Kanchi Paramacharya’s Bhasyamrutham-MadhurASTakam

'saidevo', as translator of the materials presented.
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Composer: Vallabhacharya
Book: Sollin Selvar Sri Kanchi Munivar (Tamil) (pages 1-20)
Author: Raa. Ganapathi
Publisher: Divya Vidhya Trust

Everything about Him is only madhuraM!

The place where he was born is Mathura. Not the Madura(i) of our Pandya Desam. Here (in Madurai) also is AmbaL in madhura mayam. sangItam was born only from her... Yes. She is the devata known as Matangi and Shyamala. Meenakshi's sangItam itself would be madhuraM (right)? This is south Madura(i).

What I referred to was what we call Vada Madurai. In the Yamuna tIram of U.P. For whatever reason, they call it Mathura instead of Madhura. If Telegu people make 'tha' into 'dha', here the North Indian people have made 'dha' into 'tha'. The White-men have made it Muttara. Bhagavan took avatar only there. Avatara in jail! He who has the great honour as parama padanathan taking birth in a jail is because of his madhuraM; the guna mAdhuryam of doing uttAraNaM to the people by taking avatar and living amongst them. That madhura gunam has the name parama kRupA; referred to as parangkaruNai (in Tamil). Since he was born in Mathura, AndaL has sung 'vada madurai maindhane' (you the son of north Mathura).

Immediately after he was born there, appAkkArar (his father) Vasudeva(r), took the child away from there and left it in Gokulam. Mathura is on the western bank of Yamuna. Gokulam, Brindavan(am) are all on the eastern bank. Wading in the waters, Vasudeva crossed the river, left the child near Yasoda, took the female child that had just born to her and went back to the jail.

Everything here is full of thievery! (Paramacharya laughed loudly).
There he came out of the jail stealthily without the guards knowing it. Not only that. Here in Gokulam too, the one who gave birth and all the other people around never knew that the one that was born was a female child and that Vasudeva had left a male child in its place. Here too he came stealthily, finished his work and went back in stealth.

kRSNa means all theft; he stole the butter, he also stole the mind --navanIta chora, citta chora -- we say. If you ask how did he get the buddhi to steal, it seems that it came to him as piturArjitam from the theft that his father committed immediately after he was born.

But then it is not proper to think that way. I just made fun. Vasudeva, poor man, was sAdhu. He never knew even a little of thievery or disloyalty. Only the child made him commit the theft! When it was born the guards passed out, which was how he escaped from the jail. The jail locks also opened of their own accord! In the same way, since everyone was asleep in Gokulam also, he was able to complete his work with ease and comfort. Did that appAvi manushya do all these things? He who came as his son, that appan, only he did all these things out of the power of his maya! It is this that AndaL has referred to with veiled beauty, in a way that tells more than it (actually) says, beginning with the term 'mAyanai' and continuing with 'vada Madurai maindhanai'; as mAyanai mannu vada Madurai maindhanai. If you ask what is that 'mannu', it means 'established and renowned for a very long time'. There is also a pAsuram 'mannu pugazh kosalaitan manivayiru vAitthavane!' (he who was born of the jewel of a womb of the renowned Kausalya). That was sung by Kulasekhara Perumal on Sri Ramachandra Murthy.

In this song of AndaL too there is a mention about kRSNa Paramatma's mother, as 'thAyaik kudal viLakkam seitha dAmodara'. It means that by residing in his mother's womb, he gave it all purity and brightness; the words have fallen in very beautifully. Before that she says 'Ayar kulatthinil thondrum aNiviLakke'. yatukula dIpam, it is said. Not just ordinary dIpam, but alaMkAra dIpam, 'aNiviLakku'. In that way, himself remaining as a light, he purified his mother's womb.

kacmalam, that is dirt, filth--the illiterates also use the word kasumAlam; we call the oil that cleans up all the filth in the stomach, viLakkeNnai. Not the oil applied to the lamp, but the oil that cleans up and purifies the stomach. This is external filth. The reference 'thAyaik kudal viLakkam' is to her inner filth that the Swami removed by residing in her womb and giving the light of jnana. Devaki by her very nature is pure. Which is why Swami resided in her jaTaram. By that act he made her purer than she already was.

Without referring to him as her son, the janma kSetra has been glorified in the beginning of the song as vada Madurai maindhan. It is customary to say that the mother who gave the janma and the janmabhUmi are greater than even the heavens. janani janma bhUmiccha svargAdapi garIyasi. Here, the reference is first to the mother and then the motherland, which could also be the place of birth. But AndaL first refers to the place and then only the mother! This is because that Mathura has such greatness! The greatness is that, it is that kSetra where the birthless Swami took birth, which serves as the mokSapuri that grants janma vimocanam to us who are repeatedly born in a mother's womb as the saying punarabi janani jatare sayanam goes. Of the seven sapta mokSapuris, the first is the Rama-born Ayodhya. The second is this kRSNa-born Vada Mathura.

In addition, what seems to me as the principal reason is that the very name of the place was the svabhAva of Swami! What is 'kRSNa'? Nothing but madhuraM! The sweetness of sweetnesses, he is such sweetness!

One thing special about that mAdhuryam is that even though he did several things that were to the external sight not sweet, they too are pickled sweetly in the hearts of his devotees! Not great devotees like AndaL, Suka, Lila Suka, Meera! Even for those like us who have somewhat a little bhakti, whatever that kRSNa does is only madhura! 'I have that mAdhuryam; therefore I will do whatever that is improper, deceitful, thievery or disloyal'--as if saying this, he had been doing all such things all through his life.

If you ask how can it be that with him even amadhuraM becomes madhuraM: suppose there are many dolls made of sugar; and suppose that some of these dolls are in such froms as a chilli, bitter gourd, and a lump of salt, appearing natural with suitable colours given. In that case, even the chilli, bitter gourd and salt lump would be sweet because the appearances are only external (right)? Everything inside is nothing but that suger which is sweet. It is the same with kRSNa.

There are books in Tamil, among the nIthi nUlkaL (books of moral instructions), with forty verses each, bearing the names iniyavai nArpadu, innA nArpadu. innA is that which gives harm. iniyavai are those that are good. These two books are there to teach the good and bad. With kRSNa paramatma, however, all that is connected with him are only iniyavai (sweet and good). It can be sung on him as 'iniyavai anantam'! Only with that conviction he did several things in that avatar that can be termed innathavai (not good and sweet)! All that innA is only for the external appearance; inside (him) even all those are sweetness!

inimai is the equivalent Tamil for madhuraM. Colloquially, we use the term thitthippu; the literary word is inimai. Some words are distinctively beautiful in Tamil. In those words, the sound is set to match the meaning. inimai is one such word. Of the three letters that occur in the word, every letter is soft, none being harsh.

They term madhuraM is 'sweet' in English. Although the beginning with 'swee' is soft, the 't' sits at the end in the form of a 'takara' as a harsh sound. As somebody said jocularly, when the line 'kuzhalinithu, yazhinithu', which sounds sweet and soft in speech, is translated as 'flute sweet, lute sweet' with the lottu, lottu sound... (without finishing the sentence, Paramacharya gracefully gestures and closes his ears with his palms!)

Even in Sanskrit, when we say madhuraM that 'dhu' sounds a bit harsh. There is another, softer word svAdu. The 'du' here is not the hard 'dhu' that occurs in madhuraM, but a softer 'du'. The English (term) 'sweet' came only from svAdu, changing the lighter 'du' into a harder 't'.

There are many words in English that are beautiful. With distinctions of sound and meaning, and with different words to indictate subtle variations of a common thing or object, that language also has a lot to talk about. As dRSTAnta, to take the word pani (ice): if the wet leakage of 'moisure' becomes a chill drop of water, it becomes 'dew'; if it is misty, it is 'fog'; and then the 'smog' that is the mixture of 'smoke' and 'fog'! If the dew drop solidifies it is 'frost'; if it freezes from previously being water, it is 'ice'; if the steam becomes ice straight from the atmosphere, it is 'snow'. If that steam condenses and while falling as rain hardens, (we call it Alangatti) it is 'hail'. Like these, there are many words that indicate the many shades of the same thing. What we say with a single word uNarcchi, they classify into two as 'felling' and 'emotion'.

