Splitting mouth of crane-Baka demon

13 Tiruppavai

28.12.2023

PulllinvaayKeendanai-p-pollarAarakkanai

Killikalaindhaanai-k-keerthimaiPaadi-p-poi

PillaikalEllarumPavai-k-kalam Pukkar

VelliEzhundhuVyazhamUzhangittru

Pullum SilambinakannPodhariKanninaay!

Kullak-kulira-k-kudainduNeeraadaadhe

Palli-k-kidatthiyoPaavayNee Nannaallaal

Kallam ThavirndhuKalandu-elorEmpaavaai

English Poem 13

Splitting mouth of crane-Baka demon

Slitting ten heads of worst Raavanasura,

Raama and Krishna worshiped by teens,

Bright Shukra rose as dark Guru sets,

Lotus-bee-eyed lovely lady, See, birds chirping,

Are you yet to dip in serene Yamuna waters?

O beauty, still fast asleep on this divine day?

Give up Raama and get up to join us for Vrata.

This Tiruppavai 13^thPashuram explains Gopika’s praises both Sri Raama and Sri Krishna also. In Tirumalai poetry devotees equally respect both Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. In Tiruppavai here, deals with two villains – one is Bakasura and Ravana. Both are symbolic egoistic personalities.

In this Paashuram (Song) AalwaarTondaradippodi, or BhaktanghriRenu, SripaadaRenuvu, or VipraNaaraayana, who worshipped God with flowers grown and strewn by him. Aachaarya worship mantra referred to is “Sri Pundareekshaayanamah”

Pundarikakshan Perumal            

The Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple or Thiruvellarai Temple in Thiruvellarai, is near Tiruchirappalli of Tamil Nadu. The God in this temple is dedicated to Vishnu who is one of 108 Divya Deshas. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham 4000 Pashurams scripted by 12 Alwars, the saints of Sri Vaishnava, the early medieval Tamil from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Pundarikakshan and his consort Lakshmi as Pankajavalli.

According to legends, the temple is said to have been built by Sibi Chakravarthy, king of Ayodhya in Treta Yuga 15 lakh years ago. This temple is older than Srirangam temple. The temple has three inscriptions in its two rock-cut caves, two dating from the period of Nandivarman II (732–796 CE) and the other to that of Dantivarman (796–847). It also has Pallava sculptural depictions of Narasimha and Varaha, two of the ten avatars of Vishnu.A swastika shaped temple tank built in 800 CE by Kamban Araiyan during the reign of Dantivarman is outside the temple complex.

Pundarikakshan is believed to have appeared and showered his divine grace to Garuda (vahana of Vishnu), Sibi Chakravarthy, sage Markandeya and Hindu gods Bhoomadevi, Brahma, Shiva, Indra and Chandra. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the chariot festival, celebrated during the Tamil month of Chaitra (March–April), is the most prominent. The festival is unique in the state as a community feast is offered, a custom stretching back many centuries. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Vipra Narayana or Thondaradipodi or BhaktaghraRenuvu

Thondaradippodi Alvar or Vipra Narayana was one of the twelve Alvar saints affiliation to Vaishnava tradition. The verses of Alvars are compiled as Naalayira Divya Prabandham and the 108 temples revered are classified as Divya desam. Thondaripodi is considered the tenth in the line of the twelve Alvars.

As per Hindu legend, he was born as Vipra Narayana and got devoted to Ranganatha of the SrirangamRanganathaswamy temple. Since he worshipped even the dust from the devotees of Ranganatha, he attained the name Thondaradipodi.

His works are the Tiruppallieluchi having ten verses, and Tirumālai having forty verses, both of which are counted among the 4000 stanzas in the Naalayira Divya Prabandam. The works of Thondaradipodi and other Alvars contributed to the philosophical and theological ideas of Vaishnavism. Along with the three Saiva nayanmars, they influenced the ruling Pallava kings of the South Indian region, resulting in changing the religious geography from Buddhism and Jainism to the two sects of Hinduism.The verses of Thondaripodi and other Alvars are recited as a part of daily prayers and during festive occasions in most Vishnu temples in South India.

