Food for Charity

Once upon a time during Krishna’s childhood days, Krishna and Balarama went to a nearby forest place. They sat under a tree and rested for sometime. There were some kids already there who were playing around for a long time. The kids started to feel hungry and went to Krishna and told that they are starving badly for food now. Even Krishna and His brother were hungry and wanted some food. There were a few brahmanas performing yagnas. Krishna told the kids “Go unto them. Tell them that I have sent you. They are doing a yagnam. So they will be giving a lot of prasaadam. Get food from then and we can all eat”. The kids went happily running to the group of brahmanas.

Time was only 11’o clock in the morning. The brahmanas told the kids in a strict voice “No. There is no prasaadam now. It will be distributed only in the evening at around 4:00 ‘o clock. You guys go, play and do not disturb us”. The kids came back in disappointment and reciprocated the message to Krishna. Krishna told them “Oh! Is that what it is? Okay. That is fine. We are yaachakaas (one who begs) now. We should not be ashamed to go to the next source. So we need to find a different source to get some food immediately”.

Krishna tells a story to kids: To illustrate the point that the yaachakaas should not be ashamed and should keep moving, there is a funny story that Krishna shared with the kids. Krishna went ahead and told, “In a village, there was a yaachaka who kept begging for food. Daily, he used to go to various houses and beg for food. In some houses he got food and in some others he did not. One fine day, he reached a particular house. He did not get much food that day. A lady came from that house and asked him “What do you want”. He replied “I want food”. The lady lied to him by saying “No. We don’t have any food in our house”. The yaachaka, in a menacing tone, said “Well. If you do not give me food, I will do what I did in the previous house’s lady. This lady got really afraid and went inside immediately and got him lots of delicious food. He ate away without leaving a trace of it. He became a regular customer at her place. The lady was not happy but did not have the guts to tell him not to come from now on. However, at the end of the month, the lady gathered all her courage and told “You have been regular to my house. I cannot give you any more food”. The yaachaka told her “If you do not give me food, then I will do what I did to the previous house’ lady. The lady was now bold enough to say “Okay. What will you do?” Let us see”. The yaachaka replied “I asked for food in the previous house. She did not give me anything. So I moved to your house. So if you do not offer me food, I will go to the next house” and proceeded to the next house quietly.

Kids continue yaachakam: Krishna remarked at the kids, “Oh my dear kids!!! So the moral of the story was that a yaachaka should never be ashamed and keep moving. Do not get bogged down because the brahmanas did not offer you any food. Go to their wives. They might give us some food. The kids went and told their wives that Krishna sent them and they need food. The kids also told them that the brahmanas did not give any food to them. The wives were quick to realize that everything starting from yagnam, the havis and the agni is Krishna. But their husbands did not give any food to Him. They immediately came up with lots of food from their respective houses. Krishna saw the wives coming with food for Him and the kids. Krishna is habituated to eating at regular intervals. He had very little breakfast in the morning that Yasodha had given Him and Balarama. Because He did not eat for a long time, He began to sweat a lot. When a person is in hunger, the thought that they are going to be fed soon exacerbates the wait. Krishna felt the same here. Soon, the wives arrived with the kids and Krishna distributed the food to all the kids. All rishipathnis attained moksha as a result of them giving food to Him.

Moral: When God Himself comes unto you, there is no need for rules. Azhwar says “Unnum soru, parugum neer, thinnum vetrilai, ellam kannan”. The food that he eats, the water that he drinks and betel leves that he enjoys, everything is Krishna with respect to azhwar. For gopika girls, everything was Krishna as well. They are so innocent that they don’t even know the difference between right hand and left hand. They don’t take bath daily; they don’t know shastram at all. But they don’t have the need to do because the motive of all these shahstrams is to reach GOD. If God himself makes HIM accessible, then there is no need for the rules. In other words, if we regard Krishna as everything, then HE comes to us, if HE comes to us on His will, there is nothing more that we need.

