GITA 4.10

GITA 4.10

lakshmyA saha hrishikEsah dEvyA kAruNya rUpayA

rakshaka sarva sidDHAnte vEdAntEpi jIyatE

According to this sloka, the Lord along with Sri Maha Lakshmi Thayar, always and everywhere protects the devotees. 

We are at the sannidhi of Sri Ninra Narayanan, who is in the garbha graha in many colors. We also saw that in Srivilliputhur also, the Lord appears in many colours. It is said that the Lord appears in different colors in different yugs. White in Kritha yug, red in Thretha yug, tender leaf green in Dwapara yug and black  in Kali yug. The Lord stands along with five Consorts, Sri Sridevi, Sri Bhudevi, Sri Niladevi and Sri Jambavati. She was the daughter of Jambavan of Ramayana fame. While fighting with Sri Krishna, Jambavan realised that Sri Krishna was none other than his Hero Sri Rama and he offered his daughter for marriage with Sri Krishna. It was earlier mentioned that the Lord came to stay here for the marriage of His grandson [son of Pradyumna] Anirudha with Ushai, daughter of Banasura. Anirudha once appeared in the dream of Ushai and with the help of her friend Chitralekha, Ushai recognised him as the prince of Dwaraka, and Chitralekha abducted Anirudha and brought him to Ushai. They fell in love and lived in her palace. Not agreeing to this, her father Banasura imprisoned both of them. Sri Krishna realising the situation of His grandson, invaded Banasura, who had 1000 hands. Defeating all Banasura's supporters and chopping off 998 limbs, got Anirudha and Ushai released and celebrated their marriage here. 

We may be wondering at the feats of the Lord and this is what is told in the next 9th sloka. In the last four slokas, Sri Krishna replied that His avatar was real and not an imaginary or illusion, that He took His avatar with His greatness undiminished, that in every avatar He took a body made of suddha satvam, appropriate to His greatness, and it was a sacred one unlike other's bodies made of the five elements, that He took birth at His will and not by karma, that His birth was, whenever Dharma was in peril and evil was on the rise, and finally that the purpose of His birth was to protect the good, destroy the evil and establish Dharma. This is avatara rahasya or secret of His birth, and a person realising this truly, reaches the feet of the Lord and he has no rebirth. Now the ninth sloka:

janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so ’rjuna

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."

Me = My [Sri Krishna's], divya = glorified, much different from the nature of this world, janma = birth, karma = [My] actions, far different from the actions of various persons in the world. He says that both His birth and actions as He grew, are all glorious and can not be equated with the normal ones we see everyday in this world. Evam = one who, vetti = understands, tatvata = the real significance or purpose. When He was born as a cowherd, we should not treat Him as a cowherd we come across, but understand His greatness and realise that He has come to redeem us. When we see His actions like stealing butter or flirting with the women folk, we have to understand the greatness in Him and not equate them with our actions in this world. Sa = that great person [who understands the real significance], tyakta deham = casts away his body, punar janma = again a birth [rebirth ], naity = never takes, mam eti = and reaches Me [Sri Krishna]. That is a person, who understands the avatara rahasya that His birth and actions are real, that they can not be compared with our births and actions, that all such births and actions are for the good of all and that they [ the Lord's births and actions ] have no blemish, would have understood the significance of the avatar of the Lord. Such a person attains Moksham in that birth itself. This is a great boon to us and can be noted as His anugraha or blessings. We have passed many births and we seem to be not knowing when we will be relieved of this arduous cycle, and now the Lord declares that if in the process of our devotion we understand His avatara secret, then we will be relieved of this birth cycle in this birth itself, and after death we will reach the Lord's feet and attain Moksham.

                                                                                             (continued)