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kannani ninaiththaalum sugamE- post 18

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.G.Vasudevan • December 11, 2001 


Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Just to recollect, since time interval between posts is large, in this
series, we saw in post the addressing of krishNa by periyaazhvaar can be
collected as  "krishNa sahasra naamam". I think my krishNa will permit me to
cover an astOthram at least in the next post.

In post 16, we also joined king dhEvEndhran in eulogising krishNa with
naamaas such as "BhagavathE, mahaathmanE, saathvathaampathayE, gnaana
moorthayE" etc.  In post 17, we enjoyed the celestial cow carrying out the
sthOthram of krishNa, with the naamaas such as "mahaayOgin, lOkanaathaa,
jagathpathE" etc. 

Such krishNa is simply addressed as "gOvindhaa" and that naama is repeated
more than once, and the devotee asks his mind to dwell deeply on that single
naamam.  

bhaja gOvindham, bhaja gOvindham gOvindham bhaja moodamathE
sampraapthE sannihithE kaalE nahi nahi rakshati dukrinj karaNE 
-sloka 1 of the sthOthram bhaja gOvindham by sri aadhisankara.

meaning: Seek Govinda! Seek Govinda! Seek Govinda! Oh ignoramus, at the time
of death, the rules of grammer, which you are trying to cram and master,
will not be able to rescue you at all.

This sthothram is well known to one and all. The author did not ask the mind
to dwell on Bhagavaan saying krishNam bhaja, vaasudhEvam bhaja, etc, but
simply "gOvindham bhaja". So  this gOvindha naamam must have some thing
special in itself. What it is, we will see as the post progresses.

Another krishNa bhaktha, sri leela sukhar dwells in that gOvindha naamam
beautifully as

phullEndheevara kaanthim indhu vadhanam barhaavathamsa priyam
sreevathsaankam udhaara kousthuBhaDharam peethaambaram sundharam!
gOpeenaam nayanOthpala architha thanum gO gOpa sankaavrutham
gOvindham kala vENu naadha niratham dhivyaanga Bhoosham BhajE!!

Meaning: I do my dhyaanam on gOvindhan who
 Is like the fully blossomed blue coloured neelOthpalam flower
 Has the face like the full moon in full glow
 Has a liking for the peacock feathers which are adorned by him in
his crown
 Has a mole named sreevathsam in the chest
 Has the gem kousthuBham adorned in the garland around his neck and
dangling in chest
 Has the yellow robes
 Is the beauty embodiment
 Has a beautiful body [thirumEni] having done archanai- pooja by the
gOpees with their eyes as the flowers- the dark coloured flowers [kaN malar]
 Has been encircled by the cows and their grazers the cowherds
 Loves to sing with his flute and give out enchanting music
 Has in the body lovely jewelry adding to beauty

Points: 
1. See the 3 identies of the lord are covered in one slokam, krishNa,
naaraayaNa, gOvindhaa. The lord's grace just flows out in full glory through
the mouth of this bhaktha. Otherwise such words and verses will not flow
out.

2. The lord having taken birth in chandhra kulam will naturally have a face
better than the moon himself.  When he lifted the gOvardhanam and held it
for 7 days all the gOpees eyes were just on him doing that archanai-
glancing with all the love to their lord - that is the archanai for him
nayanOthphalaarchitham.

3. the enchanting flute music- periyaazhvaar has given one padhigam- 10
verses - wonderful verses- even a casual reading, on any day, in any mood,
will make the eyes dew- kaNgaL pani kaattum- yes- kaNNanai ninaiththaalE
sugam allavaa - [this writer was able to enjoy with the co-operation of all
of you that padhigam in a long series earlier].

4. On such a lord I want to do dhyaanam as  "gOvindhan". That is the real
identity, the special here in this verse.

Who gave this name gOvindhan to the lord- is it rishis, is it the lord
himself is it dhEvendhran or is it a kaaranap peyar- a name born out of a
reason. See sage parasara in his sri vishnu puraanam 

sa thvaam krushNa aBhishEchyaami gavaam vaakya prachOdhitha:!
upEndhrathvE gavaam indhrO gOvindhasthvam Bhavishyasi!! 
12th slokam, 12th chapter, 5th amsam, Sri vishnu puraanam

meaning: hey krishNa, I want to perform the crowning to you, on behalf of
cows, and cowherds as "indhra of  cows". Let you be named hereafter as
gOvindhaa.

