Sri
Gauranga
Ashram

Om Vishnupad 108 Tridandi Swami Sri Srimat Bhakti Sravan Tirtha Goswami Maharaj ki Jai !!

Why Krishna Appears

The Bhagavatam says that hearing the transcendental lila-katha, narrations of the pastimes of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, are all auspicious. If one hears with faith and devotion, gradually the material contamination in our heart will be purified. For this reason Bhagavan Sri Krishna descends here.

Krishna's eternal abode in the spiritual sky is known as sac-cid-anandamaya-dhama, a dhama that is sanmaya, chinmaya, anandamaya - full of eternality, full of knowledge and full of bliss. He is always there engaged, completely absorbed in transcendental lila, especially rasa-lila.

Why should he come to this material world? It is not His abode. It is the antithesis of His transcendental sac-cid-anandamaya-dhama. This material world is asat, achit and nirananda-maya. It is temporary and full of ignorance and misery.

Why should Krishna come here? What business does He have to conduct here? He comes because he is suhrdam sarva bhutanam, the only true well-wishing friend of all living entities.

From the beginning of eternal time, we the jivatmas (individual souls) have been under the spell of maya but Krishna has not forgotten us. He is our well-wishing friend. He always runs behind us. He never deserts us. He is there in our heart as Paramatma. He also descends in many incarnations to this material world along with His dhama and his associates and He manifests transcendental pastimes.

One purpose for his coming is so that his lila-katha will be recorded in books. Then His dear devotees, the sadhu-vaisnava-mahajanas will come. They will preach, recite and speak these pastimes.

Krishna's pastimes should be heard, deliberated and meditated upon. Thereby we will get peace and bliss. Our heart will be cleansed and then we will be able to understand our constitutional position is as His eternal servant.
Krishna therefore descends here out of kridartha, for the purpose of enjoying playful pastimes with His dear devotees to relish his lila-rasa, the mellow of transcendental lila.

At the same time, He also gives his devotees an opportunity to relish these pastimes. Moreover, He also comes here for sadhu-samraksana, to protect His dear devotees. These are the purposes of Krishna's coming to this material world.

Sri Nanda Maharaja's Vow

Gopala-campu describes that in the assembly of Nanda Maharaja there were two poets named Snigdha Katha and Madhu Kantha who daily sings songs. One day they started singing the story of how Nandaraja got a son.

With the aim of having a child, Nanda Maharaj performed many sacrifices but still no child was born. The residents of Vrajabhumi, who were all his friends, followers and relatives also took up different vows and offered worship so that Nanda Maharaja could have a son. Still they were not blessed with any child.

Yashoda rani, the wife of Nanda Maharaja, became very distressed. She gave up eating and was always sitting, hanging her head down and shedding tears.

Seeing the condition of his wife, Nanda Baba became very sad and consoled her in various ways saying, "Whatever is the will of Providence, that will take place." Yasodamata said, "My dear husband, I will tell you what I have thought of in my heart. I have performed many sacrifices and have taken up many vows, but there is one vrata, the dvadasi-parama-vrata, which I have not yet observed."

Hearing this, Nanda Maharaja became very happy and said, "Yes, very good. We have not performed this vrata, so let’s do it."

Nanda Maharaja called his priest. The priest described everything to him about the procedures, rules and regulations to perform this dvadasi-vrata.

The Yogini's Visit

Nanda Maharaja and Yasomati-rani observed the vrata for one full year. At the end of the vrata Nanda Maharaja had a dream. Lord Hari appeared and being very pleased with him said, "Your desire will soon be fulfilled. In every kalpa I come as your son and in this kalpa also I will come as your son. I will manifest My babyhood lila in your home. Every day you will see My pastimes and you will be very happy."

