Patita Pavana dasa Adhikary
This essay is dedicated to His Grace Shriman Kurma Rupa Prabhu of Vrindavana who has entered into Krishna’s eternal Vraja-lila, and to all devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement whoby the grace of Shrila Prabhupada our savior honor mother cow by offering Her milk and other products into the service of the Supreme Lord Govinda Gopala.
The great forms of the Supreme Lord such as Narasimhadeva, Varaha, Kurma, Matsya, Vamana, Shri Ramachandra and the others, each of Whom we worship, are highly celebrated throughout theshastras. All are honored on a platform equal to Hari Himself. There is no difference, all are Vishnu-tattwa, yet each shows a unique aspect of the SupremeLord Shri Krishna—and from this understanding the Gaudiya concept of achintya bedaabhed tattva. As Shrila Prabhupada points out early in hisBhagavatam commentaries (1st canto): the Supreme Lord appears in all species of life. Indeed, His incarnations—and remember, Shri Krishna is the Source of all avataras, forms of the Lord, plenary portions, etc.—are as numerous as the bubbles on the ocean. The multi-facets of Lord Krishna’s Personal Qualities are unlimited, and each one of His expansions reveals a yet deeper understanding of the Lord’s all-spiritual and transcendental potencies.
As the Bhagavata (1.3.3) teaches us:
“It is believed that all the universal planetary systems are situated on the extensive body of thepurusha, but He has nothing to do with the created material ingredients. His body is eternally in spiritual existence par excellence.”
Despite the difference in the lilas of the Lord, His compassion for all His parts and parcels—which includes you and me—remains constant. Even the terrible form of Ugra-Narasimhadeva was quickly pacified by the prayers of Shri Prahlada when Nri-keshari explained to that veritable Mahajana in the dress of a lad—and son of the demon King Hiranyakashipu—that His father and multi-generations before and aft would all be awarded liberation Therefore what is constant in the Lord’s incarnations is His compassion for His devotees.
For as He promises His devotees in Bhagavad-gita (15.20) …
“This is the most confidential part of the Vedic scriptures, O sinless one, and it is disclosed now by Me. Whoever understands this will become wise, and his endeavors will know perfection.”
Shri Prahlada was a direct disciple of Shri Narada Muni—and with whom the disciple shares with his master the post of mahajana. Therefore he was fearless even before the ghastly visage of Lord Nrisimhadeva who had just ripped to shreds the conqueror of the demigods and disrupter of yagna, the brother of Hiranyaksha. Thus the Lord in His most awesome feature of Ugra-nrasimha displayed supreme kindness towards the demon. Lord Narasimahadeva promised the five-year old Prahlada, “Do not worry. Your father and umpteen generations are liberated due to a great devotee like you having been born in their family. Which—it is explained—includes families that the devotee has lived in during previous lifetimes. As Shri Prahlada had told the Lord (SB 7.9.12):
“Therefore, although I was born in a demoniac family, I may without a doubt offer prayers to the Lord with full endeavor, as far as my intelligence allows. Anyone who has been forced by ignorance to enter the material world may be purified of material life if he offers prayers to the Lord and hears the Lord’s glories.
All species of life—all creatures of the three worlds whether plant or animal, insect or quadruped, human, naga or demi-god—“enjoy” their origins from Him alone.
And when the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes to deliver His renegade parts and parcels through His wonderful lilas, His pure devotees follow in the footsteps of the Lord and spread His glories. That is the position of Shrila Prabhupada, the greatest minstrel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Shri Krishna that the planet has seen in many centuries. Shrila Prabhupada is the pure representative of all other acharyas in our line including Shrila Saraswati Thakura, Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Shri Vishwanatha Chakravarti Thakura, Shri Narottama dasa Thakura, Shri Krishnadasa Kaviraja, Shri Lochan dasa Thakura, the six Goswamis of Vrajadham and other followers of Mahaprabhu.
And as Gaudiyas we have the gift of the dust of the Holy Lotus Feet of the Source of all Incarnations, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Did not Mahaprabhu reveal His Shada-bhuja Form to Kholavecha Shridhara and manifesting the features of other avataras to His very confidential associates? As Shrila Prabhupada commented, “Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is golden on the outside, but blue on the inside.” Which, as we know, translates into “Mahaprabhu is directly—sakshad—Shri Krishna. And His Highest Gift is showing us the selfless love of Shri Radha for Shri Krishna. This is the most secret of all secrets, one that even many great sages of the Vedic era were not privy to.
So, we have seen and heard much about Lord Ramachandra or Lord Narasimhadeva, Matsya and Kurma.
