The Babe on the Banyan Tree Leaf

[Guest guest]

Preaching Krishna Conscious Philosophy in College

 

BY CHANDINI DD

 

USA, Nov 23 (VNN) — Professor Valero who teaches a class at

California College of the Arts called "Archaic Modernity" asked his

students to write on the subject of Armageddon. I requested Prof.

Valero permission to write my essay from a Vedic perspective of

pralaya and he agreed. He had seen the Deity of baby Lord Krishna on

the Banyan Tree leaf around my neck and had become curious. My dad,

Patita Pavana das, always tells me that Prabhupada used to instruct

his disciples to preach Krishna consciousness in whatever situation

of life they find themselves. When devotees asked their Guru

Maharaja how, His Divine Grace would answer, "Somehow or other." So

I decided to write a Krishna conscious essay, and leave the result

to the Babe on the Banyan Tree Leaf, and turned in the following

essay.

 

 

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The Babe on the Banyan Tree Leaf - Chandini Davis - 12 Oct. 04

 

According to the Vedic culture of India, commonly called Hinduism,

no Deity is more beloved than Lord Krishna in His form as a baby.

Even today millions of Hindus continue to worship Krishna as the

Supreme Personality of Godhead as their ancestors did throughout

millennia. Shri Krishna is the Enchanter of the hearts of all who

worship Him, and to facilitate His worshippers, He appears in

different ways to suit each of His beloved votaries. Since there is

no form in this world that can stir the heart like the sight of an

innocent baby, Shri Krishna appears as a helpless infant to fan the

flames of love in the heart of His Mother Yashoda, and for the

spiritual progress of all mothers everywhere. It is ironic,

therefore, that in the Vedic scriptures of India it is stated that

at the end of creation, Lord Krishna appears as a baby suck ing upon

His Own big toe floating down the River Yamuna on a Banyan tree

leaf. Why should the most adorable form of the Lord appear-not as

terror and destruction personified when the time of Armageddon draws

nigh- but as an innocent baby?

 

In India, Hindus consider it a sign of impending good fortune when a

baby sucks his own toe. Yet here we see that Baby Krishna is sucking

His own toe at the time of pralaya or destruction. To understand the

reason behind this, the position of Krishna as the avatari-or Source

of all other avatars upon the Earth-must be examined. According to

the scholarly concept of the so-called "Hindu Trinity" there are

three principle devatas or deities in charge of the Universe. These

are Lord Brahma the Creator, Lord Vishnu the Maintainer and Lord

Shiva the Destroyer. The material universe in which each of us have

lived for many, many lifetimes in different species of life is bound

together by three modes of Material Nature, or gunas. Guna literally

means "rope". Just as no strand of a rope can be independent from

its sister strand, so do these three modes of Nature influence

or "crisscross" each other. These gunas are sattwa guna or mode of

goodness, raja guna or passion and tamas guna or ignorance. The

Universe is created in passion by Brahma, destroyed in ignorance by

Shiva but it is maintained by Lord Vishnu in goodness. Since neither

Brahma nor Shiva has the potential to maintain the Universe, great

as they are, they are accepted by Vedic scholars like Vyasadeva,

compiler of the shastras, as demi-gods or devatas. The devatas or

demi-gods are the empowered "hands" of Lord Vishnu. Just as a

factory owner has many managers to over see the different

departments, so the Supreme Lord allows His foremost devotees to

assist Him in the work of cosmic management. Vishnu is regarded as

supreme since only He is capable of performing the work of

maintenance above and beyond the temporary acts of creation and

dissolution. Brahma and Shiva obtain their orders from Shri Vishnu.

 

There are many scriptural references in the "Hindu Bible", the

Bhagavad Gita, that point to the two-armed Shri Krishna as the

origin of the four-armed Vishnu. Lord Krishna, even in His form as a

baby, is the Source and Divine Origin of Lord Vishnu. When He floats

down the sacred River Yamuna out to the sea of the Cosmos at the

time of pralaya, it is auspicious in spite of ensuing destruction

drawing near. There is good fortune even in destruction because, as

the maintainer, God will continue to provide for all living

entities, as each one is reborn into the next created Universe. Just

as after we inhale we exhale, so does Vishnu-except that Vishnu's

exhalation creates uncountable material universes each with their

own uncountable planets. Each planet or loka harbors its own unique

life forms, and each one subject to destruction when Vishnu inhales.

Indeed all activities of the Godhead, including both creation and

destruction, are accepted as auspicious.

 

When the time is at hand for the end of the Universe, the Sun god

Vivaswan heats up to twelve times his normal strength and burns the

planets to a crisp. Lord Shiva the Destroyer, who lives with his

wife Parvati in a sphere above this material world called Kailash

Dham, dances his tandava-nritya as fire continuously pours from his

third eye. At this time Lord Vishnu inhales one deep breath of God.

