Hindustan Times
Wheels within wheels
I haven’t been to visit my ancestral deity, Sri Venkateswara ‘Balaji’ at Tirupati since I was dragged there as a little girl to have my head ritually shaved.
Of late, I’ve been feeling wistful about not having gone there since Class Three (merely saw Tirupati from the air once, on a flight to Madras).
Suddenly, two amazing books, both about Lord Balaji at Tirupati have come my way.
I cannot see a picture of ‘Balaji’, Lord of the Seven Hills, without a catch in my throat.
Here he is: Sarva Mangalam (Every good thing to all).
These are the golden feet they made for this enigmatic deity.
Balaji (Mahavishnu) has been endowed by kings and queens with fabulous historic jewellery for over a millennium. Here’s one of his images at Tirupati as Sri Rama. Isn’t it beautiful?
These rare pictures and many more exquisite images (250 photos, illustrations, miniature paintings and architectural drawings) are from this book.
Tirumala Tirupati, The Legends and Beyond… is by T. Sarita Reddy and Birad Rajaram Yajnik, published in 2005 by Visual Quest India (P) Ltd.
This book was a present from the Thirumala Tirupati Devasthanam and I cherish it as the grace and favour of Balaji, for it constantly refreshes my eyes and therefore my mind.
Ten days ago, another wonderful book came my way as a present from my friend Soumya, who flew in from Madras for a day’s work.
This precious book also came out in 2005: God on the Hill, Temple Poems from Tirupati (by) Annamayya, translated by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman (OUP).
They tell the curious tale of Tallapakka Annamacharya or Annamayya, “who lived in the great hilltop shrine of Tirupati in south India, in Andhra Pradesh, in the 15th century. He is said to have composed a song a day for the god of this temple, Venkateswara-Vishnu. Late in his lifetime or, possibly, not long after his death, some 13,000 of these poems, all in the padam genre, were inscribed on copper plates and stored in a special vault inside the temple.
… These poems are the Tirupati temple’s greatest treasure.”
Written in Telugu, also called ‘the Italian of the East’ (by an Italian!), the poems, of which less than half the ‘13,000′ survive, are of two kinds, sringara (erotic) and adhyatma (metaphysical).
In the sringara poems, Annamaya speaks as a woman to her lover.
An example:
Tagili paayuta kante…
Better keep your distance
Than love and part -
Especially if you can’t manage
seizures of passion.
Make love, get close, ask for more -
But it’s hard to separate and burn.
Open your eyes to desire,
Then you can’t bear to shut it out.
Better keep your distance.
The first tight embrace is easy,
But later you can never let go.
Begin your love talk -
Once hooked, you can never forget.
Better keep your distance
Twining and joining, you can laugh.
Soon you can’t hide the love in your heart.
Once the god on the hill has made love to you,
You can no longer say
It was this much and that much.
Better keep your distance
In the adhyatmik poems, Annamayya speaks as himself:
The god on the hill made your mind.
Only you can make it think of him.
The thoughts in your mind are partly god
And partly you.
Think him through.
Great worldview, is it not? It respects both your individuality and your honourable place in a larger scheme of things.
There’s lots more to the Annamayya tradition including a belief that the copper plates were dramatically discovered in a locked store room one day in the 20th century. There’s also a fascinating link with a village goddess, Chaudesvari/Chaudamma, who has a complex relationship with Balaji whose official consort is ‘Alamelumanga’. These ancient goddesses of the land empower Balaji, the male ‘mainstream’ deity and Annamayya’s sringara poetry seems to reflect these ancient energies.
Today we’d say that the sringara poems speak to the woman in every man and vice versa. They unite in the concept of Balaji, who made the world but subjected himself to the bondage of maya and lives on the hill to keep hold of his devotees and draw them to him.
Annamayya created a new genre of poetry with his padams. Five centuries later this song form rules Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi and Carnatic music! Everyone who learns Carnatic music learns songs by him, he’s a building block.
The biggest take home from Annamayya is emotional empowerment. Beyond the ‘rules’, there is a deep, great love - call it the Universal Energy - that gives you the right and the courage to make your own way to your goal. In Annamayya, the goal is self-realisation and mystic union with ‘the god on the hill’. The way I understand it, Annamayya, like Mira and the Sufis, chooses sringara as the worthiest analogy for god-love because the deep intimacy between two people who find each other utterly absorbing is universally celebrated as mankind’s most intense experience.
Tirupati is the historic northern boundary of the Tamil-speaking region of our country. Want an exhilarating modern instance of poetry working as emotional empowerment? This happened south of Tirupati in the Tamil country. It is told by P. Sainath, in his benchmark book, Everybody Loves A Good Drought. Here it is, with the author’s kind permission:
MINSTRELS WITH A MISSION
PUDUKKOTTAI (Tamil Nadu): One is a schoolteacher. The other, a Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) officer. Both are 37 years old and male. Sounds very commonplace. Yet Jayachandar and Muthu Bhaskaran are hardly that. They must rank as an unusual pair in any setting, rural or urban.
