Thiruvaheendhrapuram RathnAngi Kaimkaryam Special: Part 196/Sundara KahANDam/2004 SrI Raama Navami Series : Sixrth Day .

[Guest guest]

SrI Raama Jayam

 

Dear Raama BhakthAs:

 

Aadhithya iva tEjasvee lOkakAntha: sasee yaTA

RaajA sarvasya lOkasya DevO VaisravaNO yaTA

vikramENOpannasccha yaTA VishNur-mahAyasA:

 

Sathyavaadhee madhura-vAgdEvO Vaachaspathir-yaTA

roopavAn Subha: SrImAn Kandarpa iva MoorthymAm

 

sTAna-krOdha: praharthA cha srEshtO lOkE MahAraTa:

bAhucchAyAm avashtaBdhO yasya lOkO MahAthmana:

---Sundara KaaNDam 34.28-30

 

(Meaning): SrI Raaman is like Sooryan in lustre (tEjas).

He cools the world like the comforting rays of the Moon .

He is the king of all Iswaryam like KubhEran and the ruler

of these worlds. In valor , He is like the celebrated MahA VishNu.

 

He speaks only the truth. His speech is sweet . The content of that

speech shows wisdom equal to that of Bruhaspathi , the Deva Guru.

He is like Manmathan in His beauty. He is the embodiment of great

good fortunes ( BhAgyams) .He is full of tEjas .

 

He will get angry at the relevant time and destroy His enemies.

He is the greatest of charioteer in the world. The world feels safe and

enjoys comfort by staying under the shade of His powerful arms .

Such is the glory of SrI Raaman !

 

Overall Summary of Sargams 34-40 : Todays' coverage/390 slOkams

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

HanumAn spoke now to SeethA Devi and said that he was in LankA

as Her Lord's messenger on direct command from Him . He told SeethA

Devi that Her husband is well and inquired after Her well being . HanumAn

nullified SeethA PirAtti's suspicions about him being RaavaNan in disguise

by

talking about Raama charithram . He begged SeethA PirAtti to trust Him as

a true Raama DhUthan ( sargam 34). SeethA Devi questioned HanumAn and asked

Him to describe the body lakshaNams and unique attributes of Raamachandran

to check whether HanumAn is indeed the messenger from Her Lord. HanumAn

responded to all these questions with such precision that SeethA PirAtti

was assured that HanumAn is indeed the Raama dhUthan and trusted him

( Sargam 35).

 

The 36th Sargam covers a key incident in Sundara KaaNDam , where

SeethA Devi recieved the special hand ring sent by Her Lord from HanumAn

and became joyous ( Sargam 36). HanumAn offered to transport SeethA Devi

on His back to where Her Lord was on the other side of the ocean . SeethA

Devi commented that HanumAn was too small to carry Her over such long

distances . HanumAn showed now His Viswa Roopam ( gigantic form ) to

convince

SeethA Devi of His extraordinary strength . Although She became fully

convinced of

HanumAn's balam , Seetha revealed that as a Pathivrathai , She can not have

the contact with the body of anyone other than Her husband and therefore She

could not ride on HanumAn's back to Her Lord's side.She suggested that it

will

be more appropriate for RaamA to come to LankA ., win the battle with

RaavaNaan and then take Her back to His ( Raamachandran's) side(Sargam 37) .

 

A private incident that happened involving the mahA apachAram (wrong doing )

by KaakAsuran and Her husband is recalled by SeethA Devi now and She asks

HanumAn as to why Her Lord , who was angry enough to send the powerful

BrahmAsthram after the offending KaakAsuran has not yet punished RaavaNan

and rescued Her. She asked HanumAn to tell Her Lord that She can not wait

much longer for Him since the deadline set by RaavaNan ( two months)

was fast approaching. She now gave Her crest jewel ( ChUDaamaNi)

to HanumAn and asked Him to take it back to her Lord as a true symbol

prooving Her sorrowful existence as the prisoner of RaavaNan ( Sargam 38).

 

Next , HanumAn comforted SeethA Devi that Her Lord will arrive in

LankA very soon for destroying RaavaNan and rescuing Her ( Sargam 39) .

SeethA PirAtti is saddened by the imminent departure of HanumAn

and gives him information about happenings between Herself and

Her Lord that He alone would know to convince Him of HanumAn's

successful mission to find Her . Reluctantly , She bade farewell to

HanumAn now ( Sargam 40).

 

Let us now go to the highlights of individual Sargams .

 

Sargam 34: KshEma VrutthAntha KaTanam

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

SeethA PirAtti became suspicious of HeanumAn . She thought

it might be RaavaNan taking the disguise of a monkey as he did

once before by taking the roopam of a SanyAsi to abduct Her.

She asked the monkey before Her to recite the story of Her Lord

since it was dear to Her .HanumAn repeated now the charithram of

His Lord with great bhakthi. SlOkmas 28-30 of this sargam are

beautiful descriptions of the Roopam and KalyANa GuNams of

Lord Raamachandran quoted at the beginning of this posting .

HanumAn begged SeethA PirAtti to recognize Him as the true

messenger of Her Lord and not to think that He was RaavaNan in

disguise (VisankA thyajathAm ).

 

Sargam 35: ViswAsOthpaadhanam( Generation of Hope & Trust)

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

HanumAn continues the narration of the dhivya soundharyam of

Raamachandran and His auspicious personal attribute ( Aathma

GuNams) , which was like nectar for SeethA PirAtti's ears & mind.

