"Quite a Mouthful".

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas:

Due to some technical problems, Sri Sadagopan Iyengar, our Srikaryam Swami

is not able to post to "". he has sent the following article for

forwarding to "Sri Ranga Sri".

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

===============================================================

>sadagopaniyengar <sadagopaniyengar

>Ram Anbil <ramanbil

>Re: msgs

>Fri, 22 Aug 2003 04:20:49 +0530

>

>respected sir, thanks for our mail. i append "Quite a Mouthful". as was the

>case earlier, mails from and to individuals appear to be getting through,

>while i am able to only receive messages from . with respects,

>dasan, sadagopan

>

>Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

>

> Quite a Mouthful

>

> What is the most infectious of gestures? One would be tempted to

>say

>"a smile", but there are any number of cases where a smile of goodwill or

>friendship hardly begets another, especially these days when people are in

>a

>constant, headlong rush through their lives, with hardly a moment to spare

>for others. Think hard though we might, we are unable to find any human

>gesture which prompts a similar reaction in the perceiver-other than, of

>course, the Yawn. It is indeed surprising to find that in a group of

>persons, a yawn from one immediately sets off a chain of yawns from others.

>However hard one might try and control it, the yawn is so infectious that

>our neighbour's action prompts an almost involuntary and equal reaction in

>us.

>

> As a matter of etiquette, most of us cover our mouths with our palms

>when we do yawn, in order to spare others the sight of our denture and

>palate, which are not the most seemly parts of the human anatomy. In these

>days of health and infection-consciousness, even people who have perfect

>teeth and have nothing to hide by way of uneven molars or dentures stained

>with tobacco or nicotine, do cover their mouths when a yawn seizes them. On

>the rare occasions that they don't, we are treated to the sight of their

>cavernous mouths with their unappetizing contents. Thus a human yawn

>reveals

>nothing profound and, to the contrary, may well lay bare what is better

>hidden. However, what would you say if someone told you of something

>astonishing and wonderful revealed by a yawn? We would be inclined to

>scoff,

>unless the source is extremely credible.

>

>Sri Krishna's infancy is marked by innumerable tales of His enchanting

>exploits, which continue to enthrall us till date and which have generated

>a

>distinct genre of literature known as "Pillai Tamizh", the first exponent

>whereof was Sri Periazhwar. The Bhagavata Purana too delights in recounting

>these enthralling episodes from Sri Krishna's childhood. If we, who are

>hearing these tales as part of the folklore handed down from the distant

>past from one generation to another, can be moved beyond measure despite

>our

>hardened hearts, imagine the experiences of those who had the incredible

>good fortune to witness these events first-hand and at close quarters!

>

>

> The Bhagavata Purana speaks about an extremely significant yawn,

>which

>revealed to the onlooker sights too wonderful for words, absolutely amazing

>and astounding. Need we say whose gaping mouth it was that exposed such

>magnificent murals of the mundane world? Could it be anybody other than the

>enchanting little Lord, Sri Krishna? Everything about the kutti Kannan is

>endearing and sweet, says the MadhurAshtakam-"adharam madhuram, vadanam

>madhuram...MathurAdhipatE: akhilam madhuram". Hence what might appear gross

>and unseemly in mere mortals is extremely enchanting in the Lord, even His

>yawn. Everything He does is indeed wonderful and magnificent, simply

>divine,

>as He Himself says in the Gita-"Janma karma cha mE divyam".

>

> Ever since the PoothanA episode, where the ogress tried in vain to

>eliminate the divine toddler by offering Him a poison-filled breast,

>Yasoda

>grows extremely protective and possessive about Sri Krishna, and never lets

>Him out of her sight. Though He has just started taking unsteady steps

>("taLar nadai ittu varuvAn"), the little Lord keeps active, crawling all

>over Nandagopa's palace, expending a lot of energy, which makes Him

>extremely sleepy, come evening. Always alert to the needs of her precious

>darling, Yasoda picks Him up for feeding, offering Him a breast full of the

>milk of maternal love and affection. After suckling to His heart's content,

>the incredible infant pushes the breast away, and, in an endearing gesture

>indicative of His sleepiness, opens His pearly mouth in a great yawn.

