what was that you did -5

[Guest guest]

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 trickstermeyyan 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.