There are two ways to mukthi, rasAsvadha, or experiencing the joy of
union with the Lord and brahmajnana, through meditation or
jnanamarga.The upanishad says, 'rasO vai sah;rasam hOvAyamlabDhva
Anandhee bhavathi.' Brahman or Narayana is the rasa and attaining Him
is the bliss. Rasa, Anandha and Brahman are synonymous terms.
The rasakreeda signifies the jivas enjoying the bliss with the Lord.
The sages see the leela of the Lord in the world where all the jivas
are around Him holding His hand.So the whole world is the brindavan
and the leela of the Lord in creating sustaining and annihiating is
the rasakreeda. RAsa is also termed as the collection of all the five
vaishnava rasas, namely,dAsya, sakhya, vAtsalya,madhura and shantha.
To those who criticise the rasleela the answer would be that Krishna
was only 10 when he was in Brindavan and where does eroticism figure?
Parikshit himself was ignorant on this aspect and asked Shuka how is
it justified for one who incarnated for dharmasamsthapana to play
with the wives of others. And Shuka replied,
gOpeenAm thathpatheenAm cha sarvEshAmEva dhEhinAm yO anthascharathi
so aDHyakshah kreedanEna iha dhEhabhavah
The one who is the indweller of the gopis and their husbands and all
beings and the witness self, is now playing in physical form.
Srimadbhagavatha says,
rEmE ramESO vrajasundareebhih
yaTHA arbakah svaprathibimba vibhramah.
The Lord of Lakshmi enjoyed the company of the cowherd damsels as a
child will revel in his own reflections.
The whole of Bhagavatha is considered to be the sarira of the Lord
and the five adhyayas describing rasakreeda are the prANasThAna. It
is bhakthyAh parA kAshTA na sringArasya . It is the height of
devotion and not of physical desire.It is said in Bhagavatha that the
husbands never felt the absence of their wives during the nights of
rasakreeda because their yogasariras were with Krishna while their
bhogasariras were at home doing their duty. As the gopis saw only
Krishna everywhere their love for their kith and kin only
increased,and for the same reason it was reciprocated.
Vedantadesika in his yadhavabhyudhaya mentions that the brahmacharya
of Krishna was not in any way affected,'na brhmachryam bibhidhE
thadheeyam, and Appayyadikshita , a leading exponent of advaita,
writing commentary on this work says that this is because everythng
is His sarira and He was embracing His own sarira. He quotes the
PAdhmOttharakAnda from PadmapuraNa where Lord Siva tells Parvathi,
who raised the same question, that it is like 'svasariraparishvanga'
embracing oneself.
The one who related the story is a parivrajaka brahmajnani and the
one to whom it is told is Parikshit, paramabhagavtha and those who
listened were rshis. All jivas are women and He alone is the Purusha.
(This explanation is given here instead of giving it in the chapter
on rasakrida because it would help understanding and enjoying
Rasakreeda when we come to the chapter.)
Krishna the cowherd.
Nandha sent Krishna and Balarama to tend the cattle Desika says,
ananya thanthrah svayamEva dhEvAn
padmAsanAdheen prajanayya rakshan
sa rakshakah seerabhrtha saha Aseeth
nEthA gavAm nandhaniyogavarthee.
The one who created the devas including Brahma and is their
protector, obeyed the command of Nandha and became a cowherd along
with Balarama.YasOdha worried over his tender feet becoming hurt with
the stony path of the forest as Periazvar says, 'kudaiyum seruppum
kodAdhE----kodiyEn en piLLaiyai pOkkinEn ellE pAvame' imagining
himself as YasOdha.
Desika says that the vedas themselves became the cows when their
protector became a cowherd. The cows being the personification of the
vedas, the supreme Being, paramapurusha was their rakshaka.
gOpAyamAnE purushE parasmin gOroopathAm vEdhagirO bajanthyah
The sounds made by them when they touched his feet with their mouths
echoed the words pronounced in samagana.
bhavyairasEvantha padham thadheeyam
sthObha prathicchandhanibhaih svasabdhaih
sthobha are the sabdhas like 'ha, uhA, u' that are uttered in
samagana which resemble the sound made by the cows.
Krishna tied and released the cows as required signifying his power
in binding and releasing jeevas.
The way Krishna showed his affection to the calves playing with him
seem to teach the cows how to love their calves, 'vAthsalyasiksham
iva vAsudhEvAth.'
