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Musings on Sri Raghuveera Gadhyam- Part 5 (Bala Khandam )

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • September 26, 1996 


7. KOSALASUTHAA KUMARA BHAVA 
KANCHUKITA KAARANAAKAARA !

Hail to thee  who hid his avathara rahasyam 
through your birth as the child of queen Kousalai !

O Lord ! The entire Universe emanates from You  
and therefore you are the root cause for every thing
on this universe created , sustained and destroyed by
You out of your mere Sankalpa(ideation ) could have destroyed 
Rabvana and removed the worries of the Devas . You the supreme l
being  hid all of Your  glories and did garbha Vaasam in 
queen Kousali's womb as a mere mortal  child . As a continuation
of that play , you were born on this earth, breast fed at Your mother's
breast, cried when you were hungry and  played on the sands of Sarayu
like an ordinary child.The people of Ayodhya and the world were unable 
to understand your divinty and supreme status as Sriman Narayana 
as a result of the deeds that you performed as a mere human child .
You thus hid your avathara KaaraNam and Rahasyam. .

The Great Rama Bhaktha Kulasekhara saluted this "human child "
and hastened in the same breath to salute the Sarvesvaratvam of the 
Lord of ThirukkaNNapuram in his lullabies addressed to Him . Some 
representative passages are :

MANNU PUKAZH KOUSALAI TAN MANI VAIYRU VAAITTHAVANEH
TENNILANGAIKKOHN MUDIGAL CHINTHUVITTHAAI 
(  O Lord  who chose to honor the blessed womb of
queen Kousalai WITH UNDIMINISHING FAME,
lullaby to you ! -- O Lord who shed 
the ten heads of the king of southern kingdom of 
Lanka on the earth in the battle field!  lullaby to you ) 

KONGUMALI KARUM KUZHALAAl kOUSALAI TAN KULA MADALAAI
--- DASARATHAN TAN MAAMADALAAI --DEVARAIYUM 
ASURARAIYUM DISAIKALAIYUM PADAITTHAVANEH--
YEVAR VANCHILAI VALAVAA RAGHAVANEH TALELOH 

( O Lord who redeemed the kulam of Kousalya known 
for her perfumed dark tresses by your incarnation as her child ! 
-- O Daasarathi , the eldest son of emperor Dasaratha!--
O Lord who created the Davas, Asuras and the directions for them to
roam around ! O Lord with the Bow adorned with the powerful
arrows set to destroy the enemies of your devotees who
sought refuge at Your lotus feet-- lullaby to YOU ! 

Thus the Kousalyaa Suprajaa Raman becomes the object
of adoration for Swami Desikan in this seventh Gadhya 
salutation.

Our Scriptures in Tamil reveal to us the Avathara Rahasyam of
the Lord . Avatharam is based on the root Avatharathi to descend .
He descends from Sri Vaikuntam out of concern for us ,
to transform  us ,  the  Nitya Samsaaris to Nitya Suris through the
act of Prapatthi thru a proper Acharya . He demonstrates his 
Sowlabhyam or ease of  access , while he takes the Vibhava 
Avatharams like Sri Ramachandra . Nammazhwaar reveals that 
the Lord took the Avatharam not for killling Ravana and other evil doers , 
but to overwhelm US  with HIS charm and Kalyana Gunas .The Lord
could have easily destroyed Ravana by his Sankalpam alone . He had 
however other motives to descend down as Rama .Nammazhwaar  states 
that he became Bhagavat PravaNan as a result of that Daya and 
Grace of the Lord.  Chandogya Upanishad and Bhattar's Commentary on the 
Sahasra Namam "Vamanan " refer to this aspect of the Avathara 
Rahasyam. Vamam means Kalyana Gunas . Since the Lord makes us
through His Grace to have most of those Kalyana Gunas , He is called
Vamanan and that Avatharam is Vamanaavatharam . Although Rama
says that he is only a mere mortal to hide His Avathara Rahasyam.
The Lord , who is Sarvasmaath Paran and Sarva Rakshakan becomes
accessible to us thru Vibhava avatharams and Archa State. 

(to be continued )