Except that in the discussion of madhuraM as sweetness, the speech digressed a little and I said something amadhuraM, I did not proceed to make comparisons of the greatness or smallness of any language.

(After smiling to himself thinking of something, Paramacharya continues.)

Now I tried to pacify something, feeling a bit apologetic, is it not? kRSNa would have done no such thing. There are no two classifications of right and not right in his deeds. Those words would never reach his dictionary! All that he does is madhuraM, and only madhuraM! Even those things that would not be right when others do, would be madhuraM if he does them.

It is only with these thoughts in mind, a parama bhakta (of kRSNa) has given us the song madhurAdhipaterakhilaM madhuraM--madhurAdhipateH akhilaM madhuraM (everything about the Mathura king kRSNa is sweet).

It is a stotra called madhurASTakam with eight shlokas. The concluding foot (line) of each shloka in that composition is madhurAdhipaterakhilaM madhuraM. In the three remaining feet (lines) of each shloka, two things such as Swami's guna, rupa, kArya would have been told.

For example, I shall recite the first shloka. In that, the first line is adharaM madhuraM vadanaM madhuraM; Swami's lip is madhuraM, face is madhuraM--two things, two madhuraMs are said.

The reason why he spoke about the lip to start with is that, it is the sangItam that is mainly referred to as madhuraM (right)? madhura gAnam, madhura kaNTam, iniya kural, 'sweet voice'--in this way it is referred to, whatever the language used. I said earlier that Meenakshi of the south Madurai is the atidevata of sangItam! Her co-born in Vada Mathura is also the gAnalola. If she is vINA gAna priya, he is veNu gAna lola! Like (the words) kuyazh, yAzh, the words vINA, veNu themselves sound sweet. In the hands of other Swamis, there would be weapons. Even in the hand of the Ramachandra Murti who is a karuNAmUrti, (there is) a dhanus. Only kRSNa has a flute. Venugopalan, Muralidharan are his very names. He blows on that veNu by pressing it to his lip (right)? Because he filters through that flute the pavitra wind that issues through his divya sharIraM, that veNu gAnam casts a spell of such sweetness on the listeners and makes them go mad (isn't it)?

To show parama priyam, a kiss is given. The gopikA strIs are said to be envious of the flute, seeing it always pressed to his lips and thinking that he actually kisses it! Will it be sweet only if he plays the flute? Even if he talks, it would be music and feel very sweet. And this is referred to as vacanaM madhuraM in another shloka (the beginning of the second verse).

Ordinarily, if it is a jnanopadesham, it would be boring! But when kRSNa does it, it would also be madhura gItam! Yes, we ascribe the name Gita to it! He who did gAnam as a child playing his flute, when he uttered jnana, after attaining sufficient age, even that sounded sweet as Gita!

All these have come from their connection to the lip (right)? That is why he said adharaM madhuraM, giving the first place to the lip.

In this way, with a count of six madhuraMs at two each in each of the three lines except the last of a shloka, he has sung of a total of six-eights or forty-eight madhuraMs and has composed a wonderful aSTakam.

He who did this (composition) is Vallabhacharya. One who developed a philosophy named shuddhAdvaita having BalakRSNa as the first and only God. It is a siddhAnta like the vishiSTAdvaita. In the North, specially in the Gujarat region, there are people who follow it. If it is a philosophy, there would be fisticuffs with arguments and counterarguments. Let it go anyway. Unlike it, whoever it is, if it is a bhakti stotra, it would touch the heart. In that way, to make everyone happy, he has sung the madhurASTakam. Even though madhuraM anantam can be sung, the way he has chosen forty-eight madhuraMs and sung on them, is very blissful (Periyavaa said 'Ananda...mAyirukku') to listen to.

(Running his eyes over the madhurASTakam pamphlet in his holy hands, Paramacharya continues).

Bhagavan's adharaM, vadanaM, nayanaM, hasitaM--that is laughter; his hRudayaM, gamanaM--that is walk; his vacanaM, caritaM, vasanaM--that is the pItAmbara he is wearing; or vasanaM can also be associated with the Gokulam where he did vAsam; piling up like this, he says that each one of them is madhuraM.