Origin of Beauty

Prelude: There is a place in Tamil Nadu called Mannargudi, also known as Raja Mannargudi. The name of the presiding deity there is called "Srividya Rajagopalan". The minute we think about Mannargudi and Srividya Rajagopalan, we think about the name "Gopalan", His cows, and His sowlabhyam (ability to mix freely with everybody and everything irrespective of species/caste/creed etc). The river in Mannargudi is called as "Haaridhra" that means “yellow”. Well, if the water is green like any other river, then why do people call this river as "Haaridhra"? This may be a common question. The answer dates back again to the dates of Krishna. Krishna came to this place sometime and played all sorts of games with the gopika girls in this very river. This would make the turmeric on their bodies fall inside the river. So the river would sport a yellowish tinge due to the divine touch from Peethambareshwaran (Krishna) and His girls.

Gopikas’ game plan to win over Krishna: One day, the gopikas thought of an interesting game which everyone was thrilled to participate. The motive of the game was for everybody to shed off the clothes they wear except the ones needed for taking bath. They should take bath and comeback to the shore for dressing up. The person who finishes the bath first, comes back to the shore and dresses perfectly with all His/her clothes and ornaments will be crowned as the winner. Everyone including Krishna agreed to the rules of game. There were judges too for the game to oversee the eternal overseer Krishna.

Game kicks off: The judges gave a green signal for the participants of the game. The gopikas and Krishna kept aside their regular clothes and changed to their bathing robes. Immediately, they dived inside the river and were relishing their baths. One by one were coming back to the shore as soon as they can, to change to their regular attire. The first two leading contestants were Krishna and another girl who was very fast (may be she listened to “Elle ilankiliye” paasuram where Andal says "Ollai nee podhaai. Unakenna verudaiyai"?). In fact, the girl was too fast for Krishna. It appeared that, had one more minute passed by, the girl would have won. Krishna, as we all know is Maayan, Manivannan. He always wants to win, that too He always prefers to win by flattery. That’s our sweet Krishna!!! Even when people know that He is a cheater, He flatters, He tells innumerable lies, everyone craves for Him just about that. The girl was now a 30 second away from the victory mark. Krishna knew He can’t win any more. So He thought "If I don’t win this, then even she should not win".

Krishna’s plan: So He hit upon a plan. The last stages of decoration were adorning the face with ear rings. Krishna's ear rings were "Kundalam" that is exclusively for guys. The girl had a regular ear ring for girls (thodu). Krishna usurped one of her thodu from her pair and started to adorn Himself with that. So the girl now was left with one thodu only, which meant she cannot win the competition any more. Krishna started to wear His kundalam in His other ear. So now, He was seen with thodu in one ear and kundalam in His other. Krishna was expecting the girls would make merry of Him and would tease Him nicely for His acts.

But everyone including the judge acknowledged Krishna as the winner. He was surprised and asked them "How can I be the winner. I do not have the correct set of ear rings". The girls replied "Hey Krishna! Our beloved! We thought till now that it would be beautiful only if we wear the correct pair of set. But this is the first time, we are seeing a person wearing a guy's ear ring on one ear and a girl's on the other. We thought that would be funny. But after seeing it on your face, we thought this is even more beautiful for You. You are not only the winner of this race but also for the winner of all our hearts.

Moral: Whatever ornaments He puts on, it is beautiful because it is He who gives beauty to the ornaments and not the vice versa as people commonly think. When someone remarks “Today in our temple, Krishna looked dazzling in green hued vasthram, in reality, it is not the case. The green hued vasthram got its beauty because it went on to adorn Krishna”. Be it green, blue, orange or whatever color we can think of, whatever jewel we can think of, in whatever order we can offer to HIM, the cloth or the jewel or whatever the entity is attains divinity and thereby looks attains its beauty and looks beautiful in our eyes. So there is no question of male ornaments/jewels/clothes vs. its female counterpart.

The same concept can be seen in one more incident in Mahabharata. When Yasodha was pregnant, she and Nandhagopar were talking about what baby would they be begetting? Nandhagopar was confident of a baby girl and Yasodha was for a baby boy. They had a lot of arguments. Finally Nandhagopar pacified Yasodha by saying "The gender of the child does not really matter. We would raise the baby with same love and affection irrespective of the gender. Don't worry Yasodha. Yasodha replied "It’s not the love and affection I am worried about my Lord. I am worried because we need to make the right kind of a jewel. If it is a baby girl then we should ask the blacksmith to make an ear ring. If it is a baby boy, we should tell him to make a "kundalam". Nandhagopar thought for a while and remarked "Oh. Is that all your problem. Don’t worry, we shall make both, adorn the baby based on its gender and keep the other one as such". We all knew that they got a baby boy in Balarama. They had aptly decorated Him with "kundalam" and kept the ear ring in their safe.

After sometime, Yasodha thought that her husband might feel bad since he wanted a baby girl. Though they did not raise a baby girl, Yasodha at least wanted to use the “ear ring” for her younger son, our sweetheart Krishna. After when Krishna was born, she decorated Him with both ear rings as well as thodu. To her surprise, she found that whatever she jewel, whatever dress and in whatever order she decorated Krishna each day, every combination looked stunning and dazzling on Him. She realized that, when it comes to the Supreme, who now is her own son, the aforementioned differences doesn’t matter anymore, be it whatsoever.

Sakshee Gopal

Love Scene: Once upon a time, there lived a guy and a girl on the banks of a river in West Bengal. The guy was very poor and the girl was filthy rich. They were in love with each other and used to meet often in the river bank. Days passed by. One fine day, the girl’s father went to the nearby Krishna temple on the river bank. After finishing his prayer, he proceeded toward his house. But he could not move further. From foothills of the temple, he noticed the couple walking on the river sand. He was a typical rich father and called the guy immediately. The guy came running helter-skelter; shivering with anxiety as to what her father might say. The father told the guy that he will let him marry his daughter. Then he walked off without any questions. The poor guy was bewildered on one side but at the same time was on cloud nine. He was dancing his way to glory. After a few days, the poor guy went to meet his "would-be-father-in-law" to ask about his marriage. The girl’s father asked him who the hell is he and when did he agree to give her daughter to him. The poor guy replied "You had only told me some few days back". To this, the father replied "Did I tell you? Are you kidding me? Do you have any evidence for it"? The poor guy was shattered and had no clue for his evidence. He was pensive for a while and could not think of anybody who could have been witnessing the scene hitherto. So he was visibly upset and went to the river banks with a deep sense of dejection.

Entry of Krishna: Suddenly, something struck him. It was the fact that Krishna had seen this dialogue between these two and that he went ahead to ask Krishna if he could be his evidence. He went and asked Krishna "Oh! My Lord! I am in dire need of an evidence for the words that my sweetheart's father had given me. I believe, only you could have seen it. No one else was there around. So please come with me as my evidence to his house. Krishna appeared before him and told "Oh! My boy! Yes. I will come but on one condition. I will follow you towards his house. You walk front. I will follow you with a 10 foot distance between us. You should never turn back to see or check if I am following you or not. If you keep a check on me, then I would not come any further. If you agree, then I can be your evidence". The guy accepted it and was "leading" Krishna (Parthasarathy ke sararthyJ) Krishna used to wear something like kolusu (anklets) that made a jingling sound. He was following the guy from the footsteps. There were jingling sounds everywhere. Suddenly when they reached the river banks, it was full of sand. The sound of anklets was the only indication for the guy that Krishna is following him. But now since it was sand and that he could not hear the sound, the guy had a doubt if Krishna is following. But he tried not to turn back for quite sometime. But the question of insecurity overcame his belief in Krishna. So he turned back out of anxiety. To his astonishment he found Krishna still following. But Krishna was upset that the guy did not believe Him. So he stayed there itself as archa moorthy (statue form) and did not move an inch thereupon. The place where he stands is now a temple. The name of Krishna there is called "Saakshee Gopal".

