Janmastami 2005
Speech of HH Sri Datta Vijayananda Teertha Swamiji on Krishna Janmastami - August 26, 2005 - Vijayawada
Lord Krishna is all-pervading; yet we cannot worship Him at all times. Therefore on Krishnastami we worship Him and welcome Him into our homes.
Let us discuss a few verses from ‘Krishna Karṇāmṛtaṃ’ composed by Sage Bilwamangala.
Chitraṃ tadetat charaṇāravindaṃ
Chitraṃ tadetat nayanāravindam
Chitraṃ tadetat vadanāravindam
Chitram tadetat punaraṃ vacitram
Chitraṃ tadetat charaṇāravindaṃ - He, whose lotus feet are wondrous and strange (chitram)
The Lord, who has tiny feet, took on the Trivikrama (Vamana) avatara wherein His feet expanded to cover all the 3 lokas.
Citraṃ tadetat nayanāravindam – He whose lotus eyes are wondrous and strange
Citraṃ tadetat vadanāravindam – He whose lotus face (speech) is exquisite and strange.
Citram tadetat punaraṃ vacitram- Everything about this Lord is exquisite and unique.
Our mind automatically gets attracted towards that which is strange and unique (citram). Only then our mind decides to rest there for some time. For this reason, the Lord, in order to attract our attention, displays uniqueness in His feet, His eyes and His face- in fact in every aspect of His living He displays uniqueness. In Bhagavad Geeta, the effect of this uniqueness is described in the verse āścaryavad tadati… (chapter 2). That is why He has a strange attire, strange speech, strange behavior etc.
We speak about the Lord; listen to His glories, read about Him and contemplate about Him. Yet, none can ever understand everything in detail about Him and His essence. His ways are unique. They leave us astonished and surprised at every step. It is impossible to know about Him in entirety. He is the Supreme Parabrahma. For this reason He is referred to Krishna Paramatma.
His stories are nectarous to the ears- Krishna karṇāmṛtam. We soak totally in it. There is no medicine greater than this. However much is extolled about Him, we seek to bask in the beauty of His childhood stories. To us, there is nothing superior to them. Just by recollecting them, the many impurities stagnated in the mind get washed out.
“O Lord, it is our firm belief that You are the most compassionate Lord. You are aptly glorified as ‘karuṇākaramurty’. O Lord, undoubtedly you have performed unimaginably wondrous tasks - You have punished the wicked sinners and protected the noble/ saintly beings; You have restored righteousness (dharma) and so on. But yet, O Lord, our mind is drawn purely towards your childhood activities. There is nothing superior to those childhood deeds. Let me soak in them totally.”
In Brahma stotram (the dasama skanda of Srimad Bhagavatam) Lord Brahma glorifies the Lord:
naumīḍya tē'bhravapuṣē taḍidambarāya guñjāvataṃsaparipicchalasanmukhāya
O Lord, to You the flowers, leaves and creepers of the forests are Your divine decorations. You shine in all resplendence with these simple decorations during Your childhood days.
When the childhood deeds of Krishna are properly understood they have the capacity to captivate the mind. For this reason, the rāsa leela was incorporated during His childhood stage. If reading rāsa leela gives rise to unnecessary bad thoughts, it is advised to simply close the book and refrain from completing the chapter. There is no greater sin than entertaining doubts about rāsa kreeda. It should be read/ understood in the right perspective only. While reading this chapter, try to understand the spiritual message contained within it. What was Krishna trying to convey? What is the spiritual state to which he was striving to uplift the gopikas? If rāsa leela is not understood, essence of Krishna will not be understood. Misunderstanding rāsa leela amounts to condemning the Supreme Lord.
2) Going to another verse -
Premadaṃ ca me kāmadaṃ ca me vedanaṃ ca me, vaibhavaṃ ca me ǀ
Jeevanaṇ ca me jeevitaṃ ca me Daivanan ca me, deva nā paraṃ ǀǀ
Premadaṃ ca me kāmadaṃ ca me vedanaṃ ca me, vaibhavaṃ ca me - You have helped me develop a heart that is full of love. You are the one who have fulfilled every desire (Kāma) of mine, O Lord. You are my jnana (knowledge) and You are the one who is filling me with this jnana. You are my glory (vaibhava) O Lord.
Jeevanaṇ ca me jeevitaṃ ca me - You are both - my life and my way of life. You are the one who supplies me with all the material needed to travel in this journey called life.
Daivanan ca me, deva nā paraṃ - You are my ***. O Lord, there is no *** more superior than You.