These things being sweet is not a speciality. The speciality is that he also talks about things that ordinarily cannot occur in the madhura list, but have become madhuraM because of their kRSNa sambandham. He speaks of certain things that are like this, such as valitaM, haraNaM, vamitaM. valitaM is to stand bent and askew. Normally it won't look sweet. But Bhagavan in his pose of playing the flute, leans his face to the left, bends that portion of his body from the neck to the waist to the right side, and again bends the rest of his body to the left and stands, keeping left right foot across the left. And the entire world celebrates this pose of standing bent in three different angles, revering it as the beautiful tribhanga!

koNal pervazhi! (a crooked man!) (Paramacharya laughs.) Alwar has also sung koNai peridhudaitthe. Even that is a beauty with him. That is, only a madhuraM.
What is madhuraM after all? It means only beauty, goodness. Goodness is madhuraM.
It's funny. There are many people who do not like sweets. Only in the North, all are fond of sweets. Whereas in the South, most people would like it only kAra sAram (with the essence of hotness). Some people would never touch sweet dishes. And there are people who like it a little more astringent (thuvarupu), a little more bitter or a little more sour. But all of them, when talking about good people, don't say that these good people are bitter or sour or salty! And to say that they are people of 'madhura guna', 'sweet nature', 'iniya iyalbu' (Tamil) is not just the custom here, but the world over! When someone says something in anger and impatience, we say 'he spoke hotly'. If someone said something with disappointment, we say he said it with a bitter heart. If somebody bores us we say that we are sour with his repetitions. If something is said in dishonour, we ask him not to pour out his words with so much saltiness in them--(karicchu kottathe). Being saline is the nature of the salt. In this way, when the six kinds of tastes are attributed to human characteristics, people, including those who do not like sweet dishes, attribute only madhuraM or sweetness to the good and kind nature in man!

With Bhagavan, all things are good; (it is) spoken as ananta kalyAna gunam. So all things (with him) are madhuraM.
Is that not his mellow state? (Paramachaya says pazhut...tha nilaiyonno?, admires it within himself and then continues happily.) He is the seed and root and everything. He is also the resultant fruit. When it becomes a fruit it automatically gets a sweetness. Even with the neem fruit, it is sweeter than the unripe, raw neem fruit (veppangai) (right)?

He says, haraNaM madhuraM. haraNaM means only apaharaNaM!; to say plainly, thiruttu (theft). kRSNa's theft--the theft of butter and the theft he does as uLLam kavar kaLvan (the thief who steals the heart)--both, how sweet are they! Rather than eating the butter, losing it to him is what is sweet! Eating it is sweet only to the tongue; whereas giving it in theft to him--not to any other--is sweet to the heart!

And he (the poet) says, vamitaM madhuraM, what is that? It was vamitaM that became (the English) 'vomit'. Just as doing samanam is known as shAnti (in Tamil), doing vamanam is (the Tamil) vAndhi. Ordinarily, even looking at someone vomitting would stir the feeling of spewing up within us. But then when kRSNa does it? Even that would be sweet. Seems he would do it just to prove that it is sweet! Or you may take vamitaM to mean 'gargle'. Suppose he stealthily fills a mouthful of the Yamuna water and sprays it on the face of a Gopika, how sweet would it be for her! To read about or listen to all such naughty things that he did tastes sweet like honey, even today!

The phrase bhuk^taM madhuraM occurs in two places. Its meaning should be decided on the context. In the first place, it occurs as pItaM madhuraM, bhuk^taM madhuraM. pItaM is to do pAna or drink. BalakRSNa tasting and sipping milk (Paramacharya says in Tamil 'rucchi...chu, seep...pik kudikkarathu') would be a sweet sight. Since bhuk^taM is added to that, as with anna-pAnam, here it would refer to eating. The Great Giver who feeds all the living beings, himself dining would be very sweet! Secondly, it occurs in the phrase yuk^taM madhuraM, bhuK^taM madhuraM. There are two things called bhoga and yoga; ihaloka inbum (enjoyment in this world) and atmaloka inbam (enjoyment in the world of the soul). bhuk^taM is to do bhoga and yuk^taM is to do yoga. This is how it should be understood here. Remaining as the Maha Mayavi and Parama Jnani in his kRSNAvatara life, he had been doing both (bhoga and yoga)! Yes, he did only that way! (Paramacharya, who would have known the avatara rahasya says this with a bright face).

