bhOgyAmrutam - 23 kESava

[Guest guest]

I begin this nAma remembering our beloved Lord "Sri Chenna kESava Swamy" of

Ongole. He has been silently protecting us generation after generation and has

blessed us with the greatest gift - Our AchArya (though we have moved to the so

called modern world and neglected Him). May all the fame, glory and power be

with Him forever and may I be of use to Him in some form or the other, forever.

I seek the blessings of all my forefathers who had worshipped this great Lord...

 

 

 

 

 

KESava = The one who is above ka (Brahma) & ISa (Siva); The slayer of demon

kESi; The one with a wealth of beautiful hair.

 

 

 

pASuram : TiruvAimozhi 2-8-3 ( NammALwAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam )

 

 

 

samanvayam with pASuram : He is the kESava since He is the antaryAmi of both

Brahma and Siva. He has an unmatched wealth of beautiful hair, which bespeaks

His soundaryam and Iswaryam (opulence). And His divine deeds eminently suit His

supreme stature.

 

 

 

pASuram :

 

 

 

puNarkkum ayanAy azhikkum aranAy

Being the creator Brahma and the destroyer Siva

 

 

 

puNartta tan undiyODu arattu manna

Through the lotus originating from His navel, being the indweller

 

 

 

puNartta tiruvAki ttan mArvil

With LakShmi partnering Him on His chest

 

 

 

tAnSEr puNarppan

The one with deeds that befit His eminence

 

 

 

pErum puNarpu yengum pulaNE

Stunning feats that are celebrated all over.

 

 

 

Detailed Interpretation:

 

1) He becomes Brahma “the creator” and Siva “the destroyer”: He controls

both Brahma and Siva as their inner ruler. He transcends all entities including

ka – Brahma and ISa – Siva and is renowned as “kESava”.

 

 

 

2) Through the lotus originating from His navel; being the indweller:

Brahma is not different from nArAyaNa in the sense that He is subservient and

inseparable from nArAyaNa as His body (including His abode, the lotus).

 

 

 

It follows that Siva who came out of Brahma’s forehead derives the same

subservience to SrIman nArAyaNa.

 

 

 

He scrupulously carries out the creation and destruction through Brahma

and Siva as “KESava” (the controller of ka and ISa).

 

 

 

3) With LakShmi partnering Him on His chest : Our mother LakShmi is the

abode of incomparable beauty and prosperity. The love and compassion that She

has towards Her children complement Her external beauty in totality.

 

 

 

He is the “One” chosen by Her. The very fact that She adorns His

chest with utmost joy, serves as a perfect reference to His inconceivable fame,

glory and His surpassingly sublime beauty (external as well as internal). His

magnetic charm is absolute in all respects. His captivating form beggars

description and all His features eminently match His beauty.

 

 

 

His celebrated name “kESava” becomes all the more centroidal exactly in this

context. “kESava” means – “The One with a wealth of beautiful hair”, which

eloquently depicts both His soundaryam and Iswaryam (opulence).

 

 

 

4) The One with deeds that befit His eminence: His deeds are not the ones

that can lessen His magnanimity, fame and glory. His deeds are fully in

accordance with His beauty and eminence.

 

 

 

Our mother AnDAL says so in “nAcchiyAr tirumozhi” -2-5 –

“Though you come and spoil the nice castles of sand that we children had built

with a lot of effort, somehow we never get even the slightest of anger on you. O

cunning mAdhava!, O my kESava!!, its just because of your lovely hair, charming

face and an appealing form”.

 

 

 

veLLai nuN maNal koNDu Sittil viSittirappaDa vItivAi teLLi nAngaL izhaittakOlim

With the fine white sand, we built the special castles and decorated the

streets...

 

 

 

azhittiyAkilum untanmEl

such nice showpieces were spoilt by you. Still in your case…

 

 

 

uLLam Odi urukalallAl | urODam onrum ilOm kanDAi

though heartbroken, none of us are angry even to the slightest extent

 

 

 

kaLLa mAtavA kESavA un mukattan kangaL allavE

 

O cunning KriShNA!, my kESavA!!….Don’t you have eyes on you??

 

 

 

Though on occasions, His deeds bear a mischievous and cunning

facade, they actually originate from His overflowing love towards us. In this

case, it was the love towards those little girls who were happy in their own

innocent world.

 

 

 

It is well known that the anger of little children is unbiased

and is free from any kind of restriction (like the beauty of the object on which

they are angry upon etc). Even such kids were awestruck with the beauty of our

tiny goon and they couldn’t retaliate. Such is the bewitching beauty of our Lord

“kESava” and equally notorious are His deeds.

 

 

 

5) Stunning feats that are celebrated all over: Needless to say, the acts

of creation, destruction, maintenance and deliverance are outstanding.

 

 

 

The episodes of protecting gajEndra, prahlAda, draupadi are the

prominent

 

ones that easily capture our imagination.

 

 

 

So also is His famous exploit of slaying the demon kESi, which earned Him the

name – “kESava”. Even nArada maharShi panicked on seeing the demon kESi who

disguised himself as a horse to harm Krishna.

 

 

 

This demon symbolizes a siddhAntam which advocates the thought that – “God does

not exist”. It is pregnant with a logic, which can even frustrate the likes of

nArada. He ripped apart the speech and logic of those who promoted such a

thought through His gItOpadESam. And that’s precisely why Our Lord Krishna

became famous as the subduer of kESi – “The kESava”.

 

 

 

JAI SRIMAN NARAYANA

 

 

 

 

 

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