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krishna- how you entered my mind-5

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.G.Vasudevan • November 27, 2000 


Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In the previous post of this series of "Krishna how entered my mind", we saw
a beautiful description of that Lord returning home after grazing the cows
and their next generation members. Perhaps you can ask "Hey this description
suits any cowherd and that too for a son of the head of cowherds, so what is
special in it? Only that line "viNNin meethu amarar virumbith thozha" may
pose some problem, but that also can be dismissed as due to mistaken
identity if we consider this as a simple description of a cowboy.

But the person who described him does not leave any room for such arguments.
He says "avan aayar puththiran allan arum dheivam" 1-2-7 meaning - "hey
folks, he is not a simple cowherd boy, he is that rare or the rarest supreme
Lord". He is "aatkoLLath thOnRiya aayartham kO" 1-7-11- meaning- the king of
cowherds who came to take all under his refuge or to enslave everybody. He
further describes him as "makkaL ulaginil peidhu aRiyaa maNikkuzhavi"- 1-8-8
- that gem of a child, the birth of whom has not occurred in this world full
of people. These dispense all doubts about the person that aayar piLLai,
about whom we had such detailed description. 

I am quite sure about that person and those nice descriptions of that kuzhal
oothi oothi varuvaanai theruvil kaNdu. Perhaps by now you are also sure. But
you may again pose another question "hey why then you do you stretch this
topic instead of closing it, once you found the way, how he entered into the
mind as through ears and eyes". 

The answer to this question is- after that kaNdu- 
KaNdu kondu en kaNNinai aarak kaLiththu
PaNdai vinaiyaayina paRROdu aRuththu
ThoNdarkku amudhu uNNach chol maalaigaL sonnEn
ANdaththu amarar perumaan adiyEnE
Nammazhvaar 9-4-9 
AdiyEn enjoyed to the full the beauty of this varuvaanai- by visualising
those picturesque descriptions in the mind- kaNdu kaNNinai aarak kaLiththu. 
But we aNdaththu amarar perumaan thoNdar- we the servants of that supreme
leader of the galaxies must also enjoy.
amudhu uNNach - let us have and eat that nectar of description about him. 
chol maalaigaL sonnEn - for that sake I gave these excellent descriptions or
garlands of words. 
from this "adiyEnE"- this servant.

See here the Ekaaram in that adiyEnE- a lot of santhosham- happiness- to be
servant of that supreme lord. A lot of emphasis in that adiyEn- I am the
servant of that aNdaththu amarar perumaan- supreme lord- a lot of perumai- I
am the servant of such a supreme lord, not a servant of all and sundry.

Oh krishna- these sol malaigaL about you, enter through the ears into me,
the mind retains them for a while, then converts these into a picture, and
then sends again before the eyes for its capturing. That picture- the eyes
return back to the same mind after relishing and correcting where required,
perhaps ears might have missed some those gaps filled by eyes for it can
capture even minute details. Now a perfect picture in front of the mind and
it enjoys- so sol maalaigaL has become a vaNNap padam - so it is now fully
realised by me, that you entered my mind through ears and eyes. 

Oh bhakthaas, incidentally that beautiful song of Subramania Bharathy comes
to my mind, about that vaNNap padam of krishna- please have the song - 
aasai mugam maranthu pOchche 
idhai aaridam solvEnadi thOzhi-

kaNNan mugam maranthu pOnaal ini 
kaNgaL irunthu enna laabam
vaNNap padamum illai kaNdaai
ini vaazhum vagai enna sol thOzhi- aasai
[in between charaNams are left out and the relavant last charaNam alone is
given here]

SubramaNia bhaarathi simply pours out his heart saying
"His beloved face is forgotten, how I can say this to others, oh my friend,
What is the use of these eyes if kaNNan's face is forgotten. Oh, I do not
have his beautiful colour picture also, then how can I live, what is the way
out for this, oh friend!"

A perfect picture of my krishna captured in the mind is that amudhu-
whenever required it appears before and gives that elation of being one with
that krishna.

Now let us have that amudhu- for those who can not enjoy that beautiful
tamil description [ before we take up that- the long tamil description of
"than thOzharOdu kalanthu udan varuvaanai theruvil kaNdu", is from
periyaazhvaar thirumozhi- 3-4 thazhaigaLum padhikam. Words were taken and
combined. Now let us have that kaNNan amudhu- description of that
"varuvaanai"].

