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govindhan gunam paadi en aavi kaaththiruppen - post 8

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.G.Vasudevan • February 5, 2002 


Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In the previous post, we saw mother yasOdhaa saying "nee poigai pukku nanju
umizh naagaththinOdu piNangavum naan uyir vaazhnthu irunthEn, en seyya ennai
vayiRu maRukkinaai". "hey krishNa, why you were born to me, I lived
dangerously with all anxiety about the welfare of you, when you were caught
and twined by that deadly snake". Why she says all these to young krishna
was, she warned krishna previously about the inherent danger, recently they
have shifted to this place brindhaavanam, and she knew the danger in going
to that western side of yamunaa river ghat where kaaLiyan lived. See
ooththukkaadu venkata kavi's krithi in raaga naattai

Pallavi: 
sonnadhaik kEL kaNNaa un
thuRuthuRuththa vishamaththanam 
yaavaiyum maRanthu en sol uNanrnthu naan {sonnadhaik)

anupallavi: 
munnam nam ooril gOkulaththil
munainthu unakku vantha idargaLai eNNI - brundhaa
vanamidhil kudi puga vanthOmE gOpaalaa
vaLar iLa madhiyE 
madhi muga nidhiyE 
enadhu udal uyirE 
yadhu kula nidhiyE [sonnadhaik]

charaNam: 
idar illaa ivvooril kizhakkilum theRkilum
vadakkilum senRukoL aanaal thavaRiyum
kuda thisai sellaadhE gOpaalaa angE
kuRRamuLLa idam enum echcharikkai seidhEnE
pakshamuLLa enthan uyir achchudhanE inimElE [sonnadhai]

meaning: mother yasOdhaa says - hey krishna please listen, patiently hear
me, please keep all your naughtiness under check and realise my words and
its content and do accordingly.

Hey gOpaalaa, the growing young moon, the moon faced wealth of mine, my body
and soul, the treasure of this yadhu clan, krishna, previously lot of
troubles came to you in gOkulam. So we decided to shift from gokulam, came
here to this brindhaavanam. 

In this place there is no hurdles for you. You can go to east, south, and
north, but never venture in west, hey gopaalaa. There is a bad spot in west.
So I warn you not to go there in west. Hey loving achyuthaa, you, who is my
dear life, so please listen to me and act accordingly.

Points: 
1.	See the lyrical beauty in "vaLar[ginRa] iLa madhiyE, madhi muga
nidhiyE, enadhu udal uyirE, yadhu kula nidhiyE". 

2.	She indicated there is an inherent danger in west direction and did
not mention what it is. This also raised the curiosity of the naughty
krishna. It is the psychology of a human being that whenever something is
forbidden, then the curiosity to see what it is, to do that forbidden act,
to experiment with that prevented thing, is more. 

3.	There is no specific reference in bhagavatham and yadhavaabhyudhayam
that yamunaa had a curve in that place and this kaaliyan ghat was in the
westerly direction of brindhavanam. But it can definitely be inferred that a
river ghat will definitely curved in that place so that it affords a secured
corner for the kaaLiyan to live in. If bhagavathaas can give out any such
reference I am thankful.

In spite of this warning from mother, krishna went in the west direction and
landed in the kaaLiya ghat. We were seeing that kaaliyan did "piNangi" with
my lord krishna. Why kaaLiyaa was so furious- for this young boy krishna
made some usual childish pranks of 
1.	Taking kaaLiyan in hand and hanging in air 
2.	pulling the snake by its tail. 
3.	shaking the snake vigorously so as to make the snake get irritated
easily 

See how nicely these are described. 
kanRinai vaal Olai kattik kanigaL udhira eRinthu 
pin thodarnthu Odi  oR paambai pidiththuk koNdu aattinaai pOlum
nin thiRaththEn allEn nambi - 2-4-8 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi

meaning: The calves had in their tails dry leaves of palm and coconut trees
tied by you and thus they were scared [which made noise since they were
dry]. This made them run hither and thither. One of the calves was also
thrown at the bimba tree [viLaa maram] to make it shed the fruits. {[the
calf  asuran [dhEnukan] and fruit asuran both were killed by you by this
single act}. Then you ran into the kaaLiyan ghat, caught him and hung him,
shook him etc, I simply can not judge you on your strengths, oh my dear
krishna.

Now one more paasuram - 
thadampadu thaamaraip poigai kalakki
vidam padu naagaththai vaal paRRi eerththu
padam padu painthalai mEl ezhap paainthittu
udambai asaiththaanaal inRu muRRum
uchchiyil ninRaanaal inRu muRRum  2-10-3 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi

meaning: oh mother yasOdhaa, in the lotus ridden pond the snake kaaLiya
entered and spit all his poison [and thereby made it dry]. krishna, your son
entered that pond and caught hold of that snake by its tail, pulled him by
the tail. Then it spread its hood and started hoo hooing. By then he started
diving and jumping on the snake. When the snake twined krishna, he simply
just shook him away. Then climbed on his top and stood there. 

Points: 
1.	Any child will play with the small snakes particularly the village
ones, for they know not the fear of playing with snake. Krishna is already a
daring child. So there is no wonder in this catching etc. 

2.	He also did pull the snake by its tail, started dangling by its
tail, shaking it vigorously so that the snake becomes half-dead. Here since
kaaLiya is a mighty big snake, so he started resisting krishna. This pulling
by tail etc are also part of the child plays, when the snake is little more
longer and or size wise big.

3.	But the girls and other gOpaas, since were already afraid of that
kaaLiya, by the time he jumped into the pond and caught him, shook him, etc,
they ran back to the village, fearing the ensuing danger for krishna,
rushing to seek help from others and elders. 

4.	By the time all came krishNa was twined by kaaLiya and that is why
yasOdhaa's reaction was 
		nanju umizh naagaththinOdu piNangavum naan uyir vaazhnthu
irunthEn,
		en seyya ennai vayiRu maRukkinaai, Edhum Or achcham illai.

5.	but why aazhvaar describes "udambai asaiththaanaal inRu muRRum"-
those who came rushing saw krishna was twined and thought the lord is no
more, already killed by that snake or the poisonous emission. So krishna
proved to the rushing gopaas and others by showing signs of life by shaking
himself. Has the lord shaken his body only. No, the force of the shake was
so heavy that it gave life to all those watching him. It also shook
kaaliyan's confidence. 

6.	Already when he shook his body when caught between two trees, the
trees broke and fell. That was when krishna was in crawling stage of a child
growth. Now he is a young lad who grazed cows and calves- more so calves.
This shake of the body almost killed kaaliya but for kaaliyaas wives. 

7.	The wives of kaaliya did very beautiful sthothram of the lord to
give their lord back to them. That sthothram saved kaaliyan. [That sthothram
is the main point, which inspired me for this series. I will share with all
of you that perhaps after two more posts].

8.	Why he has to do all these childish acts- of catching, holding down,
shaking the snake etc- for he is "theeraatha viLaiyaattu piLLai" - for
subramania bhaarathi who enjoyed kaNNan in his favourite forms as friend,
child, lover, king servant etc.

Let us enjoy that viLayaattu guNam - playful character of that gOvindhan,
till we have the next post and save our souls.

Dhasan 

Vasudevan M.G.



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