raama ashtOthram 12

[Guest guest]

Post 12

 

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

Continuing on that naama 'neeraja nayanaaya namah' – the

sthOthram of the 'lotus eyed raama' – first a recall of that soorpaNakhaa's

description of the 2 brothers raama and lakshmaNa – that slokam to recollect on

what we are discussing about –

 

[soorpaNakhaa to khara, her brother],

tharuNou roopa sampannou sukumaarou mahaa balou |

puNDareeka visaala akshou cheera krishNa ajina ambarou ||

3-19-14

 

meaning:

Those two [raama and lakshmaNa] are in adulthood, good-looking, gentle yet

greatly mighty, eyes broad like lotuses,

dressed in jute-cloths and deerskin,

 

The notes quoted from website in previous post are in 3

angles of interpretation - out of which we have seen only one in elaboration.

Since the other two may or may not be so relevant to our context on the 'lotus

eyes', I take only thoese portions concering the lotus eyes--

 

Second

andle - to belittle Raama and

LakshmaNa's prowess only to extol Khara's pride.

puNDariika vishalaa akshou 'paled, broadened, eyed'

'Their eyes paled and wide-open awaiting the results of their scarring my nose

and ears, and their eyes popped up in daze, then what can they do to you'

 

third view -- to

deride Khara's valour so that he can be incited to fight.

puNDariika vishaala akshou 'white-lotus, broad,

eyed' His broad white-lotus like eyes does neither contract in anger nor expand

in exclamation, as usually happen to anyone who sees an object of interest with

unnecessary widening of eyes - priiti visphaaritha

eekshaNam

 

[with that the

note portion ends]. Now a different direction – On the different names of

lotus, we saw a special or peculiar or very less or rarely used word

'kOkanadham' – re post 9 item no 21 – Poet jayadeva in his gita govindham uses

this word -- see --

 

neela nalina aabham api thanvi thava lOchanam dhaarayathi

kOkanadha roopam |

kusuma sara baaNa bhaavEna yadhi ranjayathi

krishNam idham Ethadh anuroopam ||

ashtapadhi 19- verse 4

 

meaning summarized: O, svelte Raadhaa, though your eyes will

be in the hue of dark blue-lotuses, they now bear a pinky effect of the pinkish

lotuses - in all their ire, albeit, if they render themselves as the one and

only pink lotus arrow of Love, and shoot to delight me, to render me with my

indigo-blue hue as the very pink of love, then all this ire, eyes, and their

pink will be most becoming. [a pa 19-4]

 

the point here

is the blue colour of lord krishNa will become pink - lotus coloured - if she,

that raadhaa, sees him with her rage – anger – full of fire.

 

Dear readers, if

you find usage of this word kokanadham in any other place, you are welcome to

share with all of us.

 

Coming back to

mainstream 'lotus eyed raama' – in mohana raagam in another krithi thyaagaraaja

calls raama – "raa raa raajeeva lOchana raama" – hey raamaa come, oh lotus

eyed, –

 

[again this

krithi rendered by late smt. M.L.Vasanthakumari if you hear, at any time, will

suddenly lift you to great heights of aanandha anubhavam]

 

SoorpaNakha is

influenced so much by raama's eyes that even when she is in full fury while

reporting to his elder brother raavaNa – fury on account of the death of the

young one khara, - and having an opinion raavaNa not heard about khara's death -–

but she remembers those broad eyes and says so when raavaNa asked her "who is

that raama?" -

 

kah

cha raamah katham veeryah kim roopah kim paraakramah |

kim

artham dhaNDakaaraNyam pravishTah cha sudhustharam || 3-34-2

 

meaning:

raavaNa asks her -Who is Raama? How brave he is? Of what mien and what calibre

he is? And for what reason he entered the highly inscrutable Dandaka forest?

[3-34-2]

 

SoorpaNakhaa

replies --

dheergha

baahuh visaala akshah cheera krishNa ajina ambarah || 3-34-5

kandharpa

sama roopah cha raamah dhasaratha aathmajah |

 

meaning:

Dhasaratha's

son Raama is the one with inescapable arms and broad

keen-eyed, but has jute-cloths and skin of black-deer for his dress,

yet in semblance he is similar to the Love-god. [3-34-5]

 

so that

enchanting eyes leaves the mind NOT even for a villainy woman – if it so how

about real bhakthaas of the lord – so they remember always – that is the dhyaana

slOkam of SVSN - think the eyes of the lord – In Sri Vishnu Sahasranaamam

dhyana slokam " saanthakaaram

bhujaka sayanam

… lakshmee kaantham kamala nayanam yOgi hrudh dhyana gamyam " – kamala

nayanam - thamaraik kaNgaL.

 

Again in next dhyana slokam

" puNyOpEtham puNdareeka aayatha aksham vishNum vandhE " – pundareeka

aksham – thamaraik kaNgaL.

 

Hey, Enough on

lotus eyes – not yet please.

 

Dhasan

-- Vasudevan MG