Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The guide of the universe - कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुम्





वसुदेव-सुतं देवं कंस-चाणूर-मर्दनम् |
देवकी-परमानन्दं कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुम् ||

vasudeva-sutam devam kaMsa-chANUra-mardanam |
devakI-paramAnandam kRiShNam vande jagad-gurum ||

to the son-of-vasudeva, to the god, to the killer-of-kaMsa and chANUra |
to the utter-bliss-of-devakI, to kRiShNa, praise, to the universal-guru ||


kRiShNa janmAShTamI कृष्ण जन्माष्टमी is coming soon, the eighth night after the full moon of shrAvaNa श्रावण month, that is this 21-22 August 2011 (night of 21st).We will visit some of the most popular shloka-s about kRiShNa.

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And now the language aspects -


वसुदेव-सुतं = vasudeva-sutam = to the son of vasudeva
vasudeva वसुदेव was kRiShNa's father, and hence kRiShNa is also called vAsudeva वासुदेव . Note the first 'a' becoming 'aa' or 'A' a long vowel. See the earlier post (Salutations to Krishna - गोविन्दाय नमो नमः) for details on this.

देवं = devam = to the god, divine
this words comes from divya, which means brilliant, splendid, luminous.

कंस-चाणूर-मर्दनम् = kaMsa-chANUra-mardanam = to the killer of kaMsa and chANUra
kaMsa कंस was kRiShNa's mother's brother and for his fate, he believed a prophecy that his sister's eigthth son will be his death. purANa पुराण also tells us that kaMsa कंस and shishupAla शिशुपाल were the third and last incarnation of viShNu's gatekeepers, jaya जय and vijaya विजय . And they were cursed by RiShi-s ऋषि to go down to the mortal world, due to their rudeness to the RiShi-s. The only way for them to come quickly back was for them to be the greatest evil-doers so that viShNu himself will have to come down and kill them to liberate the earth of atrocities.




The other incarnations were the brothers hiraNyAkSha हिरण्याक्ष  and hiraNyakashipu हिरण्यकशिपु (causing the varAha वराह (wild boar) and nRisiMha नृसिंह (man-lion) incarnations of viShNu) and of rAvaNa रावण and kumbhakaraNa कुम्भकरण (causing viShnu to come as rAma राम ).


देवकी-परमानन्दं = devakI-paramAnandam = to the [bringer of] supreme bliss of devakI
devakI was kRiShNa's mother.
parama = ultimate, supreme
Ananda = bliss, joy.

कृष्णं = kRiShNam = to kRiShNa
kRiShNa means dark as well as attractor (from kRiSh to attract, to pull, as a plough pulls theough the earth, tearing it, so does kRiShNa pulls you towards him, tearing all bondages.)

वन्दे = [one] salutes
i.e. salute, priase the kRiShNa

जगद्गुरुम् = jagadgurum = to the guru of the world
jagat जगत् = universe, the manifest world
guru गुरु = teacher, guide, mentor, remover of ignorance

due to sandhi rules, the trailing 't' of jagat changes, as in
jagat जगत् + nAtha नाथ = jagannAtha जगन्नाथ (protector of the world)
jagat जगत् + Isha ईश = jagadIsha जगदीश (lord of the world)



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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
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7 comments:

  1. A wonderful question asked on Facebook by a reader. am including here for sake of all those who are not on Facebook but reading the blog:

    Q: I appreciate the deep thinking behind this inspirational thought.

    I do have a question as to the nature of the universe's guide:
    Is it the proof because the words can be expressed in Sanskrit, the Perfect language?
    or...
    Does chanting the Sanskrit words in the link - with deep pathos - open the door to the Universe?

    A:
    very deep question.
    are you asking that whether the proof of kRiShNa being jagadguru is that it is said in the sanskrit language? if that is the question, the answer is a definite no.

    all devotion is a matter of faith, no matter which religion or cult or sect. one gets from the teacher, doctor, mantra, wife, minister, medicine, god according to one's faith in them.

    ["you" is used in general sense in the below discussion]

    to the second question, does chanting this with deep pathos open door to the universe? so, here you have already brought the deep pathos, which is feeling for it, which means you know something about it, which means you have heard about the stories and message of kRiShNa. when THAT happens, the faith will come, even your mind and intellect will not be able to deny.

    it is the message that kRiShNa gives through the unique bhagawadgItA, a summary of all the philosophy and spirituality gone before his time, that makes those who have heard the message call him jagadguru.

    one can argue that it was vyAsa who said all this through his character kRiShNa, but then we are missing the whole point. when we watch spiderman, and he says "with great power comes great responsibility" who says it actually? the character spiderman, the actor, or the screenplay writer? what do you remember in the end? that spiderman said it. do you even know who was the screenplay writer for the movie?

    so, in the end the message is important. but for bhakti, the persona is also important. do we analyze whether jesus really walked on water? it is not a matter of analysis. it is an indication of the powers beyond natural. that is why, all gods are depicted with four hands, to show their superhumanness. and durgA with 16 hands!

    the message given by kRiShNa is a good guide for ANYONE in the world, anyone can benefit from it, if one understands it properly.

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  2. || શ્રી કૃષ્ણ શરણં મમ ||

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  3. || શ્રી કૃષ્ણ શરણં મમ ||

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  4. શ્રી…… ના ઉચ્ચારથી સૌભાગ્ય્ની પ્રાપ્તિ થાય છે.
    કૃ……….ના ઉચ્ચારથી સર્વ અપરાધનો [પાપનો] નાશ થાય છે.
    ષ્ણ……..ના ઉચ્ચારથી ત્રિવિધ તાપનો નાશ થાય છે.
    શ………ના ઉચ્ચારથી જન્મનું દહન થાય છે- જન્મને બાળી નાખે છે.
    ર……….ના ઉચ્ચારથી જ્ઞાન પ્રાપ્ત થાય છે.
    ણં………ના ઉચ્ચારથી પ્રભુમાં હંમેશા દૃઢ ભક્તિ થાય છે.
    મ………ના ઉચ્ચારથી શ્રી કૃષ્ણ રત્નનો ઉપદેશ કરનાર ગુરૂદેવમાં પ્રેમ થાય છે.
    મ……….ના ઉચ્ચારથી પ્રભુની સાથે મળી જવાથી અન્ય યોનિમાં જવાનું બંધ થાય છે. અર્થાત જન્મ-મરણ છૂટે છે.

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  5. --purANa पुराण also tells us that kaMsa कंस and shishupAla शिशुपाल were the third and last incarnation of viShNu's gatekeepers, jaya जय and vijaya विजय . --

    It was not Kamsa but Dantavakra who was the actual incarnation of Jaya. Remember in their previous births viz Hiranyaksha-Hiranyakashipu, Kumbhakarna-Ravana, Jaya-Vijaya were brothers. Similarly in the 3rd birth, again they were brothers (specially cousins in case).

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  6. I am immensely thankful having the said slok in full after several search.

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