नमस्ते तू बलराम
NAMASTE TU BALARAMA
SALUTATIONS TO LORD BALARAMA
Kamsa, the wicked king of Mathura, had imprisoned his cousin Devaki and her husband Vasudeva for fear that the male child Devaki would bear would kill him. The wicked king unmindful of the entreaties of the heart-broken parents killed the first six children borne to Devaki.
However evil must inevitably come to an end.
One day in a dream, Lord Vishnu appeared to Devaki and announced that the divine king of snakes Shesha would be born as her seventh child. He told her that Kamsa would not kill this child. In accordance with the will of the Lord, Devaki’s seventh son was miraculously transferred from Devaki’s womb to the womb of Vasudeva's second wife, Rohini. This child was the elder brother of Lord Krishna and was named Balarama. The miraculous birth of Balarama went unnoticed by the evil Kamsa who believed that his nemesis could only be a child born to Devaki.
As her husband, Vasudeva, was imprisoned, Rohini, his second wife, lived at the house of Vasudeva’s cousin, Nanda.
Nanda and Yashoda an elderly, childless couple lived in Gokul. One day Yashoda to her absolute delight and surprise discovered that she was to bear a child. (Read this story on https://www.fablesrus.com/post/the-miracle-of-our-lord-s-birth). When the child was born, miraculously, the whole household including Yashoda fell into a deep sleep. It was at this time that Vasudeva, abiding by the dictates of Lord Vishnu, took baby Krishna, his eighth child, and exchanged him for the girl child born to Yashoda. Nanda and Yashoda had no knowledge of the exchange of children made by Vasudeva. They brought up little baby Krishna as their own. As Rohini was also living in Nanda’s house the brothers Balarama and Krishna grew up in the same household. They were devoted to each other and inseparable.
As Nanda was the head of the Gopas tribe of Yadava cowherds his son grew to be a cowherd as did Balarama who was staying with Nanda. The two boys would wander through the pastures caring for their herd of cattle and playing with their friends.
It so happened that one day while Krishna, Balarama and their cowherd friends were happily tending the cows in the Vrindavana forest, the demon Pralamba entered their midst. Cleverly the wicked demon had taken the form of a cowherd boy so as not to be recognised. Pralamba was there to kidnap Krishna and Balarama.
The all-knowing Lord Krishna knew exactly what the evil demon was up to. Yet he pretended to know nothing at all. In his naturally cheerful manner he accepted the demon as a friend and played, joked and laughed with Pralamba as he did with all his cowherd friends. The boys enjoyed playing games and Krishna called out to them and said, “Come on boys, let’s play some games.”
All the cowherds quickly assembled together and Krishna divided them into two teams. The boys chose Krishna as the captain of one team and Balarama as the leader of the second. The games began. The winners were carried on the shoulders of the losers. The boys laughed loudly and played boisterously yet always kept an eye out for their cattle that unmindful of all the chaos were quietly chomping at the succulent grass of the Vrindavan or resting leisurely in the shade of a tree.
The games went on for a while and as Balarama’s team was victorious Krishna’s team had to carry the members of Balarama’s team on their shoulders. Krishna carried Sridama, Bhadrasena carried Vrsabha and Pralamba the demon disguised as a cowherd quickly picked up Balarama. He thought to himself, “Oh what luck! With Balarama on my shoulders I can now carry him away without anyone even noticing.”
Whereas all the other boys carried the winners to a point beside an ancient banyan tree, Pralamba kept running and carried Balarama far far beyond the tree. Balarama knowing that the demon was up to no good made himself heavier and heavier. He became so heavy that Pralamba's pace got slower and slower until he could barely move. Pralamba then decided to revert to his own demonic form in the hope that his fearsome appearance would frighten Balarama.
Pralamba had a gigantic body and was covered from head to toe with golden ornaments. He shone and glittered like streaks of lightning. He began moving rapidly through the skies. His eyes were ablaze. His flaming, red hair flew crazily in the wind like a wild forest fire. His brows were knitted into an ugly scowl and his giant teeth were gritted in an nasty snarl.
