[Advaita-l] Madalasa Song

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Thanks for sharing this gem of a song. It's said that the children who were
sung this lullaby all went in to become GYAnis.


This is from an earlier post on this list -
"Story of Madalasa - Queen, mother and a knower of Brahman

The "madAlasa upAkhyAna" which is an episode of a King KuvalayAswa (also
Ritadhwaja) and his consort queen MadAlasa (a brahmvAdini and yOgini). This
couple, in due course of time, give birth to 4 children namely 1) vikrAnta
2) subAhu 3) shatrumardana 4) alarka, respectively.

The first 3 names were selected by the king himself whose meanings run as
1) one who possesses great valour and courage 2) one who with powerful and
beautiful hands & shoulders 3) one who conquers the enemies.

When the king used to select the names, the queen MadAlasa used to laugh as
if she is making fun.  Irritated by her behaviour, the king asks the queen
to select the name herself for their 4th son.  She purposefully names the
4th son as "Alarka" and laughs again.

Her husband Kuvalayaswa questions the naming method of the sons and says
that the meaning of the name "Alarka" is "mad dog" and says why such
meaningless name was christened to the 4th son whereas rest of the three
have beautiful and meaningful names.

Thus, begins the upAkhyAna.  Infact, when the three sons were born, the
great brahmavAdini and yOgini MadAlasa used to sing a lullaby (jOla-pATa in
telugu) which is a set of 9 slokas which starts with:

shuddhO(a)si rE bAla na tEsti nAma
krutaM hi vai kalpanayAdhunaiva
panchAtmakaM dEhaM idaM na tE(a)sti
tvaM cha asya rE rOdiSi kasya hEtOH ....1

O my infant ! Don't cry. Thou Art Ever Pure and art Nameless & Formless.
The sorrow is related to your physical body which is made of 5 gross
elements.  Thou Art beyond these are are That! So, don't cry.

Like this, there are 8 more slokas that are pregnant with vairAgya.

The three kids, got vairAgya, leaving the kingdom, parents behind, went to
forest for tapasya.  Hence, the King Kuvalayaswa got annoyed and told his
queen to not make the 4th son Alarka a virakta. So, Alarka was initiated
into Pravrutti-mArga by his mother MadAlasa. That said, later, with the
grace of Jagatguru DattAtrEya, the 4th one also gets Brahma-JnAna.

When the King Kuvalayaswa asks his queen that when I have named my 3 sons
so beautifully, that has a meaningful name, why you have chosen a queer and
meaningless one for my 4th one.  The queen MadAlasa laughs and quotes
extempore as:

kalpanEyaM mahArAja krutA samvyAyahArikI
tvatkrutAnAM tathA nAmnAM shruNu bhUpa nirarthakaM
The name is for the sake of vyavahAra (communication) only which has been
coined by we mortals. Realistically speaking, the Omnipresent Self, is
beyond names and forms. To Him, what name can we propound and by which name
do we have to address?
So, my dear Kuvalayaswa! Don't be under the false impression that the names
you have chosen for your 3 kids are meaningful.

yadi samvyavahArArthaM asannAma prakalpyatE
nAmni kasmAt alarkhyE nairarthyaM bhavatO mataM ?
When the vyavahAra is an illusory by nature, one can call by any
vyavahAra-nAma to this gross body which is a combination of 5 elements. So,
your thought that my naming of 4th son as "Alarka" is absurd is
meaningless.
For vyavahAra, which is by itself mithyA, any same would suffice.

This was the level of Vedanta taught to the King Kuvalayaswa by his wife
Queen Madalasa, who was a brahmvAdini and yOgini.



On Thu 5 Jul, 2018, 3:19 PM Sujal Upadhyay via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Here is lullaby sung by Gabreile
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDd3iupKUyI
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 2:33 PM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > The song of Madalasa is stated to be in the Markandeya Purana:  It is
> full
> > of teaching generating dispassion and instilling Advaitic relization:
> >
> > ​... <listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org>
> >
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