GITA 1.15

GITA 1.15

lokaachaaryaaya gurave kRshNapaadasya sUnave 

samsaara bhogasandashTa jIvajIvaatave namaH |

This sloka is in praise of Sri Pillai Lokacharya. Today we are going to see Gita from the sannidhi of Sri Pillai Lokacharya in Srirangam.

We are seeing the happenings in Kurukshetra battlefield. About 700 years back there was an invasion by army, on Srirangam. In the year 1323 A.D. Muslims from North invaded Srirangam. Therefore, the Idols of Sri Namperumal  and Sri Ranganachiyar (Thayar) were threatened. Sri Pillai Lokacharta was living at that time. He was the son of Sri Vadakku Tiruveedhipillai, who was the disciple of Acharya Nampillai. Sri Pillai Lokacharya was born in 1205 A.D. So, when he was in his ripe old age the invasion took place. The looters entered Srirangam. Many people had to sacrifice their lives to save Srirangam. History records that about 12,000 people died. The idols of Sri Namperumal and Sri Ranganachiyar were carried in a closed palanquin, by Pillai Lokacharya, who proceeded South, secretly. Placing the idols in a cave in Jyotishkudi (presently Kodikulam) at the foothills of present day Aanaimalai near Tirumaliruncholai (Azhagar Koil), Sri Pillai Lokacharya lived there itself, guarding the idols. After sometime, he passed away there itself. Thereafter, Sri Namperumal travelled many places including Tirumalai (Tirupati) and then reached Srirangam in the year 1371. Like Sri Rama went on exile, Sri Namperumal also left Srirangam and returned after 48 years. It was because of the great service of this Acharya, today we are able to worship and enjoy, in great numbers. Therefore, all of us owe a lot to Sri Pillai Lokacharya. 

Now we will see the battle in Kurukshetra. 

Sloka 16:

anantavijayam raja

kunti-putro yudhisthirah

nakulah sahadevas ca

sughosa-manipuspakau

King Yudhisthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conchshell, the Ananta-vijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosa and Manipuspaka. 

Then the blowing of conchs by others is mentioned. Anantavijayam is the name of the conch of Yudhishtra. Raja = king, yudhisthiram = staying firmly in battle, kunti-putrah = son of Kunti. Here Yudhishtra is described with three attributes - King, son of Kunti and person standing firmly in battle. Though he had lost the kingdom (in gamble), he is considered King as he always stood by righteousness or dharma. Kunti was blessed by Yama and thus Yudhishtra was born. Since Sri Krishna was on Yudhishtra's side, victory was evident and so would become King soon. Knowing this only, Sanjaya mentions to Dridarashtra about Yudhishtra as King. 

Vasudeva was the father of Sri Krishna. He had a lot of sisters. Kunti was one of the sisters. The neighbouring kingdom was Kunti kingdom. That King did not have any child for a longtime. Vasudeva and the King were very close friends. The King requested Vasudeva's father to give in adoption on of his daughters. Agreeing Vasudeva gave in adoption his daughter Pritha. After adoption, she was known as Kunti Devi. That is why we see many times Arjuna is addressed by Sri Krishna as Partha, that is son of Pritha. Kuntis son is called Kaunteya. Since Sri Krishna drove Partha's chariot, He is Parthasarathy! He was also called Vijayasarathy. Yudhishtra was the eldest son of Kunti. Once she requested Sri Krishna, to bless them with problems, always. Sri Krishna was surprised at the request of His aunt! (Arjuna, His aunt's son was very intimate with Him. On the other hand, Sisupala, son of another aunt of Sri Krishna, was sworn enemy of Sri Krishna! So mere relationship will not do good. It is the mind.) When Sri Krishna asks her why she made that type of request, Kunti replied that only in distress, they remembered Sri Krishna! This is our case also. If we are happy, we tend to think all achievements are because of our efforts only. But when we are in problems, we blame the God for our failures. This is totally wrong! Either we accept success and failure as result of our actions or, attribute both to Him. That is why Kunti prayed that lest they forgot Him, they should frequently face problems. She was very righteous and sincere. She lived as an example to all women. 

Yudhishtra is yudhi (in battles) + thishtati (steadfast). When and where he had fought battles? We have heard of Arjuna and Bheema as strong fighters. But when a fight started it was Arjuna who became despondent and that is how Gita came up! But Yudhishtra never backtracked, once battle started. Such was his bravery. Pandavas, obeying the conditions, went to forest for 12 years and thereafter to remain incognito for one year. But just after 13 months after their exile started, Bheema came to Yudhishtra and said they should return to Hastinapur. Yudhishtra asked why he wanted to return so early. Bheema replied that as per one logic, one year could be represented by one month and so using that logic they could return to the Kingdom. Bheema made this proposal, because in forest he could not get enough food and had to starve! Yudhishtra never agreed and was firm that they should complete 13 years as per the agreement. He said they could then rightfully claim for the Kingdom and if the Kauravas denied, even if all his brothers did not come, Yudhishtra would lead a battle and fight to get back the kingdom. This shows how steadfast he was in battles. He was not for mere words but for real action. He was also very righteous. At the end, after the war was over and after Pandavas ruled the Kingdom, Pandavas left for the Heavens. It was an arduous climb uphill, beyond Badarikashram (Badrinath). On the way, one by one, Draupati, Sahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna and Bheema fell away. But a dog was following Yudhishtra right from the beginning. When finally, Yudhishtra was about to pass on to Heavens, the dog made a request to Yudhishtra. The dog was suffering from infection by many worms and so it wanted Yudhishtra to remove the worms before he left for the Heavens. When he tried to take away the worms, the worms pleaded to Yudhishtra that they were living on the blood of the dog and they would starve to death if separated, The righteous Yudhishtra after weighing all requests decided to take the worms on his body. This way, he helped the dog from its agony and worms from starvation. Later Indra, who was in the form of worms and Yama, in the form of dog, appeared before Yudhishtra and appreciated his righteousness. 

Nakula blew his conch Sughosha and Sahadeva blew his conch Manipushpakam.

After Sri Krishna and all the Pandavas blew their respective conchs, we will see what others did. 

                                                                            (continued)