DEIVATHIN KURAL # 9 (Vol #4) Dated 12 May 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 9 (Vol #4) Dated 12 May 2010.

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are proceeding from the last para on page 53 of Vol 4 of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too, mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com constantly updated.

26. Having decided to investigate, KrishNa went to that part of the forest where Prasenan had gone, with some close friends of Satrajit. They virtually followed the hoof marks of the horse ridden by Prasenan. After some distance there were no hoof marks. Extensive blood stains and some bones of a horse and a human being were seen. Some pieces of clothing worn by Prasenan, his ornaments and some of the equipment used in riding the horse, like the saddle and stirrups were noticed. One could easily make out that both the horse and the rider had been attacked, killed and eaten by one or more than one carnivorous animals, from the fact that all the flesh and meat had been licked clean!
27. This was not conclusive proof still. Human beings could have been killed and then animals could have eaten the meat. The doubting minds of the persons who had accompanied KrishNa were still not convinced, especially because of the fact that the Syamantaka MaNi was missing from the scene! Luckily, they happened to notice the spoors of more than one animal, prominent amongst which were the spoors of a Lion leading away from the scene. They followed that. After some distance, they came upon the carcass of a lion! Around that were the marks of the feet of a bear!
28. Bears are normally vegetarians, at least Indian ones used to be. Even carnivores normally would not eat the flesh of another carnivore. That is the reason for the lion’s whole carcass lying there still, without much of degradation. Bear’s foot marks are bigger than other animals. Bears and chimpanzees stand on two feet and so their impression on the ground is rather deep, since they bear the whole body weight. Then after all, the bear we are talking about is the mighty Jambawan!
29. So, they easily followed the foot marks of the bear from there. Those marks led them in front of a cave and went inside. The cave was deep and long. After some time, others gave up the pursuit and said that they will wait outside. As friends of Satrajit, they were still doubtful of KrishNa! They naturally doubted that after some drama, he may get them lost forever inside the cave and escape himself, this trickster KrishNa!
30. KrishNa was of such an attitude that, instead of exposing others to dangers, he would accept the challenges himself! He told the people accompanying to wait outside the cave and went inside with his body generating a blue light all around! After some distance the cave expanded in to a well spread out hall, brightly lit! I am sure that you would have correctly guessed that the source of light was the Syamantaka MaNi!
31. It looked like a well furnished house. In the centre of the hall was a cradle (with four chains from the roof), in which there was a baby sleeping. The first thing noticed was the brilliant gem Syamantaka MaNi, which was hung over the cradle. Rest of the space in the whole cave was lighted by that gem. You could then hear a lullaby being sung in low tones by a beautiful girl, who was rocking the child’s cradle.
32. During those days it seems that monkeys and bears were capable of communicating with each other and human beings. So, they could talk, dance and sing! May be human race was probably still evolving and the separation from its origins was as yet not so pronounced, as now. Darwin and his followers may be able to explain this.
33. The lullaby that she was singing was not an already existing song probably because, the song was about how the Syamantaka MaNi happened to be present there in that grotto, hanging over that cradle! It was revealing enough to solve the puzzle for KrishNa and whosoever were listening. I do not know how to sing. But I will quote to you the words. This sloka is not to be found in Bhagawata but, is to be seen in both Vishnu PuraNa and Skaandam. (KTSV Adds: PeriyavaaL could sing very well, as he had been trained in classical music. What he says here is in all humility and fun, that instead of singing a lullaby, he would just quote the words! The lecture was in the evening / night. He would not have wanted his audience to go to sleep!)
“simha: prasenam avateet simho jaambavataa hata : I
Sukumaraka maa rothee tava hyesha syamantaka : II ”
34. The meaning is that, “The lion killed Prasenan, and then that lion was killed by Jambawan. You! Baby with the name of Sukumara do not have to cry anymore because, the Syamantaka MaNi is all yours now! ” She was thinking that it is all his, the baby’s! She could not have known as to what was KrishNa’s view on the subject! KrisNa entered the scene hearing the song and for him the mystery was solved. One look at him and this beautiful girl was in love with him! She was overflowing with love and fear. Not afraid of him but, afraid that, her father Jambawan may hurt this new found love of her life! Her name was Jambavathy. She thought, “Our father who has made this cave a well protected fort-like thing is likely to get annoyed with this handsome intruder and punish him!”
35. Jambawan was sleeping at that time. She asked him in subdued tones as to what is the purpose of his visit. He gave a detailed reply. She said, “As it is our father will be annoyed at your uninvited presence. Then if he gets to know that you are here to take away the Syamantaka MaNi, there will be hell to pay! So you better take the MaNi now itself and quietly vanish from the scene!” She did not have the heart to tell him to go. But her nascent love for him caused her to talk like this!
36. One woman ( peNmaNi – in Tamil )who had fallen in love with KrishNa – by name RukmaNi – gave a message to him, that he should kidnap her away! This other woman prayed to him to take away this rarest of gems – Syamantaka MaNi - despite the penchant that women normally have for gems and jewels!
37. But this Bhagwan instead of keeping quiet about the secret wish of hers, laughed loudly. He said, “Enough is enough of titles as a thief and thug that I have been unduly given. I am thankful to God for having found a way out of being called a liar and thief by Satrajit! You want me to be called a thief by your father too? No chance whatsoever! Let him give it to me on his own or I will fight him and take it away!” He said.
38. “I know my father’s nature. As it is there is a saying about the grip of a bear as what is not easily pried open! (They call it karadippidi in Tamil!) You can never take away this rare gem that he has obtained for his favourite son, at this old age! You cannot get it by begging. If you have to take it, and then better fight for it and take it”, said Jambavathy. Already she had started feeling responsible and capable of sharing in his earning or loosing name and respect! So, this Bhagwan who was till now playing a rather subdued role, picked up his conch Panchajanya and went “boom, boom” on it!
39. Jambawan got up from his sleep. Once he realised that KrishNa was challenging him, he came out beating on his chest, “Oh! I see! You are thinking me to be an old fossil? A has been? So, you have the audacity to come in to my den challenging me? O K. I will show you!”Really he handled Bhagwan very roughly. Bhagwan parried. His ulterior motive was of course, to reveal to the world at large, the might of this old bear, as to what a great fighter he is!
40. Jambawan was not aware of the fact that, this warrior in front of him was none other than his own ‘Ishta devata’ Sri Rama! Though fully aware of his own prowess and his opponents, Bhagwan kept his own at parity with the opponent, like a father playing with his own son! They were conducting an unarmed combat of a combination of boxing and wrestling. The aim of KrishNa was to get into much physical contact.
41. From the time of Rama Avatara, it was the wish of Jambawan to come into physical contact with Bhagwan! He really wanted to embrace Rama! But he was shy of expressing his wish! The body of Rama was of the colour of emerald green, hard as a rock, with the skin softer than silk, being an embodiment of love and compassion. Who would not like to embrace that body! But this huge bear was naturally not able to tell anyone about his, this wish! Had he ever wished to express his wish, Sri Rama would not have agreed. Because, he had entrusted his body as the property of Sita his wife. None else could have come anywhere close! He was too strict about his ‘eka patny vratam’, meaning being a one woman man!
(To be continued.)
Sambhomahadeva.