krishnakarnamrtham-slokas51 to60

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51. anthargrhe krshnam avekshya choram

badDhvaa kavaatam jananeem gathaikaa

ulookhale dhaamam nibadDham enam

thathrrapi dhrshtvaa sthimithaa babhoova

 

Seeing Krishna inside her house stealing butter, locking the door, went to see his mother. There also she saw him tied to the mortar and was stunned.

 

 

Krishna went to a house and was there stealing butter, navaneetha choram, when the gopi returned. Catching him red-handed (butter-handed rather) anthargrhe, and locked her door, kavaatam badDhvaa, so that he could not escape. Then she went to report the matter to yasodha, jananeem gathaa. There she saw Krishna tied to the mortar by his mother. She was stunned by this and there is no need to say that she must have rushed to her house to see whether he has escaped somehow only to find him there as she left him. Such is the maya of the Lord exhibited through out in His krishnavathara. The people who were subjected to his maya never realized the truth that he was the supreme self but only thought that they were under hallucination. Even when they came to know his real svaroopa in a few instances Krishna made them forget it again through his maya in order to continue his leelaas. In this and the rest of the slokas that follow Leelasuka lapses back into describing Krishna as a child.

 

52. rathnasThale jaanucharaH kumaaraH

sankraantham athmeeyam mukhaaravindham

aadhaathu laabhaH thadhalaabhakhedhaath

vilokya dhaathree vadhanam ruroDha

 

 

The young Krishna crawling on the gem-studded floor, saw his face reflected on it and tried to grab it. But not being able to do so looked at the face of his nanny and cried.

 

Leelasuka portrays a charming picture of Krishna crawling on the floor here. He is crawling on his knees, jaanucharaH, and his lotus-like face, mukhaaravindham is reflected, sankraantham, on the floor inlaid with gems, rathnasthale. Thinking it is another child he want to get him, aadhaathum laabhaH, but was not able to. Hence he starts crying, thath alaabhakhedhaath rurodha, and looks at the face of his nanny, vilokya dhaathree vadhanam, helplessly. Such is the maya of the Lord to behave like a guileless child, the child on a banyan leaf, who had all the worlds inside him.

 

53.aanandhena yaSodhayaa samadhanam gopaanganaabhiH chiram

saaSankambalavidhvishaasakusumaiH siddhaiH prThivyaakulam

sershyamgopakumaarakaiH sakarunam pouraiH janaiH sasmitham

yo dhrshtaH sa punaathu no muraripuhprothkshipthagovarDhanah

 

May the foe of the demon Mura, who was seen lifting the Govardhana mountain, with joy by yasodha, with prolonged love by the gopis, with doubt by Indra, with offerings of flowers by the evolved souls, with concern by the earth goddess, with envy by the other cowherd boys, with pity by the people of the city and the others with smile, purify us.

 

Krishna was carrying the Govardhana mountain, prothkshiptha govarDhanah, and those seeing him do that, had reacted in different ways. Yasodha was feeling elated, aanaandhena, about her son. The gopis looked at him with a longing, samadhanam, born out of prolonged love. Indra had doubts, Saasankam, about how long Krishna could go on like that. The siddhas offered flowers, sakusumaiH siddhaiH, in worship as they alone knew the real identity of him. The earth goddess looked with concern, prThivyaakulam, and the other cowherd boys envied, sershyam, his strength. The people of Gokula were affected with pity, sakaruNam pouraiH, for the young Krishna holding the mountain in his hands. The others, meaning the devotees looked at him with smile, janaiH sasmitham.

 

54. upaasathaam aathmavidhaH puraaNaah

param pumaamsam nihitham guhaayaam

vayam yasodhaa Sisubaalaleelaa

kaThaa suDhaa sinDhushu leelayaamaH

Let those who follow the ancient path, puraaNaah, and enquire after the Self,aathmavidhah, meditate on the Supreme Self, upaasathaam parampumaamsam, inside the cave of their heart. Let us play in the ocean of nectar called the stories about the exploits of the child of yasodha.

 

The idea made out in the sloka 28 of this Asvasa is reiterated here. Leelasuka , while claiming that Krishna is the parabrahman of the upanishats, shows the easy way to realize Him rather than the difficult means of visualizing the Supreme Self inside the lotus of the heart, parampumamsam nihitham guhaayaam and meditate on it as advised by the upanishats. Let us not worry about the enquiry of Brahman, brahmajijnaasa, as made out in the upanishats and brahmasuthra, says Leelasuka. It is possible to attain Him easily by revelling in the storiesbaalaleelaakaThaa, of Balaktrishna, yasodhaaSisu, Hence let us play in that nectarine ocean, suDhaasinDhushu leelayaamaha.