SlOkmas 8-21 of this Sargam are extraordinarily beautiful portrayal

of the divine beauty of the Lord , His SaamudhrikA LakshaNams and

Aathma GuNams.Next HanumAn talks about the friendship that Raaman

established with His king , Sugreevan to seek his help in the search for

His DEvi.HanumAn narrated next Vaali vadham and the beginning of

the search for Her by the Monleys and bears. He described threafter

the message from SampAdhi about SeethA PirAtti's incarceration in

LankA by the evil RaavaNan , which resulted in Him being picked by

Sugreevan and Lord Raamachandra to go to LankA on the mission to

find SeethA PirAtti.He told DEvi next about His own birth as Vaayu

Puthran . SeethA PirAtti became convinced now that the monkey

standing before Her was indeed the Raama DhUthan and trusted Him .

 

SeethA Piratti was thirsty to hear more about Raama charithram and

His well being . She requested HanumAn to tell more about Her Lord

and HanumAn obliged gladly and filled in additonal details about

Sugreeva Sakhyam (Friendship with Sugreevan ) and His jumping

over the ocean to LankA in search of Her( Raama Kaaryam) . HanumAn

ended this description and begged SeethA to become tranquil over

the prospect of Her Lord arriving at LankA soon to rescue Her .

 

Sargam 36: AnguLeeyakapradhAnam ( Giving RaamA's hand ring to SeethA)

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

HanumAn took the next step and presented Her with the special ring with

the inscription of Raama Naamam that was worn by Raamachandran on

His hands to SeethA PirAtti . She was overjoyed with that gift that HanumAn

brought from Her Lord. SeethA Devi praised the parAkramam of HanumAn

in jumping over the vast ocean and complimented Him that He is the right

messenger chosen by Her Lord.Now begins the detailed inquiry by SeethA

Devi about the physical and mental status of Her Lord in the state of

seperation

from Her( SlOkas 11-30). The 30th slOkam is a powerful one :

 

na chAsya MaathA na PithA cha naanya:

snEhath visishtOasthi mayA samO vaa

thaavathvaham DhUtha jijieevishEyam

yaavath pravrutthim sruNayAm Priyasya

 

(Meaning ): For this Raaman , My Lord , there is no one (Father ,

Mother , relatives) who is equal or greater in affection than Me.

Oh DhUtha ! I will continue to live as long as I hear about

the kshEma samAchAram about my dear Lord . The moved

HanumAn cited instances of the sufferings of Raamachandran

over His seperation from SeethA Devi to remove Her sorrow.

 

Sargam 37: Viswaropa Darsanam ( Display of Viswa Roopam by HanumAn)

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

Eager HanumAn observed that SeethA PirAtti can sit on His back and

cross the ocean and arrive at Her Lord' side quickly. SeethA rejected

this offer because of Her chastity that would limit any touch with any male

other than Her husband. She was curious to know about the sakthi of

HanumAn to travel back to RaamA's side to bring back the news of

His successful mission to Lanka . HanumAn took a gigantic form in

front of SeethA Devi to convince Her about His prowess. SeethA PirAtti

became joyous and requested to come back soon with Her Lord and

LakshmaNan to LankA and reunite Her with Her Lord .

 

Sargam 38 :Vaayasa VrutthAntha KaTanam( KaakAsuran's episode: Recall)

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

KaakAsura apachAram ( trespass) to SeethA PirAtti , RaamA's punishmnet

of Him is described by SeethA Devi with a purpose to HanumAn . In this

context,

She asked HanumAn why Her Lord , who punished KaakAsuran earlier did not

seem it fit to rush to LankA and destroy RaaavaNan for his MahApachAram .

She told the story of Kaakaasura SaraNAgathy , which would be known

only to Her and Her Lord to provide credence to HanumAn's visit. She also

gave HanumAn the ChUDaamaNi that she used to wear and aksed Him to

present it to Her Lord in rememberance of Her.She asked HanumAn to

inquire Raamachandran about His well being and asked Him to offer Her

PraNAmams to her Lord on behalf of Her ( Thamm MamArTe Sukham

pruccha SirasA chAbhivAdhaya ). HanumAn was moved very much ,

performed PradakshiNam around Her and felt that He was already back

at Raamachandran's isde .

 

Sargam 39 : SeethA SamAsvAsanam( Consoling SeethA PirAtti)

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

HanumAn consoled SeethA PirAtti with encouraging words describing

the forthcoming invasion of LankA by Her Lord with the army of monkeys

to rescue Her :

 

Kshopram Thvam Devi sOkasya pAram yAsyasi MyTili

RaavaNam chaiva RaamENa nihatham dhrakshyasE achirAth

--Sundara KaaNDam: 39.45

 

(Meaning): Oh MyTili Devi ! Very soon You will reach the other side of

the ocean of sorrow. Very soon , You are going see RaavaNan , who

will be killed by YOur Lord, Veera Raaghavan !

 

She consoled thus SeethA PirAtti and asked Her to bear with

the seperation for a little more time ( an tE chirAdhAgamanam

Priyasya Kshamasva mathsangama-kaalamAthram).

 

Sargam 40: Hanumath PrEkshaNam (Farewell to HanumAn)

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

The somewhat consoled SeethA blessed HanumAn and bid

farewell to Him after reminding HanumAn once again that She

would not last in LankA beyond a month and that Her Lord

to rush to Her side at the soonest . HanumAn understood

the message of SeethA Devi very well and now began to think

about the remaining things to be done at LankA and prayed to

Lord Raamachandra by turning His head towards the northerly

direction .

 

SrI Jaanakee SamEtha SrI Raamachandra ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Raama Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan