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KANNA PIRAAN KARRA VENNAIK KALVI- 9

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • January 31, 2000 


Dear srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer
Before we go into the next part of the kaNNa piraan's veNNaik kalvi, two
points are to be shared with you. They are

1.	The proverb kaLavum kaRRu maRa- the meaning what we saw in part 7 is
the popular version. But the meaning according to tamil professors the
meaning is- kaLavum kaRRum aRa - "leave aside stealing and telling lies".

2.	While the point on presence of mahalakshmi in aaippaadi was
discussed the name used for krishna was "Krishna chandran"- the word krishna
has one more meaning- nisha - iruttu- darkness. Chandran means brightness
-light. Krishnachandran- means a combination of darkness and light. Is it
possible to have such a combination. How both can co-exist? - contrasting in
dhvandhvam.  To realise Krishnachandran, we have to go beyond the duality,
and then only it is possible. 

See Sri parthasaarathy himself says- 
NirmaanamOhaa jithasangadhOsha adhyaathmanithyaa vinivruththa kaamaa:!
Dhvandhvair vimukthaa: sukhadhukha samgjair gachchanthya mooDa:
padhamavyayam thath !! 

Thatha: padham thathparimaargithavyam sasmingathaa na nivarthanthi Bhooya:!
ThamEva chaadhyam purusham prapadhyE yatha: pravruththi: prasruthaa
puraaNee!! Srimadh bhagavathgeetha ch 15 slokam 5 and 4

Now let us continue with veNNaik kalvi.
 
When you do steal and get lot of things, what you have to do is to safeguard
the materials stolen in a safe place. Then hoard all these materials for
future use till the humdrum of stealing is over. That is why there is a
proverb "thiruda therinchvanukku padhungavum theriyaNum"- "one who knows how
to steal must also know how to hide".

If material stolen is eatable and of perishable nature, what the thief can
do except eat the maximum and throw rest as waste. In throwing out also,
there is a danger of the thief getting traced and caught. So consuming
maximum is the ideal solution. 

That eating also must be done with utmost speed so that the thief is not
caught while eating. This kind of beautiful solution is taught by none other
than our Sri krishna. 

See here the beautiful scene. Krishna entered the hut "padal thiranthu siru
kurambai" [what we saw in 8th part]. But when he does this? In the early
morning as soon krishna wakes up says Leela sukhar. See his slokam 

DhaDhimathana ninaadhais thyakthanidhra: praBhaathE
NiBhrutha padhamagaaram vallaveenaam pravishta:!
Mukha kamala sameerai raasu nirvaapya dheepaan 
Kabalitha navaneetha: paathu gOpaala baala:!! 3.87 leela sukhar

Meaning: In the very early morning hours, Sri krishna wakes up due to the
noise of churning of curd by these gopees. So, he, without making any noise,
enters the houses of these gopees. He blows out the lights and swallows
butter. Let such a krishna save me.

See the "chaathuryam" cleverness of krishna. In the morning these cowherds
have to take the milk, curd, butter etc to the king's palace, next village,
market etc, so that materials could be sold without much difficulty. For
that they have to start in time, which is the wee hours of morning. So they
start the churning etc in the pinmaalai -early morning (fourth jaamam or
yaamam) when sun is yet to rise. They keep the lights on and carry out the
churning because sunlight is yet to come. During that time krishna is also
awake and starts his work. He goes there, puts off the light, and swallows
the butter so fast. How butter is eaten? Kabalitha - Vizhungi says the
krishna bhaktha. Swallowed- why? Urgency to get away from the place fast
before getting caught.

What about the working procedure of krishna in the art of stealing? Any
details? That is answered nicely by periyaazhvaar in 1-9-7
Poththavuralaik kavizhththu adhan mElEri thiththiththa paalum thadaavinil
veNNaiyum meththa thiru vayiru aara vizhungiya aththan- 
Meaning: The mortar, which has a hole in the centre, is turned upside down,
and used as a stool to reach the rope hanger. Then milk, butter are
swallowed nicely contained in these pots. [in the villages over the ural a
stone ring called vayOdu is used. This is to increase the flexibility of
operation and to avoid spillage of materials in dry condition. When wet
grinding is done this extra piece is kept aside. That piece is used by
Krishna as stool because it is of less weight and a child can also handle
it.]

The person who swallows butter has stomach, which is called as thiru vayiru
and such a person is aththan for aazhvaar. 

Whether krishna got butter and milk etc so that his stomach is full? This
question is answered nicely by poigai aazhvaar. See
Vaanaagith theeyaai maRi kadalaai maaruthamaai
ThEnaagip paalaai thirumaalE aanaaichchi
VeNNai vizhunga niraiyumE munnoru naaL
MaNNai umizhntha vayiRu. - muthal thiruvanthaathi- 92- poigaiyaazhvaar

First this paasuram is to be brought order like this
ThrumaalE- (nee) vaan aaginai - became space -one of the pancha boothaas
(aanaai from aanaaichchi is taken here)
ThrumaalE- (nee) theeyaai aanaai- became fire
ThrumaalE- (nee) kadalaai aanaai- became ocean
ThrumaalE- (nee) maaruthamaai aanaai- became air
ThrumaalE- (nee) then aaginaai- became honey- the nectar- amirtham
ThrumaalE- (nee) paalaam- you are also the milk
Munnoru naal maNNai umizhntha vayiRu. veNNai vizhunga niraiyumE - oh
naaraayaNaa! your stomach which spit the whole earth, this bhoomi, will get
filled with swallowed butter given by these  gopees.

Actually there is an exclamation. That stomach which kept the entire bhoomi
inside during the maha pralayam, gets easily filled with this small quantity
of butter given by these gopees. How is it?

When the whole world is inside the stomach how it looks like? See 1-4-9 of
periyaazhvaar.
Thaazhiyil veNNai thadankaiyaara vizhungiya pEzhai vayiRRu empiraan [than
mugaththu  group]
The stomach was like a pEzhai- a small box. Enjoy the contrasts of big and
small. (is this not similar to krishna chandran?)

When one eats so urgently, and that too to the full stomach, naturally that
person will get sleep. See the lines of aazhvaar
ThiNNak kalaththil thirai uRi mEl vaiththa veNNai vizhungi viraiya urangidum
aNNal  2-5-3 periyaazhvaar

Meaning: [May be this scene is in another gopee's house]. They have kept the
butter etc in strong and big vessels (thiNNak kalam) [not pots as in the hut
(kurambai)]. The vessels are also kept in rope hangers and they are also
covered (thirai itta uRi). But our krishna entered there also, swallowed the
butter and he moved fast from that place to his house and went to sleep. 

Why so? So that mother yasOdhaa will say  "see my child, he is a good boy,
and is sleeping and is safe from kamsa's agents. He is also not causing any
damage to any body" (because he already caused damage to sakatam, poothanai
etc).

After a small nap, the child krishna started crying, as though he is very
hungry and has to be fed by the mother (with breast milk). See 3-1-5
periyaazhvaar

MuppOdhum kadainthu eeNdiya veNNayinOdu thayirum vizhungi 
kappaal aayargal kaavinil koNarntha kalaththOdu saaiththup parugi 
meippaal undu azhu piLLaigal pol nee vimmi vimmi azhuginra appaa! 

Anchuvan Unakku ammam thara says mother in this paasuram. The butter is
churned three times in a day in the aaippaadi. The cows give so much milk
vaanga kudam niraikkum vaLLal perum pasukkaL. Hence that milk is to be
processed into curd butter etc. 

Such butter is swallowed, and curd is drunk by tilting the pots, by Krishna
entering different houses on different times. The curd butter are brought in
or carried by the gopaas in kaavadi- a pole carried on the shoulders, with a
split end so that two or three things can be hanged on each end, and the
weight is carried with ease 'kappaal aayargal kaavinil koNarntha'- kappu is
kiLai branch. Kaa is kaavadi. Kaa is also sOlai- garden. So these gopaas
brought butter curd etc in branches to the garden where krishna is staying. 

"After eating so much also, hey krishna, you are crying like any other
child, genuinely crying due to hunger, to be fed by their mother! I am
afraid to feed you (anchuvan ammam tharavE! Says yasOdhaa- mother- aazhvaar)


Mother yasOdha is not willing to breast feed the child krishna. Next how to
get rid of the hunger. 
Already we saw in part 2 ammam uNdu vantha kalvi of krishna.
UnduvantEn ammam enru solli Odi agam puga aaichchi thaanum 
kandu ethirE senru eduththuk koLLa kaNNapiraan kaRRa kalvi thanE" 2-9-4

He had the feeding done by another mother. So his kalvi is nicely carried
out. Then also the hunger still remains. What he does further . Let us see
in next post.
Dasan Vasudevan M.G.