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Dear Bhagavatas:
Due to some technical problems, Sri Sadagopan Iyengar, our Srikaryam Swami is not able to post to "Yahoogroups". he has sent the following article for forwarding to "Sri Ranga Sri".
Dasoham
Anbil Ramaswamy
===============================================================
From: sadagopaniyengar <sadagopaniyengar@xxxx>
To: Ram Anbil <ramanbil@xxxx>
Subject: Re: msgs
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 04:20:49 +0530

respected sir, thanks for our mail. i append "Quite a Mouthful". as was the
case earlier, mails from and to individuals appear to be getting through,
while i am able to only receive messages from Yahoogroups. with respects,
dasan, sadagopan

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Quite a Mouthful

What is the most infectious of gestures? One would be tempted to say
"a smile", but there are any number of cases where a smile of goodwill or
friendship hardly begets another, especially these days when people are in a
constant, headlong rush through their lives, with hardly a moment to spare
for others. Think hard though we might, we are unable to find any human
gesture which prompts a similar reaction in the perceiver-other than, of
course, the Yawn. It is indeed surprising to find that in a group of
persons, a yawn from one immediately sets off a chain of yawns from others.
However hard one might try and control it, the yawn is so infectious that
our neighbour's action prompts an almost involuntary and equal reaction in
us.

As a matter of etiquette, most of us cover our mouths with our palms
when we do yawn, in order to spare others the sight of our denture and
palate, which are not the most seemly parts of the human anatomy. In these
days of health and infection-consciousness, even people who have perfect
teeth and have nothing to hide by way of uneven molars or dentures stained
with tobacco or nicotine, do cover their mouths when a yawn seizes them. On
the rare occasions that they don't, we are treated to the sight of their
cavernous mouths with their unappetizing contents. Thus a human yawn reveals
nothing profound and, to the contrary, may well lay bare what is better
hidden. However, what would you say if someone told you of something
astonishing and wonderful revealed by a yawn? We would be inclined to scoff,
unless the source is extremely credible.

Sri Krishna's infancy is marked by innumerable tales of His enchanting
exploits, which continue to enthrall us till date and which have generated a
distinct genre of literature known as "Pillai Tamizh", the first exponent
whereof was Sri Periazhwar. The Bhagavata Purana too delights in recounting
these enthralling episodes from Sri Krishna's childhood. If we, who are
hearing these tales as part of the folklore handed down from the distant
past from one generation to another, can be moved beyond measure despite our
hardened hearts, imagine the experiences of those who had the incredible
good fortune to witness these events first-hand and at close quarters!


The Bhagavata Purana speaks about an extremely significant yawn, which
revealed to the onlooker sights too wonderful for words, absolutely amazing
and astounding. Need we say whose gaping mouth it was that exposed such
magnificent murals of the mundane world? Could it be anybody other than the
enchanting little Lord, Sri Krishna? Everything about the kutti Kannan is
endearing and sweet, says the MadhurAshtakam-"adharam madhuram, vadanam
madhuram...MathurAdhipatE: akhilam madhuram". Hence what might appear gross
and unseemly in mere mortals is extremely enchanting in the Lord, even His
yawn. Everything He does is indeed wonderful and magnificent, simply divine,
as He Himself says in the Gita-"Janma karma cha mE divyam".

Ever since the PoothanA episode, where the ogress tried in vain to
eliminate the divine toddler by offering Him a poison-filled breast, Yasoda
grows extremely protective and possessive about Sri Krishna, and never lets
Him out of her sight. Though He has just started taking unsteady steps
("taLar nadai ittu varuvAn"), the little Lord keeps active, crawling all
over Nandagopa's palace, expending a lot of energy, which makes Him
extremely sleepy, come evening. Always alert to the needs of her precious
darling, Yasoda picks Him up for feeding, offering Him a breast full of the
milk of maternal love and affection. After suckling to His heart's content,
the incredible infant pushes the breast away, and, in an endearing gesture
indicative of His sleepiness, opens His pearly mouth in a great yawn.
Yasoda, who never misses even the minutest of her darling's movements which
are so delightful, witnesses this yawn too, with the beautiful coral-red
lips parting gracefully to reveal the inside of the tiny mouth, with
dazzlingly brilliant teeth, pearly-white and orderly. The opening mouth
gives off an amalgam of scents-that of the milk drunk just then, mixed with
the natural fragrance of the Lord's breath, full of the scent of the
Shruti-the nigama parimaLam.

