Pancharathnam Series- JagadhAnandhakArakA-Part 1

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Dear All,

 

Recently updated at http://saptharathnas.blogspot.com . You can also

optionally read it over there.

 

Sri SeethA lakshmana hanumath SamEtha

Sri Sathguru prAnanAthAya jagadhAnandhakArakAya

Sri Kothanda kalyAna pattAbhirAmachandra parabrahmanE nama:

 

(Let us all invoke the blessings of the one who is always with SeethA

dEvi, Lakshman and Hanuman and

The one who is the Lord of Sathguru thyAgabrahmams life and the One

who is the creater of all the Joy in this world.

The one who is worshipped and (enjoyed) as KOthanda RAman,kalyAna

rAman and PattAbhiRAman and

The one who is none other than the para brahmam.)

 

 

 

I am very pleased indeed to invite you all to be here and read,enjoy

and benefit from the series of posts that I will be writing up on from

this post onwards, for many weeks and months together, on the great

pancharathnams of sathguru thyagabrahmam. With the blessings of my

mAnasIka guru, sathguru thyAgabrahmam and all the sathbhAgawathAs of

the present and past and with the permission and blessings of Sri

Oppilappan KOil varadhAchARi Sriman V. SadagOpa Iyengar, who has

authored a 350 page book(monograph) in tamil on the pancharathnams of

Sathguru. Not very long time back, the book was made available online

for the benefit and the enjoyment of all. This write up will most

likely be an abridged and a customized version of the monograph along

with my own personal anubhavams. I am sure that this write-up will

bring the anugrahams of Sathguru and seethArAmachandran to everyone

who reads with/ without great interest.

 

Just as a reminder, let me alert the reader to please read the

Pancharathna mAhAthmyam post that i wrote a few weeks back. (archived)

 

Before I start, I would like to salute all the great souls, both

present and pAst.

 

EndarO mahAnubAvulu, Anthariki Vandhanamulu. (Of course, we will all

learn the greatness of this krithis for which alone nithyArAdhanA can

be performed for sathguru)

 

The first pancharathnams that our Sathguru composed was set to tune in

the nAtAi rAgam , that symbolifies veerya rasam (heroism).

 

We all know that one main reason bhagawan takes an avathar is for

dhusta nigraham (defeat/destroy the evil).In rAmA avathar the greatest

evil force was present in the form of rAvanan, who was a slave of the

ten senses. Thus, Sriman nArAyanan willed to take avathAR as a human

by the request of all the dEvAs to defeat rAvana and establish peace

and happiness on earth. He could have done that very easily just like

he killed hiranyakasipu in narasimha avathARam. But, he chose to be

born to Dasharatha Chakravathy (the one who has controlled to 10

senses) , slained the rAkshasAs like ThAtakA, subAhu and marEEchan,

married SeethA dEvi, observed 14 years of vAna vAsam (of exile),

sought for the golden deer that seethA dEvi wished for and while doing

so , he lost his dear seethA dEvi to RAvanan. He then went searching

for his beloved. While doing so, he blessed and gave mOksha to jatAyu,

the great old bird and then he went to old shabari's hut, tasted the

fruits offered by her and granted her liberation. [JatAyu MOsham]

After that he helped Sugrivan and got rid of his grief by killing his

enemy VAli. He befriended the monkeys and then gave Hanuman the power

to cross the sea, who gave sita DEvi, her Lords ring, comforted her

and made her happy by chanting ramA nAmA. [shabari MOksham] Finally ,

he crossed the sea with help of the bridge built by monkeys and fought

war with rAvana and his army , performed abhaya pradhAnam(protection)

to Vibheeshan and killed rAVanan by using brahmAsthram. He also

offered his sandals to bharathan and removed his suffering. He also

have absolution(ShApa VimOchanam) to Ahalya when he stepped on a

stone, which was none other than ahalya who was cursed to a stone by

GauthamA. This is real heroism, saving some one who can never be saved

by anyone else. (sooran). Our sathguru introduces such a valiant rAman

, his ishtanAthan as jagadhAnandhakArakan , the one who gives

happiness to everyone in this world in his first nAtai pancharathnam.

 

In this krithi, there are 10 charanams with a pallavi and anupallavi.

In this post we will discuss the pallavi and anupallavi. The charnams

will be covered and completed in small steps in later posts.

Out of the 10 charanams , three of them have the mudra of Sathguru as

"ThyAgarAjanutha, Sri ThyAgarAja sannutha and ThyAgarAjAthinutha"

>Prof SAmbamoorthy says that

 

"This krithi in nAtai is a garland of panegyrics on Sri RAma, a

Sangeetha Rahasya pradarshini ( Musical revelations) and as ideal for

voice-training exercises. It is also a belief that this krithi and the

ARabhi RAgA krithi, Saadhinchane were composed by Sathguru by the

request of ThanjAvur RAmA rAo, one of his primary disciples. Sri rAmA

rAo requested his guru to compose some krithis for bhagawath

ArAdhanam(worship) and sthuthi (praise) and to fulfil his request it

is beleived that Sathguru has composed the krithis and blessed him.

 

One of the less known facts about this krithi is that when the group

of words praising the Lord are separated, one ends up with Ashtothra

Shatha nAmAvali like

 

Om jagandhAnandhakArakAya nama:

Om Jaya jAnaki prAnanAthAya nama:

Om gaganAthipa sathkula jAya nama:

Om rAja rAjeshwarAya nama:

Om SugunAkarAya nama:

Om SuraSEvyAya nama: (Click here to listen )

 

Our sathguru has embellished the krithis with lots of beautiful

swarAlankArAs. Prof SAmbamoorthy has observed the following

 

1. Starting from the third charanam ," Indra neela mani sAnnipApa"

until the 7 the charanam "PurAna pursha" , the charnams start

uniformly with "PA pa SA PA pasA"

 

2 .In the 8th charanam, when one hears the sound of the pranavA (OM),

there is a UllAsitha Gamaka prayOgA ( a blissful tune) that rises from

madhya shadjama ( Sa) to thArasthAyi ShadjamA.

 

Let us now start with the pallavi.

 

JagadhAnadhakArakA jaya JAnaki PrAna nAyakA"

 

Our Sathguru introduces his ishtanAthan as jagadhAnandhakArakan ,who

destroys the fear and blesses happiness and to the ones who have come

seeking his refuge, even when one has done so many aparAdhams (sins).

He is the one shows no disctinction between his friends and enemies.

For eg, he gave mOkshA to rAvana just like he gave mOkshA to jatAyu

and simlarly he gave mOksha to ThAtakA in the same way he gave MOksha

to Shabari. He is the one who removed the fear of the monkey king ,

Sugreevan and blessed him with happiness. He removed the troubles of

Vibheeshanan, who sought his feet and blessed him with the kingdom of

LankA. By killing rAvanan, he gave mOkshA to him and happiness to the

world and beyond.

 

Sathguru, thus worshipped, SReeRAmachandran, the one who was born in

the Raghuvamsa , the one who blesses and comforts his devotees like

the moon and the one who gives happiness to the heart (kumudha

pushpam) of SeethA dhEvi as

"jagadhAnandhakArakA, jaya jAnaki prAna nAyakA , hey rAmA". The

following slOka highlights the same

 

SreeRAmachandra karunAkara rAghvEndra

RAjendra Chandra raghuvamsa samudra |

Sugreeva NEthrayugaLothpala Poornachandra

SeethAmana: Kumudha chandra nAmO NamasthE ||

 

When the krithis is rendered, the pallavi is rendered for the longest

time with lots of different variations (sangathIs) . The sangathis are

for us to enjoy the sree rAmachandran as myriad of ways. Everytime one

sangathi is rendered, there is a bhAva attached with it. Each of them,

allows us to enjoy sreerAmachandran as jagadhAnandhakArakan in a

myriad of different ways, the gunA that is highly enjoyable. Click

here to listen.

 

Let us go to the anupallavi

 

gaganAdhipa sathkulaja rAja rAjeswarA|

SugunAkara SurasEvya bhavya dhAyakA sadhA sakala ||

 

Here sathguru celebrates SriRAmachandran as the one who rose out of

the Surya vamsa( SUryA race) and as king of all the kings.

 

In SandhyAvandhanam, the sun (sooryan) is introduced as

parabrahamam.(AsAvAdhithyO brahma)

 

It is beleived that the one who worships the sun as parabhramam during

the its rising and setting time will be blessed with everything

(Taithreeya brAhmanam). SreerAmachandran is born out of such a race.

The same emotion is expressed by hanumAn is Sri SeethA rAma sthOthram

 

RaghUnAm Kuladheepam cha,NimeenAm kuladheepikAm |

SUrya Vamsa Samuthbutham, SOma vamsa SamuthbavAm ||

 

In the next part of the anupallavi, our sathguru praised and enjoys

his Lord as

 

SugunAkara SEvya bhavya dhAyakA sadhA sakala

 

He praises him as sugunAkaran , the one who as per , ramayathE Ithi

RAma:, blesses everyone and makes them happy by his sathgunAs

(SugunAS). This is also reflected in the following slOkam of vAlmIkIs

 

Tvam Hee sathya vrathasUrO:

dhARmikO Thrta Vikrama: |

PareekshyakAri SmrithmAn

NisrushtAthmA SUharuthSucha ||

 

 

He praises SreerAmA as the one who keeps up the word, the one who

always stick to the truth, the one with unlimited valuor, the one who

always comes to the right conclusion and the one who always remembers

the helps of his friends.

 

In the next part, sathguru thyAagabrahmam praises his Lord , with such

sugunAS as the one praised and worshipped by the SuRAs (dEvAS)

 

In the last verse, he worships him as "SadhA sakala dhAyakA" . The

word rAma is made up of a RA and a mA. There are so many evidences

about the benfits derived out of chanting this thARaka nAmA. In

RAmayana written by the tamil poet, kamban, it is said that

 

"Nanmayum Selvamum nALum NalkumE

Thinmayim pAvamum Sithanthu ThEyumE |

Jenmamum marnamum IndriTheerumEy

Inmayey IrAma Endru Irandu EzhuthinAl ||

 

He says that , by uttering the "RAma", we will all be blessed with

eveything auspicious even within this birth. Also, all the evil and

ill luck will vanish, there wont be birth and death and will certainly

attain MOkshA (Liberation).

Click Here to listen to the anupallavi.

 

(Will be continued)

 

With sathguru dhivya kamala pADha smaranams,

 

AdiyEn

thyAgayya and rAmAnuja dAsan

Sarvam Sathguru prAnanAthAya JagadhAnandhakArakAya SeethARAmchandrArpanam.