The Indian Dharma

We’ve witnessed in the previous episode how Bhagawan Krishna neutralized Baanaasura by chopping off 98 out of his 100 hands. Eventually of course, Bhagawan Krishna didn’t want to kill Baanaasura as His grandson, Aniruddha was slated to marry Baanaasura’s daughter, Usha. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna lets Baanaasura off, but not without teaching him a lesson for his arrogance. As Baanaasura realizes that he was at the brink of defeat and death, he immediately apologizes to Bhagawan Krishna for whatever had happened and thus, expressed his profound willingness to marry his daughter to Aniruddha. Thus, after a lot of hue and cry, the love story between Usha and Aniruddha was finally a success, and Bhagawan Krishna had to play a significant role in making it a success.

Moving on thus, Sage Sukhaachaarya is now going to narrate a very interesting “Charitra” here – One fine day, Balarama, brother of Bhagawan Krishna comes to the banks of river Kalindi. We should remember here that this Kalindi is none other than River Yamuna. As Balarama makes his way to the river banks, he was a bit drunk! The moment we hear the word “drunk”, we shouldn’t compare this to what we do today! We should understand here that kings normally had the culture of having “hard drinks” like “Soma Baana”, etc., which of course would have considerable alcoholic content in it, but not to the extent to which we drink today! Here too, Balarama was a bit drunk while he walked his way upto River Kalindi. In fact, when he was a few steps away from the river banks, he remembered that he had to perform his daily spiritual ritual of “Sandyavandana”. Thus, he had to first wash his feet with water and then perform the ritual.

As Balarama was drunk a little bit, he found himself to be lazy to go all the way to the bank and wash his feet. So he asked Mother Kalindi whether she could change her course a little bit and run beneath his feet, so that he needn’t walk all the way to the bank. Hearing this “peculiar” request from Balarama, Mother Kalinidi wasn’t very pleased. She replied back thus, “Oh Balarama! If I’ve to do such a thing for you, I would be setting a bad precedence for the world that I can change course for whoever feels lazy to come up to the river bank to do what they want! Moreover, I cannot change course for just one person, and I don’t think it’s possible. If you’ve to wash your feet, you better walk another 15-20 feet, reach the bank and then wash. I cannot change my course for you!”

As River Yamuna replies thus in a hasty manner, Balarama got angry. A huge war of words broke out between the two of them. On one end, Balarama is trying to assert his superiority by threatening Rier Yamuna that he’s capable of unleashing and accomplishing anything in the world. On the other hand, Mother Yamuna too warns Balarama that she’s capable of destroying truckloads of towns and cities with her immense force and wipe out thousands and thousands of people within a jiffy! At one point, the argument reaches its peak and Balarama unleashes his arrow on to River Yamuna and starts pulling the river towards him with his immense power! Unable to withstand the intensity of Balarama’s power, River Kalinidi also starts coming towards him. We can see this place even today. There are two places by names “Ram-Ghat” and “Sheer-Ghat”. If we travel via the National Highway from Mathura towards Delhi, we would be able to see these two places, some 25 kilometers from Mathura. If we stop there and witness the course of the Yamuna river from the top of a small cliff nearby, we would be able to see that the river, which is otherwise following a beautiful course like a garland, would at this point, take a turn inwards for few meters, and again come outwards, thereby continuing the normal course. This particular place where the river changes its course by deviating a little bit outside it’s normal course, is this “Ram-Ghat” or “Balram-Ghat”. This is because, Balarama had unleashed his power upon River Yamuna to pull her towards him.

Thus, with Balarama’s immense power and pull, River Yamuna had to give up her fight. She knew that she was getting defeated and that, Balarama is not an ordinary person in any way. So Mother Kalindi seeks an unconditional apology to Balarama for her mistake in underestimating Balarama’s strength. With this, the Kalinidi-Balarama “Charitra” comes to an end. So for today, let us enjoy and experience this important “Charitra” and let us remember to visit this “Balram-Ghat” along the banks of River Yamuna to witness this in person. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Sage Sukhaachaarya’s next narrative! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Aniruddha, grandson of Bhagawan Krishna and Usha, daughter of Baanaasura falling in love with each other, even without meeting. We had witnessed the interesting set of events wherein Usha had a “peculiar” dream of Aniruddha, but without even knowing who he was. Upon having this handsome boy in her dreams, Usha fell in love with him. She thus requests her friend, Chitralekha to draw a portrait of this person who came in her dream and who captured her heart with just that one appearance. Perhaps, this is what we call in today’s scenario as “dream appearance”! 😊 It was existing even during Bhagawan Krishna’s tenure! Thus, according to Usha’s wish, Chitralekha tried her best to portray the “dream man” and with modifications here and there, she managed to portray Aniruddha on the paper!

With this, Usha fell in love with Aniruddha even more. Upon seeing this, Chitralekha assured that she would take up the responsibility to search and find Aniruddha’s whereabouts and to somehow bring him in front of her. With this mission in hand, Chitralekha sets out and finally manages to find Aniruddha at Dwaaraka. She, along with four other people “airlifted” Aniruddha along with his cot while in deep sleep and brings him to the place where Usha was. Upon waking up from his sleep, Aniruddha did not understand where he was for a moment, but as his eyes fell upon the beautiful Usha, he too fell in love with her! Usha, on her part, was overwhelmed in seeing Aniruddha and both of them could not separate from each other henceforth! They started to live together in Usha’s “Antahpura” as a “live-in” couple! Meanwhile, the entire Dwaaraka is searching for Aniruddha’s whereabouts, and nobody knows where he had disappeared overnight!

