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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00174 Nov 2003

 
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Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

The grand mother's presence, in a family, is essential [either paternal or 
maternal grand mother] for three main reasons. May be you can have or add a 
host of other reasons besides these three. 

The main three are
1.      giving an elaborate oil bath to the new born child and continue that 
bath for some good time.
2.      kaiyil saadham pisainthu koduththal - feeding the child easily while 
telling interesting stories, by making him/ her sit in a ring around the grand 
mother along with others. [this way the culture of sharing things from food 
first, later to all things is cultivated at that young age. Besides the good 
stories told by paatti develops the interest in the religion for mostly these 
stories will be revolving around raamaayaNam and mahaa bhaaratham].
3.      Be the root cause for the jokes of all kinds in all countries - 
especially the jokes on fights between the mother in law and daughter in law 
[recently I read UK is the hotbed for mother in law jokes more than any other 
country]. 

Our interest pins on the first reason in this post and the second one in the 
next post. With the growing absence of joint families, the elders take asylum 
in old age homes. [Readers may also recall a long discussion took place on old 
age homes in the various lists]. 

The young mothers do dual roles mostly 
*       First role as a corporate executive [part time?]
*       Second role as a caring mother for the children in the family. 
*       
*       [because of reason given above this also becomes a part time some 
times, or a baby sitter enters the scene if that can be affordable]. The net 
result is that the present day children miss the sugam of both - the oil bath 
as well kaiyil saadham pisainthu koduththal.
*       
*       Considering the subject topic, many of us would vouch for the important 
benefits from an oil bath - weekly once, leading to coining an adage, "sani 
neeraadu". On Saturdays have a good leisurely oil bath. That is what is really 
neeraattam. Immediate question comes to the mind - what about other days? - it 
is all avasarak kuLiyal - with a bucket of water - that is also becoming 
difficult in chennai - with the present water scarcity and no rains - may be a 
steam bath daily may be recommended shortly, which will lead to a large saving 
in water consumed. 
*       
*       But all of us remember the oil bath on dheepaavali day, irrespective of 
the amount of hair we have on the head, the hairstyle what we have - at least 
one spoon of oil - then a shampoo bath - then inquire all - swamy gangaa 
snaanam aachchaa? - at least over telephone - irrespective of whether that 
particular srivaishnava is in India or US or among yavanas and mlEchchaas. 
*       
*       Have you ever heard of a calf having an oil bath?  That is the real 
topic and all these are poorva peedigai. I hear the murmur - hey human oil bath 
itself is now a days out of question then oil bath for a calf? 
*       
*       If done, that may be a wonder of high order. 
*       When a calf can be hidden in a butter pot, krishNa comes behind in 
search of the calf / butter, then gets caught, answers "balaanuja" when 
confronted with that harsh question "kasthvam?", then there is no "wonder" in a 
calf getting an oil bath. 
*       
*       Our dear Sri Sadagopan iyengar, the master narrator, from coimbatore, 
gave a beautiful dramatisation of this slOkam of krishNa karNaamrutham 
recently. 
*       
*       That way, my krishNa is also a modern day child, to miss this sugam of 
oil bath being carried out by his grand mother, for there was no reference or a 
mention about either a paternal or maternal GM to him as far as I know, doing 
all the child care for krishNa. [ref on ugrasena the grand father is there] .
*       
*       How about a caring mother - that also a big NO for krishNa - for he is 
"oruththi maganaaip piRanthu Or iravil ruththi maganaai oLiththu vaLarnthavan" 
- thiruppaavai 25
*       
*       - as mother dhEvaki herself says, "I missed all that piLLai inbam"
*       
*       thiruvinai illaath thaayaril kadaiyaayina thaayE - 7-1 perumaal 
thirumozhi PT
*       I am the last in that group of ill-lucked mothers.
*       
*       piLLai inbaththai izhantha paaviyEn- 7-4 PT
*       I am a sinner having missed all that pleasures of caring a child
*       
*       koduvinaiyaEn - 7-6 PT - a great sinner
*       
*       veRidhE mulai sumanthu thanjamElonRilEn uinthirunthEn 7-10 PT
*       I just carried the breasts in vain without use to my child, no other go.
*       
*       KrishNa had one good luck at the same time - the foster mother yasOdhaa 
is good as certified by the original mother herself 
*       "thakkadhE - nalla thaayiap peRRaayE" - you had a good mother in 
yasOdhaa. 
*       Further certification is "ellam dheiva nangai yasOdhai peRRaaLE" - she 
is a heavenly lady.
*       
*       Did that yasOdhaa give a good oil bath to krishNa - yes. Even an 
ordinary bath is elaborate. See 
*       nOkki yasOdhai  nuNukkiya manjaLaal 
*       naakku vazhiththu neeraattum innambikku 
*       vaakkum nayanamum vaayum muRuvalum
*       mookkum irunthavaa kaaNeerE 
*       - moi kuzhaleer vanthu kaaNeerE. 
*       1-2-15 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi.
*       
*       "Yasodhaa saw well the child, using powdered turmeric, she removed all 
the phlegm in the throat, powdery material in the tongue due to drinking of the 
milk etc, and gave a bath. Oh ladies, who have hairdo where bees come and sit 
on the flowers used, please come and see the eyes, mouth, nose and the smile of 
this child, do come". 
*       
*       Perhaps this kind of bath helped krishNa to deliver that vaaku later - 
amudha vaakku - aruL vaakku - bhagavath geethai in the war field. 
*       
*       How about the preparations for that oil bath -
*       veNNai aLaintha kuNungum viLaiyaadu puzhudhiyum koNdu
*       thiNNenevivvuraa unnai thEiththuk kidakka naanottEn
*       eNNai puLippazham koNdingu eththanai pOdhumirunthEn
*       naNNalariya piraanE naaraNaa neeraada vaaraai 
*       - 2-4-1 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi.
*        
*       Oil is ready, puLippazham - may be a lemon to remove all that smell of 
butter - kuNungu - as aaNdaaL calls krishNa - kuNungu naaRi kuttERu - then use 
all powders, soaps, etc to give pleasant smell. Is that all or more? - see
*       
*       manjaLum sengazhuneerin vaasigaiyum naaRusaandhum
*       anjanamum koNdu vaiththEn azhaganE neeraada vaaraai 
*       2-4-4 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi. 

