mothers - in contrast - 2

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Post 2

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

On this krishNa jayanthi day, let us see the first "great deed" as a child, of

my krishNa, not yet one year in age then - the killing of poothana. Like sri

raama in the previous avathaaram, he also started the account with 'killing of a

women', earlier it was thaataka, here it is poothana.

 

One very interesting point - while my krishNa sucked the breasts of poothana, to

relieve her of the life, he closed his eyes. This is as mentioned in sreemadh

bhaagavatham. Dear bhakthaas you may ask "So what? Is it not usual for children

to tend to sleep while getting fed from breasts of their mothers?"

 

But lot of meanings are given to this closing of eyes by krishNa by

commentators. First see slOkam and then comments:

 

vibhudhya thaam baalaka maarikaagraham

chara achara aathmaa ~~ aasa nimeelitha eekshaNa: |

anantham aarOpayath angam anthakam yathaa

uragam suptham abudhDhirajjaDhee: ||

slokam 8, 6th sargam, dhasama skandham, poorva ardham, sreemadh bhaagavatham

 

meaning: on seeing the child this poothanaa [the kEcharee - means the witch who

can fly in the sky] realized he is the soul of all moving and non moving [-

chara achara] and just lying with closed eyes. She did not realize she is going

to get killed. Like a blind fellow taking the snake as a rope, she also took the

ananthan [krishNa] in her lap.

 

The comments on this sleeping are quite interesting:

1. He, that krishNa, did not like to see that person poothana, who commits

infanticide. So closed his eyes. [This point is simple and straight].

 

2. If she sees his eyes, perhaps she will get frightened by the truthful power

of his lotus eyes - nirmalamaana kaNgalaip paarththaal sathyam sollumpadi

aagividum - and she will blabber to all for what purpose she has come viz.

killing krishNa. So her intention will not be fulfilled, that of killing

krishNa, may not take place. So he closed his eyes so that she will go ahead in

her deed.

 

3. As per saasthram, a kshathriyan is not supposed to kill women, cow, children

et al. So krishNa thought why to start the account with killing of a women

[which is improper as per saasthram]. As such, at least do close the eyes and

then do that killing of poothana.

 

4. She has come to give milk from her breasts as a mother will do to her child

[puthra vaathsalyam]. While killing a lady itself is not proper, it is doubly

improper who has come as mother to breastfeed. Since killing her is inevitable,

at least close the eyes and then do the act of killing.

 

5. The super point is here - "anyhow she is going to get mOksham, since she has

my [krishNa] sambhandham so why to give another bonus the lord thought and

closed his eyes."

The lord is going to suck her breasts - thereby she is getting the touch of the

lord. That itself is more than sufficient to give her mOksham. So why to give an

additional bonus here and now, in this lOkam itself- of that eekshaNam - the

sight from the lotus eyes - the kataaksham from that pundareeka aksham - that

which even rishis and munis do not get even after a lot of penance.

That is why the lord closed his eyes.

 

See how bhakthaas interpret to enjoy the lord in his small small actions. Kindly

see in how many places this "mulai oodu uyir sega uNda kaaryam" - that deed of

sthanya baanam -being described in many verses by almost all azhvaars. [perhaps

in more than one post].

Since we have taken the verse of thirumangai aazhvaar as the base for comparing

the two mothers in my earlier post, I list his lines first.

 

Thirumangai aazhvaar: On mother one:

 

pEyidaikkirundhu vandha maRRavaL than perumulai suvaiththida

peRRa thaayidaikkiruththal anjuvan enRu thaLarndhida vaLarntha en thalaivan

1-4-5

[a lady who hailed from a demon, such a ladies' big bosoms had been tasted, but

fearing about own mother started crawling - grown in that way is my lord]

 

thaayaai vandha pEi uyirum thayirum izhudhum udan uNda vaayaan 1-5-6

[swallowed the life of the demon who came as mother, has a mouth having eaten

curd and butter along with the above]

 

pEith thaayai mulai uNda piLLai thannai piNai maruppin karum kaLiRRai - 2-5-4

[the son who sucked breasts of a demon ness mother, like the black elephant

which has twin tusks - dhandham]

 

ooNaagap pEi mulai nanju uNdaan thannai uLLuvaar uLLaththE uRaiginRaanai 2-5-7

[he, who resides in the hearts of persons who want to keep him in their hearts,

who ate as food the poison given through breasts of a demon ness]

 

panchichiRu koozhai uruvaagi maruvaaga vanjap peN nanju uNda aNNal 2-6-7

[the lord who ate the poison from the cunning woman who had the hair white like

cotton changed and good smelling]

 

pEimagaL kongai nanju uNda piLLai parisu idhu enRaal - 3-3-2

[if this is the prize from that boy who ate the poison from breasts of a demon

ness]