One fine day, father Baanaasura knocks upon the doors of his daughter Usha, and when she opens it, Baanaasura finds out that she was already “living in” with Aniruddha! This is the first time that Baanaasura is seeing this happening and he gets stunned, shocked and angry! He thus ordered both Usha and Aniruddha to be imprisoned for the “wrong” way of living. As this news started spreading that Aniruddha was imprisoned by Baanaasura, Bhagawan Krishna too comes to know of it. Thus, to protect His grandson. Bhagawan Krishna rakes up a huge army behind Him and goes for a war with Baanaasura, in a bid to release Aniruddha from the jail. The entire army marches towards the place called “Shonitapura”, where Baanaasura was residing and ruling from. Upon hearing that Bhagawan Krishna is marching ahead towards Shonitapura with a huge army, Baanaasura collected his army and started marching towards his enemy.

It should be remembered here that Baanaasura was an ardent “Shiva-Bhakta” (Ardent devotee of Bhagawan Shiva). Impressed by Baanaasura’s devotion, Bhagawan Shiva had given an assurance to him that He would protect him from all sorts of enemies at any point of time. Now, as Bhagawan Krishna is on His way to fight him down, Bhagawan Shiva has to keep up His assurance – He thus sends all His frontline warriors like Kaarthikeya, Mother Kaali, etc. to fight Bhagawan Krishna. However, none can keep up to Bhagawan Krishna’s intensity during the war. Although huge battles broke out with each of them, Bhagawan Krishna proved superior to all of them and eventually each one of them were being chased down! As all of them were running here and there for shelter, they ask Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Bhagawan! Why are you fighting all of us now? What did we do? Why are you troubling us like this?” Bhagawan Krishna answers them thus with anger, “Oh Devatas! I’ve allotted specific places and duties to all of you, isn’t it? Instead of sticking to your respective places and duties, why are you troubling me when I’m proceeding towards Baanaasura’s residency? Rather than picking up fights with me, you should have bowed down to me and given me way. Instead, you had to the guts to fight with the supreme! Who gave you the guts?

As Bhagawan Krishna was angry, He continued and eventually cursed them thus, “Oh Devatas! For your arrogant behavior, I hereby curse all of you that all your “Bhakti” that you’ve earned for all these years would go waste! You’ve to start everything afresh!” Hearing thus, all the Devatas were stunned beyond words! They tried to seek unconditional apology to Bhagawan Krishna, but in vain! He brushed past all of them and proceeded towards Baanaasura. Eventually, a huge war broke out between the two camps and finally Bhagawan Krishna emerged supreme. However, Bhagawan Krishna did not kill Baanaasura – It seems that Baanaasura had 100 hands, and Bhagawan Krishna managed to chop off 98 of them during the war. He left Baanaasura with the remaining two hands and allowed him to escape the battlefield, because of His grandson Aniruddha. Anyways, Aniruddha and Usha had to get married, and Baanaasura would be Aniruddha’s father-in-law isn’t it? Hence, why creating lot of fuss in the beginning itself? 😊

Thus, defeated by Bhagawan Krishna, Baanaasura too seeks unconditional apology and happily marries his daughter, Usha to Bhagawan Krishna’s grandson, Aniruddha. It was a grand marriage and after that, Aniruddha and Usha led a happy and a peaceful life together! So for today, let us understand and experience this important event and let us wait till the next episode to witness what conspired after this! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed that Bhagawan Krishna had married 16,108 women, whom Narakaasura had imprisoned when he was alive. Once Bhagawan Krishna killed him, He made sure that He took up the responsibility to uphold the chastity of all these women by marrying all of them. It should be remembered how Mother Sita had suffered post her release from Ravana’s clutches. She was doubted by various echelons of the society and had to do “Agni Pravesha” everytime, so as to clear the air about her chastity. Eventually, Bhagawan Rama had to lose her once and forever owing the doubts raised about her chastity by His own subjects. It is only with this in mind perhaps, Bhagawan Krishna did not let these women suffer the same fate of Mother Sita. Thus, as He marries all of them, we’ve witnessed Bhagawan Krishna having a son by name “Pradyumna”, who in turn had a son by name “Aniruddha”. Thus, we’re seeing here that we’ve reached the stage wherein Bhagawan Krishna has already become a grandfather! 😊

Moving on thus, we’re now going to see a little bit of events that conspired between Usha and Aniruddha. Both are falling in love with each other, and let us witness the events that unfolded in this regard. Before this, we should know who this Usha is. Usha was the daughter of a Raakshasa by name Baanaasura. Once upon a time when all of them were in their own respective places, during the night time, Usha had a peculiar dream wherein she witnessed Aniruddha in it. The moment she saw a handsome and a young person in her dream, she was very curious to find out who this person was. Out of her curiosity, she eventually fell in love with him. It is to be noted here that she hasn’t seen Aniruddha in person till now, but still, just by seeing him in her dream, she fell in love with him. Now that she had fell in love with Aniruddha, how does she enquire and find out his whereabouts? She hasn’t even seen him even once in person till now. She was puzzled as to what to do and how to proceed.

It is at this time, Usha had a good companion and a friend by name Chitralekha. This Chitralekha had a unique talent – Whoever talks to her about dreaming about someone, she had the talent to draw that person’s portrait as and how the other person is explaining to her. In that way, Usha started to explain how that “handsome man” was looking as per her dream and Chitralekha started portraying all the features of Aniruddha on the paper. As she was doing that, she almost drew the portrait of Bhagawan Krishna with all His charming beauty and asked Usha whether it was this person with whom she was in love with. Usha looked at the portrait that Chatralekha developed, but she wasn’t in sync with what she was seeing and what her “dream man” looked like. She replied to Chitralekha that the portrait “almost” resembled her “dream man”, but continued that her lover wasn’t as handsome as this portrait! Hence, she requested Chitralekha to modify the portrait a little bit. As Chitralekha tried modifying it by reducing the handsomeness and other things, she ended up portraying Pradyumna. Still Usha wasn’t satisfied upon looking at the modified portrait and she wanted Chitralekha to work further to reduce the handsomeness even further!

