Kodhai grew up in a household filled with devotion, drinking the nectar of Krishna's leelas. "How did Krishna walk, Appa? How did He dance? How did He play the flute? How were His eyes? What was His complexion like?" she would ask her father endlessly. Even as a little child, she meditated on her Lord for days at a time. Months and years passed by and Kodhai grew up into a beautiful maiden. Every passing moment increased the intensity of her longing to marry her Lord. She composed literary gems in Tamil describing her divine love and agony of separation from the Lord. She would talk to her Lord in her dreams and their conversations flowed like poems:

With each fife of your flute, Govind, behold I raise and fall!

I'll hold you like a flower, Kodhai; we shall dance in an eternal ball!

With every sway of your feather, Govind, behold, I am blown away!

I'll pick you up, swift as wind, my love, with not even a moment's delay!

One day, Kodhai saw a flower garland, made by her father to offer to the deity of Lord Krishna. She wondered how it would look on her Govind. Innocently, she decided to test it by putting it on herself and looking in the mirror. Vishnu Chittar, who saw this, snatched it from her at once and scolded his daughter for her blunder. 

Deeming the garland as unfit to be offered to the Lord, he quickly made another flower garland for his puja. But every time he put the garland on the deity, it kept falling off. Vishnu Chittar became deeply disturbed thinking that the Lord was angry with his service because of his daughter's action. Suddenly, the Lord appeared and told Vishnu Chittar that He only wanted the garland that had the fragrance of Kodhai's love in it, along with the strand of her hair that had got stuck in it! Vishnu Chittar hurriedly brought the garland for the Lord. At once the Lord accepted it and ordered Vishnu Chittar to bring Kodhai to the Srirangam temple, where He would marry her.

Bustling with immense joy, Kodhai dressed herself as a beautiful bride. Accompanied by her father, she entered the inner sanctum of the temple. With her heart filled with love and devotion, Kodhai touched the feet of the deity. At once, she turned into a flame and merged into her Lord. Her father and others, who were present, were wonderstruck on witnessing the events. Thus, the merciful Lord reciprocated the divine love of Kodhai. From that day, she came to be known as "Andal," the one who rules the Lord!

Love Begets Love 

There once lived a 5-year-old boy, Samir, in a village with his aunt and uncle because he had lost his parents. Every day, he used to go to a mango tree on the outskirts of the village to play in its shade. The tree, out of its love for the little boy, would bend down its branches to enable Samir to pluck the mangoes.

One day, when Samir was sitting very quietly in the shade, the mango tree asked, "Why are you sad, dear?"

Samir replied, "I am now 6 years old, and I need to go to school, but my uncle says he doesn't have enough money to pay for my school." The mango tree said, "Why don't you take all my fruit, sell it, and pay the school fee?"

Samir was delighted and the next day he brought his uncle with him, plucked all the mangoes, sold them, paid the fee and started school. Every day when he walked to the school and back home, the tree would lovingly call out to him, "Samir, come and play in my shade, dear." Every time Samir would say, "I am not a little boy any more. I can't spend time playing with you, or sit in your shade and chat with you."

In a few years, Samir completed his school and found a trivial job. One day, he returned to the mango tree. It was thrilled to see Samir. As usual the tree said, "It's been a long time, Samir, come and play in my shade."

"I am a grown man now; I don't have time to play. I have to work hard to provide shelter for my family," said Samir. Gently patting Samir on his back with its branches, the mango tree said, "Why don't you chop off my branches to build a home for your family? But be careful, there are two bird nests on one of my branches. You can cut all the other branches except for that one."

Next day, Samir came back with an axe, cut the branches of the tree and happily carried them away in a cart. The tree was glad to see Samir happy but unfortunately he did not return for several years.

When Samir returned, he slowly walked and sat down leaning his back on the trunk of the mango tree. The tree was delighted to see him but noticed that something was bothering him. So the tree asked why he was sad. "I am becoming old and I can't go to work every day any more. So I was thinking if I could buy a small boat and rent it to the fishermen, I might make enough money to earn my living."

"Don't worry, dear, chop off my trunk and make a boat," said the kind mango tree. Samir turned around and looked at the tree trunk. That was when he noticed that the tree appeared to have become old as well. He tilted his head, looked up and realized that the tree didn't have any new branches after he had previously chopped them off to build his house. Even the ones that he left had dead leaves clinging and in some areas of the branches, the bark was peeling off. Although it was early spring, there were no signs of budding leaves on any of the branches.

It suddenly dawned upon Samir how the mango tree had grown old like him, yet all his life, the tree had lovingly given away everything it had to help him out. His heart sank at this thought. Samir immediately got up and walked away although the tree did not understand why he left so suddenly without saying a word.

The next day, Samir returned to the mango tree with a cart load of fertilizer and a small tank of water. He added the fertilizer and water near the roots, took out all the dead twigs from the branches, and with his arms around the trunk, said, "I will come every day to see you, to sit in your shade and chat with you."

We would like to hear from our Bal-Mukund friends or their parents about ways in which our Bal-Mukunds have shown courage to face the truth or not been afraid to risk failure for the good of someone else. Please contact us at [email protected]