Glories of Bhagvan Krishna in Vedic and Vaishnav literatures
By Veerendra Ekbote
Vedas are called Apaurusheya knowledge which means they are not created by humans who have imperfect senses, have cheating propensity and are subjected to deception and illusion. Vedas are having a divine origin and were revealed to the Aryan sages by the Supreme Lord himself in deep meditation and were preserved orally in Shruti form by Sages and their descendants. Prior to VedVyas who appeared towards the end of 28th Mahayuga’s Dwaparyuga the Vedic knowledge was one containing in it knowledges for the betterment of mankind which were preserved through oral transmission by Bramhin Varna and their descendants.
It was VedVyas who divided the vast pool of Vedic knowledges into 4 and in written form for the less intelligent men of Kaliyuga who will be unable to memorize and understand the Vedic literatures and gave it to each of his disciples. VedVyas imparted the knowledge of Rigveda to his son Vaishampayana, YajurVeda to his disciple Yadnyavalkya, Samaveda to Jaimini and Atharvaveda to Sumanta. VedVyas then composed the longest epic Mahabharat having 100000 verses in which the 700 verse Bhagvad Gita appears in Bhismaparva in which the Supreme Lord Krishna himself instructs his warrior friend Arjun by becoming his charioteer to fight against his sinful Kaurava brothers and to establish Dharma.
Since Bhagvad Gita is the direct instruction of the Supreme Lord Krishna to mankind it is the cream of all spiritual knowledges mankind has ever received to achieve the spiritual world by performing Bhaktiyoga which is the most sublime and easiest way to establish eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Krishna. Bhagvad Gita or Song of Supreme God also has instructions to achieve the eternal spiritual world by practicing other paths of Yoga such as Karmayoga, Gyanyoga, Rajyoga, Dhyanyoga, Ashtangayoga, Vibhutiyoga, Vishwarup Darshan Yoga, Gunatrayavibhaga Yoga and ultimately Sharanagati Yoga by which a conditioned Soul becomes a devotee and surrenders to Bhagvan Krishna to get rid from the repeated cycle of birth and death. Lord Krishna himself establishes his supremacy to Arjun by first showing his universal form, then his 4 handed Vishnu form and his original 2 handed Shyamsundar form which is liked by his devotees. Thus Bhagvad Gita is a foremost spiritual literature which establishes the divine qualities of the Supreme Lord in which the Supreme Lord instructs mankind to surrender at his lotus feet by which they will get freed from repeated birth and death and will achieve his eternal kingdom which is beyond the material sky.
VedVyas composed the Vedanta sutra which is a part of 6 schools of philosophy and is the culmination of all the Vedic knowledges in which a Spirit Soul tries to establish eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord by developing Sambhandha Gyan, then Abhidheya Gyan and finally Prayojana Gyan to attain the Supreme Lord. The other 5 schools of philosophy being Nyaya by Sage Gautam, Vaisheshika by Maharshi Kanad, Sankhya by Kapila muni, Yoga by Patanjali and Purva Mimansa or Karma mimansa by Jaimini.
VedVyas who was the literary incarnation of the Supreme Lord after composing the epic Mahabharat became disturbed since Mahabharat was meant for the spiritual upliftment of women, Shudras and those born as Dwijabandhus or men belonging to the upper 3 Varnas who did not know the eternal spiritual truths. VedVyas also composed the Vedanta sutra during his maturity but was still despondent of all his compositions. Therefore Narada Muni- the spiritual master of Vyasdeva in order to wipe out his disciple’s despondency instructed him to compose a spotless literature which glorifies the name, fame, pastimes of the Supreme Lord and his devotees. Therefore on the instructions of Narada Muni, Vyasdeva composed the spotless SrimadBhagvatam Purana which is a running commentary on his Vedanta Sutra for the general class of men to understand the glories of the Supreme Lord Krishna, his Vishnu incarnations and the devotees of the Supreme Lord who exemplified devotion unto him. Bhagvat Purana appeared in the form of Bhakti or devotion on the earthly planet when Lord Krishna disappeared from the material world taking with him spiritual knowledge (Gyan) and renunciation (Vairagya). Bhagvatam presents a theistic view of Cosmic history which starts when Parikshit Maharaj was cursed to die by the serpent Takshaka on the 7th day, appearance of Shukdeo Goswami and his recitation of Bhagvatam Purana to the Sages and Parikshit Maharaj for 7 days and 7 nights continuously. Bhagvat Purana in all contains 12 Cantos and has description of all events until the death of Parikshit by the serpent Takshak and then Janmejaya’s performing Sarpa Yagya for the annihilation of serpents in retaliation. Bhagvatam also contains in its 12th Canto a short history of the forthcoming Kaliyuga and its symptoms, the dynasties that will rule Kaliyuga until the appearance of Chanakya Pandit and the remedy for the people of Kaliyuga to take shelter of holy names of Supreme Lord for crossing the material ocean of repeated birth and death.
