A Story of Dvapar Yuga in Prose ( part-16)

A Story of Dvapar Yuga in Prose ( part-16)

By Lokanath Mishra

Krishna, Balarama, and the Guru Dakshina of Santipani

In the sacred traditions of ancient India, education was not merely the acquisition of knowledge but a journey of discipline, service, and spiritual growth. At the heart of this system lay the concept of guru dakshina—the teacher’s due. Unlike the modern fee paid in advance, guru dakshina was symbolic as well as practical. It was requested at the completion of one’s education, meant both to sustain the teacher’s livelihood and to uphold the sacred reciprocity between teacher and pupil. The student was bound by dharma to request his teacher for dakshina, and the teacher, in turn, was bound to ask only what was fair and within the capacity of the student to give. If the pupil’s dharma was to give, the teacher’s dharma was to ask wisely.

When Krishna and his elder brother Balarama completed their studies at the hermitage of Sage Santipani, they compressed what others would take years to master into merely sixty-four days. At the conclusion of their learning, they approached their guru with folded hands and asked him to name their guru dakshina. Santipani, after consultation with his wife, did not ask for wealth, land, or honor. Instead, he asked for something far more personal: the return of his five sons, long dead.

The Impossible Request

Krishna gently questioned his teacher’s choice. Could it be considered proper to ask for sons who had died eighty years ago? Wasn’t that beyond the bounds of possibility, even for a pupil? But Santipani remained resolute. If Krishna found the request impossible, he said, he would absolve his students of the duty of offering dakshina and send them home with his blessings.

Yet Krishna, already determined to fulfill his teacher’s wish, accepted the challenge. Within himself, he wondered why his wise guru had failed to recognize his true nature as Narayana, the eternal. Why had Santipani not asked for liberation—moksha—instead of clinging to worldly attachment? Nevertheless, bound by respect and duty, Krishna resolved to fulfill his teacher’s desire.

He sent Balarama home and set out in search of the lost sons, beginning with the sea where Santipani’s youngest child had perished.

Krishna’s Descent into the Waters

Entering the depths of the ocean, Krishna was received with reverence by Varuna, the god of the waters. Varuna disclaimed responsibility, explaining that the children had fallen into the domain of Yama, the god of death. It was Yama, not he, who had drawn them away. Only in Yama’s realm could their fate be known.

Summoning his great vahana, Garuda, Krishna soared towards the land of the dead.

Confrontation with Yama

At Yama-loka, the blowing of Krishna’s divine conch, Panchajanya, resounded through the underworld. Its sound liberated many souls enduring punishment, a moment of cosmic redemption. Yama himself hastened to receive the avatara with folded hands, offering reverence and hospitality.

But Krishna’s words were stern. Why, he demanded, did Yama take the lives of children? Children are innocent, he said, untouched by sin. Their early deaths were acts of injustice.

Here the narrative takes a profound turn. Yama replied with humility but also with reason. Children’s deaths, he said, were not punishments for their own deeds but consequences of their parents’ karmas—particularly their moral and sexual transgressions. Children conceived in unethical unions bore destinies of short lives. He was merely the executor of the law of cosmic justice. Humans, in their ignorance, blamed him, but he was bound to the duties of his office.

Then, with surprising candor, Yama confronted Krishna himself. Respectfully, he pointed out that if ordinary mortals were judged harshly for their transgressions, what then of Krishna’s own reputation for indulging freely in unions with others’ wives? Did not such behavior from the avatara himself set troubling precedents for humankind?

Krishna Beyond Duality

Krishna, unshaken, accepted the charge without shame. He admitted to such unions but insisted that they could not be judged by ordinary moral codes. His own children, born of such unions, were to remain beyond the reach of Yama’s law. Justice might be dispensed among men, but the avatara stood above it, beyond duality, beyond the illusions of truth and falsehood. As an Odia proverb wisely puts it: “Bada lokanku uttara nahi”—the powerful are beyond questioning.

Satisfied, Yama revealed the fate of Santipani’s sons. They had been reborn as thieves and robbers in the mortal world. For Krishna’s purpose, however, the cosmic wheel turned backward, and he restored them in their original forms.

The Return of the Sons

Back at Prayag, Santipani and his wife, overwhelmed by grief, were preparing to end their lives in the sacred waters when Krishna appeared, accompanied by their five sons, alive once more. The reunion was one of overwhelming joy and astonishment. The guru and his wife wept with gratitude, embracing their children as though fate itself had been reversed.

Yet when the euphoria faded, Santipani was struck with a deep regret. In his desire to reclaim his children, he had overlooked the rarest opportunity given to any mortal—to seek liberation directly from the avatara himself. Krishna had fulfilled his wish and departed, but the chance for moksha was lost forever.

The Human Dilemma

This episode, as narrated by Sarala Dasa and others, is not just a tale of miraculous power but a profound reflection on human limitation. Even in the presence of Narayana, Santipani’s heart was bound by moha—attachment. He sought not the eternal but the impermanent. Thus, when the defining moment came, it was not Narayana who failed his devotee but man who failed to recognize Narayana.

The story of Krishna’s guru dakshina reminds us that true wisdom lies not in clinging to what time takes away but in seeking freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Santipani’s joy was immense, but his regret was eternal.

ହବିଷିଆଳୀ ବ୍ରତ

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