SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
One of the most famous leelAs of krishNa is playing flute. krishNa would always have the flute in his hand or his waist, to make one think about flute everytime one thinks about krishNa. In general, cowherd boys would carry a flute with them. krishNa would accomplish two tasks by playing his flute. First, while tending the cows, he would play the flute to bring back the cows and calves which strayed away from him. Second, he would use the sound of his flute to pull the gOpikAs of vrindhAvan towards him.
periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi, in the beautiful decad “nAvalam periya thIvu“, very beautifully narrates krishNa playing flute. He brings right in front of our internal eyes, the way krishNa plays the flute, how he leans his shoulder slightly downwards, how the gOpikAs come and reach him breaking all their shackles on hearing that sound, how the celestial ladies such as rambA et al became mesmerised and forgot their dancing, how nAradha et al forgot playing their musical instruments and heard that sound, how the flocks of birds remained still on hearing that sound, how animals such as deer, cow etc forgot their food and remained seated hearing that sound, how honey started flowing from the trees and how the branches lowered on hearing that sound.
kulaSEkharAzhwAr in his perumAL thirumozhi says “kuzhaindhu kuzhal inidhu Udhi vandhAy” (You came humbly, playing the flute beautifully). pEyAzhwAr in his mUnRAm thiruvandhAdhi says “kOvalanAy AniraigaL mEyththuk kuzhalUdhi” (Being a cowherd boy, krishNa tended cows and played the flute). nammAzhwAr in thiruvAimozhi says “kEyath thInguzhal UdhiRRum” (Playing the sweet music in his flute). In this manner, other AzhwArs too have narrated krishNa playing flute.
Essence in this incident:
- More than krishNa’s direct speech, his playing the flute is greatly glorified. Here, flute is shown in the place of an AchArya. That is, hearing and enjoying bhagavAn through AchArya is greatly glorified.
- If bhagavAn showers his mercy, irrespective of being wise, unwise, birds, animals, trees etc, without any difference, all will melt.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/09/22/krishna-leela-17-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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