Supreme Lord Krishna with all his potencies appears only once in a day of Bramha which is equivalent to 4 billion 32 million earthly years in which 14 Manus appear. Lord Krishna appeared from Goloka Vrindavan Dham in the spiritual world in 3229 BC on the earthly planet and once again disappeared in 3102 BC in the spiritual world. Lord Krishna stayed on the earthly planet for 127 years during 7th Vivasvan Manu epoch towards the end of 28th Mahayuga’s Dwaparyuga. Bhagvan Krishna performed his Vrindavan pastimes for 15 years, Mathura pastimes for 12 years and Dwarka pastimes for 100 years. The pastimes of the Supreme Lord are relished by the devotees of the Supreme Lord and their existence gets purified by hearing the pastimes of the Supreme Lord and chanting his holy names which is the first step in getting Krishna conscious and for developing one’s faith and conviction while performing devotional service unto the Supreme Lord.
The Vedas consists many chants, mantras, tantras and yantras to a particular Demigod and Demigoddesses for the betterment of mankind. However the Vedas also confirm that there is only One Supreme God who is known as Ekam Sat and is the Supreme Controller, is Omniscient, omnipresent and Omnipotent. Since the Vedas were revealed scriptures the Supreme God is glorified in the Vedas as both having a Personal Form and having Impersonal force which is called Bramhan or Bramhajyoti which emanates from the Supreme God Krishna situated in Goloka Dham in the spiritual world. Since the Sages got spiritual knowledge through meditation in SatyaYuga and in the next Tretayuga the Supreme God was worshipped by Fire sacrifices using Vedic mantras, the Supreme God of the Vedic Aryans was impersonal and the earliest revealed Vedic Hymns glorify the Supreme Lord as impersonal Bramhan who is the cause of all causes, is immovable, indestructible, formless and all the Jivatmas are the part and parcels of that Supreme God. The Vedic Aryans worshipped many natural elements through Vedic fire sacrifices such as the 12 Adityas, 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras, Indra, Agni, Bramha and the expansion of 33 crore administratived Demigods. All these administrative demigods are maintaining the universal affairs of the cosmic manifestation and get their power from Lord Krishna who is known as Yogeshwar Bhagvan – the reservoir of all opulences and mystic powers. When the world was dominated by demoniac beings all the Demigods and Surabhi cow alongwith Lord Bramha and Lord Shiva approached the banks of Viraj or Kshirsagar which separates the material sky from the self-effulgent Spiritual sky and sang the Purushshukta prayers which comes in Rigveda in glorification of the Supreme Lord Krishna and requested him to appear in the material world to lessen the burden of the earthly planet.
The Puranic literatures that were composed during Dwaparyuga until the glorious Gupta period in 5th century AD glorified the Supreme Lord Krishna in his Person form. The 6 Vaishnav Puranas namely Bhagvat Purana, Vishnu Purana, Garuda Purana, Padma Purana, Narada Purana and Varaha Purana encouraged Deity worship of the Personal form of the Supreme Lord Krishna and his Vishnu incarnations which appeared to save his devotees. The devotees worshipped the appearances of the incarnations of the Supreme Lord on the earthly planet by worshipping his Deity form because the Supreme Lord performed his Leela or earthly pastime so that his devotees by worshipping the Supreme Lord’s personal form will get a chance to attain the eternal spiritual world and serve the Supreme Lord eternally. For eg. Tirupati, Srirangam, Pandharpur, Guruvayur, Dwarka, Puri, Badrinath, Mayapur etc. In Bhagvad Gita and Uddhava Gita the Supreme Lord elaborates the process of worship of his personal form and states in Bhagvad Gita’s 12th chapter, 2nd verse that he who worships my personal form regularly with faith and devotion is considered to be the best amongst the devotees and eligible to come to my Spiritual abode. While those who worship my impersonal form, liberation is very difficult and even if they achieve liberation they merge in my Bramhan effulgence and have to once again take birth in this material world.
The Dravidians of South India in Dwaparyuga worshipped the Supreme Lord in Deity form which was accepted by the Vedic Aryans of northern India while the Dravidians accepted Vedic fire sacrifices from the Aryans. Worshipping Deity in personal form by a devotee was considered to be the manifestation and mercy of the Supreme Lord in his Sakar Sagun form having qualities and attributes. Therefore we find many beautiful temples all over India and especially in Southern India were elaborate Deity worship is done by the devotees of the Supreme Lord regularly with faith and devotion.
The 108 Upanishads also confirmed the same truth as is mentioned in the Vedas as the Upanishads were the final revelations and contains the essence of the Vedic scriptures. Each Veda has its own Upanishad. Some Upanishads confirm the Supreme Lord as impersonal while the Vaishnav Upanishads such as Gopal tapani, Ishopanishad, Kali Santarana describes the Supreme Lord as having a personal form and can be approached through devotion. Bhagvad Gita is also known as Gitopanishad as it is the empirical Upanishad and is the gist of all Upanishads. Since it is spoken by the Supreme Lord himself the devotees get realization of the Supreme Lord in his localized Bramhan form, Parmatma who is the representative of the Supreme Lord in all living entities and the topmost Bhagvan realization who is the cause of all causes and is the original Vishnu incarnation controlling the Spiritual and the material universes.
The Yogis who meditated within the Parmatma in their heart who is also the representative of the Supreme Lord Hari achieved the final destination of reaching the Vaikuntha planets while the unsuccessful Yogi who does not attain Supreme destination is given a chance to take birth once again in human form to continue his Krishna consciousness and attain the final destination of going back home, back to Godhead.
The devotees glorify the Supreme Lord Krishna in many Vedic and Vaishnav scriptures beginning from the start of creation when Lord Bramha glorified Lord Krishna, his grandfather in Bramha Samhita prayers which begins with
Ishwar param Krishna Satchidanand Vigraha |
Anadiradir Govind Sarva karan karanam ||
The Demigods worshipped and glorified Krishna in Purush Shukta prayers which begin with
Om Sahastra Shirsa purushaha sahastrashakshaha sahastrapat
Sabhumim vishwatovrutva atyashtishangulam
This same description mentioned in Purushshukta is also found in 11th chapter of Bhagvad Gita when Arjuna glorifies the Supreme Lord Krishna when he witnesses the Vishwarup Darshan and praises the Supreme Lord as having millions of heads, hands and legs and has glowing effulgence of millions of Suns together and who is the source, the sustenance and the annihilation of his cosmic manifestation.
Vishnu Sahastranaam Stotra in which 1000 names of Vishnu are glorified by Bhisma and Vaishampayana who is also the compiler of RigVeda.
SrimadBhagvatam glorifies the pastimes of Lord Krishna and his Vishnu incarnations in all the 12 cantos by different devotees of the Supreme Lord such as Shukadeo Goswami, Pariskshit Maharaj, the Sages who assembled at Naimisharanya, the glorification done by 12 Mahajans in SrimadBhagvatam who are considered to be the greatest devotee of the Supreme Lord, Dhruva Maharaj, the Prachetas, Gajendra and the devotees who glorified Lord Ram and Lord Krishna in Treta and Dwaparyuga respectively until the Mahabharat period which occurred from 3300 to 3000 BC.
The gist of SrimadBhagvatam is Krishnas tu Bhagvan Swayam which means the voluminous 18000 verse Bhagvatam proclaims that Krishna is the Supreme God
The Epics composed by Valmiki and Vyasdeva such as Ramayan, Mahabharat, the 18 Puranas and Agama sutras give importance to Deity and Temple worship of the Supreme Lord. The present day Sanatan Vedic Dharma in Kaliyuga though from 6th century BC to 7th century AD was eclipsed by the rise of nihilistic, voidistic philosophies chief among them Jainism and Buddhism was first revived by Shankarcharya in 8th century AD who propagated monotheism or Advaita Vedanta and who also composed Bhaja Govindam prayers which glorifies Lord Krishna.
The Vaishnav Acharyas who were instrumental to start the Bhakti movement in India from 12th century onwards in which Madhvacharya established Krishna worship at Udipi and refuted Mayawada and was the direct disciple of Vyasdeva, Ramanujacharya established Shri sampradaya and revived high standards of Deity worship in Southern India, Vallabhacharya who was the founder of Pushtimarga worshipped Lord Krishna in his Balgopal form, Nimbarkacharya who established the Kumar sampradaya and Vishnuswami who established Rudra sampradaya were all bonafide Vaishnav.Acharyas. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared as the devotee of the Supreme Lord in Bengal in 1486 AD established the Sankirtan movement and taught the general populace to worship Lord Krishna by chanting of his holy names which will deliver them from the repeated cycle of birth and death. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu established the Bramha Madhva Gaud sampradaya in which the 6 Goswamis of Vrindavan and Gaudiya Acharyas in lineage from Lord Chaitanya till Srila Prabhupada – the founder Acharya of ISKCON in 1965 composed many Vaishnav literatures such as Chaitanya Charitamrita, Bhaktirasamrit Sindhu, Upadeshamrit and discovered the places of pastimes of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan and spread Krishna Bhakti in northern and eastern India and at present internationally all over the world when Srila Prabhupada translated Sanskrit and Bengali books such as Bhagvad Gita as it is, Bhagvatam, Bhaktirasamruta Sindhu into English for western devotees.
Other Vaishnav sects like Warkari sampradaya in Maharashtra established by the 12th century saint Dnyneshwar and having in it saints from the 18 castes like Namdeo, Chokha Mahar, Narhari Sonar propagated Bhakti amongst the masses until Saint Tukaram in 16th century who glorified Lord Krishna by worshipping Lord Vitthaladev in Pandharpur with faith and devotion. Meerabai, Soordas, and Tulsidas in northern India also composed Vaishnav literatures like Ramcharitmanas which created equality among all the Hindus irrespective of their caste and protected Sanatan Dharma from the onslaught of Islam.
Thus the glories of Bhagvan Krishna are found in all the 4 Vedas since the Vedas are Apaurusheya transcendental knowledge emanating from the 4 heads of Bramha to the mankind where Bhagvan Krishna mentions to Arjun in the 17th chapter that I am the transcendental vibration Omkar which is found in every Vedic mantra and the goal of the Vedas and human life is to know Lord Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and to surrender at his lotus feet in devotion wherein the Supreme Lord takes care of the surrendered devotee and becomes his swift deliverer from the material ocean of repeated birth and death. The glories of Supreme Lord are mentioned in Bhagvad Gita which was spoken by the Supreme Lord himself to Arjun, SrimadBhagvatam Purana which was composed by VedVyas is the golden ripen fruit of all Vedic literatures, the epics such as Ramayan composed by Valmiki and Mahabharat composed by VedVyas glorifies the incarnations of Ram and Krishna respectively, the 108 Upanishads all glorify Lord Krishna to be the Supreme Lord, the glories of Krishna are also mentioned in Kapilas’s theistic Sankhya Sutra, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and VedVyas Vedantra sutra proclaim mankind that they are Spirit Soul and they need to revive and establish eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord Krishna. The 6 Acharyas who gave commentary on Vyasa’s Vedanta Sutra are Shankaracharya (Adwaita) and the other 5 Vaishnav Acharyas who gave commentaries are Madhva (Dwaita), Ramanuja (Vishistadwaita), Nimbarka (Dwaitadwaita), VishnuSwami (Shuddhadwaita) and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Achintyabhedhabheda Tattva). Prior to them the Vaishnav Agamas were composed by Narada Muni which gives rules and regulations of elaborate Deity and Temple worship in detail, the works of Vaishnav Saints who were all Self realized Souls and who appeared during the Bhakti movement from 12th century onwards when India faced Islamic invasions from the Northwest strengthened Sanatan Dharma philosophically and created equality amongst all Hindus irrespective of their caste, lessened the Bramhinical hold on religion and spread devotion amongst the masses which ultimately protected Hinduism from Islamic rulers.
The greatest example of Vandan Bhakti or glorification of Supreme Lord is Akrura who is the personal servitor of the Supreme Lord in his Mathura and Dwarka pastimes and who brought Lord Krishna and Balram from Vrindavan to Mathura on the instructions of demon king Kamsa. Akrura witnessed the Vishwarup Darshan of the Supreme Lord while bathing in the Yamuna as the Supreme Lord wanted to dispel his devotee’s ignorance and give him relief that everything in this cosmic manifestation belongs to the Lord who is the Supreme controller and enjoyer of all sacrifices and therefore he need not fear. Whoever surrenders in devotion to the Supreme Lord and worships Bhagvan with faith and devotion is taken care of by the Supreme Lord Krishna.
In this present age of Kaliyuga the prescribed YugDharma for glorifying the Supreme Lord Krishna is to chant his holy names which are non-different from him and which purifies the devotee and makes him eligible to revive his lost relationship with Lord Krishna and make him eligible to enter the spiritual world by the mercy of the Supreme Lord Krishna.
|| Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare |
Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare ||
!!Chant and be happy!!
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