Meditation On The Story Of Kuchela (Kuchela Meets Krishna)

Add as a preferred source on Google

The Vedanta Kesari, p. 306-310, August 2005, Ramakrishna Mission

Kuchela is, of course, excited. But, he is excited not so much by the prospect of coming by a plenitude of fortune as by that of having a sight of the Lord to his heart's fill. He considers the unexpected opportunity to meet Krishna as a veritable windfall. Before he sets out for Dwaraka to meet Krishna, he takes care to carry with him, tucked in a corner of his upper cloth, a few handfuls of puffed rice procured by his wife by begging from her neighbours. Even as he wends his way towards Dwaraka, his mind is dominated by thoughts about Krishna. To a consummate devotee all the wealth of the universe is a mere trifle compared to the bliss of God-vision. He trudges along wondering by what miracle the good fortune of having Krishna's 'sandarsanam' has befallen him.

In due course, he reaches Dwaraka and approaches Krishna's mansion. Even as Krishna has a faint glimpse of lean and haggard Kuchela plodding his way towards Him, he springs from his couch and rushes towards Kuchela to embrace him and accord him a rousing reception. He clasps his hand affectionately and leads him inside His palace. He sheds tears of joy. He lovingly seats Kuchela on the couch and honours him by laving his feet, applying sandal paste on his feet, offering flowers at his feet, performing dhupa, deepa, etc. Standing by his side, Sri, the Consort of Krishna, plies the fly whisks to relieve his tedium of the long and arduous trek.

The onlookers of this sight are bewildered by its utter incongruity. Where is Krishna, the Bhagavan, in whom the divine attributes of power, glory, fame, knowledge, lordliness and dispassion inhere and where is Kuchela, a mere mendicant and a pathetic specimen of abysmal poverty? Undoubtedly, a yawning chasm, apparently unbridgeable, separates the two. The meeting of Krishna and Kuchela is nothing short of splendorous divinity hastening to greet and move on equal terms with lowly humanity. What makes Divinity so accessible to plebian humanity? Well, it is nothing but the magic alchemy of mighty devotion that breaks the barriers between the high plateau of divinity and the low valleys of humanity. For, has not the Lord affirmed His thralldom to His devotees when He declares to Durvasa, the choleric sage, 'Oh Brahmin, I am an abject slave of my devotees, as if under their control.'

Kuchela may be a petty human steeped in poverty and bereft of any insignia of high status. But, he has, in his keeping, the most precious treasure of motiveless devotion to the Lord. Kuchela may be outwardly a pauper in rags but in the interior of his soul he is an opulent emperor robed in silks of devotion in sakhya bhava, devotion to the Lord as a friend.

It is to the eternal glory of Kuchela, the bhakta, that he, by his subtle devotional intuition, transmutes the intimacy into a powerful divine communion. When Krishna eyes the knot of puffed rice at the corner of Kuchela's worn-out upper garment, He senses that it is some nice delicacy which his friend has brought for Him. When he seizes with avidity the knot and unties it to see what it contains, Kuchela is visibly assailed by a sense of embarrassment while Krishna's eyes twinkle with a mischievous glint.

While the handful of puffed rice is, in the eyes of Kuchela, a paltry stuff unfit to be offered, the Lord of the Universe puts such a high value on it that He cannot brook even a moment's delay in appropriating and consuming it. The Divine evaluates the worth of the offering by the quantum of motiveless love with which it is charged. Even a leaf, a flower, a fruit or a drop of water can satisfy Him provided it is impregnated with genuine love (Gita 9.26). Kuchela's love-filled puffed rice is so delicious to Krishna that He eats it with relish. When He is about to go in for a second helping, Rukmini forbids Him lest the Lord should sink into a state of perpetual indebtedness to Kuchela. Each draught of the nectar of devotion that the divine quaffs is, as it were, one more fetter that reinforces the bondage of the divine to the devotee.

About the author

Mr. Hariharan of Madurai occasionally contributes thoughtful articles to The Vedanta Kesari.