Of all the creations, Avni, that is Earth, is the most forbearing. Silently, she carries the immense burden of lofty mountains, deep oceans and all the big and small creatures that are there. But sometimes, evenAvni feels that her load has become too burdensome. That is always because of one creature, Man. Only Man,with his wilfulness, tends to create havoc in the Godly system.
It happened a long time ago. Man had become unmanageable. He ruffled the serene seas and troubled the peaceful peaks. The lamp of Dharma had been snuffed out. Wrong-doers held their sway over the world, while the righteous were hounded out for their pious ways.
Avni bore with it for quite some time, till she decided to approach Brahma. Assuming the gentle form of a cow, she mooed before the Creator for help. Brahma said He could only create, but had little say over how His creations behaved. He would, however, apprise Vishnu, the Supreme Lord, of her woes, he assured Avni.
Ancients Speak
Suman K Sharma
True to his word, Brahma spoke to Vishnu of the turmoil on Earth. Vishnu smiled knowingly and said that He would set the matters right before long. Apart from reinstating Dharma, He had His own promises to keep in the land of the mortals. He would descend to Earth as a human being.Vasudev and Devki were to be His worldly parents and a dark dungeon of Mathura His place of birth.
So, on the midnight of the 8th of the dark lunar phase of Shravana month (August-September), appeared Bhagwan Vishnu in His celestial form, lighting up the prison cell with His godly grace. Devki was overwhelmed at the luminous sight and pleaded with the Deity to take the form of her son, as promised. Presently, to the delight of the couple, Vishnu’s awesome presence was transformed into a chubby little blue-skinned infant crying like an ordinary human baby. They called Him ‘Krishna’, the darkone, born at a dark hour.
It was a dark hour for the world, particularly the couple, indeed. The tyrant, Kansa, Devki’s blood brother, had let loose a reign of terror, dethroning his gentle father, Urgrasena, and putting both Devki and her husband, Vasudev, into prison. But for all his ferocity, Kansa was a coward at heart, as all tyrants are. Fearing an akashvani that anyone of her eight children would kill him, he had ruthlessly killed as many as seven of the infants born to Devki before Krishna’s birth.
Miracles happened at the auspicious moment of the appearance of the Divine child. Manacles that had restrained ‘the parents’ gave way; the ever-alert guards Kansa had posted went into a deep stupor; the heavy locks on the doors got broken; and the prison gates opened up mysteriously. Vasudeva, wary of Kansa’s cruel resolve to kill the eighth child, put the new-born in a wicker-basket he found lying around and carried Him hurriedly to the Yamuna bank.
It was raining torrentially, the sky thundered with lightening and the waves of Yamuna surged high as never before. But nothing deterred Vasudeva. He crossed the river with the precious basket on his head to go to Gokul. There, he exchanged Krishna with the new-born daughter of Yashoda and hurried back to the prison in Mathura.
In the morning, Kansa arrived at the prison to commit his wilful deed. Ignorant of what had happened in the preceding hours, he snatched away the infant from Devki’s hands, only to smash it on the floor. In that instant, a voice rang in his ears, loud and clear, ‘O Kansa, the one who will kill you has landed safely. I was only His herald.”
Thus appeared Krishna avatar. During 125 years of His worldly existence, He would rid the Earth of wrong-doers and teach the world how to live.
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