Finally, Chitralekha worked further on it and modified the features and now, finally she managed to somehow create the portrait of Aniruddha. The moment she showed it to Usha, she exclaimed to Chitralekha that this was exactly the person whom she had dreamt about! But upon seeing Usha’s excitement, Chitralekha exclaimed that this Aniruddha was at Dwaaraka and not any closer to where this Usha was staying! However, Chitralekha gave an assurance that she would somehow bring Aniruddha to her vicinity, so that she would be happy! Accordingly, Chitralekha sets out with four other people towards Dwaaraka, reaches the place where Aniruddha was staying, lifted him along with his cot where he was sleeping and brought him straight to where Usha was residing. Thus, when Aniruddha woke up from his sleep, he wasn’t able to understand where he was for a moment, but upon seeing a beautiful girl in front of him, he too fell in love with her!

Thus, both Usha and Aniruddha fell in love with each other and thus, both of them forgot everything else around them and started living together there only! There was no news about Aniruddha at Dwaaraka henceforth after a long time. What happened next? Did they manage to get married to each other? Let’s wait for the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Indra waged a war with Bhagawan Krishna for a second time after the Govardhana episode that we’ve witnessed when Bhagawan Krishna was a little boy. Indra’s ignorance and selfishness knew no bounds as he wanted to fight over Bhagawan Krishna for a small “Paarijaatha” plant. He even forgot that it was the same Bhagawan Krishna who had saved him from the wrath of Narakaasura, just few days before that. This is where we see that the Devas are a selfish lot of beings. All they’re interested is whether they’ll get a good position in the “Svarga-Lokha” and whether they would be able to get access to the “Amrut”. If at all they come towards Bhagawan, they would always come with a problem. Once that problem is solved, they would never even turn towards Bhagawan’s side! This is how selfish the Devas are. Of course, if we compare the Raakshasas and the Devas, the Devas are better. This is the only trump card that they have, and they use it to the fullest when it comes to enjoying all the benefits in the “Svarga-Lokha”. Of course, Bhagawan too, is left with no other option but to take side of the Devas, and not the Raakshasas.

Thus, we’ve seen that Indra waged a bitter war against Bhagawan Krishna for the “Paarijaatha” plant, and Bhagawan Krishna showed Indra his place. He was defeated left, right and center and finally Indra was forced to apologize for his gross mistake, which he committed not once, but twice now. With this, the “Paarijaatha” episode comes to a close, and now Sage Sukhaachaarya moves on further to talk about Bhagawan Krishna’s various relatives and other women who were in touch with Him. In fact, when Bhagawan Krishna killed Narakaasura, He had freed around 16,100 women whom this Narakaasura had imprisoned. Once Narakaasura was killed, all these women were set free and all the women wanted to marry Bhagawan Krishna. Accordingly, Bhagawan too was very happy to fulfill all their wishes, and He married all of them!

Upon hearing that Bhagawan Krishna married 16,108 women, we would be shocked! We might think why did Bhagawan Krishna marry such a lot of women, although He already had eight wives. We should imagine here that, if these women were to fend themselves, they would have never got married at all in the whole of their lives! We’ve already witnessed Mother Sita’s ordeals after she had been imprisoned in Ravana’s palace for ten months. Even after Bhagawan Rama had recovered her from Ravana’s palace, we’ve witnessed how many times did Mother Sita do the “Agni-Pravesha” to prove her chastity. Finally in the “Uttara-Kaanda” of the Ramayana, we’ve witnessed that Mother Sita had to be exiled to the forest once more, just because somebody in Ayodhya city had expressed a doubt over her chastity. This happened many years after the Ravana fiasco took place. We’ve witnessed how much of sufferings did Mother Sita undergo after that. Thus, in order to put an end to the sufferings of all these women, Bhagawan Krishna volunteered Himself to marry all of them, so that they wouldn’t face the same ordeals that Mother Sita had to undergo. Thus, again we’ve to understand here that these 16,108 women were ardent devotees of Bhagawan and were at an extremely high state of “Bhakti” and spiritual progress. It is to be remembered that these people would have perhaps been extraordinary spiritual “Saadhaks” in their previous births, only to take birth as a woman to enjoy Bhagawan’s divine presence with them. Hence, these are not to be compared to the worldly marriages that we witness today.

Thus, moving on, Bhagwaan Krishna had a son with Rukmini Devi, by name “Pradyumna”. Thus, each of the 16,108 wives of Bhagawan Krishna had ten sons and a daughter. This Rukmini Devi had a brother by name Rukmi. He had a daughter by name Rukmavati. It is this Rukmavati who is getting married to Pradyumna and the son who’s born out of this marriage is none other than Aniruddha. Apart from Rukmavati, Rukmi had a son and it is to the daughter of this son, Rochana Devi, did Aniruddha got married to. Thus, we can see here that Aniruddha was the grandson of Bhagawan Krishna! We can now witness here that Bhagawan Krishna has now become a grandfather.

We might wonder how come things have moved very fast after Bhagawan Krishna’s victory over his uncle, Kamsa. This is what I had explained in the earlier episodes too – It is only the childhood days of Bhagawan Krishna that takes lot of time for discussion. Once He grows up, the story length starts tapering down! Things progress very quickly and we would at once reach the Kurukshetra war and thereby, His departure to Vaikunta. Whereas it’s the opposite for Bhagawan Rama – His childhood days were extremely short and the detailed description of Bhagawan Rama comes up only after He departs to the forest for the fourteen-year exile.

