Chapter 41
The Divine Students - the Omniscient as
Student
"Great
Master! I do not get satiated, however many stories I
hear about the boyhood sport of
Krishna! Really,
this lovely boy Krishna is the
Divine, who had
within Him everything that exists,
but, nevertheless,
He played about as if He was an
ordinary human
child! 0, what good fortune is
mine!
When I think of it,
I feel that it has accrued to me,
not as a result of
the merit earned in this life. Ah!
I am
spending these last days of mine in listening
to the
exploits of Him, who has the hooded Sesha
as His
couch! The curse of that sage has helped
to cleanse
me of the sin, through this means! I
offer
once again a
thousand prostrations to the sage's
ire, for
affording me this beneficent opportunity!
As the final moment
draws nearer, and nearer,
my yearning centres
in the joyful quaffing of the
sweet narrative of
Krishna's sport. It intoxicates
me; it makes me
'insane'. Give me, who is burning
with that desire,
the cool comforting drink, throughout the few hours that
are left of the allotted span
of my
life."
Parikshith, the King,
fell at the feet of Suka,
overwhelmed by the
burden of devotion in his heart,
and prayed for more
stories of the Boy Krishna. The
spring of
compassion in the sage, welled forth, at this prayer. He
asked, "O King! Which among the countless delightful
divine incidents do you desire to hear from me? Their
number is so large, that even if they are told
continuously for millennia, many will remain untold. No
one, however proficient, can compress the narration, into
a few hours."
At this, Parikshith
replied, "Master! I have heard that our dearly beloved
Krishna learnt many skills and subjects, with Balarama as
His companion, from a very fortunate preceptor
Saandeepini. Does this mean there was the need for an
unlearned person, to instruct Him who is the Master of
all branches of knowledge, the Master and Sovereign of
All? It must have been His Play. Only that great
Play-Director Gopala knows who has to be blessed and
saved, by which means and when. He should have enacted
this play, in order to liberate Saandeepini from the
shackles of birth and death, through the merit of
association with the Lord. Let me hear the incidents of
the play, centering round Saandeepini; I will be saved,
by listening to it." Suka said, O King! What you said is
the indisputable Truth. Yes, all is His play. For the
Drama which Krishna directs, the Universe is the stage
there are countless screens (curtains), stage
appurtenances, shelves and compartments, for enacting His
various plots, devised to save and to liberate. Since the
propitious destiny of Saandeepini had ripened, He gave
him that great chance and blessed him in that manner.
Listen! I shall relate to you that Divine
Drama.
"Balarama and Krishna,
the Divine Brothers, grew like the Sun towards the
zenith, and shone with increasing splendour. The parents,
Nanda and
Yasoda were
concerned about their future, since
they were
befogged by natural delusion; they
decided
that the children
must be taught the arts and sciences, the skills and
attainments appropriate to their
status and
condition. The family priest, Garga,
was called
in and in consultation with him, an
auspicious
day and hour were
fixed for the necessary rites.
They celebrated
with great pomp and ceremonial,
the rite of
initiation into Brahmic wisdom,
called Upa-nayana
or 'the rite of leading the pupil to
the preceptor'.
That day, numerous acts of charity
were done
and many valuable things given away, according to
Sastraic injunctions. The people of
Gokula
were rendered happy
by folk entertainments that
were provided for
them.
Then the parents
invited many Pundits and
conferred with them
and Garga to discover the preceptor who was most
proficient and desirable for the
education of the
children. The family priest Garga
thought for a while
and declared that it is best to
send the children
to the great Saandeepini, a pundit
from Avanthi,
living in Kasi the Holy City on
the sacred
Ganga.
Saandeepini, he said,
was a saintly person. The
parents could not
send their loved ones, to such a
distant place; but,
they were aware of the truth,
learning without a
preceptor is only blind learning;
so they agreed, and
themselves journeyed to
Kasi with Balarama
and Krishna; reaching the holy
place, they
entrusted the brothers to Saandeepini and made
arrangements for their stay with the famous preceptor.
They returned soon after, with a
heavy heart, to
Gokula.
From that day, Balarama
and Krishna studied
under Saandeepini,
offering him the tribute of fear
and reverence. O
King, thousands, tens of
thousands,
millions of
children there are, who study
under
teachers; but,
students who behave in a manner
that gives
satisfaction and joy to the teacher are
very rare,
not even one in a hundred! Satisfying
the teacher,
studying well what has been taught, avoiding the pursuit
of sensory pleasure and attaching
oneself only to the
pursuit of knowledge, ever in the
consciousness that
study is the task and study is the
duty, - that is how
a student should be. That is
what Balarama and
Krishna were.