Narrating many other madhuraMs, he has concluded the aSTakam with the phrase dalitaM madhuraM, phalitaM madhuraM. dalitaM means bursting. We say, poLandhu thaLLittan! (Tamil for 'he did it with expertise!') True to that saying, everything that he did, he did with an expertise. Actually in his childhood he ruptured the asuras! Later, remaining only as an instrument to his sankalpa shakti, he made Arjuna and his brothers rupture the armies of their enemy. Is he not the one who made Arjuna tremble with his declaration in Gita that he is kAlosmi (the very Kaalan or Yama)? Even in that shiver, he would have given Arjuna some hidden sweetness! His dealing death as Kaalan is also sweet! It is sweet also for the one who gets killed! Because dying in his hands ensures liberation! The feminine gender for Kaala is Kaali, pronounced as KaaLi; which is why she is there in Tiruvachur as Madhura Kaali!
It can also be taken to mean, 'rupturing the mind, instead of the body'. In that way, he ruptured the minds of the Gopis in their viraha tApam (agony of separation). Who are these Gopika women? They include all the devotees who are filled to the brim with love in mind! They would feel a sweetness when their minds are getting ruptured! Because, the memory of the beloved will be deeper in parting than in being together. Is not the memory about kRSNa a sweetness?
After dalitaM, as its the direct opposit, phalitaM! To attain the desired fruit is phalitaM. In other words, fulfilment of a mental desire. The Swami who is himself a ripe fruit is the phaladada of all living beings (right)?

Specifically here, the way it occurs as dalitaM-phalitaM should be treated respectively as the rupture of separation and the fulfilment of the devotees' wish to get united with him.

It is the pUrti sthAnam (state of fulfilment) of the ripened fruit of the principle that to unite with him is the sweetness!
Just like giving a fruit at the end of a feast, he has concluded the feast of the aSTaka giving this fruit of fulfilment and ended his composition in a most prosperous manner.
(Paramacharya remained absorbed in silence for sometime. Then with sudden enthusiasm that he recollected something, continues.) Before the last (verse), he has said, yaS^Tir madhurA sR^iS^Tir madhurA. A yashti is a stick or rod. Like all other cowherd boys, Swami would also be having a stick in his hand to drive the cows and calfs calling 'hey, hey!' sAkSAt vaikuNTAdhipati to come like this, what simplicity! And with what saulabhyam (ease) has he done it! He who holds the sceptre to rule the three worlds, now holding the stick to regulate the cows and calfs--how sweet is that simplicity! Even that slender and short cane stick would seem sweet. Not only the stick, being poked by it too would be sweet!

In the same breadth that he mentioned yaSTi, he also mentions sRuSti. It is mentioned in Bhagavatam that the same BalakRSNa who took the appearance of a cowherd boy also did the creation on one occasion. Without understanding his avatara rahasya, Brahma once took away all the cows and calfs and the young boys who tended them. Swami challenged Brahma with what he did thereafter. Had he wanted, he would have brought all the cows and boys taken away by Brahma to the earth in a second. Is he not the origin of maya? AndaL has also started (a song) with 'mAyanai' (right)? But then thinking that his prestige would not admit imitating the very little maya that his own son learned from him, Swami did a completely different thing. He created a duplicate of all that Brahma took! This is where the avatara kRSNa also did creation!

Though the Root of this avatar kept administration as his direct portfolio and handed over creation to his son, he is capable of creation himself. He could also do saMharam. In his kRSNAvatara, he showed his power of creation here. What we know from the kAlosmi I spoke about earlier is that he could also do saMharam. Shiva is also like that. But then Brahma is not capable of doing the kRutyas other than creation. Therefore Brahma was a fix as to the maintenance of all that he took away! Understanding that it was a punishment for having tested his father, he came running back to the earth with all that he took and sought the pardon (kSamApaNa) of the child who was his father. The karunAmUrti that he is, Swami also pardoned him and took back his duplicate creations within him, allowing the originals to remain on earth.