 

Madhusudhnan Sarasvathi ,the famous advaita vedantin says the same thing as made out in the sloka 28.

 

The reference here is to the dhaharavidhya , instructed in the Chandhogya upanishat.

 

The text is as follows.

`aTha yadhidham asmin brahmapure dhaharam pundareekam veSma, dhaharaH asmin anthaH aakaaSaH , thasmin yath anthaH, thath anveshtavyam, thathvaava vijijnaasithavyam.' (Chan. )

 

In this city of Brahman, (meaning the sareera, ) there is a mansion in the form of a small lotus, (the heart). In this there is a small space. That which is inside the space (called dhaharaakaaSa) should be investigated and understood.

 

The small space here does not refer to magnitude but subtleness, which is why it is mentioned as aakaasa. The space inside any container or a room etc, is the same all-pervading space outside. There is no such thing as small space or large space the words used only denote the conditioning, that is the container and not the contained.

55. vikrethukaamaa kila gopakanyaa

muraaripaadhaarpitha chittha vrtthiH

dhaDhyaadhikam mohavaSaath avochath

govindha dhaamodhara maadhavethi

 

A gopi who wished to sell, vikrethukaama, curd etc.dhaDhyaadhikam, enchanted, mohavaSaath,with her mind absorbed in the feet of Krishna, murari paadhaarpitha chittha vrtthi, called out `govindha, dhaamodhara and maadhava,' instead of saying curd, butter etc. I have split the words in accordance with the musical chant and not by proper sandhi below.

 

vikrethu-kaamaa-kila gopa-kanyaa

muraari-paadhaar-pitha chit-tha vrtthiH

dhaDhyaa-dhikam moha-vaSaath a-vochath

govindha-dhaamo-dhara maa-dhavethi (one should repeat this line two or three times to bring in the mood of the verse.)

 

 

 

This is a beautiful sloka full of metrical charm and can be recited in a sing song fashion. There are more of this nature though not ascribed to Leelasuka, of the same form. The most poignant of them which brings tears in chanting, is as follows.

 

Agre ku|rooNaam| aTha panda|vaanaam

dhuSSaasa|nenaa|hrtha vas|thra kesaa

krshnaa tha|dhaakroSath| ananya| naaThaa

govindha| dhamo|dhara ma|adhavethi

 

In front of Kurus and Pandavas , her clorthes and hair being pulled by DuSSaasanaa, Drouapdhi, who had no other resort, called out loudly, Govindha , Dhamodhara and Madhava.

 

56. ulookhalam vaa yaminaam mano vaa

gopaanganaanaam kuchakudmalam vaa

muraarinaamnaH kalabhasya noonam

aalaanam aaseeth thraya eva bhoomou

 

Whether it be the mortar or the mind of sages or the budding breasts of the gopis , these three alone serve as the binding posts to the elephant cub called Murari on earth.

 

The three examples given denote the three paths of salvation. The sages attain the Lord by meditating on him, and He comes and stays is their mind bound by their concentration. This is jnanayoga. The gopis love Him to such an extent that He finds it difficult to go away from them, bound by their love This is the experience of all devotee saints which is bhakthiyoga. Krishna was bound in the morar in order to free the sons of Kubera. It showed that even the Lord could not forget his karma or his avatarakarya. He also acted in accordance to his birth doing his svadharma but without attachment, thus illustrating what he was going to preach later in the Gita.So this is karmayoga as He says later `na me parTha asthi karthavyam thrishu lokeshu kaschana ; naanavaaptham avaathavyam vartha eva cha karmaNi,' (BG -3-22) meaning, "there is nothing for me to do in all the three worlds because there is nothing I should achieve by that but still I work incessantly."

 

57. karaaravindhena padhaaravindham

mukhaaravindhe viniveSayantham

vatasya pathrasya pute sayaanam

baalam mukundham manasaa smaraami

 

I offer my salutations to Mukundha , the infant who is lying, Sayaanam on a banyan leaf, vatasyapathram, and placing, vinivesayantham, his lotus-like foot , padhaaravindham,in his lotus-like mouth, mukhaaravindhe, with his lotus-like hand, karaaravindhena.

