From Sri Sadagopan Iyengar : unable to post

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>Fri, 22 Aug 2003 04:27:33 +0530

>sadagopaniyengar <sadagopaniyengar

>unable to post

>dileepan

>

>

>dear shri dileepan, for some reason, my messages are not being accepted by

>. some time earlier, i was unable to receive messages too, but

>now that is resolved. i append an article titled " Quite a MOuthful " and

>shall be grateful if you could have the same released on Malolan net.

>sorry for the inconvenience. thanks and regards, dasan, sadagopan

>

>

>

>

>Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

>

>

>

> Quite a Mouthful

>

>

>

>

>

> What is the most infectious of gestures? One would be tempted to

> say a smile, but there are any number of cases where a smile of goodwill

> or friendship hardly begets another, especially these days when people

> are in a constant, headlong rush through their lives, with hardly a

> moment to spare for others. Think hard though we might, we are unable to

> find any human gesture which prompts a similar reaction in the

> perceiverother than, of course, the Yawn. It is indeed surprising to find

> that in a group of persons, a yawn from one immediately sets off a chain

> of yawns from others. However hard one might try and control it, the yawn

> is so infectious that our neighbours action prompts an almost involuntary

> and equal reaction in us.

>

> As a matter of etiquette, most of us cover our mouths with our

> palms when we do yawn, in order to spare others the sight of our denture

> and palate, which are not the most seemly parts of the human anatomy. In

> these days of health and infection-consciousness, even people who have

> perfect teeth and have nothing to hide by way of uneven molars or

> dentures stained with tobacco or nicotine, do cover their mouths when a

> yawn seizes them. On the rare occasions that they dont, we are treated to

> the sight of their cavernous mouths with their unappetizing contents.

> Thus a human yawn reveals nothing profound and, to the contrary, may well

> lay bare what is better hidden. However, what would you say if someone

> told you of something astonishing and wonderful revealed by a yawn? We

> would be inclined to scoff, unless the source is extremely credible.

>

>Sri Krishnas infancy is marked by innumerable tales of His enchanting

>exploits, which continue to enthrall us till date and which have generated

>a distinct genre of literature known as Pillai Tamizh, the first exponent

>whereof was Sri Periazhwar. The Bhagavata Purana too delights in

>recounting these enthralling episodes from Sri Krishnas childhood. If we,

>who are hearing these tales as part of the folklore handed down from the

>distant past from one generation to another, can be moved beyond measure

>despite our hardened hearts, imagine the experiences of those who had the

>incredible good fortune to witness these events first-hand and at close

>quarters!

>

> The Bhagavata Purana speaks about an extremely significant yawn,

> which revealed to the onlooker sights too wonderful for words, absolutely

> amazing and astounding. Need we say whose gaping mouth it was that

> exposed such magnificent murals of the mundane world? Could it be anybody

> other than the enchanting little Lord, Sri Krishna? Everything about the

> kutti Kannan is endearing and sweet, says the MadhurAshtakamadharam

> madhuram, vadanam madhuram & ..MathurAdhipatE: akhilam madhuram. Hence what

> might appear gross and unseemly in mere mortals is extremely enchanting

> in the Lord, even His yawn. Everything He does is indeed wonderful and

> magnificent, simply divine, as He Himself says in the GitaJanma karma cha

> mE divyam.

>

> Ever since the PoothanA episode, where the ogress tried in vain to

> eliminate the divine toddler by offering Him a poison-filled breast,

> Yasoda grows extremely protective and possessive about Sri Krishna, and

> never lets Him out of her sight. Though He has just started taking

> unsteady steps (taLar nadai ittu varuvAn), the little Lord keeps active,

> crawling all over Nandagopas palace, expending a lot of energy, which

> makes Him extremely sleepy, come evening. Always alert to the needs of

> her precious darling, Yasoda picks Him up for feeding, offering Him a

> breast full of the milk of maternal love and affection. After suckling to

> His hearts content, the incredible infant pushes the breast away, and, in

> an endearing gesture indicative of His sleepiness, opens His pearly mouth

> in a great yawn. Yasoda, who never misses even the minutest of her

> darlings movements which are so delightful, witnesses this yawn too, with

> the beautiful coral-red lips parting gracefully to reveal the inside of

> the tiny mouth, with dazzlingly brilliant teeth, pearly-white and

> orderly. The opening mouth gives off an amalgam of scentsthat of the milk

> drunk just then, mixed with the natural fragrance of the Lords breath,

> full of the scent of the Shrutithe nigama parimaLam.

>

> However, it is not the beautiful mouth or the brilliant teeth or even

> the heady scent wafting from the Lords mouth that Yasoda finds

> remarkable. What takes her breath away is the sight that the open mouth

> offers. Instead of the normal spectacles of the throat, the larynx etc.

> that greet our eyes upon the opening of any mouth, Yasoda witnesses the

> entire galaxy, indeed several of them, inside the kutti Krishnas tiny

> mouth. She sees the Earth, with its innumerable subdivisons, majestic

> mountains, shoreless seas, islands and peninsulas, mighty rivers, virgin

> forests with their towering trees and myriad forms of flroa and fauna and

> all sorts of beings and non-beings. The gaping mouth of the Lord reveals

> too the vast expanse of the skies above studded with countless stars, the

> brilliant Sun, the magnificent Moon, the different directions, the

> heavens above and the worlds below. The vast visual panorama consisting

> of the entire bewildering vista of Creation unfolds before Yasodas

> unbelieving eyes, making her more wide-eyed than ever. What is more, she

> is able to see, in a corner of the world on display, the extremely

> familiar contours of Nandagokulam, with the gOpAs and gOpikAs going about

> their tasks, the generous cows and buffaloes (vaLLal perum pasukkaL), the

> beautiful sand dunes on the banks of the Yamuna and even Herself, peering

> into the mouth of her precious infant. Overwhelmed by the incredible

> spectacle, Yasoda knows not whether she is awake or asleep, and pinches

> herself to ensure that what greets her eyes is indeed reality and not a

> fantastic dream. Unable to assimilate what she sees and stupefied beyond

> measure, the dazed Yasoda simply shuts her eyes in wonderment.

>

> The realisation dawns upon Yasoda, reinforced by all the earlier

> superhuman exploits of her darling, that the toddler that has come to

> grace her vamsam is no ordinary child, but an infant extraordinaire,

> unlike any other child anywhereAyar putthiran allan, arum deivam. She

> realises too that He is no mere mortal child of the cowherds clan, but a

> divine manifestation descended upon earth to emancipate errant humanity.

> However, once the Lord closes His mouth, the amazing spectacle disappears

> and Yasoda too is beset again by Bhagavan MAyA, reverting her to the

> status of a doting and intensively protective mother.

>

>Does this episode, of the Lord revealing the entire Creation in His mouth,

>have any significance, or is it just one more display of His

>aghatita ghatana sAmartyam(making the impossible happen)? Was it just a

>show put on to impress an impressionable mother or does it have any

>philosophical significance?

>

>It is not easy to divine the purport of the greatest of mantrAs, viz., the

>ashtAksharam. Acharyas have hence adduced several examples to enable easy

>comprehensibility and retention. The Ramayana sloka

>

>agrata: prayayou Rama: Sita madhyE sumadhyamA

> prishthatO tu dhanushpANi: LakshmanO anujagAma ha

>

>tells us that while on the jungle trail, Sri Rama led the way, followed by

>Sri Sita, with Lakshmana bringing up the rear. This sloka is quoted by

>Swami Desikan to enable us to remember the extremely significant entities

>represented by the Pranavam, with the first letter akAra (A) indicating

>the Lord who is the universal saviour, the next letter, the ukAra (U)

>denoting Sri Mahalakshmi who acts as the bonding factor between the Lord

>and the individual soul, and the last letter, the makAra (M) indicating

>the Jeevatma, who is a natural servitor to the Divine Duo. This is as far

>as the Pranavam, which forms the first word of the three comprising the

>ashtAksharam, is concerned.

>

>The third word of the mantra, the Narayana sabdam, explains to us the

>nature of the Lord and the realtionship subsisting between Him and us.

