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: krpayaa 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.