sri KrishNa BhakthAs:

 

Our AzhwArs were deeply moved by the anubhavams

of KrishNAvathAran and blessed us with exquisite

poems steeped in KrishNa Bhakthi . We will reflect on

some of their tender anubhavams on this sacred day .

We will start with our Lord's avathAram first

on this Sri Jayanthi day.

 

The Birth of KrishNA

**********************

In few hours , Our Lord will be born as described by

Suka Brahmmam in Srimath BhAgavatham:

 

" aavIrAseedh yathA prAchyAm disIndhuriva pushkala: "

 

(meaning): Like the Full Moon rising in the eastern

horizon, in the utter darknes of the night , MahA

VishNu , the SarvagruhAsayan ( the indweller of all

of our hearts) was born as the son of the exquisitely

beautiful Devaki .

 

Vision Of King VasudEvA

************************

 

The doting Father VasudEvar had the darsanam of

the Lord as He incarnated in the prison chamber

to which he(VasudEvA) was confined with his Wife ,

Devaki .The radiantly beautiful ThirumEni of the Lord

seen by VasudEvar is described with devotion by

Sukha Brahmmam this way:

 

Tamm adhbhutham Baalakam ambhujEkshaNam

chathurbhujam sankha-gadhAryudhAyudham

Srivathsalakshmam galasObhikousthubham

PeethAmbharam saandhra-payOdha-soubhagam

mahArha vaiDUrya kirIta kundalathvishA

parishvaktha sahasra kunthalam

uddhAma kAnchyangadha-kankaNAdhibhir-

virOchamAnam VasudEva Ikshatha

---Srimath Bhaagavatham: Canto X.3.9-10

 

(meaning): Lotus-eyed, four-armed ,

adorning the Conch (Paanjajanyam), Mace

(KowmEdhaki) and other dhivya aayudhams in

His hands , with the bright Srivatsa mole

and the radiant KaustubhA gem on His Chest ,

sporting a golden yellow PeethAmbharam on

His waist ,having the majestic and adorable

hue of a dark cloud of the rainy season ,

with His dark ,shiny tresses reflecting

the glow of the gems from His diadem and

ear-rings inlaid with precious stones ,

adorning dhivyAbharaNams like bracelets,

armlets and waist belt--this radiantly beautiful,

divine child blessed the vision of King VasudEvA

and Queen Devaki.

 

The salutation of VasudEvA

**************************

 

The wonder-struck parents realized that

their newly born child was none other than

the Supreme Lord , Sriman NaarAyaNan and

prostrated before the divine child and

offered their salutaions through sthOthrams.

King VasudEva was the first one to salute the Lord,

his child .Two Excerpts from KIng VasudEva"s

sthuthi are:

 

VidhithOsi BhavAn SaakshAth Purusha: PrakruthE:para:

kEvalAnubhAvAnandha-svarUpa: sarva-budhdidhruk

--Srimath BhAgavatham: 10.3.13

 

(meaning): Oh Lord who has incarnated as my son !

I have known now , who Thou art ! Thou art indeed

the ParamAthmA Himself , who is beyond Mula-Prakruthi

and are of the form of pure consiousness-bliss.

Thou art the Sarva-Saakshi and as such the witness

of all of our activities .

 

thvatthOsya janma-sthithi-samyamAn VibhO

vadhanthyanIhAdhaguNAdhavikriyAth

thvaIsvarE BrahmaNi nO virudhyathE

thvadhAsrayathvAth upacharyathE GuNai:

--Srimath BhAgavatham: 10.3.19

 

(Meaning): It has been stated that the Creation ,

preservation and dissolution of this Universe is

from Thee ;, Thou art beyond the three GunAs Of

Prakruthi and is actionless and changeless.

Though it would be a contradiction in SvarUpam

for the others to be all these , in You ,

the Supreme Brahman and SarvEsvaran, it is not so.

