Sixth Day of celebration of Isvara samvathsara Sri Raama Navami

[Guest guest]

Dear devotees of Sri Ramachandra Parabrahmam :

 

I will start with the charaNams of the Naatai pancharathnam

in this posting :

 

The saahithya vaakyams of the first charaNam are :

 

amara taaraka nichaya kumudhahitha paripoorNaanaga

suraasura poojadhadhi payOdhi vaasaharaNa sundaratara vadhana

sudhaamayavachO brundha Govindha saanandha maavaraajaraaptha

subha karaanEka ( Jagadhaanandhakaaraka )

 

The divine bard"s skills in Sanskrit diction and the musical talent

to unite words under the right breaks and taaLa pramaaNam are

abundantly clear inn this and othe rsubsequent charaNa vaakyams .

 

The first namaskaaram of the first charaNam is : Om amara taaraka

nichaya kumudha hitaaya nama : " . Amara means the dEvaas .

Taaraka means the stars of the night sky . Here the saint compares

the cluster of stars to the vast assembly of dEvaas ( mupatthu mukkoti

dEvaas ) . Nichaya means numerous or countless . When we unite

amara taaraka with nichaya , we begin to visulaize the limitless

dEva gaNaas . The saint visualizes further the Lord as the moon

inn the middle of the countless stars on the nocturnal sky . There ,

the Lord Ramachandraa shines with his cool lustre and serves as

the kumudha hitan ( friend of the night lilly ). The dEvaas are

compared to the kumudha pushpams and Sri Raamachandran

is equated to the kumudha hithan (moon ) that makes them

joyous and makes them bloom . Like the kumudha pushpams

show their joy at the sight of the moon , the deva gaNaas reveal

their happiness over the darsanam of Ramachandra according to

saint Thyagaraajaa .

 

The second salutation is " Om ParipoorNaaya nama: " Here the saint

refers to the Isaavaasya upanishadic thought :

 

poorNamdha: poorNam idham

poorNaath poorNamudachayathE I

poorNasya poorNamaadhaya

poorNamEvaavasishyathE II

 

The above upanishadic portion asserts , when this whole

is taken out of that whole , the whole remains . Upanishad refers

the ucchishta paripoorNa brahmam . The saint saluted that

ucchishta Brahmam as Sri Raamaa here .

 

The third salutation of the first charaNam is " Om anagaaya nama: "

Sri Raama has no blemish . He is the Sarva apaguNa varjithan .

He has no dhosham of any sort . He burns all the dhoshams

completely like a wilfd fire destroys the trees of the forest .

 

The fourth and fifth naamaas are included in the saahithya

vaakyam , suraasura poojathadhipapayOdhi vaasa

haraNaaya Nama : These naamaas reveal that Raamabhadran

is like the kalpakaa tree to the devaas of rightous conduct and is

like death to the evil asuraas . The devaas seek refuge in the Lord

this way and receive His copious blessings :

 

Sri Raamachandra Raghupungava raajavarya

raajEdra raaja suranaayaka RaagavEsa I

raajaadhiraaja Raghunandana Raamabhadra

daasOsmyaham cha bhavathassaaraNaagathOsmi II

 

Devaas recognize Raamaa as their Lord , seek His protection

and receive His bounteous blessings .

 

The asuraas on the other hand think of Sri Raamaa as

a mere mortal and elect to fight Him and are destroyed

like fire flies in a roaring fire . They immortalize His name

as , " RaamO Raakshasa naasanOmitha bala : "

 

The sixth and seventh salutations are about the beautiful

face of Sri Raama , which beats the beauty of the full moon

and His nectar-like spech . These salutations are :

" Om Sundaratara vadanaaya nama: and Om Sudhaamaya

vachaaya nama : " . Saint Thyagaraajaa salutes the Raaman

described as " Raagendhu poorNaanan " by BhodendraaL

with the first naamam . The beauty of this muzhu madhi mulha

Raaman has been described by sage Vaalmeeki as :

 

chandrakaanthaananam Raamam atheeva priya darsanam I

roopoudhaarya guNai: pumsaam drushti chitthaapahaariNam II

 

The beauty of Raama is an aparyaapthaamrutham or Aaaraavamudham .

One is never satiated by the experience of tasting that beauty .

The apara avathaaram of Valmeekhi , Saint Thyagaraajaa ,

saluted therefore Raama here as " Om sundaratara Vadanaaya nama: " .

