An article by Sri S. Kannan :
There is no one book like the Ramayana which sets out the life story of the Lord in His avatara as Sri Krishna. Ramayana is considered to be an Adhi Kavya written by Sage Valmiki who lived during the life time of Sri Rama and who in fact conceived the entire story even before the birth of Sri Rama as the son of Dasaratha. There is a saying that the Lord came and lived the story envisioned by sage Valmiki.
There is no one book like the Ramayana which sets out the life story of the Lord in His avatara as Sri Krishna. Ramayana is considered to be an Adhi Kavya written by Sage Valmiki who lived during the life time of Sri Rama and who in fact conceived the entire story even before the birth of Sri Rama as the son of Dasaratha. There is a saying that the Lord came and lived the story envisioned by sage Valmiki.
In the case of Krishnavatara, Sage Vyasa composed the Srimad Bhagavatha Purana of 18000 verses which he gave to his son Maharishi Suka brahmam. Like sage Valmiki, sage Veda Vyasa lived during the lifetime of Lord Krishna. The 10th Canto of Srimad Bhavatham is devoted to the life and exploits of Lord Krishna. The epic Mahabharatha, also authored by sage Vyasa, does touch upon important aspects of the life of Lord Krishna and in fact gives the Srimad Bhagavad Gita which forms the core of the Lord’s teachings. Vishnu Purana also gives an account of the Lord’s Krishnavatara and so do the very many kavyas and books of later years.
We can consider the Lord’s avatar as Sri Krishna in three stages – from the time of His birth till His departure to Mathura for disposing of his uncle, the tyrant king Kamsa, His stay in Mathura and Dwaraka till the advent of the great Mahabharatha war and the period thereafter.
Kamsa, the wicked son of Ugrasena ascended the throne of the kingdom of Mathura after imprisoning his father and though fond of his sister Devaki, threw her and her husband Vasudeva in the prison when he heard the prophecy that his end would come of the eighth born of the couple. He kept on killing the new born children of Vasudeva and Devaki till the seventh pregnancy was transported to the womb of Rohini another wife of Vasudeva who had taken refuge in the domain of Nandagopa, the chieftain cow heard of Vraja bhoomi across the river Yamuna. The Lord was born as the 8th child of the divine couple and at the time of His birth revealed His form of Sriman Narayana to both his parents and directed Vasudeva to carry him across the river to the house of Nandagopa and switch him with the new born baby girl that Nandagopa’s wife Yashoda had given birth to. The prison gates swung open and all the guards were fast asleep as if in a trance. Vasudeva carried his new born over his head in a basket and stepped out in a dark and stormy night. Confronted with a river in spate he prayed for a moment and the river parted to give way to him to carry the Supreme being across. Like the guards in the prison of Mathura, all were fast asleep in Brindavan and Vasudeva safely deposited the child near Yashoda and carried back the baby girl Yoga Maya back to the prison when the baby let out a cry to instantly waken up the guards and bring the cruel Kamsa to the prison in the dead of the night with murderous intent. Paying no heed to the pleas of Devaki to spare the girl child Kamsa took her by her ankle and was about to dash her to the ground when the child freed herself of his grasp and prophesied his death at the hands of Krishna and vanished.
The Lord was born on the eighth day of the dark phase of the moon as the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu (not considering Balarama as an avatar). He would live for eight years in Brindavan growing up as the son of Nandagopa and Yashoda before returning to Mathura to free his parents and restore the kingdom to his grand father Ugrasena. Eight are the aishwaryas and Eightfold is the path of yoga. Eight is the number of syllables in the Maha Mantra of Sriman Narayana and eight again is the number of syllables in the title of this essay “ Sree Krishna charanam Mama”
Kamsa worried at having let go of Krishna, sent his messengers to search for and kill all the children born in the dark fortnight of the month. Putana, the demoness who under the guise of a wet nurse suckled the children of vraja with venom to kill them came to Nanda’s house and took the baby Krishna to her bosom. The child playfully suckled her breast and sucked the life force out of her. The baby Krishna disposed of the other demons like Shakatasura who came as a cart wheel, Trinavartha who appeared as a whirlwind and Bakasura who took the form of a crane and grew up as a very mischievous child stealing milk and butter from the houses of the gopis and teasing and tormenting them that not a day passed without some gopi calling on poor Yashoda with some complaint or the other about her beloved son. On the other hand Balarama who was born to Rohini also considered to be an amsa avatar of the Lord Vishnu was dignity personified and played the role of a stern elder brother to the Lord (roles of Adhisesha as Lakshmana in Sri Ramayana reversed perhaps).
Unable to bear the tirade against her son Yashoda decided to admonish the prankster boy by tying him up to a mortar with a binding rope. The child started crawling with the heavy mortar in tow and soon wedged the same between two trees standing close by. When Sri Krishna gave a tug, down came the two mighty trees and out sprung two divine beings thanking the Lord for giving them salvation from their curse to stand as trees.
Rest to follow:
OM TAT SAT
No comments:
Post a Comment