Dear Friends ,
Poonthanam was born in the year 1547 in a village called Kezhatur near Angadipuram town in the Malappuram, district of Kerala. He was a great devotee of Guruvaurappan and is the celebrated author of a book called Jnanapana (see my translation in http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/o3.htm He lived up to the ripe old age of 93. Once when the old Poonthanam was insulted by the workers of the temple in Guruvayur, it seems Guruvayrappan told him that he himself would come to the place of Poonthanam and live there.
The lord is supposed to be in the temple of Lord Krishna called "idathupuram " meaning "left side "and in Sanskrit "Vamapuram" . Possibly attracted by the very famous Sanskrit work called Sri Krishna Karnamrutham of Leela Sukha , Poonthanam might have decided to call it "Bhasha Karnamrutham" . In the 167th stanza of this great work he says.
"By your well decorated and coloured form , you made the entire earth get attracted to you, Oh God , Oh God, the world is also surrounded by desire and great anger , And if my "Bhasha Karnamrutham" is always enjoyed by the toungue Then like olden times no one need not creep under the load of the tendrils of Karma forever."
Unlike the work of Sri Krishna Karnamrutham which are poems drenched with devotion addressed to Lord Krishna , this BHasha Karnamrutham relates the story of Lord Krishna from his birth to the famous incident of Lord Krishna helping Arjuna to get back the dead son of a Brahmin. (Mostly from Dasama Skanda of Bhagwatham.Possibly he got this idea from the famous Narayaneeyam relating the story of Lord Vishnu.) These are narrated in the first 113 stanzas. The portion from 114th to the 169th stanza emphasizes the need for chanting the name "Narayana" and also relates the philosophy of Poonthanam.
Poonthanam states in the work that his Guru was one Neelakanda and that this was edited and corrected by one Sri Soolapani.
By the blessings of the dust of the feet of Neelakanda(Author's Guru) , I went on narrating the plays of Lord Krishna somehow, Oh Mukunda , Victory to Lord of Vamapura , Please grant me devotion to your divine feet. (117)
Soolapani put in lot of efforts, To systematized and edited it , Put in lot of efforts to make it great , My "honey to the ears " written in local language , And please become happy at the feet of Achyutha.(118)
Poonthanam also states that this work has been written when he was nearing the age on ninty.
Oh sea of mercy , I was for a long time longing, To see the toys with which Lord Krishna played, Counting and counting the singing of your names, Ninety years have almost passed by. (148)
Here is a selection of poems from that great book:-
5. With the baby feet , bangles and other ornaments, with the golden belt, Becoming loose , taking a small piece of board, falling , walking falling, When the baby Krishna comes , with his entire stomach full of milk , I would like to see him secretly at least in my dream, Oh lotus eyed one.
38. They all quarreled with each other and fell on the floor , And at the time Bala Bhadra fell down on earth, And you the killer Of Madhu with pleasure lay on the top of him, As if to show his mother his usual sleeping on Anantha.
41. When one lady came in the street to sell pickles , When nobody was there , the god with enthusiasm gave her lot of paddy, And then without fail her vessel was filled up with gold, And this was seen with great wonder by the people crowding the sky.
43. Due to the worry that the milk was boiling , when the mother left him while breast feeding, Thinking that his mother should be satisfied, with mischief he broke in to pieces the curd pot , And when his mother became prepared and wanted to punish him for that , That illusory child was seen sitting with happiness on the mortar and I salute him.
115. Seeing the prosperous and pleasant way, That the sixteen thousand ladies live , Even the thousand eyed Indra would be anxious , To become a lady like them, Oh Padmanabha.
123. When the mountain like emissary of god of death with black eyes, Is rushing towards me with staring eyes, If he hears one of these songs extolling , the plays of Krishna Will I be able to see that idiot falling and crying.
129. An inn is seen in one place , in another place weeping and crying due to death is heard, Learned men in one place , in another place drunkards shout and beat , A pretty lady in one place and in another place old ladies sit and cry, For the ears and other organs is it nectar or poison, Oh Lord , the world is peculiar.
131. Oh toungue , there is a big advice for you, Please hear as I am trying to tell it by my toungue, When you loudly shout the name of Narayana, Only thing is that you should not become shy.
136. Oh mind , forgetting your root , looking after various affairs, Do not suffer in this cycle of birth and death , And think of that lord who occupies the entire universe And who plays there and experience him.
140. To any one the chanting of the name , Once in the life is sufficient , The shastras with certainty tell, And son of Nanda, this should not turn in to a lie.
160. The first wisdom got by learning is like the pleasant bite of a mosquito on the body, The second state is when you do not feel hunger or thirst of the body, The third state is when you do not feel destruction , even if the body is cut in to pieces, Oh ocean of joy , please make the knowledge "I am that" firm in me.
You can find my translation in http://stotrarathna.blogspot.in/2012/11/bhasha-karnamrutham-of-poonthanam.html
Please spread the news about this book to all Krishna Bhakthas ,
Ramachander
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