Chakara kaiyane acho acho!

One day in the cool glades of Dwaraka, spanned by the great ocean, Arjuna and Krishna are strolling with the former asking his usual questions. Krishna was playing the part of a Guru to His favorite disciple.

Finally Arjuna, the eternally doubtful, comes to the point when Krishna in the avatar of Vamana, buries underground the king who had given Him alms. Well! A small smile playing on His lips, Swami starts to explain.

The situation goes :

Lord Vishnu has ten avatars. The fifth avatar was Vamana, a brahmin dwarf born to Aditi, the mother of the Devas. He is born to wrench from Maha Bali's hands the throne of the Devas due to their insistent prayers.

Maha Bali is the Lord of the Asuras. He is much famed, renowned for his Dharma aside from hating the Devas which is the national sport of the Asuras. He is righteous towards his subjects, generous to a fault(Which soon consumes him), devoted disciple, loving husband and much much more. Also not to forget :the great grandson of Prahalada, one of the Lord's favorites.

He was holding a Mahayagna for the victory over the Devas. The rules of the Yagna was that you must give away whatever the attendees wanted esp. the Brahmanas. Now this was the loop hole that the Lord was after.

Popularly called Vamana, the dwarf, He takes a umbrella in His cherubic hands, Kamandala in His right and strides to where the Yagna was going on.

Seeing the beautiful Brahmin kid, captivated by His charm, Mahabali comes down and asks what he could do for Him.

The Child says, "I want land that is equal in measure to three paces of my feet".

Smiling, the King replies, " Is that all? Ask for more, jewels, money, cattle, villages, anything will be yours".

The Child : "No. That is all I need"

The Kula-Guru of the Asuras is Sukracharya. He is the much famed Venus which is equivalent to the brightness of the Sun in the evening sky and is renowned as the Evening Star.

Sukracharya : "O mighty Lord of the Asuras, I perceive through my tapas that this is no mere boy. His tejas and persona are reflective of the Lord Himself. Do not be deceived by His charms. Refuse Him anything He asks."

Mahabali : "O much revered Acharya! I salute thee! But this young one? How can I not refuse whatever He asks? Already my heart wants to embrace Him and take Him to be my own? Also, what can even the Lord do in such a small form? I will give up anything He asks for"

Sukracharya not knowing what to do and being the Kula-Guru, takes the form of a "vandu" or the bee and sits in the spout of the kamandala that is used for the dhana - renouncing purposes. So when Bali tilts the spout to water away the three paces of land, the water does not flow.

The Lord smiles, captivating and bewitching everybody in the process, takes a small "dharpai" or sacred grass and punctures whatever is blocking the spout. Lo Behold!! The bee's eye is pierced and it flies out allowing the water to flow in its wake. This is the reason why Sukracharya has only one eye.

The Lord (As usual!!!) rises to Viswaroopa and stands as Thiru Vikrama and takes the Earth in a pace, Heavens in another. He looks formidably at MahaBali and asks Him for the third measure.

Humble and gracious as ever(without a feeling of remorse) offers his head to the Lord. Swami then pushes him underground. But love and affection abounded in His heart for the most generous of the Asura Kings and He spares his life and grants him a boon becoming his Guardian forever.

Back to the current avatar:

Arjuna : "The king was gracious and generous. You took unfair advantage of him.

Krishna : "No. He disobeyed his Guru who asked him not to give me anything? Is this not a crime? Are you not supposed to listen to anything that your Guru says?"

Arjuna : "Well. Then why was Sukracharya punished? He wanted to save his kulam and the king"

Krishna : "He tried to prevent a person from giving alms which is not righteous at all and definitely not the manner of a Guru"

Thus ended one of the most famous repartees in Mahabharata. Alwar further glorifies the Lord's actions to posterity by

This beautiful chapter in Mahabharata expostulates the importance of listening to ones'Guru and also the benefit in giving alms: even though you know not what comes out of it, it will save you.

" Sukiran kannai thrumbal kuthiya
chakara kaiyane acho acho"

Acho Acho!