So for today, let us understand these things and let us wait till the next episode to witness the next set of events that are to unfold. Stay tuned! 😊

 

We’re at an important juncture wherein Bhagawan Krishna is trying to convince Satyabhama against asking for the “Paarijaatha” flower and the plant from Indra, but still, she doesn’t get convinced. Unable to withstand, Bhagawan Krishna asks Indra if he can give the Paarijaatha plant to Satybhama for a few days. As Indra hears this from Bhagawan Krishna, he immediately retaliates by somewhat insulting Him and Satyabhama by saying that they’re inferior people and that, they do not deserve elite plants and flowers like these. This infuriates Satyabhama more, primarily because she was denied the plant, and most importantly, Indra has insulted her husband very badly, although he had defeated Narakaasura with her husband’s help only. She is now firmer than ever – Without the Paarijaatha plant, she’s not moving an inch from the Svarga-Lokha.

This leaves Bhagawan Krishna optionless and He has to somehow go for the Paarijaatha plant. He thus decides that He has to somehow pick up the Paarijatha plant without the knowledge of Indra and start running away! During the night time thus, when everybody were asleep, Bhagawan Krishna goes to the lawn, picks up the plant, takes Satyabhama along with Him on the “Garuda-Vaahana” and escapes at a very high speed! As this conspires, Indra somehow comes to know that Bhagawan Krishna has stolen the plant from his lawn. He immediately starts chasing Bhagawan Krishna, just like how Kaalayavana did! Perhaps, Bhagawan Krishna was very good at running and whomever is trying to catch Him, He’s going to give them a big and a long chase till they get fed up! 😊 Thus, here too, Indra gives a long chase, and finally there was a situation wherein a huge fight broke out between Indra and Bhagawan Krishna!

It is just before a day or two that Bhagawan Krishna had lent a helping hand in saving Indra from the wrath of Narakaasura and now the same Indra to whom Bhagawan lent a helping hand, is standing in front of Him for a fight! How ridiculous can this be? This is the level of devotion that the Devas have towards Bhagawan. We’ve seen this even during the “Govardhana” episode too, wherein Indra thought too much about himself and underestimated what could this Little Krishna do towards him. However, he was taken down singlehandedly by Little Krishna by saving the entire Gokula town under the Govardhana mountain. Indra forgot all of these, and is now calling Bhagawan Krishna for a war with him! We thus see here; how selfish Indra was! In fact, the entire camp of Devas are like this only – All what they’re interested in is whether they would get the “Amrut” and whether they would get to enjoy the Svarga-Lokha. Little do they have a concern towards Bhagawan and whether they’re disturbing or harming Him for their selfish needs. Of course, if we’ve to compare the Raakshasas and the Devas, we can still say that the Devas are better. But, when it comes to devotion towards Bhagawan, the Devas are a “big zero”.

Thus, as Indra comes forward to wage a war with Bhagawan Himself, he loses his composure totally and thus, his focus was only on the Paarijaatha plant. He wanted to somehow get it back from Bhagawan Krishna. The war began, but in due course, Bhagawan Krishna proved to be no match for Indra! Indra was thus defeated left, right center and was made to run for his life! Bhagawan Krishna thus, rightfully showed Indra his place. With this, Indra realized his folly and requested Bhagawan Krishna to forgive him. As Bhagawan Krishna leaves him alone, Indra did not bother anymore about the Paarijaatha plant.

Thus, Bhagawan Krishna returns back to Dwaaraka along with Satyabhama and the Paarijaatha plant, and with this, Satyabhama was happy and relieved. So for today, let us understand this divine experience of Bhagawan Krishna and let us wait till the next episode to witness Sage Sukhaachaarya’s next accord. Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had culminated the discussion on how Bhagawan Krishna killed the Raakshasa by name Narakaasura. We witnessed how Narakaasura was at one-point, torturing Indra and the other Devas and made them run for shelter! Finally, Indra couldn’t tolerate Narakaasura’s atrocities any longer and decided that he’s going to take the help of Bhagawan Krishna to destroy this Narakaasura. As requested, Bhagawan Krishna too accepts the challenges and wages a bitter battle against Mura and Narakaasura. Since Bhagawan Krishna neutralized the Raakshasa called Mura, He obtained the divine name called “Muraari”. Subsequently, Bhagawan Krishna neutralizes Narakaasura as well, and the day on which this conspired, is even today being celebrated as the famous “Deepaavali” festival with lot of grandeur. This is celebrated as an important day all over the country as a signature of the victory of good over evil.

As Bhagawan Krishna neutralizes Narakaasura, Indra calls Bhagawan Krishna for a grand feast, so as to honour His divine intervention. Although, Bhagawan Krishna’s divine act was to protect the entire world on the larger sense, He had undertaken the task on the pretext of protecting Indra and Co. Hence, it was Indra’s duty to offer a “thanksgiving” to Bhagawan Krishna for the important victory over Narakaasura. Thus, Indra calls Bhagawan Krishna to his “Svarga-Lokha” and accordingly, Bhagawan Krishna honours Indra’s invite. He takes Satyabhama along with Him to the Svarga Lokha for the treat. The feast went on very well and Indra had really done a good job in honouring Bhagawan Krishna! All of them were happy at the end, and while Bhagawan Krishna was returning back, He, along with Satyabhama were passing through some beautiful lawns, full of attractive trees and flowers. Upon traversing through all of them, Satyabhama came across a beautiful flower called “Paarijaatha”. It was extremely attractive in nature and was blooming with all it’s beauty. This Paarijaatha flower was so unique in nature and it caught the attention of Satyabhama.

