Vanamali - The Complete Life of Krishna: Based on the Earliest Oral Traditions and the Sacred Scriptures

Dedicated to my beloved sister Lila, whose encouragement has inspired me to write about the gods.

Aum Ganeshaya Namaha!

I bow to Lord Ganesha.
May he remove all obstacles and
grant the highest spiritual perfection

Aum Sri Krishnaya Parabrahmane Namaha!

Aum Sri Tulasidhamabhushanaya Namaha!

Adorations unto thee,
O Vanamali!
At thy lotus feet is offered,
This immortal garland of
Unfading blossoms,
Depicting Thy divine lilas!

Aum Sri Krishna Dwaipayanaya Namaha!

Namosthuthe Vyasa vishala buddhe,
Phullaravindayatapatra netra,
Yena twaya Bharatha taila poorna,
Prajvalitho jnanamaya pradeepa

Salutations unto thee O Vyasa! Of keen intellect, whose eyes are like the petals of a full-blown lotus, by whom was lit the lamp of wisdom filled with the oil of the Mahabharata.

Humble prostrations to Sri Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa from whose nectarous writings in the Srimad Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata the salient features of the lilas of the Lord Krishna have been gathered.

Aum Sri Shukabrahmarishe Namaha!

Yam pravrajanthainanupethamapethakrityam,
Dwaipayano virahakathara ajuhava,
Putrethi tanmayathaya taravobhinedu,
Stavam sarvabhuthahridayam munimanathosmi.

Salutations to Sri Shuka, who wandered forth all alone, renouncing home and relations, from the time of his birth. He was fully enlightened, and he answered the heartrending calls of his father, Vyasa, who had followed him, through the mouths of the trees. Due to his realization of the Vedantic truth of nonduality, he was one with the soul of all things!

Grateful prostrations unto thee O son of Vyasa, Sri Shuka Brahmarishi, the eternally enlightened boy sage, from whose immortal words as narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam the stories of the early life of the Lords lilas have been gained.

Aum Nirvanaya Namaha!

Prostrations to all the sages and saints through whose grace this humble suta has been emboldened to undertake the stupendous task of narrating the lilas of the greatest incarnationthe Poorna Avatar!

Aum Gopathaye Namaha!

Prostrations unto thee O Mother, Bharathavarsha! The Holy Land, birthplace of countless sages, in whose immaculate womb the Lord was born and on whose bosom he acted his cosmic drama, and on whose earth the footprints of his lotus feet are still imprinted!

Aum Vande Mataram!

Vanamali, Gadi, Sarngi,
Shanki, Chakri cha Nandaki,
Sriman Narayano Vishnu,
Vaasudevobhi rakshathu!

May Lord Narayana or Vishnu who took on the auspicious form of Vaasudeva, adorned with the garland of wildflowers, grant me protection from all sides with his divine accoutrements like the mace, the conch, the discus, the bow Sarnga, and the sword Nandaka.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Aum Sri Gurave Namaha!

Benediction

His holiness, Jagadguru, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Sri Pada, the sixty-ninth and reigning Shankaracharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.

I offer my humble prostrations at the lotus feet of my beloved Gurudeva who has blessed me in all ways.

I bow to that guru who is Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara, as well as the Supreme Transcendental Brahman.

I bow to that guru who has removed the blindness of ignorance by applying the collyrium of wisdom!

The focus of meditation is the form of the guru. The objects of worship are the feet of the guru. The mantra is the holy word given by the guru. And liberation is due to the grace of the guru alone.

I meditate on the form of my most illumined guru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, the glorious successor in the line of the brilliant Sri Shankaracharya, who was the cause for removing the ignorance of the world.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Aum Sri Anandaya Namaha!

Foreword

It pleases me immensely to know that Devi Vanamali, the author of this admirable book on the life of Bhagavan (Lord) Sri Krishna, wants me to write a few words by way of an introductory appreciation and suggestion. I have gone through this book carefully, and my first impression after reading it was that this is the first attempt perhaps ever made by a scholar-devotee to present in one compact volume the multifaceted and majestic life of the Great Incarnation. What charmed me especially was the perspicacious and deeply touching style and expression in which the whole story is told so beautifully and so comprehensively.

Usually devotees of Lord Sri Krishna confine their attention to the childhood and boyhood days of Krishna in Gokula, Vrindavana, and Mathura, and even if these accounts are a little more extended, the writings generally add only the events in Dwaraka, of Sri Krishnas regime and his social greatness as delineated in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana.

Very few pay sufficient attention to the wonderful deeds of the towering Krishna of the Mahabharata, without which facet his great life story would remain incomplete. It is delightful to observe that Mata Devi Vanamali has not omitted any salient feature and has managed to press into her book the essentials of the story as we have it in both the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Mahabharata.

The divine play of the child in Vrindavana, the serious posture of a mature potentate in Dwaraka, and the transcendent power exhibited in the Mahabharata constitute the three sections in the book of Sri Krishnas life. The author of this book is not merely a devotee in the ordinary sense of the term, but one who has endeavored to saturate her very life with Krishna bhakti, due to which specialty in her the work glows with a fervor of spirit and a radiance of clarity in presentation. A book written by a seeker who veritably lives in the presence of the Lord will no doubt exert a magnetic influence on every reader of this divine saga, this chronicle of God come fully in visible form.

A reading of the life of Sri Krishna will not only be a rewarding treat, as an enchanting vision of the deeds of the Divine Superman, but also charge the readers personality with an energy and vigor not to be had on this Earth.

May works of this kind see the light of day in more and more numbers, for the blessing of all humankind.