They never, on any
single occasion, interrupted
the discourse of
the preceptor or interposed their
will against his.
They did not overstep his
will or direction,
in any instance. They never challenged his authority or
dared disobey his instructions. Though they were the
repositories of Supreme
authority over
Earth and Heaven, they gave their
preceptor the
respect and obedience, that was
due to
his eminence and position.
They were full of
earnestness and devotion; they
did not allow
anything to distract their lesson. Observing their
discipline and their enthusiasm to
learn,
Saandeepini felt
great joy surging up in his heart.
When he saw them,
he got an irrepressible yearning to train them in many
more branches of learning. He
made them masters
of the four Vedas, the Vedandas,
the science of
logic, grammar, jurisprudence, and economics, he taught
them all that he knew. King! what
can I say? How can
I describe them? The world may
have known of
geniuses who can master one
subject
in five years or in
one year or in a single month;
but, listen!
Balarama and Krishna were with
Saandeepini
for only sixty-four
days, and in that short time, they
mastered the sixty
four arts and sciences! That was
how they enacted
this drama of study; it was just a
sport for them. How
can we explain this amazing
make-believe, this
Divine histrionic Leela? Can ordinary mortals learn so
quick? Can they master so much
in so few
days?
While exulting over the
humility and loyalty of
the brothers, while
accepting their salutations and
homage so genuinely
offered, and while engaged in
delightful
conversation with them, Saandeepini
used to
shed tears, in spite of his persistent efforts to
curb the
grief that was surging within him. Balarama
and Krishna
observed this and long hesitated to
question
him, about the
reason. At last, one day, Krishna
stood
before the
preceptor with folded hands and addressed him, "0
greatest of teachers! While we are conversing with you,
we find that your eyes are
occasionally
filled with tears,
whenever you contemplate some incident. If you consider
it appropriate that we can be
told the reason for
this grief, please tell us."
When he heard this
prayer, the pent-up sorrow
in his heart gushed
forth; overcome by unbearable grief, he clasped Krishna
with both hands and wept
aloud in
uncontrollable anguish. Krishna knew
the whole
story; he pretended not to; he said,
"Guruji!
Tell us the reason
for this agony. We will try our
best with
all our strength and skill, alleviate it.
No mission
can be so holy and so important for us as
this -
to restore joy in the heart of the Guru. Inform
us without
entertaining any doubt. Do not consider us
as boys,
and hesitate." When Krishna
remonstrated
with him thus,
Saandeepini was much relieved. He
recovered himself,
and drew the brothers near, making them sit close to him
on his right and left.
He said, "Dear ones! It
is indeed my good fortune that I secured you. I already
derive from your
very words the joy
of realising my desire. My conscience is telling me that
you are no ordinary children.
I feel that it may
be possible for you to fulfil this
mission; that faith
is prompting me; sometimes, I am,
shaken by doubt. I
do not know what is in store for
me. Saying this, he
stopped and the tears flowed
again. At this,
Balarama fell at his feet again,
saying,
"Guruji! why do you
doubt us and refrain from trusting us? We are as your own
sons. To give you Ananda,
we are prepared to sacrifice our very
lives."
The earnestness of
the boys and the firmness of their
resolution caused a
sense of shame in the preceptor,
that he kept back
from them the reason for his sorrow "Children! I got a
son, after many years of married life. I brought him up
lovingly and with as much
care, as I guarded
my own life. One day, he went to
Prabhasa-kshetra,
on the sea, and while taking the
holy dip in the
waves, he was drowned. I was deriving great consolation
and even joy, looking at you two and watching your
humility and sense of discipline. I almost forgot the
loss. You have learnt all
that has to be
learnt, very quick. Now, even you
can not
stay with me any longer. Whom am I to
watch
and love, after
your departure?" The preceptor
burst
into inconsolable
sobs.
Krishna stood before
him, strong and straight.
He said, "0 best of
masters! We have to offer you
gratitude for
teaching us in an incomparable
manner
all the rare arts
and sciences. That is only our Dharma,
isn't it? We will proceed immediately and
fight
against the sea
that swallowed your precious Son,
and recover him. We
shall bring him back to you and
give you joy. Let
us dedicate this act as our Guru-Dakshina (ceremonial
presents made to the preceptor,
by the pupil).
Bless us, so that we can start on
this expedition.
Bless us, and give us leave to
start."
They fell at his
feet, rose and stood, expectant. Saandeepini was
confident that the Boys were not of ordinary mould; he
had faith that they would succeed.
He embraced them,
stroked their hair and blessed
them. The King said
"Master, 0, how fortunate are
my grandparents
that they could witness these!
Krishna was the
Divine which was acting the role
of a
human being, though he had immanent in Him,
all that
there is, was and will be."
"O King, receiving the
acceptance and blessing
of the Preceptor,
Balarama and Krishna hastened to
the sea and
standing majestically on the shore, commanded in a
compelling voice, 'Ocean! Give
back the
son of our Guru! Do this immediately or suffer the
punishment we intend to give you.'
The
ocean
shook in fear, as
soon as he heard these words. He
touched the Feet of
Balarama and Krishna, and said,
'Pardon! It is no
fault of mine! When the boy was
bathing, destiny
drew him into a vortex and brought
him into the
depths. Meantime, the ogre,
Panchajana,
who has been living
in the caverns there swallowed
him and had him in
his stomach. This is the truth
of what has
happened. I leave the rest to
you.'
(See
also Srîmad Bhâgavatam, Canto 10 - Chapter
45)
When the sea spoke
thus, Krishna nodded,
"Right! I have
heard your account," and plunged
into the
depths of the sea, to the cavern of that ogre.
He attacked
him in mortal combat, the ogre handed
over the
boy to the God of Death before he himself
died;
so, Krishna could
not recover him, when He tore
open the stomach.
While searching his intestines in
great anger to
discover whether the boy was any-
where there, a huge
Conch came into His hands.
Securing this,
Krishna emerged from the sea, and
went straight to
the City of Death. Standing at the
Entrance, Krishna
blew the Panchajana conch that
he had got from
Panchajana. The sound it produced
was as thunderbolt
to the ear.
Yama, the God of Death
rushed up to the gate,
in terror. He saw
Balarama and Krishna and queried,
politely, the
reason why they had come so far.
The Brothers
commanded him to bring the 'son of
the Guru'
and place him in their custody. "As you
order,"
replied Yama, with
folded hands; he directed his minions, and within
seconds, the consecrated son of
the preceptor
was placed in the Divine hands.
They brought
him, immediately, to the hermitage and placing him by the
side of Saandeepini, stood on one
side,
"This is our
Guru-Dakshina,
please accept this act
as such," appealed
Krishna.
The joy of the parents
was beyond words; they
were overcome with
the sudden gush of happiness.
No one who
contemplates such divine
achievements
- the bringing back
into life of the son,
who was in the arms
of Death and similar miracles -
can entertain the
belief that they are mortal and
not Divine.
What then are we to speak of
Saandeepini?
He knew; he
realised that they are the twins, Nara-
Narayana.
He was overwhelmed with
exhilaration, when
he reminded himself
that he had the fortune to have
such Divine beings
as his pupils and that he could
call himself their
Guru. He prostrated mentally before them; with tears
streaming down his cheeks, he
embraced them and
arranged for their leave-taking
from the
Asram.
Balarama and Krishna
rode on their chariot,
after taking leave
of the Guru and his wife and
reached the city of
Mathura. The inhabitants of that
City, on hearing
how the brothers demonstrated
their
gratitude to their
Guru, extolled them for their
Divine compassion
and capabilities. They felt
immensely happy,
that they had come back among
them.
O King, reflect for a
while how inspiring was the
example of Gopala
Krishna while he was
undergoing
his education and
how much his conduct and earnestness contributed to the
joy of the elders. Every act of
Krishna, however
tiny and unimportant on the surface, had a deep
significance and meaning. Fools
cannot discover it
so they treat these acts as insignificant. Is there in
this world any one who can affirm
that he can teach
the art of swimming to the fish?
Similarly, who can
teach and become the preceptor
of God? Though all
learning emanates from Him and
is to be earned
through His Grace, He plays the
role of
a pupil, as a representative of the ideal pupil,
in order
to show the world, by His own example,
the way
in which a Guru is to be chosen and served,
the quality
of humility that education must instil
and the
gratitude and respect that the pupil has to
offer
to the teacher. It
is with the intention of guiding
and prompting
the students of today that Krishna Himself went through
the educational process and lived
the ideal. Notice
how subtle is the mystery of God
and His Leelas!"
While Suka was repeating these
words, tears of joy
flowed down his cheeks in streams. (See also
Srîmad
Bhâgavatam, Canto
3, Chapter 2: Remembering Krishna)
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