Krishna’s Divine Gurudakshina to Guru Sandipani

After Krishna’s triumphant victory over the tyrannical rule of Kansa and the salvation of Mathura, Devaki, Krishna’s mother, decided to send him, along with Balarama and Udhava, to the ashram of sage Sandipani for further education and training.

The sage, well aware of Krishna’s potential to uproot injustice and adharma, warmly welcomed Krishna as his student. Unlike those driven by power, Krishna was chosen for his exceptional virtues.

Krishna had previously spent days of joy, love, and companionship in the vibrant surroundings of Vrindavana. However, he now recognized the importance of mastering the arts of warfare and combat. With utmost devotion, Krishna and Balarama served their teacher in a manner that was reverent and respectful.

A distinguished Acharya, Guru Sandipani meticulously instructed them in the four Vedas and their six supplementary branches, Upanishads, Archery, Mantras, Dharmasastras, Nyaya, Rajaneeti, and various other fields of knowledge. Remarkably, within a mere sixty-four days, they acquired mastery over all sixty-four arts.

Upon completing their education in the Gurukula, as they prepared to depart, they inquired about the appropriate Gurudakshina (offering to the teacher) they could present. Overwhelmed by the Lord’s boundless magnificence, Sandipani, aware of Krishna’s divine nature, requested the return of his son lost at Prabhasa Kshetra’s ocean (on the banks of modern Gujarat). Krishna pledged to recover the child, and the brothers journeyed to Prabhasa.

Upon seeing Krishna’s presence, the ocean’s presiding deity swiftly appeared and offered his service to the Lord. Krishna entreated the deity to retrieve Sandipani’s son, who had been engulfed by the waves.

Samudra revealed that he had not taken the child; instead, a rakshasa named Panchajana, disguised as a conch (shankh), had seized the child. Immediately, Krishna plunged into the water. He reached deep beneath the ocean, battled the rakshasa, and vanquished it. He claimed the conch-shaped body of Panchajana but did not find the Guru’s child there.

Krishna implored Samudra where else the child could be. Samudra mentioned that another possibility was that the demon had killed the child and the soul was with Lord Yama. Undeterred, Krishna and Balarama ventured to the realm of Lord Yama. By sounding the Panchajanya (the conch), Krishna announced his presence, prompting Lord Yama to approach and offer his respects. With folded hands, Lord Yama inquired how he could serve Krishna.

Krishna requested the return of Guru Sandeepani’s son, who had been taken away due to destiny. Yama told Krishna that the soul that once departs the earth can only be reborn based on its karma. Krishna answered that it is because of the child’s previous karma and the devotion of his father that Lord Vishnu himself has come to the gates of Lord Yama to take the soul back. 

Yama could not refute Krishna and swiftly retrieved the child, presenting him to Krishna, who returned to the Guru’s hermitage with the child. Sandipani’s heart brimmed with joy upon the safe return of his son from the clutches of death.

Krishna, ever compassionate, asked his Guru if there was any other boon he desired. Content beyond measure, Guru Sandipani expressed that having a disciple like Krishna fulfilled all his desires. The debt owed by pupils to their teachers had been thoroughly repaid. He bid Krishna and Balarama to return home, their divine radiance purifying all, and their acquired knowledge remaining eternally fresh in memory.