Each is an independent songwriter. Both write highly popular songs in Tamil. They often aim their lyrics specifically at women – urging them to stand up for their rights, to rebel. The songs call on women to realise their potential and to prove they are every inch as capable as men if not more so. Of course, they have written songs on other subjects, but what’s striking is the way women in Tamil Nadu’s least urbanised district have responded to their songs.
And it’s strong stuff: ”Never get entangled in the words of those who say ’it’s impossible for women’,” go the lines of one Jayachandar song. “Dispel these illusions … throw fire on the atrocities they threaten you with. Like a bird with wings clipped, society has enslaved you within the home. Now come out like a gathering storm.”
Muthu Bhaskaran’s song, ”O sister, come learning cycling, move with the wheel of time…” has proved a classic. Almost every female neo-literate, neo-cyclist here has sung or knows of this song. A sample line: “The men are riding the cycles with the women on the carriers? That’s an old story, sister. Let’s rewrite it now with you in the driver’s seat.” In a district where women have taken to cycling in astonishing numbers as part of the literacy drive, the popularity and impact of this song is immeasurable. But it has gone beyond Pudukkottai, too. The song has been translated into Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Jayachandar’s songs, too, are now sung in more than one language. The fame of both poets has gone beyond this obscure, backward district. Jayachandar revels in the curious pseudonym Vettri Nilavan, or “Moon of Victory”. The last time I met him, he had just returned from Coimbatore where he had gone to record a pro-literacy song aimed at that city’s textile workers. And there are other themes. “Human Once Again,” is the title of one his anti-liquor songs. Its protagonist is a reformed alcoholic.
The pro-literacy songs go beyond advocacy of the ABCs: “Things won’t change simply because we say so…we have to fight in many ways…and one of these is learning,” goes one of his numbers. “The mighty hands, that plough the lands, and pluck the weeds, now take the lamp, the light of knowledge…and drive away the darkness of illiteracy…. change your life…if we learn to read and write we can’t be cheated anymore.”
“So what if a female child is born,” goes another popular Jayachandar song, written after the poet was moved by reports of female infanticide, “keep aside, and take your mourning with you. Is there any world without women? Give me an answer.”
It’s much more powerful in Tamil, of course. Between them, the two have written over 50 songs. These are on literacy, against arrack, for advancing women’s rights, and promoting science and scientific thinking. And people are listening. In large numbers.
Muthu Bhaskaran, an M.A. in Tamil from Madurai University, is a teacher at the Government Model Higher Secondary School. Jayachandar, a B.Sc. in maths and from a family of agriculturists, works in the LIC. What was the turning point in their thinking? Both speak of their participation in the “East Coast Jatha”. That was a march from Pondicherry to Kanyakumari in the late 1980s. “It was my first exposure to a scientific literacy campaign,” says Jayachandar.
Both also gained from their contact with the Tamil Nadu Science Forum and the Progressive Writers Association. And both were deeply moved by their work in and interaction with the literacy movement, Arivoli Iyakkam, in their own district. “I noticed changes within me and as society changed me, I thought I would try to change society,” says Muthu Bhaskaran. Before his Arivoli experience, he says, ”I thought of women in the old way, that they can’t really come out and do things. But in Arivoli, I have learned very different. Given the chance, there is nothing they cannot achieve.”
How do men react to songs asking women to call their bluff? “Why men?” laughs Muthu Bhaskaran, “some mocking from them was inevitable, but a few of the older women, too, were scandalised. However, girls in the 15-25 age group picked up the songs very quickly.”
Has either ever had reason to look back and find that events have overtaken one of his songs? “Yes,” says Muthu Bhaskaran. “I felt that way after watching an eight or nine-year-old Harijan girl weave wonderful circles on a cycle late at night in the near darkness of Ambedkar Nagar village. So I wrote an on-the-spot sequel to my earlier song. This begins: ‘Yes brother, I have learnt cycling. I’m moving with the wheel of time….”
……….
PS from PS: “In no other district in the country did so many women learn cycling in such a short period of time - and the work of writers like these, while not the cause of that, was certainly part of the process and folklore.”
(4 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by HT Editorials on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 7:59 pm
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Dear Renuka,
Lovely article but couldn’t view the photographs will try on Sat night. It is such a coincidence I have also gone to Tirupati as a child I can only remember the car going around the hill. As a child I read the story of Tirupati Balaji the book belonged to my cousin. Recently I got one for my children like an Amar Chitra Katha.
M S Subbulakshmi’s Venkateshwara Suprabhatam is most famous across India. I also long to see the temple. There is a saying you can only go if the Lord wants you to. I hope the Lord wants us to see him. But Darshan is very difficult I have heard but who said Moksha was easy to attain.