 

Our sadhguru shifted from the visual enjoyment to the aural

enjoyment next . In this context , he saluted Sri Raamaa's

delectable speech as " Om sudhaamaya vachaaya nama: " .

Our sadhguru had the blessing of speaking with Ramachandra

in his lifetime . He has eulogised the madhura vaak of Sri Raamaa

in many of his krithis following the description of Valmeeki :

 

" smithapurvaabhibhaashi poorvabhaashi priyamvadha :

smithapoorvam cha bhaashathE , mrudhupoorvam cha bhaashathE ,

priyavaadhi cha bhoothaanaam "

 

Valmeekhi says that Raamaa welcomed his guests with a sweet

smile and inquired about their welfare endearingly with a sweet

speech . Our sadhguru has stated in his Devaghaandhaari

krithi starting with the line , " maravakaraa nava manmatha

roopuni needO mellani maado kannula thedO marivalu vaadO manasa --

aaa janmamu hrudhraa jeevamuthO pujinthura Thyagarajanutuni manasaa "

 

Here he has celebrated the incomparable laavaNyam of Raama ,

the jyothi in His eyes , His soft words and tells us that he has lost

his mind in them and that he will worship Raamaa until the end

of his days and eulogize Him . These thoughts were expressed in

the first charaNam through the naamams , " Om sundaratara vadanaaya

nama: and Om sudhaamaya vachanaaya nama: " .

 

In the remaining portion of the first charaNam , our sadhguru

visulaized the beauty of Raama as Raajagopaalan , when he

herded cows and calves in Brindhaavanam and his darsanam

to the devaas and the humans in that exquisitely charming form .

The charaNa vaakhyams are as follows :

 

brundha Govindha saanandhamaavaraajaraaptha

subhakaraanEka ( Jagadhaananda kaarakaa )

 

The words brundha Govindha has number of meanings.

Brundha means a huge assembly . Here Our sadhguru

visualizes Raajagopaalan , who attended to the needs of cows

in brundhaavanam and won the hearts of gopis with His

enchanting vENugaanam and gave darsanam as

RaadhaaramaNan . That RaamakrishNa svarupam is saluted here .

 

In the first portion of the charaNam , Thyagabrahmam refereed to

the relationship between the limitless Devaas ( Taarakaas )

and the Lord ( a sthe moon among the taarakaas ) . Here ,

he connects to the idea of the Lord tending to the care of

the huge herd of cows of nandagopaa . The compassionate

relationship between the jeevaaa and the Lord is hinted here .

The paasam that binds the Lord to us is referred to . Our

sadhguru has celebrated that unbreakable bond between

the sesha and seshi just as AndAL poined out as " Uravu

ozhikka ozhiyaathu " in Her immortal thiruppavai .

 

THE SECOND CHARANA VAAKHYAMS

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the salutations housed in this charaNam elaborate on

the relationship between the Jeevaathmaa and the paramaathmaa .

The sahithya vaakyams are :

 

" nigama neerajaamrutha poshaka nimisha vairi

vaaritha sameeraNa kaka turanga sadhkavi hrudhayaalayakaa ,

gaNitha vaanaraadhipa natha angriyuga "

 

The first salutation is :" Om nigama neeraja amrutha poshakaaya

nama : " . Nigama is vedam ; neeraja is the lotus flower ;

Sri Ramaa is the amrutha poshakan for the vedic lotus .

He nourishes the vedaas through his Veda NaaraayaNa

svaroopam .

 

The second salutation is : Om nimisha vairi vaaridhi

sameeraNaaya nama : " . Here our sadhguru compares

Raama to a cyclone ( sameraNa ) that drives away the cloud of

the enemies of the devaas ( nimisha vairi vaaridha : ) . Saint

offers his profound salutations to the this great Raghuveeran

who waslike a chandamaarutham in the battle field .

 

The third salutation is : " om kaka turangaaya nama : " .

Here the Lord is saluted as the aapadh paandhavan ,

who rushes on the shoulder of His vaahanam , Garudan

to rescue his devotees in distress such as Gajendran.

Kaka menas the vaahanam of the Lord , Pakshiraajan .

