#292 Bala Mukunda Ashtakam (The Beautiful, Child form of Sri Krishna)

Rishi Markandeya was blessed with the vision of Sri Krishna in the child form resting on a banyan leaf. Srimad Bhagavatam speaks of this.

Once sages Nara and Narayana visited the hermitage of sage Markandeya in the Himalayas. When they told him to ask for a boon, sage Markandeya wished to see Maya Shakti of Bhagavan by which people think that the world is real.

Then one evening, Markandeya was performing his sandhya worship on the banks of river Pushpabhadra. Suddenly, a great wind rose, which created dense, fearsome clouds and poured down heavy rains accompanied by thunder and lightning. The rain was so heavy that the oceans gradually swallowed the surface of the earth. In that great deluge which destroyed everything Markandeya was left all alone. The sage wandered aimlessly in darkness over the waters of the deluge, being battered by wind, waves and creatures of the sea.

He realized that these were not the waters of the river, but the very waters of Pralaya, the world ending flood which submerged all of creation within it before the beginning of the next creation, maintenance and destruction cycle. This seemingly endless flood of waters is symbolic of the endless trials and tribulations that one goes through in daily life, they signify bhava sagara, or the ocean of becoming. He finally came to an island on which was a young banyan tree full with fruits and flowers.

On one of its leaves was resting a child whose effulgence dispelled the darkness around. The child placed the toe of His feet inside His mouth and started to suck it. Markandeya was filled with such ananda that hair on his body stood on its end. The child suddenly inhaled and drew Markandeya within His body.

Markandeya saw the entire universe within. He was amazed to see all of creation within that body. He saw the sky, svarga or heaven, the stars, planet Earth, cities, streams and kingdoms. He saw villages, clusters of hermitages and various kinds of activities. He saw the great elements and all forms of physical creatures. He saw time and its many forms of manifestation. The sage saw the entire creation as if it appeared right there in front of him.

The child then exhaled and threw Markandeya outside near the banyan tree. Thereafter He vanished and Markandeya found himself near the river performing his evening worship.

Krishna in his infant form is endearing to all.

Who does not feel love for a child? Who does not feel like engaging with a child brimming with purity, openness and delight in just being oneself? We feel like we need not put up a pretence and can just be ourselves in the presence of a child who does not judge us. We long for the innocence, suggesting a purity and immunity to manipulation.

This particular vision shares its similarities with two other instances where Lord Krishna emonstrated to his loving devotees that he exists not as just another part of creation, but as its very source, as the creator himself. One was, of course, the Vishwarupa darshan given to his friend and disciple, Arjuna in the battle of Kurukshetra and the other is to his loving mother, who asked him to open his mouth, suspected that he had curd, but who ended up being dazzled at the entire creation within him.

Bala Mukundashtakam is a beautiful set of shlokas which help a devotee meditate upon this enchanting form of Lord Krishna as an infant and helps to evoke Vatsalya Bhaava, the free, unconditional love of a parent for a child.

This is the context for the composition of Bala Mukundashtakam. Astakam means eight, Bala is a child and Mukunda is a name for Sri Krishna and it also means treasure.

The refrain or the the line repeated in every verse is bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi – With my mind, I remember that beautiful form of the child Mukunda.

Briefly, I contemplate on that form.    

करारविन्देन पदारविन्दं
मुखारविन्दे विनिवेशयन्तम् ।
वटस्य पत्रस्य पुटे शयानं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥१॥

Aravind means lotus. The lotus is unique because it grows in the pond, is sustained by the ecosystem and yet it rises above the pond, especially its leaves which remain untouched. It is a sacred flower and different aspects of Bhagavan’s form are likened to a lotus to indicate that Bhagavan pervades the world and remains untouched by it.

Like here,

bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my  mind I think of that child Mukunda,
karāravindēna padāravindaṃ mukhāravindē vinivēśayantam Who with his lotus like hand holds his lotus like feet, and puts the toe in its lotus-like mouth,

vaṭasya patrasya puṭē śayānaṃ   And sleeps peacefully on a banyan leaf.

संहृत्य लोकान् वटपत्रमध्ये
शयानमाद्यन्तविहीनरूपम् ।
सर्वेश्वरं सर्वहितावतारं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥२॥
saṃhṛtya Who after dissolution of the earth,
lōkānvaṭapatramadhyē Sleeps on the middle of the leaf of a banyan tree ,
śayānamādyantavihīnarūpam Whose form has neither end nor beginning,
sarvēśvaraṃ Who is Ishvara of all beings,
sarvahitāvatāraṃ Who is the Avatāraṃ, divine reincarnation for the hita, the good of all.

bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my  mind I think of that child Mukunda.

Bhagavan Krishna in the Gita teaches us –

अव्यक्तं व्यक्ितमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः।
परं भावमजानन्तो ममाव्ययमनुत्तमम्।।7.24।।

Those who lack discrimination, not knowing my limitless, changeless nature beyond which there is nothing greater, look upon Me, who is formless, as one endowed with a manifest form. 

Since we are used to think in a binary format – hot-cold, happy-sad, black-white – when Bhagavan is presented as both manifest form and formless, we want to hold on to one of the two. However Bhagavan is both with this adorable form and at the same being consciousness without a beginning nor an end. We are able to seemingly hold this paradox because one remains independent of the form, although the forms keep changing.

इन्दीवरश्यामलकोमलाङ्गं
इन्द्रादिदेवार्चितपादपद्मम् ।
सन्तानकल्पद्रुममाश्रितानां
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥३॥
bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my mind I think of that child Mukunda,
indīvaraśyāmalakōmalāṅgaṃ Who is like a dark-blue lotus with a tender and soft body.
indrādidēvārchitapādapadmam Whose lotus like feet is worshipped by all devas and Indra their king,
santānakalpadrumamāśritānāṃ Those wanting children when they seek refuge in that never-ending wish-fulfilling tree are blessed.

