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2024-04-27, 3:37 AM |
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Chapter
3: The
Birth
of
Lord
Krishna
(1-5) S'rî S'uka said: 'Then there was the
supremely auspicious hour that,
with the constellation of
Rohinî rising, was endowed
with all qualities. All the stars and planets stood in a favorable
position. There was peace all around, all the stars twinkled
in the sky and the cities, towns, pasturing grounds and mines were at
their best. With the rivers crystal clear and the lakes beautiful
with
lotuses, with the flocks of birds
and the swarms of bees sweetly singing their
praise in the blooming forests, the breezes fragrant and free from dust blew with a gentle
touch while the fires of the brahmins burned steadily and undisturbed.
The minds of the virtuous ones who were oppressed by the Asura [Kamsa
and his men], cleared up when
in that situation the kettledrums resounded together to celebrate
the
birth of the Unborn One. (6) The Kinnaras
and
Gandharvas [de excellent ones and the singers of heaven] sang, the
Siddhas and Câranas [the perfected ones and the demigods] offered
prayers
and the Vidyâdhara women [the wives of the scientists] danced in
great
jubilation together with the Apsaras [the dancing girls of heaven]. (7-8) The sages and
the demigods joyously showered the finest flowers and the clouds
rumbled silently like the ocean waves when at the darkest hour of the
night Janârdana, the World's Well-wisher, appeared from the
divine form of Devakî. Lord Vishnu, the One residing in the
heart of everyone manifested
Himself
in full, like the full moon
rising in the east. (9-10) That wonderful
child with His lotus-like eyes and His four arms that held different
weapons [and other attributes like] a conch, a club and so on, was
decorated with the S'rîvatsa mark, with the shining
Kaustubha jewel around His neck, with yellow garments and with a
beautiful hue
like that of rain clouds. Vasudeva saw Him beautifully decorated
sparkling with a with vaidûrya (tiger's eye) studded helmet, with rings
in His ears,
with luxuriant scattered locks of hair, with an exquisite
belt around His waist and with armlets and bracelets on His arms. (11) Ânakadundubhi
was
amazed to see the
beautiful
appearance of the Lord as his son. Overwhelmed by great
jubilation he lost himself in dreams of holding a festival to the
occasion of the descent of Krishna, a festivity where he would donate
ten thousand cows to the brahmins.
(12) Oh
son of Bharata, understanding
that the child definitely was the Original Personality, he lost all his fears. Having arrived at that
conclusion he enraptured by His majesty fell down with folded hands to offer
prayers
to
the
child
that
illumined
His
birth
place
in
every
direction.
(13)
Vasudeva
said: 'You my Lordship, are the Original Person Himself
transcendental to material nature, You are the absolute
understanding and blissfulness [sat-cit-ânanda] in its
true form, the intelligence that watches over each. (14) You for sure we know as He who, after in the beginning
by
His personal energy
having
created this world consisting of the three modes [see B.G. 7:
4-6],
next
seems to have entered [as avatâras] but in reality You
did not [see
also 7.12: 15 and B.G. 9: 11]. (15-17) It is like the notion of the material elements [earth,
water, air, fire and ether] that have not changed at all,
even though they are caught in many combinations of different separated
energies [or molecules] that
together form
the complete of the universe. After in their association having
appeared it seems that the primal elements have entered creation
later
on, but that entering of this world never took place since they existed
there before. The
same way oh my
Lord, reasoning from
true
intelligence
and
such
attributes
You, despite of being in touch with the
objects of the senses
and the modes of nature, are not
determined
by
those
material
qualities
at
all.
You after
all [being the
complete], are not
covered by them. Because You are the root of everyone and
everything there
is no such thing as a
within and a without to You, the Supersoul of all existence [see also 7.12: 15 and B.G. 9:
4-6]. (18) Anyone who in
the position of being recognizable as a material body continues to act
as if he would have an existence for himself separate from the original
self or soul, is a fool. He is a person who in his false identification
will be rejected as stupid for lacking in proper analysis and missing
the full
consideration of 'that' [or tat. See also B.G. 18:
16, B.G. 7:
4-5 and *]. (19) Oh Almighty
Lord, the birth, the maintaining and the ending of this all is there,
so
conclude the
scholars, because of You who are free from inclinations, free
from changes and free from the
modes. This is not contradictory because You, who are both the
Lord and the Supreme Brahman, constitute the solid foundation for the
modes of nature [see
B.G. 9:
10]. (20) You thus [as that
basis, as that transcendence] assume,
in order to maintain the three worlds with Your energy, a white form
from the Soul [in goodness and knowledge], the color red belonging to
the passion of creation [the movement] as also the form of darkness [of ignorance] for the purpose of the
ultimate destruction. (21) You now here present oh Mighty One, have
appeared in my home as the Completeness of Control with the wish
to protect this planet and punish all the demoniac men and their
armies, who unenlightened by the millions all over the
world pose as kings and statesmen [see also B.G. 4:
8]. (22) But he who is
so godless [Kamsa] and who, after hearing about Your taking birth in
our
home, has killed all the brothers who were born before You oh Lord of
the God-fearing souls, will be
informed by his lieutenants about Your appearance and undoubtedly
immediately
take up his arms.'
