//Sri:// Anubhavam in Sri Geetha Krishna Yatra.
SrI:
Sri Renganathaya nama:
Dear Swamin: adiyEn namaskArams::
Herewith adiyEn would like to share the first day anubhavam in Sri Geetha Krishna Yatra. We reached Vadodara on 2nd Oct 09 and moved towards Dakor - a near by place where Sri Ranchoddhraiji Temple is present.
Sri Bhagavtham - 10th Skandham - 51 Adhyayam
As per the above, the legend is, Jarasandhan fought with Lord Krishna for 18 times. Each times he was lost in the battle. Between Jarasandhan's 17th and 18th battle, Kalayavanan came to knew through Narada that, Yadhavas are in par with his power and strength. Hence he came with his 3 crore peoples and attacked Yadhavas at Mathura.On knewing this, Sri Krishna dicussed the issues with Balarama. "The problems are directed from two different points towards Yadhavas. One point from Jarasandhan who may come at any time to fought with Yadhavas for 18th time. Another point from Kalayavanan who is now ready to fought. At this juncture, it's best to create an island city in sea and shift all Yadhavas there safely during the battle with Kalayavanan" The city that Lord Krishna created was called "Dwaraka" which was about 120 miles in
length and breadth. Then through His Powers, shifted all Yadhavas from Madhura to Dwaraka. These miraculous incident happened with in a night.
Then Lord Krishna returned to Madhura and after discussion with Balaram, He came out from the palace with His four arms, without any divyAyudhams, lotus like eyes, Sri Vatsam, Koustubam and Vanamaalai ... all which symbolized and identified that He is none other than Lord Vasudevan from Paramapadam(Sri Krishnan!). Kalayavanan who already heard about the identity of Lord Krishna through Narada, saw Sri Krishna coming out from the palace. Kalayavanan decided to fought with Sri Krishna with out any weapons and followed Him.
But Sri Krishna started ran and Kalayavanan warned Him not to run away from battle field. (Hence He is called as Ranchhodraiji : Ran - Battle Field :: Chhod - run away from battle :: Rai - Prabhu ). Sri Krishna dragged Kalayavanan up to a cave where King Musukundan was in sleep. Kalayavanan entered inside the cave and found a man lying asleep. He thought that the man was none other than Sri Krishna and hence disturbed the man who found lying on floor. But the man (King Musukundan) awoke and opened his eyes and searched for the person who disturbed him from sleep. Immediately Kalayavanan was burnt into ash by the fire from Musukundan eyes.
King Musukundan was from Ishvaku vamsam. He saved Indra and devars from rAkshashas for many years. By his service, dEvas was so happy and requested him to receive boon. Musukundan asked dEvas that, he need a good place to sleep since he fought with rAkshashas without sleep for many years. Devas pointed out a cave and granted Musukundan that he could sleep inside the cave and if any would disturb him from sleep would be burnt into ash.
Using this boon, Lord Krishna killed Kalayavanan through Musukundan and gave darshan to him. Since Lord Krishna escaped with out fight (ran away from battle) with Kalayavanan
He is called as RANCHHODRAIJI in Dakor Dwaraka!
The above legend is from the book given by Sri U.ve.Velukkudi Krishnan swamin on Divyadesa Mahatmyam during YATRA and from Swamins Upanyasam.
This emperuman was in Main Dwaraka(Gomati Dwaraka) during previous years. Then how He was transferred from Gomati Dwaraka to Dakor Dwaraka? This legend is a very interesting one. Below is the legend as per the temple.
The legend of Bodana
'Vijayanand Bodana', a rajput of Dakor, becomes a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna. He used to let the basil plant (Tulsi) grow in an earthen pot with him on his palm and used to go every six months to Dwarika to worship Lord Krishna with the said Tulsi leaves . He did this continuously, unfailingly and untiringly till he was 72 years he then began to find it increasingly difficult to pursue this ritual. Seeing his plight, Lord Krishna told him that on his ensuing visit to Dwarika, he should bring a bullock-cart with him and Lord Krishna would accompany him to Dakor as he was exceedingly pleased with his devotion. Accordingly, Bodana went with bullock-cart to Dwarika. The hereditary priests of Dwarika (Gugli brahmins) asked him as to why he had brought a cart with him. Whereupon, Bodana replied that he had done so to take away Lord Krishna.
Looking to the ramshackle cart, they did not believe him but nevertheless locked and sealed the sanctum sanctorum of Dwarika Temple for the night.
At mid night, Lord Krishna broke open all the doors, awoke Bodana and told him to take him to Dakor. Shortly afterwards, Lord Krishna called upon Bodana to rest in the bullock- cart and drove the cart himself till reached the vicinity of Dakor. Here (near Bileshwar Mahadev on Dakor-Nadiad road) they rested for some time, touching and holding a branch of neem tree. He woke up Bodana and asked him to take over. Since that day, this neem tree is
found to have one sweet branch though the rest of the branches are bitter and it forms the subject of a well-known Gujarati song (bhajan).
