Lord VenugOpalan Sannidhi at Pomona Temple, NY: A Tribute on the occasion of the forthcoming MahA samprOkshaNam, May 27,2001

May 12, 2001

Dear BhakthAs:

Yesterday , adiyEn offered a AshtOtthara Satha NaamAvaLi

archanai to Sri Raamachandra from the Naama Kusumams

of a great Raama BhakthA .

Today , adiyEn would like to offer humble salutations to

Lord Venu GopAlan at His sannidhi in Sri RanganAthA Temple

at Pomona , NY. Traditionally , Moolavar RanganAthan is

recognized as KrishNan and the Uthsavar (processional deity)

is revered as Raamachandran at Sri RanganAthA Temples.

Today , we will offer our collective homage to the charming

Maayvi KrishNa ParamAthmA, the Jagadh Guru, who blessed us

with Bhagavath GitA and its Charama SlOkam using ArjunA as

an excuse ( VyAjam). " Maa Sucha: " ( Do not grieve), " MaamEkam

SaraNam VrajA " are the uplifting words of this Sarva Loka Guru.

adiyEn will select choice salutations used over the centuries

by great AchAryAs and Krishna BhakthAs such as Jaya DevA (Gita

Govindham ) ,Swamy VedAntha Desikan ( Yadhaabhudayam , Gopala

Vimsathi ), LeelA Sukhar (KrishNa KarNAmrutham) and Sukha Brahmam

(Srimath BhAgavatham Dasama Skandham) .For Swamy NammAzhwAr,

Kannan was the food he ate, the water he drank and the betel

leaves he chewed. For PeriyAzhwAr , Kannan was his child .

For AndAL , Kannan was Her bridegroom . Kannan is aparyAptha

amrutham (insatiable nectar) for us all . May we be blessed

to hear and follow the VeNu Naadham emanting from His Sannidhi !

KrishNAya Thubhyam Nama:(Jaya DevA of Bengal & Orissa)

******************************************************

For Jayadeva, the lyrical poet of the twelfth century,

Lord krishna is Sringra Moorthy incarnate. He used nava rasams

to visualize the Jeevan's search for Isvaran in his Gita

Govindham. The fine tension between the moods of Separation

of the Jeevan from the Lord (Vipralambha SringAram ) and

(Union with Him ( SambhOga SringAram) is the backdrop of

this Kaavyam of Jaya DevA.The longing for the Lord and

reunion with Him is the mood of Bhakthi known as Nayaka-

NayikA BhAvam experienced by Swamy NammAzhwAr ( ParAnkusa

Naayaki), Thirumangai (ParakAla Naayaki) and ANDAL(Bhumi Devi).

It is generally accepted that Jayadeva was influenced

by the sacred works of South Indian AzhwAr bridal mystics.

Let us enjoy ONE select passage from Sri JayadEvA's Gita Govindam

( Krishna as DasAvathAra Svaroopan ) and pray for his Ashtapathis

to be sung at Pomona, NY Sannidhi at the evening poojA time

as they are sung at Poori Jagannaath. These verses are

" HARI CHARANA SMRUTHI SAARAM " .

DasAvathAra Vandhanam :

***********************

vEdAn uddaratE jagan-nivahatE bhUgOlam-udhbibratE

dhaithyam dhArayatE Balim chalayatE Kshathra-kshayam kurvatE

Poulasthyam jauyatE halam kalayatE KaaruNyam-aatanvatE

mlEcchAn MoorchayatE DASAAKRUTHI KRISHNAAYA THUBHYAM NAMA:

(MEANING): " For upholding the Vedas(MatsyaavathAran),

For supporting the earth (KoormaavathAran), For raising

the world ( VarahaavathAran), For tearing the demon king

asunder ( NarasimhaavathAran) , For cheating Bali

( VaamanAvatharan),For destroying the warrior class

( ParasurAman), For conquering RavaNA ( Raaman) ,

For wielding the plow( BalarAman), For spreading

compassion ( KrishNAvathAran) , For routing the barbarians

( Kalki AvathAran) , HOMAGE TO YOU KRISHNAA IN YOUR

TEN INCARNATE FORMS " .

