In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the important discussion on why it is critical for us to prioritize Bhagawan in our list of routine activities of our lives. In this way, one method to prioritize Bhagawan is to pay a visit to those places where Bhagawan had incarnated physically, spent time with all His devotees, etc. In this way, the places of Gokula, Mathura, the Govardhana Mountain, Vrindavan, etc. are all very significant with regards to Bhagawan Krishna. Similarly, Ayodhya, River Sarayu, and all those places where Bhagawan Rama had travelled in the forest are also extremely significant, isn’t it? All of us know that the city of Ayodhya, often referred to as the “Ram-Janma-Bhoomi” is getting a huge facelift by the Government of India today, and within the next 1-2 years, this place would become one of the most important tourist attractions in the spiritual circuit. Given all these, isn’t it important for all of us to prioritize Bhagawan by visiting His sacred places to obtain His grace directly from them? Let’s think about it!
Moving on, before we enter into the next important “Krishna-Leela”, we should understand one important as well as an interesting point here. As we had witnessed during the “Govardhana” episode, Indra had made a huge folly by taking on Bhagawan Bala-Krishna because he grossly underestimated Him. This is just one school of thought. However, there is another school of thought that exists with regards to this point. It says that through the unending rains, Indra poured all His respects to Bhagawan Bala-Krishna! We might wonder how, isn’t it? I shall give a brief description on this point in today’s episode.
We would have heard of this term called “Pattabhisheka” quite often in our previous episodes and projects that we had done till now. In our Ramayana project, we had witnessed the “Paaduka-Pattabhisheka”, “Shri Rama-Pattabhisheka”, etc. isn’t it? What does this term mean? It simply means, “Coronation”. So, if we consider Shri Rama-Pattabhisheka”, it means that Bhagawan Rama was coronated as the king of Ayodhya. Similarly, the “Paaduka-Pattabhisheka” means Bhagawan Rama’s “Paaduka” (Footwear) was coronated as the king of Ayodhya by Bhagawan Rama’s brother, Bharata. We’ve witnessed the series events that led to this, isn’t it? Readers might recollect them by reading through our Ramayana episodes if required.
Now that we’ve understood the meaning of the term “Pattabisheka”, we should look into how this “Pattabisheka” is performed. Again, in the “Yuddha Kaanda” of the Valmiki Ramayana, Valmiki Bhagawan describes in detail the process of this “Pattabisheka”. The person who is being coronated would be made to bathe in holy water, along with flowers of sweet fragrance, etc. We’ve witnessed in our Ramayana Project how Hanuman was responsible in bringing the holy waters from various oceans and rivers from around the world for the “Pattabisheka” ceremony. Thus, with all the holy waters, Bhagawan Rama’s “Pattabisheka” took place in a grand way at Ayodhya.
Now let us see what is happening here during the “Krishna-Avatara”. By pouring the rain water over Bhagawan Bala-Krishna’s head, isn’t Indra performing the “Pattabisheka” for Bhagawan? We should also understand that unlike Bhagawan Rama, Bhagawan Krishna never had the opportunity to get Himself crowned as the King of Mathura or Dwaraka later on. We’re going to witness in our later episodes, how Bhagawan Krishna had to “run” all the way to Dwaraka and then coronate Himself to be the king of that place. Hence, perhaps Bhagawan Krishna had that small desire in Him thus, “Oh! Moving on from Gokula, I’m never going to get an opportunity to have a formal ‘Pattabisheka’ henceforth, unlike my previous incarnation. Hence, Let me use this opportunity to get myself coronated by Indra! Anyway, Indra, being the leader of the Devas – If he does the coronation, it would be very valid and apt to what I am!”
Thinking thus, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna allowed Indra to come up with the unprecedented rains, and with that, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna was crowned! 🙂 But we might have a question here – What was Bhagawan Bala-Krishna coronated as? This is where our “Alwars” and “Aachaaryas” beautifully describe this phenomenon as the “Govinda-Pattabisheka”. All of us know by now that Bhagawan Bala-Krishna had other divine names too – Govinda, Gopala, etc., which means, Bhagawan Bala-Krishna was the leader of all the cows. Thus, this cow-leader (Govinda) was coronated by Indra with the rain, which splashed upon Him along with the sweet-smelling flowers from the Govardhana Mountain. This was the condition that we had witnessed during the “Shri Rama-Pattabisheka” too, isn’t it?
Thus, for today, let us worship Bhagawan Bala-Krishna undergoing the “Govinda-Pattabisheka ” from Indra and let us pray to Him for His unending divine grace. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important “Krishna-Leela” as described beautifully by Sage Paraashara. Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 