Ananda RAmAyanam - VII

[Guest guest]

Sri RAmajayam

 

Stories from ANANDA RAMAYANAM - Continued

 

This is the seventh posting in Ananda RAmAyaNam series:

 

 

4. Stories from YAtrA kANdam:

 

==========================================================================

 

In YAtrA kANdam, SItA requests RAma to see if her prayer to

Mother Ganges (on their way to the forest during the 14 year exile) can be

fulfilled now. PattAbhishekam is over and everything is all settled.

RAma gladly agrees to the proposal and finds that SItA wishes to go the

Ganges-Sarayu sangamam place. He instructs his servants to inform LakshmaNa

to announce the news to the whole of AyodhyA.

 

On an auspicious day, RAma leaves AyodhyA with great royal pomp and splendor,

to offer prayer to Ganges. The royal queens and womenfolk of AyodhyA get on the

pushpaka vimAnam which follows him closely in the air. The troops

and rest of the men folk follow him on land, along with SIta, and his

brothers.

 

[ The pushpaka vimAnam that RAvaNa had usurped from his brother KubEra

is used for bringing RAma and others back to AyOdhyA. After the pattAbhishekam,

RAma orders the vimAnam to leave SugrIva, VibhIshaNa and others in their

respective places and go back to its owner, Kubera. However, Kubera orders

the vimAnam to serve RAma well till he goes back to VaikuNtam. So, per

RAma's orders, the vimAnam stays outside AyodhyA all the time in his

service.]

 

On reaching the sangamam spot, SItA and RAma offer their full-fledged prayers

to Mother Ganges. Based on Sage Kumbhodhara's advice (that RAma needs to

visit the holy places to purge the sin of killing a Brahmin- RAvaNa), RAma

decides to go on a world pilgrimage. He sends word to Sumantra to send all

the necessary items for an extended pilgrimage. When Sumantra sends in

supplies, RAma requests the vimAnam to expand horizontally and vertically to

hold all the people and all the troops and all the things. He blesses the

vimAnam to have strength to hold everything. His servants create 100 rows of

roads around the center of the vimAnam. The vimAnam now looks like the

AyodhyA city with all the palaces, gardens, kitchens, entertainment places,

ponds and so on. Wherever RAma is, there is AyodhyA!

 

The rest of the yAtrA kANdam talks elaborately about the holy yAtrA undertaken

by RAma and the whole troupe in the pushpaka vimAnam. The geography of

RAma's time must have been entirely different from that of the present day;

RAma covers the whole of India and the surrounding islands and places we do

not even know of.

 

On several holy river banks, RAma, SItA and LakshmaNa create ThIrtams

(bathing ghAts) in their names. Lord HanumAn once visits RAma and SIta in

KAsi and he also creates a ghat (now called Hanuman Ghat) on the Ganges

river bank. It is said that RAma visits Lord Siva in the

KailAsA Mountain and receives Kaustubha maNi as a gift and that he visits

the Meru mountains and receives the KAmadhEnu from Lord Brahma.

At the end of the holy pilgrimage, the vimAnam returns to Ayodhya.

 

Whoever listens to or reads the yAtrA kANdam is said to receive the fruits

of visiting all the holy places visited by RAma.

 

[ If anyone is interested in reading the Tamil translation or the

Sanskrit verses with Hindi vyakyanam of this holy yAtra, please let me

know and I can fax or mail the pages to you.]

 

==========================================================================

 

Several things are striking in YAtra KANdam:

 

1. Chapter 1 talks about Lord VishNu giving 4 slokams to Brahma, who

teaches them to VyAsar. Lord SivA tells PArvati that these slokams

are very holy; they remove ajnAnam and impart the greatest knowledge;

they remove all sins and shower the greatest blessings.

 

I have tried to translate these slokams with the help of the Hindi

vyAkyAnam for the Sanskrit verses and the Tamil translation.

 

SrI BhaghavAn UvAca:

 

AhamevAsamevagre nAnyat yat sadasatparam

PascAdaham yadetacca yovasishyeta so'smyaham 1.

 

(Before creation, I was the only one existing. There were neither good nor

bad things besides me. So also, after pralaya, I will be the only one that

will exist.)

 

Rtertham yatpratIyeta na pratIyeta cAtmani

Tat vidyAdAtmano mAyAm yatabhAso yatA tamah 2.

 

(Those things which are seen and those that are not seen, are all my

creative illusions just as light and darkness are.)

 

YathA mahAnti bhUtAni bhUteshUccAvaceshvanu

PravishtAnyapravishtAni tatha teshu na teshvaham 3.

 

(Just as the five mahA bhutas - earth, fire etc. - are present in the

things in this world, and yet can be seen as independently existing,

I permeate the five mahA bhutas and yet I am distinct.)

 

EtAvadeva gijnAsyam tatva gijnAsunAtmanah

AnvayavyatirekAbhyAm yatsyAt sarvatra sarvadA 4.

 

( For one who wants to learn about Atman - this is all there is to learn:

namely, apparently conflicting things simultaneously coexist because of Me.)

 

I was unable to translate this 4th slokam unambiguously. I would like to

request the learned bhakti group members to help me with the translation and

also provide corrections for the first 3 translations.

 

2. In the beginning of the yAtrA kANdam, a description of how the various

RAmAyanams came into existence is given. This probably gives a clue as to

why many RAmAyanams came to be claimed as written by VAlmIki.

I will be dealing with this part in my next posting.

 

3. During the yAtrA to Gaya kshEtram, RAma attempts to make piNdam for

his late father and is waiting for Dasaratha's hand to come out of

the PhalguNi river to accept the piNdam. Meanwhile, SIta is trying to do a

puja for Goddess Durga and is making 5 balls out of sand to make Durga

Bhimbam and putting them on the river bank to start the pooja; she notices

Dasaratha's hand coming out of the river and taking all the sand balls.

Realizing that Dasaratha is trying to accept them as piNdams, Sita offers

108 sand balls. Being scared, she does not tell anyone about this incident.

RAma and LakshmaNa are wondering and waiting and questioning why

Dasaratha has not accepted the piNdams. Finally, when LakshmaNa asks SIta

if she knows the reason, she tells the truth. RAma wants to know if she

had a witness; she does, but, none of the witnesses want to admit it in fear

of incurring RAma's wrath. Finally, the SUN (Surya) tells RAma that it is

true; Dasaratha comes and tells RAma that he accepted the maNal (sand) piNdams

offered by SIta and he is very happy and satisfied that he is now

relieved from hell. RAma wants to know why Dasaratha did not come to

accept the actual piNdams offered by RAma and chose to accept the maNal

piNdams offered by SIta. Dasaratha explains that he was afraid that something

might interrupt (vignam) his accepting the piNdams and he wanted to hurriedly

accept them from SIta; accepting Gaya piNdam does not happen so easily; there

will always be hurdles. He then tells RAma to offer the piNdams again,

just to follow the custom and set an example to mankind, and then accepts the

PiNdams one more time happily and goes back to heaven.

 

4. The gifts received by RAma: SItA chooses to keep the kAmadhenu (cow)

for herself and lets RAma keep the kaustubha maNi (jewel). After returning

to Ayodhya, SItA prays to kAmadhenu everyday to produce enough food for

everyone for the time. RAma declares that no one in Ayodhya (except

swayam bhAgham people - those who wish to eat only what they themselves

cooked) should cook; the whole city was fed by RAma and SItA with the help of

kAmadhenu! (Whether this was written by VAlmIki or not, I would

definitely have loved the situation where I didn't have to cook and do

the dishes!)

 

More to come,

 

Kalyani Krishnamachari