Sri Poundarikapuram Andavan's Upanyasam : Part 4(Conclusion )

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

The fourth sub-theme of the revered Andavan's

UpanyAsam dealt with Sri RanganAthA's beauty in

ArchAvathAram and the power of SitA PirAtti's

KatAksham . Sri Andavan cited quotaions from

Kamba RaamAyaNam ( AyodhyA KhAnDam ) ,ThiruppANAzhwAr's

AmalanAdhipiraan that celebrate the sarvAnga

soundharyam of Sri Ranganathan . Andavan's conclusion

was that Sri Ranganathan"s beauty is the most

delectable among all other divya desa EmperumAns'soundharyams.

I am sure that the BhakthAs of other divya desa EmperumAns

( Kanchi, ThiruviNNagar , Thiruppathy ) would understand

the adhisayOkthi behind such an anubhavam .

 

Regarding ThAyAr's auspicious long eyes (VisAlAkshi )

rejuvenating and sanctifying all that She casts

Her Katakshams on , the revered Andavan cited

FOUR passages from Srimath RaamAyaNam , where

Her consort, Sri RamachandrA , addresses Her

as VisAlAkshi .

 

Sri Ramachandra in Vibhavam is Sri RanganAthA in

archai and SitA pirAtti in Vibhavam is Sri Devi

Herself as Sri RanganAyaki according to Paraasara Bhattar

as eulogized in his SriguNarathna Kosam slOkams . We will

refer to them as a foot note after covering Srimath Andavan's

citations from Srimadh RaamAyaNam .

 

Slokam 1 : AyOdhyA KhAndham : Sargam 6

***************************************

 

Here Vasishta maharishi instructs Sri RaamA and SitA

to worship their kula dhaivam , Sri RamganAthA in

preparation for the acceptance of responsibilities as

the new king of AyOdhyA. Both Sri RamA and His consort went to

Sri RanganAthA's sannidhi at their palace and worshipped

the Lord reclining on AdhisEshan .When SitA enjoyed

the beauty of the Lord , She turned around and looked

intently at Sri RamA , since She knew that Her consort

was the most beautiful One ( ChitthApahAri ).Her intent look

to compare the beauty of Her Lord in front of Her

and the ArchA mUrthy (Sri RanganAtha-NaarAyaNan ),

that She was worshipping made her to look intently

at both of them with wide open eyes

(VisAlAkshi) according to Sage Valmiki :

 

saha pathnyA VisAlAkshyA NaarAyaNam upAgamath

 

SlOkam 2 : AraNya KhAndham: 54th Sargam

****************************************

 

Here RavaNA commits the heinous crime and abducts

SitA PirAtti and places Her in his aerial chariot

and flies towards Lankhaa nagaram . The distraught ThAyAr

sees a group of five monkey chieftains assembled on

the peak of malayA mountain .

 

She takes a portion of Her upper garment and

when RavaNA was not looking , She tied some of Her

personal jewelery and dropped it in the midst of the Monkey

chieftains ( Sugrivan, HanumAn et al ) so that they can recover it

and perhaps give it to Sri Ramachandran to let Him know

of Her forcible abduction by the evil RaavaNA . SitA PirAtti's

auspicious glances fell on these Vaanara SrEshtAs

to bless them to participate successfully in

the war to come .Here again , Sri Valmiki

uses the naamam of VisAlAkshi to salute that

auspicious glances of those broad eyes of ThAyAr :

 

tEshAm madhyE VisAlAkshi kousEyam kanaka Prabham

uttarIyam varArOhA subhAnyAbharaNAni cha

 

mumOcha yadhi RaamAya samsEyurithi Bhamini

vasthramruthsrujya tanmadhyE nikshiptham sahabhUshaNam

 

(Meaning ) : The lovely lady with large eyes took off

Her silken upper garment , brilliant as gold , placed

the jewels in it and threw it in their midst to break

the news of Her being carried away against Her will by

RaavaNA to Sri RaamA , if they ever met Him .

 

Slokams 3 & 4 ,Yuddha KhAndham : 123rd Sargam

**********************************************

 

The public Yuddham and the personal anguish( Agni PravEsam)

are over .Sri RamA and Sri SitA are happily reunited and they

start their journey northwards on the Pushpaka VimAnam placed

at their disposal by King VibhishaNan . Sri RaamA is

in an ebullient mood and recalls the tasks He undertook

to retreive SitA from abduction and the heroic tasks that

He completed on behalf of His Large/Broad Eyed ( VisAlAkshi )

consort :

 

tava hEtho: VisAlAkshi nihathO RaavaNO mayA

 

As the VimAnam flies over LankhA in ruins ,

just after the war , Sri RaamA shows His dear

consort the ruins of LankhA , whose rulership

has now shifted to the hands of His parama Bhakthan,

VibhishaNan . He wants our ThAyaar"s benovolent

glances to fall on that burning City so that it can flourish

again under the rulership of the good VibhishaNan .