Upon looking at it, Satyabhama was so moved and mesmerised. She turned towards her husband and said thus, “Oh Krishna! Look how beautiful and unique this flower is! How beautiful it would be if this would have been in our Dwaaraka? I’ve never seen such a beautiful plant and flower in my life till now!” As Bhagawan Krishna figured out that Satyabhama is desiring for something unwanted, He replies thus, “Oh Satyabhama! I know it looks very beautiful. However, we should not desire for something that is not ours, isn’t it? We’ve been called for a feast and we should not go and ask for something beyond what we’ve been called for. So come! Let’s go!”

As Bhagawan Krishna replies thus, Satyabhama isn’t very convinced. She replies thus, “Oh Krishna! What kind of a reply are you giving me? You’ve done a great favour for Indra and the Devas by saving their lives from the wrath of a treacherous Raakshasa. Won’t they gift even this small plant for you? Come on! Don’t be so mean. I’m sure Indra would give it to you if you ask.” As Bhagawan Krishna hears thus from Satyabhama, He again warns her thus, “Oh Satyabhama! You do not know how these Devas are. Until and unless someone is helping them, they would be very loyal and courteous. But once the help is over, they would treat you like as if they do not even know you! I’ve seen this Indra multiple times before. I know how selfish he is.” As Bhagawan Krishna warns thus repeatedly, Satyabhama isn’t going to get convinced and hence, motivates her husband to go to Indra and ask for the “Paarijaatha” plant.

Accordingly, Bhagawan Krishna goes to Indra and asks him thus, “Oh Indra! This Paarijaatha plant and its flower looks so attractive and beautiful. Can I have this plant in Dwaaraka for some days? Satyabhama is asking for this, as she likes it very much!” Hearing thus from Bhagawan, Indra answers arrogantly as expected! He says thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! This plant is supposed to be only in the Svarga-Lokha. Ordinary people like you and Satyabhama aren’t supposed to have this plant in the “Manushya-Lokha”! You people do not deserve it. This is my property and I shall not be able to give it to ordinary people afterall!”

As Indra replies arrogantly thus, Bhagawan Krishna turns towards Satyabhama and says thus, “Oh Satyabhama! I told you, isn’t it? This Indra is an arrogant fellow and he would not give you anything. Why do you want to underestimate my words? These Devas aren’t ardent devotees like the Gopikas in Gokula. These people here are selfish in nature. They’ll take away everything from you and leave you empty-handed. So let us not waste time in all this!” Even after Bhagawan Krishna’s repeated advice, Satyabhama is not going to relent. Instead, her ego only increases – How can Indra insult her husband like this, if He had given His life to save the Devas? This Indra should be taught a lesson! Satyabhama gets furious on Indra thus, and replies back to Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Krishna! This is totally unfair! How can Indra be so arrogant to Bhagawan like this? Afterall we’ve asked for a small plant and he’s behaving as if we’ve asked for his entire Svarga-Lokha! He cannot go scot-free like this! He should be taught a lesson. Hence, I firmly want this plant, and without this I’m not going anywhere!”

Upon seeing Satyabhama’s firm stance, Bhagawan Krishna thinks what to do! He knows that a woman’s thoughts are very firm in nature and it’s very difficult to change them! He had no other option but to somehow get the “Paarijaatha” plant. What does He do? How does He get it? An interesting accord awaits us in the next episode! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the deeper significance of why Bhagawan Krishna got into several marriages during His divine incarnation. We’ve seen that these marriages are not merely worldly ones, but a divine union of the Jeevatma with the Paramatma. All these people who are closely associated with Bhagawan Krishna during this incarnation, are all devotees of the highest level. It is thus to reward their focussed devotion and high levels of spiritual progress, is Bhagawan Krishna giving them an opportunity to spend the rest of their lifetime with Him. We should look at it in this right sense, rather than proclaiming and getting carried away by the false narrative that Bhagawan Krishna was a womanizer. We should understand this point very importantly here, and of course, I’m repeatedly emphasizing this point time and again, whenever the context comes, so that it gets reinforced into our minds.

Moving on thus, we now enter into the next important event of Bhagawan Krishna neutralizing the Raakshasa by name “Narakaasura”. Once upon a time, Indra (Leader of the Devas) was under immense torture from this Narakaasura and he was making Indra run for his life and shelter. At one point in time, Indra couldn’t fend himself and thus, came to Bhagawan Krishna seeking for help and intervention. Narakaasura meanwhile, had abducted all the divine ornaments of Aditi Devi (Mother of the Devas), Varuna, Vaayu, etc. and his atrocities were on the rise every day. Hearing all this from Indra, Bhagawan Krishna asks him, where is this Narakaasura and how does He see him in person. Indra replies that Narakaasura is at a place called “Praag-jyotisha-pura”. Indra explains that if Narakaasura has to be defeated, they’ve to go to this particular place, wage a war against him and defeat him.

Accordingly, Bhagawan Krishna accepted the mission. He takes His wife Satyabhama along with Him on His “Garuda” vehicle and starts His long journey towards Praag-jyotisha-pura. As Bhagawan Krishna nears the place, there was another Raakshasa by name “Mura”, who comes in the front. Bhagawan Krishna wages a bitter battle against this Mura and finally manages to kill him. This is why we have a divine name for Bhagawan Krishna as “Muraari”. We often would have come across this name in many slokas that we chant for Bhagawan Vishnu. In many devotional songs too, this name would often keep repeating – “Hey Muraare”, “Hey Muraari”, etc. Thus, it is only when Bhagawan Krishna destroys this Raakshasa called “Mura”, He gets this divine name.

