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sri rama navami- rama sthuthi- 15

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.G.Vasudevan • June 7, 2001 


Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In the previous post, we saw the vaishnava philosophy is spelt out clearly
of antharyamithvam and parathvam at the same time and wondering this as a
maamaayam of raamaa. A doubt also expressed as to "from whom you learnt the
vEdhaas". Now the last verse of this raama sthuthi by viraadhan- 

Oppu iRaiyum peRal ariya oruvaa mun uvanthu uraiyum
Appu uRaiyuL thuRanthu adiyEn arum thavaththaal aNugudhalaal
Ip piRavik kadal kadanthEn inip piRavEn iru vinaiyum
Thuppu uRazhum neerththa sudar thiruvadiyaal thudaiththaai nee!

Word by word meaning for few words: 
Oppu- upamaa - comparing
Oruvaa- one who stands alone
Appu- water- but here it is the thiruppaaRkadal 
iRaiyum- kadavuLum

Meaning: Oh! supreme Lord raamaa, one who stands alone and one who has no
parallel to you! You came down to this earth, because of my good fortune,
leaving your abode of the milk- ocean and touched me with your feet. Because
of this touch of your feet, I am relieved of all sins of this birth and
earlier births, I have crossed the ocean of birth and deaths. I will have no
more births.

Points: 1.  The saraNagathy saasthram is being spelt out here like bhagavath
geethaa in the last chapter. See the assertion- thiruvadiyaal
thudaiththathanaal inip piRavEn- I will not be born again. Why- iru vinaiyum
sudar thiruvadiyaal thudaiththaai nee- oh lord, you have relieved me all the
sins of this birth and the carryover praarabdha karmas of earlier janmaas.
When you touched me with your feet, all those sins have vanished. So the
"charaNm vraja mOksha yishyaami maa sucha:" which you are going to utter in
next avathaaram of sri krishna has become true now itself in my case-
confirms viraadhan.

2. Since raama's feet touched twice and blessed viradhan, he got relieved
his paapam fully. See the route- it is the route of chaRaNam- feet -
mentioned here as thiruvadiyaal thudaiththaai. When viraadhan carried raama
and lakshmaNa in his shoulder, he got the thiruvadi sparsam once, another
time when raama pushed him into the pit with his feet. So viraadhan is
touched twice by those parama pavithramaana thiruvadigaL. Once itself is
more than sufficient to release all the sins. He was blessed twice. Just it
can be said for our interpretation, that once touching removed the sins,
second touching gave the relief of crossing the ocean of births and deaths.
Just for taste. Kamban's strong word here is "thudaiththaai". 

3. "Piravip perunkadal neenthuvar neenthaadhaar 
iRaivan adi sEraadhaar- says thiruk kuRaL
- these people can not cross the ocean of births and deaths, if they can not
reach the feet of the Lord. That thiruvadiyaal thudaikkap pattaal ozhiya
this crossing of the piRavip perum kadal can not be achieved.

4. The "oppu iRaiyum peRal ariya oruvaa" perhaps has emanated from
Oru nayagamaai Oda ulagudan aaNdavar
Karu naai kavarntha kaalar sidhaigiya paanaiyar
Peru naadu kaaNa immaiyilE pichchai thaam koLvar
Thiru naaraNan thaaL kaalam peRach chinthiththu uymminO! -4 -1-1 nam
aazhvaar

Oru naayagam- a single central figure- oruvaa-
To reach that mOksha lOkam beg to those feet of the naaraayaNan. These will
grant that boon. In present context the thiruvadi has already done it for
viraadhan- so thudaiththaai nee.

5. Panik kadalil paLLi kOLaip pazhaga vittu Odi vanthu en 
manak kadalil vaazha valla maaya maNaaLa nambee 
- 5- 4-9 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi
Hey Lord, maayaa, ever green hero- maNaaLaa- nithya kalyaaNanE - you left
your abode of that panik kadal- ocean of appu and came to my mind ocean-
manak kadal- see kamban's lines are more the same as aazhvaar.

6. PaRavai yEru param purudaa nee yennaik kaik koNdapin 
piRavi yennum perum kadalum vaRRip perum padham aaginRadhaal
- 5-4-2 periyaazhvaar thirumozhi- that ocean of birth has become dry because
you have taken me into your asylum- who is that person- paRavai Erum parama
purushan- one who has garudan the bird as his vehicle for transport. Again
kamban's lines takes these two  aazhvaar's lines given above and placed to
us as one and same verse. 

7. Since oppu illaamai is mentioned his superiority comes into picture
automatically. That thuppu uRazhum neerththa sudar adi- that blemish less
feet- sudar- shining like a lamp's flame- lotus feet- sudar adi thozhuthu
ezhu en mananE states nam aazhvaar paasuram.
 
8. Before I conclude this series of raama sthuthi by viraadhan as given by
poet kamban, I would like to add this and conclude
unnudaiya vikkiramam onRu ozhiyaamal ellaam
ennudaiya nenju agam paal suvar vazhi ezhuthik koNdEn
man adanga mazhu valam kaik koNda raama nambee
ennidai vanthu emperumaan ni engup pOginRadhE.
Periyaazhvaar- 5-4-6
Oh my raamaa you have come into me, hereafter where do you want to go,
please stay there- I have locked you in my manachchiRai. 

Thank you all for the patience in reading this series and to those who gave
their compliments by individual mails and in the list.

Dhaasan Vasudevan M.G.

PS: Thanks to Miss Subhashini the grand daughter of Sri Abhinava desika
uththamoor veera raaghavachaarya swami, for, she only provided the spark by
opening this topic and then giving me the necessary text papers. She wanted
this topic as her dissertation papers for the MA vaishnavism course but did
the dissertation on a different topic. So this helped me to give you, oh
bhakthaas, a series. In the next mail I will start a new series on vaali
sthuthi 5 verses of kamban plus one how vaali identifies the arrow carrying
the raama naamam. Thanks once again.


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