Vipra Narayana, was lived in a hermitage on the banks of the river Kaveri along with his disciple Rangaraju. He worships Vishnu in the form of Ranganatha, the presiding deity of the nearby Srirangam temple. Every day, Narayana makes garlands out of flowers from his garden and offers them to Ranganatha and sings hymns in praise of him.

One day, Devadevi, a devadasi,performs a dance recital at the court of the Chola King and is on her way back to home along with her sister Madhuravani. When Devadevi passes through the hermitage, Narayana does not notice her; this hurts Devadevi’s vanity. She mistakes his devotion towards Ranganatha as arrogance and decides to teach him a lesson, ignoring Madhuravani’s advice.

Devadevi enters Narayana’s hermitage as an orphan and narrates her woes, requesting for a stay to support herself. Narayana agrees despite Rangaraju’s objection and Devadevi becomes the former’s disciple. In a turn of events, Rangaraju is expelled from the hermitage when he tries to send Devadevi away after realising her intentions. As time passes, Narayana finds himself attracted to Devadevi and falls for her charms.

Once her ego is satisfied, Devadevi begins to regret her act. Madhuravani asks her to return and Narayana follows them. Devadevi’s mother Rangasani, upon knowing that Narayana is penniless, throws him away. To help Narayana win, Ranganatha visits Devadevi’s house in the disguise of Rangaraju. He presents a golden vessel from the kitchen of Srirangam temple as a gift from Narayana to Devadevi.

The next day, the priests at the temple complain that the golden vessel is missing and find it at Devadevi’s house. Narayana is accused of stealing the vessel and is produced in the court. The King orders that Narayana’s hands be amputated as a punishment for theft. Ranganatha appears at the scene and reveals the truth. Ranganatha adds that Narayana is an incarnation of Vyjayanthi, a garland that adorns him at his heavenly abode Vaikuntha and that Devadevi is a gandharva who took a human birth due to a curse. Narayana and Devadevi visit Srirangam temple and sing praises of the deity, before attaining salvation.

Vipra Narayana is a 1954 Telugu-language biographical film. The film is based on the life of Tamil Vaishnava saint Vipra Narayana. He led his life in devotion to Lord Narayana and worked for the Lord by dedicating him with garlands. He is one of the twelve Alvars.

Goda wakes up to Gopikas

Goda in this 13^th song, is waking up eighth Gopika whose eyes are very beautiful like the bee sucking honey from lotus. Gopika thinks that her eyes can induce Krishna to her place. Hence, she is neither getting up nor going to Yamuna river to cool the pangs of separation from Krishna. This is conversation between them.

Goda: O beauty! Do not think that Krishna will come for your beauty of eyes. We need to go to Him.

Gopika: How can you say that it is early morning?

Goda: See, the bright Shukra is rising, and darkness of Guru is fading out.

Gopika: Any other evidence?

Goda: Birds are chirping and getting ready to go out to fetch food.

            Chirping is a symbol of God-lover’s morning praise of Vishnu. When many are sharing their association with others, do you want to enjoy alone? If you do that it is not fair, but hypocrisy!  I understand that you too need to cool off the pangs of separation from Krishna. Then, you should come with us and bathe in serene cool waters of Yamuna River at this early hour. If you delay, Yamuna water gets heated up. Bharatha used to suffer body heat because of thinking about absence of Raama and used to rush to Sarayu even at midnight to feel coolness. We are immersed in the thoughts of Krishna, who has split the mouth of Baka demon and Raama, who slit the ten heads of worse Asura Raavana for separating Seetha from Him. Lakshmi never parted her divine abode on the chest of Vishnu. These are good days for us. Our parents are permitting us to meet Krishna for Vrata. We can increase pleasure of meditating upon Krishna, come on let us go together, get up!

This song is beautifully laced with the divine episodes of Raama and Krishna, suggesting their oneness. Goda mentions advaita (non-duality) of Seetha and Raama on one hand and Raamaand Krishna on the other. Raavana was called bad demon because he separated Vishnu and Lakshmi, Goda uses expression that Ram has slit the ten heads of Raavana. This shows that Raama was highly powerful like Krishna, who with his little finger lifted heavy Govardhanagiriand stayed put for seven days and nights. Vaalmiki narrates that Raama was helped by Agasthya, the ascetic, who gave Aditya Mantra; Indra, offering his chariot with charioteer, Sugreeva and his huge vanara army, and above all, mighty Hanuman. But the strength of Raama was nowhere assessed properly. When Sugreev suspects Vibheeshan, who came to surrender, advises not to entertain him as he might sabotage and destroy our army internally to help his brother Ravan. Raama asks him not to worry, “if I want, I can single-handedly finish Ravan”. But Ram never used those mystic powers but fought like an ordinary man.