As Bhagawan Krishna proceeds further, He sees Narakaasura coming towards Him. Meanwhile, as Mura was killed, Narakaasura had got the news that a treacherous enemy was approaching him. Thus, he got himself prepared for the assault and came in front of Bhagawan Krishna. A bitter battle followed between the two. Narakaasura was an extremely powerful Raakshasa who had the guts to send Indra and the Devas running for their lives and money! It was a long fought and a bitter battle and both Bhagawan Krishna and Narakaasura proved to be invincible to each other. Finally as time flew by, Bhagawan Krishna emerged more powerful and with His divine powers, put Narakaasura to death.

It is at this time of death, Narakaasura realizes who has come in front of him. It was Bhagawan Vishnu Himself! Upon seeing Bhagawan Krishna standing victorious in front of him, Narakaasura realizes his folly and seeks unconditional apology to Him. He falls on Bhagawan Krishna’s feet and says thus, “Oh Bhagawan! Please accept my unconditional apologies for giving lot of trouble to you and Indra. I’ve got the punishment for whatever fault I committed and I gleefully accept it. However, I have only one request – Please, let the world celebrate my day of death with all possible lights, sweets, etc. in such a way that the darkness has disappeared and brightness is going to dawn the world. Let it be a colourful celebration of victory of good over evil.” Upon hearing this from Narakaasura, Bhagawan Krishna grants him the wish, and with it, Narakaasura falls on the ground dead.

Thus, it is to fulfil Narakasura’s last wish, we celebrate this particular day as “Deepavali”. This normally comes during the “Chaturdashi” day of the month of “Aippasi” in the Tamil calendar. Normally the “Amaa-vaasya” (No moon day) too falls on this day, (of course, plus or minus one day here and there) and this is the day wherein we celebrate the grand festival called “Deepavali” or “Diwali”. In the northern part of India, Diwali is celebrated by performing an elaborate “Lakshmi Puja”, along with distribution of sweets, savouries and bursting crackers. In the southern part of India, it is believed that the river Ganges (Mother Ganga) visits every household and blesses all of us. This is why we get up early in the morning and do the “Ganga-Snaan” (Taking a holy dip in the river Ganges). Subsequent to this, we wear new sets of clothes, burst firecrackers, exchange sweets and savouries with one another, and together show a strength of unity amongst all of us.

Thus, as Bhagawan Krishna emerges victorious against Narakaasura, the entire world celebrates with lot of grandeur. Indra was pleased as well, as Bhagawan Krishna had undertaken this pursuit only for protecting him and the Devas. Thus, Indra calls Bhagawan Krishna for a grand feast for lunch! What happens next? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the deeper meaning behind Bhagawan Krishna taming the seven bulls, so as to marry Satya. We equated the seven bulls to be seven stages of human birth and just like how bulls have two horns, each of our life stages have two states – Happiness and sorrow. As human beings, we undergo both happiness and sorrow in each of our seven stages in different forms. It is only amidst all of this, we surrender to Bhagawan’s feet and thereby, with His divine grace, we reach the highest “Moksha”. Thus, we’re seeing the same thing here too – Satya is watching Bhagawan Krishna taming the seven bulls with two horns each, thereby signalling the fact that every “Jeevatma” should undergo these seven stages in life. Finally, once the seven bulls are tamed, Satya is free from the bondage of “Samsaara” and thus attains Bhagawan Krishna. This signifies that if we’re able to surrender ourselves completely to Bhagawan Krishna, even though we might have to cross through these seven stages and two states in each, we would still be able to attain Bhagawan’s divine “Vaikunta”. Once we attain this state, we’re not going to come back to this world again.

Thus, Bhagawan Krishna’s marriage with Satya sends us this divine message of Vedanta and we should understand this important message, rather than falsely assuming that Bhagawan Krishna is a womanizer and is a person who married so many women in His life. In fact, whomever Bhagawan Krishna had married, were all in the highest level of “Bhakti”, signalling the message that, if the “Jeevatma” is extremely devoted and focused on Bhagawan, He would definitely come and take him / her with Him. This should not be looked upon as a worldly marriage that all of us do today. All the women whom Bhagawan Krishna married, never had any physical relationship with Him. Their relationship with Bhagawan Krishna was at a different level of “Bhakti”. We’ve spoken about this before as well – Even the Gopikas were of the same state. When we witnessed the “Raasa-Leela” episodes of Little Krishna, the Gopikas wanted to dance around with Him, and with that, their levels of “Bhakti” were getting higher and higher. There was in fact, a stage wherein the Gopikas were falling on to the ground unconscious! In order to protect the Gopikas and to bring them back to their normal condition, Bhagawan Krishna used to disappear from that state, so that they return back to “ground zero”. We’ve also witnessed that the Gopikas were not ordinary women – They were the divine incarnation of the Devas (Celestial Beings), who wished to spend quality time with Bhagawan Vishnu. Since they were not able to do that at Vaikunta, they incarnated in this world as Gopikas, as per Bhagawan Vishnu’s instruction. Thus, when Bhagawan Vishnu incarnated as Bhagawan Krishna, they were able to get that quality time from Him.

Hence, the point here is that, when we’re seeing successive marriages that Bhagawan Krishna is doing, it is not to be mistaken or confused to be worldly marriages like how we do. These are Jeevatmas of a high level of “Bhakti” and with this, they were given an opportunity to spend quality time with Bhagawan Krishna, and thereby to reach the highest “Moksha”.

