Chapter 2.
Devaki appeared divine because she carried the
krishnarasayana, the elixir which is sidhdha and sidhdhanishevitha,
resorted to by the sages being sure of effect.
Devaki ate the mud, symbolic of the earth, during her
pregnancy as if she is showing buy her action, naatitham, that the
one who has devoured the whole earth is inside her, ` bhukthaa puraa
yene vasundharaa saa sa visvabhoktha mamagarbhabhoothah, ` says
Desika. She dreamt that she was lying on Adhisesha and traveled on
Garuda. Utthamur swami explains this as ` devakigarbhagantham
bhagavanthamprthak paricharithum anishtvaa seshaadhayah
devakeesthathvaveshenaiva paricharantheeva.' It looked as though
Adhisesha and others carried devaki along with the Lord in order to
do service to Him.She walked slowly as if not to burden the earth
with the weight of Him who is visvaguru, the mighty Lord who has all
the universe in Him. He is vidvaguru or jagatguru as He was going to
impart the Gita to the world and also the greater than the greatest,
mahatho mahiyaan. The word `guru ` contains a pun to mean preceptor
as well as big.
Then starts the description of the night of Krishnavathaara.
The appearance of the dusk, sandhya, seemed to denote the advent of
the Lord. Sandhy, personified as a damsel,a is compared to the form
of the Lord, murdhvishah murthih dhvitheeyaa, on account of the
attire of golden hue, suvarnapithaambharavaasinee, and hiding the
Sun with the brilliance of own light, svadhaamasamchaadhtha
suryamurthih. The Sun sinking in the ocean seemed to seek some
support avalambhana, by his rays stretched out. He looked like a
lotus plucked from the pond of the sky by sandhya and the crest
jewel of a serpent plunging into the ocean afraid of Garuda in the
form of sandhya. The richness of poetic imagination of Desika is
illustrated by these words.
At the setting of the Sun, the ay being ashtami 8th day of
krishnapaksha, dark fortnight, no moon appeared and darkness spread
everywhere. Stars looked like a garland of pearls to adorn the Lord
on His avathaara prepared by His servant, the Kala, Time. Later when
the moon rose the eastern direction looked like Devaki.
Thamafprasangena vimuchyamaana gourprabhaa. The paleness of her is
the white light,gouraprabhaa of the moon who has risen from darkness
as she is going to be freed from her sorrow, thamafprasangena
vimuchyamaana. The Moon being the first forefather of the Yadhuvamsa,
looked like a purohitha, priest coming after bath from the ocean to
do the samskara, the rites for the newborn.
The darkness that first came was like the haalaahala, the
terrible poison which came out of the milky ocean, namely the eastern
direction indicative of the subsequent emergence of Lakshmi, the good
fortune of Yadhuvamsa. Desika says later in describing Krishna that
Lakshmi was always with the Lord which ever avathara he took because
She is inseparable as the sloka goes ` Raaghavathve
bhavathseetharukminee Krishna janamani anyeshuchaavathaareshu
vishnoreshaa anapaayini.'It is said that even in Vamanaavathaara
Lakshmi was in His chest to hide whom the Lord covered His chest with
deerskin lest He could not take away the aisvarya of Bali if he gets
the glance of Lakshmi, lakshmikataaksha.
Then the auspicious time for the avathaara drew near. The
wicked people like Kamsa were sleeping and the good were awake like
Devaki and Vasudeva.Vadfyagosha of divine instruments could be heard
everywhere. The lamps in the house of Kamsa became extinct for no
reason and so did the anguish in the minds of devotees.
Ashtami was chosen by the Lord for his avathaara as the eighth child
and the next day Navami was going to be he day of the avathara of
Yogamaaya. Hence, as Desika puts it, ashtami became prathama and
navami, dvitheeya. Krishna appeared at vrishabha lagna when the five
planets, Chandra, angaraka,bhudha guru and sani were in exalted
position. Desika describes His manifesting Himself as Devaki ,the
eastern direction produced the Lord , the moon implying that He was
not born in the usual way but as He says in the Gita `sambhavaami
aathmamaayayaa' He only made Himself manifest as the moon coming out
in the East.
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