Thirupavai Pasuram 12

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-11.html

Picture of Vaduvur Ramar

kanaiththu iLam kaRRerumai kanRukku irangi

ninaiththu mulai vazhiyE ninRu paal sOra

nanaiththu illam sERaakkum naR chelvan thangaay

panith thalai veezha nin vaasaR kadai patri(ch)

Lord Rama had many regrets during Ramavataram whereas Lord Krishna had no regrets. At the wedding of Lord Rama and Sita Piratti all the celestials gathered to watch the divine marriage. They wished that they had at least 1 lakh eyes to take in the divine sight. Devendra had 1000 eyes and even he felt that he did not have enough eyes. Everything was planned properly by Janakar but when the time to perform the Laja homam arrived, Janakar realized that he had forgotten to arrange for someone to take the place of Sita Piratti’s brother since Sita Piratti did not have any brothers. Thus there was some delay till Janakar could find a substitute. Thus the Lord wanted to make sure that Piratti had brothers in the next avataram. As per His wish, Rukmini Piratti had five brothers.

The girls with Andal Nachiar came to the house of the next girl on the list. They noticed

that the buffaloes at the girl’s house were tied in the yard but had not been milked. A buffalo is the most lethargic animal full of Tamo gunam but even it was begging to be milked. As the buffalo could not find its calf and no one was available to milk it, they released milk all over the yard flooding it. Thus the girls were forced to walk through the slush. The girl’s brother who was supposed to milk the buffaloes were always in the company of Lord Krishna and as a result he ignores his chores. Thus the girls considered this girl to be a good suitor for the Lord since her brother fulfills Lord Rama’s wish for a good brother in law.

It is considered bad luck to step on milk. Thus the girls tried to avoid stepping on the milky slush with great difficulty. Nachiar says in this pasuram that even though the girl’s brother did not treat his wealth with respect, he still continued to be rich because he only sought the Lord as the true wealth.  Nachiar calls the girl’s brother as Narselvan since this word is translated as Lakshmanan in Sanskrit. The meaning for Lakshmanan is the one who always has good wealth. Good wealth here refers to Kaimkarya Lakshmi. It is said that when Lord Rama lost His crown and had to go to the forest, Lakshmana was crowned as the king but of the kingdom of performing kaimkaryams to Perumal and Thayar.

Thus the girl’s brother reminds us of Kulasekara Perumal. Kulasekara Azhwar was the king of Kerala, Karnataka as well as Tamil Nadu. He was very wealthy but instead of protecting his wealth or accumulating more wealth, Azhwar was interested only in Bagawad kaimkaryams. He wanted to leave his kingdom and go on a pilgrimage to Sri Rangam. His ministers wanted him to rule the kingdom till his son could take over. To stop the Azhwar from leaving on a pilgrimage, every day the ministers would arrange for some Bagawathas to visit the Azhwar knowing very well that the Azhwar would postpone his trip in order to serve the Bagawathas. 

One day the Azhwar felt that he was unable to go on a pilgrimage because he was wealthy. Therefore he consulted an astrologer to find out what needs to be done so that Azhwar can become poor. The astrologer suggested that the Azhwar should apply oil on his hair and face and look in a mirror, the Azhwar must consume sesame seeds and gooseberry at night.

The Azhwar tried these remedies to get rid of his wealth but still Goddess Sridevi wasn’t willing to leave the Azhwar. Goddess Lakshmi never leaves those people who try to abandon wealth in order to get the true wealth known as Perumal.

The Azhwar prayed to Lord Narasimha that he wanted only the Lord and not wealth. Even then wealth continued to seek out the Azhwar. 

The girls with Nachiar called out to the girl sleeping inside.

‘Look at how we are suffering! We are being affected by three types of floods; a flood of milk, flood of love for mal in our heart plus a frosty flood that is affecting our hair! It is very cold outside. At least open the door so that we can enter your house,’

‘She is not opening the door for us because we are singing the praise of Lord Krishna! Maybe she is upset with Krishna because He always plays pranks on girls,’ said a girl.

‘Do you think she is dead? We have been making so much noise but she hasn’t even stirred!’

‘Let us sing the glories of Lord Rama for uttering His name or chanting the epic Ramayana can even give life to those who are dead,’ answered Nachiar.

Sri Parasara Bhattar in his commentary for Vishnu Sahasranamam has also indicated that by just chanting Rama namam one can win over death.

After Kambar finished composing Kamba Ramayanam he approached the people of Sri Rangam to certify his poetry. The people refused stating that since they loved the Lord they would approve everything and anything written about the Lord. They asked him to get certificate from the Dikshitars of Chidambaram since the Dikshitars always disapproved anything from vaishnavite scholars. 

