Poonthanam – A great devotee – Story!
While baby Krishna is playing in my mind, do I need a baby of my own??”.
This verse is from “Jnanappana” (Song of knowledge), Bhagavan Krishna’s favorite hymn in Malayalam .
It was composed by Devotee-Poet Poonthanam Namboothiri.
Poonthanam was a loyal devotee of Guruvayoorappan (Sree Krishna) . Both Poonthanam and Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri ( Author of Narayaneeyam) were contemporaries .
Melpathur was an erudite scholar and a renowned poet in Sanskrit.
However, Poonthanam was not much qualified in Sanskrit and Scriptures and he was just a moderate writer in local language Malayalam .
This intellectual limitation, earned him the nick name “ Half-poet ” .
Melpathur used to laugh at Poonthanam’s reading and recitation .
One day , at a discourse held at Guruvayoor temple, Poonthanam was wrongly reciting “Padmanabho Maraprabhu”, (Lord of trees).
Melpathur openly laughed at Poonthanam and corrected saying, “Padmanabha is not Maraprabhu but “Amaraprabhu ” (Lord of immortals)” .
Immediately, a celestial voice from the inner shrine declared
“I am also Maraprabhu”! .
Death of only Child & Bhagavan’s Consolation
” While baby Krishna is playing in my mind, do I need a baby of my own??”. There is a sad story behind this verse .
Poonthanam did not have any child for a long time.
Finally, his prayers were granted and he became the father of a son .
He did the Initial vedic rituals for his son like ‘jathakarma’ (done soon after the baby is born) and ‘nama karana’ (naming of the child).
When the baby was six months old, Poonthanam decided to conduct ‘Annaprasanam’ (first feeding of cooked rice).
He fixed an auspicious date for the ceremony and invited friends and relatives.
The preparations were in full swing.
On the day of the ceremony, everybody in the house got up early.
Poonthanam’s wife gave a nice bath to the baby and dressed him, well .
She breast-fed him and put him to sleep on a mat on the floor .
The mother tucked the baby with a nice white sheet .
The baby was sleeping peacefully .
The invitees started coming in .
In those days, the Brahmin women used to cover their body with a white cloth and keep a palm leaf umbrella when they went out.
Poonthanam’s wife greeted the guests. She pointed out the baby’s room to put their covering cloths.
The lady who went in first put her cloth on the bed of the baby. The others who followed her did the same .
In their hurry they did not even notice the baby on the bed. Then they joined the hostess in preparing food .
It was time to bring the baby to the ceremony spot . The mother went into the room to pick up the baby.
She saw a heap of cloths on the bed.
She removed all the clothes then she found that the baby was underneath the heap . He had stopped breathing due to suffocation .
No need to explain the afterward situation .
There is a story in Bhagavatham about Narada whose mother died of snakebite and that incident helped the Rishi to focus all his attention towards Maha-Vishnu .
The same happened to Poonthanam whose bhakti-yoga became more intense.
By stoically absorbing the tragedy with a sense of reality, Poonthanam submitted himself to the will of Guruvayoor Krishna .
He was at once blessed with a glorious vision of the divine child Sree Krishna, inspiring him to sing the famous verse “While baby Krishna is playing in my mind, do I need another baby of my own” ? .
Bhagavan inspired him further to compile ‘Janappana’ , the epitome of
Bhakti-yoga.
Poonthanam’s life is a fine illustration of how sufferings of pure devotee can result in a divine hymn.
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