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sri rama navami- rama sthuthi - 13

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M.G.Vasudevan • May 30, 2001 


Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In the earlier post, the highlight of viraadha sthuthi of the supreme Lord
raamaa was expressing gratitude to bhoodhEvi. This is so, because that is
the route, by which, he is released from this world of births and deaths
[lakshmaNa digging a pit, raamaa pushing viraadhan into the pit so that
viraadhan will die in the lap of mother earth or bhoodhEvi. Those who joined
this series in the middle, please refer part 1]. This praise to mother earth
also came as an indirect question to the Lord, "if you favour bhoodhEvi like
this, will mahalakshmi not get angry with you, oh lord". Kamban's poetry is
adik karumbu- sugarcane at the route - the more you munch the more you
realise the sweetness.

Now the next verse.
Meyyaith thaan siRidhu uNarnthu nee vidhiththa mannuyirgaL
Uyyaththaan aagaathO? Unakku enna kuRai uNdO?
Vaiyaththaar vaanaththaar mazhuvaaLikku anRu aLiththa
Iyaththaal siRidhu iyam thavirththaarum uLar iyaa!

Word by word meaning for few words: 
Mey- udambu- body 
Mey- uNmai - sathyam - truth
Vidhiththa- created, assigned, destined, conditioned
Mazhu- the spear like tool to kill
Mazhu aaLi- one who wields the tool called mazhu- paramasivan- because he
has the tool called mazhu -
aiyam - santhEgam- doubt
aiyam- pichchai- begging [ in aaththich choodi by ouvvaiyaar the sentence
for the letter I the line is aiyam ittu uN- pichchai pOttu vittu pin
saappidu- what in samskrit is athithi samskaaram - first feed the poor and
then you get fed] 

Meaning: Oh, supreme lord raamaa! These human folk creations of you, are not
realising you are the supreme lord (parama purushan) and not thus seeking
you. By making them realise this, what is that you are going to loose? So
why not make them realise. That paramasivan who weilds the weapon mazhu (a
three legged split at one end, the other enda simple straight edge- iron
tool -soolam) was given release from begging for food, by you, the supreme
Lord. This also cleared the doubts of some (people and dhEvaas) on who is
the supreme lord, because others failed to give relief and only you could
give that. So why not show your grace and release these creations.

Points: 1. Please note here that one realised soul (viraadhan) pleads to the
Lord, for other souls, requesting the Lord to shower his grace on all
equally. That is the quality of these realised souls. Viraadhan was a killer
and even caused trouble to that very same Lord [before realisation] raama
seethaa and lakshmaNa. But once realised about the supreme lord and his
grace, now he pleads for others. Thus he has become an aachaarya.

2.  In the previous two verses sridhEvi and bhoodhEvi are praised and by
that viraadhan has ensured any further pleas to the lord will surely have
the dhEvees' recommendations. Piraatiyai munnittuk koNdu perumaaLidam  pOga
vENum- pleading to the Lord with the recommendation of the piraatty.

3. See the command in "Unakku enna kuRai uNdO?" It is not only pleading but
asking as a matter of right. aaNdaaL has described him "kuRai onRum illadha
gOvindhaa" in 28th pasuram and then seeks the paRai, iRaivaa nee thaaraai
paRai. Here viraadhan got the liberation, got the paRai first, and then
seeks paRai, blessings for others. 

4. This kamban's "mannuyirgaL uyyaththaan aagaadhO unakku enna kuRai uNdO"
is a question raised later, since answer is already available in nam
aazhvaar's verse 4- 10- 6. If every body is liberated then there is no more
ulagu is the answer from aazhvaar. For this sake, the maayan keeps playing
on people. 
pORRi maRROr dheivam pENap puRaththittu ummai yinnE
thERRi vaiththa thelleerum veedu peRRaal ulagu illai anRE
sERRil sennel kamalam Ongu thiruk kurugoor adhanuL
aaRRvallavan maayam kaNdeer adhu aRinthu aRinthu OduminE

Meaning: Oh folks, do not have any doubts. That supreme Lord of thiruk
kuruhoor can liberate all at a time. But due to his maayam he makes you to
seek others [demigods and other people] and thereby binds you here in this
world. If this is not done then there is no world. So realise that it is his
maayam. Realise that seek him alone.

Actually ulagu is given a meaning of saasthram. Then the saasthram becomes a
lie for it says human folks have to live through the results of their good
and bad actions (puNNiyam and paapam) in this karma bhoomi. So his maayam
keeps binding and so seek him and himalone so that realisation is
materialised. Is this not an answer to kamban's question.

This viraadhan's question also has a direct answer like reference in
baghavath geetha ch7 - verse 14 
Dhaivee: yEshaa guNamayee mama maayaa Dhurathyayaa!
MaamEvayE prapaDhyanthE maayaa mEdhaam tharanthi thE!! "It is my maayaa, the
people of wisdom mEdhaa never leaves me and surrender to me alone". 

5. What that "mei uNarnthavargaL" realised souls, will do is also given in
another beautiful verse.
Kaappu maRanthaRiyEn kaNNanE enRu iruppan
Aappu angu ozhiyavum pal uyirkkum aakkai
Koduththu aLiththa kOnE guNap paranE unnai
VidaththuNiyaar mei theLinthaar thaam. 93 naanmugan thiruvanthaadhi

Meaning: Oh, my supreme Lord kaNNaa [krishna], the king who gave this body
to me and all, the embodiment of all good characteristics [guNap paranE-
this is a very special coinage of words], those who have realised you are
the supreme lord will not dare and think of leaving you. They will just be
living leaving everything to kaNNan and his protection. 

Please see lines kaappu maRanthu aRiyEn, vidath thuNiyaar- just even think
of leaving that krishna.    

6. In early times sivan and brahma both had 5 heads. To avoid confusion
sivan plucked out one head from brahma's head. That got stuck to his hand
(brahmahaththi dhOsham). To get rid of this sivan tried all ways and means
but it did not go. The solution offered to sivan was to beg his food using
that kapaalam (maNdai Odu) as the container. Who ever gives food so that the
kapaalam is full then automatically the kapaalam will leave the hand of
sivan. He begged to all. But only when he came to naaraayaNan [Thirumaal] he
offered food saying akshayyam into the kapaalam. It got filled and left
sivan's hand. So the Lord only can give relief in such hard circumstances.
The 3rd and 4th lines of kamban here describe this episode. 

Few references in 4000 prabhandham on this episode are
PEsa ninRa sivanukkum biraman thanakkum piRarkkum 
naayagan avanE kabaala nan nOkkaththuk kaNdukoNmin - nammzhvaar

PiNdiyaar maNdai Enthi piRar manai thirinthu uNNum 
muNdiyaan saabham theerththa oruvan oor- 
kuRunthaaNdagam - 19 thirumangai aazhvaar

Venthaar enbum suduneeRum meyyil poosi kaiyagaththu or 
santhaar thalai koNdu ulagu Ezhum thiriyum periyOn thaan senRu en 
enthaai saabham theer enna-1-5-8 thirumangai aazhvaar periya thirumozhi

Vaanaar madhi podhiyum sadai mazhu vaaLiyodu orupaal
Thaanaagiya thalaivan avan amararkku adhipathiyaam- 7-9-4 thirumangai
aazhvaar periya thirumozhi

MEl naanmugan aranaiyittaa vidu saabham than naaraNan ozhiththaan - 31
naanmugan thiruvanthaathi

Before we conclude this post the next verse-
Annam aai aru maRaigaL aRainthaai nee, avai unnai
Munnam aar Odhuviththaar ellaarum mudinthaarO
Pinnam aai onRu aadhal pirinthEyO? PiriyaadhO?
Enna maa maayam ivai Enam aai maN idhanthaai!

Dhaasan Vasudevan M.G.


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