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The infallible discus

CHENNAI: The conch and the discus of the Supreme Being serve not merely as ornaments but also as weapons in times of need, especially when His devotees are in distress. When Andal invokes these exclusive indicators of the Lord in the Tiruppavai, the addition of literary value to the religious fervour of the hymns affords one a better experience of the greatness of the Lord, pointed out Kalyanapuram Sri R. Aravamudachariar in a discourse.

During His incarnation as Lord Krishna, when He had the foremost mission to help the Pandavas, He used the discus on many occasions. The discus was used to hide the sun to create a false sense of the end of the day. This was done to save Arjuna when he was getting ready to enter the fire as he had vowed to do so if he failed to kill Jayadrata who was responsible for Abimanyu’s death the previous day.

On another occasion the Lord took the discus and ran towards Bhishma to save Arjuna from Bhishma’s fierce arrows, not heeding His own vow of not taking up arms during the war. An overwhelmed Bhishma recalls this act of the Lord with gratitude later, moved by the extraordinary compassion of the Lord towards His devotees. Again this discus saved the foetus in Uthara’s womb against the ruthless attack of Aswathama, thereby preserving the Pandava race.

More importantly the Lord revealed His identity to Brahma when the latter sought forgiveness for his foolish act of testing the Lord. Brahma had hidden the cows and the cowherds for a year and the Lord had assumed all the forms of the cows, cowherds, etc., and sustained normal life in Ayarpadi throughout the period. Brahma then understood that this was the very Lord of all creation and acknowledged that not all his learning and scholarship of the Vedas had helped him to understand the truth of the Supreme Being while the unlearned and simple folk of Vraja had the unique opportunity of enjoying His friendship.

It was then that the Lord showed Brahma the unique vision of His self with conch and discus, not merely on His self but in all the forms of the cowherds He had assumed to maintain and sustain stability.

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