Sri Raama Navami Navaaham: Fifth day (April 8): Sargams27-33( 201 slOkams)

[Guest guest]

oDear Sri Raama BhakthAs :

 

In today's navaaham , seven sargams will

be covered:

 

1) Sargam 27: ThrijaDA's svapna:/the dream of

Thrijadai, the daughter of VibhishaNan

 

2) Sargam 28:udhbhandhana vyavasAya:/SeethA

PirAtti's attempt to take Her life by hanging

 

3) Sargam 29: Subha sakunAni/the appearance of

auspicious signs

 

4) Sargam 30: SeethA samAsvAsana nirdhAraNam /

HanumAn's decision to comfort SeethA

 

5) Sargam 31: Sri Raama VrutthAntha kathanam/

the recital of the magnificent story of RaamA

 

6) Sargam 32: SeethA HanUnmath Darsanam/ SeethA

seeing HanUmAn for the first time

 

7) Sargam 33: HanUmajjAnakI samvAdha upakrama:/

The begining of the speech by HanUman to

console SeethA PirAtti.

 

The largest sargam in the fifth day's PaarAyaNam

is the 27th one with 65 slOkams , where the daughter

of VibhIshaNan describes the powerful dream that she

had during the Brahma muhUrtham (early morning hours)

after RaavaNA's visit to cajole and threaten SeethA

PirAtti. ThrijaDai is the daughter of the one righteous

member of RaavaNA's immediate family , VibhIshaNan .

She describes to the assembled RaakshasIs the portentous

dream that she had just before sunrise and cautioned them

about the auspicious omens relating to SeethA and

the most dreadful omens relating to the death of

RaavaNA and the destruction of LankA and its citizens

in abattle between RaamA and RaavaNA .

 

In our siddhAntham , Svapnams are created by Isvaran

and not by Jeevan . Thrijadai was the medium through which

the shape of things to come were conveyed by Isvaran .

The dream had content , which fitted exactly with

the svapnAdhyAyams .

 

In the first part of the svapnam , ThrijaDai saw

Sri Raaman and LakshmaNan arriving in a celestial

vimAnam made of ivory and borne by thousands of

Swans .They wore white flower garlands and

were clad in white vasthrams.They travelled towards

SeethA and Sri RaamA invited Her to sit together

with Him on the back of the elephant . SeethA sat on

the lap of Her Lord and a little later , She jumped from

Her Lord's lap and rached out to grab the Sun and the Moon

in Her hands.After travel on the elephant's back for

some time, they arrived over LankA.

 

Two slOkams from svapnAdhyAyam (not from RaamAyanam)

helps to intrepret the subha and apasakunams that

Thrijadai saw in her dream that she shared with

the fellow raakshasIs guarding SeethA PirAtti :

 

aarOhaNam gOvrusha kunjarANAm

prAsAda sailAgra vanaspathInAm

vishtAnulEpO rudhitham mrutham cha

svapnEshvagamya gamanam cha DHANYAM

 

Adithya manDalamvaapi Chandra maNDalamEvavaa

svapnE gruhNAthi hasthAbhyAm mahath rAjyam samApnuyAth

 

The first slOkam states that riding on the back of elephants,

Cow or a Bull to the peak of mountains wearing white

garments is very auspicious omen. Similarly , reaching

out and grabbing the Sun and the Moon in one's hands

is another powerful auspcious omen indicating

the winning of a kingdom (Second slOkam ). She next saw

Sri Raaman with His brother and wife riding in a northerly

direction in Pushpaka VimAnam.

 

In the second part of her dream , Thrijadai saw

RaavaNan wearing red garments and alari flower

garlads and lying on the floor.She saw RaavaNan next

riding a donkey and being thrown on the ground

by that donkey.The brother of RaavaNan, KumbhakarNan

rode on the back of a camel and his son, Indrajith

riding on the back of a crocodile .All of them

were dressed in red and were travelling in the southerly

direction .She saw death and destruction everywhere

in LankA and mansions on fire started by a monkey.

These are the most powerful inauspicious signs of

RaavaNA and his kingdom being destroyed by RaamA .

 

ThrijaDai explained this extraordinary dream to

her fellow jailors and asked them to ask for

the forgiveness of SeethA for the trespasses

to save their lives :

 

tadhalam krUra vaakyairva: sAnthvamEvaabhidheeyathAm

abhiyAchAma VaidEhImEtaddhi mama rOchatE

Sargam 27.54

 

(Meaning): Enough of your fierce and threatening

words to Seethai ; please speak with affection

to Her.Let us beg Her to have dayA on us .That is

the right thing to do in my opinion.

 

ThrijaDai continues with her narration and points

out to the fellow Raakshasis that SeethA PirAtti alone

can save them from the great danger due to Her enormous

power and anugraha sakthi ( alamEshA parithrAthum

RaakshasyO mahathO bhayAth..Sargam 27.57).ThrijaDai

concludes that she sees victory ofr Raama, SeethA's

union with Her Lord and the destruction of RaavaNA

and his kingdom:

 

artha siddhim thu VaidhEhyA: pasyAmyaham upasthitham

raakshasEndra vinAsam cha vijyam Raaghavasya cha

Sargam :27.60

 

In the 28th sargam , SeethA stricken by sorrow cries out

for Her Lord , Her brother-in-law and other relatives as

She is about to committ suicide :

 

Haa Raama Haa LakshmaNa Haa sumithrE

Haa Raama Maatha: saha mE jananyA I

yEshA vipathsyAmham alpabhAgyA

mahArNavE nouriva mUDavAthA II ..Sargam 28.8

 

(meaning): Oh RaamA ! Oh LakshmaNA ! Oh SumithrE!

Oh Mother of my Lord ! Oh KousalyE ! I was blessed

to be with You all even if it was not too long .

Alas ! I am going to die here destroyed like

a ship caught up in a cyclone in the middle of

a deep ocean.

 

Now SeethA PirAtti approiaches the SimsApA tree

on which HanumAn was sitting and tries to hang

Herself with Her own own braid .She began to

meditate with immense concentration on Her

Lord and family . At that time, SeethA PirAtti

experienced many auspicious sakunams like the ones

She experiences at the time of Her Svayamvaram

at Mithilai.

 

The 29th sargam with only 8 slOkams describes

these auspicious sakunams ( Subha Nimitthams).

Her left eye brow twitched . The left hand and thigh

also twitched to indicate that many auspicious events

are about to happen.SeethA pirAtti's sorrows were

lightened as a result of these experiences .

 

At this important juncture, HanumAn , who was a

silent witness to all the happenings around

SeethA PirAtti --RaavaNA's visit , his inappropriate

behavior towards a pathivrathai, his threats

and the raakshasI's threats as well as ThrijaDai's

description of her dream -- decided to introduce

himself as a messenger form Her Lord and to

comfort Her with the good news on RaamA's

well being and His gnawing anxiety for Her safety and

well being .HanumAn gave considerable thought to

the most appropriate method of introducing himself and

to assure SeethA that he was a genuine ambassador

from RaamA's side and not a demon from RaavaNA's

court in disguise .

 

The nava vyAkaraNa paNdithar , HanumAn chose

exquisite words to introduce himself and gained

the confidence of SeethA about his (HanumAn's)

credentials as the messenger bringing news from

Her Lord. In fourteen moving slOkams , HanumAn

described the charithram of RaamachandrA and His

family with great Bhakthi that touched SeethA's

heart. She was overcome by joy over the aanandha

anubhavam of listening to the Raama KathA .All along ,

HanumAn's voice alone was heard by SeethA coming

from the tree above Her .

 

In the thirty second sargam, SeethA finally caught sight

of the messenger in the form of a monkey sitting on

the branch of the simsupA tree reciting the story of Her Lord .

This is also a short sargam with just 14 slOkams.

 

In the thirty third sargam, HanumAn came down

gently from the tree and began to converse with SeethA as

the RaakshasIs were sleeping .HanumAn asks SeethA

about Her identity for confirmation and Jaanaki MaathA

replied:

 

duhithA JanakasyAham VaidEhasya MahAthmana:

SeethA cha naama naamnaaham BhAryA Raamasya Dheematha:

 

(meaning): I am SeethA , the daughter Janaka MahArAja,

the mahAthmA from VidEha dEsam. I am the wife of the

buhddhimAn, Sri Raamachandran.She describes Her marriage,

the happenings in AyOdhyA prior to vana vAsam ,

the abduction bty the evil Raavanan and decalres

that She can not bear even one more moment of

separation from Her dear Lord.That sets the stage for

AnjanEyar to breif SeethA on the KshEma samAchArams

about Her Lord and His state of mind over seperation

from His dear consort(34th Sargam ).

 

Sri Raamachandra parabrahmaNE nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAi SadagOpan

 

 

in svargam .