Bhagavan contd...

Parashara Muni, the father of Veda Vyasa gave a detailed definition about God and His qualities. According to him, Bhagavan(God) is the supreme person who possesses all the six opulences to the fullest and to an unlimited extent. The six opulences are full beauty, full strength, full wealth, full fame, full knowledge and full renunciation. Last week we understood why Krishna is called as the most beautiful and most powerful person. Now we shall have a recap of them and look at the remaining four opulences.

1) Beauty:
Krishna captivated even Manmadhan(Cupid) by His beauty. Hence He is called as Madhan Mohan.

2) Strength:
Krishna lifted Govardhan hill with his left hand small finger and continuously held it for seven days together. Because of this pastime, He is called as Giridhar.

3) Wealth:
The Goddess of wealth and fortune, Sri Lakshmi always resides in the heart of Krishna. As Lakshmi Devi is with Krishna all the time, only Krishna possesses unlimited wealth.

4) Fame:
Krishna is the most famous person. Eventhough He appeared on earth 5000 years ago, He still continues to mesmerize millions of devotees all around the globe. Hence Krishna's fame is unlimited.

5) Knowledge:
Krishna is the source of all Vedas. In Bhagavad Gita, He says "I am the compiler of all Vedas. Indeed I am to be known through the vedas". Sage Vyasa who compiled vedas is the literary potency of Krishna. In other words, the personification of Krishna's knowledge is Veda Vyasa. The best example of Krishna's unlimited knowledge is Bhagavad Gita itself. There is no field of knowledge which is not covered in Gita. The contents of Gita is very much relevant to modern days and will continue to be relevant forever. As Bhagavad Gita is the divine dialogue of Krishna Himself, it was, is and will be relevant for all ages. Hence it takes more than a life time to fully understand It. Thus Bhagavad Gita alone stands as the biggest proof that Krishna is the most knowledgeable person.

6) Renunciation:
If someone possesses all the above five opulences, he will automatically become puffed up and would start to flaunt his possessions. But Krishna won't:) Even though Krishna possesses all the opulences in full and to an unlimited extent, He is completely detached from them. He is the perfect example of renunciation. Thus renunciation is His sixth opulence. One of Krishna's name is Rana Chod(meaning: a person who has fled from the battle field).
Once the demon king Jarasandh waged a war against Krishna's kingdom, Dwaraka. As a perfect king, Krishna fought bravely against Jarasandh's army to defend His kingdom. While doing so, He gets a message from princess Rukmini(who was yet to be married to Krishna) that Krishna has to go immediately to save her from getting married to Sisupala(another demon). In the letter to Krishna, Rukmini also states that if Krishna doesn't turn up on time She would give up Her life immediately as She wants to marry only Krishna. Krishna is always very merciful to His devotees. Hence He asked Balaram to continue the war and He left at once left the battle field to save His devotee Rukmini. Being the most knowledgeable person, Krishna knew very well that if He flees the battle field, Jarasandh and the whole world would mock at Him. Yet Krishna was completely detached to His fame. For Him devotees are the first priority. Hence He gladly accepted the name Rana Chod without any hesitance and He went on time to save Rukmini and later married her.

Thus Krishna possesses all the opulences and hence only He can be called as the Supreme Bhagavan.

Krishna is always merciful to His devotees. One of Krishna's name is Bhakta-vatsala. 'Bhakta' means devotees and 'vatsala' means one who is very much affectionate. Since Krishna is very much affectionate to His devotees, He is called as Bhaktavatsala.

Jai Sri Radha Shyamsundar!

Bhagavan

'Bhagavan' is a term we use very commonly these days to address any revered person. But actually a person has to be sufficiently qualified to be addressed as 'Bhagavan'. Only The Almighty can be called using the term.
'Bhaga' means opulences and 'van' means 'he who possesses'. Hence Bhagavan is he who possesses the six prime opulences to the fullest and to an infinite extent. The six opulences are beauty, strength, wealth, fame, knowledge and renunciation. Since Lord Krishna possesses all these opulences to the fullest, only He can be called as the supreme Bhagavan.
The following are the references given in Srimad Bhagavatam about each of Krishna's opulences.

1) Beauty: Krishna has got lot of names. One of his name is called Madhan Mohan(meaning: He who captivated Mamadhan or cupid). The job of Manmadhan is to strike flower arrows on men and women to bring an attraction between each other. He happened to learn about Krishna's beauty from other demigods. Fully puffed up with his power, he decided to bring Krishna under control. To conquer Krishna with his arrow of love, Madhan expanded himself into 10 crore different Madhans(with each carrying bow and arrow made of flowers) and surrounded Krishna. All the differents madhans took aim at the heart of Krishna and were ready to hit him.

As Krishna was meditating then, he had his eyes closed. Upon finishing his meditation, Krishna opened his eyes and looked at all the madhans around him. Krishna's eyes were soooo beautiful that all the madhans started to faint due to the ecstasy they felt upon seeing Krishna. Thus Krishna conquered 10 crore madhans by just glancing at Them:) Krishna is very beautiful and ever youthful. He is always at sweet 16 and His most beloved gopi Srimati Radharani is eternally at 14. When Krishna preached Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, He was 110 years old. Since He is always youthful(like a 16 yr old boy), He never looked like an old man. In other words he is beauty personified eternally. Thus only Krishna possesses the first opulence of beauty to the unlimited extent.

2) Strength: Krishna is very powerful and possesses strength to an infinite extent. When he was barely seven years old, he lifted the big Govardhan hill with his left hand small finger. Not only that, He kept on holding it for seven days and seven nights continuously.

Once Lord Indra became very proud that the whole world is under his control. Owing to his puffed up nature, he totally forgot that he is a subordinate of Sri Krishna who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Krishna in order to teach Indra a lesson, convinced the residents of Vrindavan(Vrajabhumi) that its only due to Govardhan hill that the land gets fertile and not due to Indra. Saying so he even stopped the people from performing a thanks giving puja for Indra and asked them to hold a festival for Govardhan. As his puja was stopped, Indra became very furious with the people of Vrajabhumi and hence flooded Vrindavan with heavy rains continuously. To teach Indra a lesson, Krishna lifted the Govardhan giri with his left hand and gave shelter to all the people and cows of Vrajamandal for the entire period. Thus everyone were saved. Indra slowly started to realize that an ordinary boy could defeat him with such an ease. He slowly regained his senses and realised that Krishna cannot be an ordinary boy. Hence he fell at the feet of Krishna and payed obeisances to Him. As Krishna is always kind hearted and merciful he readily forgave Indra for his misdeed.
As Krishna lifted Govardhan giri with his hand, He is called as Giridhara.

Thats it for this week. We'll continue with the remaining opulences next week. See you!

Jai Sri Radha Gopinath!