Swamy Desikan's YaadhavAbhudhayam :

***********************************

Among the five KhAvyams bequeathed to us by

Swamy Desikan ( Sruthi MouLi Soori) , His YaadhavAbhudayam

is recognozed as " BhOga-BhOgya MahA Kaavyam " .

There are 24 cantos filled with Krishna Bhakthi

elaborated in MahA BhAratham , Srimath BhAgavatham

and Hari Vamsam in this Kaavyam. It is impossible to

pick and choose one or two slOkams from this MahA Kaavyam

dedicated to Yadhunandanan . Yet, we will focus on

two slOkams from the fifteenth canto celebrating

the importance of Prapatthi (SaraNAgathi) .This verse

is an eulogy by Sage NaradA, who is eager to see the Lord :

PraTamA CharamA cha DevathA Thvam

VaraNIyA VaradhA cha Visva-vandhyA

NigamEshu sathI purEshu chaikA

janayithrI jana-pankthi-haariNee cha

--YaadhavAbhudayam: 15.21

(meaning): Oh Lord KrishnA ! Thou art the First

among Gods( Primordial Addhi Purushan);Thou art

the Last of the Gods as well(Sarva dEva namskAram

Ksavam prahtigacchathi/all the worships offered

to any God ultimately arrives at Your sacred feet).

Thou art the One to be chosen by every one for

AarAdhanam; Thou art the Ultimate boon-granting

VaradarAjan .Thou art the One to be worshipped

by all. Thou alone pervades the VedAs , PurANaas and

the world of sentients and insentients.Thou art

the First Lord VishNu who manifest as Agni,

Saavithri, Gaayathri as their antharyAmi ).

SavanE Bhava-mukthi-sandhi-roopE

VidhinA VisvapathE: Vichithra-hEthim

Hrudhi Saanthadhiya: samindhatE thvAm-

anagAthma krathu havya-vAham aadhyam

--YaadhavAbhudaya MahA Kaavyam: 15.23

(meaning): SarvEsvarA! Those with VairAgyam

(dispassion) driven by the power of SaraNAgathi

at Your sacred feet perform the blemishless

yaagam of AathmArpaNam (Aathma-SamarpaNam) and

choose You as the receiver of that havis of AathmA

(Your property). You as Havya-vaahanan (Agni

in that Yaagam ) with Your multisplendoured JvAlais

accept the Soma rasam of that Savanam (Soma Yaagam)

at the time of the jeevan disconnecting from its

prakruthic cage (body).

Please enjoy the monographs of Sri UtthamUr Swamy

and SevA Swamy on YaadhavAbhudhayam .

Swamy Desikan's Gopaala Vimsathi

*********************************

In these twenty slOkams , Swamy Desikan's Krishna

Bhakthi pours out in a great rapturous stream .

The sannidhi at Pomona, NY for the Lord is VeNugOpAlan

Sannidhi. Hence , we will focus on that divine-flute

playing cowherd form:

Jayathi lalitha vrutthim sikshithO vallaveenAm

siTila valaya sinjA seethaLair hasthatALai:

akhila Bhuvana rakshA Gopa-vEshasya VishNO:

adhara maNisudhAyAm amsavAn vamsanALa:

--SlOkam 16

(Meaning by Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan): The (divine)

Flute shines there--it adopts a music suited to the mild

bangle beat that the (gOpi)damsels produce , fit for His

abhinaya called " Lalitham " ; the unique fortune of the flute

is that it partakes of the taste of His lips--the lips of

One , who took the cowherd incaration only to afford

protection to all the worlds.

Sri KrishNa KarNAmrutham of LeelA Sukhar (1220-1300 CE):

*********************************************************

This is one of the greatest anubhavams of KrishNa Bhakthi

in general and that of VeNu Gopaalan in particular.There are

many slOkams that are evocative of PeriyAzhwAr's paasurams

on the veNu Nadham of Gopaala-Krishnan here. adiyEn will

quote two slOkams from LeelA Sukhar's KrishNa KarNAmrutham:

pallavAruNa-paaNipankaja-sangivENu-ravAkulam

pullapAdala-paadalIparivAdhi-paadhasarOruham

ullasan-madhura- dhyuthi-manjaree-sarasAnanam

Vallavee-kucha-kumbha-kumkuma-pankilam Prabhum-AsrayE

--SlOkam 1.9

The rapture of reciting this slOkam saluting

the VenugOpaala Savroopam defies translation.

The visualization of the Lord with His tender

creeper like fingers playing the flute for His

dear Gopis as prathyupakAram for their devotion

is magnificent.

In the final slOkam to be reflected upon , adiyEn

has chosen the one , where LeelA Sukhar hits the vedic

stride and declares that everything is KrishNA for him:

prEmadham cha mE kaamdham cha mE

vEdanam cha mE Vaibhavam cha mE

Jeevanam cha mE Jeevitham cha mE

Dhaivatham cha mE Deva naaparam

(Meaning): Oh VeNugOpAlA ! You are the One

who fills me with love; You are the One , who

fulfills all my desires. You are the One, who

blesses me with true Jn~Anam. You are indeed my

entire wealth. You are my Life. You are my aayus

(days of my life).I do not consider any other God as

equivalent to You.

BhakthAs, Let us offer our worship

at Raaja veNugOpalan Sannadhi at

the Pomona temple and place our AathmA

at His sacred feet to gain AchArya Bhakthi

and to perform SaraNAgathi !

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan

May 14, 2001

Sri:

SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

Dear Sriman Sadagopan Swamin,

Thank you very much for your superb summary of the anubhavams of

KrishNa Bhaktas. Adiyen thoroughly enjoyed reading it and wishes to

share the following:

(1) The name Krishna itself is beautiful. In his Gopala Vimshati

upanyasam, H.H. Srimad Andavan Swami of Srimad Poundarikapuram

Ashramam waxes eloquently on this namam as " Ka denotes His eternal

association with Sri and thus he begets the name Shriya: pati or

Kamala Pati. The aksharam Ra indicates that He is none other than

Lord Rama, who has incarnated again. Sha denotes the fact that he is

the repository of the six KalyaNa guNams (jnAna, Bala, Aishwarya,

Shakthi, Tejas, and Vatsalya). Na symbolizes the fact that He is none

other than Bhagavan Nrusimha. Finally, the aksharam A denotes His

Nara-Narayana aspect. "

(2) The anubhavam of Leela Sukhar is interesting in that he was an

Upasaka of the Panchakshara Mantram for Shiva. The normal practice

for a Mantra Upasaka is to have the vision of the deity invoked by

the Mantram. However, a miracle occured each time Leela Sukhar

performed the Panchakshara MantrOpasanam. His mind was filled with

the vision of the blue-bodied charming young boy of Brindavan and

none else. This led to Leela Sukhar exclaiming

" prEmadham cha mE kaamdham cha mE

vEdanam cha mE Vaibhavam cha mE

Jeevanam cha mE Jeevitham cha mE

Dhaivatham cha mE Deva naaparam "

Another noted advaitin Sanyasi by the name of Madhusudhana Saraswati

went to the extent of renouncing his own Matham (which proclaims

nirguNa nirAkara Parabrahma) to enjoy the captivating Leelas and

guNams of Lord KrishNa. When such is the magnetic charm of our

Paramatman, do we need to elaborate on the passionate appeals of our

love-torn Azhwars, who were immersed in Bhakti for Lord Krishna?

For example, Swami NammAzhwar went into a swoon while enjoying the

anubhavam of YashOdha tying up Lord KrishNa to the mortar.

Kulashekara Azhwar describes the anguish of Devaki for not being able

to enjoy the childhood pranks and enchanting Leelas of Lord Krishna

in the seventh decad of Perumal Tirumozhi. In it he glorifies Yashoda

as a celestial lady. This anubhavam contains deep references to

VishNu sahasranamam salutation " agrAhya shashvatO Vishnu: " ,

and the Taittriya Upanishad salutation " yathO vAchO nivartante

aprApya manasA saha " (Words cannot adequately describe His greatness.

The mind cannot comprehend the vast expanse of His mahima.)

(3) Although all the Leelas of Lord Krishna are captivating adiyen

finds the stealing of butter most enchanting. Swami Desikan describes

this act in the Gopala Vimshati salutation: " nAthasya nanda BhavanE

navaneetha nAtyam " . H.H. Srimad Andavan Swami of Srimad

Poundarikapuram Ashramam offered the following explanation for this

act of Lord Krishna:

" Lord Narayana is the foremost follower of shastraic prescriptions.

He upholds varNAshrama dharma in each of His incarnations. Let us

take the case of Vamana. The Lord incarnated as a Brahmin. It is

prescribed in the shastras that the Brahmana must eke out a living by

seeking alms. In this case Vamana beseeched Mahabali, who was an

emperor, for three paces of land. In the incarnation of Lord Rama, He

was born to rule. Every act of Lord Rama bore the stamp of royalty as

descibed in the salutation " IcchamOhi mahabAhum raghuveeram

mahAbalam " . As a king, He was entitled to command his subjects for

accomplishing any of his objectives. However, the incarnation of Lord

KrishNa was different. Lord Narayana chose this incarnation expressly

for the purpose of Soulabhyam (easy accessibilty to one and all).

First, Lord Krishna was not a Brahmin. Neither was he a king (due to

the fact that no descendant of Yadu could become a king because of

Yayati's curse). Also, the gopa women were common folk. Therefore,

Lord KrishNa could neither beg of alms from them nor could he command

them to give him butter. Thus, He invoked His right as SarvEshwaran,

i.e., everything sentient and insentient in the universe is his

rightful property and of course, this includes the butter of the Gopa

Strees. Therefore, he stole the butter as described in the navaneeta

Natyam salutation " .

Thanks again Sri Sadagopan Swamin for your lovely post that caused

adiyen to reflect on these aspects of Lord Krishna.

Namo Narayana,

SriMuralidhara Dasan

May 16, 2001

Swamy Deshikan ThiruvadigaLE SharaNam

Another small addendum to these anubhavams.

H.H Srimad Gopala Deshika Maha Deshikan, in His upanyAsam on Gopala Vimshati

links GhantAvatAram (Swamy Deshikan) and KrishnAvatAram.

The story goes like this. All the gopikas of Nanda gOkulam had tied a Ghanta

(Bell) to the pots containing butter, milk, ghee, curds etc and left them

hanging high. Their idea was to catch Krishna, if He happens to steal any of

these, as the bell would ring aloud if the butter pots were disturbed.

Krishna comes in as usual and sees the bell tied to the pots. He then orders

to the Ghanta, saying, " You shall make no sound while I have my butter " . So

saying, He takes some butter from the pots and the moment He puts it into

His mouth, the Ghanta starts sounding " GhaNa GhaNa GhaNa.... " , loud and

clear. The people in the house immediately rush to the scene and catch

Krishna. Krishna, with childish furiousness then asks the Ghanta (bell), -

" Why did you disobey my command? " , to which the Ghanta replies " I am sorry

master. It is our natural instinct and bounden duty that, whenever PerumAL

is accepting nivedanam (food offerings) we sing aloud, GhaNa GhaNa

GhaNa.... " .

The same Ghanta - Sri Swamy Nigamantha Maha Deshikan has given us this rare

jewel - " Gopala Vimshati " .

vAzhi vyAkhyAmuddirak kai !!!

rangaswamy_m [rangaswamy_m]

Monday, May 14, 2001 7:50 PM

Re: Lord VenugOpalan Sannidhi at Pomona Temple, NY: A Tribute

on the occasion of the forthcoming MahA samprOkshaNam, May 27,2001