Story of Krishna-Part2
chapter9-The Arrival of Akrura
The state of kamsa, on hearing from Narada that the Lord Narayana, who is superior to devas and asuras, having been born as
He became like one who has drunk poison. Thinking how
ithi viprathisAra vihvalaH
svayam utthApitha mrthyuchOdhithaH
prathihanthum iyEsha chakriNam
Salabho dheeptham iva ASu SukshaNim
He resented his inability to do what was required with respect to the rise of Krishna, became intent on a plan to destroy Krishna because he was forced by fate as his end was nearing.Here Desiks refers to krishna as chakree, one who wields the disc, meaning He is Sreemannarayana Himself.So the act of Kamsa is compared to that of a moth attacking the burning fire.
Kamsa tossed his head with a resolve and he looked like the sun at the end of the day. Fear, anger and surprise all mingled together in his heart and he felt as though his life was hanging on a thread.
Then he called Akrura, and told him to go to Gokula and bring Krishna and Balarama to Mathura along with Nanda and others.He told Akrura that he should bring Krishna and Balarama by hook or crook and in order to ward off any suspicion as to is real intention, he said that Nanda and others should also be brought under the pretext of paying their tribute to the king. Desika says that these words of Kamsa was like raising a sword to kill himself, 'svavadhopAttha krpANikopamAm vAcham udheerya.'
Even before this order can be executed he wanted to try once more to dsetroy
Seeing such an animal enough to defeat even a lion the gopas in brindavan were frightened and
In the meanwhile Akrura started from Mathura as per the command of Kamsa which was agreeable to him because it gave him an opportunity to see Krishna.The thoughts that ran in the mind of Akrura on his way to Brindavan is described beautifully by Desika.
The Brindavan was compared by Akrura to the place of Upanishads, as the Supreme Purusha described in the upanishads resided there and he looked forward to see Him and attain the supreme bliss.The place , he thought was purified by the dust of the feet of
He considered
He felt gratified that inspite of his serving a wicked man like Kamsa he had the good fortune to see
He expressed his hope that
Akrura wished that people like him who had charmadhrk, physical eye and not divine eye to know the gory of the Lord, would also see the exploits of
avaruddha bhujAntharaH Sriya
vidhaDHAno vasuDhAkaragraham
abhishEkam ul pEyivAn asou
kimu nAthO bhavitha kulasya naH
" Would He who has made His chest the abode of Lakshmi,and who grasps the hand of Bhoodevi agree to have coronation and to become the Lord of our clan?" Grasping the hand of Bhoodevi means to become the king.
But immediately Akrura became afraid of the harm that Kamsa would do to Krishna, m nevertheless assuring himself that Krishna would surely kill Kamsa because nothing is impossible to the glorious.'na hidhurAsadhamachinthyathEjasaH.'
Thinking thus Akrura reached Brindavan and alighted from his chariot still riding on the chariot of his wishes, manoratha which had his satthvaguNa as the sArathi.Honoured by Nadnda and others,he looked for
Then follows the description of
chapter9 continued-Akrura sees
Krishna was returning after killing Kesi, behind the cows, with a jumping gait,gavAm anuplavam, and Akrura saw Garuda flying overhead warding off the heat of the Sun for Krishna.Garuda perhaps wanted to do service to Krishna and the Lord being in the form of gopala he could not serve as a vehicle and so served as the umbrella, thus taking the place of Adhisesha who was born as Balarama. This is the idea implied in the description of Desika, who further explicitly refers to the parathva of
Narada was seen behind the clouds singing the glory of the Lord by samagana and the cows smelling the feet of
To Akrura,
Akrura considered those cowherd boys who sang and danced with
"I have fallen at your feet tormented by the demons of my sins and bound by the three gunas like ropes .(guna also meaning rope) Please take me up.You with your limitless glory are the helmsman in the sea of sin and rescues those who surrender to your feet.You are the rajahamsa that enter the manasa lake of the pure hearts of yogis."
Desika, speaking through the words of Akrura,says,
athirOdhi asou nidhih SruthEH
animEshavratha dhESinee dhrsOH
thanuthE thanureeSa thAvakee
smaraNam vissmaraNam cha dhuSSakam
The meaning of the sloka is as follows:
The Lord is hidden by the vedas like a treasure and hence could not be contemplated. Now that He is visible and has become the object of the eyes that fail to wink, he cannot be forgotten again. Hence there could be neither smarana, remembering nor vismarana, loss of memory.This is one of the many slokas illustrating the chamatkara, the skill of poetry of Desika.