In his gaangeya bhushaNi raaga krithi , our sadhguru

praises the anaatha rakshakathvam of Sri Raaama this way :

" yev-varE Raamayaa! nee sari , ravvaku dhavalekha

sujanulanu raajika rakshimchu vaa ". Thyagabrahmam

states that there is no one equal to Raamaa in His

alacrity to save the devotees in distress innthe spirit of the

third slautaiton of the second charaNam .

 

The fourth salutation is : Om sathkavi hrudhaalayakaaya nama: ".

Thyagaraaja swamigaL states here that Raama has the heart

caves of the righteous ones as His temple . This view is based on

the following veda manthram : " The sages seek Him , when he is

concealed in the midst of cosmic vapors , and follow Him by His

foot prints as men follow an animal that is missing or lost . By their

constant prayers and meditations , the wise glorious sages ,

yearning in their heart , discover Him lurking in the remotest

(heart ) cavity . "

 

The fifth salutation of the second charaNam is : Om ganitha

vanaraadhipa nathangri yugaaya nama: " . Ganitha means

both mathematics and most respected . Here , sadhguru

uses the latter meaning to denote the lord of monkeys ,

the most revered Hanumaan holding and saluting the holy

pair of feet Natha angri yuga ) of Sri Rramachandraa .

 

FOURTH CHARANAM

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This charaNam has the following seven salutations :

 

Om indraneelamaNi sannibhaapaganaaya nama :

Om chandra surya nayanaaya nama:

Om aprmEyaaya nama:

Om Vaagheendra janakaaya nama :

Om sakalEsaaya nama:

Om subhra naagEndra syanaaya nama:

Om samana vairi sannuthaaya nama:

 

Earlier , we enjoyed the pattaabishEkam scene , where

Raama was shining as the most rare blue

gem(indra neela maNi ) in the middle

of His parivaaram ( MadhyE neela komaLa ruchim

Raamam bhajE syaamaLam ) . That deep bluish effulgence is

saluted through the first naamam , Gana Indraneela maNI

sannibhaapa : " .

 

The secod naamam refers to Sri Raamaa having as His two eyes

the Sun and the Moon ( Raamam syaamaabhi Raamaam

raaka sasi nayanam , koti soorya prakaasam ) .

 

The third naamam salutes Raama as Padmanaabhan

with His son , chathur mukha brahmaa residing on that lotus

arising out of his navel . Our Lord created Brahmaa and orderd

him to engage in srushti kaaryam. Sadhguru salutes Raama

therefore as Vaagheendhra janakaaya nama: "

 

The fourth namaskaram is : " Om apramEyaaya nama: ".

Bhagavaan is saluted in VishNu sahasranaamam (249th naamaa)

as apramEyaathman . The reference here is to his pervasive

presence both inside and outside the the innumerable things,

which are limitless and are too vast to be grasped one by one .

 

The fifth salutation is : Om sakalEsaaya nama: " . VishNu

shasra naamam explains the sakalEsa aspect of the Lord

this way : " Jagadh prabhum devadevam anantham

purushOtthamam " through the words of Bhismaachaarya .

Raama is the sarvesvaran and is the Lord of the chethanams and

achethanams . Hence , He is sakalesan. The blessings of other

Gods do not last (anthavatthu palam yeshaam ) ; the boons

granted by the sakalEsan last forever . He alone can grant Moksham .

 

The sixth salutation of the third charaNam is : Om subra

naagEndra sayanaaya nama: " . The reference here is to

Ksheerabdhi naathan , who is engaged in Yoganidraa on

the white serpent with tousand hoods known as Aadhi seshaa .

 

Theseventh and final salutation of this charaNam is :" Om samana

vairi sannuthaaya nama: " Samana is the name for Yamaa or mrithyu .

When Yamaa came to take away the sixteen year old MarkandEya ,

since his alloted life span was over , the frightened MarkandEyaa

ceased the feet of Lord Sivaa at Thirukkadayoor . Yamaa's noose fell

on Lord Sivaa .The enraged Lord Sivaa destroyed Yamaa with a

hoomkaaram and got the name of Mruthunjayaa . He is therefore

known as the foe (vairi ) of Yamaa(samanaa) . Saint Thyagaraaja

states here that Raama is Samana vairi sannuthan (i.e) Lord Sivaa,

the geat Raama bhaktha and the enemy of Yamaa is engaged in

eulogizing Sri Raamaa .

 

Sri Thyagaraaja Sannutha Sri Raamachandra ParabrahmaNE nama:

 

Oppilliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan