Srimadh Bagawatham - Rukmini Kalyanam Part 1

 Continued From:  http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/04/srimadh-bagawatham-krishna-and_20.html

Rukmini Kalyanam:

Perumal and Piratti on Garuda Vahanam

 

King Bhishmaka ruled over the kingdom of Vidarbha. He had five sons named as Rukmi, Rukmarathan, Rukmabahan, Rukmakesan, Rukmamali followed by a daughter Rukmini who was the incarnation of Goddess Sri Devi Nachiar.

From a very young age Rukmini listened to many Brahmins sing the glory of Lord Krishna. She fell in love with the Lord even though she hadn’t seen Him as she fell in love with His divine qualities. She wished to marry the Lord and expressed this desire to her father.

Her five elders brothers headed by Rukmini refused to allow her to wed Lord Krishna. Without even informing her, they fixed an alliance with Shishupalan the king of Chedi who was a cousin of Lord Krishna. Bhishmaka was under the influence of his sons and agreed to the match. The wedding arrangements took place in secret lest Krishna should hear about it.

A day before the wedding, Rukmini came to know about the arrangements. She immediately approached a Brahmin and gave him a letter to take to lord Krishna in Dwaraka.

tad avetyāsitāpāńgī

vaidarbhī durmanā bhṛśam

vicintyāptaḿ dvijaḿ kancit

kṛṣṇāya prāhiṇod drutam

The name of the Brahmin is not mentioned in Srimadh Bagawatham except the rishi calls him as “dwija”. Who is this Brahmin who travelled thousands of miles within a day to bring Krishna and Rukmini together? The clue left by the rishi in Srimadh Bagawatham is the name “dwija” and the fact that the Brahmin covered thousands of miles within a day even though he didn’t have a chariot.

Dwija is the name given to Brahmins because they take a second spiritual birth after the Upanayanam ceremony. Similarly tooth is called dwija because it falls and regenerates as permanent teeth. Lastly, birds are called dwija because they take birth as an egg and then hatch from the egg thus taking a second birth.

The rishi did not refer to a brahmin as dwija since he could have also used other synonyms like vipra. The rishi purposely used dwija the name common to both Brahmins and birds. Thus the messenger is none other than the Divine Bird Garudazhwar!

During Ramavataram, Garudazhwar noticed from Sri Vaikuntham that Perumal embraced Lord Hanuman after Lord Hanuman returned to Kishkinda with the message from Sita Piratti.

ityuktvaa priitihRishhTaaNgo raamastam parishhsvaje hanumantam kRitaatmaanam kRitavaakyamupaagatam

 (6-1-14) Thus saying, Rama vibrating with joy clasped Hanuman in his arms who had returned after fulfilling the mission.”

Ref:  (http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga1/yuddha_1_frame.htm)

Garudazhwar wished to be embraced by the Lord as well. He seized the opportunity when Lord Rama and Lakshmana were tied by the nagastra shot by Indrajit. Garudazhwar flew from Sri Vaikuntham and upon seeing him the snakes ran away. Garudazhwar was dissappointed because Perumal did not embrace him. Garudazhwar overcame his disappointment by embracing Perumal but was further dissappointed when Lord Rama thanked Garudazhwar and asked who he wsa.

‘When you hugged me I felt as if I was embraced by my father Dasaratha or my grandfather Aja!’

taav utthaapya mahaa viiryau garuDo vaasava upamau |
ubhau tau sasvaje hR^iSTau raamash ca enam uvaaca ha ||

6-50-41: Lifting them up both who were like Indra, the highly majestic Garuda the eagle embraced them. Rama also, being pleased, spoke to him (as follows):

yathaa taatam dasharatham yathaa ajam ca pitaamaham |
tathaa bhavantam aasaadya hR^iSayam me prasiidati  ||

6-50-43"By meeting you thus, my heart is gladdened in the same manner as I am meeting Dasaratha, my father and Aja, my paternal grandfather."

ko bhavaan ruupa sampanno divya srag anulepanaH |
vasaano viraje vastre divya aabharaNa bhuuSitaH ||

6-50-44: "Who are you, the one endowed with beauty, having blissful garlands and anointments, wearing clean garments and adorned with divine ornaments?"

aham sakhaa te kaakutstha priyah praaNo bahish caraH |
garutmaan iha sampraapto yuvayoh saahya kaaraNaat ||

6-50-46: "O, Rama! I am your dearest friend Garuda dear as your own breath moving outside I came here for the purpose of helping you, both."”

(Ref: http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga50/yuddha_50_frame.htm)

After Perumal returned to Sri Vaikuntham, Garudazhwar complained to Perumal.

‘The reason I embraced Hanuman was because he came from Piratti. If you come bearing a message from Piratti I will also hug you.’

Garudazhwar went and complained to Piratti. She agreed to help him by giving him a message to take to Perumal during Krishnavataram.

Thus Garudazhwar took Rukmini’s letter and flew all the way to Dwaraka swiftly. As soon as he entered Lord’s palace, Perumal welcomed him with love, served him food and pressed his feet while he took a nap.

dṛṣṭvā brahmaṇya-devas tam

avaruhya nijāsanāt

upaveśyārhayāḿ cakre

yathātmānaḿ divaukasaḥ

 The Lord worshiped Garudazhwar in the same manner in which the Devas worship Him.

taḿ bhuktavantaḿ viśrāntam

upagamya satāḿ gatiḥ

pāṇinābhimṛśan pādāv

avyagras tam apṛcchata

 After Garudazhwar woke up from his nap Perumal asked, ‘which is your country? Is everything okay in your country? If it is not a secret please tell me the reason for your visit.’

Garudazhwar immediately said, ‘I have a message from you from Rukmini Devi.’

Perumal took the letter and read the seven slokams written by Rukmini Piratti.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/05/srimadh-bagawatham-rukmini-kalyanam.html

Srimadh Bagawatham - Krishna and Jarasandha Part 2

 Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/04/srimadh-bagawatham-krishna-and.html

Why did it take eighteen tries? The number eighteen is very significant. There are 18 chapters in bagawad Geetha, 18 Parvas in Mahabharata and 18 Puranas. Above all there are 18 steps leading a jeevatma up towards Perumal. These eighteen steps have ben shown as eighteen tries by Jarasandhan. They are as follows.

1.       We should lose interest in samsara and exist like water droplets on lotus leaves. The lotus leaves do not become wet even when water if present on them as the water rolls away. Our attitude should be similar in samsara. We should take life as it comes without feeling sad when we are disappointed or happy when we are succeed in something.

2.       We should destroy our false ego. Ahamkaram , the thought that “I am the doer” and Mamakaram the thought that “this is mine” even when the object doesn’t belong to us should be destroyed.

3.       We should stop associating ourselves with our body. We are the atma not the body. This is called dehatma abhimanam.

4.       We should obtain atmagnanam and know that we are Perumal’s slaves and we exist to do Bagawath/Bagawatha kaimkaryams.

5.       We should lose our desire for sensual pleasures which are temporary.

6.       We should desire to know Bagawath Vishayam. That is know more about Perumal, His bagawathas, visit Divya Desams etc. Therefore we should develop thirst to know more about Him.

7.       We should lose our desire in other things which do not form a part of Bagawath Vishayam.

8.       Know that we are paratantras. Accepting that we are seshabhutam is to know that we are His slave but this alone is not enough as we continue to do things our way. Becoming a paratantra menas performing any task the Lord wills us to do and allowing Him to act in any way towards us. Sri Lakshmanar showed the quality of Seshabhutam when He went to serve Lord Rama in the forest even when the Lord wished for Lakshmanar to remain in Ayodhya. Bharatazhwan on the other hand followed the Lord’s wish and remained at Nandi Gramam even though he too wished to follow the Lord in order to perform kaimkaryam. Thus the quality of Bharatzhwar is superior to that of Lakshmanar. Perumal has also showed us how to be paratantras. When Sage vishwamitrar asked King Dasarathan to send Rama with him, the King said take him as if Lord Rama was an object without asking Lord rama’s opinion. Lord Rama followed the sage without arguing with his father accepting his father’s right to give him away. This is paratantriyam.

9.       We should destroy artha, kama and dwesham. Artha is seeking fruits from Perumal like wealth, kaivalyam etc. Kama is our desire to obtain something which gives rise to krodha (anger) when we fail to obtain the object of our desire. Dwesham is hating others. These feelings should not be present in a person seeking Moksham.

10.    A person who has climbed up the first nine steps becomes a Sri Vaishnava and only then is eligible to proceed further.

11.    The person must be accepted by people with satvik tendencies.

12.    The person must be accepted by Bagawathas. Bagawathas are given a higher standing than regular people with satvik tendencies.

13.    Should obtain the grace of Perumal.

14.    Seek no other fruit except the fruit of serving Perumal, Piratti and their devotees.

15.    Know that we are only His slave and we do not have any other master than Perumal.

16.    Realize that we are incapable of saving ourselves and that we completely depend on Him.

17.    Become eligible to be accepted by an Acharyan as disciple.

18.     After climbing up all the seventeen steps, a person becomes eligible to attain Perumal’s thiruvadi.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/04/srimadh-bagawatham-rukmini-kalyanam.html

Srimadh Bagawatham - Krishna and Jarasandha Part 1

 Continued From:

Krishna and Jarasandha:

www.harekrsna.com

 

After Kamsa’s death, his wives Asti and Prapti rushed to their father king Jarasandha of Magadha. Jarasandhan wished to avenge Kamsa’s death and waged war against Lord Krishna. Jarasandhan was defeated by Lord Krishna or 17 times and on the eighteenth time, Lord Krishna created the city of Dwaraka in the west, transported all the subjects of Mathura to Dwaraka by His yogic powers. He remained in Mathura with Balarama. Jarasandhan’s friend Kala Yavanan came to help Jarasandhan in the war. Kala Yavana saw Lord Krishna come out of the city of Mathura. Kala Yavana followed lord krishna. He soon started to chase Lord Krishna wishing to overpower the Lord. Lord Krishna entered a cave and hid inside the cave. Kala Yavana followed the Lord in to the cave and saw a shrouded sleeping figure. Mistaking the figure to be the Lord, the Yavana kicked the figure. The figure woke up with a start and looked upon Kala Yavanan thus reducing him to ashes.

 The main question many people have after reading this narrative is why should the Lord run away from Jarasandha and Kala Yavana?

We can answer the above question by examining the hidden purport of the story.

There seem to be many hidden esoteric meanings in this story. The name Kamsa means “copper” or “bronze”. In ancient times many alchemists preyed on innocent people with their claims to convert “copper” or “bronze” to “gold”. Thus “Kamsa” seems to represent materialistic illusion wedded to Asti (existence) and Prapti (attainment). In the company of materialism existence and attainment are materialistic in nature.

 True Identity of Jarasandhan:

Jarasandhan represents Agni/Sun. Thus his city is Magadha in the East. Jara is a name of Agni. At birth Jarasandhan was split into two halves but was revived when a woman named Jara joined the two halves. The birth of Jarasandhan seems to signify the weakened Agni or the small spark left in the wood which is revived by bringing in contact with new fuel (Jara). Jara. or old age of the fuel makes Agni

into a young, united flame. Jarasandhan took birth from two mothers and Agni has two mothers as well. Jarasandhan is the sacrificial fire maintained by a person.

 Jarasandhan approached by his daughters wages a war against the Lord.The war is but a sacrifice. It could probably be said that the object of this sacrifice is to obtain permanent existence and attain the Supreme Being as Jarasandhan wages war to fulfil his daughters’ wish. Lord Krishna is also called as Yagna or Sacrifice and is represented by the Orion constellation. The Orion constellation is square in shape and is poetically used to represent the sacrificial altar in which the Lord of the Sacrifice, Lord Krishna is found.. The city Mathura meany “honey town” and is the earthly representation of Orion. The regent of Orion is Soma the Lord of Sacrifice. Lord Krishna incarnated in the lunar dynasty and is hence Soma. The soma juice is obtained from the soma creeper and offered in the sacrificial fire. As the altar contains the soma juice, it is said to contain the elixir or nectar of sacrifice. Thus Mathura as honey town or nectarine town represents Orion.