In a related point, one of the astrological remedies for mothers seeking to have a child is to keep an image of Sri Krishna as an infant in their bedrooms and to chant the Santaana Gopala Mantra.

लंबालकं लंवितहारयष्टिं
शृङ्गारलीलाङ्कितदन्तपङ्क्तिम् ।
बिंबाधरं चारुविशालनेत्रं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥४॥
bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my mind I think of that child Mukunda,
lambālakaṃ lambitahārayaṣṭiṃ Who has Long Curly Hair and Wears a Long Garland,
śṛṅgāralīlāṅkitadantapaṅktim On Whose Rows of Teeth are Marked the Enchanting Smile of the play of love,
bimbādharaṃ chāruviśālanētraṃ Whose Lips are like Bimba fruits and Eyes are Wide and Lovely,
The Lila of Bhagavan is often mentioned across the Shaastra. And so Lila or divine play of delight suggests that creation, instead of achieving any purpose, is an expression of the free, playful nature of Bhagavan. As Bhagavan is flawless there are no unfulfilled wants signifying freedom instead of necessity, behind the creation.

 शिक्ये निधायाद्य पयोदधीनि
बहिर्गतायां व्रजनायिकायाम् ।
भुक्त्वा यथेष्टं कपटेन सुप्तं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥५॥

bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my mind I think of that child Mukunda,
śikyē nidhāyādyapayōdadhīni – Who Steals the Milk and Curd from the Pots Fixed on the Swing; When? …
bahirgatāyāṃ vrajanāyikāyām When the Cowherd Girls of Vraja go Out,
bhuktvā yathēṣṭaṃ kapaṭēna suptaṃ And having Eaten them according to His Wish, He Pretends to be sleeping,

Bhagavan Krishna’s incidents during childhood filled with mischief help us delight in his playfulness and light-heartedness. We suffer because we take everything too seriously. We do so because whatever we experience is reality until you enquire into it.

कलिन्दजान्तस्थितकालियस्य
फणाग्ररङ्गे नटनप्रियन्तम् ।
तत्पुच्छहस्तं शरदिन्दुवक्त्रं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥६॥
bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my mind I think of that child Mukunda,
kalindajāntasthitakāliyasya Who on the Kaliya Snake situated inside river Yamuna, the river which originated from Mount Kalinda,
phaṇāgraraṅgēnaṭanapriyantam Danced joyfully over the Top of Its Hood.
tatpuchChahastaṃ śaradinduvaktraṃ holding Its Tail with His Hand; His Face Shining like the Autumn Moon,

Once Sri Krishna and his friends were playing near the river with a ball. While playing their ball fell into the river, and Krishna jumped in to fetch it. In the river, he was attacked by the violent snake, Kaliya. The snake tried to crush Krishna by coiling around him but Krishna escaped effortlessly.

Krishna dragged the snake onto the surface of the river, jumped on one of its heads, and started performing his cosmic dance. He had assumed the weight of the entire universe in his tiny feet and almost crushed the naga to death. But Krishna stopped after hearing the prayers of Kaliya’s wives. The humiliated and defeated snake asked for forgiveness from Krishna and Krishna commanded him to return to his own place and blessed him that his vahana, Garuda, would never attack him.

उलुखले बद्धमुदारशौर्यं
उत्तुङ्गयुग्मार्जुनमङ्गलीलम् ।
उत्फुल्लपद्मायतचारुनेत्रं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥७॥
ulūkhalē baddhamudāraśauryaṃ Who was Tied to the Mortar (by His Mother), but His Face radiating Unperplexed Heroism,
uttuṅgayugmārjuna bhaṅgalīlam He showed the Divine Play of uprooting the Pair of Lofty Arjuna Trees with His Body,
।utphullapadmāyata chārunētraṃ – He Looks out with Wide Open Eyes which Stretches like the Beautiful Lotus Petals,
bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi With my mind I think of that child Mukunda,

According to the Bhagavata Purana, once, Krishna was playing in the sand and was swallowing it. Yashoda, upon seeing this, was furious with Krishna for disobeying her and punished him by tying him to a mortar, or a grinding stone. Later he allows himself to be bound and accepting of his mother’s love. He could not be bound literally nor in any other way.

Yashoda often tied the mischievous child Krishna with a small stone pounder in the courtyard. One day,when he was tied to the pounder Krishna uprooted the twin Arjuna trees with the pounder and freed the devotees of Shiva with his grace.

आलोक्य मातुर्मुखमादरेण
स्तन्यं पिबन्तं सरसीरुहाक्षम् ।
सच्चिन्मयं देवमनन्तरूपं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥८॥
ālōkya māturmukhamādarēṇa Who Looks at the Face of His Mother reverentially while …
stanyaṃ pibantaṃ sarasīruhākṣam Drinking Milk from her Breast, His Eyes like a Lotus Situated over a Lake,
sachchinmayaṃ dēvamanantarūpaṃ His Divine Form is Infinite Pure Consciousness,
bālaṃ mukundaṃ manasā smarāmi My Mind Remembers that Beautiful Bala Mukundam.

Filled with love for that child form of Mukunda we enjoy listening to his glories.

We are awe-struck with his extraordinary powers.

We pay close attention to what he reveals about himself.

Form is not the opposite of formlessness; rather formlessness that is infinite, without boundaries is not another form but is the basis of all forms as Consciousness.

Leading us with love, Krishna shows us aham atma, I am Atma, which is Ananta, boundless and limitless.

SriKrishnarpanamastu