krishNa leelAs and their essence – 44 – Killing of SiSupAla

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yudhishtira started the rAjasUya yAgam under the supervision of krishNa. He engaged many sages and elders and started the yAgam.

In the yAgam, there was a question about whom should be given the first honours. At that time, first, sahadhEva started explaining krishNa’s greatness clearly and firmly said “The supreme lord, krishNa should get the first honours”. All the elders and people joyfully celebrated sahadhEva’s words. yudhishtira offered a high seat to krishNa, washed his divine feet, performed pAdha pUjA (worship at the divine feet), sprinkled that sacred water on his head as well as the heads of his brothers and relatives. Many of the persons there, followed the same. Everyone made a tumultuous sound chanting “Victory! Victory!” and a rain of flower fell from the sky.

Seeing all of these, SiSupAla became very angry, He already had enmity towards krishNa. He started shouting accusations on krishNa, insulting him. Seeing that, pANdavas went to attack him, but krishNa stopped them. krishNa had previously vowed that he will tolerate one hundred accusations of SiSupAla at one time. He had decided that he will punish SiSupAla if that limit were crossed. As per that vow, once SiSupAla crossed shouting one hundred accusations, he severed SiSupAla’s head with his sudharSana chakra, At that time, since SiSupAla had said krishNa’s divine names many times and since his three births in this world which were caused by the curse of brahmA’s mAnasa puthras (sons), ended, he reached bhagavAn.

After that, the yAgam was completed nicely. yudhishtira presented best gifts for everyone who had come and bid farewell to them. krishNa too, along with his family and entourage left for dhvArakA.

AzhwArs have shown SiSupAla vadham in a few places. periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi says “palapala nAzham sollip pazhiththa sisupAlan thannai alavalaimai thavirththa azhagan alangAran malai” (The hill of the beautiful and well decorated lord who eliminated the blabber of SiSupAla who accused krishNa in many ways). ANdAL in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi says “anRu innAdhana sey sisupAlanum” (SiSupAlan who did wrong on that day) while listing out those who were destroyed by krishNa. nammAzhwAr beautifully explains in thiruvAimozhi, how SiSupAla attained the ultimate destination  saying “kEtpArgaL kEsavan kIrththi allAl maRRum kEtparO kEtpAr sevi sudu kIzhmai vasavugaLE vaiyum sEtpAl pazham pagaivan sisupAlan thiruvadi thAL pAl adaindha thanmai aRivArai aRindhumE” (SiSupAla, an age-old enemy from distant past kept saying lowly, harsh words and scolded krishNa, the unconditional lord, to cause burning sensation for the ears of even those who are desirous to hear about defects in bhagavAn’s qualities; [yet] he attained sAyujyam at the divine feet of such krishNa; even after knowing those very wise persons who know the distinguished nature of krishNa, will those who are supposed to be hearing (about salvation), hear the greatness of any other entity who liberated those who did not avoid his help, than that of krishNa, the killer of kESi?)

Essence in this incident:

  • The gate keepers jaya and vijaya in kshIrAbdhi (milk ocean) which is known as vishNu lOkam, which is in this samsAram, were cursed by brahmA’s mAnasa puthras (children who were born from brahmA’s mind) to be born thrice in this world and oppose bhagavAn. Of those births, SiSupAla and dhanthavakra were the last.
  • Our pUrvAchAryas have explained SiSupAla attaining bhagavAn’s divine feet in different ways. Some say that people like SiSupAla are better off staying in a corner of paramapadham, rather than being here and corrupting others and hence bhagavAn took him there. Others say that just before he got killed by bhagavAn, bhagavAn’s beautiful form was  shown to him, seeing which he acquired paramabhakthi (most advanced devotion) towards bhagavAn and reached bhagavAn due to that.

Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/10/20/krishna-leela-44-tamil/

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