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what was that you did -5

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.G.Vasudevan • October 4, 2000 


Dear sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer, 

In the previous posts, we saw three krithis from three different authors
with the same central theme of wondering about yasOdhaa's bhaagyam, comments
on the first krithi "enna thavam seidhanai" by PS, some comments and
meanings of part of the next krithi containing same theme by Smt. Ambujam
Krishna AK. Continuing the AK krithi
    
CharaNam 3: in raaga lalithaa
thanjam thanjam enru thaaL malar paNinthum
konjamum ennidam dhayavu illaa gOvindhan
anjEl anjEl enru anru giri thaangi
anbudan adaikkalam thanthida aayar kulam - paNNiya

Meaning of charaNam 3:
I surrender at his lotus flower feet repeatedly, but, that gOvindhan has no
pity on me. But, to you, oh! Cowherds! He said "do not fear, do not fear, I
am here to save you" from the torrential rain, So saying, he lifted that
gOvardhana giri that day, saved you and gave you total refuge under his
grace. Oh!  Cowherds! what was the penance you did to get all his grace?
Please tell me.

Comment: I surrendered to him saying 
"un charaN allaal charaN illai - 5-1 [I have no other refuge than your
feet], 
nee enpaal nOkkaayaagilum un paRRu allaal paRRu ilEn 5-3 [even though you do
not set your graceful eyesight on me, I have no other refuge than your feet]
un iNai adiyE aNaiyal allaal nin selvam vENdaa - 5-9 [I want your feet only
and not your wealth] {all three lines from Sri kulasekhara aazhvar},  

That is the way I live. But that gOvindhan - he does not have any trace of
grace,  kaaruNyam, courtesy on me. That gOvindhan is "konjamum ennidam
dhayavu illaa gOvindhan" - he is "kadiya kodiya thirumaal"- that thirumaal
he is hard, harsh. 

"kadiya kodiya thirumaalaal kuLappu kooRu koLappattu pudaiyum peyaragillEn"
- 13- 6 naachchiyaar thirumozhi NT -He, that hard and harsh and severe
thirumaal crushed me, so that, I can not shift my focus anywhere else. 

Kooru koLappattu - colloquially also, we say for slightly variant /
different behavior- hey enna kooru kettup pOchcha? We have taken from here. 

He is such a naughty fellow. He is "dharumam aRiyaak kurumban" 14 - 6 NT, he
knows no dharmam.  

See his mother also says, "hey! my son! please listen!" "Thaai solluk
koLvathu dhanmam kaNdaai dhaamOdharaa" 2-9-8 periyaazhvaar- Oh!
DhaamOdharaa, see here my son! follow mother's words, to follow mother's
words is your dharmam.

See how she calls him- as "dhaamOdharaa". Mother yasOdhaa got tired and then
he willed to receive the punishment what mother wanted to give, that
punishment of tying him in the mortar. After that incident he got that name
dhaamOdharan. By that name she calls, hey, you, dhaamOdharaa, you willed to
receive punishment, then only I could do that, now also, it is your duty to
obey my words, because I am your mother. "dhaamOdharaa thaai solluk
koLvathu- to adopt - not only hearing them, receiving them, just kEtpathu
mattum illai- koLvathu- then not leaving them, but adopting them in life is
dharmam. Mother has to advise him because he is dharmam ariyaa kurumban- one
who does not know what is dharmam, so mother tells him what it is.

See the contrast. Another aazhvaar says he is clever but not a truthful
person. Viththagan gOvindhan meyyan allan oruvarkkum aththanaiyaam ini en
uyir avan kaiyathE 9-5-2 nammaazhvaar. Meaning - gOvindhan is a wizard,
absolutely clever, he is not true to any body, that is all, even then my
life is in his hands. He has 16108 wives as stated in Bhagavatham. But he is
a naishtika brahmachchaari as proved in that uththarai garbham episode -
Meyyan allan oruvarkkum- yes. The real meaning is shirk all the duality of
mei and poi- truth and untruth- then krishna  is there. Since he is not true
to any body he is not having dhayavu. 

AK says konjamum dhayavillaa gOvindhan- aazhvaar says meyyan allan- but in
another place aandaaL says "kurai onrum illaadha govindhan" in thiruppavai
29. Contrasting talks about govindhan - that is the real truth about him and
that is the taste with krishna.

Another contrast- "koonE sithaiya undai vil niraththil theriththaai
govindhaa" nammalvar 1-5-5- Actually commentaries refer this line to the
hunched back lady who prepares sandal named thrivikrai in bhaagavatham. Her
hunch back removed by those graceful hands of Kannan and she became a young
beautiful lady. [Naariya saantham namakkiRai nalgu enna thEri avaLum thiru
udambil poosa ooRiya kooninai uLLE odunga anRu Era uruvinaai- 1-9-4
periyaazhvaar on the same reference]

But this is referred in another meaning here. Raaman is blemish less in all
his words and deeds, in ramaavathaaram. So attributing the episode of
throwing that small clay lumps by Raama on that kooni - mantharai, the
friend of kaikEyi, aazhvaar is not so comfortable with. So he attributed
that "koonE sithaiya undai vil theriththal" to Govindhan, because he is an
"all round trickster" "meyyan allan oruvarkkum" - doing all kinds of "good"
acts.  So it is not Raaman but Govindhan who did "govindha! neeye koonE
sithaiya undai vil niraththil theriththvan".