Did you know that Mahavishnu meditated on the hill after Mahalakshmi was angry and went to Karveerpuram (Kolhapur, Maharashtra). The reason for her anger was Brigu Maharishi who kicked Mahavishnu on his chest. When Mahavishnu apologises for not attending to him Brigu Maharishi declares he is the best among the trinity. After Mahalakshmi leaves him Vishnu is dejected and goes to meditate at Tirupati and lives in ant hill. Brahma and Siva take the form of a cow and calf and feed him milk. When the cowherd attacks the cow he is cursed. Mahavishnu meets and falls in love with Padmavati and he is married to her. Since Mahalakshmi is not there with him he has no money and borrows money from Kubera.
The story was Padmavati was really Vedavati who in Ramayana requested the Lord to marry her. The reason why the Tirupati Temple gets a lot of money is that since Kubera’s loan has to be repaid the money we put in the hundi goes to repay the loan. Such a beautiful story.
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dear Renuka,
Viewed the photographs.
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renuka Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
lovely, aren’t they? That book is a true collectible , great documentation.
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Hi Latha. Yes, I do know it. Thanks for sharing it here. The devotees of Balaji say it is his game of participation in the lives of the believers. I love the complexity of it - and the simplicity of it, which is : good energy, great affection and a push to be of service.
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Balaji ( In Hindi and Marathi ) and Venkateshwara - in Tamil & Telugu ( actually Sanskrit)- is a National God now with famous non-South Indian non-Deccani bhaktas like Jeetendra and daughter- however there is a temple to Balaji in North India too, in Dausa, Rajasthan but here in the distant dusty North, Balaji is a name for Hanuman.
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The bhakta assumes deityhood, is that what you’re saying? Well, the emotional logic, going by Annamayya’s adhyatmik verse that I’ve quoted, is impeccable… ‘Tat Tvam Asi’. And I think it’s quite wonderful how that Pudukottai chapter from an iconic book like P.Sainath’s, gives us a glimpse of present possibilities in poetry as emotional empowerment. I think Bapu was resonating ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ when he said, ‘Be the change you want to see’. They drink from the same river, it seems to me, whatever the route they choose.
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Arousing, stirring stuff indeed- Renuka. Thanks so much for the pictures of Balaji in aishwarya bhava , the sringara rasa poetry and the thoughtful translations– (Yours?)
Subliminally, erotic conveys too much of the associations it has acquired presently and may paint another sort of picture.
Sringara is so much more intricate and ornamental, unlimited.
May I take the liberty of adding other connotations?
ऋतुमाल्यालंकारैः प्रियजनगन्धर्वकाव्यसेवाभिः ।
उपवनगमनविहारैः शृंगाररसः समुद्भवति ॥
“Sringara rasa is brought about by the season, garlands and ornaments, by the songs and poetry of dear friends, and by wandering and playing in flower gardens. (6.47):Bharatas natya shastra
Sringara is romance, love- play - ever changing, ever new, adorned and supported by modified seasons and responsive Nature.
It is the purview of the female.
“A soul who thinks of himself as male is not qualified to enter the shringara-rasa. The soul must first attain the form of a gopi in Braja.”
The adhayatmik quote ties in so aptly with this theme–love can only be by consent — it is the dvaita view.
Tavaasmi— I am yours - it is the play of enjoyment with the Other in the delight of utter self- giving, motiveless -no questions asked- no holds barred-ahituki and abhyabahita– constant.
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My first visit to TTD was really scary. I was about four or five years of age. The long tortuous journey through seven hills in a rickety bus, with every second or third person throwing up. From Bus stand to the temple was an uneventful except that I was very hungry. The sight of hundreds of people lined up for tonsuring their head was a ghastly site. Women and men in their teens, middle and old age alike. Till that time I had never seen a bald woman or to be more specific getting their head a la David or Omprakash style. I was scared s..t and made a ruckus. Felt like a sacrificial goat. I can distinctly remember my dad being at his choicest best with the expletives and my mom reminding him that he is at the devasthanam. I don’t remember having seen the deity in the dark. The priest muttered something and my parents were mighty pleased with the Darshan. They wanted to lay prostrate but the rush and the temple staff forbade them. The huge big laddoo that I got as a prasadam melted all the ill feeling that had so far built up in me.
I visited TTD again in ninetees. But can’t remember having seen the deity in the manner shown in the picture. It was either his crown or his feet or his eyes. After coming out two thing have gratified me. One was the prasadam and the second the extreme faith or Bhakti which which people throng. What the heck I thought. The real God is outside in these devotees.
In Pune every other restaurant is named Shri Balaji. It is probably a short form. (Shri khand, Ba sundi, La doo and Ji lebi). Puneites again might contest your claim about most women cyclists.
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renuka Reply:
June 6th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Sounds good. People who go to Tirupati often tell me it is a great trial of patience but they are swept up in the prevailing mood of suurender in bhakti and feel gratified even by that glimpse.