 

There is a doubt as to whether this sloka is a part of Krishnakarnamrtham because this is the first sloka of balamukundhashtakam, author not known. Any way since this has been included in the book I have, I am including this.

 

58.Sambho svaagatham aasyathaam

ithaH ithaH vaamena padhmaasana

krounchaare kuSalam sukham

surapathe vittheSa no dhrSyase

itTham svapnagathasya kaitaBhajithaH

dhrSvaa yasodhaa giraH

kim kim baalaka jalpasi ithi

rachitham Dhoo Dho krtham paathu naH

 

May the admonition, Dhoo Dhookrtham, by yasodha to Krishna , hearing his words while he was dreaming, "welcome,Sambhu be seated here, Oh Brahma, padmaasana, be seated on the left, Karthikeya , krounchaare, are you well, Indra, surapathe, are you happy, Kubera, vittheSa, why are you not seen nowadays," saying, "what is this child, kim kim baalaka, why are you prattling?", protect us.

 

Krishna was sleeping , or seemed to be so, and assuming his real self of Lord Narayana he was conversing with the other devas who had come to see him.This was looked upon by Yasodha as a child's prattle in sleep and she admonidshed him saying, "why are you prattling, sh. sh " etc. Leelasuka says that let that admonition protect us.

 

In the Gita Krishna says, `yaa niSaa sarvabhoothaanaam thasyaam jaagarthi samyamee,'(BG.2-69) in what seems to be the night for ordinary people, a jnani is awake. Here Krishna appeared to be asleep but actually he was in his own world where the other were aware of hie real identity just as the evolved souls like Uddhava Akrura, Bheeshma etc. knew it. But ordinary mortals like Yasodha and the gopas considered Krishna as a human being.this is what is meant by the Gita sloka quoted.

 

59. maathaH kim yadhunaaTha dhehi chashakam

kim thena paathum payaH

thannaasthi adhyaa kadhaa asthi niSi niSaa

kaa vaa anDhakaarodhaye

aameelyaakshiyugam niSaapyupagathaa

dheheethi maathurmuhuH

vakshojaamSuka karshaNodhyathakaraH

krshnah sa pushNaathu naH

 

maathah-"Mother, "

kim yahdunaaTha- "What is it, oh Lord of yadhus? "

dhehi chashakam-" Give me a cup."

Kim thena-"What is it for?"

Paathum payah-"To drink milk."

Thath naasthi adhya- "Not now. "

Kadhaa asthi-"When ?'

niSi- "In the night"

niSaa kaa vaa - "What is night?"

anDhakaarodhaye-" When it is dark."

May Krishna who,closing his eyes, aameelyaakshiyugamm and telling his mother,"night has ciome ,give me milk,", niSaapyupagathaa dhehi and pulled her upper garment vakshojaamSuka karshNodhyathakaraH, with his hand again and again,muhuH protect us, pushNathu nah

 

Another delightful scene from the childhood leelas of Krishna in the form of conversation between him and his mother.

 

60. kaalindhee pulinodhareshu musalee

yaavadhgathaH kelithum

thavath kaarparikam payaH piba hare

varDhishyathe the Sikhaa

itTham baalathayaa prathaaraNaparaaH

Sruthvaa yasodhaagiraH

Payaan nah svaSikhaam sprSan pramudhihaH

Ksheere arDhapeethe hariH

 

" Krishna , drink this milk from the golden cup,kaarparikam payaH piba, while Balarama, musalee, has gone to the sand hills of Yamuna, kaalindhee pulinodhareshu to play,kelithum, your hair will grow well, varDhishyathe the Sikhaa." May Krishna, who, hearing this clever speech of Yasodha,sruthvaa yasodhaa giraH, naively, baalathayaa, touched his tuft, svaSikhaam sprSan, after drinking half the milk ksheere arDhapeethe, and felt happy,pramudhithaH,protect us.

 

Yasodha was trying to coax Krishna to drink the milk she had for him in a golden cup and told him to drink it while Balarama is away to play in the sand of Yamuna, so that his hair will grow well , even better than Balarama. Krishna in childish innocence touched his hair to see whether it has grown even after drinking half the cup of milk and showed his joy on hearing the clever words of his mother. Leelasuka is only next to Periazvaar, in enjoying the child hood of Krishna.