Immortal Devotees of the Lord
The inextricable relationship between the devotees and the Lord, a relationship maintained by unassailable and unflinching faith on the one side and a continuous and loving care for the devotee on the other, was the central theme of the series of discourses given by Bhagavan during the ten-day Summer Course to students held in Brindavan from May 20th to May 30th, 1995. Bhagavan took up for each discourse one episode from the Bhagavatam to bring out illuminating lessons about the nature of devotion and significant role of the Divine in coming to the rescue of the devotee.
Produced here are stories narrated by Bhagavan from 21-5-1995 to 29-5-1995.
The Krishna Avatar
(From the first discourse on 21-5-1995)
There are four qualifications needed by anyone to understand the underlying significance of the Bhagavatam, which describes devotion as a bridge between the Divine and the devotees. They are:
- Flee from evil company.
- Seek the company of the pious.
- Indulge always in meritorious deeds.
- Discriminate between the eternal and the transient.
Shura, a king of the Yadava dynasty, had two sons, Ugrasena and Devaka. The former had a son, Kamsa, and the latter had only one daughter, Devaki. Kamsa had great affection for Devaki and considered her as his own sister and celebrated her marriage to Vasudeva with great enthusiasm. When he was driving the chariot of the newlywed couple to take them to the bridegroom’s place, an ethereal voice declared that the eighth child of Devaki would kill him. Kamsa, on hearing this voice, immediately unsheathed his sword and decided to kill Devaki on the spot to prevent the predicted catastrophe. At once Vasudeva gave Kamsa his assurance, that he would hand over all Devaki’s newborn babies to Kamsa and appealed to him to spare Devaki. Kamsa relented and allowed them to go. The pious Vasudeva kept his word and handed over each child as it was born to Kamsa. On learning from Narada that the threat to his life might come from any one of Devaki’s children, Kamsa killed six of them.
The Magadha Emperor, Jarasand, gave his daughters in marriage to Kamsa. [The latter] harbored increasing hatred against the Yadavas, from whom he apprehended the threat to his life, and also because, according to Narada’s words to Kamsa, the gods were to incarnate as Yadavas with the advent of Krishna.
God made His master plan to punish the wicked and help the pious and pure devotees. Vasudeva’s other wife, Rohini, was staying at Nanda’s house away from Kamsa’s tyranny. The Lord by His maya shakti (deluding power) transferred Devaki’s seventh child to Rohini’s womb. He was Balarama (who was always with Krishna after he grew up). He was also called Sankarshana (transferred from one womb to another).
The Lord incarnated as Krishna, the eighth child of Devaki, and both Devaki and Vasudeva had a vision of the effulgent form of the Lord, who directed Vasudeva to take the newborn child to Repalle (Gokulam), a village on the other bank of the Yamuna. According to the Divine plan all the warders were fast asleep, and the doors and gates of the prison in which Kamsa has confined Vasudeva and Devaki opened of their own accord. The river in flood gave way, while Adisesha protected the child from the torrential rains as he was being carried in a basket by Vasudeva. No power can stand against the Divine Will. The child was exchanged with the girl child that born to Yashoda, without anyone knowing about it, due to Yogamaya [Hindu Goddess personifying Divine illusory power].
The child brought by Vasudeva to his cell started to cry and immediately the warders woke up and informed Kamsa, who rushed to the prison. He seized the baby and lifted it to kill, but the baby escaped from his clutches, went up in the air, and announced that the slayer of Kamsa had taken birth and was alive somewhere else. Enraged by this, Kamsa started killing all newborn babies. He sent his demons to Repalle also, but Krishna, even as a tiny babe, destroyed all of them.
Yashoda had vatsalya (maternal love) for Krishna at the physical level, while the gopikas [milk maidens] of Gokulam had real devotion that was symbolically demonstrated by Krishna, who used to go after their butter rather than receive that offered by his mother Yashoda. Butter here signifies the spiritual heart of the devotee, which Krishna shared as the Divine. Krishna demonstrated to the innocent devotees of Repalle His Divine power in several ways.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 28