 

izhaiyaadu kongaiththalai nanjam uNdittu iLam kanRu koNdu 3-8-5

[ate the poison from nipples covered with cloth, also had young calves]

 

paN nEr mozhi aaichchiyar anja vanjap baguvaaikkazhudhukku irangaadhu

avaL than uNNa mulai maRRavaL aaviyOdu udan Egavaiththaan - 3-8-6

[did not get along or beg with the large mouthed satan when she offered her

breasts for feeding - but he sucked her soul also to send her to heaven

[kazhudhu is pEi] - as result the gOpee women who are straightforward in nature

feared]

 

peNmai migu vadivu kodu vandhavaLai periya pEyinadhu

uruvu kodu maaLa uyir uNdu 3-9-6

[gave the real form of the big demonness by eating the life of her, who came

with all grace of a beautiful lady]

 

vanjanaiyaal vandhavaL than uyir uNdu vaayththa thayir uNdu 3-10-9

[swallowed the life of the demon who came with bad intention, having eaten curd

and butter along with]

 

poRRodith thOL madamagaL than vadivu koNda

pollaadha van pEichchi kongai vaangi

peRReduththa thaai pOla maduppa aarum pENaa

nanju uNdu ugandha piLLai kaNdeer 4-4-2

[see this young child who ate poison which is not liked by anyone, the child who

received the wicked demon who came near like a mother to give breastfeed, having

the shape of beautiful girl of slender nice shoulders,]

 

kavvai vaaL eyiRRu van pEik kadhir mulai suvaiththu - 4-5-2

[that great tooth looking like sword - [applicable to varaham] and tasted the

wicked demon's big bosoms]

 

vancham mEvi vandha pEyin uyirai uNda maayan 4-8-2

[that supreme magician who swallowed the life of the demon came with bad

intention],

 

pEi maaya mulai uNdu ivvulagu uNda peru vayiRRan pEsil nangaai - 5-5-4

[hey girl - killing the demon by sucking her breasts, also eaten this world,

such a big stomached lord - if we talk about him]

 

pEyinaar mulai ooN piLLaiyaai orukaal perunilam vizhungi adhu umizhndha

vaayinaai - 5-7-9

[he sucked the breasts of the demon, another time swallowed this world, but

later spit that world - such a lord]

 

baguvaai vanpEi kongai suvaiththu aaruyir uNdu puguvaai ninRa - 6-5-6

[tasting the big mouthed wicked demon's breasts, and swallowing her life also,

standing with a mouth big enough to receive any thing]

 

mulaiththadaththa nanju uNdu thunjap pEichchi

mudhu dhuvaraik kulapathy aagak kaalippinnE - 6-6-7

[eating the poison from the nipples of the demon and killing her, going behind

the calves, later as the great king of dhvaaraka]

 

kaN chOra venkurudhi vandhu izhiya venthazhal pOl koonthaalaaLai

maN sera mulaiyuNda maamadhalaai vaanavar tham kOvE - 7-4-1

[hey, king of the dhEvaas who reside in nether world, you, as a child killed the

red haired demon, who lost her sight, red blood flowing out from nipples fallen

on the ground, all by your sucking her life through her nipples].

 

pEn aanaaL pEr iLam kongaiyinaar azhalpOl

uNNaa nanju uNdu uganthaayai uganthEn naan - 8-10-4

[i enjoyed you oh lord who ate the poison from her like swallowing fire, when

she became a woman, had big lovely bosoms]

 

soormaiyilaaya pEi mulai suvaiththuch -9-8-4

[soormai is kadumaiyaana svabhaavam - wickedness] tasting the wicked demon's

breasts

 

than maganaaga van pEichchi thaan mulai uNNak kodukka

vanmaganaai avaL aavi vaangi mulai uNda nambee 10-4-7

she that wicked demon, thinking you as her son, offered her breasts to feed you,

oh nambee - my son - but you sucked her breasts to relieve her life.

 

yaayum piRarum aRiyaadha yaamaththu maya valavaip peN vandhu mulai thara

pEi enRu avaLaip pidiththu uyirai uNda vaLLalE - 10-5-4

[in that time when mother and others did not know, she, that wicked demon woman

came and gave her breasts, you, the great donor, sucked her life out]

 

puLLUruvaagi naLLiruL vandha poothanai maaLa - 10-9-1

[she came in the dark night like a night bird and you killed her]

 

angu Or thaai uruvaagi vandhavaL kongai nanju uNda kOinmai kolO- 11-1-4

[there she came in the guise of mother and you did eat her poisoned breasts]

 

uNa mulai mun koduththa uravOLadhu aavi uga uNdu veNNai maruvi 11-4-9

[she offered her breasts for you to feed but you did suck her life out, later

ate butter],

 

dear bhakthaas, may be this is a small incident in life of Krishna. But a lot of

paasurams are there in 4000, which we will continue in next post also.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.