Krishna Nārayana

Akrūra continued,

“Unable to realize Your true form, the spiritually ignorant take on celestial, human, bird and animal bodies and identify with them. Unable to grasp Your true essence, they take on multitudes of bodies and associate with them”.

Enveloped by spiritual ignorance, these conditioned souls are unable to grasp Your real form. As such they take on different bodies and associate with them. When spiritual ignorance is washed out, they will realize their Self and will merge into Him. Spiritual ignorance or tamas is deeply rooted in the living entities which causes them to consider the Lord as separate from them.

“Caught in this repeated cycle of re-births (samsāra) which is a flow of the three attributes of Nature (triguṇas), the living entities get carried away. During meditation, your worshippers perceive fire to be Your mouth, earth to be Your feet, Sun as Your eyes, space as Your navel, the directions as Your ears, Dwiloka as Your head, the four Guardian-deities as Your four hands, the oceans as Your abdomen and the wind as Your breath. To You O Supreme Lord, the trees and plants are the hair on Your body”.

This description reminds us of the bhajan Devi Viradroopa- in which Mother Goddess has been praised similarly. Occasionally listen/ sing that bhajan. After all, Mother Goddess and Krishna have a non-dual existence.

“The clouds are the hair on your head. The mountains are the bones and nails. Night and day are the blinking of Your eyelids. Lord Brahma and Daksha Prajāpati are Your organ of reproduction. Mahatmas declare that the rain is Your semen.

O Lord who is complete in all aspects! You are predominantly the mind. These innumerable universes comprising of the Guardian-deities and hordes of living entities is conceived within You alone”.

The innumerable universes comprising of Guardian-deities and hordes of living entities illumine in the mind of the Lord.

“Akin to the aquatic creatures that swim in the oceans and akin to the swarm of insects that reside within the fig fruit (aumdumbara), these innumerable universes exist within You. Nevertheless, O Lord, Your form remains changeless.

Freed from sufferings due to the transcendental sports displayed during Your fish and many other incarnations, the living entities eternally sing Your glories. Innumerable forms taken by You, O Lord, is for the destruction of the demons and for the protection of the virtuous.

Namaḥ kāraṇa-matsyāya pralayābdhi-carāya ca

Hayaśīrṣṇe namas tubhyaḿ madhu-kaiṭabha-mṛtyave

To You, O Lord, who incarnated as a fish for the protection of the Vedas and who swam in the fiery, turbulent oceans of dissolution, I offer obeisance”.

Observe the creation. Our earth is surrounded by water on all sides, yet the Lord ensures that it does not sink and dissolve into the waters. Given that water is ¾ and land is 1/4, land should have sunk completely. During the turbulent waters of dissolution, He swam in the form of a fish. At that time the earth did not exist here. Later on, He took another incarnation and brought it from the deep seas.

Observe the space. There are no pillars which support any planets. It supports innumerable planets. The beginning and ending of such space is unknown and unfathomable. Earth is a tiny atomic size ball in this vast space. Within this small atom sized earth that accommodates innumerable entities, do we know of all the kings who have fought battles seeking to own it? Do we have any idea of the blood that has flown for this earth and of the many who have been killed? In this earth, people have cheated, lied and killed others many a time for material gains. Do we know how many germs and insects we have killed? Do we know of the many animals we have sacrificed? All this takes place within this atom-sized earth. When this earth will dissolve in water we cannot predict. One small tsunami caused unimaginable havoc. What are we in front of its might? Yet we behave as if we are indestructible.

“O Lord, who assumed the form of Hayagriva and destroyed demons Madhu and Kaitaba, I offer obeisance.

Akūpārāya bṛhate namo mandara-dhāriṇe

kṣity-uddhāra-vihārāya namaḥ śūkara-mūrtaye

I offer obeisance to You O Lord, who incarnating as a tortoise held the Mount Mandara on Your back and who incarnating as a boar playfully lifted up the Earth and restored it to its position.

Namas te ‘dbhuta-siḿhāya sādhu-loka-bhayāpaha

vāmanāya namas tubhyaḿ krānta-tribhuvanāya ca

O Lord who dispels the fear of the virtuous! Your form of a half lion- half man is strange (Nārasimha) and astonishing”.

The Lord incarnated in strange ways, in strange forms and in strange situations for the upliftment of the virtuous and in order to bring back on track the demons who had, deviating from the path of purity, slipped into demonic, ignorant ways. For accomplishing this purpose, He underwent unexplainable pain.

“Incarnating as a dwarf, You measured the three worlds with Your three feet”.

It is a form that leaves everyone wonderstruck. The small dwarf measured the entire cosmos in three steps. The third step He placed on Bali’s head. The first one covered the entire creation. How could it be possible? Even to this day, it is said that His feet is still travelling in space, making it evident that the space is boundless.

Hare Srikrishna