Dear KrishNa BhakthAs:
On the eve of Naraka Chathurthi and
the festival of DhIpAwaLIi ,
let us reflect on BhUmi DEvi's salutations to Her
Lord after
NarakAsura Vadham .
At the beginning of the Dasama Skandham's Chapter 59 ,
King Parikshith asks Sukha Brahmam to tell him
about
the prowes of Lord KrishNa :
YaTA hathO BhagavathA BhoumO yEna cha taa:
sthriya:
niruddhA yEthadhAchakshva vikramam Saarngadhanvana:
(Meaning): Oh Maharishi! Please instruct us on the
valour of
BhagavAn KrishNa , the wielder of the mighty bow of
Saarngam ,
which was demonstrated by Him during the killing of
NarakAsuran ,
the son of BhUmi Devi and in rescuing the women
that the asuran
held in prison.
Sukha Brahmam starts tellling the story of IndhrA's
humilation
by NarakAsuran through the forcible usurpation of
IndhrA's
royal umbrella, the taking away of his mother
Aditi's ear rings
and other atrocities. Indhra begged Lord KrishNa to
control
the power of NarakAsuran by restoring him
to his lost kingdom.
He also prayed to the Lord to recover the ear
rings of
his Mother.
Our Lord responded to IndhrA's request and
proceeded on
the back of Garudan with His devi, SathyabhAma to
NarakAsuran's
capital of PrAgjyOthisham . Our Lord destroyed the
mighty
fortifications of the City and destroyed first
MurAsuran with arrows and
Sudarsana chakram. Next our Lord took on the seven
sons of
MurAsuran and dispatched them to YamA's abode one
by one .
When NarakAsuran saw his army destroyed, he flew in
to a mighty
rage and came to batlte with the Lord. Garuda
assisted his Lord
in that mighty battle that ensued.
Narakan lost many of his weapons and finally took a
trident to
attack the Lord and the angry Lord cut off
NarakAsuran's head
with His powerful disc , Sudarsanam
:
Soolam BhoumOchyutham hanthumAdhadhE
vithaTOdhyama:
tadhvisargAth poorvamEva Narakasya sirO
Hari:
apAharadh gajasTasya chakrENa
kshuranEminA
--SrImad BhAgavatham: 10.59.21
(meaning): The son of Bhumi DEvi, NarakAsuran
grabbed a trident
to kill Achyuthan . His attempt was thwarted by
KrishNa , who
nullified that attack by cutting off the
head of the asuran with
His sharp edged Sudarsana chakram.
The relatives of NarakAsuran wailed over His
destruction ,
while the sages and dEvAs rained flowers on
Lord KrishNa
and eulogized Him.
Now , BhUmi Devi , the mother of the Asuran
approached
Her Lord with flowers in hand and other
presents(gems) and
offered Her salutations to the Lord in the
form of a beautiful
Sthuthi ( BhAgavatham: 10.59.25-31) .
She recited the many
names of the Lord and begged Her Lord to spare
the son of
NarakAsuran ( Bhagadattan) and requested Her Lord
to place
His auspicious palm over the head of their grandson
.Our most
merciful Lord acceded to the prayerful
request of His Devi
and spared the son of NarakAsuran.He also acceded
to
His Devi's request for people to remember the
Lord's valor
in the fight against adharmam by celebrating Naraka
Chathurhti
as a day of light and joy , when all the darkness
of ajn~Anam
is banished due to the Lord's grace.
On this auspicious occasion of
DhIpAwaLi ceelbrating Lord
KrishNA's display of His prowess over NarakAsuran ,
let us
study the Sthuthi of BhUmi Devi , which
is beautiful to reflect :
NamastE Deva-dEvEsa Sankha-chakra GadhAdhara
BhakthEcchOpaatha-roopAya ParamAthman namOsthu tE
--BhAgavatham: X.59.25
(Obesiance to Thee , the Lord of
DevAs adorning the Conch,
Chakram and the Mace ! Salutations to Thee ,
Supreme Being,
who incarnates in different roopams to fulfill the
longings of
Your bhaktha janams! )
nama: PankajanAbhAya nama: PankajamAlinE !
nama: PankajanEthrAya namstE PannkajAngrayE
!