Therefore , He addresses His consort as VisAlAkshi

and directs Her glances on the City .

 

As the VimAnam turns northwards and passes over

the Sethu dam built by NaLan , Sri RaamA once again

addresses His Broad-eyed consort as VisAlAkshi and

mentions to her that He had the naLa sEthu built to enable

Him to cross over to retreive SitA PirAtti from

Her prison in AshOka Vanam and bring Her home :

 

tavahEthO: VisAlakshi naLa sEthu : sudhushkaram

pasya Saagaram akshObhyam VaidEhi VaruNAlayam

 

Here , Sri RamA wants VaidEhi to bless all of those ,

who took part in that "impossible " task of building

a dam over the Ocean with sticks and stones .

 

These four references to the KatAksha Mahimai of

SitA PirAtti are positioned in very special places of

Srimadh RaamAyaNam .Srimath Andavan identified these

occasions for us .

 

In my effort to summarize the One hour UpanyAsam of

the revered AchAryan , I have taken the liberty of

providing Text and Context for a fuller appreciation

of this extraordinarily rich feast . All the errors

in understanding and comprehension are mine and seek

the revered AchAryan's KshamA for any incorrect

recordings of his thought process.

 

AdiyEn Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

 

P.S : Many thoughts raced against my mind as the AchAryan

referred to different doctrines related to the unique role

of Sri Devi in our SampradhAyam . I will just record one

wave of thought on the specialty and power of ThAyAr's

KaruNA KatAkshams and conclude this series of postings .

 

The memory waves were about Sri Parasara Bhattar's

SriguNa Rathna Kosam slOkams . Sri Bhattar , who was deeply

moved by the Sri Sthavam of his father and the ChathusslOki

of ALavandhAr and the SaraNAgathi Gadhyam of AchArya RaamAnujA

had a special reverence for Sri Devi .To Him as Sri RangEsa

purOhithar , Sri RanganAyaki ThAyar was none other than

SitA PirAtti . He identifies himself as a resident of

Mithilai and salutes the parama soundharyam of

Sri SitA pirAtti ( Sri RanganAyaki ) as an adolescent

girl at the border of childhood and youth stages

( saisava - Youana - VyathikaraNam ) married to the Nithya

YuvA ( iLam Kumaran/ Sri RanganAthan ). With great vinayam ,

Bhattar salutes the SitA pirAtti of Srirangam as

the treasure house of forbearance ( KshAnthi) , magnAnimity

( OudhAryam ) , compassion ( dayA ) and other KalyANa guNAs

that anticipate Swami Desikan"s Sri Sthuthi .He praises

the unique qualities of SitA piratti , the VisAlAkshi ,

such as mruDimA (softness of Heart ), prabhu paarAdhyam

( obedience to Her Lord ) , apAra KaruNA ( Limitless

compassion for us , Her children ) ,prIthi ( affection

for her erring children ) . She rejects the milky

ocean, Her father's home as well as Sri Vaikuntam ,

the celestial abode to be near us , Her children and

makes Srirangam Her home .

 

In the 17th slOkam of SrigNa Rathna Kosam , Bhattar

points out that wherever the KatAksham of this VisAlAkshi

falls , the wealth , bliss , jn~Anam , success , courage

and eloquence rush .He designates the Lord as Para Brahman

because of the profuse glances falling on Sri RanganAthan ;

others receiving one or two glances become minor gods

like IndrA et al.Parasara Bhattar is overpowerd by

the thoughts of the greatness of Sriranga-SitA devi

( Sri RanganAyaki ) and points out that the infinite

greatness of the Lord is due to the imprints of

the Lotus feet of Sri Devi on His chest (Vakshasthala-

Vaasini ) .

 

Parasara Bhattar rushes quickly to decribe the unique

relationship between the saraNya dampathis and suggests

their relationship is one of SamyukthAsrayaNam . He

engages in His cosmic sports just to please Her .

Bhattar calls Sri RanganAyaki as our SitA and that She is

the Mother , Father and sarva Vidha BHandhu . He assures us

that we are saved as long as we have Her grace and

karuNa KatAksham falls on us . Such is the

greatness of this VisAlAshi celebrated by

Srimath Andavan !

 

AchAryan , AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Sri Rangapura VihAra , Jaya KoDhaNda RaamA !