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Today (for my Australian readers, anyway) is the birthday of Lord Balarama, the eternally youthful brother of Lord Krishna. This evening I'm attending the Hare Krishna festivities here in Sydney. Last year at this time I was in Perth, and the year before Johannesburg, South Africa. My, how time flies.
In sacred Vedic theology, it is described how Lord Balarama is the first personal bodily expansion of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All other incarnations expand from Him. In Lord Krishna's earthly pastimes, He plays as Krishna's older brother.
Together Krishna and Balarama enact many pastimes as cowherd boys in the land of Vrindavana. Lord Balarama carries a plow and club and is known for His great strength. Whereas Krishna is blue, Balarama is white. I spent a week in the earthly Vrindavana, apparently situated in Uttar Pradesh state, India, at the end of last year.
Lord Balarama is the bestower of spiritual strength, an essential and special blessing needed for us to be successful on the long and sometimes rocky road that is spiritual life. It is especially auspicious to invoke Lord Balarama's generous benedictions on this day.
It is described:
"Powerful Lord Balarama is sixteen years old, full of the luster of youth and
has a fair complexion the color of crystal. He wears blue garments and a
garland of forest flowers. His handsome hair is tied in a graceful topknot.
Splendid earrings adorn His ears and His neck is splendidly decorated with
garlands of flowers and strings of jewels. Splendid armlets and bracelets
ornament Douji's graceful and very strong arms and His feet are decorated
with splendid jeweled anklets.
Lord Balarama's beauty is enhanced by the earrings touching His cheeks. His
face is decorated with tilaka made from musk, and His broad chest is
ornamented with a garland of gunja. Balarama’s voice is very grave and His
arms are very long, touching His thighs.
The splendour of Lord Balarama's transcendental form eclipses many millions
of glistening rising moons, and the slightest scent of His boundless
strength is sufficient to destroy many armies of demons. Although He knows
the supernatural power of His younger brother, Krishna, still, out of love
for Him, He never leaves Krishna alone in the forest even for a moment.
Balarama is Sri Krishna's dearest friend and is a great reservoir of the
nectar mellows of many kinds of transcendental pastimes."
I like the phrase 'The splendour of Lord Balarama's transcendental form eclipses many millions of glistening rising moons'. It's a nice meditation, especially since today, as well as it being the purnima (full moon) there is a partial lunar eclipse.
That's quite remarkable as there was a total lunar eclipse on Balarama's Birthday last year.
Most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and a large portion of Western and Central Asia and India, will see the entire eclipse. South America, Eastern Asia and Australia will observe part of the event.
This partial eclipse is the second of the two lunar eclipses in 2008, with the first being the total eclipse that fell on February 20, 2008. The next lunar eclipse will be a penumbral eclipse occurring on February 9, 2009, while the next total lunar eclipse will occur on December 21, 2010.
Technically the eclipse falls on the 17th very early morning, and will be visible in Sydney at 4.25am. According to the Vedic Lunar Calendar, this is still Baladeva Purnima since the days are calculated as starting and ending at sunrise, not midnight.
Posted by Kurma on 16/8/08; 5:57:33 AM
from the dept.
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Saturday, August 16, 2008
