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<< 6 – yaSOdhA sees the world in mouth
nammAzhwAr says in thiruviruththam “sUttu nanmAlaigaL thUyanavEndhi viNNOrgaL nannIr Atti andhUbam tharA niRkavE angu Or mAyaiyinAl Ittiya veNNey thodu uNNappoNdhumilERRuvan kUn kOttidaiyAdinai kUththu adalAyar tham kombinukkE” explaining that there are two reasons for bhagavAn amidst the thiruvArAdhanam (worship) by nithyasUris in paramapadham, descending to this world as krishNa – 1) To eat the butter prepared by devotees with their hands 2) To embrace nappinnaip pirAtti. These two pastimes are beautifully enjoyed and explained by AzhwArs in many pAsurams. Not just AzhwArs, even the most detached sages have melted and explained these aspects in their purANams. Among these, now let us enjoy the pastime of krishNa stealing butter, a little bit.
nammAzhwAr says in thiruvAimozhi “vaLavEzh ulagin mudhalAya vAnOr iRaiyai aruvinaiyEn kaLavEzh veNNey thoduvuNda kaLvA enban” (I, having inexhaustible sins, meditated upon the supreme lord of both material and spiritual reams, became depleted and said “Oh thief! You are stealing butter with great interest and eating it secretly” as said by mother yasOdhA); periyAzhwAr enjoys in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi saying “veNNey aLaiNdha kuNungum” (With the smell of butter from stirring it) and “veNNey vizhungi veRum kalaththai veRpidai ittu” (After swallowing the butter, he threw the pot on the rock); kulaSEkarAzhwAr says in perumAL thirumozhi “muzhudhum veNNey aLaindhu” (fully stirring the butter); thiruppANAzhwAr says in amalanAdhipirAn “veNNey uNda vAyan” (One who is having mouth which ate butter); in this manner, each AzhwAr has enjoyed this pastime in several ways.
thirumangai AzhwAr in his siRiya thirumadal, beautifully narrates emperumAn’s act of stealing butter. Starting with “ArAdha thanmaiyanAy AngOru nAL AyppAdi” (Being dissatisfied, one day in gOkulam), he brings in front of our eyes how krishNa cheated mother yaSOdhA and ate butter, and how mother yaSOdhA punishes him on finding out about his stealing, by binding him to a mortar and beating him.
He steals butter not just in his house but also in the houses of many gOpikAs. In periyAzhwAr thirumozhi, periyAzhwAr beautifully narrates how the gOpikAs come and complain about krishNa’s stealing to yaSOdhA, in the decad “veNNey vizhungi“. Remaining bound by mother yaSOdhA is even enjoyed by madhurakavi AzhwAr who is totally attached to nammAzhwAr only. krishNa’s greatness is such that, he even attracts those who are totally surrendered to AchArya.
While stealing butter, krishNa remained so childish, that he did not know how to hide his act of stealing and due to this, he shone greatly. Many of our AchAryas became blissful thinking “How sarvESvaran who is the supreme lord, is engaged in this act of stealing butter”.
Essence in this incident,
- Butter is usually white in colour. White indicates sathva guNam (noble quality). We can understand that emperumAn likes sathva guNam and those who are in that guNam.
- He would break the pots after eagerly consuming butter, curd etc from them. This shows that while he eagerly accepts the AthmA, he ends the body which hosts such AthmA in this world itself.
- bhagavAn desires for butter, curd etc since they are prepared by his devotees with their hands.
- Being bound by yaSOdhA and fearing her, indicate his total submission towards his devotees.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/09/03/krishna-leela-7-tamil/
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