But who among us know much about the cow incarnation of Lord Vishnu?
To learn about this relatively uncelebrated form of the Lord, the devotee must go to the 7th canto of theBhagavata Purana. After narrating the history of Lord Nrismhadeva and the salvation of Shri Prahlada, Narada Muni tells King Yudhishthira the story of Maya Danava’s defeat at the hands of Lord Shiva, who afterward became celebrated as Tripurari. It was during this pastime that Lord Vishnu appeared as a cow, and Lord Brahma as a calf. Behold the Cow Incarnation of the Supreme Lord:
WHEN VISHNU BECAME A COW AND BRAHMA A CALF
Here are some of the pertinent verses that relate to the Supreme Lord’s incarnation as a cow.
Attacked by Lord Shiva’s golden arrows, all the demoniac inhabitants of those three dwellings lost their lives and fell down. Then the great mystic Maya Dānava dropped the demons into a nectarean well that he had created. (SB 7.10.59)
When the dead bodies of the demons came in touch with the nectar, their bodies became invincible to thunderbolts. Endowed with great strength, they got up like lightning penetrating clouds. (SB 7.10.60)
Seeing Lord Śiva very much aggrieved and disappointed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, considered how to stop this nuisance created by Maya Dānava. (SB 7.10.61)
The demons could see the calf and cow, but because of the illusion created by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the demons could not forbid them. The great mystic Maya Dānava became aware that the calf and cow were drinking the nectar, and he could understand this to be the unseen power of providence. Thus he spoke to the demons, who were grievously lamenting. (SB 7.10.62)
Maya Dānava said: What has been destined by the Supreme Lord for oneself, for others, or for both oneself and others cannot be undone anywhere or by anyone, whether one be a demigod, a demon, a human being or anyone else.( SB 7.10.63)
And so it was that Lord Vishnu, Krishna, became a cow, drank the nectar that was being misused by the demons, and gave the victory to Shiva as Tripurari. All glories to He Who is the success of His devotees, though he gives all credit to His devotees.
PRAYERS TO KRISHNA’S COWS AND TO THE COW INCARNATION
O Shri Hari, Krishna, You are the Remover of all that is evil in the form of materialistic desires that have chained us conditioned souls to the vicious cycle of birth and death. I eternally bow again and again in the dust of the hoof prints of the cows that follow You in Vrindavana.
Again and again let us take the dust of the hooves of the cows of Vrindavana upon our heads as we fall down like a stick before the dust of the herd of Vraja. By the grace of Mother Cow alone we see imprinted here and there in the pasturelands wetted by milk from the joyous herd numbering crores, the footprints of Lord Krishna and His cowherd boy friends running here and there. Veritably Shri Krishna, the Source of all Incarnations, is none other than Vraja Gopala, Govinda, Gopinatha and Gopijanavallabha in His Original Form. He is the Original Source of the eternal pleasure, or anandapotency, in His Most Intimate Abode of the Highest Devotion and Destination. Shri Nandanandana is the fearless Killer of such demonic villifiers and destroyers of devotional service as Putana and Trinivarta; Keshi and Arishta. The son of Yashoda tore Baka to shreds and strangled the vile snake Agha from within his throat. And after killing the generals in Kamsa’s army such as Chanura and Mustika with the help of Baladeva, the Lord with His fists beat Kamsa to a bloody pulp as suitable retribution for the demon’s vile behavior towards Krishna’s devotees including Devaki and Vasudeva.
All demons who enter Vrindavana with foolish designs of infiltrating pure devotional service soon find that they must contend with the Lord of the Cows before Whose very name the great demons tremble and whither away. O Krishna, those who cross you in the form of atheists or disbelievers in Your glories are cast again and again into the wells of darkness called Andha Kupa and suffer for their sinful pretenses of so-called enjoyment. Yet anyone who in this lifetime has served Your cows, finds akamadhenu there in the form of a loving vehicle across the River Styx or Vaitarani.
Thus we pray to the cows first before we pray to the representatives of Lord Krishna, the brahmanas, as together we honor the cow by reciting …
namo brahmanya devaya go brahmana hitaya cha
jagat-hitaya krishnaya govindaya namo namah.
Let us now pray together to Lord Vishnu in His cow incarnation as told by Shri Narada to Yudhishthira inShrimad-Bhagavatam. For it was in the Divine Form of a Cow that You, O Vishnu, saved Shiva from embarrassment in his war with Maya Danava.
O, You Who are Supreme, Lord Shri Krishna, through Your pure devotee You alone have revealed the Highest Good to a world gone awash in the sinful hurricane of Kali-yuga!
