Athimanushasthavam34-35

[Guest guest]

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

 

 

On, 3/26/05 Sri. E.V.V. B. Swami continued His Upanyasam on

Athimanushasthavam and starting this lecture He started about Krishna

Leelas. Including our Purvacharyas and Azhvars everyone has a soft

corner for Krishna for various reasons. They very much feared for

Kannan compared to Rama. He was born a prince, in a palace and was

brought up surrounded by Dasaratha Chakravarthi, His mothers,

brothers, able Chief Priest Vashishta, the people of Ayodhya, and the

whole army of Dasaratha to protect Him and He was born in Thretha Yuga

far removed from Kali Yuga. But our Kannan was born close to Kali

Yuga, (end of Dwapara Yuga), born in a prison in the middle of the

night, and had to be secreted to Thiruayarpadi, and He was raised by a

gentle father who was a cowherd, Nandagopa and a sweet mother Yasoda.

Here even blades of grass were His enemies, and naturally everyone had

more concern for Kannan. Also His maternal uncle Kamsa was waiting in

the wings to kill Him, the moment He was born. Who wouldn't want to

protect Him and love Him? But through His Athimanushasthavam He shows

us, that He is more than capable of protecting Himself and others.

 

In Sloka 34: He questions? "How were You able to stop the three demons

that came to kill you while you were a baby"? But He consoles Himself

by answering, You didn't do anything extraordinary, You behaved like

any baby would, but they were caught in the aftermath of their

actions. They were attracted to You like fireflies to a light and were

demolished. First Puthana came with evil intent, to feed You poison

filled milk, and You took what was offered, You were very hungry and

including the milk in your eagerness, her life also was sucked out.

Point to note here is both Rama and Krishna killed a woman first? Is

it our ignorance that they were terminating? When Puthana first came

to Thiruayarpadi, those innocent people were taken by her beauty, and

compared her to Sri Mahalakshmi. Andal calls her "peN kodi", and they

brought her lotus flowers and left her alone with the baby. He was

born under Rohini star and for Him even poison is nectar. He survived

all the ill fates, because they offered it only to Him, in Ramanuja

Noorandadhi it is sung "Kannanukke aanadhu kamam". So, good or bad, if

given only to Him, He will accept it. After He sucked her life out,

she screamed with great pain and fell with a loud thud, and people

came running out of their homes fearing for baby Krishna. Alas, what a

sight! His Thirumeni, a reservoir of all that is best is crawling on

her, and she was emanating fragrance, because of His contact. Her

fallen body was the size of a huge mountain, and after cremation she

went to Moksha. (Whoever gets killed by Him attains the unattainable

easily).

 

Now the people of Ayarpadi became aware of dangers to Krishna and

started taking better care, by hiding Him in most unusual places. One

day Yasoda after bathing Kannan, (He glowed like a newly melted gold),

fed Him, put Him down to sleep under a cart. Satakasura, transformed

himself in the shape of the cart and tried to overturn the cart, and

thus planned to kill Krishna. Baby Krishna in the meanwhile woke up,

and started crying wildly with clenched fists, squealing loudly and

kicking up a storm. With such aggressive crying He overturned the cart

with a kick, thus killing Satakasura. We can still see a scar on His

Thiruvadi from this event. The people of Ayarpadi were overjoyed when

they saw the baby safe and sound.

 

The two demons Nalaputhan, and Manikiran were turned into two trees,

because of their misdeeds, and were awaiting release (sapavimochanam)

at the hands of baby Krishna. One day as usual He was full of mischief

and Yasoda wanted to punish Him, so He was tied to a martyr (old

wooden one) and was left alone. But He wouldn't stay put, He started

crawling towards the woods, and got stuck in between the two trees,

and tried to pull Himself out of the impasse. Azhvar sings "punaraar

ninra maramer naduve pona mudalvavo". He who is in every single atom

(antharyami), this is not hard. The trees fell down and the two demons

were cured of their curse and reached Moksha.

 

Now Kurathazhvan is asking, "If You can do all this why did You have

to hide from Kamsa?" Andal sings "oruthi maganai pirandhu or eravil

oruthi maganaai olithu valara" (born to one and brought up secretly by

another). This question gets answered in Sundarabhagusthavam. Why two

parents? He showed His Avathara rahasyam to Devaki, and birth secret

to Yasoda. He married Nappinnai in Ayarpadi and as a shathriya He

married Rukmani. He was brought up in Ayarpadi for Gopi's to acquire

Kamam (only for Him).

 

Another analogy is, in sugarcane there are many parts. Each serves its

purpose. He is like sugar cane, the middle part (fleshy) is used for

juice i.e. Kannan at child hood, the root is Paramapatha Nathan, and

the leaf is the war (Mahabharata war). How much our Purvacharyas

enjoyed kanna.

 

In Sloka 35: Kurathazhvan asks why did You comedown from Paramapatham?

To steal Butter! (navaneetham), why did You steal in different house

each day? For this Sriman Parasara Bhattar answers for Him, the first

house butter was an appetizer for the next one. Bhagawatham is a book

full of appetizers. He came down to show us His accessibility, while

Yogis are searching for Yugas to see Him. He stole butter to show His

Soulabyam.

 

Don't miss the next Upanyasam on April 9th 2005.

 

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

Chinna Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam