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Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 12:51
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Yadhavabhyudhaya-End of part1
Rasakreeda -a
description
Gopis, for a moment, were overwhelmed with pride
that Krishna found them attractive and Krishna knowing this disappeared from
their midst.Desika says He was near but they could not see
Him.'aviprakarshE api thiraskariNyA klrpthAvrthim krshNam
aneekshamANAh.' The Lord is always near but only we fail to see Him due to
our ego born out of ignorance.
Not able to see Krishna the gopis became miserable and they began to
sing about His gunas and actions.. This act of the gopis is described as the
famous Gopikageetham in Srimadbhagavatham.Desika devotes only two slokas for
this.
VileenachitthA
vishamAshthra thApAth
vilApayanthyO
vasuDHAm vilApaih
adhrSyaroopasya
hareragAyan
guNAn charithrANi
cha gopakanyAH
Miserable,struck with the arrows of
Cupid, melting the very earth by lamentations, they started
to sing about the gunas and actions of Hari who concealed
Himself.
mukundha viSlEsha
vimOhithAnAm
samSrooyamANAni muhuH
vanAnthE
Sama praDHAni
AthmavidhAm abhoovan
thrayyanthaganDHeeni
vachAmsi thAsAm
The words of the songs of the gopis
reverberated throughout the forest. Desika says that it carried the fragrance
of the upanishads and provided peace to the enlightened souls. The upanishad
declares 'rasO vai saH,' He is the essence of all sentiments attaining
whom one enjoys bliss.So the words of gopis steeped in rasAnubhava were in
reality the words of the upanishad.
The Lord appeared before them, which, Desika
says, is the proof that He gives His darsan when he wants to grace the devotee
after concealing Himself by mAya in order to ripen their devotion. The gopis
were delighted beyond measure to see Krishna in front of them with a smile resembling a full
blown lotus, wearing yellow garment on His blue form,which attracted even the
god of love. This sloka by Desika is the reflection of that in
Srimadbhagavatham, 'ThAsam Avirabhooth SouriH
smayamAbna mukhAmbujaH, peethAmbaraDHara srgvee sAkshAth
manmaThamanmaThaH.'
The gopis felt as though they got
into another life on seeing Krishna.He was yOgaiH alakshyaH, not
perceptible even by yoga,but to the gopis he was praNayAparADHee,
erring lover and they attacked him by their glances like arrows flung from the
bow-like brows. He, the eternal lover, pacified them by
signs and glances individually without the knowledge of each
other.
Then starts the rAsa, the dance of gopis and
Krishna. Desika describes this in two slokas briefly and
says Krishna joined hands with all of them taking many forms
alternatively dancing. This is as described by Leelasuka in his
KrishnakarNAmrtha in which he devoted eight slokas to describe the
rasakreeda.The first sloka runs as follows.
'anganAm anganAm antharE
madhavO
mAdhavam mAdhavam
anthareNA anganA
itTham AkalpithE mandalE
maDHyagah
sanjagou vENunA
dhEvakeenandhanaH.'
(KK.2.35)
In the circle consisting of Krishna alternately between each gopi Krishna stood in the middle playing
flute.
Desika says that the Lord who
removes the delusion (bhrama) of those who surrender to His feet made
the gopis have bhrama, revolving in the dance. 'padhASrithAnAm
bhramaSanthihEthuH priyAsahasram
bhramayAMschakAra.'
He, who makes all
beings move like puppets through His mAya, stood as an illustration of His own
mAya by making the gopis dance as He wished.
SvamAyayA
ghoorNayathO mahathyA
viSvAni bhoothAni
vibhOrajasram
lambAlakAnam
lalithasmithAnAm
lAbhAth svayam
labhDhamanoratho abhooth
The circle of the rAsa dance by its
fast movement looked like a wheel with no space in between.There was a shower
of flowers from the heaven and the sound of instruments and celestial damsels
danced on seeing the Rasakreeda. After dancing for a long time Krishna sat on
the floor and the gopis fanned him by the branches having leaves and flowers
and Desika says that Krishna shone like a blue mountain surrounded by
peacocks.
Afterwards krishna entered the river
Yamuna with them as though to get rid of the fatigue due to rAsakreeda. Desika
describes this in a poetic manner.
mukhEna thasya
dhvijarAjabhasa
thArAbhirAmENa
thamopahena
premOdhaDHim
varDHayathA priyANAm
samchikshipe thathra
sarOjakAnthih
The face of Krishna was like the moon, beautiful with
the stars, dispelling the darkness, with
its dark eyes which removes the darkness of ignorance. Like the moon his face
made the ocean of love of the gopis to rise and lotuses in
the river closed as though with the lustre of his moon-like
face.
Krishna and the gopis played
spraying water on each other and eyes of the gopis, closing
when krishna sprayed water on them, were like lotuses
closing on the rise of moon , his face resembling the moon.The dark waters of
Yamuna became white with the sandal pastes on their bodies and red with their
vermilion on their foreheads looking like the Ganges and the Sona river
alternatively.
The river Yamuna also attained her
purusharTha by the union of Krishna like the gopis. The red lac on their feet ,
their eye-liner and their sandalpaste were washed off by the river as though
out of jeolousy for their beauty but they shone even more beautiful without
the decorations.
The water level rising due to the
numerous gopis entering it made the lotuses immersed in water and it is
imagined by Desika that they were ashamed of the beauty of the damsels and hid
their faces in water.The red eyes of the gopis due to the play in water looked
as though they were intoxicated with the love of
Krishna.
prayApithE gopikayA
kadhAchith
krishnAnanam
keechakyanthra thOye
nimeelanOnmeelanathasthadheeyAn
nakthamdhivam thathkshaNadhrSyam
Aseeth
The eyelids of Krishna were closing and opening alternatively when some
gopi sprayed water on him and it was like the illustration of day and night.
When his eyes were open it was like day for them and when they closed it was
like the night.The day is when the world is awake and means that the Lord has
opened is eyes. The night is when the world merges in Him when He is in His
yoganidhra.
A gopi went behind Krishna and hugged him tightly so that the others could
spray water on him. This incident is reversed by Desika in
his Gopalavimsathi where he says that Krishna went behind a gopi and held her
tight so that she could not escape and others sprayed water on her.At the end
of the play in water the river Yamuna herself came with a dvine form and
worshipped Krishna.The celestial damsels came and dressed him with divine
garments.Desika describes Krishna as 'uttharantham sarithah pravAhath
utthArakam pankamayAh payODHeH,' He who helps all out of the sinful sea of
samsara,Himself came out of the water.
Then all of them returned to gokula and Desika
briefly mentions the destruction of Arishtasura, who chased the cattle in the
form of a bull and was killed by Krishna.Thus ends the Krishnaleela in
Brindavan and the time has come for him to leave for Mathura.
Story of
Krishna -End of Part
1