Devotion binds the Almighty

CHENNAI, NOV. 24. It is through His incarnations and images that the Supreme Being becomes accessible to human beings. They are able to comprehend His nature and qualities in these forms as His transcendental form is beyond the reach of the human senses and intellect. The manifestations in which He assumed the human form especially (Rama and Krishna) are very important from the standpoint of humanity as the epics and the Puranas which describe His advents and teachings continue to instill hope in the hearts of those striving for liberation.

During His advent as Krishna the Lord's divine nature was apparent right from the moment of His birth. Extolling Him after beholding His supernatural form which He granted to His parents as soon as He was born, Devaki's maternal concern blinded her immediately and she beseeched Him, ``Pray do not reveal to the ignorant this divine form, the object of meditation for the seekers of liberation. Let not that wicked one know of Your birth through me. I am terribly afraid, for Your sake, of Kamsa and feel much agitated at heart. Withdraw this four-armed transcendent form...''

It was not only Devaki who received the Lord's benevolent grace as she was fortunate to beget Him as her son, but also His foster mother, Yashoda, who had the singular fortune of lavishing her motherly love on Him and enjoying His innumerable pranks and divine deeds which an ordinary human child could not have done. Krishna's acts like sucking the life out of the ogress Putana when He was only an infant bespeak of the nature and purpose of this incarnation, but the simple folks of the cowherd community did not suspect His divinity because of His power of Maya.

This episode is described in different scriptural texts. While the Bhagavata Purana describes this Lila (divine deed) in a matter of fact fashion, the Harivamsa goes a step further stating that the Lord pre-empted her design to kill Him by finishing her off and also granted her salvation. Vedanta Desika in his Yadavabhyudaya says that the Lord even granted liberation to all those who recapitulate this divine deed by remembering or listening to its exposition, said Kalyanapuram Sri R. Aravamudan in his Harikatha.

Another deed which is of perennial inspiration to devotees is the episode from which He came to be called Damodara when Krishna allowed Yashoda to bind Him with a rope out of compassion seeing her getting exhausted in her efforts to punish Him for a prank. This proves that the Lord is beyond the reach of only the worldly but He can be bound with the chord of devotion by His devotees.

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