Balarama now realized that the demon was trying to kidnap him. Pralamba had not realized that Balarama too, like Krishna, had enormous strength, power and courage. He had underestimated Balarama’s fighting prowess and capabilities. Balarama was furious at Pralamba for attempting to kidnap Him. He clobbered the demon on his head with his fist and Pralamba’s skull cracked like a dry coconut shell. The demon fell with a loud thud back onto the earth.
Hearing the loud noise the cowherds rushed to find out what had happened. They were amazed to see a huge giant demon lying lifeless on the ground and were even more amazed to discover that it was their dear friend Balarama who had defeated the evil demon. As all the others clamoured around to see the demon and congratulate Balarama on his huge feat, the two brothers looked at each other with a knowing smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes.
The brothers spent their childhood as cowherds. But even as young children they safeguarded the good and destroyed evil wherever they went.
Living as mere mortals Balarama and Krishna spread love, defeated evil and reinforced faith in the Supreme.
On one occasion Krishna and Balarama were invited by Rukmi, the son of Bhishmaka, king of Vidarbha to a grand wedding celebration. Rukmi, was Krishna’s wife, Rukmini’s brother. Rukmi was a cold and arrogant man. He disliked Krishna because Krishna had married his sister Rukmini whereas Rukmi had wanted her to marry his dear friend Shishupala— the crown prince of Chedi Kingdom. At the wedding there was a large gathering of Kings and princes and several important dignitaries. Many of them were close friends of Rukmi and were very supportive of him.
Rukmi felt this was the perfect opportunity to humiliate Balarama and Krishna. He challenged Balarama to a game, of chess. It was a well-known fact that Balarama was not a very adept player and Rukmi being a skilled player was sure to win. Rukmi felt that defeating Balarama in front of such an august gathering would be a good way to humiliate him. The icing on the cake being that Krishna would witness the defeat.
The first game was played for a wager of one thousand pieces of gold. Rukmi made short work of Balarama and grabbed the gold coins. The second games wager was set higher at ten thousand gold pieces. Balarama despite an early defeat was not one to give up. They began the second game and once again Rukmi defeated Balarama. This time he won ten thousand gold coins. Rukmi’s greed and delight knew no bounds. He wanted to win some more money. Instead of challenging Balarama for the third time Rukmi condescendingly said, “It’s only fair, Balarama, that I give you a chance to win back what you have lost. Let’s play a third round and this time lets up the wager to a hundred thousand gold coins This way if you win you not only get back what you lost but some more as well.”
Though he pretended to be magnanimous, the cunning Rukmi was thinking, “This fool will never win a game of chess against me. I will keep playing till I have cleaned out his purse completely.”
Balarama was not keen on continuing to play but Rukmi insisted. Rukmi thought to himself, “Let me get as much gold as I can from Balarama. I will humiliate him. From his moves in the first two games it is clearly apparent he has no strategy or idea of how to play. If I convince him to play this third game I will not only empty his purse but also shame him in front of all these important people.”
With this thought in mind Rukmi persisted, “Come on Balarama, let’s play one last game. Surely you are not scared to play against me?”
After a lot of persuasion Balarama agreed to play. This was a game where the winner would take back a hundred thousand gold coins. The game began in earnest. Balarama played very well and won. But the wicked Rukmi cheated and insisted that he was the winner. Balarama knew that Rukmi was cheating. He decided that it was time to teach Rukmi a lesson and put an end to his insatiable greed. Balarama said, “Rukmi you have cheated to win this game but I now challenge you to one more game and I place the wager at one hundred million coins.”
Rukmi laughed and said, “Balarama have you not had your fill of losing? I will gladly accept your challenge for a fourth game but don’t be surprised if you lose this one too. It is just that you are inept at the royal game of chess and I am a master of this game.”
To Rukmi’s utter dismay Balarama won this game too. Rukmi again tried to cheat him out of the victory. Rukmi mockingly said, “You and your brother are mere cowherds. What would you both know about the game of Kings? Go back to herding cattle. That is all you both are fit for. Leave the royal pastimes of King to those of us who are truly blue-blooded royalty.”