However, it is not the beautiful mouth or the brilliant teeth or even the heady scent wafting from the Lord's mouth that Yasoda finds remarkable. What
takes her breath away is the sight that the open mouth offers. Instead of
the normal spectacles of the throat, the larynx etc. that greet our eyes
upon the opening of any mouth, Yasoda witnesses the entire galaxy, indeed
several of them, inside the kutti Krishna's tiny mouth. She sees the Earth,
with its innumerable subdivisons, majestic mountains, shoreless seas,
islands and peninsulas, mighty rivers, virgin forests with their towering
trees and myriad forms of flroa and fauna and all sorts of beings and
non-beings. The gaping mouth of the Lord reveals too the vast expanse of the skies above studded with countless stars, the brilliant Sun, the magnificent
Moon, the different directions, the heavens above and the worlds below. The
vast visual panorama consisting of the entire bewildering vista of Creation
unfolds before Yasoda's unbelieving eyes, making her more wide-eyed than
ever. What is more, she is able to see, in a corner of the world on display,
the extremely familiar contours of Nandagokulam, with the gOpAs and gOpikAs
going about their tasks, the generous cows and buffaloes ("vaLLal perum
pasukkaL"), the beautiful sand dunes on the banks of the Yamuna and even
Herself, peering into the mouth of her precious infant. Overwhelmed by the
incredible spectacle, Yasoda knows not whether she is awake or asleep, and
pinches herself to ensure that what greets her eyes is indeed reality and
not a fantastic dream. Unable to assimilate what she sees and stupefied
beyond measure, the dazed Yasoda simply shuts her eyes in wonderment.

The realisation dawns upon Yasoda, reinforced by all the earlier
superhuman exploits of her darling, that the toddler that has come to grace
her vamsam is no ordinary child, but an infant extraordinaire, unlike any
other child anywhere-"Ayar putthiran allan, arum deivam". She realises too
that He is no mere mortal child of the cowherds clan, but a divine
manifestation descended upon earth to emancipate errant humanity. However,
once the Lord closes His mouth, the amazing spectacle disappears and Yasoda
too is beset again by Bhagavan MAyA, reverting her to the status of a doting
and intensively protective mother.

Does this episode, of the Lord revealing the entire Creation in His mouth,
have any significance, or is it just one more display of His "aghatita
ghatana sAmartyam" (making the impossible happen)? Was it just a show put on
to impress an impressionable mother or does it have any philosophical
significance?

It is not easy to divine the purport of the greatest of mantrAs, viz., the
ashtAksharam. Acharyas have hence adduced several examples to enable easy
comprehensibility and retention. The Ramayana sloka

"agrata: prayayou Rama: Sita madhyE sumadhyamA
prishthatO tu dhanushpANi: LakshmanO anujagAma ha"

tells us that while on the jungle trail, Sri Rama led the way, followed by
Sri Sita, with Lakshmana bringing up the rear. This sloka is quoted by Swami
Desikan to enable us to remember the extremely significant entities
represented by the Pranavam, with the first letter akAra (A) indicating the
Lord who is the universal saviour, the next letter, the ukAra (U) denoting
Sri Mahalakshmi who acts as the bonding factor between the Lord and the
individual soul, and the last letter, the makAra (M) indicating the
Jeevatma, who is a natural servitor to the Divine Duo. This is as far as the
Pranavam, which forms the first word of the three comprising the
ashtAksharam, is concerned.

