DEIVATHIN KURAL # 8 (Vol #4) Dated 10 May 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 8 (Vol #4) Dated 10 May 2010.

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are proceeding from the middle of page 47 of Vol 4 of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too, mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com constantly updated.


16. Not only he distrusted KrishNa, but he was also afraid of him. His analysis was like this. 'This KrishNa has killed great wrestlers such as ChaNoora and Mushtka, even in his teens. He made a mince meat of Kamsa. Jarasandha who was so powerful, was beaten and chased around17 times by this KrishNa. Then, he is also capable of much magic and tricks! How to avoid antagonizing him and if he does become an enemy, how to tackle him?' He did not have the heart to give away the Syamantaka MaNi, while at the same time he was in a quandary as to how to retain that precious stone! This story really teaches us as to how inert material can torture us, even after it's becoming our property!
17. As a stop gap arrangement, he gave it to his younger brother Prasenan temporarily! The younger brother was more intelligent and stronger too. The younger brother happily wore that Syamantaka MaNi and set out on a hunting trip to the forests. (As per Skaandam, Prasenan is supposed to have gone in the company of KrishNa. As per Vishnu PuraNam and Bhagawatam, Prasenan went on the hunting trip on his own!)
18. I hope you remember that the one wearing the Syamantaka MaNi, is required to maintain high standard of physical and moral cleanliness! But Prasenan had to attend to nature's call and there was no water available! He could not clean himself properly. He was attacked by a lion, killed and eaten up! Night enveloped the forest. But the lion catching hold of the Syamantaka MaNi by its mouth was going unaware of the brilliant emanation of light from its mouth, making the night as bright as the day!
19. In that forest , in a mountainous cave, there lived Jambavan. That leader of bears was the same, who had assisted the monkey army of Sri Rama, eons before! Finally Sri Rama, when he gave up his mortal coil and ascended to the Vaikunta, had virtually taken all the people with him. But he left Anjaneya and Jambavan. They both had the worth to prove the point that, as long as you are chanting and thinking of Rama Nama, for him this world of misery and sorrow itself will be heavens! To show the world this truth, they remained behind in the earth. VibhishaNa in Lanka too continued as a 'Chiranjeevi', that is an immortal being!
20. We think of the human being as highly evolved towards perfection. But after Rama Avatara, it was a Monkey, a Bear and a Rakshasa; who were left behind as the eternal examples of the highest levels of devotion! "aswattaama balir vyaasa krupa parasurama hanumanscha vibhishana: iti saptaite chiranjeevina: " says the sloka, describing the seven everlasting souls! Though Jambavan's name is not there, he is worth being included in this list! It is part of folk lore to call any expert in any field, who has seen it all, as a 'Jambavan'! Is it not so? To name a few more who are not included, but should be included in this list, I should point out, Agasthya and the for ever sixteen years old Markandeya! Rama's time was during Treta Yuga. This event under consideration, occurred at the end of Dwapara Yuga. (More than 300 thousand years must have passed between the two, during which Jambawan must have been alive!)
21. Jambawan saw the lion with the brilliant Syamantaka MaNi in its mouth. At that time he had baby boy by the name Sukumara. Do not ask me as to how he could live for more than three Lac years and then have a baby boy! He wanted the brilliant gem for his son, as a play thing! As a mighty warrior, he fought with the lion and killed him. Picked up the gem and made it hang above the baby's cot with some toys. (That reminds me as to how Vali made RavaNa hang as a ten headed insect, over his baby's cot!) The gem despite its brilliance was like a torch light for modern day children!
22. Here is the deviation to the story as given in Skaandam. I hope you remember that as per Skaandam KrishNa was accompanying Prasenan in the hunt. Somewhere along the way, they were separated and Prasenan was killed by the lion and the Syamantaka MaNi landed up with Jambawan. KrishNa searched and searched for Prasenan. Soon it was getting to be dark. By chance when he looked up at the sky, he saw the fourth crescent of the moon. After the new moon, the first and second night, anyhow we will not notice the moon. Third night the sliver of the crescent, is in the sky only for a short period. On the fourth night however, it is more easily noticeable, because it is there in the western sky for about an hour plus after twilight. So, thinking that it would not be prudent to remain in the forest any further, he returned with his followers to Dwaraka.
23. When Prasenan did not return with KrishNa, Satrajit suspected KrishNa of foul play! As per Bhagawatam, Satrajit suspected that KrishNa had dispatched some of his men to follow and kill Prasenan in the forest! In his view, KrishNa already had an eye for the gem and got an opportunity to dispose off Prasenan and grab the gem! When God takes birth in the form of a human being, he has to undergo all the tribulations that man has to face. After all, the purpose of taking Avatara is to show by example, as to how the human being should behave, when faced with difficult situations! “KrishNa has murdered Prasenan, stolen the Syamantaka MaNi gem from him and hidden it somewhere.” These were the two false criminal charges leveled against the innocent KrishNa. He went about everywhere talking about this falsehood!
24. The public mind is very easily swayed and corrupted by rumor and innuendo. One day they will be praising you to high heavens and the very next day they may not hesitate to think twice about letting your name besmirched. We see this often, do we not? To some extent, it was allways like that only, even in Treta Yuga! It was only after the disposal of Kamsa that the Yadava community as a whole had come out of their doldrums and seen some better days of prosperity. It was KrishNa's kindness which saved them from great threats and hazarda. Those very people were talking ill of KrishNa joining hands with and adding their voices to that of Prasenan. One could hear them talking, “Even when he was only a child, we knew that he was a regular thief. Thieving and duplicity, seem to be innate characteristics for him! He could have done this killing of Prasenan and snatching of the Syamantaka MaNi and or even more!” They had forgotten the fact of being saved from Kalinga the poisonous snake and the event in which they were all saved from utter destruction at the time of torrential rains, when he lifted the Govardhana mountain and held it like an umbrella under which the whole lot of people of Brindavan were assembled.
25. Sri Krishna felt very grieved of being accused of offences which he could never have even thought of. He was not grieved really! He was beyond such human foibles and weaknesses. He just acted as though he was much affected! He acted as though, he had lost his omniscience and omnipotence. He decided to investigate and prove to the whole world as to how Prasenan died and what happened to the Gem Syamantaka MaNi! So he started snooping like a C.I.D. Of Police!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.