We’re gradually moving into a section of the Shri Vishnu Puraana, which is about to give us a wonderful and an unmatched spiritual experience altogether, which is nothing but a detailed accord of Sage Paraashara on Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation in this world. Sage Paraashara is going to narrate event after event that took place during Bhagawan Krishna’s tenure in this world. As we move into this, we’ve witnessed in the yesterday’s episode, the significance of few places where Bhagawan Krishna’s divine lotus feet had touched Mother Earth – Mathura-Patna (Mathura City), Gokula and Vrindavan. Of course there are many more places like Dwaraka where Bhagawan Krishna went during His later years, but these three places have truckloads of significance as Bhagawan Krishna spent all of His childhood days here. If we remember Bhagawan Krishna, everytime we would first remember “Bala-Krishna” (Little Krishna) and only then all the Bhagawad Gita, being the King of Dwaraka (Dwaraka-Deesha), etc. would surface. Thus, the places where Bhagawan Krishna spent His childhood days are very important for us to experience, and to visit too. If we get an opportunity to visit Mathura, Gokula, Vrindavan, etc. we should never miss it. Of course, we can read and write a lot about all these places, but the real experience of enjoying Bhagawan’s presence would occur only if we visit these holy places atleast once in our lifetime. Can anyone enjoy the taste of ghee from a paper wherein the word “Ghee” is written? We can’t, isn’t it? Similarly, we cannot enjoy the taste of Bhagawan’s compassion and the “Bhakti-Maarga” just on paper. We should take the effort to go and visit these places, so as to understand all what we’re saying right now.
With this, we now move into the events that conspired, which gradually led to Bhagawan Krishna taking birth in this world. This is a fascinating and absorbing section from now, and readers should focus their full attention to this, to get the real essence of what Sage Paraashara is trying to explain here. As we go into this beautiful “Charitra”, we’ve to understand the requirement of Bhagawan Krishna’s divine presence in this world. What was the dire need all of a sudden for Bhagawan to incarnate? Who was responsible for this? What was Bhagawan’s response? Let us start witnessing all of this today.
As the “Dvaapara Yuga” was coming to a close, multiple forms of “Adharma” started to lift their ugly faces in the world. On one hand, a Raakshasa by name “Kamsa” was wreaking havoc in the world. On the other hand, unlike the “Tretha Yuga”, wherein there were “dedicated” Raakshasas like Ravana, Kumbakarna, etc., in the “Dvaapara Yuga” things started changing – Normal human beings too started becoming epitomes of various forms of “Adharma”. This is where we have the likes of the Kaurava sons such as Duryodhana, Ducchaasana, etc. We should note here that Duryodhana was not a Raakshasa by himself, but a normal human being who had all the characteristics of a Raakshasa in him. As this population started to increase, Goddess Bhoomadevi (Mother Earth) started feeling way too heavy to accommodate such crooks. She was very patient until a certain point, but when things started going out of control, she couldn’t take it any more! Thus, Goddess Bhoomadevi runs to her husband, Bhagawan Vishnu with tears of sorrow in her eyes. This is precisely the same time wherein the Devas (Celestial Beings) headed by Indra was present at Bhagawan Vishnu’s divine abode as well. Thus, the Devas, along with Goddess Bhoomadevi met Bhagawan Vishnu together to talk about the problems that were going on. The Devas had two requests: Firstly, they requested Bhagawan Vishnu’s divine intervention to put an end to Kamsa and to free them from his wrath. Secondly, the Devas were having a long-term wish – To spend quality time with Bhagawan without any disturbance from anybody. They wanted to spend a one-on-one with Bhagawan, and Indra represented this wish too.
On the other hand, Goddess Bhoomadevi on her part, represented the problems that she was facing in the world. Listening to all of this, Bhagawan Vishnu decided and came to a conclusion that it is time for Him to incarnate in this world one more time to set things right. He wanted to fulfill the two requests of the Devas, as well as that of His divine consortium – Goddess Bhoomadevi. Of course, the first wish of the Devas, that is, the killing of Kamsa is something that all of us know how it happened. Goddess Bhoomadevi’s wish too wasn’t a big task for Bhagawan to fulfill. All of us know that as well. However, we might be wondering how did Bhagawan Vishnu fulfill the second wish of the Devas, that is, spending one-to-one private time with them. We shall have this question in our minds for now, but I shall reveal the answer to this question in the episodes to come! 🙂
Discussing thus with the Devas and Goddess Bhoomadevi, Bhagawan Vishnu decides that He has had enough with these Raakshasas and Duryodhana and Co. He thus decides to incarnate at a place called “Mathura”, in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This is according to Sage Paraashara.
However, if we take the “Divyaprabhandham” texts of the south, we would find a mention of this important place called “Thiru-Koshtiyur”, which is one of the 108 Divyadeshams of Bhagawan Vishnu even today. This place is some 50-60 kilometers northeast of Madurai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Swami Periyaalwar (One of the twelve Alwars) explains clearly in his work that Bhagawan Krishna incarnated at this very place called “Thiru-Koshtiyur”. We might have another question here. Just now Shri Vishnu Puraana explained that Bhagawan Krishna was born at Mathura city in the Northern Part of India. But here, Periyaalwar is explaining that Bhagawan Krishna incarnated in the southern part of India. Isn’t it controversial in nature? How can Bhagawan Krishna incarnate in two different places at the same time? The answer lies in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 