The third word of the mantra, the Narayana sabdam, explains to us the nature
of the Lord and the realtionship subsisting between Him and us. Literally,
it means the Lord, who forms the residence of all beings and objects,
sentient and non-sentient-(nArANAm ayanam ya:). All of Creation has the Lord
as its resting place, which is the exalted purport of the Narayana sabdam.
And it is this important concept which is demonstrated by Sri Krishna, when
He opens His mouth to His mother to reveal the existence inside Him of the
entire gamut of Creation. Thus, the episode signifies not merely the Lord's
magical prowess, but the inalienable and eternal relationship of Support and
the Supported, existing between Emperuman and ourselves.

Coming back to the yawn, the revealing of the worlds inside the little Lord'
s mouth is recounted by Azhwars too, with significant differences. For
instance, while the Bhagavatam episode narrated above appears to have
occurred almost towards the incredible infant's first birthday (just after
Sri Krishna started crawling), the one Sri Periazhwar alludes to seems to
have taken place within the first month of Sri Krishna's birth. It is
customary for mothers to remove the sediments from the infant's tongue,
while giving it a bath. Since the child has no teeth yet to be brushed,
mothers clean the tongue, to remove the remnants of the milk frequently
imbibed by the baby. Sri Periazhwar says that it is during such an exercise
that Yasoda was rewarded with the spectacular vision of the seven worlds
within the kutti Krishna's mouth. Here is the beautiful pasuram, testifying
to this-

"kaiyyum kAlum nimirtthu kadAra neer
paiya vAtti pasum siru manjaLAl
iyya nA vazhitthAlukku angAndida
vaiyyam Ezhum kandAL piLLai vAyuLE"

It appears from Sri Periazhwar's version that it was not only Yasoda who had
the extraordinary experience, but also the gOpis present on the occasion,
for Azhwar refers to the onlookers in plural-"vAyuL vaiyyagam kaNda mada
nallAr".

The Bhagavata Purana itself narrates another occasion where the Lord
afforded a sight of His being a refuge to all beings and objects. While
playing one day with His brother Balarama and other friends, Sri Krishna
deliberately put a fistful of sand in His mouth. The concerned Balarama and
others made a beeline to Yasoda and complained of Sri Krishna's
unconventional diet. To Yasoda, this appeared a novel complaint-usually it
was butter and milk the brat was accused of swallowing by the potfulls: now
it was sand. What would happen to the little horror's stomach? As was His
wont, Sri Krishna stoutly denied having imbibed mud. However, this was an
easily- resolved matter. Yasoda ordered Krishna to open His mouth, so that
the telltale grains of sand would give Him away. When Sri Krishna opened His mouth, it was not sand that she found in His mouth, but the entire Creation, in its kaleidoscopic variety, coomprised of the seven worlds, the rivers and
mountains, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, men, women, children, deities
and celestials, with Gokulam and its inhabitants clearly seen, and among
them a Yasoda with a raised hand looking into the mouth of the little Lord
to confirm what He had eaten.

For good measure, Sri Periazhwar throws in another instance of Yasoda
witnessing all the worlds in her darling's mouth, this time when He cried,
bawling out with His mouth open to reveal the celestial spectacle-

"viN ellAm kEtka azhudittAi, un vAyil virumbi nAn adanai nOkki
maN ellAm kandEn manatthuLLe anji MadhusUdanE endru irundEn"

Thus, it appears to have been quite a common pastime for Sri Krishna to show His mother all the worlds in His tiny mouth, if we are to go by the flawless accounts of His faithful chroniclers. It would also appear that whenever Sri
Krishna opened His mouth, Yasoda was accustomed to seeing the celestial
spectacle and would have been surprised only to find mere teeth and tongue
in her darling's mouth.

A neighbour's child was reading out aloud from her book of nursery rhymes-
"Johnny Johnny-Yes Papa
Eating sugar? No, Papa
Telling lies? No, Papa
Open your mouth! Ha Ha Ha"
It was fairly obvious to me as to where this ditty had descended from.

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan

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