Search:
Bhakti List Archives

IDU OR ARPUDHAM KELEER-PART 10

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • October 12, 1999 


Dear Sri Vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Sri lakshmi nrusimha divya paadukaa sEvaka SrivaN satakOpa Sri Vedaanta
desika yateendra mahaa dEsikaaya namah:

In the previous postings, parts 1 to 9 on this topic, we saw 
		*	How periyaazhvaar identified KaNNan with thirumaal, 
		*	How he described the entire world was tied down by
his divine music thru the paasurams (without the meanings of the paasurams),

		*	Certain points on observations of bagavathaas. 
		*	The meanings in detail for the first six paasurams
and few others who relished the kuzhal oothal episode of krishna leelai

We also saw nammazhvaar in "maalaiyum vanthathu maayan vaaaraan". She
laments kaNNan not coming to her place (He in naayika bhaavam). As a sequel
or in the same veins another bakthaa Sudhdhaanandha Bharathi also known as
kavi yOgi- a contemporary living tamil poet, says,

KaNNanai kaaNpadeppO, kaarmEga vaNNanukkenmEl enna veruppO (kaNNanai)

ViNNavarum paNiyum vENu vilOlan maNNaLantha vaayan maayan gOpaalan
(kaNNanai) -  [few more lines are there in the song, but not included here].

KaNNan kuzhal oothi, invited me but suddenly disappeared. When I am going to
see him again? (kaaNpadhu eppO?). The cloud coloured kaNNan has a dislike
for me- what it is and why- (enna veruppO?). what mistake I did? 

He plays flute music, who is worshipped by dEvaas (viNNavarum paNiyum vENu
vilOlan). He is the same krishnaa, who showed the universe in his mouth to
mother yasOdhaa (maNNaLantha vaayan), a trickster (maayan) the cowherd boy
(gOpaalan).

MaNNaLantha is actually to be considered for thrivikrama avathaaram- who
measured the universe with his two feet - maNNaLanthavan. But for kaNNan-
thaan uNda siru maN thuLiyaiyE aNdamaakki kaaNpiththavan- he converted the
small grains of earth what he ate few minutes back, and showed these grains
as the universe in his mouth- so maayan- to mother yasodhaa. 

In four words 2 avathaara leelai is fastened nicely by kavi chathuryam -
krishnaanubhavam-words compete with one another and sits in the tongue of
kavi- all because it is about my krishnaa.

It is okay that he plays the flute music and dance so nicely. But where he
learnt all these? both difficult arts?. Is it in the Saandheepany aasramam?
Yes, but it was in the latter part of life, of grown up krishnaa. But these
are baala seshtithangaL.

Two poets give beautiful answers. First it is kaliyan- our pet aazhvaar - of
course all 12 are pets, but more pet when being referred.

MaNmagaL kELvan malar mangai naayagan
Nandhan peRRa madhalai aNNal ilaikkuzhal oothi nam sErikke 
alluththaan vantha pinnai kaN malar sOrnthu mulai vanthu kamalach chevvai
veLuppa enmagal vaNNam irukkavaa nangaai, en seigEn, en seigEnO!

Periya thirumozhi- 10-7-6 (already mentioned in part 4)
The husband of bhUmi piraatti, the hero or head of lotus flower born mahaa
lakshmi, the child of nandhagopan, a person of very high status- aNNal-
krishnaa. If you combine madhalai and aNNal- the taste is super- he is a
child but person of high status- not an ordinary child but aNNal-
mahaathmaa- the super child.

He played "ilai kuzhal"- oothi- children in vilages pluck leaves of big size
of any plant, roll them as pipes and start playing music. So krishnaa also
started playing music like other children. 

Urbanites or children brought up in urban areas may not have such chances
and may play plastic whistles. The village life has to be enjoyed in bits at
least for the impressions it creates and to be enjoyed in later parts of
life. KaNNan being the son of cowherd born in a village -sEri - started
learning music with leafy pipes- soon he graduated himself to bamboo flute -
vEin kuzhal- vEi is bamboo- muraLi-vamsa in samskrit. 

This graduated status is also given again by kaliyan only. See 11-2-2.

Poonkurunthu osiththu aanai kaainthu arimaa seguththu angu vEzhaththin kombu
koNdu van pEi mulai vaangi uNda avvaayan niRka ivvaayan vaai Engu vEinkuzhal
ennOdaadum iLamaiyE.

