“You crossed over the ocean of one hundred yojanas wide, the reservoir of sharks and alligators, as if it were a small puddle.” (Sita Devi speaking to Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 36.8)

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शतयोजनविस्तीर्ण स्सागरो मकरालयः
विक्रमश्लाघनीयेन क्रमता गोष्पदीकृतः

śatayojanavistīrṇa ssāgaro makarālayaḥ
vikramaślāghanīyena kramatā goṣpadīkṛtaḥ

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that the Vedas provide many names for the Almighty. We are not limited to a single name, a single understanding, a single viewpoint, or a single manifestation. In the same way that a famous film star might be known individually to those who prefer a certain role, spanning many years, consisting of a career’s worth of work, so God is not limited by time. The star athlete might play for several different franchises in their storied career, and so the Almighty appears again and again in this world, at times of His choosing, for purposes He wishes to fulfill.

परित्राणाय साधूनां
विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्
धर्म-संस्थापनार्थाय
सम्भवामि युगे युगे

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.8)

Each appearance has corresponding attributes and movements. There is a narrative, complete with beginning, middle, and end. Since the appearance represents God voluntarily descending from the spiritual world, the individual is known as an avatara. The same avatara might have different names based on different things accomplished. For instance, the son of Devaki is known as Krishna. His name, along with the name of His brother, is featured in the famous maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Krishna is also known as Govinda, since He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses. Krishna is also Gopala, as He protects the cows. Krishna is also Shyamasundara, since He is the most beautiful person with a dark complexion. That complexion is megha-varna, or the color of a raincloud. Krishna is also Damodara, since He agreed to be bound to a mortar as punishment for breaking a pot of yogurt in anger, during childhood. Damodara is an especially endearing vision, since it shows the closeness between Krishna and mother Yashoda.

Apart from the names tied to movements, there are additional names describing features. For instance, Mukunda describes something that God can do for people. He is the giver of mukti, which is liberation. If liberation is the reward, then there must be a punishment. The beginning stage must be the position from which the individual seeks liberation. We understand that it is our current position, the one in which we travel through the changing bodies, which requires liberation.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

God can grant liberation. He can end the cycle of birth and death. He grants mukti through His favor. There is no other way. It is not like we do a certain number of pushups to qualify for a higher tier of service. It is not that we mechanically build a container which is immune from the effects of time, which is known as kāla in Sanskrit. That same kāla is death. Time is always destroying that which is created.

To try to reach liberation on our own is like trying to cross over a vast ocean. We don’t know where that ocean begins or where it ends. We just know that we are stuck in it. As Mukunda, the Supreme Lord can transform that giant ocean into a small puddle. The size of that puddle is equal to the print left by the hoof of a calf.

समाश्रिता ये पदपल्लवप्लवं
महत्पदं पुण्ययशो मुरारे:
भवाम्बुधिर्वत्सपदं परं पदं
पदं पदं यद् विपदां न तेषाम्

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

“For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda or the giver of mukti, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoofprint. Param padam, or the place where there are no material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place where there is danger in every step of life.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.14.58)

He can only give liberation if we target the objective. If we are in ignorance of our true identity, if we identify with the ever-changing body, if we have been in ignorance for countless lifetimes, what hope do we have? How can we be rescued if we cannot even recognize our current predicament? If we are not afraid of maya, which is illusion, how can we tell the difference between transcendence and duality?

In this regard, we can take confidence, comfort, assurance, and strength from the devotees of Mukunda. There is the Vanara warrior named Hanuman. He is devoted to the avatara known as Rama. Hanuman is so amazing that liberation is of no concern to him. Rama is so pleased with Hanuman that the reward of liberation is awaiting, whenever the devotee should ask for it. Hanuman stays in the liberated state, wherever he is.

As Sita Devi, the wife of Rama, describes, Hanuman has a similar ability to make the impossible possible. He once crossed a vast ocean to reach the island of Lanka. That vast ocean was treated as if it were a small puddle. She uses the same reference to the hoofprint; goshpada. It was no issue for Hanuman, who is amazing in every way. Those who remember him always get help in their endeavors. As he is forever dear to Sita and Rama, he is always beloved to the devoted souls.

In Closing:

With vast ocean to cross,
To proceed at a loss.

For where and when to turn,
How coveted liberation to earn?

A little help required,
By Hanuman inspired.

Who once literally obstacle leaping,
Vision of his triumph keeping.

Categories: liberation

Tags: dailyprompt, hinduism, life, poem, poems, poetry, reincarnation