Sunday 23 March 2014

Srimadh Bagawatham - Krishnavataram Part 12

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/03/srimadh-bagawatham-krishnavataram-part_21.html

avinashkrishnadasa.wordpress.com




Brahmin Wives: Karmas are prescribed by shastras in order to cleanse our accumulated karmas so that we can perform Bakthi or Gnana Yoga to attain the Lord. Karmas like Yagams  shouldn’t be performed as a mindless ritual. We must understand the reason for performing Yagams, poojas etc. If we understand the reason for performing these prescribed acts, we will not fall prey to plain ritualism. The Brahmins had become purely ritualistic. They were so obsessed by ritualism that they failed to see the object of performing these rituals, the Lord standing before them. Thus the Brahmins failed to reap the true benefit of performing the Yagam while their wives received the blessing as they had true knowledge.
Nanda Gopan was kidnapped by Varuna’s servants: This shows that even other deities are after Bagawathas to get a chance to be with them.
Rasa Lila: The gopis are considered to be Sati. The word Sati is used to represent a chaste married woman but Sayana in his commentary of the Taitriya Aranyaka explains that the word “sati” refers to “realized souls”. Krishna plays the flute to call the gopis. The flute is given the status of a teacher, Acharya. The music is knowledge which is Brahma-Vidhya.  The gopis are the jeevatmas. All jeevatmas are feminine in nature while the Lord alone is the true male. The music flowing from the flute awakens the thirst for spiritual knowledge in the gopis. This also shows us that we can only learn Brahma-Vidhya through an Acharya. Krishna prefers to use an Acharya as an intermediary to teach us Brahma-Vidhya. Once Brahma-Vidhya is awakened, the gopis abandon their husbands to reach Krishna. The husbands represent our selfish materialistic desires. True knowledge kills these selfish desires. The gopis want only that which is true and approach Krishna. The Raasa dance takes place in a circle. The gopis represent the jeeva atma. There is one Krishna in the middle surrounded by the gopis. Not only is there a Krishna in the middle but He also appears as a partner for each and every gopi. There are as many Krishnas as there are gopis. The Krishna in the middle represents Paramatma in His absolute form. The Krishna dancing with each and every gopi represents His Antaryami form. As antaryami He exists as our soul. He is always with us. He exists in each and every one of us. Thus the entire Raasa dance represents the Vishwaroopa Swaroopa of God; He exists as antaryami (soul of every soul) as well as the Absolute God head.
The Raasa dance is performed with the gopis who are women. This represents that all jeeva atmas are feminine. The only male in this entire Universe is Paramatma Sri Krishna. He is known as the Para Purusha or the great Purusha. The Raasa dance shows us one of the nine relationships we share with Paramatma which is that of a husband & a wife. He is our husband. This relationship is a spiritual relationship and differs from the type of spousal relationships we are familiar to.
The gopis encircling Krishna on either side represent students and Krishna is the object of knowledge sought by them. If we look at the two Krishnas encircling a gopi then we see the student in the middle. Knowledge gains importance only when there are students to learn. The two Krishnas encircling a gopi show us the importance of the student or the jeeva atma. The two gopis encircling a Krishna show us the supremacy of the knowledge or Paramatma.
The Raasa dance has deep esoteric meaning and has nothing to do with sensual indulgent. When the esoteric meaning of the dance is illuminated, it helps us to shed our desires for materialistic sensual pleasures. It awakens the thirst to learn Brahma-Vidhya in us; with the help of this knowledge we can reach the feet of Paramatma. The dance takes place at night when the boundaries are not visible to show us that the union with Paramatma is beyond time and space. At nighttime the normal boundaries of time and space are not illuminated. Night here represents the transcendental nature of the union of a jeeva atma with Paramatma.
Anyone who understands the above esoteric meaning will not question the Lord’s conduct. To the Lord all jeevatmas are equal. He doesn’t differentiate between the cattle or the gopis. He played with the cattle and He played with the gopis. He sees no difference between the cattle or the gopis. While stealing butter He showed us that He is interested in only the atma and not the body by breaking the butter pots. Thus the Rasa-Dance is Him enjoying the jeevatmas and there is nothing materialistic or sensual about the dance. A very high Vedantic concept has been explained in a poetic form to us.
Azhwar sings with Nayika Bhavam that the Lord looked with love at the girl(Azhwar’s) eyes, tiny waist and breast. Here the Azhwar’s eyes denote knowledge, tiny waist reveals Azhwar’s vairagyam as he has controlled his senses and does not give in to mindless enjoyment of food which in turn has resulted in a tiny waist. A woman’s breasts are dedicated by her to feed her children. A woman as a mother lives for the sake of her children. Like that the Azhewar lives to serve other devotees of the Lord and this is appreciated by the Lord when He is shown as admiring the girl’s breasts. As all jeevatmas are female in nature, the Azhwar’s use Nayika Bhavam to show the shringara rasam in their divine poetry.
Continued On:  

Krishna The Butter Bandit

 

I have published complete Krishnavataram as a book called "Krishna The Butter Bandit". Please see

