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!
Showing posts with label Krishna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Krishna. Show all posts
Monday, October 06, 2008
Monday, January 29, 2007
Udanga and Krishna
Sages wander. They usually do not stay at a place. So when they move back and forth, they have to cross deserts and rivers and mountains alike. They are put to extreme discomfort and pain. They suffer themselves to bear it all as they have renounced the "physicality" of the world.
Udanga was no exception to this rule. But, he, by his constant prayers, love and devotion to Lord Krishna, won the boon that he would find water whenever his throat was parched. He just had to think of water and Lo! Behold! He would have it.
Krishna was extremely proud of a devotee like Udanga. He was of the opinion that Udanga was one of a kind : No ego, extremly pleasant, no racial prejudices and all renouncing.
Once Indra, the king of the devas, had called on Krishna. The discussion came to rest on Udanga. As Krishna was extolling the virtues of the sage, Indra sneered and said nothing. Krishna stung, asked Indra why he did not hold the sage so high.
Indra replied that Udanga was a racist. He did not think much of lower castes and considered it a sin to be associated in any way with them.
Now this was a serious insult and slur. No sage would ever ever do this, as to him, the world, universe, man and animal are the same.
Krishna wanted to clear the slur on His favorite and so said, "Ok. Now you have cast the blame. Prove it to me. For my part, I hold Udanga to be blameless."
Indra replied calmly," Since you hold so much belief on him, I would think him to be worthy of anything. As you are the Lord himself. Even Amirtha which you know is not for anyone other than the devas. I will offer him even that. But in the guise of a tribal man. Not just a common tribal but a tribal leader. Let's see what happens."
Krishna,seemingly sure, of the reaction of Udanga accepted the challenge.
Now the scene shifts to a desert. Extremely hot and dry. Udanga is walking slowly on the sifting sands. He feels extremely thirst and crys out, "Krishna".
Lo! There appears Indra himself holding the pot of nectar disguised as a sand pitcher in the garb of a tribal king. Udanga is scandalized. He refuses to take the water and cries, "Krishna! What sin have I committed to have water forced upon me by this tribal? Answer me my Lord. I would die of thirst than to accept this water!"
Indra vanishes and his place is taken by Krishna. Extremely angry and mortified, He shouts at Udanga, "Oh Sage! Till date I had thought of you as one equivalent to the greatest of the illumined. But you,in this issue, have brought shame on yourselves. What is the sin committed by the tribal that the water offered by him be unpalatable to you? Was it poisoned by his touch?
You have a very long path to traverse. You have not yet even been qualified to see the hallowed halls of the truly devote.
And as a punishment you shall know what you missed. You rejected the amirtha which Lord Indra himself freely offered to you. Now go! Repent."
So saying, He left Udanga to repent over his attitude.
Udanga proceeds further. To reach what now seems unattainable to him.
So. Here we come atlast. The point behind such a drama. Did not the Lord know the true capability of His devotee? Did He not know the outcome of the wager? He did. But He wanted to give Udanga a chance to see his error and correct himself.
Mistake or a wise decision. Every man attains the fruit of his deeds. He might or might not in his present janma. So many a time the consequence of a deed does not strike us at all. But when it does so all at once, we are either elevated to a position never so glorified or brought to our knees crumbling before the world.
Here Udanga sees his mistake come back to hit him so hard that his years and years of penance reduce to naught.
Also the equality of the caste which seems to be the "strike out" moral of the story is re-emphasized. After all, the Lord himself has chosen to be a Brahmin in only 2 of His avatars. In one of which he publicly renounces all dharma attached to it.
Hari Om:
Udanga was no exception to this rule. But, he, by his constant prayers, love and devotion to Lord Krishna, won the boon that he would find water whenever his throat was parched. He just had to think of water and Lo! Behold! He would have it.
Krishna was extremely proud of a devotee like Udanga. He was of the opinion that Udanga was one of a kind : No ego, extremly pleasant, no racial prejudices and all renouncing.
Once Indra, the king of the devas, had called on Krishna. The discussion came to rest on Udanga. As Krishna was extolling the virtues of the sage, Indra sneered and said nothing. Krishna stung, asked Indra why he did not hold the sage so high.
Indra replied that Udanga was a racist. He did not think much of lower castes and considered it a sin to be associated in any way with them.
Now this was a serious insult and slur. No sage would ever ever do this, as to him, the world, universe, man and animal are the same.
Krishna wanted to clear the slur on His favorite and so said, "Ok. Now you have cast the blame. Prove it to me. For my part, I hold Udanga to be blameless."
Indra replied calmly," Since you hold so much belief on him, I would think him to be worthy of anything. As you are the Lord himself. Even Amirtha which you know is not for anyone other than the devas. I will offer him even that. But in the guise of a tribal man. Not just a common tribal but a tribal leader. Let's see what happens."
Krishna,seemingly sure, of the reaction of Udanga accepted the challenge.
Now the scene shifts to a desert. Extremely hot and dry. Udanga is walking slowly on the sifting sands. He feels extremely thirst and crys out, "Krishna".
Lo! There appears Indra himself holding the pot of nectar disguised as a sand pitcher in the garb of a tribal king. Udanga is scandalized. He refuses to take the water and cries, "Krishna! What sin have I committed to have water forced upon me by this tribal? Answer me my Lord. I would die of thirst than to accept this water!"
Indra vanishes and his place is taken by Krishna. Extremely angry and mortified, He shouts at Udanga, "Oh Sage! Till date I had thought of you as one equivalent to the greatest of the illumined. But you,in this issue, have brought shame on yourselves. What is the sin committed by the tribal that the water offered by him be unpalatable to you? Was it poisoned by his touch?
You have a very long path to traverse. You have not yet even been qualified to see the hallowed halls of the truly devote.
And as a punishment you shall know what you missed. You rejected the amirtha which Lord Indra himself freely offered to you. Now go! Repent."
So saying, He left Udanga to repent over his attitude.
Udanga proceeds further. To reach what now seems unattainable to him.
So. Here we come atlast. The point behind such a drama. Did not the Lord know the true capability of His devotee? Did He not know the outcome of the wager? He did. But He wanted to give Udanga a chance to see his error and correct himself.
Mistake or a wise decision. Every man attains the fruit of his deeds. He might or might not in his present janma. So many a time the consequence of a deed does not strike us at all. But when it does so all at once, we are either elevated to a position never so glorified or brought to our knees crumbling before the world.
Here Udanga sees his mistake come back to hit him so hard that his years and years of penance reduce to naught.
Also the equality of the caste which seems to be the "strike out" moral of the story is re-emphasized. After all, the Lord himself has chosen to be a Brahmin in only 2 of His avatars. In one of which he publicly renounces all dharma attached to it.
Hari Om:
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