Whenever the other cowherd boys felt hungry Krishna gave them curd
rice, dhaDHyanna out of his hand which is described by Desika as
madhuplutha, dripping with honey.The boys gave him delicius fruits
they gathered in the forest and he ate them with relish after giving
them first to Balarama. He ate the sesha of the sesha!
The Brindavana appeared as something that was never seen in any yuga,
says Desika. being protected by Narayana with Sesha who is like His
arm, that is, Krishna and Balarama, the brindhavana with its herds of
cows, vyAprtha dhEnu brindham was true to its name.
The brindhavana was full of deep pools, abundant grass, shady and
even in the hot summer it was cool for the cows and the cowherds.The
cows never had any fear from disease,demons and wild animals. The
gopas being under the care of Vasudeva, never experienced the natural
calamities like athivrshti, flood and anAvrshti, draught etc and also
any obstacles from other beings. so they enjoyed a prosperity not
obtained in any other yuga 'apoorvayugAnubhoothi.'
Desika here alludes to an episode according to which the crown of
Lord Vishnu was stolen by Bali and Garuda brought it back in
KrishnAvathAra.
Garuda gave a crown to Krishna which , Desika says , rightly belonged
to him being robbed from him while he was sleeping in his seshasayana
by Bali.
The words describing the arrival of Garuda is much more enchanting
than the story itself.
AghrAtha varthmAnam aranyabhAgEshu
AraNyakaih AsrithaDHEnubhAvaih
kEnApi thasyApahrtham kireetam
prathyAharan praukshatha pathrinAThah
Desika says that Garuda found Krishna by the cows which were smelling
the path followed by him. Here the word 'AraNyakaih Asritha
DHEnubhAvaih' means that the vedas which became the cows and Garuda
being the personification of vedas, 'vedAthmA vihagEsvarah' found the
Lord who is vedavedhya, known only from the vedas.
The yajnapathni upAkhyAna is mentioned briefly by Desika in one
sloka. When the cowherd boys became hungry Krishna told them to go to
the nearby yajnasAla and ask the rshis there for food, which was
refused to them by the rshis who were learned in vedas but did not
know the import of the vedas, the Lord Himself, whom all offerings
in all yajnas go to and who had come as a cowherd.But their wives
steeped in bhakthi obliged courting the anger of their husbands Due
to the grace os the LOrd the rshis understood their mistake and
praised their wives for their bhakthi.
Then Desika describes how Krishna was enjoying the company of the
calves and vice versa. They are compared with saints filled with
devotion, bhakthibharAvanamrAn as they imitated their behaviour.They
closed their eyes, nimeelithAkshAn on being touched by him,and were
drowsy being fondled by his hand and with their attention only on
him., ananyAbhimukhAn. The calves went to the places where there is
no grass because they were green with the hue of Krishna.On returning
he himself fed them by taking them to their mothers as they were
parisramsrAnthapadhAh, tired after roaming in the forest.
The scene in which Krishna is returning from the forest is described
thus.Coming at a distance with the cows,he became the cause of
brightening of the faces of the gopis with joy, ullAsa, as the rising
sun causing the blossoming of lotuses. The word 'gObih' means
also 'by rays ' and 'ullasa' is joy as well as blossoming. When he
came playing his flute his lustre gave so much joy to the girls that
it looked as though the whole world was enchanted by his peacock
feathers.
How did the wmenfolk of the gokula enjoyed his presence is given in a
beautiful sloka by Desika.
bAlam tharuNyah tharuNam cha bAlAh
tham avarjyantha samAnabhAvAh
thadhadhbhutham thasya vilOkanam vA
thasyaiva sarvArha rasAthmathA vA
He was loved by young women and by young girls alike as though he
was of their age group.Desika says it is to be ascertained whether
this wonder is due to his maya or his being the essence of
everything, 'rasO vai sah.'
Further Desika says that both Balrama and Krishna were looked upon
differently by different groups of people. They were sons to their
parents, handsome young men to young women, ancient, puraANapurushas
to the wise old men who knew about their avathararahasya.
Desika also mentions the marriage of Krishna to Nappinna in his
young age by taming seven bulls. She is said to be the daughter of
the sister of Nandhgopa and mentioned as sathya in Bhagavatham and
her marriage with Krishna is mentioned only after that of Rukmini and
sathyabhAma.She was supposed to be the incarnation of Neela devi as
Rukmini was sreedevi and sathyabhama was bhoodevi.
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