The souls of all entities merge with the body of Lord Vishnu the

Maintainer and when He exhales universal rebirth follows once again.

Yet great as He is, Vishnu is but an expansion or incarnation of

Krishna, who appears as a loveable baby. Vishnu is like a candle

that has taken its flame from another candle. The candle's bright

flame is in every way equal to the light of the first candle, but

the original candle is Shri Krishna.

 

To summarize Armageddon or prayalaya: the microcosm imitates the

macrocosm. For just as birth and death inescapably accompany a

mortal's existence, so goes the Universe with all its inhabitants on

each planet. In the Vedic culture and civilization, the smallest and

least significant being is identified in Sanskrit as the Indragopa

germ. This germ's entire life span-encompassing the five elements of

existence (namely, birth, growth, reproduction, withering and death)-

lasts much less than even a second. The great demigod who serves

Lord Vishnu as King of Heaven is Lord Indra and his life span equals

the length of the Universe. Yet common to the indragopa germ or to

Lord Indra is the constant fear of death for both are materially

created beings. This temporary Universe lasts for one hundred years

of Lord Brahma. Brahma's day equals 432,000 years (length of Kali

Yuga) + 864,000 years (length of Dwapara Yuga) + 1,296,000 years

(length of Treta Yuga) + 1,728,000 years (length of Satya Yuga) x

1,000. Brahma's night is equal to the same. This is the life span of

the other leaders of the devatas, as well. Despite having such a

great life span and facility for temporary enjoyment, the days of

the demigods are as limited as the indragopa germ's moment in the

sun. That is why the Vedic scriptures refer to this material world

as mrityu-loka or place of death. Interestingly, English words such

a moratorium, murder or mortuary have their origin in this word

mrityu. The Vedic poet Bhartrihari, who lived 2600 B.C., explained

it this way, "That beautiful child whose joyous birth we celebrate

today is touched with the scent of death."

 

As mentioned, when Lord Vishnu exhales innumerable universes are

formed with His outgoing breath. Each universe, many much larger

than ours, contains innumerable planets of every species of life all

linked by an ecological chain. Each universe is composed of the

eight basic material elements: earth (bhu), water (jal), fire

(agni), air (vayu), ether (akash), mind (mana), intelligence

(buddhi) and false ego (ahankara). There are three basic strata of

planets. These are the upper regions or swarga, the middle planetary

system or bhu-loka and the lower places of misery called naraka (the

various hells), where sinners reap the results of their past

misdeeds performed by abusing the opportunity of human birth on

higher planets.

 

On the various planets different elements prevail. On Vayu-loka, for

example, air is predominant and there the denizens have bodies

composed chiefly of air. On Varuna-loka, a watery planet, the

residents live in bodies in which the element of water has

predominance over the other seven elements. On Surya-loka, planet

wherein the Sun God Surya is the predominating deity, the denizens

all have fire bodies, yet they are all subservient to the Sun god.

Brahma the creator, who takes birth from a lotus from the navel of

Vishnu, is worshipped in our universe as a four-headed deity, yet in

other universes beyond ours, the in-charge Brahma may have even a

thousand or more heads due to the greater size of that universe.

Just as our earth planet has cities and villages, so our universe is

like a village amongst larger universes. Incidentally, about fifty

of Brahma's years have passed in our universe and when Brahma

celebrates his hundredth birthday, it will be the end of this

universe. At that time final Armageddon will ensue with the

inhalation of Lord Vishnu.

 

According to the Vedic reasoning and logic, life is eternal. This

truth regarding the deathlessness of the soul is universal, and is

one that applies to all living jivas or souls embodied in any one of

the 8,400,000 species of life on this Earth planet. Whether the body

faces its own destruction due to the factor of timeless time, or at

universal destruction, the spiritual spark continues to live in its

march towards moksha or liberation. What has bound the jiva to a

life of innumerable reincarnations is his desire to live and enjoy

apart from the Almighty Lord Krishna. He whose boat is the name of

God follows the Babe on the Banyan leaf down the holy waters of the

Yamuna to the spiritual realms of Vaikunth, "the fearless land of

eternal life". By taking shelter of Lord Krishna, the auspicious

result will be a life of eternity, knowledge and bliss (sat-chit-

ananda) for liberated souls live in service to God without the fear

of rebirth in the dungeon of material ignorance. Pralaya, or

Armageddon, is an unwelcome feature of this material world that does

not apply to transcendental spirit.

 

 

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Two weeks later, Prof. Valero returned the paper to me with an "A"

grade and the note, "Very good. I'd like a copy to research this in

detail." Therefore if any devotees know any scriptural references

regarding the Babe on the Banyan Tree Leaf, please let me know. Hare

Krishna.