Then Nanda Maharaja's dream broke and he woke up. It was morning and birds were chirping. He decided to take bath in the Yamuna along with Yasomati and he took much wealth with him to give in charity. All  the demigods, munis and rishis came in the guise of beggers to receive charity from Nanda Maharaja. Nanda Maharaja and Yasomati completed their bath and then started giving charity. Everyone become very pleased to receive charity from Nanda Maharaja. They all shouted, "Nanda Maharaja ki jaya!" and "Yasoda-rani ki jaya!"

Then Nanda Maharaja returned home and offered worship to Bhagavan Vishnu. After finishing his daily activities he came to his assembly and offered respect to worshipable personalities such as his gurus and the senior brahmanas.

Snigdha Kantha's narration continued: Just then the gatekeeper came and informed Nanda Maharaja that a brahmacarini sadhvi had come. Hearing this he stood up and welcomed her, offering her a nice seat. Nanda Maharaja washed her feet and worshiped her. Yasodamata began to cry. She cried at the feet of the brahmacarini-tapasvi. She took Yasodamata onto her lap and putting her hand on Yasoda's head, blessed her, saying, "My dear queen, very soon a nice son will come and take birth." Hearing this, all of the cowherd men and women said, "Nandarani ki jaya!"

When Nanda Maharaja's brother Upananda heard the news he became very joyful. The brahmacharini said, "This Gokul forest will be a great place of pilgrimage." Hearing the brahmacarini's prophecy, all of the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi became very joyful. They all came and offered dandavat-pranamas at the feet of that yogini, brahmacarini. They built a cottage for her and she stayed there.

Srimati Yasoda rani

Snigdha Katha said, "My dear brother Madhu Katha, now pray tell how Krishna came to the womb of Yasodamata." Madhu Katha then spoke about this confidential truth:

For one year Nanda and Yasoda observed dvadasi-vrata. Then on the night of the Krsna-pratipat, the first day of the dark fortnight of the month of Magha, Nanda Maharaja had a dream. He saw a baby child with blue complexion moving in the sky and then he saw a girl with a golden hued bodily complexion. The two of them entered into Nanda Maharaja's heart. Then they came out of the heart of Nanda Maharaja and entered into the womb of Yasodamata.

In this way, Yasodamata carried the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Hearing this news, all of the gopas and gopis became very blissful and happy. Everyday they had grand festivals because Yasodamata was now going to have a child.

Nanda Maharaja gave much charity to the brahmanas and Vaisnavas. Many persons were coming and going to Nanda Maharaja's house. Who all these persons were, no one could say. Among them were also demigods and goddesses.

After eight months of pregnancy an astrologer told them, "On the eighth day of the dark fortnight of this month of Bhadra the child will take birth on a most auspicious tithi.

When this bhadra-krsnastami, the eighth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhadra came, the nurse said, "It appears the child will be born today,"

Immediately a maternity room was prepared and decorated nicely. Flower garlands were hung all over. Gates were also made out of various flowers. Nurses came to take care of the mother and the child. In the heavenly planets all of the demigods became joyful. A gentle drizzle began. On that day everyone was immersed in an ocean of happiness, for the Supreme Lord was about to appear.

All the gopis stayed awake till late that night. But due to the influence of Krishna's yoga-maya they soon fell asleep. When the child took birth everyone was sleeping, even Yasodamata tired from prolonged labour, had fallen into an exhausted asleep. There was no pain in the delivery at all. Without any pain, Yasodamata gave birth to Krishna, the Supreme Personality. That child was putra-ratna, a son like an invaluable gem.

Mathura and Vrindavan

Exactly at the same time when Yasodamata gave birth to Krishna in Gokul, in Mathura, in the dungeon of Kamsa, Devaki also gave birth to a child. That is described in the tenth canto of the Bhagavatam.

Lord Hari appeared in Mathura in a four handed form. He had a crown on His head and with four hands He was holding a sankha, cakra, gada and padma - a conchshell, disk, club and lotus. Kanaka-kundala-karna, on His two ears there were golden earrings and bright effulgence was coming out of His body. Although it was dark and cloudy night, by the effulgence coming from the body of Lord Hari everything was illuminated.

