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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00014 Dec 2003

 
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Dear Sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

It is always a practice for many people to have a nap after a good lunch. That 
too, if the lunch is a 'buffet type'you will tend to sleep nicely. For,many a 
people tend to eat a bit more in a buffet resulting in a nap. Because you are 
in conversation with somebody and don't concentrate or be conscious on the 
quantity eaten you eat more. Also the display of many eatables add pressure on 
the taste buds of the tongue. 

May be that is why it is said 'uNda kaLaippu thoNdarukkum uNdu'- the tired 
after eating is there even for servants. Further, if the person who ate such a 
heavy buffet is a child, then parents also add, after eating if the child 
sleeps well, then the food what he consumed will get digested easily andnicely. 
That also adds weight to the practice of sleeping after food from the childhood 
to old age. May be due to compulsion, we in the middle age miss that comfort. 
But when the opportunity to nap is there, we do really enjoy that nap, like 
Sundays holidays etc.

krishNa also had a nap after he had the heavy lunch offered by the wives ofthe 
brahmins [re previous post titled buffet lunch]. See what is the reaction.
"vidhuran thantha kanjiyum vELviyar tharum sORum
veNNaiyum maNNum uNdathaalE mantham" 

meaning: "he, that krishNa had eaten 
1.      the gruel given by that great dharmaathma vidhura the minister of king 
dhritharaashtraa, 
2.      the rice given by the brahmins who do sacrifices, 
3.      butter given by the gopees and mother yasOdhaa 
4.      mud of that aaippaadi. 
As a result he has become dull", says a gOpee about her lord krishNa, when he 
did not turn up as promised to her by him with, 'I will meet you in 
thatsecluded scheduled place'. 

She waited there in that place. But he did not turn up as promised. She gives 
the reason as because of these heavy matter what he has consumed as goodlunch 
he that krishNa slept some where.   

On this 'vidhuran thantha kanji' to my dear krishNa, krishNa has to face a lot 
of criticism 'then and there'. Before taking up that criticism part of it, we 
will have four things on what all vidhura gave to krishNa, when he turned up at 
his house. Because that portion itself is quite interesting. Hence I am putting 
these across for your palate.

Perhaps, if you ask me for 'quotes' or 'references' for the first three, I may 
not be able to provide, but are based on what I heard in talks or read in 
tidbits. 

1.      krishNa turned up at vidhuraa's house instead of going to the different 
houses arranged by dhuryOdhanan like bheeshma's, dhrOnaa's, kripa's, house of 
dhussaasanan and/or the house of king dhritharaashtra, besides his own house. 

Then, in the urgency of feeding krishNa, the supreme lord and his reveredguest, 
vidhura, brought a bunch of raw green plantain, [pachchai vaazhaikkaai], since 
finding not much worth to give to the lord, straight away cut from the tree. By 
the time he cut, brought into the house, cleaned, peeled the skin to offer to 
the lord, that raw unripe plantain became ripe. Like vidhura's ripe bhakthi in 
offering the supreme lord krishna waiting in his house, that raw fruit of 
banana, though appeared green in the skin, was ripe enough in time to be taken 
by the lord. From then onwards, this variety of banana the green variety 
stayed, as what we have today as pachchai vazhaip pazham. 

[may be this is somebody's rich imagination, of recent origin, but since 
enjoyable and attributed to my krishNa, I am sharing with all of you. No 
poorvaachaarya references for authentication please or even if it exists I ama 
moodaathma to that extent.]

2.      krishNa turned up at vidhuraa's house. Even though a minister and a 
brother of king dhritharaashtra, vidhura led such a simple life, that, he did 
not have even proper vessels etc and paraphernalia to offer to the lord. So he 
had to offer only a bunch of banana fruits sitting on a mat on the floor. Lord 
accepted that because of the love of vidhura. 

But in the course of talking with the lord, vidhura was sitting in front 
helping the lord to peel the skin of the fruits. But what he gave as offering 
was the skin of banana to the lord throwing away the fruit portions. Thelord 
accepted the skin with grace, because these were offered by that great bhaktha 
vidhuraa. After a while vidhuraa realised, what a sort of mistakehe did, and 
apologised. KrishNa smilingly said, I took whatever my sincerebhaktha offered 
to me and hence there is no faults on you, or, nothing to regret. For, the 
bhakthi in offering is more important to me, and, not the object offered. 

[again I can give NO ref. The taste of enjoying krishNa is important here. If I 
remember correct, perhaps this appeared in one of the write-up in kurai onrum 
illai series of mukkur swamy. If that is wrong, I may be excused]. 

3.      KrishNa turned up at vidhura's residence. Since vidhuraa led such a 
simple life, he just had no big ornamental crockery, cutlery and vessels 
etc.Further that day was a vratham day. So he had to offer only simple 
gruel,that too in a leaf. Since krishna was accustomed to royal style of 
eating,he could not manage to hold properly the leaf and gruel was spilling in 
the sides. With all the difficulties, he enjoyed the athithi sathkaaram - 
hosting by vidhuraa, for vidhura had to so much love and reverence to krishNa. 

The following fourth version of krishNa eating in vidhuraa's house has 
authenticity.  

KrishNa turned up at vidhuraa's house. As already stated he did not stay 
inother houses but preferred vidhuraa's house. Kunthi, krishna's aunt was also 
there. He enjoyed the courtesies of vidhura and kunthy. But 
dhuryOdhanaquestions that next day in the courtroom. See slOkam

bheeshma dhrONavathikramya maam chaiva madhusoodhana |
kim artham puNdareekaaksha bhuktham vrushaLa bhOjanam ||

meaning: hey madhusoodhana, why you discarded bheeshmaa dhrOnaa and myself in 
hosting you. But oh puNdareekaakshaa, for what you selected that man's, who is 
of poor birth, offer of dinner and ate there.

krishNa replies to dhuryOdhana in the court room.
dhvishadhannam na bhOkthavyam dhvishantham naiva bhOjyam |
paaNdavaan dhvishasE raajan mama praaNa hi paNdavaa: || 
91 -43 udhyOga parvam mahaa bhaaratham
meaning: one who serves the enemy, it is not worth to eat food supplied by him. 
One who has enmity towards me or my friends, it is not worth to eat with him. 
You are having enmity to paaNdavaas and these paaNdavaas are like my praaNa, my 
life, so I will not eat with you, nor your servants. 

See further slOkam:

bhukthavathsu dhvijaagryEshu nishaNNa: paramaasanE |
vidhuraannaani bubhujE sucheeni guNavanthi cha ||

meaning: krishNa did eat with vidhura, by sitting in a good seat, after 
thebraahmaNaas have eaten in the vidhuraa's place. For vidhura is a man of 
clean character, thoughts, and actions.

These are as in srimadh rahasyathraya saaram of swamy desikan in 25th 
'prabhaava vyavasthaadhikaraNam' chapter - re page 763 and 764 [vol 2] by sri 
uththamoor swamy.

We will have more points on this vidhura's kanji matter in next post.

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.





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