krishNa leelAs and their essence – 58 – Bringing back the sons of vaidhika

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Let us enjoy how krishNa brought back the sons of a vaidhika (brAhmaNa) from SrIvaikuNtam, now.

Once when krishNa and arjuna where seated in krishNa’s place, a brAhmaNa arrived there in a sad state. He told krishNa “Three children were born to me, but each one disappeared as soon as they were born. Now my wife is pregnant and is going to deliver a child soon. You have to protect this child”. krishNa was in a yAga dhIkshA (engaged in a fire sacrifice). So arjuna voluntarily said that he will go and accomplish this task. He brought the brAhmaNa to the maternity home and made a protective layer around the place with his arrows. As soon as the child was born, one could hear its cry, but as previously happened, the child disappeared this time too. The brAhmaNa became angry and scolded arjuna. He brought arjuna along with him to krishNa and told him “krishNa! You should have come. Since you sent arjuna, I lost one more child”.

krishNa, at once, took both of them in his chariot, started riding the chariot upwards. He crossed the worlds above earth and the seven layers around the oval shaped universe and reached the shore of virajA river. He made arjuna and the brAhmaNa remain in the chariot itself, climbed down from the chariot, crossed over the virajA, reached paramapadham and entered the great maNdapa there. He observed that his divine consorts were playing with the four children and retrieved the children from them. They told him that they did this act of bringing the children to paramapadham, to make krishNa come there, so that they could see him. He then came out of paramapadham with those children, and brought arjuna and the brAhmaNa to dhvArakA. The brAhmaNa became joyful since he got his children back as they were. krishNa did all of this in the gap between the time he completed his morning rituals and before the start of his noon-time rituals.

This incident is explained in a slightly different manner in SrI bhAgavatham. Our elders explain that this could be due to yuga bEdham, that is, these incidents repeatedly occur in every four yuga combination, and in each occasion, there may be slightly variation.

AzhwArs have shown this incident in their pAsurams nicely.

  • periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi says “piRappagaththE mANdozhindha piLLaigaLa NAlvaraiyum iRaippozhudhil koNarndhu koduththu oruppaduththa uRaippanUr” (krishNa, the powerful lord, who quickly brought back the children who died in the place where they were born, and made the father agree that they were his children).
  • nammAzhwAr in his thiruvAymozhi says “idar inRiyE oru nAL oru pOzhdhil ellA ulagum kazhiyap padar pugazhp pArththanum vaidhikanum udan ERath thiN thEr kadavich chudar oLiyAy ninRa thannudaich chOdhiyil vaidhigan piLLaigaLai udalodum koNdu koduththavanaip paRRi onRum thuyar ilanE” (emperumAn, one day at a particular time (which was in between the completion of one karma (task) and the beginning of the next karma), went away from all [material] worlds, having the greatly famous arjuna and the brAhmaNa climbing along in the firm chariot, rode it without any difficulty, reached his own greatly radiant abode which is indicated by the term “param jyOthi” (supremely radiant abode), brought back the four sons of that brAhmaNa with their unchanged bodies (since paramapadham does not get affected by change in time) and gave them to him [brAhmaNa]; I approached and enjoyed such emperumAn and (as a result of that) remain free from worldly sorrows in any manner).
  • thirumangai AzhwAr says in his periya thirumozhi “vEdha vAy mozhi andhaNan oruvan endhai! nin saraN, ennudaiya manaivi kAdhal makkaLaip payaththalum kANAL kadiyadhOr dheyvam koNdoLikkum enRazhaippa EdhalAr munnE innaruL avarkkuch cheydhu un makkaL maRRivar enRu koduththAy” (When the very learned brAhmaNa’s wife lost his children, he came to you [krishNa] and prayed “Oh my lord! Please help me”. You then showered your mercy on that brAhmaNa, while being told by inimical persons that he cannot bring back those children, brought the children back, gave them to the brAhmaNa and told him “These are your children”)

Essence in this incident:

  • bhagavAn left arjuna and the brAhmaNa on this side of virajA (samsAra side) and crossed over virajA and entered SrIvaikuNtam. This is because, those who enter there cannot return to this world. He has the ability to go anywhere. But people of this world cannot do that.
  • SrI mahAlakshmi desired to see krishNa as he was and hence performed this leelA. It is due to her desire that those children entered SrIvaikuNtam. After she saw krishNa, as per the request of the brAhmaNa, krishNa brought them back. This is a result of his freewill. Though it is said in SAsthram that those who entered SrIvaikuNtam will not return to samsAra, bhagavAn did this out of his freewill.

Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/11/03/krishna-leela-58-tamil/

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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