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Sri Sundara KaaNDa NavAham:Sixth day ( April 9 ): Sargams 34-40 ( 390 SlOkams).

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • Sun Apr 09 2000 - 16:50:10 PDT 


Dear Raama BhakthAs:

Today we will cover the slOkams from seven
more sargams of Sundara KaaNDam .

(1) KshEma VrutthAntha Kathanam/Announcement
    of the KshEma samaachArams about Sri Raama- 
    LakshmaNALs. 

(2) VisvAsOthpAdhanam/Generation of Trust in
    SeethA PirAtti by AnjanEyar

(3) AngUlyakaprAdhAnam/Giving the ring etched
    with RaamA's name to Seethai by HanumAn. 

(4) VisvarUpa darsanam/HanumAn demonstrating
    his visvarUpam

(5) Vaayasa vrutthAntha kathanam/ Description of
    the KaakAsura episode at ChithrakUtam 

(6) SeethA SamAsvAsanam/Consoling Seethai

(7) HanUmathprEkshaNam/ Saying farewell
    to HanumAn by Seethai

Among today's paarAyaNa sargams are two
(36th and 38th ) , which have been specially
recommended for conferral of certain benefits
for those , who recite these two sargams .

For instance , the recitation of the 36th slOkam
is recommended for anyone, who is separated from 
relatives . It should be read both in the morning
and evening. Fruits should be offered to the Lord
at the end of the paarAyanam . 

The recitation of the 38th sargam is traditionally 
recommended for removal of BhagavathApachArams .

The thirty Fourth sargam
*************************

HanumAn starts his message to Seethai by
introducing himself as a Raama dhUthan:

aham Raamasya sandhEsAth dEvi dhUthastavAgatha:
VaidEhi KusalI RaamasthvAm cha kousalam abhraveeth
Sargam 34.2

(meaning): Oh Devi! I have arrived here on command
from Sri Raaman to serve as His dhUthan(messenger).
Oh VaidEhI ! Raaman is well. He asked me to inquire 
about your well being.

SeethA PirAtti was thrilled to hear about the well being of 
Her Lord and brother-in-law and that news set Her mind at peace.
She relaxed and developed trust in HanumAn( parasparENa
chaalAbham visvasthau thau prachakrathu:). As HanumAn 
approached near Her, SeethA PirAtti had a sudden suspicion
that it was RaavaNan himself , who is standing before Her
as a monkey in the guise of a Raama dhUthan. A shiver went
thru Her body and She decided to cut Her conversation 
with HanumAn , who in turn was confused by this turn of events. 
He decided that the only way out of that impasse was to 
recite the Raama Charithra kathanam through an exquisite
eulogy of the glories of SeethApathi :

Aadhithya iva tEjasvi lOkakAntha: SasI yatha
RaajA Sarvasya lOkasya DhEvO VaisravaNO YathA 
vikramENOpapannasccha yathA Vishnur mahAyasa: 

SathyavAdhI madhuravaagdEvO VachaspathiryathA
roopavAn subhaga: SrImAn kandharpa iva moorthymAn

sthAnakrOdha: praharthA cha srEshtO lOkE MahAratha:
BaahucchAyAm avashtaBdhO yasya lOkO mahaathmana:
Sargam 34.28-30

(meaning): Sri Raamachandran has the lustre of 
Aadhithyan (Sun God); He cools all the universe
with His dayA guNam as Chandran; He is the Lord of 
the Universe (posssessor of great wealth) like 
KubEran; In valour , He is comparable to MahA VishNu.

He always speaks the truth. His words are sweet.
In His skills of conversation , He is equal to
the dEva guru, Brahspathi. In soundharyam (beauty)
He equals Manmathan. He is the embodiment of 
MahA BhAgyams .

He will get angry on appropriate occasions . He is 
a destroyer of His foes thereafter. He is the most
skilled warrior.The whole world has sought the refuge
of His powerful hands and rests there comfortably.
Such are the attibutes of my Lord , Sri Raamachandran.

HanumAn continued:

nithyam smarathi RaamasthvAm sasugrIva: salakshmaNa:
( Sri Raamabhadran comforted by Lakshmanan 
and SugrIvan thinks of you every moment ).

After hearing these words of HanumAn describing 
the KalyANa guNams of Her Lord, SeethA's fears
were banished. She was heartened to know that 
the love of Her Lord has not diminished with time and 
She became tranquil. She became eager to hear more 
about Her Lord and Lakshmanan. She asked HanumAn 
to describe to Her in more detail the beautiful limbs 
and auspicious attributes of Her Lord to strengthen
Herself.

HanumAn was very happy to reflect upon the beauty
and anantha kalyANa guNams of his Lord , the consort of
SeethA Piratti. Through fourteen exquisite slOkams of
the 35th sargam ( SlOkmas 8-21) , HanumAn described 
the soundharya(sAmudrikA) lakshaNams and the aathma guNams 
of Sri Raamachandran to the utter delight of SeethA's heart.

Through the rest of the 69 slOkams of the 35th sargam ,
HanumAn continued with the story of how his king , Sugrivan
and himself met Sri RaamA and  LakshmaNA for the first time,
the pact made between SugrIvA and RaamA to free SugrIvan
from the torments of Vaali , the promise made by SugrIvan
to help find SeethA , RaamA's unquenchable sorrow
over the separation from SeethA ,his(HanumAn's) jumping 
over the ocean to LankA in search of SeethA as  a result
of the tip from SampAthi ( AruNan's son)and HanumAn 
concluded with the statement:

abhibhAshasva maam Devi dhUthO DaasarathEraham
tamm Maam RaamakruthOdhyOgam tvannimittham ihAgatham
Sargam 35.72.2 and 73.1

(Meaning): Oh Devi! (I have told you truthfully
every thing).Please speak to me.I am indeed 
the Messenger of RaamA, the son of DasarathA.
Please recognize me as the One engaged in service
to RaamA and as One , who has arrived here on
your behalf and as the minister of SugrIvan and 
as Vaayu puthran . I am not to be misunderstood as
MaayAvi RaavaNan in disguise to delude You .

Next , HanumAn gave SeethA pirAtti , the ring
with the inscription of "RaamA " that RaamA
had entrusted him with .This 36th chapter dealing
with the giving of Ring to SeethA is aptly named
"AngulIyaka PradhAna Sargam ".This ring sanctified by
sage YaagynavalkyA played a key role in the praNaya
Kalaham between Lord RaamachandrA and Seetha that
was known only to them .  

SeethA received the sacred ring of Her Lord and
felt as though She had Her Lord in Her embrace.
She conceded that Raaman will never ask anyone
to execute a task without due examination of their
fitness to accomplish the assigned task .Hence,
She stated that she fully trusted HanumAn and 
directed a volley of questions at him about 
the well being of Raama out of Her most tender feelings 
for Her Lord.These slOkams ( Sargam 36.15-29) are known 
as the kascchinn slOkams. An example of these slOkams is:

kascchin mithrANi labhathE mithraiscchApyabhigamyathE?
Kascchith kalyANa mithrasccha mithraiscchApi puraskrutha: ?
Sargam 36.18

(Meaning): Does my Raaman acquire friends? Is He 
visited by His friends? Does He have freinds , who
have good will towards Him ? Is He well regarded by
these friends and not abandoned by them ? 

SeehtA pirAtti, Our Jaanaki MaathA describes Her
unparalleled relationship with Her Lord in another
moving slOkam that pulls at our heart strings:

na chAsya MaathA na PithA cha Naanya:
snEhaath visishtOathi mayA samO vaa
tAvatthvaham dhUtha jijIvishEyam 
yaavath pravrutthim sruNuyAm priyasya
Sargam 36.30

(Meaning ): Oh Raama DhUtha! For My Lord 
Raamachandran, there is no one ( father,
mother or anyone else) , who can equal or excell 
me in friendship and love.As long as I hear about 
my dear One's kshEmam , I will keep myself alive.

Aadhi Kavi VaalmIki salutes these revelatroy words
as those with "Mahaartham " or profound in meaning. 

HanumAn's answers to the many questions of SeethA 
Devi about Her husband's status are equally moving. 

