Puttugam2

Krishna Krishna Hari Keshava !
Vishno Jishno Sada Mamava !
Vakula Mata curiously enquired about the past and present of the lady to whom Srinivasa tried to propose . Srinivasa said that she was Vedavati in her previous life and she performed an amazing penance to be blessed to marry Srinivasa .
In her past life , Ravanasura forced her to marry him. She declared that she intended to marry only Srinivasa and that she was not interested in marrying him. But he forced her time and again. As this pressure increased from Ravana , Vedavati , using her yogic energy created fire and jumped into the fire . The helpless Ravana retired from that place . Due to her yogic power , Vedavati remained the same and unaffected by the fire. Agni deva, the Fire-god in appreciation, gave her shelter. He also informed her of the great deed she would have to support in future .
As it is obvious to everyone , in the Ramayana , Ravana went to Dandakaranya in the disguise of a golden deer and attracted Sita . Sita Mata got tempted to possess it and requested Rama to obtain it for her . As Lakshmana was taking care of her and Rama’s voice was heard , Sita Mata sent Lakshmana to take care of Rama . In the meanwhile , Ravana carried away Sita Mata .

While Ravana was carrying Sita Mata , the Fire-god appeared and informed Ravana that he cheated Rama and Lakshmana by going in disguise of a golden deer. Do you know that Rama is a greater conjurer than you? However he could not cheat Sita Mata as the one he was carrying was not really Sita Mata and that she was Vedavati.She is not Sita. Vedavati is here disguised as Sita. Sita is safe in my custody. I am speaking cause I revere you. If you trust me, I will hand over the real Sita to you.

Fire God then took the real Sita who was being abducted by Ravana and kept her safely with Swaha devi. He then transformed Vedavati into Sita and handed over Vedavati to Ravana.

After killing Ravana and before leaving for Ayodhya, I asked Sita to undergo a fire test to prove her chastity. Sita disappeared into the fire. From the fire three persons emerged.  They were , Agni Purusha , Sita Mata and Vedavati .

Agni Purusha explained how Sita Mata was protected from the hands of Ravana by transforming Vedavati into Sita Mata . Since Vedavati helped Rama so much , Agni Purusha requested Rama to marry her also in appreciation of her penance performed by her , to have Rama as her husband . Then Rama said that in that incarnation , He was very keen on maintaining discipline of one word , one wife and one arrow . Hence Rama promised that he would marry Vedavati in his next incarnation. Until that time Vedavati would reside in Brahma loka, said Rama.

That Vedavati was born as Padmavathi . He explained all this to his mother . Listening to this, Vakula Mata left that place to meet Padmavathi . Srinivasa felt very happy and had food .
Namah Krishnaya RAmAya Vasudeva Sutayacha
Pradyumnaya Aniruddhaya SAtvatAm Pataye Namah !
Vakula Devi started her travel and reached Agastya Ashrama . Srinivasa felt happy for this deed . There was a shiva temple where ablutions for shiva were being performed which was a good sign .
Namah Shivaya Shantaya Namassomaya Shambhave Namah Namah Shivaya Kalyani Pataye te Namo Namah !!
Vakula Mata thought that Shiva alone could help in making her efforts successful. Looking at the attire of the women folk there, she decided that they were from the Royal palace . She enquired who they were . They replied that they were the attendants of Padamavathi , the princess and that they were getting the ablutions done for Shiva .

The previous evening they were playing in a garden and a handsome and graceful Man arrived there . His name was Srinivasa and appeared like a hunter. He tried to converse with Padmavathi and tried to hold her hand. The annoyed Padmavathi made us beat him with the stones . Looking at His injuries, Padmavathi became unconscious . Immediately Padmavathi was taken to the palace where the king and the queen, looking at Padmavathi’s condition, called for a royal priest .

After testing her,the priest said that ” Padmavathi met a person who made a great impact on her mind . Padmavathi was so much attracted by that person that she would reach Him soon.

Shortly a lady would enter that place and if the parents follow her instructions, Padmavathi would settle in happiness . Perform a shanti Puja and everything would be fine . Shiva Himself was great and hence invite 11 priests to perform ablutions to Shiva . With the power and result of ablutions alone Padmavathi would become conscious ” The frineds said that they were getting ablutions performed with the instructions given by Daivaghna. Finally they questioned Vakula Mata about her details and who she was. Then Vakula Mata said that she went there with a specific purpose and that she was supposed to speak to the queen , Dharani Devi to get her work done . She also requested the friends to take her to Dharani Devi .

Srinivasa who was stunned looking at the unparalleled beauty of Padmavathi , became almost like a statue and was about to greet her with forward steps . In the meanwhile , her friends arrived there and asked her to join them. They suddenly notice the presence of Srinivasa and questioned Him as to who , from where and for what purpose He came there . Though they were questioning Srinivasa, Srinivasa was staring at Padmavathy. He was speechless. The friends put forth many questions.

Suddenly Srinivasa came into senses and asked them their identity. The friends were stubborn to know His details. Srinivasa then said that He was the son of Vasudeva and Devaki Devi, with an elder brother Bala Rama and a sister Subhadra who was married to Arjuna who had two elder brothers and two younger brothers and were all called ” Pandavas “and they were all related . He also said that He was born in Krishna Paksha ,eight days after the full moon and hence was His complexion blue . Hence He was also called Nallanayya ( A black person )

Yasya NamAnyanantAni PAvanAni ManeeshiNAm.
VarNato NAmatasAmi Krishnam PrAku Tapaswinah !