In Dwarika, the Gugli brahmins finding the image missing chased Bodana and came to Dakor in pursuit. Bodana was frightened but Lord Krishna told him to hide the idol of the deity in the Gomti tank and meet the Guglis. Accordingly, Bodana hid the idol and went to meet the Guglis with a pot of curd to pacify them. They became angry and one of them threw a spear at him. He fell down dead While hurting Bodana with a spear it also hurt the image of the deity hidden in Gomti tank and the water turned red with Lord Krishna's
(Ranchhodraiji's) blood. It is said that even today the earth of Gomti tank where the image lay is red while rest of the tank is of brown mud. In the midst of Gomti tank, over the place where Lord Krishna was hidden, a small temple having the Lord's foot-prints is constructed and this temple is linked with the bank of Gomti Tank by a bridge.
Even with the death of Bodana, the Guglis were not appeased. Requesting Lord Krishna to return to Dwarika, they sat on the bank of Gomti tank and went on a hunger strike. At last, Lord Ranchhodraiji (Krishna) directed Gangabai, wife of Bodana, to give gold equivalent of his weight and ask the Guglis to return to Dwarika. Poor lady, the widow of Bodana, was a pauper and could not afford doing so. By a miracle, the idol became as light as a golden nose-ring (1, 1/4 val i.e.1/2 gram in weight) which was all that the widow of Bodana, Gangabai, had . The Guglis were disappointed but the Lord mercifully directed that they would find after six months an exact replica of the idol in Sevaradhan Vav (well with steps) at Dwarika. The impatient Guglis looked for the idol sometime earlier than they were told and as a result, found an idol which, though similar to the original one, was smaller.
Even today on every purnima (full moon), pilgrims walk here from far away places to commemorate Bodana's devotion.
Please ENJOY the picturesque slideshow of Shri RANCHHODRAIJI temple from
the Gujarat Govt Website.
http://www.gujarattourism.com/showpage.aspx?contentid=229
ENJOY HIS DARSHAN from the temple website:
http://www.ranchhodraijidakor.com/
JAI RANCHHODRAIJI
adiyEn,
senthil.b
பரமானுக்ரஹனாய் திருவரங்கத்தில் சேவை சாதிக்கும் உன் வடிவழகையும்,
பார்த்தன் மூலம் உலகிற்க்கு கீதையை அனுக்ரஹித்த உன் காவிய அழகையும்,
பிறருக்கு உதவுதை குசேலன் கதையில் காட்டிய நின் கொடை அழகையும்,
பீதாம்பரம் அணிந்து அழகுக்கே அழகு சேர்க்கும் ஆடை அழகையும்,
புனர்பூசத்தில் அவதரித்து ரக்ஷித்த அழகையும்,
பூஜைக்கு நாயகனாய் நின்ற உன் அர்ச்சாரூப அழகையும்,
பெருமையுடன் கூற நினைக்கும் உனது இதிஹாஸ அழகையும்,
பேரருள் கொடுத்த ஆண்டாளை ஆட்கொண்ட அழகையும்,
பைந்தமிழில் பதின்மரால் பாசுரம் கேட்ட அழகையும்,
பொறுமையே வடிவான பூமா தேவிக்கு நாயகனான அழகையும்,
போதிய அருளை வாரி வழங்கும் எம் அரங்கனாயகிக்கு நிகராய் சயனித்த அழகையும்,
பௌருஷத்தின் அழகையும் காண இவ்வையகத்தில் மனித பிறவி மீண்டும் வேண்டுவதே |
In the Sundara Kandam in Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, Hanuman narrates the Ramayana from the beginning up to that point of time, to Sita Devi who is held captive by Ravana. Following this, Thrijada describes a dream where she says that she witnesses Sri Rama Pattabhishekam. Therefore, effectively, the entire Ramayana is covered in this one Kandam and that is the reason Thy doing parayana of the Sundara Kandam alone is considered equivalent to reading the whole text.
In Ramayana, at the time of meeting Lord Sri Rama, Sugreeva has lost everything- kingdom, wife, honour. but later he regains them all. Ravana, on the other hand, has everything in the beginning. but in the end, he loses everything one by one and is finally destroyed too. The reason is simple. Though he was down in the doldrums, Sugreeva held on to the company of the true Sadhu named Hanuman, whereas though he had it all, Ravana set Hanuman's tail on fire thus earning the wrath of God. such is the greatness of Sadhus and their divine company.
Soorpanaka wanted Sri Rama alone. she was destroyed. RAvana wanted Sitadevi alone and he too met his end. Hanumanji wished to have darshan of Sita-Rama and therefore He remains as a chiranjeevi to this day. through this, Ramayana indicates this very deep truth that one should always worship the Lord along with his divine consort (as "Yugalam" )