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Friday 21 March 2014

Srimadh Bagawatham - Krishnavataram Part 11

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/03/srimadh-bagawatham-krishnavataram-part.html


Venugopala of Hembargala from Anudinam.org




Playing the flute: The Lord could have sung songs but He used a flute and assigned to it the Acharya sthanam. The Lord prefers to lecture us through an Acharyan. The flute is in contact with the Lord’s lips and conveys to us the Lord’s teachings. He wishes for us to approach Him only through an Acharyan. After the Mahabharata war, He asked Yudhishtirar to approach Bhishmacharyar in order to learn all the shastras and the Sri Vishnu Sahasranama sthothram. The Lord instructed Bagawath Geetha and He could have also instructed the Vishnu Sahasranama Sthothram but He desired for the Pandavas to learn the slokam from Bhishmacharyar. Flute represents Acharyan and the music Acharyan’s instructions which reach us to Lord. The Lord also shows to us that all jeevatmas are equal to each other. Like the air flowing through the flute depending upon the hole through which it comes out produces different tunes, the jeevatmas are influenced by karma to take up diefferent bodies.
Govardhana Leelai: controls hunger. Always chant Govinda while eating.
Vasthrabaharana Charitram: The Lord showed us that we must approach Him without feeling shy. The quality of shyness is represented by dress. We cover ourselves because we feel self-consiouss. The Lord instructed the gopis to approach Him in order to perform prapatti without feeling self-consiouss. The jeevatmas are all feminine in nature and the only true male is the Lord. Hence the jeevatmas are represented as the gopi girls. They approach the Lord without being afraid of moclery when they come out of the water without their dress and perform saranagathi. While performing Bakthi Yoga we should leave behind our inhibition and chant His name loudly. We shouldn’t feel embarassed to wear the thiruman srichurnam, bear the marks of disc & conch on our shoulders or to wear the prescribed dress.

Krishna The Butter Bandit

 

I have published complete Krishnavataram as a book called "Krishna The Butter Bandit". Please see

  for further info. The book can be previewed on Amazon.com at
Krishna The Butter Bandit


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Saturday 15 March 2014

Srimadh Bagawatham - Krishnavataram Part 10

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/03/srimadh-bagawatham-krishnavataram-part-9.html

www.iskconbangalore.org



Damodara Leelai: Krishna was tied to the mortar by Yashoda. In order to control senses, mind , budhi and atma we need to keep our body fit so that we can follow rituals like Ekadashi fast. Above all it is essential to control   Lord Narayana. Best way to control the Lord is by prapatti. He allowed Himself to be tied only when Yashoda surrendered.
Fruit seller: Even if we give Him small things like jamun fruits sincerely, He grants us precious items like gems and Moksham itself. The fruit seller was not a great scholar and yet she recogonized Him as the Supreme Brahman. He is easily accessible even to an ordinary person like the fruit seller and any person can easily know Him.
Cattle rearing: The Lord went after the cattle and reared them. The cattle didn’t object to the Lord coming after them. Like the cattle if we allow the Lord to take care of us without trying to save ourselves, He will definitely make sure that we don’t face any problems in life.
Bakasuran: Asura in guise of stork represents quality of dhambham (doing something in order to receive praise) which is destroyed by Perumal.
Agasuran: Came in the form of a python and was killed by Krishna. People have the tendency to take everything without moving from their place. This quality is estroyed by Perumal.
Vana Bhojanam: Consuming Perumal Prasadam in His company. If we are given prasadam at temples we must eat just a little in His presence.
Vatsabaharanam: Even a simple folk like the fruit seller could know the Lord while the scholarly like Lord Brahma fail to recogonize Him.
Vatsasuran, Dhenukasuran, kapitasuran: Vatsasuram came as a calf and represents ignorance, Dhenukan as an ass; it is a good omen to hear an ass but bad to see it, kapitasuran as vilambhazham. The vilambhazham fruit has a seed called manmatha bheejam which is known to help retain youth. The Lord destroys ignorance and shows us not to destroy food which is not satvik in nature by
Kalinga Narthanam: Bhujangan is name for snake as well as a Casanova. Perumal controlls our tendency to behave like a Casanova. This is shown by Perumal dancing on Kalingan. Our mind is like a snake. To control it we need Perumal.
Forest Fire: We are influenced by our past karmas because of which we take birth and experience the “tapa trayam”.

The three types of tapa trayam are

1.       Adhyadhmikam: Sufferings experienced by us because of our association with people, work, society etc. These problems are created because of our interaction with others.
2.       Adhiboudhikam: Sufferings which are beyond our control like troubles we face due to pest damage, pathogens etc.
3.       Adhideivikam: Sufferings caused by natural calamities like storms and Earthquakes.
       The Lord showed that He will relieve us from the pain caused by tapa trayam by swallowing the forest fire.

 Krishna The Butter Bandit

 

I have published complete Krishnavataram as a book called "Krishna The Butter Bandit". Please see

  for further info. The book can be previewed on Amazon.com at
Krishna The Butter Bandit



Please visit the Facebook Page to like the page. https://www.facebook.com/KrishnaButterBandit

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