Krishna is born

Chennai: Krishna’s birth star is Rohini, and there is a significance to His choosing to be born in this star, said Kalyanapuram Aravamudhachariar. In the list of 27 stars, Rohini is the fourth one. Among the four Purusharthas, moksha is the fourth one and who can give us moksha, except Lord Krishna? Thus it was that He chose to be born in the fourth star, to show the world that He and He alone can give us moksha.

If we count to ten forwards from the star Hastha, we get the star Sravana, the star of the Lord as Trivikrama, who measured the three worlds. If we count up to ten backwards from Hastha, we get Rohini, Krishna’s star. It is to show the world that Krishna is none other than the One who measured the three worlds, that Krishna took His avatar in the Rohini star.

The new born baby causes the chains that bind His father Vasudeva’s feet to break. In his Yadhavbhyudayam, Swami Desika says Krishna would have had no difficulty in causing the iron chain to break. Isn’t He the one who breaks an even more powerful chain that binds us- the chain of samsara?

Describing Krishna’s birth, Andal uses the word ’oruthi’ for both Yasoda and Devaki. She could just as well have said Devaki and Yasoda. But she uses the word ’oruthi’ meaning that one lady, for a particular reason. Each of them is unique. Devaki is the one who gave birth to Krishna, and that is her uniqueness. Yasoda is the one who brings up Krishna, and that is her uniqueness. The night of His birth is described by Andal as ‘or iravu’, that one night. Here again, that one night is special, for it sees the birth of Lord Narayana as Krishna the cowherd. Day and night are common and repetitive, but can there be a night to match the night of Krishna’s birth? Although Krishna’s birth is unique, His years of childhood in Brindavan and Gokulam are the ones that show the world His soulabhya. That is why Swami Desika in his Gopala Vimsati, speaks of Brindavan first. Only then does he talk of Sri Jayanthi, the day of His birth, showing that while His birth is unique, even more unique is His childhood in the midst of the cowherds.