--BhAgavatham: X.59.26
( Salutations to Thee , who is lotus-navelled as
PadmanAbhan !
Salutations to Thee with Your lotus garlands
! Salutations to
Thee as SenthAmarai KaNNan ! Salutations to
Thee , who has
lotus soft feet !)
namO BhagavathE Thubhyam VaasudEvAya VishNavE
PurushAya AadhiBheejAya PoorNaBhOdhAya tE
nama:
---BhAgavatham : 10.59.27
Elaborate comments can be written about the
Bhagavaan's
Tatthvams that BhUmi DEvi refers to in this slOkam
.
Our Lord is
eulogized here as VaasudEvan, the aadharam (Support for
the Universe and its beings), as VishNu the
pervader of every thing
inside and outside ( anthar-bahisccha tath Sarvam
vyApya NaarAyaNa:
sTitha:), as the AadhiBheejam ( the seed and source
of every
thing , Jagath KaaraNan ) , as Purushan visualized
by Pursha
Sooktham and as PoorNaBhOdhan( Omniscient
ChidhAnandha
Svaroopan.
ajAya janayithrEasya
BrahmaNE-anantha-sakthayE
ParAvarAthman BhUthAthman ParamAthman namOasthu
tE
---Bhaagavatham: X.59.28
Salutations are offered by BhUmi PirAtti to Her
Lord
as the birthless One and yet manifests both as the
cause
and effect(ajAyamAnO BhaudhA vijAyathE) . He
is saluted with
three choice nAmAs of " ParAvarAthman, BhUthAthman
and ParamAthman ". These three nAmAs have profound
meanings celebrated in the three rahasyams , AchArya
SrI Sookthis and AzhwAr Paasurams.
Next , He is adored as Anantha SakthimAn ( the
possessor of
infinite power and valour) ; He is invoked as
"Brahma Sabdham "
of the Upanishads , which is commented upon by
Sage VyAsa
in Brahma Soothrams.
Salutations are made to the ever present Lord
without
beginning or end as the Supreme Spirit, infinite
power
and as the greatest being .
BhUmi Devi now alludes to Her Lord doing His duties
of
Creation, protection and dissolution of the
Universe and
being the eternal light for all times to come
:
Thvam vai sishrushoo raja uthkaDam PrabhO
tamO nirOdhAya vibharshyasamvrutha:
sTAnAya satthvam jagathO JagathpathE
kAla: pradhAnam PurushO BhavAn Para:
--SrImath BhAgavatham: X.59.29
The meaning of the profound slOkam filled with
VedAnthic
doctrine is : O Lord of the Worlds
(JagathpathE ) !
O Parama PurushA ! It is indeed Yourself , who
takes on
the power of rajO guNam for the creation of the
universe ,
tamO guNam for its dissolution and satthva guNam
for
the protection of the universe that You created (
sishrushoo
TamaO , tamo nirOdhAya , sTAnAya satthvam). You
transcend Kaalam (Time) and Your Moola Prakruthi
(PradhAnam , the material for creation and
evolution ).
Your unique and limitless power is not obstructed
by
any entity or force.
In the concluding verse of the BhU Sthuthi of Lord
KrishNa
following the NarakAsura Vadham , BhUmi dientifies
Heeself
as PruTvee Svaroopi among pancha bhUthams and
touches on
other VedAnthic doctrines on Tathva Thrayam
(ChEthanam ,
achEthanam and Iswaran):
aham payO jyOthiraTAnilO nabhO
mAthrANi dEvA mana indhriyANi
karthA mahAnithyakhilam charAcharam
ThvayyadhvitheeyE Bhagavannayam
brahama:
---SrImath BhAgavatham : X.59.30
BhUmi PirAtti refers to the ChEthanAchEthana maya
Jagath
and its relationship to the Lord , its creator
:
I (Earth/PruTvee) , water (aapa:) , Fire
(Agni/tEjas) , air (Vaayu) ,
and sky (aakAsam) as Pancha bhUthams , the five
objects like
Sound , Touch et al and the deities prsiding over
them , the mind (manas ),
sense organs (IndhriyAs) , ahankAram providing the
sense of agentship (KarthA),
Mahaatatthvam and Buddhi --all these
hierarchies and categories of
evolution odf chEthanams and achEthanams are ,
O Lord have no comparison
( One without a second/adhvitheeyam) , merely
phenomenal in You.