But this time when Rukmi loudly proclaimed that he was the winner a voice from heaven, an akashvani, resounded, “The winner according to the rules of chess is undoubtedly Balarama.”
Rukmi merely ridiculed the voice and insisted that he was the winner. Rukmi said, “You are a poor loser Balarama and now you try to declare yourself a winner through some strange magic? Get lost. I have won all your money. It is time for you to leave in disgrace.”
Balarama now became very angry. It was one thing to cheat but when the arrogant Rukmi mocked him and the divine declaration too Balarama could no longer contain his anger. Balarama picked up his mace and dealt one hard blow on Rukmi’s skull. Rukmi dropped dead. All Rukmi’s supporters who had till then been booing Balarama and cheering Rukmi were terrified. Folding their hands and begging for mercy they ran as fast as they could and as far away as they could from Balarama.
When the great Mahabharata War commenced Balarama chose to remain neutral and not side either the Pandavas or the Kauravas. Instead he decided to undertake a pilgrimage. At one of the holy shrines that he visited there were many great sages. On seeing Balarama they all stood up to pay their respects to him. All the sages except for Acharaya Romaharsana offered their obeisance’s to Balarama. Balarama noticing this felt insulted and picking up a single blade of straw from a haystack struck Romaharsana and killed him. The other sages were horrified and most distressed. They said to Balarama, “What have you done? You have killed Romaharsana a good and pious sage to whom we had given the blessing of a long life. Now by your action our benediction has become false and worthless.”
The sages with folded hands said to Balarama, “We know you to be the Supreme Lord. No act of yours is sinful and yet we ask that you atone for killing Romaharsana. Your atonement will set a good example for others to follow should they commit a sin.”
Balarama humbly accepted the request of the sages. He said, “In order to safeguard the veracity of your benediction I will ensure that your boon of a long life is passed on to Romaharsana’s son. I will also willingly atone for my wrongful action. Please tell me what penance I should perform for my action.”
The sages requested, “There is a terrible demon called Balvala who is constantly troubling us, He disturbs our prayers and defiles our yagnas. We have been unable to keep him away or destroy him. We ask you to rid us of this wicked asura.”
It was not long before the asura arrived shouting loudly and waving his weapons around dangerously. He was all set to create havoc and drive the sages away. Seeing Balvala approach, Balarama picked up His club and His plough both of which He expertly wielded. The demon seeing Balarama swing the club with one hand and the plough with the other began flying about here and there to avoid getting hit. All the while his raucous laughter reverberated loudly. The asura was confident that Balarama would not be able to catch him or harm in any way. But Balarama snagged the demon with His plough and pulled him down. Once the asura was back at ground level Balarama lifted his mighty club and smashed it down on the demon demolishing him completely.
The sages were relieved to see the end of Balvala asura.
After performing their task Balarama asked the sages, “I have freed you of the asura Balvala. What else I should do as penance for my action?”
The sages thanked Balarama and suggested that he continue on his pilgrimage for another twelve months. Taking leave of the sages Balarama continued on His pilgrimage.
Lord Vishnu is considered to be inseparable from his wife, Mahalakshmi and the King of Serpents, Shesha. Hence, it is believed that whenever Lord Vishnu took birth on Earth, he was always accompanied by both his wife and Shesha. Balarama was an avatars of Shesha, the snake on which the Lord reclines. It is said that Shesha leaves earth before Lord Vishnu to prepare the Lord’s home, Vaikuntha, for the Lord’s arrival, Hence when Lord Krishna decided to return to Vaikuntha it was time for Balarama to depart too.
LIFE LESSONS
1. From Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama’s life we can learn of the beautiful bond possible between brothers.
2. From Balarama we can learn how to be courageous in the face of danger.
3. From Balarama we learn the importance of standing up against the unrighteousness/adharma.
4. From Balarama we can learn to humbly accept mistakes that we have made.
5. From Balarama we can learn the importance of atoning for our sins and accepting the punishment for any wrongs we may have committed.
Comments