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Nirguna Reply:
June 6th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Here is the English transliteration:
Ritu-maalyaalankaaraiH priyajana-gandharva-kaavya-sevaabhiH
upavana-gamana-vihaaraiH sringara-rasaH samudbhavati
If only concepts could evaporate the insidious ego :).
Anyhow, such delightful, transcendentally aesthetic pieces help to get a feel of the mood.
Thank you.
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renuka Reply:
June 6th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Thanks, Nirguna, for these beautiful words. They make me think of that exquisite bit in the Srimad Bhagavatam, when Sri Krishna is moved to create the mystic dance of the Rasa Lila, on the night of the Autumn Moon when the air is sweet with the scent of jasmine, pls correct me if I have made a mistake, I’m writing spontaneously from memory:
Bhagvan pita ratri sharadotta phulla mallika…vriksharantum manas tasya yogamaya mupa sruta.
Please explain this better?
Thanks!
Beautiful. Tavaasmi is a transcendental approach indeed, it seems to burn up the ego like karpooram. One seems liberated then to love dotingly without complications, without being dragged down by calculations.
Not my translation (I wish!) but the two gifted authors’. I’m so sorry we don’t seem to be able to upload Devanagari fonts just yet. Please would you write the verse again in English transliteration for us all? Thanks so much.
It is something that has always intrigued me: the austerity of the Shivala contrasted with the exuberant festivity of the Harimandir, its alankaaram, aadambaram..both so fulfilling, ‘jointly and severally’.
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the photos r so beautiful. i’ve never been 2 Tirupati. but i know 1 day i will. even i knew the story of Mahalaxmi-Mahavishnu. what i’ve often felt reading the story is that the divine couple is just like an ordinary couple. i really find this cute : laxmi leaves in a huff and vishnu assumes d form of Srinivas to win back his love. so sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nothing can beat the romance of divine couples like Shiva-Parvati and Laxmi- Narayan. what say?????
also read your article 2day ma’am . really ma’am god is one. we just worship a form of It. (it because 4 me god is neither male nor female but the communion between male and female energies) . we just forget this basic tenet. ri8ghtly stated in the Gita- Fools are those who don’t know Me. iam everywhere. Everything is Me.
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renuka Reply:
June 6th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Hi Vidhi, yeah, those love stories are truly divine.
The Greeks, I feel, had the next best mythology but theirs died. Then one day, the children of Visigoths, Vikings, Celts and whatnot in the rest of Europe said, “Me too!” and brought the old Greek (and Roman) gods back as ‘their’ civilisation, in the Renaissance.
Ours is the only big civilisation to still honour its ancestral deities….something that sets India apart from the rest but also imposes higher standards on us to live upto, don’t you think?
The standard is not some horrid little Victorian leftover and it IS very tempting to equate ‘civilisation’ with plumbing…but saucha (cleanliness), the old Indian ideal…?
…wish we kept our public spaces cleaner, there’s nothing civilised about dirt….say, how did I get here? Guess it’s why I liked the story about Harijan girls cycling….the Big Idea remains of no earthly use unless it is active in our ‘way of life’ and allows good things for all, equally
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Once went on the pilgrimage to Sabarimala throught the ” Long path” after observing the fast for 41 days.The whole journey was pretty eventful . The “ups” and “downs”, the chants,carrying the “irumudi”,the co-travellers,finally the glimpse of swai ayyappan.
When i was returning,i coudnt help feel that the whole trip was so much like ” life in a nutshell”.
Probably why gods like Ayyappan and Balaji sit on top of hills.
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Yeah, absolutely. They set it up ‘yatra’ (pilgrimage) everywhere as a chance to introspect, it looks like. Been to Sabarimala twice as a little girl and still remember the excitement of it all and the impressive solemnity of all those bearded, ash-smeared men in black dhotis, chanting, carrying those bundles on their heads, the beautiful songs.
Oh dear, my mind has skipped suddenly to the great payasam drunk aeons ago at Ambalapuzha temple, also in Kerala…
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Nice article, it brings me some biblical parallel in King Solomon’s songs. The beauty of this “liberty laden” songs makes it more an enduring influence even today. I am waiting for your next take on folklore associated elsewhere in other religion.
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renuka Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Thanks, Marshila. I’m quite thrilled you felt the Song of Songs resonance. I think that, plus the other three Wisdom Books in the Old Testament (Ecclesiastes - which is my Upanishad in the Bible - , Proverbs and Psalms. SoS sounds almost too beautiful to bear in the original Hebrew. I had the good fortune of hearing a taste of it recited at that nice Sunset Cafe overlooking the Pushkar Kund on Kartik Poornima last year. He was a rabbi’s son and knew his Torah.
Here’s one line I managed to keep:
Shelahayikh…pardes rimonim im peri megadim keparim im neradim nerd wekarkom qaneh wakinamon….
Thy plants…are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits; camphire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon…
(4:13-14).
