SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
<< Freeing dhEvaki and vasudhEva’s shackles
vasudhEva spoke to his kulaguru (guide for the clan) and fixed a date for krishNa and balarAma’s upanayana samskAram. On the fixed date, both krishNa and balarAma had their upanayanam done. Then, it was decided that they both would reside with a guru and learn SAsthram. When it was decided that krishNa, who is sarvESvaran, who is celebrated in all of vEdhams, and who teaches vEdhams to brahmA in the beginning of every srushti (creation), will learn from a guru, it was determined that sAndhIpani muni who was residing in avanthi was the best person and hence krishNa and balarAma went to him and requested him to teach them SAsthram. He too observed their divine nature and joyfully taught 64 fields of SAsthram in just 64 days. Both of them stayed in his ASramam along with other students such as sudhAmA and learnt SAsthram with utmost dedication and became experts in SAsthram.
After acquiring knowledge from a guru, a student should offer dhakshiNA to him. For this reason, krishNa and balarAma went to him and asked him “Please tell what is required for you. We will get that”. Even if he had requested for mOksham, krishNa would have gladly given that to him. But, he discussed along with his wife and requested them to bring back his son who died in an ocean long ago. krishNa immediately went to the seashore and searched there. At that time, samudhra rAjan, the king of ocean came there and informed krishNa that a demon named panchasanan who has the form of a conch, swallowed that boy. krishNa searched for that demon killed him and still could not find the boy. He then went to yama’s town and requested yama to bring back the dead child to life and as yama obliged, he brought that boy and gave him to his guru.
After this, they both returned to their town.
thirumangai AzhwAr in his periya thirumozhi highlighted krishNa studying under sAndhIpani in “Odhu vAymaiyum uvaniyap piRappum unakku mun thandha andhaNan oruvan” (The great teacher sAndhIpani muni who made you twice born through upanayana samskAram and taught you vEdham). While explaining “andhaNan oruvan“, periyavAchchan piLLai, the vyAkyAthA (commentator) for this prabandham, has explained that sAndhIpanai muni is a great AchArya similar to nampiLLai [AchArya for periyavAchchAn piLLai].
Essence in this incident:
- We can offer anything to bhagavAn as per our wishes. But while offering dhakshiNA to guru, it should be according to the guru’s desire only.
- Though bhagavAn knows everything naturally, to set a proper precedence, he humbly learnt everything under a guru and showed that this is the proper way to acquire knowledge.
- Even if one is a great gyAni to teach bhagavAn, if one is attached to bodily relations, one may miss out on the opportunity to reach bhagavAn.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/10/08/krishna-leela-32-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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