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sri rama sthuthi- post 2

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.G.Vasudevan • June 25, 2001 


Dear Sri Vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

We saw in post 1 vaali the anti-hero saw the raama naamam in the arrow,
which pierced his chest and made him fall down. The raama naama mahimai was
dealt with in the points 1 to 5 as addendum to that kamban's verse of
"mummai saal". Continuing the points on the raama naama mahimai,

Point 6: "raama ennum thanip perum padham"- let us see the specialty of this
coinage. This word padham has 4 meanings.
Padham- sol- word- raama ennum sol 
Padham- pakkuvam -suitability- maturity- ripe - eligibility
Padham - paadham- foot - thiruvadi to say respectfully
Padham- nilai- status- elevation- position

For this "raama ennum thanip perum padham" each of the 4 meanings for padham
are fully apt and we will see how it is.

a.	raama ennum thanip perum padham- the word raama is so sweet. Swami
bhadhraachala raama dhaasar [BR] has a krithi in raaga poorvi kalyaani
starting - 
		"oh raama nee naamam Emi ruchiraa
		sree raama nee naamam Emi ruchiraa"

	meaning: Oh, sree raama! what a taste is in your name- [means I can
only enjoy the taste but could not describe how it is, whether that is for
the tongue or for ear etc -the plain absolute taste]. 

	[Vidhvaan late Madurai Somasundaram made this song very famous.
Whenever he sings this song, he will stop in the course of singing with
choked voice, shed few tears on the taste of the music and the lyrics, then
continue the song. This will make the rasikas also shed tears - that is his
sam-geetham - sangeetham- music. Perhaps our Dr.V.S. can vouch this aspect
on this krithi] 

	In another krithi same BR sings (krithi in raaga aanandha bhairavi -
pallavi is raama naamamE jeevanamu) the second line is
	Raama naama sudhaa madhuramu adhi Emaraka bhajiyinchu maakika
	Meaning: raama naamam is very sweet like nectar, praise, utter or
chant the naamam without any let up in the chanting.

	In these two krithis it is clear the naamam is sweet, but not very
clear whether it is very sweet to tongue or ears. 

	See 69th verse of naanmugan thiruvandhaathi - 
	Sevikku inbam aavadhuvum sengaN maal naamam
	puvikkum puvi adhuvE kaNdeer- kavikku
	niRaip poruLaai ninRaanai nErpattEn paarkkil
	maRaip poruLum aththanaiyE thaan

	meaning: The name of thirumal - peyar- naaraayaNa dhivya naamam is
sweet to the ears. The food for the gourmet is also same. The earth's
support is also the same naamam. When you want to write poems, that naamam
is the base on which you can frame your poems. That person who has such a
namam I met. Then I realised all the vEdhaas are that naamam only.

	Aazhvaar simply puts out the naamam is sweet to the ears, the food
for the connoisseur is also his naamam only. [puvi is bhuji in samskrit - in
tamil pu and bhu are same]. All the vEdhaas are also same naamam.
	Such a sweet raama ennum semmai sEr naamam thannaik vaali kaNgaLil
theriyak kaNdaan.

b.	raama ennum thanip perum padham nalgum thanip perum padham - that
word  raama will give the unique pakkuvam- ripeness or maturity. The naama
uttered continuously by a person- he gets the ripeness - maturity to become
a thamar- an anbar- lovable person- raama naama japam brings a
transformation in the person- he starts loving others and others too start
loving him.

See 44th verse of mudhal thiruvandhaathi
Thamar uganthadhu ev vuruvam av vuruvam thanE
Thamar uganthadhu eppEr maRRu appEr thamar ugandhu
EvvaNNam sinthiththu imaiyadhu irupparE
AvvaNNam aazhiyaanaam -

Now read the first and second line- thamar- the bhakthaa- how they like the
lord, how he wants the lord, in that way the lord changes himself - to that
roopam (shape), that name, that colour etc. When he can change as his
bhaakthaa pleases, will not the bhaktha change after seeing the lord. Oh
what an amount of easiness (soulabhyam) the lord gives his bhakthaas. So
raama naama automatically gives that pakkuvam- padham- thanip perum padham.

That such a naamam was seen by vaali in that arrow. AppEr ev vaNNam av
vaNNam  aazhiyaan- the rama naamam transformed vaali- started thinking on
the naamam- sinthiththu imaiyaadhu- started praising the Lord- raama sthuthi
by vaali which is our topic.

Incidentally a "sevi vazhi kadhai"- tale heard somewhere- whether it has a
basis in bhagavatham etc or not, I can not say. It runs like this. [You can
decide to take it, if you like, or leave it].  

Sri krishna wanted to show how great a bhakthaa is Hanumaan to his consort
rukmiNi. He invited hanumaan to visit him. But hanumaan refused saying "I am
worshipping my raamaa, that is enough for me. I am not interested in seeing
krishna". But the person who went to invite said "oh hanumaan, he is the
lord raama himself having come here now in this krishna avathaaram" etc.
After much persuasion hanumaan agreed to visit krishna. When he came to
krishna bhavanam, krishna was ready at the door step to receive him with
rukmiNi. What hanumaan saw at the doorstep was raama and seetha standing at
the entrance. Next minute scene changed. Krishna and rukmiNi were standing
there, to receive hanumaan. This scene changing went on for a while till
hanumaan realised raama and krishna are one and same. The palace was filled
with raama naamam instead of krishna naamam.

After the athithi pooja and bhOjanam etc by krishna and rukmiNi, hanumaan
returned to his place. Then rukmiNi started cleaning the place where
hanumaan stayed, seated etc. But the raama naamam was still heard by
rukmiNi. She was wondering where from this come. After a lot of search she
found a hair of hanumaan lying there and that is the cause of that raama
naama hearing by rukmiNi. She felt ashamed about what she was thinking
earlier [that she is the great servant of the lord and always thinking of
him]. When a small hair that too after falling from body also still recite
the naamam, means what about that great soul which had a number of many such
hairs, besides a great mind to utter the naamam. 

That is raama naama mahimai. From this 3 lessons are for us. 
1.	Firm belief on one's ishta dhEivam. 
2.	How Lord changes according to his bhakthaas' will and wish. 
3.	When a parama bhaagavathaa leaves the house allow that eerie to be
there for a long time and do not clean the house immediately.

c.	"raama ennum thanip perum padham"- feet of that exalted raama- the
feet which walked in the forest, without even a paadhukai - to give vaali
that perum padham- the feet themselves- asylum- thiruvadi charaNam- maam
Ekam charaNam vraja- mokshayishayaami. 

	This padham -feet and sol- word are combined in that beautiful 26th
thirumaalai paasuram of thoNdar adip podi aazhvaar

	POdhellaam pOdhu konDu un ponnadi punaiya maattEn -- en seivaan
thOnRinEnE! 

	POdhu- time- samayam- kaalam - vELai- paruvam
	POdhu- moggu- the bud of a flower about to blossom
	Pon adi- poRpaadham - golden feet- 
	Pon adi- pon pOnRa kavi - poem which is worth millions for each
words- means that much beautiful poem

	Meaning: I will not bow my head to your golden feet uttering that
golden raama naamam. Neither I will worship the golden feet with beautiful
flowers. Nor I will compose a poem with golden words using your naamam. Oh
what a useless birth - janma - I have. 

	Once this realisation comes immediately the status is elevated to
that of a thamar.  See the adi - padham has both meanings, and enjoy the
raama naamam. 

d.	padham - status- nilai. 
The raama naamam gives such a status to the person who utters. See
periyaazhvaar in 2-6-9 who usually sings krishna but here raama.
Min ilangu pooN vibeedaNa nambikku en ilangu naamaththu aLavum arasu enRa 
Min alankaaraRkku oru kOl koNdu vaa, vEnkadavaaNaRku oru kOl koNdu vaa.

En naamam ilangum aLavum unakku arasu-  a boon granted by raama. When is
that the raama naamam going to die, so that vibheeshaNan going to loose his
kingdom- NOT AT ALL. So vibheeshNan is a permanent king and also a
chiranjeevi. Because he utters raama naamam, did charaNam to that feet-
padham solluvadhaal- padham vaNangiyadhaal intha nilai- status. 

Such a "padham" vaali "kaNgaLil theriyak kaNdaan". 

Again since the post has become long, I stop here and continue few more
points before we really take up vaali sthuthi.

Dhaasan 

Vasudevan M.G.

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