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Re: Digest bhakti.v003.n295

From the Bhakti List Archives

M. Tandy • March 14, 1999 


> LeelA Sukhar in one of his Krishna KarNAmrutha 
> slOkams describes the baby (Bala Mukhundhan )that floats on 
> the pralaya waters on top of a pupil leaf after swallowing 
> the universe and its contents for their protection :
> karAravindhEna PadhAravindhE 
>   mukhAravindhE vinivEsayantham
> VaDasya pathrasya puDE sayAnam
>   Baalam Mukhundham mansA smarAmi
> (Meaning ) : With His lotus soft hands , 
> our baby Mukhundhan has grabbed His
> lotus like toe and placed it in His 
> lotus red lips and sucks on it in amusement
> as He rests on the tender shoot of a Pupil leaf 
> contemplating on the next cycle of cration .
	
	ZrI LIlAzuka-muni elsewhere reveals the Lord's motivations for      
assuming such a unique and captivating form (BilvamaGgala-stava, 2.106):
 
        vihAya pIyUSa-rasaM munIzvarA
        mamAGghrir AjIva-rasaM pibantam /
        iti sva-pAdAmbuja-pAna-kautukI
        sa gopAla-bAlaH zriyam Atanotu vaH //
 
        "'Why do the best of the sages reject even nectar and instead
drink the water from My lotus feet?'
        Thinking in this way, He eagerly sucks His own lotus foot. May
that BAla-GopAla bless you with good fortune."
 
        There are also descriptions of VaTa-patra-zAyI in BhAgavata-purANa
(12.9), MahAbhArata (Vana, 188), Garga-saMhitA (1.20), as well as in
the MarkaNDeya-purANa and other sources. I've also seen a "BAlamukundASTakam," 
(anyone know who wrote this?) which expands upon the aforementioned verse
(KRSNa-karNAmRta, 2.58). There is even another variant of that KK verse,
the source of which I'm unaware, which reads as follows:

	karAravindena pAdAravindaM      
        mukhAravinde vinivezayantam /
        vrajezvarI-krIDa-gataM hasantaM
        bAlaM mukundaM manasA smarAmi /
 
        "Smiling and playing with His mother, the queen of Vraja, He takes
His lotus foot, and with His lotus hand, places it into His lotus mouth.
Within my mind, I meditate upon BAla Mukunda."
 
 
        MT