November 2016 – Anandatirtha Prathishtana

1) Lord Krishna released his parents from the prison. Even though He is worshipped by all, he offered salutations to His parents along with Balarama, in order to ensure the compliance of Dharma of this world. He gave the kinship to Ugrasena. He then underwent upanayana samskara and bid farewell to Nanda.
2) Nanda, who was pacified with conciliatory words and sent off by Lord Krishna, placed the thoughts of the lotus-feet of the Lord in his heart and left the place with great difficulty, along with all his gopas. He resided in Vrundavana along with his wife, always immersed in the dhyana of Lord Krishna.
3) Lord Krishna, along with Balarama, approached a brahmana by name Sandipini, who was residing in Avantipura. He learnt all the Vedas and other subjects upon being told (taught) once by the brahmana. Although He is the very embodiment of infinite knowledge, He did thus in order to become a (role) model to the devatas.
4) Lord Krishna underwent the stay in the gurukula only in order to establish and highlight the dharma that when devatas take avatara amongst humans, they behave like humans and do not exhibit (fully) their knowledge and other guNas and also undergo learning and other activities.
5) Lord Krishna, the Lord of ramaa, brought back to life the dead son of his Guru. He then returned to Mathura along with Balarama. Joining with the rest of the relatives, He was constantly being worshipped by the city dwellers. He lived there while always satisfying the desires of His parents.
6) All those residents of Mathura who were earlier greatly pained due to Kamsa obtained Lord Krishna as their master and greatly rejoiced. When these noble people were themselves joyed in such a way, then what more to say about the joy of the parents who obtained Lord Hari Himself as their son!
7) When prosperity abounds in those places where those who have taken refuge in Lord Krishna reside, what more to say of the place where He himself was residing! When He stayed, a forest like Vrundavana itself had flourished like Indrapuri. What then to say about the city where He was staying!
8) Isn’t it only because the best in the Universe, Lord Vishnu, resides in there that Brahma Loka has obtained the greatness that it has! Similarly, due to the residence of Lord Krishna, the city of Mathura was filled with prosperous people.
9) In this way, when Lord Krishna, the lord of the three worlds, was protecting all the Yadavas, the two daughters of Jarasandha, the King of Magadha, who went by the names of Asti and Prasti, went to their father and explained how their husband Kamsa was killed by Lord Krishna.
10) Jarasandha, the King of Magadha, due to his excessive strength and power had become invincible in battle in all worlds. Due to the boons given by Brahma, Rudra and Durvasa Muni, he had not been defeated and couldn’t be killed. He had won the world. As soon as he listened to it, he got enraged.
11) Due to extreme anger, he became troubled and picked up an amazing mace given to him by Shiva. Jarasandha was respected greatly by the devotees of Shiva. He had complete knowledge of all Shaiva agamas, and had great faith in them. He threw that maze a hundred yojanas with Lord Krishna, the Supreme Being, as the target in mind.
12) But that mace fell short of Mathura by 1 yojana. When Kamsa had asked him, Narada, the muni of the devatas, had, for pleasing Lord Hari, described the distance of Mathura as one hundred yojanas instead of a hundred and one yojanas. This was the reason (for the failure of the mace to hit Mathura).
13) Even though Lord Hari was capable of destroying that mace, deeming that it was appropriate to perform service to the Lord on that occasion, Sage Narada had purposely (played with words and) described the distance of Mathura lesser by one yojana when the King of Magadha had asked him.
14) That mace, though it was thrown with the intention of hitting the paramatma, hit a man-eating rakshasi by name Jara, the one who joined the two separated pieces of his (Jarasandha’s) body. The mace, as per the orders of the Lord, then deserted Jarasandha and returned to Kailasa, the abode of Shiva.
15) King Jarasandha, in this way, lost both his mother and his mace. Out of extreme anger, he gathered all the Kings and assembled an army of 23 akshouhinis. Intoxicated with arrogance and pride, he marched towards Mathura, the abode of Lord Krishna.
16) Having surrounded the city from all sides, that evil-minded Jarasandha sent two brothers named Vinda and Anuvinda as his messengers to Lord Krishna. The two of them delivered the arrogance-filled message of Jarasandha which was full of mockery towards the Lord.
17) “I did not realize that, in this world, You alone are the personification of the famed strength and valor. I failed to grasp the essence of the strength and courage that You will develop in future. Being valor-less, I gave away two of my daughters to Kamsa in marriage. He has been killed by You”
18) “In this way, I, the one who is most weak, desire to see You, the One who is the best amongst those with strength, after which I shall leave for Tapovana along with my two daughters, without any valor. Therefore, You please become visible (to me)”
19) Having heard those unacceptable, objectionable, statements of Jarasandha, which were full of arrogance due to the ego of strength, Lord Krishna said “That’s true” which were meaningful and excellent indeed! He gave a smile and left for war along with Balarama.
20) Lord Krishna deployed His army under the leadership of Satyaki on the other three fronts, and having done so, Lord Krishna, the One who is the best, the One who is the Lord of all, joined Balarama in the northern front and went ahead to fight with Jarasandha, who was accompanied by the best of the Kings.

Month: November 2016

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