GITA 4.12

GITA 4.12

vande bRndAvanacaram vallavI janavallabham |

jayantisambhavam dhAma vaijayantI vibhUshaNam ||
This is the starting sloka of Swami Vedanta Desika's Gopala vimsathi. He salutes Sri Krishna who walked and ran in the earth of Brindavan. From today [28th September 2007], we will be fortunate to listen to the lectures from Mathura, Brindavan and Gokulam which are closely connected with the avatar of Sri Krishna. We are studying Gita, but it is only a step to reach the feet of Sri Krishna. Now we are at the place where His feet were felt. Today, we are at the river Yamuna. This river had the privilege of Sri Krishna bathing and playing in it. It is as sacred as Ganga. It mingles with Ganga at Triveni near Allahabad. It is said that a bath in this river will bless prosperity. The river is the daughter of the Sun and sister of Yama. Like Sri Krishna, Yamuna also is black. We are at the Bramhanda ghat where Sri Krishna opened His mouth to His mother to show that He had not stolen butter. At that time His mother Yasoda saw the entire Universe and fainted. He walked all over this place and it is our fortune, to adore our head with this place's mud. It is His blessing and a great coincidence  that as we are studying His avatara rahasya, we have come to the very same place where His avatar took place. Sri Krishna told that the person, who truly understands the significance of His birth and His actions, would get released from the cycle of births and reach Vaikuntam. Swami Koorathalwar says that he was not fortunate to have been born when Sri Krishna avatar happened, but he is fortunate at least to have the feel of that place. Now we see the 10th sloka:

vita-raga-bhaya-krodha
man-maya mam upasritah
bahavo jnana-tapasa
puta mad-bhavam agatah

Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me-and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

"Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me."




Jnana tapasa = meditating again and again, Gyana or knowledge, puta = cleansed [ their minds]. The knowledge Sri Krishna tells here is the knowledge about His avatara rahasya. Tapas means repeatedly meditating on a subject. All our japa, yagna, yagam, etc. are all for repeating a mantra or His name. By repeatedly thinking of His birth and actions, all dirt and blemish in our mind are washed away and mind becomes clean. Bahava = many persons [have practiced this tapas, like Vasishta,Vamadeva, Prahlada, etc.]. Vita = got removed, raga = desire, bhaya = fear, krodha = anger. Our desires for the materialistic things in this world, create undue fear and anger on the impediments in attaining those desires. All these will get removed if we meditate on the avatara rahasya. Man maya= remembering only Me [Sri Krishna, like Kuchela or Uddhava]. In this place the people always chant His name as Radheshyam or Hare Krishna. The entire mind is full of His name only. Mamupasrita = meditating only on Me [Sri Krishna], mad bhavam = like Me [Sri Krishna], agata = they become. That is though such persons do not become God, they get the eight Characters God has. So we have to understand the implication of His birth and actions, and repeatedly thinking on them will drive away our sins. The present people of this place are descendants of those who played with Sri Krishna. The trees and vegetation have links with those flourished during His avatar. By constantly remembering Him in each person and objects, we can get rid of the sins we have accumulated.

                                                                                           (continued)