thaaraa praises raama 4

[Guest guest]

Dear

sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

We

saw in point no 1 describing that mansvinee thaaraa, “raama

sannidhi mahaathmyam” made thaara to obtain a serenity, who just

had lost her husband [in spite of she being in such an amount of

despair] and she started praising raama.

Just

we take a little diversion and enter into lankaa – when hanumaan is

searching the lankaa to locate the dhEvi seethaa – he could not

find her after searching all places – vaalmeeki specifically says

hanumaan did not leave “a 4 inch gap” in all places of lanka

[except aSOka vanam]. Just he has not entered the aSOka gardens yet,

he was very despondent then. Haumaan said on

sighting the aSOka vanam – a Soka – that which removes the Sokam

– or opposite of Sokam which is happiness.

 

hanumaan says

 

namO asthu raamaaya sa lakshmaNaaya | dhEvyai cha thasyai janaka

aathmajaayai |

 

namO asthu rudhra indhra yama anilEbhyah | namO asthu chandhra arka

marudh gaNEbhyah ||

 

5-13-59

meaning: “Let there be salutations to Sri Raama

together with LakshmaNa. Also to that seethaa, who is king janaka's

daughter, the divine, let there be salutations. To Rudhra, Indhra,

Yama and Vaayu let there be salutations.”

point:

Once hanumaan did this 'raama vandhanam' and entered into the garden,

got the sight of seethaa in aSOka garden. It is all due to “raama

naama mahaathmyam”.

There,

in thaaraa's case, it was raama sannidhi mahaathmyam – here it is

raama naama mahaathmyam [or mahimai in tamil].

 

That

is why sree thyaagaraaja also places a krithi in raagam – Sudhdhha

bangaaLa – “raama bhakthi saamraajyam” here. Now the krithi --

Pallavi:

raama bhakthi saamraajyam

- E maanavulakabbEnO

manasaa - raama

meaning: O my mind! the empire of devotion to sree

raama is attainable to whomsoever it be!

Anupallavi:

aa maanavula sandharSanam

athyantha brahma aanandhamE -- raama

meaning: Even beholding those persons, is indeed an

intense Supreme bliss. I cannot describe (the empire) to be of such

and such nature; it is knowable only through self experience.

CharaNam: eelaagani vivarimpa lEnu

chaala svaaanubhava vEdhyamE

leelaa srishTi jagathrayamanE

kOlaahala

thyaagaraaja nuthuDagu (raama)

meaning: To whomsoever was attainable the uproarious

empire - of devotion to sree raama – the Lord praised by this

thyaagaraaja - called the three worlds is projected sportingly by him

– that raama!

 

 

Points:

 

1. As

I say many a times when I write on thyaagaraaja krithis, here also

the raagam selection itself indicates the purpose or place of the

krithi – sudhdhham because the thaayaar – seethaa is there in the

aSOka vanam – it is the bungalow for her. Because that sudhdhha

sathvam seethaa is there, the very 'aSOka vanam' is suddham – pure

– so raagam also sudhdhha bangaaLa.

2.

Actually if you see the root word for bungalow in English, it is

'bangalaa' in 'hindhi or bengali' as per www.dictionary.com website.

Some

may say this is a raagam from north. On that -- “Further in

Hindusthaani Sangeetham, there is no raagam called 'Bangala'. But

there are raagams known as 'Bangala Bhairav' and 'Bangala Bilawal',

which are quite different from the Bangala of South” says a

statement on raagam 'bangala'.

An

alternate name for sudhdhha bangaala is 'gouri veLaavaLi' says yet

another statement.

3. Just a wild thought here on that 'gouri

veLaavaLi' – take or leave it . When marriage of rukmini takes

place with krishNa – she goes to the temple of durgaa or gouri.

'maNamaalai andhari sootta kanaa kaNDEn' says aaNdaaL – andhari

meaning durga or gouri or parvathi. Same way - just to indicate the

'subha vELai' of seethaa joining back with raama, the raagam is

'gouri vELaavaLi' or sudhdhha bangaala.

 

 

4. just before entering the aSoka vanam, hanumaan

wanted to do the namaskaaram to raama and he went to raama thru his

mind - manasaa – says Sri Thyaagaraaja ST – which is in line with

vaalmeeki

-- vaalmeeki says in slOkam 59

sa gathvaa manasaa poorvam aSOka vanikaam subhaam |

uththaram chinthayaamaasa vaanarah maarutha

aathmajah || 5-13-59

so what ST says 'manasaa' goes in line with

vaalmeeki.

-- aa maanavula

sandharSanam athyantha brahma aanandhamE – raama – says ST

yes. Raama is a manushyan – hanumaan is a monkey –

so that 'sam dharSanam' of raama to hanumaan thru the mind – good

look or good view of raama is giving limitless happiness to hanumaan.

eelaagani vivarimpa lEnu – this aanandham of seeing raama - cannot

be described – only to be realised – sva anubhavamE.

Does hanumaan realise it – yes – because he

became successful in his mission – which is more than winning all 3

worlds at that time.

How is that aanandham – bliss – happiness?

Simply it cannot be explained but only can be experienced.

Oh raama – your naama mahimai – raama bhakthi

mahimai.

Let all enjoy that raama bhakthi – let us continue

in next post.

dhasan

 

 

-- Vasudevan MG