Turmeric to give colour, garland of that blue colour flower sengazhuneer poo - 
good smelling sandal, collerium for the eyes, all ready to dress after the bath.

What is he busy with to call him "neeraada vaaraai, vaaraai" in all the nine 
paasurams of neeraattam padhikam. For krishNa said "oh, mother, please wait". 
So, she is waiting and calling krishNa for the bathing. 

Meanwhile some other lady from aaippaadi came to meet yasOdhaa for a small 
chat.  
Immediately a discussion starts. What is the topic? 
What else in gOkulam, except krishNa and krishNa centered points. 

Perhaps, dear bhakthaas, you may accuse me that how do you say that such chats 
take place, that too when some work is on hand.  -. See evidence-

mElaiagaththE neruppu vENdi senRu
iRaippozhudhu angE pEsi ninRen  - 2-9-5 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi.
So such chats in between works is common in rural side. 

Now see the course of the discussion between yasOdhaa and the other lady -

ennathaan solladi kaNNan pidiththa pidikku
edhir uNdO solladi
eNNai thEiththidavum ingu vaa enavum
iru iru varuvEn enRu piragu Odi
kanRu onRai kayiRodu iNainthu
iLan kaNNaik kaatti idhaRku eNNai thEi enRal [ennathaan]

"when I called krishNa for an oil bath, krishNa says, oh, mother, please wait, 
then he brings a calf along with its tying rope and says oh, mother, please 
give an oil bath to this calf also along with me. But dear lady, you please 
tell me, is there is any opposite word to krishNaa's. what can I do?"
 
Is it only the mother's iyalaamai - nothing she can do or? 
Is there any word opposite to krishNa's will? 
Please think it over. 
This beautiful krithi is by ooththukkadu venkata subbu iyer in raagaa yadhukula 
kaambodhi .

Further he also shows his young beautiful eyes - iLankaNNaik kaatti - already 
mother has called all to come and see the eyes - vaakkum nayanamum vaayum 
muRuvalum mookkum vanthu kaaNeerE. After seeing all that any opposition to 
krishNa - mooch- nothing doing. The whole world is at krishNa's command, feet. 

yasOdha says immediately - "dear, yours most obediently". 

When mother yasOdhaa says so - how about me. 

Yours most obediently - dear bhagavathaas,

Vasudevan m.g.



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