Within the short time that Brahma was in a fix and came running to kRSNa, one year had elapsed on the earth. During that one year's time, the pasangaL and pasukkaL (boys and cows) that were kRSNa sRuSti, were living the normal life in the houses of their parents, no one having known any difference.

But then the absence of any difference was only external. Inside them, the parents of the newly created children felt a surge of special affinity for their children, which was not there earlier! The cows also had the special affinity swelling up towards their calfs. It is said that only the young Yadavas who came of age tended the cows; small boys like kRSNa tended only the calfs. I did not mention this properly earlier; let me have the corrigendum here!

You know the reason for the atIta vAtsalya that swelled in the hearts of the parents? This creation was not done by Brahma! It was done by the Bhagavan whose svarUpam is madhuram! It was only that madhuram that made this vAtsalya swell. This is the sRiSTir madhurA he has spoken of.
It seems to me that in the yaSTi also which was mentioned earlier, there is an inner meaning. Magicians hold a stick in their hands and do the magic by swirling it and saying 'soo mantra kaaLi!' The White-men also call it a magic wand. The word (yaSTi) has settled here as if to show that kRSNa swirled his stick and created his duplicates! His mere sankalpa is enough for Swami. But to show some instrument for his lIla is Bhagavan's custom. It is one of his lila vinodas to show his lila as if it happened by the instrument he employed for it! He might have done the same thing here also.

All in all, as that Periyavar said it is only madhurAdhipaterakhilaM madhuraM! AndaL called him the son of Mathura. This man says he is the ruler of Mathura. This title came to Bhagavan after he killed Kamsa. In reality, kRSNa gave the right to rule to Kamsa's father Ugrasena, instead of himself ruling Mathura. At a later time, when he established the city of Dvaraka, he did the rAjya bharam (the burden of ruling) along with his elder brother Balarama and that in his brother's name. For the Swami who revelled in all sorts of lila vinoda which included his shRingAra ceSTtita, he had such an intense sannyAsa manas! vairAgya madhuram! The madhuram of a yogi that was described as yuktaM madhuraM!

The term madhurAdhipati is very apt in another respect too! Is he not the adhipati of the very tatvam of madhuram? Therefore madhurAdhipati.

That madhuram of his should spread throughout the world and also dribble within us.

(Paramacharya's palms close; his eyes too. A divine scene of a flower that is full of nectar closing itself!)

Glossary:
apaharaNa - taking away, robbing, stealing
atIta - going beyond, surpassing, transcending, past, dead, gone away
bhaN^gaH - broken, shortened, lessened, demolished, destroyed, defeated
ceSTa - moving of limbs, gesture, behaviour, prank
corayati - to steal, rob
dhanus - bow or bow's length, a fiddlestick
divya - divine, heavenly, celestial
dRSTAnta - "the end or aim of what is seen", example, paragon, standard, allegory, type, instance
gAna - singing, song
jaTaram - belly
kaNTam - throat, neck, tone, voice, sound
kRtya - act, deed, action, performance
kSamApaNa - the act of begging pardon
lIla - sport or play, mere appearance
lola - moving hither and thither, shaking, rolling, tossing, dangling, swinging, agitated, unsteady, restless
madhura - sweet, pleasant, charming, delightful
navanIta - fresh butter
pAsuram - sacred hymn
pavitra - a means of purification, filter, strainer
pItAmbara - yellow clothes, yellow garments
piturArjitam - that which was acquired from the father
sAdhu - good, virtuous, righteous, noble, a holyman, saint, sage
samana - meeting, assembly, concourse, intercourse, amorous union
saMhara - destrucion, bringing together
sayana - binding
sharIraM - body
shud^dha - pure, clear, faultless, sacred, holy, stainless, white, bright, shining, upright, honest
siddhAnta - doctrine, dogma, axiom, final end or aim or purpose
svAdu - sweet, tasty, relishing
saulabh^yaM - easiness of acquisition, feasibility, facility, ease
shR^iN^gAraH - love, passion, garb, appare;
tIra - a shore, bank
uttAraNaM - the act of landing, delivering or rescuing
vinoda - entertainment, diversion, amusement
vishiS^Ta - extraordinary, special, excellent, superior

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