The woman as earth is evoked further on in 7 as:
Thy neck is as a tower of ivory, thine eyes like the fishpools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh towards Damascus…
It’s got the same quality of ‘varnan’ (description) as in Hindu sacred literature and in the poem, esply in Annamayya’s padams, there’s a movement, a progress, as the poem proceeds, so you get a sense of a whole story told and another place reached by the last line. In the padam I’ve quoted, for instance, what ’she’ is really saying is, “it’s too late, I’m hooked now.” What is cast as a warning is actually an affirmation of what’s happened to her.
In SoS, as the two lovers discover and affirm each other, a third entity emerges by the end: their union as one being in their love.
It’s very delicately nuanced and the movements are subtle but sure and steady. Fascinating!.
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renuka Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Oops, didn’t complete that first sentence, sorry…wanted to say that those four Wisdom Books are quite my favourite in the Bible.
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bhagavaan api taa raatriH
shaaradotphulla-mallikaaH
vikasya rantum manah cakre
yoga-maayaam upaasritaah
When Krishna made up his mind to enjoy his love play in the moon- lit autumn nights filled with the scent of blossoming jasmine ( even in autumn), he employed yogamaya-his mystic potency/energy which makes the impossible possible.
SB 10 :29 :1
The concept is that Vrinda devi, the godess of nature in Braj, assists the nikunja lila in all sorts of ways. She presides over the forest pastimes of Kanhaiya (an affectionate name for Krishna). She communicates with the animals and plants through her parrot messengers.
By her design the mood arises in Krishna’s mind to sport in the kunjas- groves of vrinda , which gives great delight to all the inhabitants of the forest.
Vrinda adorns the groves and bowers( nikunja) where Radha and Krishna sport, making them most hospitable.She provides swings, musical instruments, water-syringes and colour for squirting, clothing, ornaments and a variety of food and drinks.
She also provides them the refreshments the forest has to offer; delicious fruits and honey.
Her two female parrot friends act as spies to alert her of the approach of the antagonists, Jatila (Radha’s mother-in-law) and Chandravali (Radha’s rival).
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Thank you so much, Nirguna! Please do share another verse if you don’t mind, anything you feel like sharing from the SB, just for the happiness of ‘ek aur’ from this enchanting subject.
btw, I’m sure you have heard the Bhimsen Joshi song in the Krishna section of Music Today’s ‘Bhaktimala’ series.. He sings “Jhoolat Shyam hindore chaturbhuj…”, this very mood. That song has darshan in it, kasam se.
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Nirguna Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Gladly- thanks.
Tava kathamritam tapta jivanam–
“Krishna, your stories are nectar stuff that fulfil our existence.”
A particularly relevant verse for what is overtaking the spirit of Braj , organized religion, with it’s ostentatious citadels of self interest, is this statement by the rebel Krishna. As a little boy, he challenges ( with utmost modesty and deference ) the bastions of traditional worship . In this case, of Indra . He argues his case convincingly and persuades his father to desist from the elaborate yagna.
He says to Nanda Maharaj:
na nah purojanapadaa
na graamaa na griha vayam
vanaukasas taata nityam
vana-shaila-nivaasina
My dear father, our home is not in the cities or towns or villages. Being forest dwellers, we always live in the forest and on the hills.
SB 10:10:24
He advises that the fire yagna be performed by chanting of verses from the Vedas, ( by which he is known and of which he is the composer– vedantatvit vedantakrit caaham) by the brahamins.
The food, says the all - inclusive Krishna, must be offered to all. The dogs too were not to be neglected nor those that ate dogs ( candalas– non vegetarians :)) and the patita - poor.
Less than a hundred years ago, Brindaban was a still a forest, replete with tigers and other wildlife. The few temples , residences and market, were concentrated in one area . Asceticism was the chosen means of seeking krishna prem.. An asceticism which required a certain fearlessness and abandonment. The vairagis ( rennunciates) lived under the trees and begged for their food by a means known as madhukari– that is taking very little from each household so as not to be an imposition ( like the bee takes a little from each flower).
I have heard this from lady who, when I last met her ,was 106 years old. If one did not know her story, she could be mistaken for one of those ladies in white who are commonly thought of as the widows of Brindaban.
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ma’am please tell me who was Radha’s husband. was she really an incarnation of Laxmi or of KRISHNA’S YOGMAYA.????????????
thank u 4 d bit on Renaissance. i’ve still got 2 catch up on visigoths and vikings when my school starts. thankfully they form a part of my syllabus 4 11th. i really love indian mythology.
please ma’am keep posting such stories time n again
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Nirguna Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Renuka - the name of this thread is quite apt– in relevance to the verse that you pulled out from memory– manas cakre etc,
and
also pertinent to this query about yogamaya.
Yogamaya is personified by or in Durga, also by Subhadra, Krishna’s sister. In Krishna lila She is the girl child who takes Krishna’s place in the jail and is flung to the ground by Kamsa in an attempt to kill her. She slips from his hand and presents him his doom
Please see Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 chapter 4 verses 9-13 for more on yogamaya.