Krishna is Jagadguru. This above prayer is nothing but Guru Keertana. Only when Guru essence is truly understood, His teachings will be understood. They cannot be understood otherwise.
The verse ‘Om pūrṇamadaḥ pūrnamidaṃ pūrnaāt-pūrnamudacyate pūrnasya pūrnamādāya pūrnameva vaśisyate’ states - That is complete, this is also complete, from completeness emerges completeness, even if you take from completeness, completeness remains.
Even great mathematicians cannot explain the essence hidden in this verse. It contains the supreme essence of the Self. Take the example of a *** of butter. The *** is made of butter, what is contained within is butter, the ladle is also made of butter, the person who is sitting there to eat is also butter, what he is eating is butter. There is no increase or decrease in quantity. It remains as is. He is eating, He is butter, He is the process of eating, He is the only existence. This is Paramatma’s state.
Krishna means ‘He who is dark’. This dark complexioned Lord is the one who removes the darkness that has enveloped us. ‘Navaneeta chora’ means ‘ butter thief’. He steals away our sins. Even when called with such not-so good names, this Lord responds.
Let us understand a little about the significance contained in the name ‘Navaneeta chora’.
Navaneeta also refers to Kailasa. This Lord retains Kailasa within Him. He eats butter to let us know that Kailasa i.e. the entire creation itself is retained within Him.
Another meaning of Navaneeta is - ‘that which is acquired newly every single day’. What is that a being earns newly every single day? Sins. Just as thoughts are newly born every minute, sins are also newly created by us every day. This Lord as Navaneeta chora, steals our sins. For this reason, navaneeta (butter) was very dear to Him.
Stealing butter which was hidden away or tied up in the urns symbolizes that He steals away even those sins which we seek to keep away secretively. Such is His concern for His devotee. He does not seek that His devotee should have any balance of sins left in his account. Therefore He steals them, no matter how secretively the devotee hides/ safeguards them.
How can a devotee attain liberation (moksha/ mukti) if any balance of sins are left in his account? Won’t sins cause an impediment in devotion towards the Lord? Won’t they become an obstacle in attaining total merger into Him? Sins therefore have to be eliminated as the first step to reaching these states.
‘Navaneeta’ also implies that we are forcibly bringing them with us. Sins do not come on their own. We are dragging and bringing them into our lives. From a sin we acquire more sin. We collect a bagful of sins. He steals them forcibly. As He steals, without our knowledge we begin to enjoy inner peace of mind; we begin to dance in a strange calmness.
Krishna also means ‘he who ploughs’. This Lord Krishna ploughs our mind and throws away the unwanted stuff from there.
In this below verse, little Krishna is described as if He is butter himself!
Abhinava navanīta snigdham āpīta dugdhaṃ
Dadhi kaṇa pari-digdhaṃ mugdham a~ṇgaṃ murāreḥ
dishatu bhuvana kṛ^icchra chedi tāpi~ṇcha guccha
cchavi nava shikhi pi~ṇcha āīā~nchitaṃ vā~ṇchitaṃ naḥ-
Abhinava navanīta snigdham – He who is shining/ glowing with the freshly churned butter smeared on His body
Abhinava - very very new; navaneeta - newly acquired/ brought (butter)
āpīta dugdhaṃ - He is full of milk. His body appears as if He has *** entire quantity of available milk.
Dadhi kaṇa pari-digdhaṃ mugdham aṇgaṃ murāreḥ - the curd particles fallen on his body shine like stars and make him enchanting.
Little Krishna would, waiting for butter, stand beside his mother who would be churning the curd. As a result, these curd particles created during the process of churning, would fall on his tiny body causing it to glow further.
dishatu bhuvana kṛicchra chedi tāpiṇcha guccha cchavi nava shikhi piṇcha āīānchitaṃ vāṇchitaṃ naḥ - May this Lord who shines with a peacock feather decorating His head and with flowers beautifully decorated and whose form dissipates all the obstacles/ problems of this creation, also drive away my problems.
Let us discuss another verse.
Vadane navanīta gandha vāhaṃ
vacane taskara cāturī dhurīṇam
Nayane kuhana aśrum āśrayethāḥ
caraṇe komala tāṇḍavaṃ kumāram āśrayethāḥ
Vadane navanīta gandha vāhaṃ - From His mouth, the smell of freshly churned butter emerges.
vacane taskara cāturī dhurīṇam – His words are pretentious and cunning like that of a thief. He is an expert in speech.