Moving on thus, so far we’ve witnessed Bhagawan Krishna’s six marriages, and now we’ll witness the seventh one – Bhadra. This Bhadra was the daughter of Shrutakeerti and Bhagawan Krishna married her. Finally, Bhagawan Krishna marries Lakshmana and with this, the eight marriages of Bhagawan Krishna come to an end. It is these eight women that we call as “Ashta-Kannikas” who are always with Bhagawan Krishna. As days progress by, one fine day, Indra was under a huge problem. Indra, being the leader of all the “Devas” came to meet Bhagawan Krishna and explained that he was facing so much of torture from a Raakshasa by name “Narakaasura”. It is this incident, which is very closely associated with our famous Indian festival called “Deepavali”, that is celebrated every year with lot of grandeur all across the country.

So what is the speciality of Deepavali? Why is it important? What is the background story behind celebrating this festival? Let’s wait for the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna marrying Kalindi, Mitravinda and Satya. This Satya seems to be very close to the description of Alwars and Aandal in Tamil as “Nappinnai”. All the events that led to Bhagawan Krishna marrying this Satya are exactly described the same way by the Alwars with respect to Nappinnai. Hence, we should understand here that Nappinnai and Satya are one and the same, and should not be looked upon as two different individuals. We had witnessed the Svayamvar ceremony of this Satya and how Bhagawan Krishna wins over the Svayamvar by taming seven bulls and King Nagnajith (Satya’s father) was extremely happy with Bhagawan Krishna’s valour. Satya was literally waiting for this moment to come and she was madly in love with Bhagawan Krishna. Thus, the Svayamvar was over and Bhagawan Krishna successfully married Satya.

In this above event, we would see some insightful messages that are totally hidden. We’ve seen that King Nagnajith has unleashed seven mad bulls raging over, there’s a deeper meaning to this. Each of these bulls have two horns, isn’t it? So, seven bulls would have fourteen horns. This number too has a deeper meaning attached. Now readers might wonder why am I giving so much of stress to these numbers of seven and fourteen. Let us discuss this in detail today. Here, Satya is a “Jeevatma” and Bhagawan Krishna is the “Paramatma”. According to our “Vedaanta”, if a Jeevatma is trying to attain the ultimate goal of Moksha, or attaining the divine feet of the Paramatma, he / she has to cross through seven “stages”. These seven bulls indicate the seven “stages” that a Jeevatma should cross over, if he / she has to reach Moksha. In each of these seven “stages”, there are two “aspects” that would be of constant hinderance to us from crossing over to the next stage. These two “aspects” are like the two horns of the bull.

Now let us look at the seven “stages” that we’re talking about currently – Garbha, Janma, Baalya, Kaumaara, Youvana, Jaraa and Maranam. These are the seven “stages” through which we transcend through in each birth that we take. As we might know, “Garbha” stage signifies that time wherein we’re in our mother’s womb. When we come out of the mother’s womb, we enter into the next stage called “Janma”. We’re a child now, crying for the mother’s milk. After this stage comes the “Baalya” wherein, we are a kid. We go to school and start learning slowly what’s happening around us. Post this stage, we enter into the Kaumaara stage or the “adolescent” stage, wherein we start thinking about marrying someone and enjoy some pleasures related to it. Our hormones also play an important role in it. As we pass through this, we enter into the next stage called the “Youvana”. This is where we have kids, set up our family, etc. and start leading a life of our own. This is considered to be our prime phase of our life. Subsequent to this, we enter the phase called “Jaraa”, wherein we start getting old and start experiencing typical old-age issues. Our body becomes weaker and less-resistant and because of this, we invite diseases to take over. Finally, we reach the “Maranam” stage wherein we’ve to put an end to this human birth of ours.

Now that we’ve seen the seven different stages of human life, just like how the bull had two horns, each stage of our life has two “horns” – “Sukha” (Happiness) and “Duhka” (Sorrow). This happens in every stage of our life – When we’re at our mother’s womb, we go through happiness of eating whatever food that our mother consumes. We’re secluded and warm inside, and this also gives happiness. On the other hand, we feel so confined inside the four walls of the womb and we cannot even move our hands and legs freely. This is the sorrow part that we experience. Similarly, we face both happiness and sorrow alternatively in every stage of our life, isn’t it? We’ve been witnessing them for ourselves, and I don’t need to explain this point for each and every stage. We can relate them to our own lives and with our own experiences that we have day after day. But the point here is that, every stage has its own happiness and sorrows. We’ve got no choice but to go through all of them.

Thus, we see here that the seven stages of life are like the seven bulls that we’re talking about here. Like each bull having two horns, each of our stage undergoes two momentous stages – Happiness and sorrow. By controlling all of these and by focusing at our only goal of attaining “Moksha”, if a person is striving towards Him, Bhagawan Krishna accepts all of us and grants us the highest Moksha, isn’t it? This is exactly how this girl Satya too attained Bhagawan Krishna’s hand. Thus, we should understand here that, when Sage Sukhaachaarya explains that Bhagawan Krishna married girl after girl, we should not literally view them as a worldly affair. Behind each marriage that Bhagawan Krishna did, He conveys a deeper message of “Vedanta” which all of us should understand. Sadly, this is where many of us are carried away! We just keep propagating that Bhagawan Krishna was a womanizer and was going behind each and every woman that He came across. It is not at all the case! All these so-called “marriages” are a union between the “Paramatma” and the “Jeevatma”. It is to be remembered that Bhagawan Krishna gave “Moksha” by marrying only those people who deserved it. Whomever Bhagawan Krishna married, were all blessed souls and spiritually advanced souls. It is not that, He married some roadside woman and enjoyed the pleasures of a worldly human life.