Radha represets halidini shakti or is hladini shakti– the source of Krishna’s internal and most intimate bliss. She who gives delight. The pleasure potency made manifest. ( from ahalaad meaning pleasure)
Both the Yoga maya shakti and hladini shakti are not under the purview of prakriti. They are facilitators of Krishna’s play with his devotees and different form Maya which is the force of illusion by which the sense of self, as in selfish interest, persists.
This prayer in Bengali may offer, in brief, a glimpse of a somewhat intricate subject:
kuladevi yogamaya more krpa kori
abarana sambaribe kabe visvodari
“O Yogamaya! when will you show mercy to me by lifting up the curtain of
illusion with which you shroud the universe in your external form of
Mahamaya? You are known as Kuladevi, the traditional worshipable Goddess of
all the Vaishnava dynasties.”
The pancratra informs:In all mantras used to worship Krishna, the presiding deity is known as Durga
She is also the personification of suddha sattva- pure transcendental existence and synonymous with yoganidra - the trance - sleep of Vishnu ( S B 10:4;29)
I have tried to represent this as briefly as possible - hope it is no too long winded.
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1 more thing why is Radha described as the consort of Krishna. Krishna had so many consorts Satyabhama, Rukmini. Rukmini is said to b the incarnation of Mahalaxmi then why is it Radha-Krishna and not Rukmini- Krishna???????????
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renuka Reply:
June 7th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Vidhi, this is a BIG q. Will try to answer properly 3moro n welcome Nirguna’s help in this matter!
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Nirguna Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Right you are Renuka — a big question– look forward to reading your read on this.
Well , will try –again, without being too convoluted and yet not making things too simplistic ( bearing in mind Einstein’s advice:” Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” )
Not without reason that this stuff is described as a science (The Science of Love)
All the ways in which Krishna relates to enjoys or gratifies his creation fall into categories of rasa— which again to state this big subject ( wheels within wheels indeed) succinctly, denotes taste, proclivity or preference.
In other words, the bhakta or Krishna may choose to relate to each other in various ways– a lot of mind blowing variety in this very rich( as in rich food) tradition.
In the most intimate or madhurya or sringara rasa there are two categories
svakiya
and
parakiya
Krishna enjoys himself in two ways. The Lord’s conjugal love in the svakiya-rasa relates to the marital love of Dvaraka, where he has many married queens. Like Rukmani. But ,in Brindavana the conjugal love of the Lord is with His girlfriends, the gopis. This, forbidden love if you will ,is called parakiya.
And is considered the sweetest of the sweet. ( madhurya).
To complicate matters further there are groups in Braj that will not admit that Radha and Krishna’s love is parakiya and say they were married.
Dvarka lila is the aishwariya bhava ( mood) Pomp and ceremony and opulence. Laxmi is depicted as serving Vishnu by massaging his feet.
Braj lila is simplicity itself — within the folds of Nature.Here Krishna serves Radha by braiding her hair and massaging her feet.
At any rate, the theme is greater than the subject and Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. So these truths of Krishna’s ways and means of responding to his devotees are as unlimited as he himself is and not subject to the minds assessments . They have to be known and felt in the realm of the heart.
They are indeed, the heart of the matter.
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renuka Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Hi Vidhi, Nirguna has explained it so well.
Basically, like I’ve written below, I understand it as an attempt to explain that everybody has a relationship with God. God in the charming person of Krishna ‘belongs’ to everyone and we experience God according to how we see our relationship.
There are brisk, formal relationships: “God, you’re great, and I’m no pipsqueak either, I’m a big achiever, a princess, a warrior, a scholar, whatever…but hey, You’re bigger, here’s a diamond crown for your image.” (Ravana-love for Shiva, Rukmini/Satyabhama-love for Krishna)
And there’s “God, I’m nothing, I’m nobody, but I’m really very strong because I love You and hold you in my heart. You can’t HELP loving me back, even if You have so many others with a claim on Your affection in this big world.” (Radha-love).
Radha-love is said to be a later development in spiritual literature. And technically, it’s ‘adultery’. But for some crazy reason - I call it emotional honesty - it’s held as totally sacred in our culture. It’s what you value, I guess, and in a shifting, uncertain world, Radha-love is splendidly secret, hidden, and nobody can take it away, so you’re emotionally secure … does that make sense?
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Never been to Tirupati or Puri, but always wanted to. Will do at least once in my lifetime, hopefully soon.
Thanks for a great post !!
Regards,
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Thanks K, hope you’ll get there.
While we’re talking, I want to share something lovely about ‘my’ prince, the Amir-e-Arcot or Prince of Arcot (my ancestors settled in North Arcot centuries ago). This part of India is now northern Tamil Nadu - hence my deity is Tirupati, I guess - but this region was once called ‘Central Carnatic’ , because the kingdom of Arcot went up into a good chunk of ‘Andhra Pradesh’..