He has a unique cleverness in His speech. He praises us as if we are the most important personalities on this creation. This hymn is an extra-ordinary creation of the poet. Taskara means ‘thief’. It implies that he has the cleverness and wiliness as that depicted by thieves, when they are caught. Through such speech, the Lord puts us in His maya.
When Krishna was caught stealing butter, He would lie like a shrewd thief and escape.
Nayane kuhana ashrum āshrayethāḥ - From His eyes, He sheds crocodile tears.
When Krishna was caught stealing butter, He would shed pretentious tears in order to escape.
Caraṇe komala tāṇḍavaṃ – His gait is gentle. He walks as if He is dancing lightly.
Kumāram āśrayethāḥ - In this tender boy, let us seek shelter.
Through His speech and actions, Krishna would put everyone in a trance. Even towards Duryodhana he would speak lovingly and jovially. Duryodhana was always in a fix - Did Krishna truly support him or not? Was He a true friend of Pandavas or of the Kouravas? What was His drama?
When Duryodhana went to seek His support for war, Krishna’s behavior left him totally perplexed. Krishna woke up from sleep and seeing Duryodhana seated in front of him, He warmly welcomed him and greeted him in a manner befitting a great king. At that minute Duryodhana truly believed that Krishna was his true well-wisher. Through his uncanny ability in speech, Krishna put a veil around Duryodhana. He reassured Duryodhana that his enormous army of soldiers was far greater than his own might. Believing him, Duryodhana went away happily.
To that Lord, who holds the strings of the entire creation (jagan nātaka sutra dhāri) in his hand, this was a trivial incident. He enacts a drama every single minute. Everyone falls in His trap of illusion.
In the 7th chapter of Bhagavad Geeta, the Lord states -
mama maya duratyaya -This divine illusion of mine is very difficult to overcome. Only by surrendering to me people can cross it.
The next verse describes Krishna’s maya.
Antar gṛihe kṛiśṇam avekśhya choram
Badhvā kavāṭam jananīm gata ekā
Ulūkhale dāma nibaddham enam
Tatrāpi dṛiśṭā stimitā babhūva
Antar gṛihe kṛiśṇam avekśhya choram – Krishna entered the inner rooms of a house, in order to steal butter.
Badhvā kavāṭam jananīm gata ekā – This smart lady noticed His presence and locked Him up in the room. She then went to Krishna’s mother (janani) to complain.
But what does she see there?
Ulūkhale dāma nibaddham enam – to the pounding stone this little boy was tied.
Tatrāpi dṛiśṭā stimitā babhūva – seeing the Lord who had manifested at two places, the lady was totally perplexed.
This depicts the Lord universal presence and His maya.
It is against the Shastras to make noise when walking. Likewise, dragging the feet when walking is also a sin. Both of these reflect that the person has no control over his body. Due to these defects in walking, unknowingly it amounts to the person picking dust through his feet and throwing it upon the passersby.
Another verse which explains that Rama and Krishna are one and the same -
Rāmo nāma babhūva – hum - tad abalā sīteti – hum - tām pituḥ
vācā pacaṇatī tate viharataḥ tasya āharat rāvaṇāḥ
nidrārtham jananī kathāmiti hareḥ huṇkārataḥ shṛiṇvataḥ
Saumitre kva dhanuḥ dhanuḥ dhanuḥ iti vyagrā giraḥ pāntu vaḥ
Mother Yasoda was once telling the story of Rama to little Krishna at bedtime.
She said - Once there lived a prince called Rama”. Little Krishna replied – hum. “He had a wife called Seeta”, said the mother. The baby said - hum. “They went to Pancavati upon his father’s orders”. The child said - hum. She now said - “the demon Ravana kidnapped Seeta”. The little infant suddenly screamed in a perturbed voice - Saumitre kva dhanuḥ dhanuḥ dhanuḥ iti vyagrā giraḥ-“ Lakshmana, quick get me my bow and arrows”. In this way, the little infant displayed that He was none other than Rama.
Little boy Krishna, once demanded butter immediately. Mother Yashoda sternly replied that she would give Him butter only after it becomes dark. The little boy instantly closed His eyes and said- “amma, now its dark. Give me butter”.
Behind this seemingly innocent behavior of Krishna lies a great spiritual message. Closing of the eyes (towards absolute reality) is darkness/ ignorance. Opening of the eyes symbolizes jnana.
May little Krishna shower His grace on us. May Sadguru’s grace be eternally upon us. May everyone get the eligibility to attain jnana.
Jaya Guru Datta.
Compiled by Parimala Eshwarla