Sage sukha brahmam in srimadh bhagavatham says indhra and surabhi jointly
did that crowning to the lord and gave that gOvindha naamam in front of
rishis -  
indhra: surarshiBhi: saakam nOdhithO dhEva maathruBhi:!
aBhyashinchatha dhaasaarha gOvindha ithi cha aBhyadhaath!! 
23rd slokam 27th chapter srimadh bhagavatham dhasama skandham poorva ardham

meaning: indhra and surabhi carried out the crowning or pattaabhishEkam in
the presence of the dhEva loka people like dhEvaas, their ladies and rishis
to krishNa, the dhaasaarha, and conferred a title to him as gOvindhaa.

Point here is that naama "dhaasaarha"- the 511th naamam in sri vishnu
sahasra naamam - dhaasaarha:- a name of lord krishna - also mean one who is
competent to receive all devoted offerings made in ritualistic sacrifices.
The yadhukulam is also known as dhaasa kulam so also dhaasaarha. KrishNa is
the fit person to receive all sacrifices in yagnas and when indhra came in
between he got that rubbing nicely.

Swamy dEsikan puts this coronation as - simply marvellous -
abhouma ganga payasaa prapoorNa amaavarjayan vaaraNa raaja gaNtaam
asEsha saamraajya padha aBhishiktham gupthyai gavaam gothraBhidh
aBhyashinchath!!
103 slokam 7th chapter sri yaadhava abhyudhayam

meaning: The king dhEvendhran, who breaks the hills, did carry out the
abhishEkam to krishNa, with the ganga water filled in the bells of the
elephant iraavatham, and accepted that he is powered to save the cows.

krutha abhishEka kruthinaa magOnaa gopthEna gOvindha ithi svanaamnaa!
krutha prasaadha: prajidhaaya krshNa: svargaadhirOhaaya puna: surEndhram!!
104
Meaning; dhEvendhran conferred the thirumnaamam "gOvindha" which was
secretly given by rishis to naaraayaNan, that krishnan. Then krishNa
permitted indhran to go back to his place.

So, in view of swami desikan, this naama gOvindha is from rishis. To rishis
who will give except the lord supreme the naaraayaNa himself. That means, he
likes himself to be called the protector of cows. 

In harivamsam, indhra says this- gOvindha naamam to you will be eternal. See
slokam
aham  kilEndhrO dhEvaanaam thvam gavaam indhrathaam gatha:!
gOvindha ithi lOkaas sthOsyanthi Bhuvi saasvatham!! 2-19-45 
meaning: I am the leader of dhEvaas . you have attained the leadership of
cows. So in this world men praise you eternally - always addressing you as
gOvindha:

Mahabhaaratham says the dhEvaas gave this name gOvindhaa to  krishna- see
slokam
nashtaam cha DharaNeem poorvamavinDham vai guhaagatham!
gOvindham ithi thEnaaham dhEvair vagaBhiraBhishtutha:!!
Saanthi parvam - 342-70.
Meaning: in ancient times I restored the earth that had sunk down to
paathaaLam so all dhEvaas praised me and gave me the name gOvindhaa.

this word gO has 3 meanings- words, this earth, cows. We have seen the two
earth and cows as stated above. Now see for the third- words.
Harivamsam 3-88-50
Gour eesa thu yathO vaaNi thaam cha vindhyathE Bhavaan!
GOvindhas thu thathO dhEva muniBhi: kathyathE Bhavaan!!
Meaning: go means words. Since you are pervading all vaak and words, you are
addressed as gOvindha by munis.

You can see from this, perhaps swamy desikan has sourced the contention
given above is from this harivamsa slokam [that gOvindha naamam came from
rishis from this].

As stated already this gOvindha pattaabhishEkam is a special one- being
coronation at a young age and for carrying out an extra ordinary thing of
lifting gOvardhanam. So krishna got a benefit from this hill lifting. What
about that hill. Any thing? Let us see in next post.

Dhaasan 

Vasudevan M.G.

Ps: Bhakthaas have to excuse me for having said I will conclude, I am not
concluding here. But  may be next will be the last in this series.


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