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KANNAN PERRA VENNAIK KALVI- 8

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • January 27, 2000 


Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Continuing kaNNan's vennaik kaLavu-
How did the gopaas and gopees react for the vennaik kaLavu by Krishna? They
reacted badly or welcomed it. See slokam below-

Thava dhaDhi ghruthamOshE ghOshayOshaa janaanaam 
ABhajatha hrudhi rOshO naavakaasam na sOka:
Hrudhayamapi mushithvaa harsha sindhou nyaDhaasthvam
Sa mama samaya rOgaan vaathagEhaaDhinaatha!- naaraayaNeeyam Canto 45 slokam
10

Meaning: "Hey guruvaayoorappa (krishna), Gopees did not feel the least
annoyance or sorrow, at your stealing the curd and butter from their homes.
For you did simultaneously steal their hearts too, and did immerse them in a
sea of joy. May you, oh lord of guruvayoor, be pleased to eradicate my
sufferings" says naaraayaNa battaththiri. 

So it is clear that the aaippadi gopes welcomed his stealing because they
had immense joy once he came to their house.  This picture is in general
about all gopees. But is there any body specifically benefited by his
stealing? 

The answer is - periyaazhvaar in 1-5-5 says due to krishna's act of butter
stealing the two gandharvaas standing naLakooparan and maNigreevan who were
standing as marutha tree were benefited.
 
MaththaLavun thayirum vaarkuzhal nan madavaar vaiththana nei kaLavaal vaari
vizhungi orunkoththa iNai marutham unniya - 
Meaning: Krishna, You swallowed the fresh butter appearing on the churning
rod, and drank the curd in the pot. The young gopees who had nicely made up
hair style kept fresh ghee in the rope hangers- vaar kuzhal nan madavaar-
nanRaaga vari mudintha koonthalai udaiya gopikaa girls- kept the pots in
uRi- these ghee pots were emptied by krishna by swallowing- not eating.  Hey
Krishna, you pulled down and broke the trees as a result of this act. 

[See tying krishna to mortar etc is not referred here, but we know he went
with the mortar etc which we will enjoy in subsequent parts].  

So, as per aazhvaar, the direct benefit was got by these two because of
krishna's butter stealing- nei kaLavaal vaari vizhungi orunkoththa iNai
marutham unniya -nei kaLavu led to iNai marutham unnuthal-the trees standing
parallel were pulled down.

May be there were some body in the period of aazhvaar, who were saying that
the young child which did these acts were the king nandha's son. There is
nothing great in the acts of that child. For such persons, thirumangai
aazhvaar in his periya thirumozhi 5-1-5 clears any doubt or gives proof
about the greatness of the person who steals butter very nicely. 

"Maiyaar thadanGaN karunkoonthal aaichchi maraiya vaiththa thayir neyyar
paalOdu amudhu seitha nEmiyangai maayan"- 
meaning: Hey folks. Do not have any doubts, I, thirumangai mannan, kaliyan,
say very firmly "the child who ate the curd milk, and ghee, is nobody else
except that chakradhaari
*	nEmi -chakkaram -discus 
*	am - azhagiya -beautiful 
*	kai - hand
*	maayan -one who does tricks
The  Lord NaaraayaNan, who has the discus in his beautiful right hand does
all these. The curd etc were kept secretly (maRaiya) by the gopi, who had
decorated her broad eyes with collirium (mie- kaajal) and who has black nice
hair and this child krishna ate these. 

See "swami nammaazhvaar" also says same- 
VaLavEzh ulagin mudhalaaya vaanOr iRaiyai aruvinaiyEn kaLavEzh veNNai thodu
unda kaLvaa 1-5-1 thiruvaaimozhi

Meaning: aruvinaiyEn- I, the fellow who has 6 types of sins know that the
thief, who steals butter and eats with happiness, is the first and foremost
of all dhEvaas who are chiefs of the all the seven worlds.
 
We can not say krishna was always stealing. Some times these gopees also
call him and give him the butter etc which was liked by him. See the
confirmation for such invitation from kaliyan.