Krishnaa broke the kuruntha tree, killed kuvalayaapeetam elephant by
breaking the tusks, killed the kEsi horse (arimaa seguththu) eaten the wild
fire, drank the raakshasi poothanai's poisoned breast milk- the boy who did
all these is the same cowhed boy- aayan niRka- where he stands? In
brindhaavan- for what?- to play music- but his mouth is longing for the
bamboo stick- Engu veinkuzhal- (or is it the other way - the bamboo stick is
longing to be the flute, so that it can have the vaayamudham as said by
aandaaL).

Why? To play music and invite all young girls, like me, to his proximity-one
gOpi says -the parakaala naayaki gopi- (cross reference -sloka 47 ch 8 of
yaadhava abhyu. of swami dEsikan). He wants young girls like me- ennOdu
aadum - iLamaiyE- young one- he is also young- he wants young girls- one
young beauty wants to call another young beauty- because he is peethaambara
dhara sragvee saakshaath manmatha manmatha - beauty- says bhagavatham in
10-32-2.

Ok. In these, we saw where he learnt the music. Self learning -from leaf
pipe to bamboo pipe- graduated- no aachaaryan to him since he is the
aachaarya to aachaaryaas (who can be his Acharya when he himself is the
Lokaachaaryan and Geethacharyan) - so no aachaarya- but later an
sadhaachaarya in saandheepani rishi- for ratification purposes in the
process of learning.

Where he learnt the dance? Swami dEsikan in his gOpaala vimsathi slokam 4
gives the answer to this question.
AavirbhavathvanibhruthaabharaNam purasthaath
AakunchithaikacharaNam nibhruthaanyapaadham!
Dhadhnaa nimanthamukharEna nibadhdha thaalam
Naathasya nadha bhavanE navaneethanaatyam!!

Mother yasOdha started churning the curd for taking out the butter in the
nandha bavanam [or is it naadha bhavanam because he is learning music and
dance here]. Krishnaa was begging to his mother for fresh butter with one
leg slightly folded and anoher leg without moving ( this itself is in a
abhinaya pose) - ammaa give me some fresh butter. (Cross reference for this
begging scene from paapanaasam sivan- gencha vaiththaai thaaye- enna thavam
seithanai).   

Hey darling krishnaa! If you dance, I will give you butter. 
Ammaa where is the music? Where is the thaalam to enable me dance? 
Ammaa you have not taught me any dance. 

Hey, dear boy here is the music- churning rod is pulled- maththu- the rope
produces noise- sar- sar- the thaalam. Inside the pot -chala pula- resulting
from this pull- that is the music- mother is the master- lord starts his
dance- navaneetha naatyam says Swami. 

mother perfected the music- lord perfected his dance. He danced to the tune
of mother- Oh what a mother? What a son?- a perfect combination- ammaa enna
thavam seithanai? engum nirai para brahmam un kattukkuL aada- oh yasodhaa. 

No wonder in dEvaki's pulambal- kulasekara- thollai inbam- oh krishnaa,
krishnaa. [Srimaan V. Sadagopan swami said in another reference elsewhere,
cold letters in print can not bring out the depth of bhakthi and bhaavam. In
these pulambal words- it is true to a very great extent]

When he danced the navaneetha naatyam like this, how another krishnaa
bakthaa says "kaalinil silambu koncha kai vaLai kulunga muththu maalaigaL
asaiya theru vaasalil vanthaan, vaanOrgaL ellaam magizha maanidarellaam
pughazha neela vaNNa kaNNan avan narththanam aadinaan"- ooththukkadu in
"thaayE yasodha".
Oh kaNNaa aadinaaya - is it true you danced like this?

Let us see Leela sukar, who enjoyed krishnaa so much, and his anubhavam on
this flute playing episode. He has 8 slokams on this episode. All slokams
end with "sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana:" meaning krishna played the
flute or krishna sang on the flute.

AnganaamanganaamantharE maadhavO
Maadhavam maadhavam chaantharENaanganaa!
IththhamaakalpithE mandalE madhyayaga:
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.35

While krishna played sweet flute music, maadhavan was found between 2
gopees. At another place between two krishnaas, one gopee girl was found. In
such a circle krishnaa played sweet flute music from the centre. [This
means, while he played flute, he also took so many krishna roopam, and found
playing with the gopees the raasakreetai. See also how many maadhavam words
are appearing in the slokam].

kEkikEkaadhruthaanEka pankEruhaa
leena hamsaavaLee hrudhyatha hrudhyatha
kamsa vamsca atavee dhaaha dhaavaanala:
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.36

The peacocks generally make sounds like kE, kee, kaa etc. The swans residing
between the lotus flowers in the ponds, also make noise. These peacocks and
swans were made happy, because of the sweet flute music played by the
kamsa's enemy krishnaa. He is not only kamsa's enemy, but the fire which has
come to burn the whole forest of kamsa vamsam.