Moral: The moral of the story is never to check if God will protect us or if God is really helping us. He is there for us (Naarayane namake parai tharuvaan). He will surely come with us. Sometimes it is evident that He comes with us and sometimes He follows us subtly and sometimes he follows us in a totally invisible way. But in any case, He will always be with us. If not for us, who is He going to be for, after all?

Festival of Karthigai

Why is Karthigai celebrated by Vaishnavites?

This had been a doubt I always had. Mostly we see that in tamil Nadu, it is associated with the Thiruvannamalai Deepam. This is the latest discovery I made thanks to my Father-in-law. Thanks to Santhanam, I was able to explain more about Adhyayana Utsavam.

• Karthigai day is the day when Namperumal (Lord Sri Ranganatha of Thiruvarangam/Srirangam) orders His sri padam thangigal to go and bring Nammazhvar to Srirangam for conducting adhyayana utsavam.(Explained below)

• It is the birth date (tirunakshatram)of Tirumangai Azhvar

• It is the day when we burn the bad behaviors symbolized by chokka panai (I've explained about this below)

• It is the day when we light lamps symbolising blossoming knowledge

What is this Adhyayana Utsavam?

Adhyayanam means to memorise and recite correctly, with proper accents.

Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam was actually started by Sri Thirumangai Azhwar himself. It was said that, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar used to go from Sri Rangam to Azhwar Thirunagari and bring Swami Nammazhwar's Thirumeni to Sri Rangam. The day Swami Nammazhwar arrives at Sri Rangam was always the Sukla Paksha Ekadasi (Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi).

On this auspicious day, Swami Nammazhwar was adorned with Muthangi and Namperumal with Rathnangi. Starting from Ekadasi, next nine days, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar arranged to recite Swami Nammazhwar's prabhandhams in front of Namperumal.  After the days of Sri Thirumangai Azhwar, the practice was slowly stopped.

It was Swami Ramanujar, who started the practice again. (Some also say Sri Nathamunigal actually restarted this again.) Anyway, it was felt that bringing Swami Nammazhwar's Thirumeni from Azhwar Thirunagari was difficult and hence was decided to install a Thirumeni of Swami Nammazhwar at the Sri Rangam temple. Sri Ramanujar also added ten days before the Ira Paththu and called them Pagal Paththu, and arranged that during these ten days prabhandhams of other Azhwars should be recited. Because, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar started it, the day before the Pagal Paththu Uthsavam first day, Namperumal listens to ThiruNedunthandagam of Sri Thirumangai Azhwar. So, originally started as ten days festival by Sri Thirumangai Azhwar and was later modified as Twenty one day (+one day for ThiruNedunthandagam) by Swami Emberumanar.

Now come to the question, why we are not reciting Pranbhandhams during these days?

One of the reasons was during this time, Swami Nammazhwar was on transit from Azhwar Thirunagari to Sri Rangam. Therefore, our Poorvacharyas might thought, it was not appropriate for us to recite, as the entire 4000 Pranbhandhams was considered as the Pranbhandhams of Swami Nammazhwar (Nathnakku Nalayiramum uraithan vazhiye).

Second thing, Nalayiram is considered as The Dravida Vedam. For the Vedas, there is a specific period (during a year) called Adhyayana kalam and there is a time when you should not recite Vedas (Anadhyayana kalam). To give that samyam (equality), our Acharyas might have decided to have this Adhyayana and Anadhyayana kalams.

What is Chokka Panai?

During karthigai deepam mostly this chokka panai will be performed. The palmirah tree trunk will be made hollow and stuffed with charkol, umi, etc. and lit fire. the fire will spread in charkol and umi . that will be tied in a rope and swung around when the fire apark will fly in the air and give a garland look, sparks and a grand look