KANNAPIRAAN PERRA VENNAIK KALVI- 5

From the Bhakti List Archives

• January 17, 2000


Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In part 4, we tasted kaNNan's taste in veNNai aLaithal as part of his
veNNaik kalvi. 

Before we take up the topic of vennaik kaLavu, which I mentioned as the next
topic in my previous post, I would like to state the following points.
1.	AaNdaaL enjoys seeing krishna in brindaavan and calls him "kuNungu
naari kuttERu"in naachchiyaar thirumozhi 14-2 patti meinthu pathikam- kutti
Eru smelling the kuNungu- meaning -a small bull smelling butter. Father of
aaNdaaL calls him to bathe to remove his veNNaik kunungu- smell. But
daughter enjoys him with the smell of butter. Ways are different for
bhakthaas in enjoying the Lord.
2.	I am wrong to state and now stand corrected to state periyazhvaar do
not relish krishna being beaten with cane and rope. The relevant portions
will be covered in the subsequent posts. Regret the error.
3.	Few more topics in my mind and in the draft stage as part of this
vennaik kalvi series are 
1.	Practical sessions of krishna in thayir kadaithal (part 5). 
2.	Navaneetha naatyam (part 6)
3.	VeNNai vizhunguthal (part 7)
4.	VeNNaik kaLavu (part 8)
5.	DhamOdharan (part 9)
6.	Other points connected with this vennai baala leelai (part 10)

Now part 5 of veNNaik kalvi:

For any learning, it is without exception, the student has to go to the
proximity of the teacher and receive the education. [Even in this age of
"education thru Internet", how to operate the computer and the internet,
have to be learnt with the help of a person -  a guru]. Here kaNNan also
reaches the house of a gopasthree (or yasOdhai?)

Swami desikan says in his yadhavaabhyudhayam
"gruhEshu dhaDhnou pathana pravruththou prushathkaNairuthpathithai:
prakeerNa:/
nidharsayasaamaasa vijaam avasthaam pracheem sudhaa seekara yOga
chithraam//'
chapter 4- slokam 28.

Krishnaa reached and was standing by the side of the lady observing how she
was carrying out the churning of curd. 
First she kept the pot containing curd on the pirimaNai near the wooden
pillar used for tying the rope- pirimaNai is the coir rope stand in ring
shape to allow firm standing of the curd pot 
Then she adjusted the pot to position. 
Then added water to the curd. 
Then the two holding ropes were inserted in the wooden pillar. 
Then the churning rod after cleaning was placed inside the pot inserting the
rod through these two rope rings. 
Then the churning long rope was tied to the maththu and started the
kadaithal. 

Krishna, standing nearby, observed and learnt the steps involved. 
When the churning was in full swing, the droplets of the curd was sprinkling
on the body of krishna. He also enjoyed it. He recalled the days when the
ksheeraaBhDhi was churned and he was drenched by similar droplets from the
milk-ocean. He enjoyed these thoughts. That picture of yoga was brought to
the gopa sthree by krishna- says Swami Desikan. 

Krishna is "ekachandhagraahi"- once taught he will learn with all concerned
about that art. But what about practical sessions? Now he wants to
experiment himself on the churning rod- a practical session. See how it is
described by kulasekara aazhvaar KP.

KeNadaiyoNkaNmadavaaL oruththi keezhaiyagaththuth thayirkadaiyak kaNdu ollai
naanum kadaivan enru kaLLavizhiyai vizhiththup pukku vandamar poonkuzhal
thaazhnthu ulaava vaanmugam verppa sevvai thudippa thaN thayir nee
kadainthittavaNNam daamodharaa! meyyarivan naanE! 6-2 PerumaaL thirumozhi.

