thaaraa praising raama 1

[Guest guest]

Post 1

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

In the recently concluded serial 'engE braahmaNan'

telecast in jaya TV, one point which Sri Ramaswamy said struck me

[Cho - as he is popularly known -Cho ramaswamy]. He said, “in one

way, we, all, are 'vaiSyaas' as per varNa classification in its real

sense. [Remember people are classified based on the 'guNa vibhaagam'

into 4 varNaas as stated by lord krishNa in geethaa -4 -13

 

 

 

 

 

Cho said, “we, all, do trading – I give this,

you give me that – certain people sell their brain, certain others

physical effort etc”.

This 'trading' goes even with the supreme lord. In

this world we have 'lots and lots of expectations and to get it

fulfilled, we even do 'barter' with the supreme lord – like

'mottai', 'diferent kinds of offerings' etc. That is why 'thirumala

thirupathi' hundi collection increases day by day.

Even a simple 'praising the lord' on receiving a

'benefit' or getting an expectation fulfilled is also a kind of

barter only. Really how many of us praise the lord, just for

'praising' sake only without any expectations in turn?

 

 

Now just think of 'praising the lord' in an

adversity striking us. Can we really think of doing that? Perhaps we

may say, 'I did this, this, etc, in spite of all that doings, hey

lord, I got this bad thing only as a result from you'. That is the

usual situation.

But can you identify in raamaayaNam one who in his

or her adversity praise the lord? That too not a small one but in a

colossal disaster. The disaster is - losing one's beloved husband.

Then a praise or that kind of person may be 'simply uncommon'.

Again that husband – that person lost is also not

an 'ordinary' or 'mean' person – the new buzz word for this

'ordinary person' or common man is 'aam aadhmi' in India – that

husband is not an aam aadhmi but -- but a 'great king' and a 'valiant

one'.

Then also if the 'praising' is done by that person?

Think about such extra ordinary characters.

Praising whom? After realising he was the 'so

called' killer or offender himself ? The main reason for losing that

'great husband'

– then such an act of 'praising' becomes

something extraordinary for the killer is also a person extra

ordinary – even that killing is also something extraordinary.

Perhaps this praise cannot be put in the 'barter'

category – that person who praised cannot be called a 'vaisya varNa

jaatha'.

We have two such instances in sreemadh

raamaayaNam

one by queen 'thaaraa' praising raama, the

intelligent wife of vaali, the great king of monkeys of kishkindha,

another by queen 'mandodhari' praising raama -

the wife of great king of lanka, the dhasagreeva, raavaNa.

 

In both instances, the person, who was the 'so

called' killer or offender is sree raama. And he is being praised by

both 'thaaraa' and 'mandodhari'. Both praise sree raama profusely. If

we combine these two parts, perhaps we can have a 'raama sahasra

naamam' in full, like what we have from the great bheeshma, which

actually is 'krishNa sahasra naamam' but we call it 'sree vishnu

sahasra naamam'.

In this post my topic will be that 'thaaraa's

praising of sree raama'.

Instance is: Vaali starts for war against sugreeva

his brother for the second time [first time vaali defeated sugreeva,

as raama did not act even though he was present there in support of

sugreeva, the reason being raama could not differentiate between the

two as to who is sugreeva].

This time thaaraa suggests to vaali ['or is it an

advice'] saying 'two brothers have come in support of your brother

sugreeva, so think, and then act'. Actually this information what

she gives to vaali about 'raama and lakshmaNa' is on a hearsay from

her son angadha, who was doing rounds in the forest area.

That 'introduction' about raama, what thaara gives

to vaali itself is a praise grandeur --

ayOdhya adhipathEh

puthrou Soorou samara dhurjayou |

ikshvaakooNaam kulE jaathou prathhithou raama

lakshmaNou || 4-15-17

sugreeva priya kaamaartham praapthou thathra

dhuraasadhou |

sa thE bhraathur hi vikhyaathah sahaayO raNa karmaNi

|| 4-15-18

raamah para balamardhee yugaantha agnih iva

uththhithah |

[as usual 4 here is kishkindha kaandam, 15 is sargam

number, 17 to 18 are slokam numbers]

meaning: thaaraa to vaali - " Those two,

Raama and Lakshmana, born in Ikshvaaku dynasty, sons of king of

ayOdhya, valiant and unconquerable in war, are here in this country.

These two unassailable ones have chanced at Sugreeva's place to

fulfil the longing desire of him. Raama, is an acclaimed one for his

warfare, and like the fire flaring up at the end of era, shatters the

strength of enemies, he is your brother's helpmate, they say so.

nivaasa vrikshah saadhoonaam aapannaanaam paraangathih |

4-15-19aarthaanaam samshrayah chaiva yaSasah cha Eka bhaajanam |

jnaana vijnaana sampannO nidhEshO nirathah pithuh ||

4-15-20dhaathoonaam iva SailEndhrO guNaanaam aakarO mahaan |

thath kshamO na virOdhah thE saha thEna mahaathmanaa ||

4-15-21dhurjayEna apramEyENa raameNa raNa karmasu |

meaning: [of 3 slokams combined] Raama, is said to

be the

habitable tree for the polite,

ultimate course for the woebegone,

hospice for the agonised,

only abode for grace.

 

is endowed with knowledge of mundane and

ultra-mundane things,

always abides in the directives of his father,

and

as with Mt. Himalayas for all natural elements,

he is the greatest mine of merits.

By that reason, with that unconquerable one in

conflict,

an imponderable one and

a great-soul Raama,

your enmity is inapposite.”

 

Point: This

part of thaaraa's 'praise' is before losing her husband. But once she

lost vaali and as such got upset, that portion of praise is more

emphatic, more a staring one, a straight praise from a “realised

soul”, about rama, in comparison to the praise on hearsay as above.

Those and other points on the above we will see in next post.

dhasan

Vasudevan MG