(23) S'uka
said: 'After having seen that their son was endowed with all the
characteristics of the Supreme Personality, Devakî, who had been
afraid of
Kamsa but now was most [happily] surprised [about the arrival of
Krishna],
offered Him prayers. (24) S'rî
Devakî said: 'Being the 'tat' form [or the substance of
our oneness in diversity], You are sometimes called
the imperceptible one, the original one or Brahman, the light, the
freedom above
the modes, the changeless one and pure existence [the measure of
goodness and perfection]. You are the undivided one free from material motives who is
directly Lord Vishnu, the light of the Supersoul [compare
B.G. 14:
27]. (25) When after millions and millions of years the cosmos runs at its
end and the primary elements
merge with their primal forms and everything that manifested by
the force of Time
turns into the unmanifest, You oh Lord with the Many Names, are the
only one to remain. (26) This so
powerful Time factor by
which, from the smallest measure of time up to the measure of a year,
this entire creation works, is said to be Your action, the movement of
You, the secure abode, the Supreme
Controller whom I offer my surrender. (27) The
mortals afraid of the
serpent of death flee in all directions but cannot shake off the
fear. Only when they are happy having obtained Your lotus feet they
sleep
undisturbed whith death running away from them. (28) Oh Lordship
can You, in Your form as the One dispelling the fears of Your
servants, protect us against the terrible son of Ugrasena we fear so
much? And please can You, as this Original Personality we attend to in
meditation, make it so that You are not directly visible to those
who consider You a physical form
[compare B.G. 11:
8]? (29) Oh
Madhusûdana, off balance
because of Kamsa I am plagued
by fear with Your
appearance. May Your taking
birth from my womb escape the attention of that great sinner. (30) Please
oh All-pervading One, withdraw this supernatural four-armed form that is
equipped with the
attributes
of the conch, lotus, disc and club.
(31) The
entire creation with everything
that belongs to it is by You oh Lord, the transcendental Original
Personality,
easily sheltered and kept within Your body at the time of devastation.
But to see You now having entered my body is something unimaginable in
the human world oh Godhead!'
(32) The Supreme Lord replied: 'In a previous
age you became known as Pris'ni oh chaste lady, and he [Vasudeva] at
the time was a Prajâpati called Sutapâ, an impeccable
person. (33) When Lord
Brahmâ told you both to create
offspring, you were thereafter
of
severe
austerities
to
keep
your
senses
under
control.
(34-35) Enduring
the
rain,
the wind, the
blistering
sun and the severe cold and heat of the seasonal changes, you by
practicing restraint freed your mind from contaminations. Eating fallen
leaves and air only you became pure and peaceful, performed My
worship in serenity and prayed for a boon from Me. (36) While
you, with your mind fixed on Me, thus
in severe penance
practiced the most difficult austerities, twelve thousand
celestial years passed. (37-38) By
this
determination of heart and constant, faithful service and penance oh
sinless ones, I, proclaimed to be the most favorable bestower of boons,
very satisfied with the both of you then appeared in this form. Eager
to fulfill your desires I told you to think about a boon for yourselves
whereupon you asked for a son just like Me. (39) You, who as a man and
wife without a
son and dissatisfied in your sensual concerns were
so strongly
attracted to My divine energy, never asked Me
for being liberated from this world [see also 4.9:
30-35]. (40)
After you received the benediction and I had left, you enjoyed sexual
intercourse whereupon the two of you achieved the desired result of
having a son like Me. (41) Because I did not
find anyone else in this world with your noble character and qualities,
I became your son and am thus known as Pris'nigarbha [see also 11.5: 26]. (42) Through
Kas'yapa and Aditi I again appeared from the two of you
with the name Upendra and was also called Vâmana because I was a
dwarf [see 8.17-22]. (43) True
to my word for
the third time appearing in this
manner
in a form like this, I again took My birth from the two of you oh
chaste lady. (44) I showed you this [four-handed] form
to remind you of My previous
appearances. The spiritual understanding of My identity would otherwise
not arise [in you] with the transient form. (45) When
you treat Me with love and affection
the
two of you, in your constant awareness of Me as being both your son and
the Absolute Truth, will thus attain My transcendental abode.'
(46) S'rî
S'uka said: 'Thus having spoken the Personality of Godhead,
the Supreme Lord, was silent and directly from His inner potency assumed the form of an
ordinary human child before the eyes of His parents. (47) When
thereafter the son of S'ûrasena as instructed by the
Supreme Lord carefully wanted to carry his son away from the place of
delivery,
precisely at that time Yogamâyâ [see 10.2:
6-12], the one [of
transcendence who
factually is] never born, took her birth from the wife of
Nanda. (48-49) By
her
influence
the
guards
and
the
rest
of the people being fast asleep had lost consciousness of all
their
senses. As soon as Vasudeva carrying Krishna approached, all the heavy
doors and gates sealed with bolts and chains opened wide out
of
their
own,
like
darkness
dissipated
by
the
sun. The slightly
rumbling clouds showered rain but S'esha Nâga followed them and
stopped
the rains with His spread out hoods. (50) The surface of the deep waters of
Yamarâja's
younger sister, the Yamunâ, was foaming because of
Indra's constant showers. The waters whirled agitated, but the waves of the forceful, fierce stream
gave way just like the
ocean did before the Husband of Sîtâ
[Lord Râma, see 9.10: 13-15]. (51) The
son of S'ûrasena reached the
cow-village of Nanda and found all the cowherds there fast asleep.
While they slept he put his son on Yas'odâ's bed, took
up her daughter and then returned home. (52) There
he placed the little girl on Devakî's bed and put the shackles back on his feet so that he
remained bound as before. (53) Yas'odâ,
Nanda's wife, delivering her child had no idea what it
precisely looked like because being overwhelmed by sleep from the
hard labor, she
lay unconscious.'
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