 Jarasandha (Agni) enters the sacrificial altar (Orion Constellation) from the East. The sacrificer who performs the daily agnihothram ritual has to enter the altar from the East. The three belt stars of the  Orion represent the three fires of Agnihotra called as Garhapatya, Dakshina and Ahavaniya. The Ahavaniya fire is always used to make oblations to the God and is kept in a square altar in the East. This square altar is Orion and in our case Mathura.

Thus Jarasandhan attacking Mathura from East is the Ahavaniya ritual performed in the morning. The Eastern Star is Ardra which is associated with Rudra who is also Agni. The star to the west of the constellation is Sravana whose regent is Vishnu. The shift in sacrifice from East to West shows that the object of the Sacrifice is to attain the Lord who presides over the Western star. At night, the sacrificer goes west to worship the Garhapatya fire indicated by Lord Krishna the object of sacrifice moving to the West in to the Garhapatya fire. Thus the sacrifice is shown to shift from one belt star to the other.

The Garhapatya fire is maintained in a circular container kept by a householder in the west and is worshiped in the evening. The cave entered by the Lord represents the circular container with the Garhapatya fire. A sacrificer who regularly worships the Ahavanya and the Garhapatya fires and walks between them everyday is freed from all evil. The sacrificer's sins are also destroyed. In order to show this, Kala Yavana is seen to be drawn away by the deity of Sacrifice (Krishna). Yavanas usually have fair complexion and this particular Yavana is named Kala Yavana to show that he represents evil tendencies; :”kala” means black and indicates pollution in the form of evil tendencies. Upon entering the cave, Kala Yavana is burnt by Sage Muchukunda. 

Sage Muchukunda is the jeevatma. Sage Mukunda had assisted the Devas win a war against the Asuras and in return had obtained a boon of uninterrupted sleep. The Deva Asura war is the struggle between the sense-organs against desires. After controlling desires, the jeevatma(sage Muchukunda) is able to meditate shown in our story as uninterrupted sleep.The Cave also represents our heart which is the residence of the jeevatma as well as Paramatma. The evil tendencies in the form of Kala Yavana are unable to out run/over power Paramatma. Upon entering the heart-cave, the jeevatma strengthened by the daily Agnihotra sacrifice along with the blessing of Lord Vishnu, obtains the power to destroy the evil tendencies. The jeevatma achieves samyam with the Lord. As it is elevated to the status of the Lord by the Lord’s Supreme Grace, the Kala Yavana is shown to mistake Sage Muchukunda as Mukuntha. By achieving samyam the jeevatma becomes apahatapapman, one who kills all evil. Thus the jeevatma is freed from its sins and gets a darshan of the Antaryami in its heart-cave. After this the jeevatma attains Mukthi.

The narrative about the war waged by Jarasandha teaches us about the importance of performing the daily agnihothra sacrifice without fail.

We have seen that Jarasandhan was defeated seventeen times and on the eighteenth time Lord Krishna drawn out of Mathura granted Moksham to Sage Muchukunda. The purpose of the war with Jarasandhan seems to be to grant Moksham to Sage Muchukunda. Why didn’t Perumal grant this the very first time? Jarasandhan was defeated seventeen times i.e he was sent back to Magadha seventeen times. The eighteenth attempt yielded fruit to Sage Muchukunda. Why did it take eighteen tries? The number eighteen is very significant. There are 18 chapters in bagawad Geetha, 18 Parvas in Mahabharata and 18 Puranas. Above all there are 18 steps leading a jeevatma up towards Perumal. These eighteen steps have ben shown as eighteen tries by Jarasandhan. 

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/04/srimadh-bagawatham-krishna-and_20.html