>Yasoda, who never misses even the minutest of her darling's movements which

>are so delightful, witnesses this yawn too, with the beautiful coral-red

>lips parting gracefully to reveal the inside of the tiny mouth, with

>dazzlingly brilliant teeth, pearly-white and orderly. The opening mouth

>gives off an amalgam of scents-that of the milk drunk just then, mixed with

>the natural fragrance of the Lord's breath, full of the scent of the

>Shruti-the nigama parimaLam.

>

> However, it is not the beautiful mouth or the brilliant teeth or even

>the

>heady scent wafting from the Lord's mouth that Yasoda finds remarkable.

>What

>takes her breath away is the sight that the open mouth offers. Instead of

>the normal spectacles of the throat, the larynx etc. that greet our eyes

>upon the opening of any mouth, Yasoda witnesses the entire galaxy, indeed

>several of them, inside the kutti Krishna's tiny mouth. She sees the Earth,

>with its innumerable subdivisons, majestic mountains, shoreless seas,

>islands and peninsulas, mighty rivers, virgin forests with their towering

>trees and myriad forms of flroa and fauna and all sorts of beings and

>non-beings. The gaping mouth of the Lord reveals too the vast expanse of

>the

>skies above studded with countless stars, the brilliant Sun, the

>magnificent

>Moon, the different directions, the heavens above and the worlds below. The

>vast visual panorama consisting of the entire bewildering vista of Creation

>unfolds before Yasoda's unbelieving eyes, making her more wide-eyed than

>ever. What is more, she is able to see, in a corner of the world on

>display,

>the extremely familiar contours of Nandagokulam, with the gOpAs and gOpikAs

>going about their tasks, the generous cows and buffaloes ("vaLLal perum

>pasukkaL"), the beautiful sand dunes on the banks of the Yamuna and even

>Herself, peering into the mouth of her precious infant. Overwhelmed by the

>incredible spectacle, Yasoda knows not whether she is awake or asleep, and

>pinches herself to ensure that what greets her eyes is indeed reality and

>not a fantastic dream. Unable to assimilate what she sees and stupefied

>beyond measure, the dazed Yasoda simply shuts her eyes in wonderment.

>

> The realisation dawns upon Yasoda, reinforced by all the earlier

>superhuman exploits of her darling, that the toddler that has come to grace

>her vamsam is no ordinary child, but an infant extraordinaire, unlike any

>other child anywhere-"Ayar putthiran allan, arum deivam". She realises too

>that He is no mere mortal child of the cowherds clan, but a divine

>manifestation descended upon earth to emancipate errant humanity. However,

>once the Lord closes His mouth, the amazing spectacle disappears and Yasoda

>too is beset again by Bhagavan MAyA, reverting her to the status of a

>doting

>and intensively protective mother.

>

>Does this episode, of the Lord revealing the entire Creation in His mouth,

>have any significance, or is it just one more display of His "aghatita

>ghatana sAmartyam" (making the impossible happen)? Was it just a show put

>on

>to impress an impressionable mother or does it have any philosophical

>significance?

>

>It is not easy to divine the purport of the greatest of mantrAs, viz., the

>ashtAksharam. Acharyas have hence adduced several examples to enable easy

>comprehensibility and retention. The Ramayana sloka

>

>"agrata: prayayou Rama: Sita madhyE sumadhyamA

> prishthatO tu dhanushpANi: LakshmanO anujagAma ha"

>

>tells us that while on the jungle trail, Sri Rama led the way, followed by

>Sri Sita, with Lakshmana bringing up the rear. This sloka is quoted by

>Swami

>Desikan to enable us to remember the extremely significant entities

>represented by the Pranavam, with the first letter akAra (A) indicating the

>Lord who is the universal saviour, the next letter, the ukAra (U) denoting

>Sri Mahalakshmi who acts as the bonding factor between the Lord and the

>individual soul, and the last letter, the makAra (M) indicating the

>Jeevatma, who is a natural servitor to the Divine Duo. This is as far as

>the

>Pranavam, which forms the first word of the three comprising the

>ashtAksharam, is concerned.

>

>The third word of the mantra, the Narayana sabdam, explains to us the

>nature

>of the Lord and the realtionship subsisting between Him and us. Literally,

>it means the Lord, who forms the residence of all beings and objects,

>sentient and non-sentient-(nArANAm ayanam ya:). All of Creation has the

>Lord

>as its resting place, which is the exalted purport of the Narayana sabdam.

