BG 18.65

After bathing in Gomati river, we have come to enter the temple. There are 56 steps to climb. Above the steps, is the tall Gopuram. On the Gopuram, a flag is hoisted on 52 Yards flagstaff! It appears, Sri Krishna lived here with 56 Crores of people! They were all brought from Mathura in a single night! Since, we can not see those 56 Crore people, 56 steps are representing them! After climbing the steps, we enter. On one side there are Four tiers and on the other side, Seven tiers. What is the reason for 52 yards staff? Stars are 27, Zodiacs are 12, Planets are 9 and Four directions - all together make 52! The flag is hoisted 5 times in a day, Three times during day and Twice during night. This is done to indicate that Sri Krishna was a King. Near the Lord, is Sri Balarama's sannidhi. He is also called Sri Trivikrama. He is holding discus and conch, and mace and lotus flower. He is also decorated with Plough as weapon. On the other side Sri Madhava is gracing. Then we see Pradyumna, son of Sri Krishna, and Aniruddha, Pradyumna's son. When we go round the temple, we can worship sage Durvasa. Once Sri Rukmini had invited Durvasa for food. It is customary for the host to eat only after feeding the guest. But Sri Rukmini had drunk water and so Durvasa was angry. He cursed that She would be separated from Sri Krishna. That is the reason, there is no sannidhi for Sri Rukmini in the temple. Her temple is about 3 KMs away, on the way to Bhet Dwaraka! Seeing Sri Rukmini suffering separation, the Lord gave His beautiful idol to Her to worship. And, that is Sri Dwarakadeesha!




Opposite the Lord's sannidhi is Devaki Matha's sannidhi, and not Garuda, as seen in other temples. This is to compensate for the initial 10 years, Devaki missed Sri Krishna. This temple was established by Vajranabhi, Sri Krishna's great grand son, with Vishvakarma's assistance. The Lord is gracing with mace in His upper right hand, discus in upper left hand. He is holding conch in lower left hand and lotus in lower right hand. The Lord's Consorts and others are on His body. Many haratis are performed for the Lord, daily. Decorations change for every Harati. In the morning, pooja starts with Mangala Harati, like Viswaroopam. All come and worship this pooja, before commencing the day. Then the Lord is offered Bala Bhog, with a new decoration. Before 8 AM, we can have Swaroopa Darshan. The Lord can be seen without any decoration. Shringar Harati is at 9:15AM. At about 11:30 AM, Raja Bhog is offered. The Lord is decorated like a King. At about 4:30 PM, Utthapan and Harati are performed. Finally, in the night Sayana Harati is done. This temple has been praised by Alwars. If we climb up and go via Gopuram, we can see the idol of Yoga Maya, sister of Sri Krishna. Flag hoisting is done after pooja for Yoga Maya. She is believed to be saving the temple. Temple has survived many natural and other disasters.
We will now see the gist of Chapter 11:

ek¯ada´se sva y¯ath¯atmya s¯aks.¯atk¯ar¯avalokanam |
dattamuktam.vidipr¯aptyoh.bhaktyekop¯ayat¯a tath¯a (15)

In Chapter 11, to actually view His Natural state, He granted special eye power to Arjuna and showed that Bhakti alone was the means to understand and to reach Him. We try tu understand the Lord through books or lectures. Here, Arjuna was gifted with Divine eyes to view Him. Alwar asks people to perform Bhakti at His divine feet. In Chapter 10, the Lord described His wealth. All were under His command. Arjuna in 11.3, expresses his desire to see Him, with His wealth! Sri Krishna tells that with the ordinary eyes Arjuna possessed, it was impossible to see Him. He was beyond His eyes and intelligence. But, because Arjuna desired, He said He would bless him with Divine eyes to see Him [11.5]. Then the Lord showed His unimaginable Viswaroopam. Sanjaya was explaining Viswaroopam to Dridharashtra, in the palace [11.9]. Arjuna sees and for sometime, he was not knowing what he was seeing. The Lord appeared with many weapons, His body with sandal paste, wearing Vanamala, with Sun and Moon appearing on His body. He saw Sri Lakshmi on His body. He found lord Brahma and lord Rudra on His.body. He could see many soldiers entering His mouth, and many others coming out. He could not see the beginning nor end, and so neither middle. He found the entire Universe on His body. Seeing this frightful image, Arjuna became panicky. He was delighted to have seen the unseen; but, that gigantic image caused fear in him. So, with trembling voice he asks the image Who He was? The Lord replies in 11.32, He was Kaala [time]. He determined what should happen at what time. He came to relieve Earth of her burden. Arjuna was a mere tool [11.33]. He directs Arjuna to fight the war and get whatever fame due. He allows Arjuna to see whatever he had seen, in the past, on His body. He could also see the result of the Mahabharata war. Arjuna says in 11.45, that the Lord was Father, Mother, the God to him. There was none equal or superior to Him. He felt ashamed that he was thinking of Sri Krishna as his mere cousin! In 11.41, he repented for having called the Lord by names, out of ignorance and immaturity! In 11.46, he requests that the Lord with thousands of arms and eyes, should return to His old Self as Sr Krishna! The Lord agreed and became Sri Dwarakadeesha.