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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00007 Feb 2003

 
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I begin this nAma remembering our beloved Lord "Sri Chenna kESava Swamy" 
ofOngole. He has been silently protecting us generation after generation andhas 
blessed us with the greatest gift - Our AchArya (though we have moved to the so 
called modern world and neglected Him). May all the fame, glory and power be 
with Him forever and may I be of use to Him in some form or theother, forever. 
I seek the blessings of all my forefathers who had worshipped this great Lord...



 

KESava = The one who is above ka (Brahma) & ISa (Siva); The slayer of demon 
kESi; The one with a wealth of beautiful hair.

 

pASuram : TiruvAimozhi 2-8-3 ( NammALwAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam )

 

samanvayam with pASuram : He is the kESava since He is the antaryAmi of both 
Brahma and Siva. He has an unmatched wealth of beautiful hair, which bespeaks 
His soundaryam and Iswaryam (opulence). And His divine deeds eminentlysuit His 
supreme stature.

 

pASuram :

 

puNarkkum ayanAy azhikkum aranAy
Being the creator Brahma and the destroyer Siva

 

puNartta tan undiyODu arattu manna
Through the lotus originating from His navel, being the indweller

 

puNartta tiruvAki ttan mArvil
With LakShmi partnering Him on His chest

 

tAnSEr puNarppan
The one with deeds that befit His eminence

 

pErum puNarpu yengum pulaNE
Stunning feats that are celebrated all over.

 

Detailed Interpretation: 

1) He becomes Brahma ?the creator? and Siva ?the destroyer?:He controls both 
Brahma and Siva as their inner ruler. He transcends all entities including ka ? 
Brahma and ISa ? Siva and is renowned as ?kESava?.

 

2) Through the lotus originating from His navel; being the indweller:Brahma is 
not different from nArAyaNa in the sense that He is subservientand inseparable 
from nArAyaNa as His body (including His abode, the lotus).

 

It follows that Siva who came out of Brahma?s forehead derives the same 
subservience to SrIman nArAyaNa. 

 

He scrupulously carries out the creation and destruction through Brahma and 
Siva as ?KESava? (the controller of ka and ISa).

 

3) With LakShmi partnering Him on His chest : Our mother LakShmi is the abode 
of incomparable beauty and prosperity. The love and compassion that She has 
towards Her children complement Her external beauty in totality.

 

He is the ?One? chosen by Her. The very fact that She adorns His chest with 
utmost joy, serves as a perfect reference to His inconceivable fame, glory and 
His surpassingly sublime beauty (external as well as internal). His magnetic 
charm is absolute in all respects. His captivating form beggars description and 
all His features eminently match His beauty.

 

His celebrated name ?kESava? becomes all the more centroidal exactly inthis 
context. ?kESava? means ? ?The One with a wealth of beautifulhair?, which 
eloquently depicts both His soundaryam and Iswaryam (opulence).

 

4) The One with deeds that befit His eminence: His deeds are not the ones that 
can lessen His magnanimity, fame and glory. His deeds are fully in accordance 
with His beauty and eminence.

 

Our mother AnDAL says so in ?nAcchiyAr tirumozhi? -2-5 ? ?Though you come and 
spoil the nice castles of sand that we children had built with a lot of effort, 
somehow we never get even the slightest of anger on you. O cunning mAdhava!, O 
my kESava!!, its just because of yourlovely hair, charming face and an 
appealing form?.

 

veLLai nuN maNal koNDu Sittil viSittirappaDa vItivAi teLLi nAngaL izhaittakOlim
With the fine white sand, we built the special castles and decorated the 
streets...

 

azhittiyAkilum untanmEl
such nice showpieces were spoilt by you. Still in your case?

 

uLLam Odi urukalallAl | urODam onrum ilOm kanDAi
though heartbroken, none of us are angry even to the slightest extent

 

kaLLa mAtavA kESavA un mukattan kangaL allavE

O cunning KriShNA!, my kESavA!!?.Don?t you have eyes on you??

 

Though on occasions, His deeds bear a mischievous and cunning facade, they 
actually originate from His overflowing love towards us. Inthis case, it was 
the love towards those little girls who were happy in their own innocent world. 

 

It is well known that the anger of little children is unbiased and is free from 
any kind of restriction (like the beauty of the objecton which they are angry 
upon etc). Even such kids were awestruck with the beauty of our tiny goon and 
they couldn?t retaliate. Such is the bewitching beauty of our Lord ?kESava? and 
equally notorious are His deeds.

 

5) Stunning feats that are celebrated all over: Needless to say, theacts of 
creation, destruction, maintenance and deliverance are outstanding.

 

The episodes of protecting gajEndra, prahlAda, draupadi are the prominent

ones that easily capture our imagination.

 

So also is His famous exploit of slaying the demon kESi, which earned Him the 
name ? ?kESava?. Even nArada maharShi panicked on seeing the demonkESi who 
disguised himself as a horse to harm Krishna.

 

This demon symbolizes a siddhAntam which advocates the thought that ? ?God does 
not exist?. It is pregnant with a logic, which can even frustrate the likes of 
nArada. He ripped apart the speech and logic of those who promoted such a 
thought through His gItOpadESam. And that?s precisely why Our Lord Krishna 
became famous as the subduer of kESi ? ?The kESava?.

 

JAI SRIMAN NARAYANA



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