“I am the one whose Namas (divine names) are endless and am called Krishna by sages. ”

When questioned by Srinivasa , Padmavathi Devi gave her introduction that she belonged to Atri Gotra , Chandra dynasty and that her name was Padmavathi , the daughter of Aakasha Raja giving no heed for His introduction. However He requested her to go with Him right away . She walked away arrogantly from there. Srinivasa enquired why she was behaving rudely. Srinivasa said that he was not offended by her words, because she had stolen his heart. He had placed her in his heart. He asked her to join him and come along with him.

When Padmavathy said that he was going beyond his limits. She was a princess and that her father  could inflict dangerous punishment on him. Srinivasa said that He was beyond the fear of birth and death and victory and defeat , requesting her to go with Him holding her hand. Her friends almost attacked Srinivasa with fistful of stones which hurt Srinivasa . They were angry that he was about to hold Padmavathy’s hand without permission.

In the meanwhile Padmavathi escaped from there along with her friends . Srinivasa was offended that Padmavathi did not understand and accept His proposal . Vakula Mata who arrived at that place was full of sorrow looking at His condition of injuries all over the body and questioned the reason for this situation despite His courage and strength , calling Him as Krishna . She offered Him food but Srinivasa was reluctant to eat .She finally concluded that the cause could be a virgin who might have come on His way and disturbed His mind . Vakula Mata demanded for an answer .

After listening to her promise that she would fulfill His wish of marrying that woman who stole His heart , Krishna revealed about His meeting Padmavathi on the mountain . He narrated the reluctant walk out of Padmavathi along with her friends without listening to the proposals made by Him . He also expressed His staunch and divine love for her and assured Vakula Mata that she too would admire Padmavathi . Vakula Mata offered Him food and made Him sleep on her lap singing the songs , which were sung for Lord Krishna in Dwapara Yuga .

Bhajan :
Madhava Madhu Sudhana
SriHari Hari Madhava !!
Pondering over the utterances of the sage, Padmavathy went towards the Royal palace .

Her female folks, who had deserted her, now returned her and said, “let us now go to the flower garden on top of the hill”.. Padmavathy joyfully walked towards the flower garden on the hill top and began to wander there leisurely.

As Padmavathy was born from a lotus and there had always been affinity between lotus and the honey bees , all the honey bees started forming around Padmavathy’s face in the garden . From the set of honey bees , one bee flew to Srinivasa who admired the bee.

Here in this context we need to remember the role of honey bee in pollination and fertilization of the flowers . It reflects the propagation of species and formation of fruits from flowers. Here one of them represents Prakriti (Nature) and other is Purusha (Self). Many in-depths meanings are hidden in this story of the bee going from one to another. As we dig out the spiritual meaning of it , we get amazing information. Srinivasa was admiring the honey bee that was going around him in admiration.

In the meanwhile , there arrived many forest animals with an act of instigating Srinivasa to catch hold of them. Incidentally one horse arrived at that place as though it was for Srinivasa . Srinivasa jumped on to the horse and followed animals . They all suddenly disappeared taking a right turn as a hint . Srinivasa also began to chase them by going in that direction.

The branches of huge trees too bent towards right side as if asking him to go in that direction. That is Nature’s participation. It was instigating him to go towards the right side. Srinivasa was wondering at the sudden changes that were occurring in the Nature and He felt very happy for what was happening , despite knowing that He Himself was the creator of the happenings . Srinivasa got down from the horse and touched all the huge trees with warmth, since everything present on the mountain which was a divine Saligrama , was pious and divine ; be it a tree, lake , air or the sand . Everything was the creation of Srinivasa.

For this reason the hill is very sacred. It is wrong to misbehave or engage in impious activities while in Tirumala.

There again appeared all the animals to direct Srinivasa . After a while , they disappeared and ran towards the right. The animals appearing and disappearing cannot be compared to the illusionary deer in the Ramayana since that deer went there on a destructive purpose whereas , these animals had come with an intention of world prosperity . ( Srinivasa Kalyanamu ) Srinivasa wondered at all these unique happenings and the directions shown by animals as well as the horse anticipating significance of right side .

Srinivasa was about to turn back to go towards His house but to His surprise there was a very graceful but egoistic elephant standing in front of Him. Srinivasa tried to order the elephant to give way but elephant rumbled and started going towards the right side . Srinivas wanted to catch hold of that elephant and teach him a lesson. This tells us how each and every organism was trying for the unison of Srinivasa and Padmavathy for universal prosperity . Every living organism was putting its effort .

Padmavathy , the form of Lakshmi Devi and Prakriti ( Nature ) should unite with Srinivasa , the Purusha . All these incidents were taking place only with the influence of Nature . The animals, birds, plants, insects were striving to unite them.

As Padmavathy was playing with her friends Nature was directing Srinivasa towards Padmavathy . The horse was tired and Srinivasa tried stopping the elephant with an arrow . But the elegant disappeared showing the path to garden . Looking at the beautiful ambiance , Srinivasa forgot His anger with elephant .

All of a sudden, Padmavathy who was playing with the bees appeared before him. Looking at Padmavathy, Srinivasa was stunned for her unparalleled beauty . At that time arrived the elephant looking at which in the fit of awe, Padmavathy walked backwards .