Another beautiful sloka that is full of devotional fervour comes next.
vyapadhiSya mukundha dhEvakeem
viharanthyA vasudhEvamandhirE
janithOsi nijAnukampayA
jagathee rakshaNajAgarookadheeH
"You have made Devaki as a pretext to manifest yourself and she is in reality your mercy only, which alone is the cause of your incarnation because you are intent to protect the world."
Akrura further continues as follows:
"Those who experience the joy of seeing your form on earth, do not want even the attainment of moksha and those who understand your play on this world, unlike the ego-centric ones who are obsessed with the notion of "i" and "mine,' never return to this world again"
This is as Krishna says in the Gita, 'janmakarma cha mE dhivyam Evam yO vEtthi thatthvathaH; thyakthvA dhEham punarjanama naithi mAmEthi pAndava,(BG-4-9) one who knows my divine birth and my actions as they are , never are they reborn but attain me after leving their bodies.'
" The sins are destroyed by You like the darkness by the Sun and like the Moon you make the hearts of the yogis blossom like the lilies."
Next Desika reiterates the statement made by him earlier in the first chapter that the vedas themselves are not able to describe the glory of the Lord, through the speech of Akrura.(Ibid.1-2)
mahimArNavavarnanOdhyathAh
parimAthum guNamEkam akshamAH
thrapayEva bajanthi aseemani
thvayi vAchamyamatham anuSravAH
"The vedas trying to narrate the sea of your glory,unable to finish describing even one attribute fully, became silent as though ashamed."
Then Akrura started informing
thava viSvavidhO vadhAmi kim
jagadhEkAdhipathEH dhiSAmi kim
krpaNaH paripoorNasampadhaH
kamivAmsSam paripoorayAmyaham
This sloka means that to one who knows everything that happens in the world there is nothing to inform, there is nothing to show to one who is the Lord of the Universe and to the one who has all, there is nothing to give.Still he felt he had to carry his orders and told Krishna that it is time for him to return to Mathura and destroy the enemies. Kamsa, he said ,is plotting for his own destruction and is going to die.Thus to Krishna who enquired after the welfare of Mathura and its inhabitants Akrura informed of the intention of Kamsa to call him and Balarama to Mathura.Then the gopas including nanda started for Mathura obeying the orders of Kamsa and Akrura took Krishna and Balaarama in his chariot and started towards Mathura.
Next comes the description of the state of gopis grieved over the departure of
Chapter9 continued-
Krishna and Balarama started for Mathura and seeing that the gopis ran behind the chariot sounding like the kururi birds lamenting on the departure of Krishna,with dishevelled hair and garments, saying that they will sp tophim even if they have to fall in front of the chariot.
They became angry with Akrura for taking Krishna away from them, as though lcking their eyes fom them, and said that he did not desrve to be called Akrura ,not cruel while he is really krura.As the most cruel rakshasas deceive the world disguised as good ones Akrura came in a suave form and deceived them.
The Lord , they said ,uplifted the earth from the sea in His incarnation as the boar, Varaha, and wondered whether He would now extricate them from the sea of grief.
They accuse him of giving up Gokula, being attracted by the richness of
The reason for this was even the mind-stone manassila, of the gopis were melted by his moonlike smile. ( manassila means mind like sti one and also a kind of redstone found on the mountains. cf.'manssilAyAsthilako gandapArsvwe niveSithah,'-VR-sundarakanda, where Sita tell Hanuman to remind Rama about his putting the redmark of the manssila on her forehead as a sign of Hanuman meeting Sita.)
But Krishna would not be moved by the city -women as he was not, by the gopis as otherwise he would not have left them because the moon melts the moonstone and not viceversa.So they entertained some hope that he may return to Gokula and give joy to their eyes and ears ut again they became desperate thinking that he might be attracted by the refined beauty, speech and behaviour of the city-women 'maThuraouramatthakASinee maDHurAlApam,' and may forget them.
In the meanwhile the chariot went out of their eyesight and hearing. The gopis wondered that they were still alive even after
Here, Desika says that even this was the mercy of the Lord.
svaguNAnubhavEna subhruvAm
bhavabhogochithapuNya samchayam
virhavyaTHayA thu theevrayA
vrjinAmbhODHim aSoshayath parabhuh.
Their joy ue to union with
The chapter ends with brief account of Akrura having entered the waters of Yamuna, seeing
Then they crossed Yamuna,which looked agitated with the thought that
End of chapter 9 of yadhavabhyudhaya.
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