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.
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.
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