SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
Let us now enjoy how krishNa and sathyabAmA destroyed narakAsura.
naraka is said to be born to varAha bhagavAn and bhUmidhEvi and became demoniac due to evil friends. He was tormenting both humans and celestial beings. He captured many celestial women and held them as captives. indhra et al went to SrIman nArAyaNa who was resting in kshIrAbdhi (milk ocean) and prayed to him to save them by destroying narakAsura, krishNa consoled them and sent them off saying that he will do it at the right time.
We have already seen that while bhagavAn had incarnated as krishNa in this world, bhUmidhEvi incarnated as sathyabAmA. krishNa vowed in his divine heart that he will kill naraka with the help of sathyabAmA. At that time, indhra came to dhvArakA and complained that naraka had snatched away varuNa’s umbrella, adhithi’s (indhra’s mother) earrings and maNiparvatha which is the playground of dhEvathAs. He prayed to krishNa to protect them immediately. krishNa immediately climbed on his chariot along with sathyabAmA and went to naraka’s city.
At the main entrance, a demon named mura came and invited krishNa for a battle. krishNa used his divine chakra and severed mura’s head. This is how krishNa got the name “murAri“. Subsequently, narakAsura himself came to fight. After a fierce battle, krishNa severed naraka’s head and killed him. In this, it is also said that naraka had a boon previously that he could only be killed by his mother. naraka hit krishNa which made him faint. At that time sathyabAmA picked up the bow and arrow and killed naraka.
Then, krishNa freed the sixteen thousand one hundred celestial women who were held as captives. All of them desired to have krishNa as their husband. Hence, he brought them all to dhvArakA, assumed as many divine forms and married them all.
Many AzhwArs have sung about the killing of narakAsura. kulaSEkhara AzhwAr in his perumAL thirumozhi says “nal nAraNan naragAndhakan piththanE” (Supreme lord nArAyaNa who killed narakAsura, is very loving towards his devotees). nammAzhwAr in his thiruviruththam says “naliyum naraganai vIttiRRum” (Killing of narakAsura who tormented others). thirumangai AzhwAr in periya thirumozhi says “venRi migu naragan uram adhu azhiya visiRum viRal Azhith thadakkaiyan” (bhagavAn who his wide hands with valorous chakra, launched such chakra to kill the brave narakAsura).
periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi speaks about bhagavAn’s presence in SrI dhvArakA as in “padhinRAm Ayiravar dhEvimAr paNiseyya thuvarai innum adhil nAyagarAgi vIRRiruNdha maNavALar” (krishNa remained in dhvArkA as the lord who is being served by sixteen thousand queen consorts).
With a lot of gits and things which were snatched away by naraka, krishNa and sathyabAmA went to indhra’s svarga lOkam. indhra thanked them for their help in defeating narakAsura. indhrANi (indhra’s wife) too came and bowed to them. At that time indhrANi’s maids brought her pArijAtha flower and offered it to her. Seeing that, sathyabAmA desired to have it and asked for the same. But with pride, indhrANi said “This is for celestials. It is not apt for humans like you”. Hearing that sathyabAmA became very sad. Seeing that, krsihNa ordered his vAhana (vehicle) garudAzhwAr to pluck a whole tree. Seeing that, indhra forgot that just a little while ago, krishNa saved all of them, and came to fight with krishNa. krishNa easily defeated indhra and his soldiers, and returned to dhvArakA. He planted this pArijAtha tree there in their garden.
periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi explains how sathyabAmA desired for pArijAtha flower in “kaRpagakkAvu karudhiya kAdhalikku ippozhudhu Ivan enRu indhiran kAvinil niRpana seydhu nilAththigazh muRRaththuL uyththavan ennaip puRam pulguvAn umbar kOn ennaip puRam pulguvAn” (krishNa, who, for his dear consort who desired the kalpaka tree from indhra’s garden, said “I will get you at once” and placed the same in her garden, will embrace my back)
Essence in this incident:
- The day when narakAsura was killed, naraka chathudhaSi is celebrated as dhIpAvaLi as per his prayers.
- Though dhEvathAs such as indhra et al acquire a lot of good things from bhagavAn, they would become prideful that they are celestials and commit offences. But bhagavAn, with an open heart, forgives them.
- bhagavAn conducted his gruhasthASrama dharma (house-holder life) in dhvArakA in a wonderful way,
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/10/15/krishna-leela-39-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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