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.





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. 





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 through 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)





(c) Shashikant Joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।

11 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. Yes, they were Shisupala and Dantavakra.

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  7. what guru does is to kindle the path for salvation and he stands as a lamp post to show the path sadyomarga. kRishN does't descend to make himself guru. But he spoke at length what are the props pros and cons of a situation where life takes the human form and the human form comes out of rich aggregation of puNya or the karma phala of previous births.He teaches what is rational aspect of human beings eternal journey. He teaches the shad vargas and the impediments which the body gets from them. Further heteaches to keep them in the even keel of as the five horsses of sensescalled desires fired by jnaanendrias always tend to distract the cool and contemplative inner senses of mind
    jaya and vijaya are none else the right and left wings of any life that rolls with bipolarity of life as male and female.Later the elaboration went to the extent of finding the life emancipation from the pots hay the furrows and alas from the hives and bushes. the mythological exposition of human intellect always eager to theorize an iota of truth to the full fledged story keeping some thing like a basic truth or premise as small as skeleton diagram of a simple life that we can perceive
    but those who all contribute to undo an unknown truth as yet are certainly gurus. No exception to Marcony or EINSTEIN SANKARABHAGAVAD PADA OR SRILAPRABHU.SOOPHEE SAINTS OR GOOD CHRISTIANS

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

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  9. Shishupal and dhantavakra were the last incarnation of jaya and vijaya in dwaparayuga. Kansa was kalnemi in previous birth who was killed by lord vishnu

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