MalayEna cha VindhyEna MeruNA mandharaNE cha
DhardhurENa cha tE Devi SapE moola BhalEna cha

Kshipram Dhrakshyasi VaidEhi Raamam PrasravaNe girou
Sathakrathum-ivAseenam naaga-prushatsya moordhani
Sargam 36.38& 40

(Meaning ): I swear by the name of of the sacred 
Mandhara , Malaya , DhardhUra, VindhyA and  Meru 
mountains that You are going to have the darsana
soubhAgyam of Your Lord seated now on top of 
the Prasravana parvatham , reminding one of Indran 
seated majesticaly in his abode at svarga lOkam.

In the 37th sargam , HanumAn comforts SeethA pirAtti 
about the nearness of Sri RaamA's arrival in LankA 
to rescue Her and unite with Her .HanumAn even offered
to give SeethA a ride on his back to prasravaNa parvatham 
to unite Her with his Lord. SeethA pirAtti wondered how
a monkey of small frame standing in front of Her could
dare to trasport Her across the huge immense of the ocean.
HanumAn responded to her doubts and showed his Visva roopam.
He grew to great heights and towered over all things
around him all the way up to the sky. Then he shrank his 
visva roopam. SeethA pirAtti then shared with HanumAn
the real reasons for Her rejection of HanumAn's offer to
carry Her back to safety to Her Lord's side. 

bharthru bhakthim puraskruthya RaamAdhanyasya vaanara
na SprusAmi sarIram thu pumsO vaanarapungava
Sargam 37.60

(Meaning): Oh Great Vaanaram ! In view of my 
pathivrathA dharmam , I will not ouch any one's body 
other than that of my Lord .

HanumAn apologized for his ardour to help SeethA
PirAtti and unite her with her lord through 
the offer to carry Her on his back across the ocean 
and saluted Her observance of PathivrathA dharmam .

This sargam concludes with SeethA piraatti's ardent
appeal to HanumAn to hasten RaamA to Her side 
and thereby  eliminate all Her unbearable sorrows. 

The 38th sargam deals with an incident known only to
Raaman and Seethai , which happened during their
stay at ChithrakUtam mountains.She shares it with
HanumAn to convince RaamA about the veracity of
His messenger finding Her at LankA and also to tease 
Her Lord about His lack of action in rescuing Her
through dispatch of BrahmAsthram that was sent after 
the offending KaakAsuran at ChitrakUtam .She pleaded
with HanumAn that Her Lord should arrive at LankA and 
rescue Her before the two months time limit set by
RaavaNA to possess Her or to destroy Her. 

At this juncture , SeethA pirAtti took the chUDamaNi
( special gem studded ornament ) that She used to
wear in her happier days and gave it to HanumAn
to take it back to her Lord as a token of affection
and insignia of Her love for Her Lord. HanumAn received 
that MaNirathnam with humility and reverence 
and made a pradakshiNam around SeethA pirAtti and
offered his deep salutations.

In the 39th sargam , HanumAn comforts SeethA 
further and asserts that the end of RaavaNA was 
fast approaching and that RaamA and LakshmaNA
will soon be in LankA to destroy the evil RaavaNA
and to rescue His dear Consort . 

In the fourtieth sargam, SeethA pirAtti blesses 
HanumAn for success in concluding his mission 
and bids him farewell .HanumAn's state of mind
is described in the last slOkma of today's PaarAyanam:

sa Raajaputhr^yA prathivEdhithArtha:
Kapi: kruthArtha: ParihrushtachEthA:
alpAvasEsham prasamIkshya Kaaryam
disam hudhIchIm mansA jagAma.. Sargam 40.24

(meaning): HanumAn , who understood well the message of
SeethA to her dear husband considered himself as a 
kruthArthan (one who has been blessed to have fulfilled
his assigned task by Lord Raamachandran ) and became
elated over the developments since he landed in LankA .
He focused his attention now on the insignificant small
things to attend prior to returning to the side of RaamA.
His mind wandered towards the northern direction , where 
RaamA was waiting anxiously for his return with the news
on his  mission to LankA. 

Sri Raamachandra ParabrahmaNE nama:
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan 
Sixth Day of NavAham on Sundara KaaNDam        

  


   


    


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