Paasuram 6 (periya Thirumozhi: 3. 9. 6)

 

In this Pasuram, BalakrishNan’s destruction of the deceitful poothani, who came to kill Him and the Vaidhika Sri of the dhivya dEsam are covered. Kaliyan says that the Lord chose this dhivya dEsam because of the ParamaikAnthi VaidhikAs skilled in conducting Yaagams and having dayaa for fellow beings.

 

peNmai migu, vadivukodu vanthavaLaip
Periya pEyinathu, uruvu kodu maaLa uyiruNdu
thiNmai migu maruthodu, naRRchakadam iRuttharuLUm
devanavan magizhnthu inithu, maruvi uRai kOil
uNmai migu maRaiyodu naRRkalaikaL, niRai poRaikaL
udhavu kodai yenRu ivaRRin ozhivillA,
periya vaNmai migu maRaiyavarkaL, maliveythu NaangUr
Vaikuntha ViNNagaram vaNangu mada nenjE!

 

MEANING

Bala KrishNan was resting at His cradle, when an asuri by the name of Poothanai, in the disguise of a noble woman (utthama sthree) approached the cradle, took the infant KaNNan in her hand and tried to brast feed Him with her poisonous milk. Our Lord recognized the deceit of Poothanai and sucked the life out of her, while she breast fed Him. She died in her natural form as a gigantic and fearsome women, whose body would take the space of many carts to carry her out. Next, an asuran by the name of sakadAsuran was sent by Kamsan to roll over the infant KaNNan as He lay in His cradle. Our omniscient Lord took one look at the asuran in the form of a wheel rushing towards His cradle and with one swift kick of His tiny feet pulverized the rolling wheel and destroyed the asuran. Few months later, as a crawling infant, our Lord was tied to a rice husking mortar by His Mother, YasOdhA, to punish Him for His mischief. When His mother was not looking, BalakrishNan dragged the mortar that was tied to His waist and went in between two Arjuna (marutha) trees and brought them down and released the two gandharvAs, who were cursed to take the form of the twin trees. That Kannan is now residing with joy at this dhivya dEsam of Sri Vaikuntha ViNNagar. He chose this sthalam for His nithya vaasam because of the presence of many VaidhikAs skilled in performing VedOktha Yaagas (Deva-Pithru-Bhagavath Yajn~ams) and homams. He elected to stay at this dhivya dEsam because of the abundance of sthalatthArs known for their generosity, srEshta Aathma guNams like Kshamaa, Dayaa and dhruthi (forbearance, compassion and firm devotion to the Lord).

 

COMMENTARY

AzhwArs in general and Kaliyan in particular are very fond of the baala leelais of KrishNa at Gokulam: Poothana Vadham (Srimath BhAgavatham X.6), the destruction of SakatAsura (Srimath BhAgavatham: X.7), KrishNa being tied to a mortar and His felling of the twin Arjuna trees in His garden to release the GandharvAs from their from as trees due to a curse (Srimath BhAgavatham: X.9 and 10). Poothana was an expert in infanticide (BaalagAthini) and was sent by Kamsa to kill KrishNa. Our Lord as the indweller of all beings recognized Poothana at once although she had disguised herself as a noble and beautiful woman, intent on feeding KrishNa with her poisonous breast milk. KaNNan submitted to breast feeding and began to suck and drew out her life energy in that process. Poothana fell to the ground resuming her real form. She attained mukthi by feeding the Lord even if it was done with murderous intent.

It was the third monthly birthday of infant KaNNan. YasOdha breast fed her infant, laid the drowsy infant under the shade of a cart to sleep and moved on elsewhere to take care of some chores. Suddenly, the drowsy child woke up and with its lotus-petal soft, tiny leg aimed a powerful kick at the cart, which went topsy turvy and had all its parts (wheels, axle) broken. The asuran, who had taken the form of a cart to kill the Lord was destroyed with a swift kick.

As the Lord grew up from infancy to the stage of a small child, He ran around and engaged in Mischievous pranks. Mother YasOdha got angry at her son’s annoying pranks and tied Him up to a mortar to keep Him stationary. The Lord let Himself tied up to demonstrate His subordination to His devotees. As YasOdha moved away to take care of some household chores, KrishNa saw two Arjuna trees, which in their previous life were two sons of KubEra with the names of NaLakUbara and MaNigrIvan. They were cursed to become trees by Deva Rishi Narada for their offenses. Now Bala KrishNa dragged the mortar with Him and went between the trees. The mortar got stuck between the trees. Our Lord pulled the mortar with a violent force and felled the trees to ground. The two sons of KubEra got released from their life as trees, regained their original forms, eulogized the Lord of the universe and returned to their homes in Alakaapuri.

 

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