"Valli nuN idhazh anna aadai koNdu 
vasai ara thiru arai viriththu uduththu
The dress is adorned in the waist of kaNNan, it is spread so nicely, dress
fits so nicely, is without any sort of blemish, and looks like a creeper's
tender's leaves, clinging on to the support of that creeper (kodiyin kozhu
kombai pol)

surigaiyum theRivillum cheNdu kOlum saaththi 
aaniraiyin meeLak kuRiththa sangam saaththi 
paNaik kachchu unthi saaththi
palli nuN paRRaaga udaivaaL saaththi

surigai is udai vaaL- a small sword carried in the dress without being seen,
or concealed in the dress, - also said as kuruvaaL
therivil is the slingshot- uNdi vil- (a very popular hand tool carried by
narikuravas - nomads- nowadays)
cheNdu kol is the whip- please see uththammor swami's vyakhyaanam for a good
description of this cheNdu kol
paNaik kachchu- is a small cloth like bamboo mat worn across the chest to
insert all these tools etc.
the cow-boys usually carry these tools while going for grazing, the uNdivil,
cheNdu, a whistle- here krishna uses his conch itself as the whistle- to
call the cows and calves for their return journey homewards.  The udai vaaL
grips to the dress so nicely that aazhvaar describes palli nuN paRRaaga-
grips to the dress like a lizard.

sindhurap podi koNdu senni appi
than thiru neRRi mEl thiru naamam ittu sindhuram ilanga
suruL pangi thanneri pangiyai azhagiya nEththiraththaal aninthu
the face of krishna is covered with powder, then the thrunaamam is applied
on the forehead, the srichooranam is applied so nicely, the hair in the eye
brows are nicely brought to shape to add beauty, which adds to the already
beautiful eyes.
  
kOlach chenthaamaraik kaN miLira
pavaLavaai muRuvalum thiruththiya kORambum
the red lotus eyes brightens and shines, the red coral mouth adorns the
smiles which enchants the whole world, the nicely "tuned" "smartness"
attracts each and every one in the first look. Here the word kOrambu is
described as theembu or choottigai in tamil- this theembu is what we call
smartness, that extra sharp feature, which grips the attention.

valankaathil mElthOnRip poo aNinthu
suRRi ninRu aayargaL thazhai ida
thazhaigaLum thongalum thadhumbi
angu or ilaiyathanaal antharaminRi neela narunkunchi 
thirukkuzhalum silingaaraththal thaazhavittu

In the right ears red kaanthaL flowers are adorned, these cowherd boys
encircle krishna and put leaves in the hair dressing and in the garlands,
these leaves and flowers dangle beautifully in the places where they are
placed by these boys, he also likes it and receives them happily. One
particular leaf covers the hair locks completely so that no gap is seen
presenting only a green hairstyle, the hair locks hang freely in decoration.
  
mallagai vanamalai mouval maalai pala thazhai naduvE
mullai naRu malar vEngai malar aNinthu
saalap panniRaip pinne thazhaik kaavin keezh ninRu
than thirumEni oLi thigazha
alangaaraththaal indhiran pOl varum aayappiLLai kaNNan

kaNNan has on his chest jasmine garlands, tulasi, mullai (mouval), many
green leaves inserted in the garlands, coming at the back of the large flock
of calves, standing underneath the green tree, his own body shining , in the
decoration he looks like Indhra, the head of dhEvaas. 

oru kaiyaal oruvan than thOLai oonRi thOzhanmaar 
mElaadaiyum koNdu (udan) Oda
theenkuzhal vaai maduththu oothi oothi isai paadi kuniththu
paRRi  ninRu aayarpadi kadaiththalaiyE paadavum aadakkaNdEn.
Leaning on a friend's shoulder, other friend carried the top garment-
uththareeyam and runs along with you, oh krishna! Holding that sweet bamboo
flute stick in the mouth and by blowing out air in that bamboo you gave
music; oh krishna, you entered the entrance gate of the aaippaadi and there
started singing and dancing.

viNNin meethu amarar virumbith thozha miRaiththu
vaadiya piLLai kaNNan kaalippinnE
manjaLum mEniyum vadivum  pallaayar kuzhaam naduvE 
aayarpaadiyil veethiyoodE ezhuntharuLak kaNdu

in the skies the demigods liked to worship this aayappiLLai kaNNan, he felt
shy, due to strain of the grazing and standing in the sun , dusty air etc he
felt tired- vaadiya- amongst the gopaas- coming in the streets of that
aaippaadi.
 
engum vaLai kazhanRu thugil Enthiya iLa mulai en vasamillaadhu 
uLLam vittu ooN maranthu mei melinthu ozhinthanarE

On seeing such a beautiful kaNNan, the bangles loosened, the bosom which
carried the covering cloth -mElaadai- missed that cloth, the mind gone- food
forgotten- body or mind went after kaNNan, so complete control on the body
mind etc gone alongwith krishna. Oh what a scene, what an amudhu to eat.  

Dear friends, I am unable to translate the feelings going inside into words,
while describing- so picturise and feel it- you will realise what amount of
richness is there in the words of aazhvaar. It is kaNNan amudhu- thigatta
amudhu- let us have more in next,

Dhasan Vasudevan M.G.

--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
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