Northern and Central Carnatic were also called ‘Mughal Carnatic’ while the Kaveri Delta, further south, was ‘Maratha Carnatic’ - for a couple of centuries - until both got gobbled up by the British in the 19th century with Lord De Lousy (Dalhousie)’s Doctrine of Lapse, meaning if the ruler died without a direct male heir, the East India Company grabbed his kingdom. This is one of the things that led to 1857.
Anyhow, Nawab Muhammad Ali Wallajah, Nawab of the Carnatic (1749-1795 A.D.), did a big thing worth remembering still.
This was the retrieval of the famous, important Sri Ranganathar Temple at Srirangam - Srirangam, no less! - near Trichy from the desecration of the French troops, by sending his army and reconsecrating the temple, meaning he paid for it and made sure it was done.
Further Nawab Muhammad Ali Wallajah gifted huge lands to the temple at Srirangam and other temples at Trichy for maintaning flower gardens for worship. These are still known as ‘Nawab Gardens’.
As for magical Mylapore, in the heart of old Madras, the Sri Kapaliswarar (Shiva) temple tank to the west of the temple - I love that temple and never miss going there - was a gift of the Nawab of Arcot a couple of centuries back
The archakas and devotees of the temple met the Nawab and explained the need for a temple tank (there’s a theory that Kapali was once on the seafront but got displaced inland by the Portuguese, that’s why it, most unusually, didn’t have a tank already).
The Nawab agreed at once to give that land to the temple on the condition that Shia Muslims be allowed to use the tank on Moharram day each year. This nice bonding practice is on even now!
And the temple authorities give full respect to the Nawab of Arcot even today. The present Amir-e- Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, ceremonially visits on Float Festival Day and temple honours are offered to him.
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pradeep rao Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Thanks for a wonderful story about India’s composite culture where Hindu & Muslim could live side by side without feeling threatened by the identity of the other. It would seem modern India ( and indeed Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) would have a lot to learn about the divisive politics of identity that has plagued “asetu-himachalam” since the concept of territory based nationalism took root in our sacred soil
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Hi Renuka,
A lovely article, it stirred up some found memories, which I would like to share. Few years ago, me a north Indian, was working in Hyderabad. One of my roommates, an Andhra girl, was getting married at Tirupathi. So, we (my Mom, myself and one more friend) went to her wedding with the dual purpose of having darshan as well as attending the marriage.
When we got down from the station, my friend’s family had hired the Jeeps to ferry all of us to the hill-top. We totally refused to go by Jeep. Our argument was that, this was the first time and most probably the only time, we will be visiting this shrine. So, we would like to do the pilgrimage in the proper way, by walking up. They were surprised and amused!! They initially refused saying that unescorted 3 ladies will not walk up. But then they allowed us to do it our way and asked one of the guys in their group to escort us up the hill till our guest house. They all went my Jeep.
So, we all ( myself, my mom , another friend and the poor guy, who was escorting us) started our trek up. We wanted to sing hymns and songs in praise of Balaji but the guy did not know any!! And we being all north Indians, did not knew any!! Till I suddenly realized that, he is an incarnation of Vishnu!! So we started singing various Ram and Krishna Songs, which we knew and started our trek.
It took us 4 hrs but those were amazing hours!!! We were all in raptures of his beauty and the lovely scenery and the atmosphere.
And the Lord smiled at us!! We had very lovely darshans, not one, not twice but 3 times!! Twice we got atleast 2 minutes to stand and pray!!!
That was an amazing life experience for me, which I will cherish till my last day!!!
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renuka Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Wow, this was really touching to read. Pilgrimage can indeed be a real deep experience if you switch your everyday mind off and just go with happiness, ready for whatever life is showing you.
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please excuse me if I got too carried away and hogged too much space here.
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renuka Reply:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
No way you’re ‘hogging space’! A great big Thank You, Nirguna, for sharing so generously. It is lovely to get this from Vrindavan
.
I marvel at how they figured out that there are multiple realities and tried to map the human heart through these stories. I marvel at the matter-of-factness with which they taught us songs as little children that went (I’m translating the one I learnt from Tamil):
While the Gopis bathed and played in the Yamuna,
Sri Krishna blew on his flute in sringara
When they couldn’t find their clothes on the riverbank
They looked up and saw them haning on the tree…
That Krishna is wicked,
He won’t return their clothes…
Like a friend said, “You need samskaras to appreciate the Raas, or else it’s just a smutty story. to the narrow mind.”
The message, as explained to us, is that you are forced to shed your ego completely, every last shred, and appear before God in total vulnerability. How on earth did we just understand this as a matter of course, we little Indians? I think the medium IS the message. When it is told to you with beauty, you see beauty.
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Nirguna Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Thank you Renuka.
Strangely, I was thinking how so your samskars have conspired to fill you with this ability to appreciate rasa — and then you said it.
Mine must have been from another life , because I did not grow up with it (born a displaced Sindhi).