>Literally, it means the Lord, who forms the residence of all beings and

>objects, sentient and non-sentient-(nArANAm ayanam ya:). All of Creation

>has the Lord as its resting place, which is the exalted purport of the

>Narayana sabdam. And it is this important concept which is demonstrated by

>Sri Krishna, when He opens His mouth to His mother to reveal the existence

>inside Him of the entire gamut of Creation. Thus, the episode signifies

>not merely the Lords magical prowess, but the inalienable and eternal

>relationship of Support and the Supported, existing between Emperuman and

>ourselves.

>

>Coming back to the yawn, the revealing of the worlds inside the little

>Lords mouth is recounted by Azhwars too, with significant differences. For

>instance, while the Bhagavatam episode narrated above appears to have

>occurred almost towards the incredible infants first birthday (just after

>Sri Krishna started crawling), the one Sri Periazhwar alludes to seems to

>have taken place within the first month of Sri Krishnas birth. It is

>customary for mothers to remove the sediments from the infants tongue,

>while giving it a bath. Since the child has no teeth yet to be brushed,

>mothers clean the tongue, to remove the remnants of the milk frequently

>imbibed by the baby. Sri Periazhwar says that it is during such an

>exercise that Yasoda was rewarded with the spectacular vision of the seven

>worlds within the kutti Krishnas mouth. Here is the beautiful pasuram,

>testifying to this

>

>kaiyyum kAlum nimirtthu kadAra neer

> paiya vAtti pasum siru manjaLAl

> iyya nA vazhitthAlukku angAndida

> vaiyyam Ezhum kandAL piLLai vAyuLE

>

>It appears from Sri Periazhwars version that it was not only Yasoda who

>had the extraordinary experience, but also the gOpis present on the

>occasion, for Azhwar refers to the onlookers in pluralvAyuL vaiyyagam

>kaNda mada nallAr.

>

>The Bhagavata Purana itself narrates another occasion where the Lord

>afforded a sight of His being a refuge to all beings and objects. While

>playing one day with His brother Balarama and other friends, Sri Krishna

>deliberately put a fistful of sand in His mouth. The concerned Balarama

>and others made a beeline to Yasoda and complained of Sri Krishnas

>unconventional diet. To Yasoda, this appeared a novel complaintusually it

>was butter and milk the brat was accused of swallowing by the potfulls:

>now it was sand. What would happen to the little horrors stomach? As was

>His wont, Sri Krishna stoutly denied having imbibed mud. However, this was

>an easily- resolved matter. Yasoda ordered Krishna to open His mouth, so

>that the telltale grains of sand would give Him away. When Sri Krishna

>opened His mouth, it was not sand that she found in His mouth, but the

>entire Creation, in its kaleidoscopic variety, coomprised of the seven

>worlds, the rivers and mountains, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, men,

>women, children, deities and celestials, with Gokulam and its inhabitants

>clearly seen, and among them a Yasoda with a raised hand looking into the

>mouth of the little Lord to confirm what He had eaten.

>

>For good measure, Sri Periazhwar throws in another instance of Yasoda

>witnessing all the worlds in her darlings mouth, this time when He cried,

>bawling out with His mouth open to reveal the celestial spectacle

>

>viN ellAm kEtka azhudittAi, un vAyil virumbi nAn adanai nOkki

> maN ellAm kandEn manatthuLLe anji MadhusUdanE endru irundEn

>

>Thus, it appears to have been quite a common pastime for Sri Krishna to

>show His mother all the worlds in His tiny mouth, if we are to go by the

>flawless accounts of His faithful chroniclers. It would also appear that

>whenever Sri Krishna opened His mouth, Yasoda was accustomed to seeing the

>celestial spectacle and would have been surprised only to find mere teeth

>and tongue in her darlings mouth.

>

>A neighbours child was reading out aloud from her book of nursery rhymes

>

>Johnny Johnny-Yes Papa

> Eating sugar? No, Papa

> Telling lies? No, Papa

> Open your mouth! Ha Ha Ha

>

>It was fairly obvious to me as to where this ditty had descended from.

>

>Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan