lotus failed 5

[Guest guest]

Post 5

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We are studying sage vaalmeeki's 'andha raama soundharyam' before really

comparing with the hanumaan's description by poet aruNaachala kavi. You may ask

'hey, what is the use of reading about the physical description of raama?' If

seethaa can claim, in front of hanumaan, that upon hearing the description of

raamaa, there will no worry for her, how about us, the lowly ones, in comparison

to seethaa. That is the phalan - fruit of this series- all our sorrows will

vanish.

 

Also seethaa, the wife of raama, enjoys herself in hearing, from another party,

about her husband raamaa's beauty. We, sri vaishNavaas, are the sthree janam

[women folk] in this world and he is our purushan. So, we are the wives of the

lord. May be, it is our duty also, to enjoy our lord's physical beauty as well

guNa beauty through sree vishNu sahasra naamam [which is bhagavath guNa

dharpaNam - mirror reflecting lord's qualities]. Enjoying sreemadh raamaayaNam,

in its letter and content, has to be the part and parcel of our daily routines,

that one and only story of raamaa, that story, which he himself heard and

enjoyed, having been sung by his sons in front of him.

 

If I add another point here - may be I am wrong which the learned in the group

has to correct - sreemadh raamaayaNam and sree vishNusahsra naamam are THE TWO

WORKS composed by others, read or sung in front of him, which were enjoyed by

the lord, about himself. May be, all other works are not enjoyed by the lord,

including the reverential 'geethaa and vEdhaas', since these were composed by

him, told or put out by him. These works were not heard and enjoyed by him like

these two. That way these two are something very very special.

 

[eppozhudhumE thannaip paRRI piRar than edhirilEyE pugazhndhu sonnaal adhu thani

aanandham thane - adhaRku manushyanO kadavuLO - vilakku illai allavaa? if

somebody describes about us in front of us, then is it not a special haapiness?

For this - human or god - No exceptions]

 

Another reader asked me, sir, what is that you want to convey in the 'lotus

failed' series? May be my drafting is poor and the point which I want to convey

is not done in a simple way. I answered him, just I wanted to compile the

physical description of raama in one series, as stated by vaalmeeki and others

like kamban, aruNaachalak kavi et al. That is why I started this series with a

'raama soundharyam aRindhu' krithi.

 

Now let us get back to the slOkam wherein seethaa says let my 'sOkam' go away.

 

yaani raamasya lingaani lakshmaNasya cha vaanara

thaani bhooya: samaachakshva na maam sOka: samaavisEth || 5-35- 3

 

yaani - what they are

raamasya - raama's

lingaani - characteristics

lakshmaNasya cha - and lakshmaNa's

vaanara - O! monkey

thaani - them

bhooya: - again

samaachakshva - relate in detail

maam - in me

sOka - grief

na samaavisEth - will have no place.

 

Meaning: seethaa says to hanumaan, "O! monkey! please relate in detail the

characteristics of raama and lakshmaNa again; grief will have no place in me".

 

keedhrusam thasya samsthaanam? roopam raamasya keedhrusam?

kathham ooru ? kathham baahoo ? lakshhmaNasya cha samsa mE || 5- 35- 4

 

keedhrusam - what are they ?

thasya - that

samsthaanam - food habits

roopam - form

raamasya - raama's

keedhrusam - how is it ?

ooru - thigh

kathham - how is it?

baahu katham - how are their arms

lakshmaNasya cha - and lakshmaNa's

mE - to me

samsa - relate.

 

Meaning: seethaa asks hanumaan, "What are raama's and lakshmaNa's food habits?

How is their form? How are their thighs? How are their arms? Please relate to me

in detail".

 

raama: kamala pathra aksha: sarva saththva [bhoota] manOhara: |

roopa dhaakshiNya sampanna: prasoothO janakaathmajE || 5-35-8

 

raama: - raama

kamala pathra aksha - lotus-petal like eyed

sarva saththva manOhara - captivates everyone

roopa dhaakshiNya sampanna - has beauty and kindness

prasootha: - born with these

janakaathmajE - oh Janakaa's daughter

 

meaning: Hanumaan started describing to seethaa with slOkam meaning - Oh,

Janaka's daughter! raama is born with lotus petal like eyes; captivates everyone

with beauty and kindness.

 

POINT: See here the poet aruNachala kavi - he says, 'gathi enRu eduththavarkku

padhiyum nidhiyum tharum karuNaa nayana visaalamum'. Since poet has already

taken that kamalam - to compare with feet, he puts out vaalmeeki's other points

in his words -karunai - kindness. Sarva saththva manOhara - reached him as

'gathi' - he gives - padhi nidhi, karuNai - then will he be not captivated -

losing the mind, manam haram.

 

Now let us just go to kamban - uruk kaattu padalam in sundhara kaaNdam -

 

aNNal than thiru mugam kamalam, aam enin

kaNNinukku uvamai vERu yaadhu kaatugEn?

thaN madhi, aam ena uraikkath thakkadhO?

veN madhi polindhu, adhu melindhu thEyumaal - 51

 

meaning: hanumaan says, if I say raamaa's face is like a lotus, then where I

will go for the example for describing the eyes. If I say the face is like a

moon, it is not correct for moon will grow some times and suffer depletion at

another time.

 

Point: That poet's deft handling of description comes to fore - if I say to

face, where can I go for another object of comparison - so I have to say for

both - the face as well as eyes. A lotus embedded in another one - that also

does not come correctly. So the lotus is failing itself - can it go here with

this, or with that, or with both, or not all?

 

Already the other poet has given the failing lotus in

ganDham mEvum aravindha malarum avar

kaalukku nighar aamO, kaikkuththaan sollappOmO? [for meaning refer post 1]

 

Whether it will go for hands, legs, face or eyes or totally fails? Oh raamaa -

andha raama soundharyam ennaal aRindhu sollap pOmO?

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.

 

 

 

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