Musings on Raghuveera Gadhyam--Nov 7, 1996

[Guest guest]

GS 24 : ANANYA SAASANEEYA ! JAYA! JAYA !

 

( Meaning ) Lord who can not to be commanded by any one !

Hail to Thee ! Hail to Thee !

 

(musings ) : The subject matter covered in sargas 79 to 112

of AyodhyA KhAndam of Srimad Valmiki RamAyaNam is what

Swami Desikan briefly mentions here .

 

The grief stricken Bharata reaches chitrakootam intent on bringing his elder

brother

to AyodhyA and crown him as the emperor . He is accompanied by his three

mothers, Acharya VasishtA , Sage Jabaali , the members of his

army and camp followers. Bharata leaves his entourage behind and

walks with his mothers and Acharya to the ParNasAla (hut) made up of

leafy twigs , where Sri Rama , Sita and LakshmaNa were living. Bharatha

falls at the feet of his elder brother and begs him to return to AyodhyA

and ascend the throne of IshvAkus , now that Dasartha has ascended

to heaven. Rama faints at the news of his father's passing away and

goes to MandAkini river bank and performs TarpaNam for his deceased

father.

 

Bharatha implores Rama now fervently to oblige him by ascending the

throne of IshvAkus with the concurrence of his own mother Kaikeyi , who

retracts the boon given to her by her late husband. Bharatha threatens to stay

in the forest , if Rama does not return to AyodhyA. Rama silences his brother

with cogent reasons as to why he could not disavow the pledge he made to

his father to relinquish the throne in favor of Bharata . Now, Sage JabAli takes

 

another approach and uses the thory of Naastikaas to convince Rama that

he should accept the throne . Rama dismisses the arguments of Sage

JabAli as hollow and points out that his line of thinking was against

Dhaarmic principles. Acharya VasishtA now pacifies the angry Rama

and commands him to accept the throne as the eldest son of Emperor

Dasaratha. Acharya Vasishta points out that the Guru is superior to

one's parents in rank and that Rama should obey him.Rama politely ,

but firmly points out that the parents are indeed superior to one's own Acharya

and insists that he could not break the pledge that he gave to his father .

 

Bharatha in desperation vows to fast unto death to pressure his

resolute brother. Rama points out that it would be a repugnant step

for a KshatriyA to committ suicide in this fashion . The hopeles Bharata

now offers to stay in the forest as a proxy to Rama so that Rama can

return to AyodhyA . The firm Rama dismisses that offer of Bharatha

and points out that the question of proxy comes into the picture only

when one is incapacitated and there is no reason for taking that route.

Rama states that he will return to AyodhyA only after the 14 years of

exile as per his promise to his father. The frustrated Bahratha now places a

new PadhukA (sandals) at the feet of Rama and requests Rama to step on it.

Rama accedes to Bharata's request . Bharata swears in front of all

the assembled that he will rule the kingdom as the representative of

Rama Padhuka and will step into fire at the end of the 14 yers , if Rama

does not return from exile to accept his kingdom. Rama pledges to

return and take over the kingdom at the end of the period of exile.

 

This incident at Chitrakootam , where Rama refused to be commanded

by any one including his mothers, Acharya Vasishta , Sage JAbAli and

Bharatha is what Swami Desikan had in mind ,when he salutes Rama as

" ANANYA SAASANEEYA ! JAYA ! JAYA ! " .

 

THE STATE OF HELPLESNESS OF BHARATHA IS VERY MUCH

LIKE ALL THE RAMA BHAKTHAS , WHO CAN NOT BEAR TO BE

SEPARATED FROM SRI RAMACHANDRA. The great Rama Bhaktha ,

the guru of Chatrapathi Sivaji, Samartha Raamdaas ( AD 1608-1680 )

described his feelings over separation from Rama this way in his

work known as Daasabodh :

 

" I WANT NOT WEALTH , NOR WIFE OR REBIRTHS

I WANT NOT IN ME THE PRIDE OF KNOWLEDGE.

 

BY THE PATH OF WORSHIP (BHAKTI ) LEAD ME

TO A LIFE OF GOODNESS .

 

I HAVE NO SKILL OF MIND , NO POWER OF THOUGHT,

NO WISDOM OR STREGTH OF REASON.

 

I AM THY IGNORANT BAHKTHA ,GIVE ME AN UNDERSTANDING

HEART, O RAM .

 

I KNOW NOT HOW TO TALK OR ACT. I DO NOT UNDERRSTAND

MY DUTIES.

 

I AM GREATLY TROUBLED BY MY RELATIONS WITH MEN.GIVE ME AN

UNDERSTANDING HEART , O RAM.

 

AS I LISTEN TO THE EXPLANATION OF THE SCRIPTURES,

A GOOD THOUGHT ENTERS MY MIND; BUT IT SOON PASSES AWAY

AS THE TIME OF GIVING UP THE FRUIT ARRIVES.

 

BUT WHAT SHALL I DO , O RAM , I AM UNABLE TO DO

WHAT I OUGHT .

 

O RAM ! I CAN NOT ENDURE LIFE WITHOUT THEE . "

 

Saint Thyagaraja , another in the front line of great Rama Bahkthas

plaintively pleads to Sri Rama in his PurnachandrikA krithi,

" Sri Rama Rama Jagadhaatma Rama , Sri Rama Raghurama"

that Sri Rama , the soul of the Universe should not go away from

him . He says " TVAAM VINA NAANYATRA JAANEH RAMA ,TVAAM

VINAA KO GATHI ? " . I KNOW NOTHING BEYOND YOU . WITHOUT

YOU WHaT REFUGE IS THERE ? Elsewhere , the Saint points out to

Sri Rama in his Naayaki krithi " Nee Bhajana gaana " that he has in

vain explored fully the Saguna margam , the NirguNa margam ,

the truth and falsehood , the six schools and the eight siddhis .

He has not found the answers that he was looking for.

He concludes by stating that there is naught but Youas the redeemer .

 

Such is the greatness of Rama Bhakthas , who can not bear even for a

moment to part company with Sri Ramachandra like the blessed brother Bharatha .

 

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan