Thursday, December 1, 2011
LORD KRISHNA
Lord
Krishna appeared over five thousand years ago in Mathura, India to Devaki and
Vasudeva in the jail cell of the tyrant Kamsa. The place of His birth is known
as Sri Krishna Janmasthana. He appeared with His brother Balarama in response
to the demigods' prayers for protection from the widespread influence of
demonic administration on earth.
Previously,
the demigods and demons had been at war in the heavens. When the demons were
defeated by the demigods, they decided to instead attack this planet earth.
Thus, they invaded the earth by discretely taking birth as princes in powerful
royal families of the time.
And as the earth became overrun by milit-
aristic
activities of these kingly demons, the demigods including the Earth goddess
earnestly sought Lord Visnu's protection. Seeing the deteriorating social and
political conditions and hearing the prayers of the demigods, the
all-compassionate Supreme Lord Sri Krishna decided to descend for the benefit
of all.
The
Supreme Lord descends from time to time in this material world to reestablish
the teachings of the Vedas. In His Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna promises:
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O
descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion--at that time I
descend Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well
as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear milleniumm after
millenium."
Although eternal the Lord appears in specific circumstances
out of mercy for His devotees. In fact, His principal biography, the Srimad
Bhagavatam states, "the learned men describe the births and activities of
the Unborn and Inactive." Therefore, although He appears within the
material dimensions of time and space, He is most definitely not of it.
Historically,
Lord Krishna appeared on the midnight of the 8th day of the dark half of the
month of Sravana. This corresponds to July 19th 3228 BC. He exhibited His
pastimes for a little over 125 years and dissappeared on February 18th 3102 BC
on the new moon night of Phalguna. (His departure marks the beginning of the
current age of corruption known as Kali.
The great scholar Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti neatly outlines Lord Krishna's
activities in this way: the first three years and four months were spent in
Gokula, then equal lengths of time in Vmdavana and Nandagram, eighteen years
and four months in Mathura, and finally ninety-six years and eight months in
Dvaraka totalling 125 years of manifest pastimes. See the Krishna-lila chart.
Lord
Krishna's early pastimes are briefly summarized at the website Krishna's
Adventures in Vraja"During this childhood time , He grew up as the son of
His foster parents Nanda and Yasoda in the midst of the idyllic beauty of
Gokula, Vrindavana, and Nandagram. Not only did He destroy numerous demons, but
also performed His famous rasa dance.
Krishna enjoyed the dance of love
(rasa-lila) with the gopis many of whom are expansions of His own internal
energies. The supreme gopi known as Srimati Radharani is the object of
Krishna's highest devotion. This beautiful dance would occur in the autumn
season at night under a full moon when Lord Krsna would captivate the young
gopis with the extraordinary music of His flute . These esoteric pastimes
constitute the most confidential expression of divinity ever revealed.
Usually the conception of sprirtual perfection consists of overwhelming
feelings only of awe and reverence at God's majesty. However, in
these
pastimes each devotee loves God either as a master, a best freind, a
mischievous son, or even as an intimate lover, thus revealing the infinite
possibilities of divine love. These early pastimes of Lord Krsna in Vrindavana
illustrate the extraordinary intimacy that one can have with God. These
pastimes are described in detail by Sri Visvantha Chakravarti in his Sri
Krishna Bhavanamrta Mahakavya.
When Krishna and Balarama were older, They were invited to Mathura, where
Karnsa, Their demonic uncle, was planning Their death in a wrestling match
against two large and powerful wrestlers. When Kamsa saw his wrestlers
defeated, he ordered his friends to drive the brothers out of Mathura, plunder
the riches of Their cowherd friends, and kill Their fathers, Nanda and
Vasudeva. However, Krishna immediately killed Kamsa and Balarama killed his
eight brothers. Lord Krishna then established the pious King Ugrasena as the
emperor of several kingdoms.
In Mathura, both Krishna and Balarama were initiated by Gargamuni in the
Gayatri mantra> Later They went to live under the care of Sandipani Muni who
instructed Them in all the Vedic arts and sciences in sixty-four days and
nights especially in military science, politics and spirituality. As an
offering (guru-daksina) to Their teacher, They recovered his son from death.
Although God does not need instruction from anyone else, Lord Krsna and His
brother set the perfect example : one must accept instruction from and serve a
bona-fide spiritual master to advance in spiritual life.
For the next eighteen years, They continued to live in Mathura halting the
impending threat of many demonic kings. Later in Their pastimes Lord Balarama
married a princess named Revati. Lord Krsna married many queens, the foremost
among them being the extraordinarily beautiftil Queen Rukmini. (See Sri Rukmini
website for the story of Their marriage). Both Krishna and Balarama established
Their palaces in Dvaraka off the coast of western India, where They enjoyed
married life for many years. Although they were married, Lord Krsna and Lord
Balarama exhibited the quality of detachment from material life perfectly.
When They were about ninety years old, the great world war of Kuruksetra took
place. This climactic battle brought together all the major world leaders. Lord
Krsna took the role of a charioteer on the side of the pious Pandavas, while
Lord Balarama refusing to participate went on a pilgrimage tour thereby
blessing the entire land of India.
At the start of the war, Lord Krishna displayed His stupendous Universal Form
delivered His famous message known as the Bhagavad-gita, literally the Song of
God. This Song contains the essence of all knowledge having been spoken by the
Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Himself. This war concluded with the destruction of
the demonic kings and the reinstatement of the righteous Pandava princes.
Having
completed Their mission, Balarama and Krsna resumed Their life in Dvaraka where
They spent some thirty-five more years before ending Their earthly manifest
activities The foremost description of Lord Krishna's activities occurs in the
Srimad Bhagavatam, literally "the Beautiful Book of God.
Aarti of Lord Krishna
Jai
shri krishna hare, prabhu jai jai girdhari |
Danav
dal balihari, go dhij hitkari ||
Jai
govind dayanidhi goverdan dhari |
Vanshidhar
banvari, brij-jan pyrekari ||
Jai
shri krishna ............
Ganika
gidha ajamil gajpati bhayhari |
Aarat
aarte hari, jai mangal kari ||
Jai
shri krishna ..........
Gopalak
gopeshvar, dropti dukhhari |
Shabar
suta sukhkari, gautam tiye tari ||
Jai
shri krishna ...........
Jaan
parehlad parmodak, narhari tanu dhari |
Jaan
maan rajjankari, diti sut saghari ||
Jai
shri krishna ............
Titimbha
sut sarshak, rakshak majhari |
Pandu
suvar shubkari, koravm maad hari ||
Jai
shri krishna ...........
Manmat
manmat mohan, murli rav kari |
Varndavipin
vihari, yamuna taat chari ||
Jai
shri krishna ..........
Aad
bak baki udharak, tarvant tari |
Bidhi
surpati madhari, kas mukatkari ||
Jai
shri krishna .........
Shesh,
mahesh, sarvati, gun gavat hari |
Kal
kirti vistari, bhagt bhiti hari ||
Jai
shri krishna .........
'Narayan'
sharnagat, aati ada adahari |
pad
raj pavankari, chahat chithari ||
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