In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Bhagawan Bala-Krishna spends maximum of His time during the day with the cows of Gokula village. Every morning, it was Bhagawan Bala-Krishna’s routine to take the cows from the shed to the grazing area and every evening before sunset, He would bring them back to the cowshed. During the day, He used to play pranks with the cows, ensuring that they’re well fed and happy. We might wonder why Bhagawan Bala-Krishna is more interested in cows than human beings like us! We’ve witnessed in yesterday’s episode, how animals are selfless in nature, whereas we as human beings are epitomes of selfishness. Even if Bhagawan wants to come along with us, we would make sure that He has to obtain an “appointment” from us to come. In other words, we would not allow Bhagawan to completely come near us for anything, forget “Moksha”. Whereas, this is not the case with animals. Atleast, if they couldn’t say to Bhagawan to stay away from them, they wouldn’t ask Him to go away when He comes near them, isn’t it? This is the unique quality that we should learn from animals – Their profound and unconditional “Bhakti” towards Bhagawan is something that we should imbibe in ourselves as we move forward with our spiritual growth.
This is the case not only with the cows of Gokula, but we can see such instances at many places. We’ve witnessed in the past during the “Gajendra-Moksha” episode in the “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” wherein, Elephant Gajendra’s foot was stuck inside a crocodile’s mouth. We’ve seen how Bhagawan Vishnu rushed all the way from Vaikunta to save the poor elephant, when it screamed for help from Bhagawan. Similarly, in our previous project of “Shrimad Ramayana”, we’ve witnessed how eagle Jatayu obtained “Moksha” from Bhagawan Rama straightaway. As Ravana was abducting Mother Sita in his “Pushpaka Vimaana”, when nobody was daring to fight Ravana and save Mother Sita, it was Jatayu who came forward for the fight. As Mother Sita pleaded to Jatayu with folded hands, Jatayu took it upon himself, put up a brave front and made Ravana fight hard to save himself. Ultimately of course, Jatayu wasn’t able to save himself due to his old age and lack of power to attack Ravana beyond a point. He was hit by Ravana’s “Chandrahasa” sword and fell on the ground. The most important attribute of Jataayu was that, he was holding his breath until Bhagawan Rama arrived close to him. He somehow wanted to convey to Bhagawan Rama that Mother Sita is being abducted by Ravana. In order to just convey this important information, Jataayu was bearing immense pain and was holding his breath until Bhagawan Rama arrived. Moved by the unconditional help rendered by Jatayu, Bhagawan Rama immediately granted the highest “Moksha” to Jatayu! This is another instance wherein we can witness how animals exhibit unconditional surrender, thereby making themselves eligible for Bhagawan to grant them “Moksha”.
In similar lines, we can witness in the same Ramayana text as to how a tiny little squirrel helped building the “Ram-Sethu” bridge across Rameshwaram to cross over into Lanka. We’ve also witnessed this in our Ramayana project as to how the squirrel helped Sugriva and Co. to paste all the rocks together using the mud and stone powder. Moved by the dedication of the squirrel, Bhagawan Rama showered all His compassion and blessings on it. Similar is the case with the “Vaanaras” Hanuman, Sugriva, Angadha, etc. All of us know the extent of Hanuman’s devotion towards Bhagawan Rama and this needs no explanation. So we can witness here in all these instances as to how animals exhibit their love and ardent “Bhakti” towards Bhagawan and how Bhagawan responds to them timely.
Similarly here too, Bhagawan Krishna responds to the ardent devotion exhibited by the cows of Gokula and thus, He makes sure that He spends maximum time with them. So for today, let us understand this point very clearly on how we must learn from animals with regards to exhibiting unconditional “Bhakti” towards Bhagawan. We shall wait till the next episode to continue further with this point. Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 