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

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Sadagopan • August 23, 2000 


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   
 

      



     

 


 



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