There is no contradiction in terms.You perform

all these miracles by a very small portion

of Your sakthi, the Prakruthi constituted of

the three guNAs , while You serving as

the aadhAram for that Prakruthi remain

unaffected by all these transformation

of the GuNAs.

 

Mother Devaki"s salutations

****************************

 

Devaki saw her son with VishNu chinhams

( signs and symbols) . She prostrated

before the child and began to praise the Lord ,

her son:

 

rUpam yatthatth prAhuravyakthamAdhyam

Brahma jyOthirnirguNam nirvikAram

satthAmAthram nirvisEsham nirIham

sa thvam SaakshAth VishNuradhyAthma dheepa:

--Srimath BhAgavatham: 10.3.24

 

(Meaning): Oh My Child! Thou art indeed

MahA VishNu , the param jyOthi (Supreme

effulgence) - who is described by Maharishis

as the First, the unmanifest , the vast ,

the radiant , the one beyond the three

guNAs , blemishless, the unmodified and

the desireless.

 

Visvam yadhEtath svatanou nisAnthE

yathAvakAsam Purusha: parO BhavAn

Bhibarthi sOyam mama garbhaabhUdhahO

nrulOkasya viDambanam hi tath

--Srimath BhAgavatham: 10.3.31

 

(Meaning): " That Thou, who bearest

the whole Universe within Thyself at

the time of Thy cosmic sleep , hast been

born of my womb is only Thy imitation of

human ways to hide Thy identity (a great

joke Thou art playing on the world)".

 

Devaki's request not to reveal His divine form

************************************************

The awe-struck Devaki suddenly realized that

Kamsan, the dreaded son of UgrasEnan might

get wind of the birth of the Lord as her son

and out of motherly fear and concern for her

child begged the Lord to hide His divine form

and transform Himself into a human-looking child.

She begged the child KrishNA not to reveal His

divine form , which is perceivable only

through meditation , to people with maamsa chakshus

( fleshy eyedight).Of all the people , Devaki

dreaded Kamsan, who meant harm to her children.

The infant KrishNaa with His divine form

responded to His mother's prayerful request

and through His innate power of MayA

transformed Himself into an ordinary infant.

 

oruthti mahanAi piRanthu ,orutthimhanAi VaLarthal

***************************************************

 

As instructed by the Lord , VasudEva carried

the infant in a basket on his head and travelled

from the lying-in room in the prison to Gokulam

in that pitch black night of Astami thithi , when

the constellation RohiNi was in ascent . Due to the power

of YogamAyA , all the prison guards fell asleep,

the doors of the prison opened and the lightning

lit the way across the swollen YamunA river .

The waters parted to let VasudEvA travel across

to Gokulam on the other side of the river .

 

AdhisEsahA with raised hoods served as an

umbrella for the father and the divine child

all the way to protect them from the pouring

rain.Reaching Gokulam , VasudEvA found all

the inhabitants asleep there due to the power of

YogamAyA , who had just been born as a daughter to

YasOdhA , the wife of NandhagOpan , the chief

of Gokulam . YasOdhA was aware only that

She had given birth and she was put into a

state of deep slumber by YogamAyA . VasudEvar

placed the infant KrishNA next to YasOdhA

and took the female child (YogamAyA)back

to the prison. Lord KrishNa grew up as

the beloved son of Mother YasOdhA and

performed miracles there. His birth festivity

was celebrated by NandagOpan , YasOdhai and

the entire cowherd community as described by

PeriyAzhwAr in His Periya Thirumozhi's

first decad . PeriyAzhwAr went on to extoll

the Baala Leelais (Baala Kreetais) of the Lord

in delectable paasurams of His dhivya prabhandham.

 

We will cover the anubhavams of KrishNAvathAram

by all of the twelve AzhwArs in future postings.

 

Sri KrishNArpaNam asthu

Sri RukmiNi SamEtha Sri PaarthasArathy SwaminE nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SatakOpan