Seeing this wonderful vision, Devaki and Vasudev paid obeisances with folded hands and offered prayers. Mentally Vasudeva took a purificatory bath. How could he take bath in the prison house? He did so by meditation within his mind, manasa-snana. Also in his mind he observed a grand festival for the birthday of Lord Hari and gave away innumerable cows in charity to the brahmanas and Vaisnavas. Like Devaki, he also offered prayers to Lord Narayana.

Then Narayana told him, "Immediately take Me to Vraja-Gokul to the house of Nanda and put Me on the lap of Yasodamata."

Hearing this, Vasudeva was very happy. By the wonderful will of Lord Hari, the watchmen who were guarding the prison all fell asleep. All the strong iron doors and chains fell open and Vasudeva found himself free.

Exactly at the same time when Vasudeva was leaving the prison of Kamsa, Yasodamata gave birth to a second child, a daughter.

When Vasudeva came to the bank of the Yamuna he saw there was a great flood. The water was very high and all of the land was inundated. He thought, "How can I cross?" Just then Vasudeva saw Mahamaya in the form of a she-jackal crossing the Yamuna. Understanding that the water there must be shallow, Vasudeva followed her.

Finally he came to the quarters of Nanda Maharaja. There he put his son on the lap of Yasodamata and took Yasoda's daughter with him.

Appeared in Two Places

Hearing this, Snigdha Katha said, "What is this? Yasodamata gave birth to a son and a daughter and Vasudeva took the daughter of Yasoda. What happened to the son? Madhu Katha said, "This is a very confidential matter. Yasodamata's daughter was saksat-yogamaya. By her potency Yogamaya kept the son of Nanda hidden and Vasudeva could not see Him. He only saw the daughter."

The son of Nanda and Yasoda is svayam Bhagavan, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nanda-nandana Krsna, Yasoda-nandana Krsna is svayam Bhagavan and all avataras are His plenary portions or portions of His plenary portions - amsa and kala.

From the womb of Devaki appeared the four-armed form of Vaasudev Vishnu, who is a prabhava-prakasa of Krishna. Krishna has two types of expansions, prabhava-prakasa and vaibhava-prakasa. In the temporary category of prabhava come the incarnations Mohini, Hamsa and Sukla. In the eternal category comes Dhanvantari, Rishabha, Vyasa, Dattatreya, Kapila, etc. The vaibhava-prakasa are partially powerful. In this category comes Kurma, Matsya, Nara Narayan Rishi, Varaha, Hayagriva, Prishnigarbha, Baladeva, Yajna, Vibhu, Satyasena, Hari, Vaikuntha, Ajita, Vaman, Sarvabhauma, Rishabha, Vishwaksena, Dharmasetu, Sudama, Yogeswar, Brihadbhanu, etc.

When svyam Bhagavan Krishna comes, all of His portions and portions of the portions, amsa and kala, all also appear within Him. The son of Vasudeva is Vaasudev, a four-armed form of the Lord.

Vaasudev is a plenary portion of Krishna. So when Vasudeva put his son on the lap of Yasoda, that Vaasudev merged into the child Krishna who was already lying there. Just as all the rivers merge into the ocean, similarly all the plenary portions and portions of the plenary portions of the Lord all enter into the original Lord. By the activity of yoga-maya, Vasudeva could not understand any of these things.

Just after that, Yasoda gave birth to a daughter, Mahamaya. Mahamaya is a portion of Yogamaya. Vasudeva took away this Mahamaya and handed her over to Kamsa, while Yogamaya stayed, hidden in Vrajabhumi. In this way it was declared that the eighth child was a daughter, not a son. Kamsa was cheated.

