krishnakarnamrtham-slokas 21 to 25

[Guest guest]

21. brndhaavanadhrumathaleshu gavaam gaNeshu

vedhaavasaana samayeshu cha dhrSyathe yath

thadhveNunaadhanaparam SikhipicChachoodam

brahma smaraami kamalekshaNam abhraneelam

 

I meditate on that Brahman, who is seen at the end of the Vedas, and also under the trees in Brindhavan and amidst the herds of cows, dark as a cloud and lotus-eyed, wearing peacock feather on his head and intent on playing the flute.

 

Leelasuka describes Krishna , wearing the peacock feather as a head ornament, Sikhi picaChachoodam, playing the flute, veNunaadhaparam, looking like a dark cloud, abhraneelam, his eyes like the lotuses. He is seen amidst the herds of cows, gavaam gaNeshu and under the trees, dhrumathaleshu, of Brindavan. He is none other than Brahman, who is seen at the end of the Vedas, vedhaavasaanasamayeshu dhrSyathe yath Brahma, says Leelasuka.

 

Vedhaavasaana, the end of the Vedas means Upanishads, known as Vedanta, through which Brahman can be known.

 

22. vyathyasthapaadham avathamsithabarhibarham

saacheekrthaanana niveSitha veNuranDhram

thejaH param paramakaaruNikaH purasthaath

praaNaprayaaNasamaye mama sanniDhatthaam

 

May Krishna, the merciful and luminous, adorned with peacock feather, appear in front of me at the time of my death with his feet crossed, his face inclined to one side with the flute placed on it.

 

Leelasuka paints a lovely picture of Krishna playing the flute. His legs are crossed and his head inclined to one side, with the flute on his lips and peacock feather on his head. Leelasuka expresses his desire to witness this scene at the last moment of his life The same idea of seeing Krishna during the time of death has been expressed already by him in two slokas in part I. The difference here being the picture of Krishna playing the flute, as described by Periazvar in ten verses. He says Krishna has bent his left waist with the left shoulder to one side his two hands together and his brow bent and with pouting lips. "idavaNarai idatthOLodu saaitthu irukai kooda puruvam nerindhERa etc. and all the ten verses describing the scene of flute playing by Krishna are beautiful.

 

23.ghoshapraghosha Samanaaya maThoguNena

maDhye babanDha jananee navaneetha choram

thadhbanDhanam thrijagathaam udharaaSrayaaNaam

aakroSakaaraNam aho nitharaam babhoova

 

Krishn's mother bound him on his stomach with the rope which is used for churning in order to quell the shouting in Gokulam due to Krishna stealing the butter. But that became the cause of a greater shouting from the worlds that were inside his stomach.

 

Ghosha means the residence of cowherds. Pragosha is the shouting in the ghosha on account of Krishna stealing the butter, navaneethachoram, from the houses of gopis. Yasodha bound, babanDha, Krishna on his middle(stomach), maDhye, with the churning rope, maThoguNa, maThana is churning and guNa is rope. But the act which was done to quell the shouts of the gopis actually created louder shouts because when Krishna was bound on the stomach, the sound of the three worlds, thrijagathaam, inside his stomach, udharaaSrayaaNaam, shouting, aakroSa, because they were pressed, was much greater, nithraam babhoova.

 

24. Saivaa vayam na khalu thathra vichaaraNeeyam

panchaakshareejapaparaa nithraam thaThaa api

chetho madheeyam athaseekusumaavabhaasam

smeraananam smarathi gopavaDhookiSoram

 

We are saivites and there is no doubt about that as we are engrossed in the japa of panchaksharee manthra. Yet my mind dwells on the shining blue form like the athasi flower of the son of Yasodha with smiling face.

 

Leelasuka hails from a family of saivites. Hence he says that he is chanting the panchakshari manthra, `Om namassivaaya.' His kula devatha is Siva but ishta devatha is Krishna. So he says that his mind always dwells on the form of Krishna, shining like the blue flower called athasee, kaayaamboo in Tamil.

 

Krishna says in Gita, `yepi anya dhevathaabhakthaaH yajaanthe SraddhayaanvithaaH ; the api maameva kountheya yajanthi aviDhipoorvakam,' that whichever form of deity one worships with full faith that worship goes to Him only as He is the Brahman of the Upanishats.

 

There is a cult of worshipping Krishna as gopalasundari, in which they chant the raajagopaalamanthra of 18 syllables and the sreevidhyaa manthra of 15 syllables together. The goddess Laithaparamesvari is supposed to appear in red colour with ikshu kodhanda, pushpabaaNa, chakra, shankha, paaSa, ankuSa and flute as Gopalasundari. This has been described by Leelasuka. So he must have been following the samarasamaarga, anthaH SaakthaH, bahiH saivaH , vyavahaareshu vaishNavaH.

 

25. raaDhaa punaathu jagadhachyutha dhatthachitthaa

manThaanam aakalaythee dhaDhirikthapaathre

thasyaaH sthanasthabaka chanchala loladhrshtiH

dhevo api dhohanaDhiyaa vrshaBham nirunDhan

 

May Radha, who is churning the pot with no curd for butter with her mind on Krishna, and he too , who is tying the bull for milking, with his eyes on the beauty of Radha, purify the world.

 

Radha is churning for butter. But her mind was engrossed in Krishna and she did not notice that the pot had no curd and was empty, dhaDhi riktha paathre. And tried to churn the curd which was not there, manThaanam aakalayathee, with the churning rod. Krishna was also deeply in love with her and was looking at her beautiful form and ties up, nirunDhan the bull, vrsahbham, for milking, dhohanadDhiyaa, instead of the cow.