krishna- how you entered my mind-5

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In the previous post of this series of "Krishna how entered my mind", we saw

a beautiful description of that Lord returning home after grazing the cows

and their next generation members. Perhaps you can ask "Hey this description

suits any cowherd and that too for a son of the head of cowherds, so what is

special in it? Only that line "viNNin meethu amarar virumbith thozha" may

pose some problem, but that also can be dismissed as due to mistaken

identity if we consider this as a simple description of a cowboy.

 

But the person who described him does not leave any room for such arguments.

He says "avan aayar puththiran allan arum dheivam" 1-2-7 meaning - "hey

folks, he is not a simple cowherd boy, he is that rare or the rarest supreme

Lord". He is "aatkoLLath thOnRiya aayartham kO" 1-7-11- meaning- the king of

cowherds who came to take all under his refuge or to enslave everybody. He

further describes him as "makkaL ulaginil peidhu aRiyaa maNikkuzhavi"- 1-8-8

- that gem of a child, the birth of whom has not occurred in this world full

of people. These dispense all doubts about the person that aayar piLLai,

about whom we had such detailed description.

 

I am quite sure about that person and those nice descriptions of that kuzhal

oothi oothi varuvaanai theruvil kaNdu. Perhaps by now you are also sure. But

you may again pose another question "hey why then you do you stretch this

topic instead of closing it, once you found the way, how he entered into the

mind as through ears and eyes".

 

The answer to this question is- after that kaNdu-

KaNdu kondu en kaNNinai aarak kaLiththu

PaNdai vinaiyaayina paRROdu aRuththu

ThoNdarkku amudhu uNNach chol maalaigaL sonnEn

ANdaththu amarar perumaan adiyEnE

Nammazhvaar 9-4-9

AdiyEn enjoyed to the full the beauty of this varuvaanai- by visualising

those picturesque descriptions in the mind- kaNdu kaNNinai aarak kaLiththu.

But we aNdaththu amarar perumaan thoNdar- we the servants of that supreme

leader of the galaxies must also enjoy.

amudhu uNNach - let us have and eat that nectar of description about him.

chol maalaigaL sonnEn - for that sake I gave these excellent descriptions or

garlands of words.

from this "adiyEnE"- this servant.

 

See here the Ekaaram in that adiyEnE- a lot of santhosham- happiness- to be

servant of that supreme lord. A lot of emphasis in that adiyEn- I am the

servant of that aNdaththu amarar perumaan- supreme lord- a lot of perumai- I

am the servant of such a supreme lord, not a servant of all and sundry.

 

Oh krishna- these sol malaigaL about you, enter through the ears into me,

the mind retains them for a while, then converts these into a picture, and

then sends again before the eyes for its capturing. That picture- the eyes

return back to the same mind after relishing and correcting where required,

perhaps ears might have missed some those gaps filled by eyes for it can

capture even minute details. Now a perfect picture in front of the mind and

it enjoys- so sol maalaigaL has become a vaNNap padam - so it is now fully

realised by me, that you entered my mind through ears and eyes.

 

Oh bhakthaas, incidentally that beautiful song of Subramania Bharathy comes

to my mind, about that vaNNap padam of krishna- please have the song -

aasai mugam maranthu pOchche

idhai aaridam solvEnadi thOzhi-

 

kaNNan mugam maranthu pOnaal ini

kaNgaL irunthu enna laabam

vaNNap padamum illai kaNdaai

ini vaazhum vagai enna sol thOzhi- aasai

[in between charaNams are left out and the relavant last charaNam alone is

given here]

 

SubramaNia bhaarathi simply pours out his heart saying

"His beloved face is forgotten, how I can say this to others, oh my friend,

What is the use of these eyes if kaNNan's face is forgotten. Oh, I do not

have his beautiful colour picture also, then how can I live, what is the way

out for this, oh friend!"

 

A perfect picture of my krishna captured in the mind is that amudhu-

whenever required it appears before and gives that elation of being one with

that krishna.

 

Now let us have that amudhu- for those who can not enjoy that beautiful

tamil description [ before we take up that- the long tamil description of

"than thOzharOdu kalanthu udan varuvaanai theruvil kaNdu", is from

periyaazhvaar thirumozhi- 3-4 thazhaigaLum padhikam. Words were taken and

combined. Now let us have that kaNNan amudhu- description of that

"varuvaanai"].

 

"Valli nuN idhazh anna aadai koNdu

vasai ara thiru arai viriththu uduththu

The dress is adorned in the waist of kaNNan, it is spread so nicely, dress

fits so nicely, is without any sort of blemish, and looks like a creeper's

tender's leaves, clinging on to the support of that creeper (kodiyin kozhu

kombai pol)

 

surigaiyum theRivillum cheNdu kOlum saaththi

aaniraiyin meeLak kuRiththa sangam saaththi

paNaik kachchu unthi saaththi

palli nuN paRRaaga udaivaaL saaththi

 

surigai is udai vaaL- a small sword carried in the dress without being seen,

or concealed in the dress, - also said as kuruvaaL

therivil is the slingshot- uNdi vil- (a very popular hand tool carried by

narikuravas - nomads- nowadays)

cheNdu kol is the whip- please see uththammor swami's vyakhyaanam for a good

description of this cheNdu kol

paNaik kachchu- is a small cloth like bamboo mat worn across the chest to

insert all these tools etc.

the cow-boys usually carry these tools while going for grazing, the uNdivil,

cheNdu, a whistle- here krishna uses his conch itself as the whistle- to

call the cows and calves for their return journey homewards. The udai vaaL

grips to the dress so nicely that aazhvaar describes palli nuN paRRaaga-

grips to the dress like a lizard.

 

sindhurap podi koNdu senni appi

than thiru neRRi mEl thiru naamam ittu sindhuram ilanga

suruL pangi thanneri pangiyai azhagiya nEththiraththaal aninthu

the face of krishna is covered with powder, then the thrunaamam is applied

on the forehead, the srichooranam is applied so nicely, the hair in the eye

brows are nicely brought to shape to add beauty, which adds to the already

beautiful eyes.

 

kOlach chenthaamaraik kaN miLira

pavaLavaai muRuvalum thiruththiya kORambum

the red lotus eyes brightens and shines, the red coral mouth adorns the

smiles which enchants the whole world, the nicely "tunedsmartness"

attracts each and every one in the first look. Here the word kOrambu is

described as theembu or choottigai in tamil- this theembu is what we call

smartness, that extra sharp feature, which grips the attention.

 

valankaathil mElthOnRip poo aNinthu

suRRi ninRu aayargaL thazhai ida

thazhaigaLum thongalum thadhumbi

angu or ilaiyathanaal antharaminRi neela narunkunchi

thirukkuzhalum silingaaraththal thaazhavittu

 

In the right ears red kaanthaL flowers are adorned, these cowherd boys

encircle krishna and put leaves in the hair dressing and in the garlands,

these leaves and flowers dangle beautifully in the places where they are

placed by these boys, he also likes it and receives them happily. One

particular leaf covers the hair locks completely so that no gap is seen

presenting only a green hairstyle, the hair locks hang freely in decoration.

 

mallagai vanamalai mouval maalai pala thazhai naduvE

mullai naRu malar vEngai malar aNinthu

saalap panniRaip pinne thazhaik kaavin keezh ninRu

than thirumEni oLi thigazha

alangaaraththaal indhiran pOl varum aayappiLLai kaNNan

 

kaNNan has on his chest jasmine garlands, tulasi, mullai (mouval), many

green leaves inserted in the garlands, coming at the back of the large flock

of calves, standing underneath the green tree, his own body shining , in the

decoration he looks like Indhra, the head of dhEvaas.

 

oru kaiyaal oruvan than thOLai oonRi thOzhanmaar

mElaadaiyum koNdu (udan) Oda

theenkuzhal vaai maduththu oothi oothi isai paadi kuniththu

paRRi ninRu aayarpadi kadaiththalaiyE paadavum aadakkaNdEn.

Leaning on a friend's shoulder, other friend carried the top garment-

uththareeyam and runs along with you, oh krishna! Holding that sweet bamboo

flute stick in the mouth and by blowing out air in that bamboo you gave

music; oh krishna, you entered the entrance gate of the aaippaadi and there

started singing and dancing.

 

viNNin meethu amarar virumbith thozha miRaiththu

vaadiya piLLai kaNNan kaalippinnE

manjaLum mEniyum vadivum pallaayar kuzhaam naduvE

aayarpaadiyil veethiyoodE ezhuntharuLak kaNdu

 

in the skies the demigods liked to worship this aayappiLLai kaNNan, he felt

shy, due to strain of the grazing and standing in the sun , dusty air etc he

felt tired- vaadiya- amongst the gopaas- coming in the streets of that

aaippaadi.

 

engum vaLai kazhanRu thugil Enthiya iLa mulai en vasamillaadhu

uLLam vittu ooN maranthu mei melinthu ozhinthanarE

 

On seeing such a beautiful kaNNan, the bangles loosened, the bosom which

carried the covering cloth -mElaadai- missed that cloth, the mind gone- food

forgotten- body or mind went after kaNNan, so complete control on the body

mind etc gone alongwith krishna. Oh what a scene, what an amudhu to eat.

 

Dear friends, I am unable to translate the feelings going inside into words,

while describing- so picturise and feel it- you will realise what amount of

richness is there in the words of aazhvaar. It is kaNNan amudhu- thigatta

amudhu- let us have more in next,

 

Dhasan Vasudevan M.G.