Lived in Bangalore for 10 years so appreciate the way the tradition is present in the psyche of the people and samskaars eventually must kick in. That ,as you know, is the answer to your :”How on earth did we just understand this as a matter of course, we little Indians”
again , you:
“It’s what you value, I guess, and in a shifting, uncertain world, Radha-love is splendidly secret, hidden, and nobody can take it away, so you’re emotionally secure … does that make sense?”
Very well put. Therefore, the knowledge is ghuyam (secret or hidden or couched in concepts)
There is a word –saaragrahi — it is the ability to take the essence of the meaning from an array of words and concepts. The hamsa- swan- with it’s mythical ability to separate and drink( only) the milk from water is the symbol of this word.
Bhaavartha is how we translate translation. These are very great themes - bhaava and rasa. they equip us to feel into the heart of the matter-or turn towards anti- matter , if you will.
oh yes i do know the pada that you mentioned sung by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Have you heard Pt. Channulal Mishraji’s ‘Krishna’ ?
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finally i googled. i read Radha’s husband was Madhav Hari. though in some texts it was written that he later got the countenance of Krishna. Radha is said to be the part incarnation of Lakshmi. what my logic is that maybe Radha-Krishna’s name is chanted instead of Rukmini-Krishna because Radha was Krishna’s first love and in fact the first “Lakshmi” in his life. because Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati and the other 1600 wives of Krishna are all credited to be the many incarnations of the goddess Lakshmi. Satyabhama is the incarnation of Bhoodevi and Jambavati is Sridevi.
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renuka Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Hi, I was trying to chk that, because it is lost in myth and regional variation,. I think R’s husband is called ‘Aravan’ in the South. Thanks for posting this. The part-incarnation or ‘aspect of’ theory seems to suit everybody and also upholds the sense of ‘Vishnu’ which means All-Pervasive.
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Talking of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, there is a song called “Baaje re muraliya baaje re” sung by him and Lata Mangeshkar. its a lovely song describing the effect created on the listeners heart when Krishna plays his flute. though i’m too young to classify this song in the category of Shringar or Adhyatma, its a mixture of both 4 me.
it felt really nice to see nirguna ma’am and u coming together to answer my Q.
what i really like about u ma’am is that u try to reply to each and every query. thanks 4 everything.
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renuka Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Thank you, Vidhi.
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How come this eternal love story didnt meet a consummation in matrimony? Krishna could have had many wives. In fact as mentioned, apart from Rukmini, he had other wives as well. So, how come he didnt marry the love of his life? Is Radha only famous because Krishna granted eternity to her name, in penance of not making her his wife?
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renuka Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
There’s a theory that Krishna as we know him is actually two people combined by myth.
The other theory is that Part One of Krishna’s life is the Great Idyll. When he takes the road to Mathura, he leaves that part of his life behind forever.
He is no longer a cowherd. He is going to grasp his true identity, that of a prince, a Vrishni noble.
The first thing that his natural parents Devaki and Vasudeva do is send him to school, the best gurukul or boarding school of the time, namely Guru Sandipani’s ashram, because Krishna has to catch up on his education as befits a royal prince.
The ‘Road to Mathura’ is life-changing. Some see it as an analogy for leaving childhood behind and going to meet our destiny of adulthood.
PS: He leaves his flute with Radha and never plays one again. Then again, there’s the theory that Radha was not part of the original legend at all but a later idea.
.
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Dear Renuka,
I just enjoyed all your inputs on the Radha Krishna Lore. The story of Krishna is loved by most of us especially his Bal-Lila. The first story my father told me and my children was Krishnavatara and the first book I read was also Krishna (Amar Chitra Katha). I read Chinmaya Mission’s Bhagavatham. Here the intepretation given about Krishna and Radha is that Krishna is the Parmaatma and Radha is the Jiva. The Rasa Lila Dance in concentric circles is said to be the thought waves and when they move away we can see the Jiva united with the Parmatma.
Radha was pledged to be married to Kamsa’s soldier however she met and fell in love with Krishna. Bharatiya Vidya Peeth’s Krishnavatara Books I TO V are a totally different version of the story.
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Dear Renuka,
It’s a pleasure to hear your comments on the book - Tirumala Tirupati - the legends and beyond. It was truly a moving experience to create it. 4 years have passed since I published it and it has fuelled me forward. It has been an auspicious start for many more books to come. If you get a moment do check out my new book – The Great Indian Yoga Masters. http://www.visualquestbooks.com
Regards
Birad Rajaram Yajnik
birad@vqindia.com
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Dear Birad,
Just saw this mail! Your Tirupati book is on my table in Bangkok.
My email for is shebaba09@gmail.com
I should very much like to hear about your book experiences some time.
If you are ever in Bangkok, you may like to do a presentation on great Indian yoga masters at the new Indian Cultural Centre here of which I am presently the director.
My official mail id is diriccbkk@gmail.com
Best regards,
Renuka
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