Why Kṛṣṇa chose Mother Yasoda over Devaki?
In any case, Kṛṣṇa is always svacchandātmā - without anxiety. Even if He is killing a demon, He experiences no anxiety. That is also confirmed in the Vedas:
- na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
- na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
- parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
- svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca
"The Supreme Lord has nothing to do, for everything is done automatically by His various potencies. No one is seen to be equal to, or greater than, Him." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8 (CC Madhya 13.65, purport))
Śrī Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do personally. It is His energy that acts. When an important man wants to get something done, he simply tells his secretary, who does everything. The important man is quite confident that because he has told his secretary, his desires will be carried out. The secretary is a person, energy (śakti). If an ordinary man within this world has many energies in the form of secretaries, then we can hardly imagine the energies possessed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa. (Teachings of Lord Kapila 3)
Before going into indepth of His pastimes, one must understand how Kṛṣṇa enacts his lila sakti.
When Vasudeva saw his extraordinary son, his eyes were struck with wonder. In transcendental jubilation, he mentally collected ten thousand cows and distributed them among the brāhmaṇas as a transcendental festival. (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.3.11)
The sanskrit word used here is vismaya (astonished, wonder). In the purport, srila visvanatha Cakravartī thakura explains the four reasons for astonishment:
The first wonder was that the Lord was not afraid to appear within the prison house of Kaṁsa, where Vasudeva and Devakī were interned.
Second, although the Lord, the Supreme Transcendence, is all-pervading, He had appeared from the womb of Devakī.
The third point of wonder, therefore, was that a child could take birth from the womb so nicely decorated.
Fourth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead was Vasudeva’s worshipable Deity yet had taken birth as his son.
Vasudeva and Devaki were astounded by seeing their Worshipable Supreme Personality of Godhead, so they were manifesting Vismaya rati that produces adbhuta rasa, indirect or secondary mellow:
adbhuta-rasa is described in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (4.2.1):
ātmocitair vibhāvādyaiḥ svādyatvaṁ bhakta-cetasisā vismaya-ratir nītādbhuta-bhakti-raso bhavet
“When one's general attachment is fixed in wonder, it is called adbhuta-bhakti-rasa.”
Although, they are situated in Vatsalya rasa primarily, since due to having seen the unseen Lord they were overcome with astonishment that they forgot to reciprocate in Vatsalya rasa.
When a pure devotee is situated in any of the five principal mellows (śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya or madhura) and that mellow is mixed with one or more of the seven indirect bhakti-rasas (hāsya, adbhuta, vīra, karuṇa, raudra, bhayānaka or bībhatsa), the indirect mellows become prominent. (CC Madhya 19.187)
Vasudeva and Devaki, because of being wonderstruck and in unfavorable environment they were impaired and incapable to render any active service to Kṛṣṇa, in parental devotion. In rasa sastra, it is described, a devotee doesn't want to taste the rasa mellows of devotional service (rasa asvadana) which impedes Kṛṣṇa service.
In the five principal transcendental relationships, awe and veneration are sometimes impediments obscuring the Lord's actual greatness and sometimes they actually impede one's service to the Lord.
For instance, when Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī, His parents prayed to the Lord with awe and veneration because they understood that the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu had appeared before them as their little child. This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.44.51). Although the Supreme Lord was present as their child, Devakī and Vasudeva began to pray to Him. Similarly, when Arjuna saw the universal form of the Lord, he was so afraid that he begged pardon for his dealings with Kṛṣṇa as an intimate friend. As a friend, Arjuna often behaved unceremoniously with the Lord, and upon seeing the awesome universal form.
Glories of Vraja dhama
in Mathurā and in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. In these abodes of the Lord, the spirit of transcendental loving service is restricted. However, in Gokula Vṛndāvana, love is freely exchanged, and although the cowherd boys and damsels of Vṛndāvana know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they do not show awe and veneration because of the great intimacy of their relationship with Him. (Teachings of Lord Caitanya 1)
As soon as one reaches the realm of Goloka Vrndavana, one forgets Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead by yoga maya potency. The gopīs, expressed great distress while meeting Krsna during solar eclipse at Kuruksetra
Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Antya Lila, Chapter 1, Text 114:
priyaḥ so ‘yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ saha-cari kuru-kṣetra-militas
tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham
tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe
mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati
“‘My dear friend, now I have met My very old and dear friend Kṛṣṇa on this field of Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and now We are meeting together. It is very pleasant, but I would still like to go to the bank of the Yamunā beneath the trees of the forest there. I wish to hear the vibration of His sweet flute playing the fifth note within that forest of Vṛndāvana.’”
