krishnakarnamrtham -slokas 15 to 17

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15.avyaajamanjula mukhaambujamugDhabhaavaih

aasvaadhyamaana nijaveNuvinodha naadham

aakreedathaam aruNapaadhasaroruhaabhyaam

aardhre madheeya hrdhaye bhuvanaardhram ojah

 

May the light, that is Krishna, who wets the whole universe with his love, play in my heart which is soaked in devotion, with his feet like red lotus, with his lotus-like face naturally expressive, enjoying the sound of music from his flute.

 

Leelasuka expresses a wish that Krishna should play in his heart in His lustrous form, His lotus- red feet dancing on the heart wet with devotion. The heart without devotion is hard like a stone and the feet of the Lord as soft as lotuses will get hurt by moving on it. Hence Leelasuka assures the Lord that his heart is soft because it is soaked in devotion and Krishna can play in it happily. The poet imagines the lustrous form of the Lord, charming by nature and expressive of love and joy arising out of the music from his flute. The whole universe is immersed in the love of Krishna and so it is no wonder that the heart of the poet is also soaked with love.

 

 

16.maNinoopuravaachaalam vandhe taccharaNam vibhoH

lalithaani yadheeyaani lakshmaaNi vrajaveeThishu

 

I bow down to the feet of the Lord, which mark the streets of Gokula with His footsteps, accompanied with the eloquent sound of His anklets.

 

The streets of Gokula are marked with the footsteps of Krishna with the signs of shankha, chakra etc. found on His foot and the sound of his anklets seems eloquent due to their incessant sound made by His running and playing on the streets.

 

Sri Yamunacharya in his sthothra rathna says,

 

Kadhaapunah shankha raThaanga kalpaka

Dhvaja aravindha ankuSa vajra laancChanam

thrivikrama thvaccharaNambujadhvayam

madheeyamoorDhaanam alamkarishyathi ( Alavandar sthothrarathnam-31)

 

When will thy lotus-feet adorn my head, Oh Lord Thrivikrama, the feet marked with the sign of, shankha, the conch, chakra, the disc, dhvaja, the flag, aravindha, the lotus, ankuSa, the goad and vajra, thunderbolt?

 

Periazvar says, describing the footsteps of Krishna,

 

orukaaliRsangu orukaaliR chakkaram uLladi poRitthamaindha

irukaalum kondu angangu ezudhinaaRpOl ilacchinai pada nadandhu

 

The uLLadi, that is the under-feet are marked with shankha and chakra respectively and when he walks, he seems to put his seal on the floor.

 

 

Here an episode described by some upanyaasaka comes to the mind. When Krishna and Balarama were crawling on the floor Balarama heard a sweet sound and not knowing what it was, stopped and seeing him Krishna also stopped .Then the sound stopped. Krishna laughed and moved on as though saying that if they stop the sound also will stop, because it was the sound of their anklets.

 

Hearing this the mind wonders whether Balarama could have been that naïve not knowing what the sound was and therefore stopping to hear it. Then this sloka came to mind.

 

maNikuttimasThale gathavaan

kimidham ithi raamah achalan aaseeth

jaanuhasthaabhyaam chalathoh thayoh

noopuraDhvanim Srthvaa raamakrshNayoh

 

hasan gacchathi krshNah bruvan

achalanthou na Srooyaavah ithi

raamo naalpamathih kinthu aicChath

Srothum bhavagavathah hi noopuraSabdham

 

That is , Balarama was not naïve enough not to know that it was the sound of their anklets but he stopped purposely because he wanted to hear the eloquent sound of the anklets of the Lord.

 

 

 

17.mamachethasi sphurathu vallavee vibhoh

mani noopurapraNayimanju Sinjitham

kamalaavanechara kalindhakanyakaa

kalahamsakanTa kalakoojithaadhrtham

 

May the sweet sound of the anklets of Krishna , the beloved of gopis, be heard in my mind, the sound that is deemed superior to that of the best of swans found in the river Yamuna among the assemblage of lotuses.

 

In this sloka Leelasuka continues to describe the sweet sound of the anklets of Krishna. The sound made by the kalahamasas, a special kind of swans which are known for their sweet sound, is even sweeter by eating the tender inside of the lotuses in the river Yamuna. But the musical sound of the anklets of Krishna is extolled as being even superior to that.

 

The word kamalaavanam denotes that the assemblage of lotuses which are dear to Lakshmi , who resides in them. As Lakshmi always accompanies the Lord in all His incarnations, she must have been present among the lotuses in Yamuna river. Kamalaavana as the abode of Lakshmi also indicates the lord Himself as He is also a kamalavana, a forest of lotuses, His eyes, hands and feet resembling lotuses, a thaamaraikkaadu , to quote Kamban.