Aaichchiyar azhaippa veNNaiyundu orukaal aalilai vaLarntha emperumaan-
thirumangai  aazhvaar in his periya thirumozhi 4-10-4
Meaning: Hey folks, do not think he is an ordinary child, he is the same
supreme Lord, who ate all the worlds one day, and slept in the banyan leaf,
during the mahapralayam- such person is this krishna, he is invited by the
gopees and given butter in adequate quantity.

If one confirms that he is the sankodu chakkaram Enthum thadakkaiyan
-chakradhaari, then what about periya piraatti. Where is she, because he is
always agalagillEn enRu alarmEl mangai urai maarban- see the answer- the
gopees themselves say- [in srimadh bhagavatham X canto the sargam named
gopikaa geetham sri sukhaachaaryaL says]

Jayathi thedhikam janmana vraja:
Srayatha indhira sasvathathra hi !
Dhayitha dhrusyathaam dhikshu dhaavakaa:
Thvayi dhruthasava: thvaam vichinvathO:!!

Meaning: Oh krishna! after your birth in aaippaadi, sri mahalakshmi always
reside in our aaippaadi. So gokulam is more than srivaikuntham. We kept our
life and mind in you and search for you in all directions. Oh krishna where
you have gone? (actually this gopikaa geetham is part of the vEnugaanam and
raasakreedai portion). 

She resides in aaippaadi. That is ok. Rukmini is yet to join krishna because
he is still in the childhood when he did all this vennaik kalvi [veNNaik
kaLavu to be precise?] So a doubt will come in what form she is and where
she is in aaippaadi? This doubt will come. It is very nicely answered. See
slokam below.

Kalasa navaneetha chOrE kamalaa dhruk kumudha chandhrikaa poorE!
Viharathu nandha kumaarE chEthO mama gOpa sundharee jaarE!! 2-80 leela
sukhar

Meaning: Let my mind play with that krishna, who 
*	is the son of king nandha, 
*	steals butter kept in the pots 
*	is the full moon to the lily flowers, which are nothing but the eyes
of mahalakshmi,  
*	is also the lover of gopees.
the lily flowers are the eyes of mahalakshmi to receive the cool rays the
krishna chandran. So she lives in the brindhavan in the lily plants in the
thadaakams in brindhavan. She always enjoy him -receiving the rays of the
krishna chandran- the full moon of brindhaavan.

You may wonder how he did this act of stealing? Any details? Etc. The answer
is from kaliyan-
Padal adaiththa siru kurambai nuzhainthu pukku 
pasu veNNai patham aara paNNai muRRum 
adal adarththa vERkaNaar thOkkai paRRi 
alainthu alaimai seithu uzhalum aiyan - thirumangai aazhvaar in his periya
thirumozhi 4-4-3

meaning: In a small hut (kurambai) where the door is not there but only a
mat like stopper serving as door (padal) [bunch of palmira or coconut leaves
braced with bamboo laths] krishna enters and searches for the rope hanger
where butter is kept. He finds the butter and eats with satisfaction (padham
aara uNdu). The lady of the house tries to catch the thief kaNNan. He
immediately starts teasing her by running here and there, and catching her
in turn by the pallu (thOkkai). She in the end gives up catching him.
 
Thaan muna naaL minnin idai aaychchiyar tham chErikkaLavin kaN thunnu padal
thiranthu pukku thayir veNNai than vayiRaara vizhungi kozhunkayarkaN mannu
madavOrgaL paRRi- periya thirumadal
Meaning is more or less same as above.

While he did the stealing how was his words- was he harsh or soft. Clever,
vaak chathuree- we have already seen in earlier part. See bhadraachala
raamadaasaa in his krithi "naaraayana" he says krishna is very soft- mrudhu
bhaashee-

 "NaaraayaNaa NaaraayaNaa jaya gOpaala 
harE krishnaa sri kousthubha maNi bhoosha sringaaraa 
mrudhu bhaasha nandhaa vara kumaaraa 
navaneetha dhaDhi chOraa" 
meaning is not really required for this.

By reading krishnaa's kaLavuk kalvi, let our sins committed unknowingly be
lost. 

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.