>And it is this important concept which is demonstrated by Sri Krishna, when

>He opens His mouth to His mother to reveal the existence inside Him of the

>entire gamut of Creation. Thus, the episode signifies not merely the Lord's

>magical prowess, but the inalienable and eternal relationship of Support

>and

>the Supported, existing between Emperuman and ourselves.

>

>Coming back to the yawn, the revealing of the worlds inside the little

>Lord'

>s mouth is recounted by Azhwars too, with significant differences. For

>instance, while the Bhagavatam episode narrated above appears to have

>occurred almost towards the incredible infant's first birthday (just after

>Sri Krishna started crawling), the one Sri Periazhwar alludes to seems to

>have taken place within the first month of Sri Krishna's birth. It is

>customary for mothers to remove the sediments from the infant's tongue,

>while giving it a bath. Since the child has no teeth yet to be brushed,

>mothers clean the tongue, to remove the remnants of the milk frequently

>imbibed by the baby. Sri Periazhwar says that it is during such an exercise

>that Yasoda was rewarded with the spectacular vision of the seven worlds

>within the kutti Krishna's mouth. Here is the beautiful pasuram, testifying

>to this-

>

>"kaiyyum kAlum nimirtthu kadAra neer

> paiya vAtti pasum siru manjaLAl

> iyya nA vazhitthAlukku angAndida

> vaiyyam Ezhum kandAL piLLai vAyuLE"

>

>It appears from Sri Periazhwar's version that it was not only Yasoda who

>had

>the extraordinary experience, but also the gOpis present on the occasion,

>for Azhwar refers to the onlookers in plural-"vAyuL vaiyyagam kaNda mada

>nallAr".

>

>The Bhagavata Purana itself narrates another occasion where the Lord

>afforded a sight of His being a refuge to all beings and objects. While

>playing one day with His brother Balarama and other friends, Sri Krishna

>deliberately put a fistful of sand in His mouth. The concerned Balarama and

>others made a beeline to Yasoda and complained of Sri Krishna's

>unconventional diet. To Yasoda, this appeared a novel complaint-usually it

>was butter and milk the brat was accused of swallowing by the potfulls: now

>it was sand. What would happen to the little horror's stomach? As was His

>wont, Sri Krishna stoutly denied having imbibed mud. However, this was an

>easily- resolved matter. Yasoda ordered Krishna to open His mouth, so that

>the telltale grains of sand would give Him away. When Sri Krishna opened

>His

>mouth, it was not sand that she found in His mouth, but the entire

>Creation,

>in its kaleidoscopic variety, coomprised of the seven worlds, the rivers

>and

>mountains, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, men, women, children, deities

>and celestials, with Gokulam and its inhabitants clearly seen, and among

>them a Yasoda with a raised hand looking into the mouth of the little Lord

>to confirm what He had eaten.

>

>For good measure, Sri Periazhwar throws in another instance of Yasoda

>witnessing all the worlds in her darling's mouth, this time when He cried,

>bawling out with His mouth open to reveal the celestial spectacle-

>

>"viN ellAm kEtka azhudittAi, un vAyil virumbi nAn adanai nOkki

> maN ellAm kandEn manatthuLLe anji MadhusUdanE endru irundEn"

>

>Thus, it appears to have been quite a common pastime for Sri Krishna to

>show

>His mother all the worlds in His tiny mouth, if we are to go by the

>flawless

>accounts of His faithful chroniclers. It would also appear that whenever

>Sri

>Krishna opened His mouth, Yasoda was accustomed to seeing the celestial

>spectacle and would have been surprised only to find mere teeth and tongue

>in her darling's mouth.

>

>A neighbour's child was reading out aloud from her book of nursery rhymes-

>"Johnny Johnny-Yes Papa

> Eating sugar? No, Papa

> Telling lies? No, Papa

> Open your mouth! Ha Ha Ha"

>It was fairly obvious to me as to where this ditty had descended from.

>

>Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

>Dasan, sadagopan

 

_______________

Help protect your PC: Get a free online virus scan at McAfee.com.

http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963