krishNa leelAs and their essence – 52 – gIthOpadhESam

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<< 51 – Helping arjuna and dhuryOdhana

As per krishNa’s divine desire, the mahAbhAratha war commenced, krishNa became the sArathy (charioteer) of arjuna. He gave his huge army to dhuryOdhana. For both pANdavas and kauravas, huge armies gathered.

arjuna desired to clearly see the soldiers who have gathered there. He requested krishNa to position their chariot in between the two armies. krishNa obliged. arjuna saw his relatives and AchAryas in bhIshma, dhrONa et al, and became bewildered and informed his sorrow to krishNa. He said that he did not want the kingdom which is acquired through such war. He dropped his bow gANdIva and surrendered to krishNa considering him to be the refuge.

Seeing that, krishNa eliminated arjuna’s confusion through his gIthOpadhESam. In SrI gIthA, krishNa explained many aspects to arjuna. Our pUrvAchAryas have explained this clearly. That is, he explained:

  • thathva vivEka – Truly understanding chith (sentient beings), achith (insentient entities) and ISvara (God)
  • nithyathva and anithyathva – AthmA being eternal, achith being temporary
  • niyanthruthva – bhagavAn is the controller
  • saulabhya – simplicity
  • sAmya – bhagavAn being equal
  • ahankAra dhOsha – defects of ahankAram
  • indhriya bala – senses controlling us
  • mana: prAdhAnya – mind being most important
  • sukruthi bhEdha – four types noble people
  • dhEvAsura vibhAga – explaining divine and evil forces
  • vibhUthi yOga – revealing his great wealth
  • viSvarUpa dharSana – revealing his universal form
  • sAnga bhakthi – bhakthi yOgam having karma and gyAna yOgams as auxiliaries
  • two types of prapaththi – SaraNAgathi which is a limb of bhakthi and independent SaraNAgathi

In this manner, krishNa made arjuna realise these many aspects, told him “You engage in this war without any expectation of the result”. And finally he made arjuna say “krishNa! I will do whatever you say”. The war commenced after that.

AzhwArs have greatly praised the divine words which were directly uttered by krishNa in the form of gIthA. They have emphasised that, having taken birth as a human being, everyone must study and properly understand gIthA for his/her uplifting. gIthA is also very significant for SrIvaishNavas specifically for containing the krishNa charama SlOkam, that is 18.66 sarvadharmAn parithyajya mAm Ekam SaraNam vraja | aham thvA sarvapApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi mA Sucha: ||” (Fully renouncing all means, consider me as your only means; I will free you from all sins; do not grieve). This charama SlOkam is part of the rahasya manthrams which are taught as part of SrIvaishNava initiation which is known as pancha samskAram, and is considered as the most vital principle for the SrIvaishNavas to understand and follow.

  • thirumazhisai AzhwAr says in nAnmugan thiruvanthAdhi 71 “sEyan aNiyan siRiyan migap periyan Ayan thuvarikkOnAy ninRa mAyan anRu Odhiya vAkkathanaik kallAr ulagaththil EdhilarAy meygyAnamil” (Being unreachable and at the same time easily approachable, being a small boy and at the same time being great – emperumAn who appeared as a cow-herd boy (having simplicity) and at the same time being the emperor of dhvArakA (having greatness), during the mahAbhAratha war, blessed the gIthA (focus is on charama slOkam). Those residents of this world who do not learn that divine work will be considered as ignorant enemies of bhagavAn.
  • nammAzhwAr says in thiruvAimozhi 4.8.5 “aRivinAl kuRaivillA agalgyAlaththavar aRiya neRiyellAm eduththuraiththa niRai gyAnaththoru mUrthi” (For those persons who reside in this world and who don’t realise that they are short of wisdom, emperumAn who is omniscient explained all the different means in the most crisp manner).

Our AchAryas too have emphasised the need for studying gIthA. SrI rAmAnuja has mercifully given us a beautiful commentary for gIthA. vEdhAnthAchArya has expanded upon SrI rAmAnuja’s gIthA bhAshya in his commentary thAthparya chandhrikA. These commentaries bring out the true meanings of gIthA SlOkams with apt references from various scriptures.

Essence in this incident:

  • Our pUrvAchAryas say that bhagavAn too desires the position of AchArya and hence became gIthAchAryan. AchArya position is desirable for bhagavAn himself.
  • bhagavAn is the one who caused bewilderment to arjuna. He had arjuna as an instrument and instructed gIthA SAsthram to the world.
  • bhagavAn becoming the sArathy for arjuna is the ultimate state of his saulabhyam (simplicity) and ASritha pArathanthryam (obeying the words of his devotees).
  • bhagavAn showing viSvarUpam to arjuna is the ultimate state of his parathvam (supremacy).

Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/10/28/krishna-leela-52-english/

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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