This extreme desire to serve the Lord is manifest in the transcendental land of Braja. And it is specifically manifested amongst the gopīs. The gopīs' love for Kṛṣṇa is so elevated that for our understanding it is sometimes explained as being lusty desire. The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kavirāja Kṛṣṇadās, has explained the distinction between lusty desire and the service attitude in this statement: "Lusty desire refers to the desire to gratify one's personal senses, and transcendental desire refers to the desire for serving the senses of the Lord. (Nectar of Devotion, 15)
Then, one might ask why Kṛṣṇa appeared in Yadu dynasty instead of descending directly on the Vraja dhama?
There are two reasons for this:
◇ Kṛṣṇa is always residing in Vraja dhama eternally. It is technically incorrect to say Kṛṣṇa descended to Vraja
◇ To reclaim His Pure devotees outside realm of Vraja like pandavas
Queen kunti says that if Kṛṣṇa didn't appear as son of devaki, she couldn't claim any relationship with Krsna,
kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāyadevakī-nandanāya cananda-gopa-kumārāyagovindāya namo namaḥ
in the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, although He was the son of a king, He at once left the shelter of His real father and mother (King Vasudeva and Queen Devakī) just after His appearance and went to the lap of Yaśodāmāyī to play the part of an ordinary cowherd boy in the blessed Vrajabhūmi, which is very sanctified because of His childhood pastimes.
Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is more merciful than Lord Rāma. He was undoubtedly very kind to Kuntī's brother Vasudeva and the family. Had He not become the son of Vasudeva and Devakī, Queen Kuntī could not claim Him to be her nephew and thus address Kṛṣṇa in parental affection. But Nanda and Yaśodā are more fortunate because they could relish the Lord's childhood pastimes, which are more attractive than all other pastimes.
There is no parallel to His childhood pastimes as exhibited at Vrajabhūmi, which are the prototypes of His eternal affairs in the original Kṛṣṇaloka described as the cintāmaṇi-dhāma in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descended Himself at Vrajabhūmi with all His transcendental entourage and paraphernalia.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore confirmed that no one is as fortunate as the residents of Vrajabhūmi, and specifically the cowherd girls, who dedicated their everything for the satisfaction of the Lord. His pastimes with Nanda and Yaśodā and His pastimes with the cowherd men and especially with the cowherd boys and the cows have caused Him to be known as Govinda. Lord Kṛṣṇa as Govinda is more inclined to the brāhmaṇas and the cows, indicating thereby that human prosperity depends more on these two items, namely brahminical culture and cow protection. Lord Kṛṣṇa is never satisfied where these are lacking. (Sb 1.8.21)
In CC Adi 4.15-16, Translation and Purport, the confidential reason for Kṛṣṇa’s appearance and shifting to vraja mandala is explained:
The Lord’s desire to appear was born from two reasons: the Lord wanted to taste the sweet essence of the mellows of love of God, and He wanted to propagate devotional service in the world on the platform of spontaneous attraction. Thus He is known as supremely jubilant and as the most merciful of all.
The real purpose of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance was to stage a dramatic performance of His transcendental pastimes at Vrajabhūmi, thus exhibiting the highest limit of transcendental mellow in the exchanges of reciprocal love between the living entity and the Supreme Lord. These reciprocal exchanges of mellows are called rāga-bhakti, or devotional service to the Lord in transcendental rapture. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa wants to make known to all the conditioned souls that He is more attracted by rāga-bhakti than vidhi-bhakti, or devotional service under scheduled regulations. It is said in the Vedas (Taittirīya Up. 2.7), raso vai saḥ: the Absolute Truth is the reservoir for all kinds of reciprocal exchanges of loving sentiments. He is also causelessly merciful, and He wants to bestow upon us this privilege of rāga-bhakti. Thus He appeared by His own internal energy. He was not forced to appear by any extraneous force.
Bhakti begins with service
Kṛṣṇa is attainable only through service not by another means. Bhaktya mam abhijanati only by devotional service one can know Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa, tĺhe Supreme Personality of Godhead as the son of mother Yaśodā, is very easily available to devotees, but not to tapasvīs, yogīs, jñānīs and others who have a bodily concept of life. Although they may sometimes be called śānta-bhaktas, real bhakti begins with dāsya-rasa. (SB 10.9.21, Purport)
Service to Kṛṣṇa lessens the importance of moksha. The bliss derived from serving Kṛṣṇa is more sweeter than immortal ambrosia. Service to Kṛṣṇa is very rare and is the property of Pure devotees. If we want to serve Krsna, we have to approach another devotee who is rendering similar service. That's is the only way to attain the loving service to Kṛṣṇa.