After listening to the moving sthOthram of Him ,
the Lord as Protector of
all, who sought His refuge blesses
Bhagadattan and then enters the prosperous
city of his father .
There , He saw more than 16,000 young women languishing
in the prisons of NarakAsuran .They were brought by
force by NarakAsuran
when he defeated the kings in battle. These young
women were blessed to see
Lord KrishNa and chose Him in their minds as their
husband . Lord KrishNa
responded to their wishes and sent them to His city
of DhwAraka and later
married every one of them and established them in
individual houses and
took 16,000 plus roopams of Himself to stay with
them and enjoy their
company as the Master of their houses.
Immediately after NarakAsura Vadham , our Lord went
with His divine consort
SathyabhAma to Indhra lOkam and returned the
ear rings stolen by Narakan
to Aditi , the mothe rof Indhra. At IndhrA's garden
, SathyabhAma saw the heavenly
tree of PaarijAtham and responding to His wife's
request had the tree pulled up
by its roots and sent it to DhwArakA to be planted
in SathyabhAma's garden .
Garuda transported the tree on his back to DhwArakA
. Indhran , who had just
fell at the feet for saving him from the terrors of
Narakan now began to fight
with the Lord for removing the PaarijAtha tree from
his garden .LOrd KrishNa ,
the Master of Indhra and his deva gaNams defeated
Indhran in the fight between
them and taught Indhra a lesson and then returned
to DhwArakai.
Sukha Brahmam summarizes the ingratitude of
Indhran through a beautiful verse:
yayAcha aanamya kirIDakODibhi: paadhou sprusann
Achyutham arTasaadhanam
sidhdArTa yEthEna vigruhyatE mahAnahO surANAm cha
tamO dhigADyathAm
---SrImath BhAgavatham: X.59.41
First , Indhran was expressing his gratefulness by
falling at the feet of
the Lord , who came to his rescue and granted him
back his isvaryam.
Next , when the PaarijAtha tree from his kingdom
was desired by
the Lord to please His dear consort , the same
Indhran fought with the Lord
for protecting "his wealth". Bhagavan was arTa
Saadhanam for Indhran.
He gained his wealth (SidhArTan) with the Lord's
assistance . After gaining
his wish , he went on to fight with his Lord .
Sukha Brahmam is filled with
disgust over the ungratefulness of Indharan and
states : " Fie (Shame) on
the stupidity of the DevAs and their king ,
Indhran! Fie on the wealth ,
which begets stupidity ! "
PaarijAtha tree apaharaNam from Svarga lOkam and
the marriage of
the Lord with the 16,000 plus young women at
DhwArakai by
DhwArakAdhIsan are the celebrated topics of great
UpanyAsakAs
based on AzhwAr's SrI Sookthis celebrating
these topics .These
HarikathA KaalakshEpams are important for
KrishNanusamaraNam
particularly on this DhIpAwaLi day linked with Lord
KrishNA's Vaibhavam.
adiyEn will conclude this DhIpAwaLi SamarpaNam to
the Lord with
rememberance of a great slOkam from the Dasama
Skandham ( X .87.23):
" Through rememberance , Thy antagonists attained
to the same spiritual
goal as the sages, who had established complete
control over their vital
forces , mind and senses, and meditated on
Thee , we (the Sruthi dEvathAs) ,
who look upon Thee as equally present everywhere
and ever commune with
Thy lotus feet , and the women ( The GopikAs of
BrundhAvanam) who longed
for the embrace of Thy arms , powerful and handsome
like AdhisEshA ,
are of equal worth. WHATEVER THE NATURE OF THE
PASSION THAT
MOVES THE DEVOTEE , IF IT MAKES him INTENSELY
THINK OF THEE ,
THY GRACE FALLS ON him ".
NamO VaasudEvAya , NamO Naraka nAsanAya, NamO BhUmi
VallabhAya !
NamO JyOthi SvaroopAyA ! NamO Devaki NandanAya !
SrImath Azhagiya Singar Thiruvadi , Oppiliappan
Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
SubhAnu Samavathsaram , KrishNa Chaturdasi , Hastha
Nakshathram
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