Note: Perhaps in the commentaries of DP, you may or may not have this "koonE
sithaiya undai vil elaborated with reference to raaman and govindhan
combined this way. I heard this, in a lecture recently and since it was
appealing for me, just I shared with you, all. Just enjoy for the different
taste of it, and a different line of thinking and enjoying that Lord. Please
leave it if you want authenticity from poorvacharyaaL etc, for I am not sure
about that.

AK says- On the contrary, the way he showered his grace on you, oh! aayar
folks! forces me to ask you what was that good you did? 

They say you are all "OnRum arivonRillaadha uruvarai gOpaalar 3-8-1
(periya)" but you had that supreme sense of 
"am maiththadangaN madavaichchiyarum aanaayarum aaniraiyum alari emmaich
charaNE enRu koL enru irappa" 3-5-3 (periya), Oh! Govindhaa! you immediately
gave them the relief. 

Is it that, I don't have that belief- mahavisvasam? Thanjam thanjam I say-
but you don't consider my "irappal"- do I have traces of disbelief in you -
yes, I found, because of that shakiness in the belief only, I am seeking
reasons for your dhayavu illaa nature. 

Now I realised my folly of asking for the reason. That reason is aayar had
that very firm belief mahavisvasam in you, and you saved them. That is the
simple of the simplest punniyam they did. Now I came to knowledge. Here
after I have no other refuge except you. Now I know you will consider me as
your dhaasan. 

Oh krishna! What are all the ways you have played with that maathavam seidha
mother and your bhakthaas, Please come and save me. Is it AK's appeal only
or our appeal also?

Oh, What a great song by AK. Now let us move on to the next krithi by
Ooththukkaadu krishna bhakthaa of same theme "what is that puNNiyam you
did?"

Pallavi: 
engum illaadhoru piLLai peRRaaL yasOdhai
ini mEl avaLukku enna kuRai?

Meaning of pallavi: YasOdhaa got a son, one whose equal or comparable, can
not be found any where. What is there hereafter to desire for her.

comment: We have already seen few points on that "engum illaadhoru piLLai".
See "nadai onRu illaa ulagaththu nandhagOpan magan" - NT 13-6. Here nadai
means iyalbu- nature. This nandhagOpan magan is an unnatural son- engum
illaadhoru piLLai. 

Kaan aayan kadi manaiyil thayir uNdu nei paruga nandhan peRRa aanaayan -
5-5-3 thirumangai aazhvaar- here aanaa means azhiyaadha or azhivillaadha-
one who does not have death- aana aayan- azhivilladha gopaalan - engum
illaadhoru piLLai.

She is maatharkuyarntha yasodhai [2-8-10 periyaazhvar] 
perumagaLaaik kudi vazhnthu perum piLLai peRRa asOdhai- 3-8-4
{periyaazhvaar} 
why should she have any kuRai- inimEl avaLukku- deficiency? Nothing.

Anupallavi:
Eduththuch chonnaal adhu oru abhachcharam
Endi namakkuL intha vivagaaram
Koduththu vaiththavan nandha gOpa maharaajan
Kulam engaNum nirai mangaLam udhavumpadi padhapankajam - engum

Meaning of anu pallavi: If I openly say that way, it is not fair. Eh! Why we
should we talk about that affair. The king NandhagOpa is well deserved for
that kind of gift of a child. The lotus feet of that child is never seen any
where and these feet give all that brimming wealth required for the entire
clan of us.

Comment: "sonnaal virOdham idhu aagilum solluvan kENminO" 3-9-1 nammaalvaar-
to say openly it will create enmity. In spite of it let me tell - here it is
Eduththuch chonnaal adhu oru abhachcharam Endi namakkuL intha vivagaaram.
Is it not a direct clue to OVS from aazhvaar.

"SuRRum oLi vattam soozhnthu sOthi paranthu engum eththanai seyyilum en
magan nEr ovvaai- 1-5-3 (periya) - my son has an aura all round him, a light
around him, what ever you do you can not equal my son- she, the mother
yasOdha is so proud to say this - her husband naturally is Koduththu
vaiththavan nandha gOpa maharaajan.  

Next line is a beauty. Please rearrange the words "Kulam engaNum nirai
mangaLam udhavumpadi padhapankajam - engum illaadhoru piLLai peRRaaL
yasOdhai" into "yasOdhai engum illaadhoru piLLai peRRaaL, engum illaadhoru
padhapankajam (uLLa or koNda) piLLai peRRaaL. (antha) piLLai Kulam engaNum
engum illaadhoru nirai mangaLam  (thanthu) udhavum'. 

Now see the meaning  of above sentence- yasOdha got a son who has the lotus
feet which you can not find any where else. That feet will give all that
wealth and sowbhaagyam to all the clan which you can not get that kind of
wealth else where.

Prey that padhapankajam to give us himself, not that wealth- un iNai adiyE
vENduvan.

Dhaasan 

Vasudevan M.G.

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           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
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