yuga-dharma-pravartana haya aṁśa haiteāmā vinā anye nāre vraja-prema dite
My plenary portions can establish the principles of religion for each age. No one but Me, however, can bestow the kind of loving service performed by the residents of Vraja. ( CC adi lila 3.26)
The real essence of prema, Love of Godhead is Sevamrta (nectarean service to Kṛṣṇa). By the process of sadhana bhakti, one can attain prema, the greatest treasure. When the transcendental service by which love for Kṛṣṇa is attained, is executed by the working senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa, is called as sadhana. By this one awaken Nityasiddha bhava one's eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa in specific transcendental mellow. Or in other words, by devotional service in practice one develops spontaneous attachment to service to Krsna. When that attachment towards Kṛṣṇa increases, on takes birth in the realm of Vraja. The distinctive feature of Vraja dhama is where there is service to Kṛṣṇa without restrictions and free to serve Kṛṣṇa in anyway and every way. Real freedom to serve Kṛṣṇa. Anywhere outside vrndavana, our service to Kṛṣṇa will be hampered.
Unique glories of Mother Yashoda
Whatever we experience and we don't have any experience is nothing but the energy of Kṛṣṇa. Everything is the manifestation krsna's energy. This inconceivable to fools and rascals, can be perceived by Kṛṣṇa’s pure devotees. Lakshmi devi is Sri sakti, opulent aspect of Krsna's potency, Sita devi is Bhu sakti, the potency to bear or forbearance aspect of Krsna's potency,
There is the following reference to the śrī, bhū and nīlā energies in the Sītopaniṣad: mahā-lakṣmīr deveśasya bhinnābhinna-rūpā cetanācetanātmikā. sā devī tri-vidhā bhavati, śakty-ātmanā icchā-śaktiḥ kriyā-śaktiḥ sākṣāc-chaktir iti. icchā-śaktis tri-vidhā bhavati, śrī-bhūmi-nīlātmikā. “Mahā-Lakṣmī, the supreme energy of the Lord, is experienced in different ways. She is divided into material and spiritual potencies, and in both features she acts as the willing energy, creative energy and the internal energy. The willing energy is again divided into three, namely śrī, bhū and nīlā.” (CC Adi 5.27-28)
As stated in the Vedic versions, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has multipotencies. According to expert opinion, Kubjā represents the bhū-śakti potency of Kṛṣṇa, just as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī represents His cit-śakti potency. (Krsna book 48)
Krsna and Krsna's potency are non different on tattva but appears different to relish rasa. Mother Yashoda is described as expansion of Hladini sakti, pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa which is none other than Radharani. There is a peculiar pastime, in which Nanda maharaja hands over baby Kṛṣṇa to young Radharani, which denotes Radharani personally expands herself in the form of Mother Yashoda to serve Kṛṣṇa in Vatsalya rasa. Like there is no difference between Lakshmi devi and Radharani but there is difference in bhava, devotional ecstasy. Similarly there is no difference between Devaki and Yashoda but difference in rasa tattva.
According to scriptures like Brahma Vaivarta Purana and Garga Samhita, the story mentioned is as follows :-
"One day, Nanda Baba went along with infant Krishna to Bhandirvan for cow grazing. When Nand baba sat under a tree for rest, a ferocious storm started blowing and the environment became dark. Nand baba got scared about the safety of his little boy. Lord Krishna also acted as if he was frightened and hugged Nand baba with fear. But then, Nand baba saw the beautiful gopi, Radha Rani approaching him from the storm in her divine form. She was glowing with the beauty. Realizing that it was a play, Nand baba gave the infant to Goddess Radha and said that he knows that she is very dear to Lord Krishna as he was already being told about the divine form of Radha Krishna by Sage Garga . He said that she can enjoy with Shri Krishna and after that leave the infant back home to Yashoda. Radha Rani was very happy to see the infant Krishna and kissed him. Suddenly, a palace was appeared in front of her. The palace was shining with jewels and rubies. And then she saw the infant Krishna got vanished from her lap while a young handsome man appeared before her wearing jewelry and a crown. Within no time, she immediately realized it that it was the divine form of Lord Krishna. Krishna praised Radha and acknowledged his deep love for her. He told Radha that she was the other half of him. But, Radha shared her pain of separation with Krishna. To which, Lord Krishna consoled her and asked her to wait as he would make her happy. At that moment, Lord Brahma appeared in front of them and under his guidance performed their wedding ceremony by making the couple exchanged their garlands and chanting Vedic mantras sitting in front of the holy fire. This marriage ceremony was called Gandharva Vivah. Thereafter, Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha spent time together in delightful pastimes. After some time, Lord Krishna again returned to his infant form and promised Radha that they would keep returning to Bhandirvan for their lovable pastimes. Thereafter, Goddess Radha took the infant Krishna back to his mother Yashoda".
Neither Lord Brahmā, nor Lord Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yaśodā.
