search in mortar 3

[Guest guest]

Post 3

 

Dear sri vaishNavap perunthagaiyeer,

 

We are searching the meaning of the 'upanishadhs and vEdhaas tied in the

grinding stones' lying in the houses of vallavees - the gOpees. These ladies tie

that meaning, my krishNa, and then name him as 'dhoortha swamy'. Perhaps mother

yasOdhaa leads these ladies, by example, in doing that act - of punishing her

own son - that dhoortha swamy - that naughty krishNa. Since we are going to see

more modern day management points from krishNa's child plays and from sreemadh

bhaagavatham, I take this as the first point here. 'leading by example' is one

of the pet jargons of the present day management experts - mother yasodha does

that.

 

But, why all this tying in mortar etc, that too by that loving mother yasOdhaa,

who loves her child most. Is it a punishment the lord gives to himself for he

has done that mischief of stealing butter etc. Or is it punishment for that acts

which earned him that name dhoortha swamy? Or is it a lesson to mother yasOdhaa

and then as an extension, they're of to us?

 

It was clear, there was the 'lapse of concentration' on yasOdhaa's part, in NOT

doing one thing at a time. As present day management experts say - particularly

while doing 'time management' lessons or in sessions - "do one thing at a time

with full concentration and complete it", "then take up the next job" - or

prioritize your job and do top most one first and then do the second etc, in the

order going down in priorities.

 

Now let us see the situation: One day, since maidservants were engaged in other

woks, Mother yasOdhaa was boiling milk on the oven. Also she had the comb in her

head tucked in along with flowers for she has not finished her work with the

hair. Meanwhile she started on churning curd in the pot to get the butter. While

she was busy churning, Krishna, the child, came nearby and wanted himself to be

breastfed. As a mother, that too an affectionate mother, she started feeding

Krishna, leaving that work of churning midway [incidentally the first work of

boiling milk is in progress].

 

Dear sirs and madams, these are not all my imagination. Bhaagavatham slOkams are

given below to prove this point. While the child krishNa was being fed, suddenly

the hot milk started flowing out from the pot kept on oven. She rushed to the

place of oven, leaving aside the child krishNa in the middle of feeding, to

remove the pot from oven, or to save the milk from overflowing and oven getting

quenched by milk. Meanwhile child krishNa got angry, broke the pot, taken the

butter and gave to monkeys.

 

That shows

- she placed the milk pot on oven, - first job incomplete.

- Comb kept in hair - that job is also incomplete.

- without completing these two jobs, she started churning curd. That job

started also remained incomplete, because another priority came up.

- Just stopping in the middle of churning, she started feeding the child,

because he wanted feeding.

- Has this been completed? No. For she has to rush suddenly to save milk from

spilling away.

- Has it fully done. Not sure - for - since krishNa got angry in the middle and

started breaking the pot, she rushed back to see what happened.

 

Now analyse the results.

1. The hot milk kept for boiling spilt from pot on the oven- so milk lost.

2. The churning work was incomplete, as she left that in the middle to feed.

3. Feeding is also incomplete. Result is child krishna's anger.

4. Consequence - the curd pot was broken and the total contents of churning pot

is lost and also the pot.

5. The whole house is spread with spilled milk, buttermilk, and butter etc.

6. Since hair combing also not complete her hair became loose and flowers comb

etc fell down when she searched for more ropes in the house to tie krishNa.

 

It is but natural for any child to be angry with mother, when he is suddenly

stopped of being fed. For all her lapses, as above, the height of all her

actions, is, in punishing Krishna, by tying him to mortar. As already written by

sri sadagopan iyengar - Krishna became the scapegoat for his mother's

inefficiencies or lapses of concentration to put it mildly.

 

Since, she was not doing one at a time, she messed up a lot and also started

punishing my poor krishNa. Has she succeeded at least in that with ease? NO.

She had to undergo a lot of physical strain in searching for the ropes - since

every time she tied the rope was less by 'dhvayangulam' - 2 inches or 2 finger

width. - [that description of her difficulty is another beauty of description.]

 

Now the slokams. Slokam 1 and 2 et al from chapter 9 dhasama skandham - srimadh

bhaagavatham.

 

Sri sukha uvaacha

Ekadha grha-dhaasisu yasOdhaa nandha-gEhinee

karmaanthara-niyukthaasu nirmamantha svayam dhaDhi

yaani yaaneeha geethaani thadh-baala-charithaani cha

dhadhi-nirmanthanE kaalE smaranthi thaany agaayatha

 

meaning: Sri Sukha maharshi said: One day when mother YasOdhaa saw that all the

maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to

churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of

KrishNa, and in her own way she composed songs and enjoyed singing to herself

about all those activities.

 

Slokam 4

thaam sthanya-kaama aasaadhya mathnantheem jananeem hari:

grhithvaa dhaDhi-manthanam nyasEDhath preethim aavahan ||

 

meaning: While mother YasOdhaa was churning butter, Lord KrishNa, desiring to

drink the milk of her breast, appeared before her, and in order to increase her

transcendental pleasure, He caught hold of the churning rod and began to prevent

her from churning.

 

Slokam 5

tham ankam aaruDam apayayath sthanam snEha-snutham sa-smitham eekshathi mukham

athruptham uthsrjya javEna sa yayaav uthsichyamaanE payasi thvadhisrithE

 

meaning: Mother YasOdhaa, then embraced Krsna, allowed Him to sit down on her

lap, and began to look upon the face of the child krishNa with great love and

affection. Because of her intense affection, milk was flowing from her breast.

But when she saw that the milk pan on the oven was boiling over, she immediately

left her son, to take care of the overflowing milk, although the child was not

yet fully satisfied with drinking the milk of His mother's breast.

 

Slokam 6

sanjaatha-kOpa: sphuritha aruna adharam sandhasya dhadhbhir

dhaDhi-mantha-bhaajanam

bhiththva mrsa asrur dhrsadh-asmana rahO jaghasaa haiyangavam antharam gatha:

 

meaning: Being very angry and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, Krsna,

with false tears in His eyes, broke the container of yogurt with a piece of

stone. Then He entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter in a

solitary place.

 

Slokam 15

thadh dhaama badhyamaanasya svaarbhakasya krtha aagasa:

dhvyangulOnam abhoot thEna sandhaDhE'nyach cha gOpikaa

 

meaning: When mother YasOdhaa was trying to bind the offending child, she saw

that the binding rope was short by a distance, the width of two fingers. Thus

she brought another rope to join to it.

 

Slokam 16

yadhaaseeth thadh api nyoonam thEna anyadhapi sandhaDhE

thadh api dhvy-angulam nyoonam yadh yadh adhaththa bandhanam

 

meaning: This new rope also was short by a measurement of two fingers, and when

another rope was joined to it, it was still two fingers too short. As many ropes

as she joined, all of them failed; their shortness could not be overcome.

 

Slokam 17

Evam sva-gEha-dhaamani yasOdhaa sandhaDhathyapi

gOpeenaam susmayantheenaam smayanthi vismithaa abhavath

meaning: Thus mother YasOdhaa joined whatever ropes were available in the

household, but still she failed in her attempt to bind KrishNa. Mother

YasOdhaa's friends, the elderly gOpees in the neighborhood, were smiling and

enjoying the fun. Similarly, mother YasOdhaa, although laboring in that way, was

also smiling. All of them were struck with wonder.

 

Point: The positive result came when she is focused fully - in that one act -

that act of tying him. As modern management experts say - results are easy when

work is done with full concentration and at full energy levels.

 

So the best lesson for us while "searching in mortar" is "to do one thing at a

time in full concentration - then success is assured. There also, yet another

minor point is to be picked up - [- or major point?] He that supreme lord -

krishNa - must also help us, for our success, by showering his grace - like

helping his mother by allowing himself to be tied.

 

Slokam 18

sva-maathu: svinna-gaathraya visrastha-kabaara-sraja:

dhrshtva parisramam krshNa: krpaayaa aaseeth sva-bandhanE ||

 

meaning: Because of mother YasOdhaa's hard labor, her whole body became covered

with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When

child KrishNa saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed

to be bound.

 

Point: See that 'binding description' - he agreed to be bound. That is the

result of focused attention.

 

Is that all in searching? No sir we have not yet seen that dhaamOdhara

vaibhavam. That is in next post.

 

Dhasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.