“I thought that in the name of a Govardhana sacrifice, You were taking my share of profit, and therefore I mistook Your position. Now by Your grace I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord, Personality of Godhead, and that You are transcendental to all the material qualities.” (Indra praying to Krishna, Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 27)

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Tamo-guna is the mode of darkness or ignorance. Behavior in that mode does no good; something like shooting yourself in the foot. If you are frustrated from your play on a certain day of tennis, throwing the racket isn’t worthwhile. Breaking it as such is the result of loss of intelligence, triggered by anger. The root cause in that case is desire, which is in the mode of passion.

“From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.63)

As darkness pervades the material existence, that which is above darkness is considered very auspicious; it is transcendental. That is the origin of the Sanskrit word uttama. That which is above darkness can also be considered the best.

One of the names used for the Supreme Personality of Godhead contains this word. Uttamashloka means that God is described by the best verses, or shlokas. Due to newspapers, newscasts and radio shows so much is written and said on a daily basis. The best poetry or eloquence is not found everywhere, but know that God has people of the highest ability in art and poetry glorifying Him. The name Uttamashloka is well-deserved.

1. Brahma

Darkness can overcome even a person of great discrimination. Who would be better situated for understanding the material nature than the creator himself? Lord Brahma, also known as Vidhata, is the painter using the three main colors of goodness, passion and ignorance to create the many species. Whatever we see, good or bad, is due to the work of Brahma.

One time He was fooled by the all-attractiveness of Shri Krishna, an avatara of God appearing on earth. Brahma and other heavenly figures had themselves petitioned Lord Vishnu to fix the inauspicious conditions on earth at the time. More than anyone else Brahma should have known Krishna’s divine nature.

Succumbing to the darkness of ignorance for a brief period of time Brahma stole cows and cowherd boys away from Krishna. He wanted to see what would happen next. As God is the greatest mystic, more powerful than any of the demigods, Krishna had no problem adjusting to the situation.

A full year later Brahma realized his mistake and felt remorseful. After returning the cows and cowherd boys he offered very nice prayers in contrition directly to Shri Krishna. Brahma is also the author of a wonderful set of prayers known as the Brahma-samhita, which describe Govinda to be the adi-purusha, or original person. Govinda is another name for Krishna.

2. Indra

Here is another instance of someone close to God messing up. Indra also should have known better. Moreover, he shouldn’t have been angry at people who were loyal to him for so many years. Such are the ways of material existence; forgetfulness is the name of the game. You can be good to someone for so long, but if you slip up just once they remember the transgression more than the past loyalty.

Indra tried to kill the innocent residents of Vrindavana, including men, women, children, and animals, by sending a devastating rainstorm. This was in a fit of revenge. The same Govinda was there to save the day. This time He lifted the just worshiped Govardhana Hill and held it up as an umbrella for seven straight days.

Like Brahma, Indra finally came to his senses, feeling regret. He also approached Krishna and offered very nice prayers. From these situations we see that the initial cause is of no concern. If you are defeated by God after unnecessarily acting as an adversary, He erases the demerit if you have learned from the mistake. He instantly forgives.

3. Dhruva

This time there was anger at the stepmother. Family infighting. What was a young child to do? He couldn’t really force his way to getting respect from his father, the king. Upon the advice of his mother, Dhruva went to the forest to meditate. He heard that was where people went to find God.

Sure enough, he got the meeting he desired. A funny thing happened, though. The vision of Vishnu was so beautiful that Dhruva forgot about his anger. He didn’t ask for the revenge that initially sparked his search. Instead, he wanted to glorify.

Being so young Dhruva didn’t know what to say. Vishnu took His conchshell and gently touched the head of Dhruva with it. The boy was then divinely inspired, able to glorify God in a wonderful way. Again we see proof of there being no impediments in bhakti-yoga, devotional service. Whatever ability exists is sufficient for pleasing God, provided the desire is sincere.

4. Goswami Tulsidas

The Vishnu incarnation of Rama is sufficiently glorified in the Sanskrit language through the lengthy poem known as the Ramayana, which is authored by Maharishi Valmiki. Additionally, many of the Puranas, including the Mahabharata, cover Rama’s life and pastimes in varying levels of detail.

Tulsidas also has a sincere desire to glorify Rama. This was not to overshadow any of the past effort. The task is both purifying and the source of tremendous internal joy. As with Dhruva, God did not disappoint. He offered help from within and also from without, through the guru and the representative Shri Hanuman. Tulsidas went on to glorify Rama in the language of his people at the time, Avadhi. The result was the wonderful song known as the Ramacharitamanasa.

In Closing:

Not like millions of words the rest,

God described by verses the best.

Thus as Uttamashloka known,

Worthy by past incidents shown.

Like after Brahma the cows stealing,

And Indra for forgiveness appealing.

Dhruva though little boy wonderfully praying,

Tulsidas Rama’s deeds portraying.

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