That exalted platform of premā is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as premā pum-artho mahān, and mother Yaśodā naturally acts in such an exalted position in loving affairs. She is therefore a nitya-siddha devotee, an expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s hlādinī potency, His potency to enjoy transcendental bliss through expansions who are special devotees (ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ). Such devotees are not sādhana-siddha. (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.9.20)
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī expands Herself in multiforms as the goddesses of fortune, the queens and the damsels of Vraja. Such expansions from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī are all Her plenary portions. All these womanly forms of Kṛṣṇa are expansions corresponding to His plenary expansions of Viṣṇu forms. These expansions have been compared to reflected forms of the original form. There is no difference between the original form and the reflected forms. The female reflections of Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency are as good as Kṛṣṇa Himself. (CC Adi 4.81)
Thus Mother Yashoda's unparalleled position is glorified in Nectar of Devotion 43 ,
There is the following description of mother Yaśodā’s affection for Kṛṣṇa. After rising early in the morning, mother Yaśodā first of all offered her breast milk to Kṛṣṇa, and then she began to chant various mantras for His protection. Then she would decorate His forehead very nicely and bind His arms with protective talismans. By all of these activities, it is definitely understood that she is the emblem of all maternal affection for Kṛṣṇa.
In this connection mother Yaśodā once told Mukharā, her maidservant, “Just look at Kṛṣṇa looking stealthily toward all sides and slowly stepping forward from the bushes. It appears that He is coming just to steal the butter. Don’t expose yourself or He may understand that we are looking toward Him. I want to enjoy the sight of His eyebrows moving in this cunning way, and I want to see His fearful eyes and beautiful face.”
The same friend of mother Yaśodā addressed Kṛṣṇa as follows: “My dear Mukunda, if mother Yaśodā, the Queen of Gokula, is forced to stand on fire but is allowed to see Your lotus face, then this fire will appear to her like the Himalaya Mountains: full of ice. In the same way, if she is allowed to stay in the ocean of nectar but is not allowed to see the lotus face of Your Grace, then even this ocean of nectar will appear to her like an ocean of arsenic poison.” Let the anxiety of mother Yaśodā of Vraja, always expecting to see the lotus face of Kṛṣṇa, be glorified all over the universe!
Sometimes there are examples of mother Yaśodā’s becoming stunned in ecstasy. This was exhibited when she saw her son lifting Govardhana Hill. When Kṛṣṇa was standing, raising the hill, mother Yaśodā hesitated to embrace Him and became stunned. The dangerous position that Kṛṣṇa had accepted by lifting the hill brought tears to her eyes. With her eyes filled with tears she could not see Kṛṣṇa anymore, and because her throat was choked up by anxiety she could not even instruct Kṛṣṇa as to what He should do in that position. This is a symptom of becoming stunned in ecstatic love.
In the Lalita-mādhava, compiled by Rūpa Gosvāmī, Kṛṣṇa is addressed as follows: “My dear Kṛṣṇa, when You are engaged in herding the animals, the dust caused by the hooves of the calves and cows covers Your nice face and artistic tilaka, and You appear very dusty. But when You return home, the milk flowing out of the breasts of Your mother washes Your face of its dust covering and You appear to be purified by this milk, just as when the Deity is washed during the performance of the abhiṣeka ceremony.”
Following is a list of respectable personalities who enjoy parental affection toward Kṛṣṇa: (1) mother Yaśodā, the Queen of Vraja, (2) Mahārāja Nanda, the King of Vraja, (3) mother Rohiṇī, the mother of Balarāma, (4) all the elderly gopīs whose sons were taken away by Lord Brahmā, (5) Devakī, the wife of Vasudeva, (6) the other fifteen wives of Vasudeva, (7) Kuntī, the mother of Arjuna, (8) Vasudeva, the real father of Kṛṣṇa and (9) Sāndīpani Muni, Kṛṣṇa’s teacher. All these are considered respectable elderly personalities with parental love for Kṛṣṇa. This list is in order of superior importance, and thus we can see that mother Yaśodā and Mahārāja Nanda are considered to be the supermost of all elderly personalities.
Conclusion
There are 4 reasons why Kṛṣṇa chose Mother yashoda over Mother Devaki
1, Because of being absorbed in greatness of Kṛṣṇa, Mother Devaki is hampered in serving Kṛṣṇa. The Supreme position of Madhurya bhakti over Aisvarya bhakti.
2, Mother Yashoda is born in Vraja mandala. Birth in Vrajabhūmi is exceedingly glorious. By merely taking birth in Vraja ,one qualified for pure devotional service.
3, Mother Yashoda is superior in bhava and unique in service to all the devotees rendering service in Vatsalya rasa.
4, Kṛṣṇa is very much pleased by the chastisement of mother Yaśodā than glorification of Mother Devaki.
Nonetheless, one should not discriminate amongst pure devotees, they are acting according to supreme will of Kṛṣṇa.
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