Sri Guna Rathna Kosam : Part 63: slOkam 53

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs of Sri RanganAyaki ThAyAr:

 

In the 53rd & the 54th slOkam , Swamy Parasara Bhattar

visualizes SrI RanganAyaki ThAyAr as SitA PirAtti ,

who suffered so much on our behalves and condemns

those , who can not and will not comprehend

Her Vaathsalyam and Compassion for us ,

the undeserving wretched ones :

 

nEthur-nithyasahAyinI JananI!nasthrAthum ThvamathrAgathA

lOkE Thvan-mahimAvaBhOdha-BadhirE PrApthA vimardham Bahu:

klishtam grAvasu MaalathIm-mrudhupadham vislishya vAsO vanE

jAthO dhik ! karuNAm dhigasthu YuvayO: svAtantryamathyankusam

 

--SrI GuNa Rathna KOsam : SlOkma 53

 

(Meaning according to Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan Swamy):

 

Oh Mother! You are the perennial companion to the Great

Lord and Master-Controller of the whole Universe .You take

birth in this world (along with Him ) only to rescue all

of us , poor souls ; what a pity You do it for the beings

of this world , who are ignorant of this ,ignorant of

Your greatness and totally blind and deaf to all that You

are doing for their sake.You walked on rough ,rocky

and thorny earth , lived in isolation in the island (Lanka)

and suffered separation from Your dear One. I grieve over

all this.

 

You may contend that You did all these out of the Divine

Grace and proverbial independence that You both wield.

Then , curse be on those virtues of Yours! Fie on them !

I hate them! Because it is they that make You undergo

(such) ordeals for the undeserving , ungrateful wretches

(of this world).

 

Additional General Comments on this SlOkam:

*******************************************

Thirumalai NallAn RaamakrishNa IyengAr summarizes

the heart of this slOkam this way :

 

" IRaivanakku YeNNALum ThuNaivi ! intha lOkatthu

yemmai yErkka vanthu Nee padum paadenna ? niRai

karuNaiyodu ThAyE ! Neevir koNda neRi kadantha

sutanthiramum ninthai seyvOm ! " .

 

The moving passage here is : " yemmai yERkka vanthu

Nee padum paadu enna ? " ( For saving us through

the act of SaraNAgathi , You have incarnated

and undergone unbearable sufferings . When we

think of those sufferings that You voluntarily

underwent, I am driven to despair and anger

and makes me shout , " Fie on these GuNAs " that

drove You to bear these sufferings .

 

" Dhig " is a Sanskrit expression for condemnation of

anything that disgusts one (Fie on that !). This is

the ninthai that SrI Ramakrishna Iyengar is

referring to.Swamy ParAsara Bhattar is so overwhelmed

by the thought of the indignations that SitA PirAtti

suffered that He uses " Dhig " twice:Once for condemning

the KaruNA guNam and next for condemning the SvAtantryam

( independence), which made Her put up will all

these sufferings for our upliftment(Ujjeevanam).

 

Out of Her immense Mercy (KaruNai ) and independence

(SvAtantryam ) , She undergoes a lot of sufferings .

This is in conformity with Her and Her Lord's avathAra

rahasyams . They conceal their Divinity and act as

though they were mortals to show (to act out )the righteous

way . When Swamy ParAsara Bhattar thinks about

the sufferings of Jaanaki MaathA during RaamavathAram ,

he flies into a rage and condemns the two guNams of

Her(KaruNai and SvAtantryam), which made her undergo

sufferings such as walking with Her Lord in the rough

forests full of thorny paths , seperation form Her husband

due to the cruelty of an ayOgyan and mahA paapi like Raavanan

and the anguish of seperation form Her Lord at AshOka Vanam.

These sufferings piled up one over the other and our

SitA Devi, the embodiment of Kshamaa (forbearance)

put up with these for the sake of showing us

the dhaarmic way .Swamy Bhattar is angry over

these central incidents of RaamAvathAram and

the sufferings of Jaanaki MaathA and gives vent

to his anger over those agonies .

 

Comments on the first Paadham of the SlOkam :

*********************************************

" nEthu: " at the beginning of this slOkam refers

to her Lord RanganAthan , who is the controller ,

niyanthA (commander) . He is the " nEthu " as

visualized by SvEtasvatAra Upanishad (6.7):

 

" Pathim PathInAm Paramam parasthAdh-

vidhAma dEvam BhuvanEsamIDyam " .

 

He is saluted here as the transcendent and adorable

Master of the Universe and as the Supreme Lord of

Lords and the Supreme Ruler of this Universe.

 

She is the " Nithya sahAyini " of this " nEthu "

and helps Him as His permanent saha-dharma-chariNi.

She helps as the means and goals for the chEthanams

to gain Moksha siddhi. She takes avathArams befitting

His roopams during His avathArams (Roopa Anuroopam).

 

She is JananI and has incarnated on this earth for

our protection and salvation ( na: thrAthum athra

aagathA ). She is SarvalOka Janani .She has Jagath-

KaaraNa sambhandham ( equal role in the creation of

this universe with Her Lord). Therefore , She is Janani.

Srushti itself has been described as a result of

Her DayA : " KaraNa KaLEbarai: ghaDayithum DayamAnamanA " .