Out of Your affection for the leader of the Vaishnavas Lord Shiva, you have armed Chandrashekhara with his weapons of success and his chariot of victory. You alone have empowered Gangadhara’s charioteer in his speedy ride to success. With Your arrows of truth and Your bow of righteousness, the grateful Shambhu has defeated the armies of Tripura, the Three Cities of Maya Danava. And the soft Moon of Kailasha has now emerged as the all-successful Shri Tripurari. Thus we learn that You alone are the Source of Victory to Your pure devotees, and even the greatest of demigods bow before You.
Seeing that the demons were becoming invincible by the rakshasa-magic of Mayasura, and to further the glories of Your pure devotee Mahadeva, You took the Form of a Divine Cow. In this way you assured Shiva the glory of his single-handed triumph over Maya Danava because in fact You alone are the glory of the glorious. Accompanied by Brahma, who took the form of a calf, You as a cow demonstrated pure goodness when you drank up the well of nectar. It was by bathing dead demons in this amrita-kupa that Maya Danava could bring slain asuras, victims of Shiva’s arsenal, back to a life of invincibility. Hence you saved Shiva from bewilderment to in Your form of a cow.
O Hari, through this act you have blessed not only Shambhu, but the entire world of devotees. Though Your form as a Kamadhenu is relatively unsung, it is Who alone Who are worshipped by kamadhenus of Vrindavana and Indravana alike. And in your Cow incarnation, You have revealed to the world the meaning of simple, pure and genuine goodness of the highest transcendence.
Such is the unspoken and silent extent of Your transcendental goodness in Your Divine Form as a Cow that few have awakened to this benediction of Your eternal mercy. And for the seeker looking for Your Lotus Feet, Your Highest Gift upon us will always be that of pure devotional service to Shri Guru and the disciplic succession by the grace of Shrila Prabhupada. Such is the highest nourishment, for whether You become Mother Cow or Mother Vedas, you are the mother and father of all.
The very hope and prayer of enlightenment—which may be defined as trying to understand even a spark of the great Sun of Your splendor—remains distant. But such secrets of Your Glories are found by those who bow before the cows that You herd in Your very Own Land of Vrindavana. In Your each and every Form, You alone are the Dispenser of Divine Selfless Love. Your love is seen whether in Your form of the Man-lion, or as the Divine Cow of Tripura or in Your form of the yuga-dharma of sankirtana—chanting of Your Holy Names.
And as we joyously join together to sing the mahamantra; we recall Your pure devotee Shrila Prabhupada whose thoughts, words and deeds are forever focused upon the lotus feet of his spiritual master ad infinitum. For as a cow serves selflessly, so has the servant of the servant, our Guru Maharaja, taught us by his example.
O Krishna, Your selflessness is profound. Even though You Yourself are the very Paramatma or Self of all selves, Your qualities of nourishing, tolerance, patience, compassion and humility remain unfathomable. But how would we have understood these things if You had not sent us our spiritual master Shrila Prabhupada to enlighten the world?
Oh Krishna, Jagadishvara, as you guided the chariot of Arjuna at Kurukshetra, so You are guiding all Your pure devotees back to Home back to Godhead. And in Your Form as the cow you are nourishing all of your followers.
All glories to You—for as we have often heard it said:
“O Men of purified intellect, drink deeply the milk of the message of Bhagavad-gita. The Upanishadsare likened unto a herd of cows while the milker of the Upanishads is Shri Gopala Krishna Homself. Partha is the calf and the milk is the eternal nectar of the Gita.”
Therefore, O Lord, all glories, all glories to Your pure devotee His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who has appeared as an empowered associate of Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Own sankirtana party. Mahaprabhu is the Form of Shri Krishna Who in the mood of Shri Radha, ahs made a very rare Appearance to inaugurate the Golden Age. Shrila Prabhupada, whose every action was performed in fulfilling the order of his own Guru Maharaja, is Lord Chaitanya’s own representative through the potency of the great Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya.
As He danced across the world, Mahaprabhu’s eyes were ever fixated on Shri Krishna. Shrila Prabhupada, though penniless, marched triumphantly across the word in the footsteps of Mahaprabhu. He traveled alone into uncharted regions, armed with only the sacred words of the Bhagavata and theGita. Yet he has conquered the Earth through this miraculous act. He has torn wide open the secret of secrets to all successes. That very secret was taught to Arjuna by Vasudeva Himself and to Pralada by Lord Narsimha and Tripurari by the Cow incarnation.
This same eternal message is available through the books of Shrila Prabhupada … that secret is now available to everybody. And it begins with the transcendental and all-nourishing sound vibration …
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
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