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ammA-I did not eat butter!

From the Bhakti List Archives

v.madhavakkaNNan • October 20, 1997 


Dearest srivaishNavALs,
As promised earlier in "kaNNan" post, Let me share with you my great joy
accompanied by full of tears in my eyes whenever I listen to this sUrdAs
bhajan sung by Sri Anoop Jalota. sUrdAs has really excelled in his
imagination and in his devotion to kanhaiah (kaNNan). The bhajan is called
"mE nahin mAkkan kAyO" means "I never ate butter" Over to the rich scene of
yasodhA who has virtually seen the young lallA (kutti kaNNan) of about 6
years of age stealing and eating the butter; The Lord has been caught
red-handed; Now, how to get away from the consequences of scolding, tieing
to the ural again or beating, or.. cannot imagine- oh God(?), what shall I
do now- thinks kanhaiah.
With an innocent face our chinna chellam (small pet) replies to yasOdhA's
question "Why did you steal and eat butter?" as "Oh, maiyA mOri, mE nahin
mAkkan kAyO". Oh, my ammA- I did not eat butter". He further adds:" How can
I eat butter? Where is the time, ammA. early in the morning I take the
cattle out and after the dusk, I come back tired; at this age, I do these
hard tasks; I am a cow herd boy; How do I find time to do all these?"
ammA is silent and is still looking at kanhaiah ferociously; Our Lord
supplements His argument "Look at me and my hands; Look at my legs; How
small I am and How little are my arms and How short my legs are and what
makes you think with my stature I can take the butter (which you have kept
so high) and points His sweet lotus like finger up; (again looking at His
ammA more innocently). 
ammA asks Him"Is it? Then, what is this white thing on your mouth dear?" a
definite proof and the Lord is stuck again. "ammA" He replies, "you know,
These calves drink the milk from their mother cows and half way they just
come near me and lick me lovingly; may be, it is from their mouths you are
seeing whiteness on my lips" (Wow, kaNNanA, kokkA! terrific mazhuppal).
Now He thinks He can please ammA by praising Her calling" my dearest
mother, my priya jananee, my sweet ammA, my chella ammA and kisses her
cheeks (probably to wipe His butter thing on her sari); 
He sees the mother is still angry but not to that severity; So He wants to
gain an upper hand; He says " ammA, It is not this butter which has made
you ask this to me; You seem to have been disliking me nowadays; It appears
you have been waiting for some excuse to pounce on me; In addition to
sending me (at this tender age) with a stick and kambali(woollen rug) to
take the cattle out throughout the day, now you are coming out with false
allegations; Enough, No more cattle- No more morning work; take back. I am
sorry.." Our Lord pretends to be angry and looks somewhere else; with tears
welling in His eyes due to this self pity;
Seeing the young beauty, the black emerald, kutty kaNNan crying - no one
can bear; How our yasOdhA can bear; She hugs Him and wipes His tears from
His eyes; smiles at Him and says "kaNNA, I always love you. How can anyone
dislike you. Don't ever say that and insult me, kaNNA. kaNNA, I know " and
says to kanhaiah "tE nahin mAkkan kAyO" means you did NOT eat butter. She
saw Him eating; He really ate. Both of them know that kaNNan ate; Now Both
of them concurred that He did NOT eat; 
Now kaNNan thinks.."ammA agreed to what I said. She has believed. But now
she is not angry and in fact, she is crying still after seeing (crocdile)
tears in my eyes. Now let us not cheat my sweet ammA. after all she is so
kind and loving towards me. " and says finally (Look at sUrdAs' play of
words; You will appreciate more if you know Hindi) " ammA..menEYI mAkkan
kAYO! means "I only ATE butter!".

my fellow vaishNavA brothers, I only wish we see such a naughty kutti
krishNan literally and feed Him with navaneetham more and more so that He
has no need to steal!(may be He will still steal from the fridge, in our
case)

kondal vaNNan kOvalanAi veNNaiyunda vAyan en uLLam kavarndhAnai andarkOn
aNiarangan en amudhanai kkanda kaNgaL......(when are we going to see that
amudhan lierally ?-How long can we only imagine and visualize kaNNA!)

sarvam krishNarpaNamasthu.

Ram Ram
adiyEn madhava dAsan