The gopasthree (lady of aaip paadi) who had eyes like the kendai fish- a
type of fish- started churning the curd. She had her house east of krishna's
house. Krishna heard the noise of churning and went near her and said- "oh
dear, move aside, I will do it for you'. So saying he started churning. The
practical session starts. How he did the job is a picturesque description.  

kaLLavizhiyai vizhiththup pukku - the eyes described as raajeeva lOchanam,
aravindha nEthram etc are described here as kaLLa vizhi- deceptive eyes-
krishna seeing with deceptive looks

vandamar poonkuzhal thaazhnthu ulaava - the curly beautiful black hair locks
have flowers adorned in it. These flowers are full of honey. Bees are
hovering around the flowers. Such hair locks are hanging around the
beautiful bright face of krishna- the words selected are of a very high
class- 

vaanmugam verppa - the clear blue colour sky like face has sweat drops
appearing- again a classy word- vaan mugam- it is said the Lord has chandran
and suryan as his eyes -chandra suryou cha nEthrE is the dhyaana slokam of
sahasranaamam- only a vaanmugam can have chandran and suryan as eyes- aha
-aha- what a selection of word.

sevvai thudippa - the red mouth twits-jerks- shivers- due to fear- no-
excitement of learning and doing it self that too successfully- 

thaN thayir nee kadainthittavaNNam daamodharaa- (here itself KP calls
dhaamOdharan- but MGV reserves this for another part) thaN thayir- chill
curd- why thaN thayir- just in front is vaan mugam- that face and eyes which
showers the whole world all the aruL and karuNai- he is focussing all his
attention on that curd- the kataaksham is fully on the curd- then what else
it could be except thaN thayir- chill and  cool - nee kadainthittavaNNam -
the way you churned the curd

meyyarivan naanE- I know the truth- hey krishnaa- I know why you struggle so
much- hey you want fresh butter only and like it -so you do all this. Please
have it says KP aaichchi. 

So practical sessions are also carried successfully. Results are forth
coming.

See pogai azhvaar- 18 of mudhal thiruvanthaathi- 
NaanRa mulaiththalai nanjuNdu uri veNNai
ThOnRa uNdaan venRi soozh kaLiRRai oonRi
Porudhudaivu kaNdaanum puLLin vai keeNdaanum
Maruudhidai pOi maNNaLantha maal

Usually butter is kept in the uri- rope hanger- but krishna is interested to
eat fresh butter as the butter collects on top of the curd while churning-
so veNNai thOnRa uNdaan- since butter is usually kept in uri those days the
butter gets the name uriveNNai- so results are immediate.

Swami desikan also confirms this in his "Maththuru miguththa thayir moiththa
veNNai vaiththathuNNum aththan"- 44 adhikaara sangraham
Maththuru- maththai uruththi- inserting the churning rod 
By adding water the quantity of curd is increased- so miguththa thayir. 
As churning is continued the butter starts accumulating on the top of curd-
so moiththa vennai
vaiththathu uNNum aththan-as the butter is collected same is transferred to
a container kept nearby and immediately eaten by kaNNan- so vaiththathu
uNNum aththan

Result of this eating is mother finds it difficult to have some milk curd
etc. See 
Vaiththa neyyum kaaintha paalum vadithayirum naruveNNaiyum iththanaiyum
perrariyEn empiraan nee pirantha pinnai eththanaiyum seyyap perraai -
periyaazhvaar 2-2-2

Karantha nar paalum thayirum kadainthuri mEl vaiththa veNNai piranthathuvE
mudhalaagap peRRariyEn empiraanE! periyaazhvaar 2-4-7

Actually as per aandaaL- seerththa mulai paRRi vaanga kudam niraikkum vaLLal
perum pasukkaL are there in aaip paadi- but as per periyaazhvaar -mother-
says nee pirantha pinnai iththanaiyum perrariyEn- so what happens to all the
karantha paalum etc- answer is given hidden in the words there itself- hey
krishnaa- nee eththan- you are a clever fellow- aiyum seyyap peRRai- 5 are
done for you and you got these five- what are the five- milk, curd,
buttermilk, butter, ghee- nee peRRai- so nothing is left for me- so nee
pirantha pinnai, naan perrariyEn. 

So is it not correct for the mother to say like this, and KP to say
meyyarivan naane. 

Thus the lessons are well learnt with practical sessions by krishna for us
to enjoy his baala leelai. What a beautiful veNNaik kalvi krishna you learnt

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.