She banishes all Bhagavadh-anubhava virOdhis and

assures Moksham . That is the purpose of Her incarnation

to bless us and protect us ( na: ThrAthum aagathA ).

 

Comments on the Second line:

****************************

" lOke Thvan-MahimA-avaBhOdha-BadhirE

prApthA vimardham bahu: " .In this world , there

are many , who do not comprehend Your greatness

(mahimai) and are like the deaf and blind in

this respect. " AvabhOdhanam " is perception or

right judgement based on clear comprehension

of a subject. PirAtti's MahimA avabOdhanam

is beyond many unfortunate ones. In this matter

they are like " Badhira: " or the BadhirAndha:

(deaf and blind) . They do not have the capabilities

that result as a result of SadAchArya KaDAksham .

 

Comments on the Third Line:

****************************

" Klishtam grAvasu maalathi-mrudhu-padahm

vislishya vaasO vanE (JaathO) "

 

" klishtam " refers to distress connected with

sufferings and pain . What are those distresses

or torments suffered by SitA PirAtti ? She walked

on rough, gravelly and thorny paths of the forests

with Her Lord . Her creeper soft feet were torn by

the gravels and thorns . She suffered from the separation

from Her Lord as a result of the abduction by the evil

RaavaNan . She spent Her solitary days in the AsOka

Vanam , where the haughty RaavaNan tormented Her

with His advances.

 

HanumAn describes Her sufferings aptly in Sundara

KaaNDam , when he sees Her first in Her desperate

state at AsOka Vanam:

 

maanyA guru-vinIthasya Lakshmanasya GurupriyA

yadhi SeethAapi dukh:rtthA KAALO HI DHURADHIKRAMA:

 

(MEANING): What other evidence does one need to

recognize the power of kala gathi than seeing

SeethA --the object of worship of LakshmaNan

known for his reverence for the bhAgavathAs

and the dear wife of SrI Ramachandran--undergoing

such sufferings at LankA ? She put up with the threats

of the raakshasis and at one time wanted to end

Her life out of loneliness and separation from Her

dearest husband ( SrEyO mE jeevithAn-marthum

vihInAya MahAthmana:/ Sundara KaaNdam: 26.45).

Those were her sufferings during RaamAvathAram.

 

Comments on the Fourth Line:

*****************************

" (JaathO) dhiK! karuNAm dhik asthu

YuvayO: svAtantryamathyankusam "

 

Your KaruNai and SvAtantryam are behind

putting up all these sufferings to show

the righteous way of Your Lord (RaamO

VigrahavAn Dharma:). You are also a Dharma

moorthy and karuNAvaruNAlayam matching in

every way with Your Lord. If You underwent

these unimaginable sufferings for the sake

of the wretched and worthless , who have no

comprehension of what you want for them ,

condemnation be on those guNAs of Yours ,

which are the root cause of Your sufferings .

 

ParAsara Bhattar has in mind the famous

Paasuram of Swamy NammAzhwAr( ThiruvAimozhi:2789):

 

--nattil piRanthu padaathana pattu manisarkkA

naatai naliyum arakkarai naadi tadinthittu

naatai aLitthu uyyac-cheythu nadanthamai kEttumE

 

The Lord was born in manushya yOni and suffered

garbha vaasam like a mortal for 12 months , rejected

raajyam, went to forest to fulfill His promise to His

father with His young bride and suffered untold

sufferings ( padAthana pattu ) for the sake of

the ungrateful janams (sey nanRi aRiyAtha Maanidams).

He saved the world and gave salvation to all those

Maanidams. SithA Devi did not undergo garbha vaasam

like Her Lord , but underwent every suffering

including raajya Bramsam , vana vaasam and

seperation from her dear One . All of this for

the sake of the ungrateful humans , who are

incapable of understanding Her and her Lord's Vaibhavam .

Even Lord Ramachandra talks about the untold sufferings

that He went through out of His own sankalpam in

AaraNya KaaNDam( Chapter 67 slOkam 24):

 

raajyam bhrashtam vanE vaasa:

SitA nashtaa mruthO dhvija:

idhrusIyam mama-alakshmI

nirdahEdhapi hi paavakam

 

(meaning): My kingdom is lost; exile to

the forest was ordered for Me; SitA has also

been lost ; My dear friend JatAyu (My dear friend

in the forest)has died.Such indeed is My durbhAgyam

(alakshmI)that can consume fire itself (that consumes all).

 

Both these associated misfortunes as well as the unique

ones experiened by SitA PirAtti enrage Swamy ParAsara Bhattar

and he curses the svAbhAvika GuNams ( KaruNai and

SvAtantryam ) of PirAtti for being the root causes

of Her sufferings .Such is Bhattar's bhakthi for

SrI RanganAyaki , His Mother !

 

Sri RanganAyaki ThAyAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SaThakOpan /Sadagopan

 

P.S: AdiyEn appeals with folded hands to you

to participate in the NithyArAdhana Kaimkaryam for

Swamy Desikan and ViLakkoLI PerumAL at Thoopul .

Our AchArya Saarvabhouman was conferred the title of

Sarva Tanthra Svathanrar by Sri RanganAyaki ThAyAr

Herself.Please contact me for details on how you can help

by taking part in this noble & auspicious kaimkaryam .