GEETA DHYANAM - 5. Sri Madhusudana Saraswati.

 ========================================================================

========================================================================

Friday, June 24, 2022. 19:00

Meditation on the Bhagavad Geeta :  (9 Slokas)

========================================================================

Slokam-5. Salutations to the Avataram

"Vasudeva sutam devam, kamsa chanura mardanam;

devakI paramanandam, krishnam vande jagad gurum."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Translation :

1 Vasudeva sutam devam,             = To the divine son of Vasudeva;

2 kamsa chanura mardanam;         = To the destroyer of Kamsa and Chanura;

3 devakI paramanandam,              = To the supreme joy of Devaki;

4 krishnam vande jagad                = To Sri Krishna the teacher of the universe – I offer 

salutations!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commentary :

Here the Avatarahood of Krishna is highlighted. An Avatara is the descent of God for

the ascent of man.

1 & 3 The reference to Krishna’s father, Vasudev, and His mother, Devaki, draws our

attention to His birth in flesh and blood in a human body like all of us. This is what being an

Avatara entails. The Lord comes down on earth and takes a physical Form that has some

very gigantic purpose to fulfil. All the drama of taking birth, living through childhood,

growing up and taking one’s education etc, is to be understood in the words “joy of Devaki”

and “son of Vasudev”.

2 What was the purpose for which Krishna was born?

The destruction of the vile king Kamsa and his henchmen such as Chanura is one of

those reasons for coming down as an Avatara. In Sri Krishna’s own words: “Whenever there

is a decline in righteousness and an upsurge in unrighteousness, then I embody Myself.” (4.7)

The Lord continues: “For the protection of the virtuous, for extirpation of evil-doers,

and for establishing righteous rule on a firm footing, I manifest Myself from age to age.” (4.8)

4 The other major reason is, of course, this very book called the Geeta. It is the great

need of man to have a systematic presentation of this divine message to rekindle the spirit

of man. That is a huge task. It would seem that the Mahabharata war had this single

purpose in mind high up on the spiritual agenda of the war.

A whole verse is dedicated especially to this Great War which had such a huge

impact on the generations of humanity to come, to this very day….

****

Next - Slokam-6. The River of Battle

To be continued .....

========================================================================