Mother Yasoda's Joy

Madhu Katha then said, "When Yasodamata gave birth to Krishna, all were asleep. Everyone slept through the whole night. Then in the morning Lord Hari started crying, "Kwaa! Kwaa! Kwaa!" Everyone woke up. Yasodamati also woke and saw her beautiful son.

Seeing her wonderful beautiful son, Mother Yasoda completely drowned in the ocean of blissfulness. She couldn't think what to do. She was shedding tears of bliss and love. From her breast, milk was flowing. The new-born child was there in her lap and Yasoda was very blissfully looking at Him.

Yasodamata's voice was faltering in joy. She could not speak anything and was simply shedding tears of love. Up until that day she had only looked at the children of others. Today she was looking at her own son. Tears poured from her eyes and milk flowed from her breasts - Ganga and Yamuna. Her whole sari became completely soaked. Again and again Yasodamata looked at the beautiful lotus-like, moon-like face of her son.

All the nurses, gopas and gopis awoke hearing the crying sound of the newborn child. Everyone came and said, "Oh, it is not a daughter, it is a son! Yasoda has given birth to a son!"

Everyone was very happy and blissful. It was as if all of Gokul, Vrajabhumi had immersed in an ocean of joy. All the gopas and gopis came running to Nanda Maharaja's quarters to see Yasoda's newly born son. The demigods were dancing in the heavenly planets, beating drums and singing, "Hari Hari! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!" The fourteen planetary systems resounded with the sound of "Haribol!"

In the heavenly planets the wives of the demigods, were showering flowers. Immediately Nanda Maharaja took bath according to Vedic rites. Then he performed the jata-karma-samskara - purificatory ceremony for childbirth. Brahmanas came and uttered svasti-vacana, prayers for auspiciousness.

Many musicians came playing varieties of musical instruments. The sound of drums, kettledrums and other musical instruments resounded throughout all of the three planetary systems.

The three planetary systems were completely filled with supreme happiness, maha-ananda. Prithivi-devi, Mother Earth had been very, very distressed and over-burdened by the asuras, demons. Now the demons were to be killed and Prithivi-devi would be relieved of her heavy burden. All of the sadhus, Vaisnavas and dvijas, brahmanas were happy.

Sri Nanda Maharaja's Good Fortune

When Nanda Maharaja came, all the gopas and gopis said, "Nanda come, come and see your beautiful son. “Taba grhe udaya haiyache kata sasi” - It is as if innumerable moons have risen in your house. O Nanda Maharaja, you have achieved perfection in this birth after a long time. Many long years have gone past. Come and see the beautiful lotus-like face of your son!"

Everyone was saying: "Oh Nanda, such excellent good fortune you have. Ah! Today there is an ocean of bliss in your house."

Seeing the beautiful lotus-like face of his son, Nanda Maharaja was overwhelmed with happiness. In all directions all the cowherd men and inhabitants of Gokul were also clapping their hands and blissfully dancing.

In the heavenly planets the demigods were dancing. In the nether world, Patala, the snakes were dancing. Lord Siva was dancing, Brahma was dancing and Indra was dancing. Everyone was dancing and full of bliss.

All of the cowherd men came bringing presentations of yogurt, tumeric and gorocana, a kind of auspicious yellow pigment. Nandarani, the wife of Nanda Maharaja has acquired all good fortune and auspiciousness for today she has obtained Nilamani the blue gem Krishna as her child.

In this way, the Original Supreme Absolute Truth Bhagawan Sri Krishna, whose darshan is extremely rare even to Sadashiva and Brahma, appeared in Gokul as the son of Yasoda and Nanda Baba.

Sri Krsna Janmastami maha-mahotsava ki jaya!
Bhagavan Krsna avirbhava tithi ki jaya!
Vrajendra-nandana Krsna avirbhava tithi ki jaya!
Sri Nanda-nandana Yasoda-nanandana Krsna ki jaya!

Jai Jai Sri Radhey !!

Jai Guru!!