Hence, for today, let us understand this important point and the deeper meaning behind Bhagawan Krishna’s marriage with Satya or Nappinnai. We shall wait till the next episode to witness what happened next! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna marrying Satyabhama, who was the daughter of Satraajith. As Bhagawan Krishan returns back to Dwaaraka, along with the lost Syamanthaka ornament, He announced publicly that the ornament was not stolen by Him and that, Satraajith’s brother was killed by a lion in the forest and the ornament was under the possession of Jaambhavaan. Upon hearing this from Bhagawan Krishna, Satraajith realized his folly of branding his long-term friend as a criminal and framing false charges upon Him. He thus, immediately apologizes to Bhagawan Krishna and in turn, he gave his daughter, Satyabama in marriage to Bhagawan Krishna.

Moving on thus, we should remember here that till now Bhagawan Krishna has married Rukmini Devi, Jaambhavati and Satyabama. Now we’ve to witness five more marriages that Bhagawan Krishna did – With Kalindi, Mitravindha, Satya, Bhadra and Lakshmana. Thus, we should remember here that Bhagawan Krishna had eight wives, and till now we’ve witnessed three out of the eight marriages. Now after the marriage with Satyabama, Bhagawan Krishna marries Kalindi. In fact, this Kalindi is another name for River Yamuna. Thus, it is said that Bhagawan Krishna married Yamuna Devi herself, who is none other than this Kalindi. Thus, the marriage between Kalindi and Bhagawan Krishna is a souvenir for spending His childhood days on the banks of this very river Yamuna or Kalindi. It was like a tribute to the river, that Bhagawan Krishna marries her.

As this happens, Bhagawan Krishna marries the next girl – Mitravinda. In fact, this Mitravinda was one of Bhagawan Krishna’s distant relatives. Rajathi Devi was one of Vasudeva’s sisters and Mitravinda was her daughter. In fact, we should also know that Vasudeva (Bhagawan Krishna’s father) had many other sisters apart from this Rajathi Devi. One of his other sisters was Prutha or otherwise famously known as “Kunthi Devi”. It is to this Kunthi Devi was born the five Paandava brothers, including Arjuna. This is the reason why Bhagawan Krishna often refers to Arjuna in His Bhagawad Gita as “Kaunteya”. Thus, we should understand here that Kunthi too was Vasudeva’s sister and by that, she was Bhagawan Krishna’s aunt. Thus here, Rajathi Devi was another aunt to Bhagawan Krishna and He marries her daughter, Mitravinda.

Moving on, Bhagawan Krishna marries the next woman by name Satya. There was a king by name Nagnajith. Nagnajith had a daughter by name Satya. This is the same woman called “Satya” who is talked about by the Alwars and Aachaaryas in the south as “Nappinnai”. If we look through the Thiruppaavai of Andal and also few “Paasurams” of Alwars, we would come across this person called “Nappinnai”. Now, in this Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana text, Sage Sukhaachaarya explains how Bhagawan Krishna attended the “Svayamvar” of this woman called Satya and how He married her. This is the same thing that the Alwars and Aandal have also described in Tamil, but the name given to this Satya here is “Nappinnai”.

Now let us witness the interesting “Svayamvar” that takes place for Satya. Her father, King Nagnajith had arranged this function and the rule of the “Svayamvar” was very simple – There were seven bulls which were angry and aggressive. The person who’s able to handle all of the seven bulls successfully and bring them under control, would be marrying Satya. As expected, many kings from various kingdoms have come there to try their strength and win over Satya’s hands. However, the bulls were so aggressive that none of them were able to control even a single bull.

It is to be noted here that Balarama had also come to attend the Svayamvar and he decided to try his luck. Till now, upon seeing all the other kings lose the challenge, Satya was sitting at one corner and laughing loud! She was indeed interested only in marrying Bhagawan Krishna and she saw Him sitting amidst the various other kings. She was just waiting for Bhagawan Krishna’s turn to come and she was sure that nothing in this world can be equal to His strength and valour. However, when Balarama came to the forefront, she didn’t expect him there. She knew that if Balarama tries and puts effort, he is totally capable of taming the bulls. But she wasn’t really interested in marrying him if he wins the challenge. Hence, her face became sad and she bent down looking at the floor. Upon seeing Satya’s face becoming sad upon his arrival, Balarama immediately withdrew himself from the challenge. He knew from Satya’s face that she would be in a difficult spot if he wins the challenge and that, she didn’t like him.

As Balarama leaves the stage, it was now Bhagawan Krishna’s turn to tame the bulls. Upon Bhagawan Krishna arriving at the scene, Satya’s face brightened with joy and with a beaming smile on her face. She was so devoted to Bhagawan Krishna that she was admiring His charm and handsome appearance, and nothing around her was visible to her. She did not even understand how Bhagawan Krishna tamed the bulls successfully, but her eyes were totally fixed upon Him. However, as the rule of the game says, Bhagawan Krishna comes forward, to tame the bulls. Aggressive as they were, Bhagawan Krishna starts a huge fight with all the seven of them and with His divine power, He was able to tame them successfully. Upon seeing this, King Nagnajith was overwhelmed with joy and satisfaction. He was happy that his daughter Satya is going to get married to a person with a great valour and strength. In turn, Satya was happy too that finally she has got the opportunity to marry her divine Bhagawan Krishna!

Thus, the marriage happens with lot of grandeur and with this the Svayamvar comes to an end. So far, we’ve witnessed six marriages of Bhagawan Krishna. For today, let us experience and understand till this point, and we shall continue with the next set of events in the next episode. Stay tuned! 😊