 [Please note the words kamsa vamsa atavee dhaaha dhaavaanala:- meaning- the
fire to destroy the kamsaa's clan (vamsam)- cross reference - "kanchan
vayiRRinil neruppenna ninRa nedumaalE" of aaNdaaL in oruththi maganaai
piranthu paasuram of thiruppaavai].

kvaapi veeNaabhiraaraaviNaa kampitha:
kvaapi veeNaabhiraa kinkiNee narththitha:
kvaapi veeNabhiraamaantharam gaapitha:
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.37

In one place krishna was made to jump or do some comedy (kampitha:-
jumping). In another place krishna was made to dance with salangai in the
legs [salangai which produced sound like veena]. In another place he was
made to sing. Like this he obeyed to the desires of all gopees and played
the flute sweetly. 

[perhaps, the name kapitha- monkey which jumps quite often comes from the
verb with kampitha:]
  
vaaruchandraavalee lOchanaich chumbithO
gOpagObrundha gOpaalikaa vallabha:
vallavee brundhaaraka: kaamuka:
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.38

krishnaa was surrounded by gOpees, who were having moon like shining faces,
their eyes were fixed on krishnaa- the hero of gopaas, cows and the ladies
of brindaavan. He also loved the gopees. The cupid (manmatha brundhaaraka:)
of brindaavan played the flute sweetly. (Sri Swami dEsikan mentions in his
gopaala vimsathi and yaadhava abyudhayam the words "vallavee" quite
frequently along with jana vallabham).

mouli maalaamilinmaththa bhrungeelathaa
bheetha bheetha priyaa vibhramaalingitha:
srasthagOpeekuchaabhOga sammElitha:
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.39

A gopee, who is also the ladylove of krishna, was afraid of the bees, which
surround the flowers in her hair tresses [mouli maalaa]. This girl hurriedly
wanted to embrace krishna in fear, so that krishnaa will save her from the
sting of the bee. This gopee lost her top dress in this act of rushing
towards krishna, but did not bother about the losing of dress and embraced
him. Such a krishna (who was embraced by a lady without top dress) played
the flute sweetly. 

The cross-reference here is kovalar sirumiyar ilankongai kudukalippa of
periyaazhvaar. The kannan's music and its power of destroying the senses are
to be relished here. Peri. says udal uL avizhnthu, thugil nazhuva etc  here.

chaaru chaameekaraa bhaasa bhaamaa vibhur
vaijayantheelathaa vaasithOra: sthhala:
nandhabrundhaavanE vaasithaa madhyaga:
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.40

Krishna, the husband of lakshmi who shines likes gold [not krishna but
lakshmi], has vaijayanthi- tulasi garland in his chest, and the center of
attraction in the nandagopa's brindaavan, played the flute briniging out
very sweet music.

baalika thaalika thala leelaalayaa
sanga sandarsitha broolathaa vibrama;
gOpikaa geetha dhaththaa vadhaanas swayam 
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.41

Krishnaa sang very sweetly with the flute. The young girls played the songs
and the thaalam - rhythm. He enjoyed the singing, the thaalam and exhibited
his enjoyment by moving the eyebrows. He also gave himself fully to that
music- his flute, the songs, the thaalam, there was total mix up and only
music was abundant, there was no difference- who is the singer and who is
the enjoyer.

[please recall swami dEsikan here who mentions about the eyebrows (the
vanadEvathai's eye brows are like rainbows in seeing krishna) when he sang
on the flute]

paarijaatham samudhdhruthya raadhavarO
rOpayaamaasa bhaamagruhyaangaNE!
SeethaseethE vatE yaamuneeyE thatE
sanjagow vENunaa dhEvakee nandana: slokam 2.42

Krishnaa sang very sweetly with the flute standing below the cool banyan
tree, the tree standing on the bank of the yamunaa river. This krishnaa is
the same person, who brought the paarijaatha tree from dEva lOkam and
planted in the house of sathyabhaamaa. He is the same krishnaa who is also
the raadhaa ramaNan - means lover of radhaa and is dEvaki's son. 

The meanings of arpudhams and rest of swami dEsikan's sloka meaning in
yaadhava abhyudhayam will be covered in next post.

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.