Killing Bakaasura

The powerful demon and servant of King Kamsa named Bakasura, had been ordered by Kamsa to enter Vrindavana and kill the cowherd boy known as Krishna who Kamsabelieved was the eighth son of Devaki. He was an evil companion of King Kamsa and the brother of Putana and Aghasura.

Bala Krishna with his brother Balarama and the cowherd boys (gopas) were enjoying their pastimes with their cows near the banks of the Yamuna river, while in other accounts they were in the forests of Gokul.One fine day, Krishna and Balarama, along with all Their cowherd boyfriends, were grazing their calves near the bank of the Yamuna, when the evil Bakasura, who had assumed the form of a giant crane, suddenly arrived on the spot for the purpose of killing Krishna. The demon immediately ran forward and suddenly picked Krishna up in his long beak with the intention of swallowing Him. The boy would not be able to kill the king, which was claimed as a prophecy by an unknown voice and the Devi Yogamaya. Bakasura was then killed by Krishna when the boy pushed his beak until it snapped easily.

The duck demon quickly gobbled Krishna up just like a fish, but as Krishna entered Bakasura’s throat, the demon began to experience a terrible burning sensation due to Krishna’s shining effulgence and quickly coughed Him back up. Bakasura then tried to pierce Krishna to death with his sharp pointed beak.  But Krishna very cleverly caught hold of the demon’s beak, and just as a child easily splits a straw of dry grass, Krishna very easily split open the beak of the demon. As blood gushed from his broken and bifurcated mouth, the Bakasura demon died an agonizingly painful death.

Whereas Krishna has demonstrated his Leela by lifting a big hill on his little finger, killing Bakaasura etc with wonderful and unbelievable ease. Raama kills the ego of Raavana when he removes his flag, throws out his crown, destroys chariot, kills his charioteer, breaks his arrows and bow, and removes the shield. When Raavan stood helpless hanging his head in shame, Raama permits him to go home, take rest and come back for an ultimate fight. Raavan had to walk all the way through main roads of Lanka while millions are watching to reach his palace. Entire Lanka city comes to know the power of Raama and plight of Ravan. His entire ego gets destroyed and it was just a formality to finish him off next day.

In this song, the wisdom is indicated by bright Shukra, and ignoranceby setting Guru planet as Shukra planet is on rise in the space. The beautiful eyes also represent the abundant knowledge that helps to see the real nature of Bhagavatottama, disciples of Vishnu. Bathing is nothing but immersing oneself in the divine thoughts of Raama and/or Krishna. Planning to enjoy the meditation about Vishnu alone is considered as hypocrisy, which Goda wants Gopika to get rid of, calling it ‘Kapata’ like Baka – crane, who can be removed by Krishna.

To establish oneness of Raama and Krishna, Goda suggests an episode. When Yashoda was narrating the story of Raama, little Krishna was responding indicating that he was hearing it. She said that when Raama was away, and his brother was searching for Him, Raavana abducted Seetha. Immediately little Krishna was angry and started asking for His bow and arrows from Lakshmana. Yashoda was confused, why Krishna was calling for Lakshmana.

UttishthataJagrata Prapya Varan Nibodhata

The KaṭhaUpaniṣad (1.3.14) also says, uttiṣṭhajāgrataprāpyavarānnibodhata“, (Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached – Swami Vivekananda). “O living entity, you are sleeping in this material world. Please get up and take advantage of your human form of life”. “The sleeping condition means loss of all knowledge”

Through Bhagavadgita, Krishna explains about Sthitha Prajna, who is not disturbed by any attractions or distractions around him. They have no desires even in heart of hearts. He observes many pleasant things but never thinks to have them for his happiness. One who does not worry about losses or troubles, and not get excited about the pleasures he could get is Sthitha Prajna. Though he knew things around him, he does not get involved in them and continues to meditate on God. Such a person is the second type of devotee. The Gopika referred in this Paashuram belongs to that category.