Makaranda Madhukar Anand Mahendale Festshrift

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 77

S. J. Noel Sheth
Makaranda
literally. The wives of Balarama embraced Balarāma himself, and not his body, for, according to a Brahmatarka saying, in the case of the Deity there is no difference between the body (deha) and the Embodied (dehin)49 Vasudeva' means the suddha-sattva or pure matter; in other words, since Vasudeva is the very essence of the hlādini, samvit and svarūpa śaktis, 50, he cannot be an individual self (jīva), and so there cannot be a distinction between the body and the embodied for him either (RR on 11.31.19; VD on 11.31.2051) In other words, Balarāma and Vasudeva did not die, but entered into the aprakata-lilā. SD reasons that Balarāma's wives could not have embraced his body, because it is said (in 11.31.18) that Devakī, Rohini and Vasudeva were unable to see Krsna and Rāma, 52 and also because both Krsna and Balarāma are eternal vigrahas. Therefore, in reality, his wives embraced Balarāma's body made up of [the outline of] his clothes or they embraced a mental image of his body (SD on 11.31.20). VD points out that Krsna's wives, Rukmini and others, are said to be tadātmikāh (11.31.20), i.e., their minds are given to him (tadarpitacittāh): in other words, they meditated on him since his replica (body) had become invisible (VD on 11.31.20; so also GD on 11.31.2053). When it is said that Arjuna made the funeral arrangements (sāmparāyika) for the Yādavas (11.31.22), the real meaning is that he arranged for the chanting of the names of God (nāma-kīrtana) and other such actions by Vaisnavas, which are appropriate for the uttarakāla (the interval from one full moon to another : samparāya=uttarakāla, according to Medinī), which in turn helps in obtaining the eternal abode of aprakața-līlā (RR, VD on 11.31.22). Although 11.31.25 appears to refer to those who have survived the killing (hatasesān) [thereby implying that many of the Yādavas were in fact annihilated], in reality the reference is to the Yādavas, who are known to have survived (hata=jñāta54) [thus indicating that none of the Yādavas were destroyed] (RR, VD on 11.31.25). In 11.31.26 it is reported that the grandfathers, after hearing of the killing of their friends (suhrdvadha) (the Yādavas), took to the Great Path (mahāpatha) [the other world). But the real meaning is that they heard about their friends (the Yādavas) having reached vadha or the place of nitya-līlā, for vadha is that which gives (dha=dadhāti) consolation (va=sāntvana, according to Medinī). Then, being eager to reach that same place, they went to the Great Path, namely the place conducive to meditate on the nitya-līlā (RR, VD on