Govindaraja Perumal of Chidambaram

Kambar then went to Chidambaram. He saw the Utsavam where there was a dance contest between lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati and Lord Govindarajan was the judge. As the Dikshitars were busy with the contest, no one would listen to Kambar.

Kambar decided to stay at Chidambaram. After the Utsavam he approached the chief Dikshitar.

‘Could you please read my composition and certify it?’

‘An individual Dikshitar is not allowed to certify compositions. You have to submit your work to us when all three thousand Dikshitars have gathered together at a meeting.’

‘Could you let me know the date of your next meeting?’

‘We have no plans to gather for a while,’ replied the Dikshitar.

Kambar felt dejected because he was unable to get the Dikshitars to listen to his work. He went to Govindaraja Perumal sannidhi and prayed to Perumal. He asked Perumal to accept his work through the Dikshitars and if his work was not accepted he vowed to cremate himself.

That night around 4 am Perumal came to him in a vision and asked him to go to the cremation ground. Thinking that Perumal has given him permission to enter the fire, Kambar went to the cremation ground with his work.

He was surprised to see the 3000 Dikshitars at the ground. As soon as the Dikshitars saw him they asked him to go away.

‘Please leave this place and don’t bother us. This is not the time to listen to your composition because we are upset that a child has died!’

‘Don’t read your composition unless it can bring this child back to life!’ exclaimed a young Dikshitar.

‘How did the child die?’ enquired Kambar.

‘The child died of snake bite,’

‘I can bring the child back to life,’ stated Kambar.

He then read the passage from Kambar Ramayanam in which Lord Garuda is described to remove the “naga pashams” which have tied down Lakshmana. As soon as Kambar read this verse, the child came back to life.

The Dikshitars were very happy and immediately certified Kamba Ramayanam as an excellent poetic work.

chinaththinaal then ilangai(k) kOmaanai(ch) cheRRa

manaththukku iniyaanai(p) paadavum nee vaay thiRavaay

‘Let us sing the praise of Lord Rama who out of anger destroyed Ravana the Lord of the well planned city called Lanka,’ said Nachiar, ‘even if the girl is dead, Rama Namam will bring her back to life.’

There are three Ramas mentioned in Dasavatara as rosha Rama, Karuna Rama and the Rama who is always intoxicated. Rosha Rama or the Rama who is always angry is ParasuRama, Karuna Rama or the compassionate Rama is Lord Rama; the Rama who is always intoxicated is BalaRama. Since Lord Rama is called as Karuna Rama why does Nachiar say that He destroyed Ravana out of anger?

During the Ramayana war Rama and Lakshmana fainted in the battle field when he was hit by the Nagasthra. Ravana arranged for Sita Piratti to view the battle field from the Pushpaka Vimanam so that she can see the fallen heroes and think that they were dead. When Piratti lamented, Trijata consoled her by stating that the Vimanam had been programmed in such a way that widows could never step inside it.

Thus Ravana’s ploy to torment Sita Piratti failed. He then decided to kidnap Lakshmana thinking that Rama would feel dejected and kill himself. Ravana tried to carry Lakshmana but at that moment, Lakshmana thought about His Adisesha amsam. As a result Lakshmana became very well. The Ravana who had lifted even mount Kailasha was unable to lift Lakshmana. At that instance Lord Hanuman fought with Ravana and chased him away. Lord Hanuman then very easily lifted Lakshmana and carried him away from the field. After Lord Garuda came and removed the snake poison from the nagasthra, Lakshmana regained consciousness. He enquired about his brother’s whereabouts. Lord Hanuman replied that Lord Rama had regained consciousness earlier and was fighting with Ravana. Lakshmana asked Lord Hanuman to mention a manthram to Lord Rama and asked Lord Hanuman to be the steed of Lord Rama so that Lord Rama could easily fight with Ravana who was on a very tall chariot.

As per Lakshmana’s advice, Lord Hanuman acted as the steed of Lord Rama. As soon as Ravana saw Lord Hanuman he became very angry. He held Lord Hanuman responsible for his loss. It was hanuman who had come as a spy and told Lord Rama about the whereabouts of Sita Piratti, Hanuman had destroyed the Ashoka Vanam and now Hanuman had prevented Ravana from carrying away Lakshmana. Therefore Ravana started to attack Hanuman. When the Lord saw Ravana attacking hanuman, He became very angry with Ravana and fought with Ravana aggressively. 

Namperumal Lord Ranganatha on Hanumath Vahanam

With just one arrow the Lord destroyed Ravana’s crown, chariot, charioteer, horses. He made Ravana bald headed and destroyed all the weapons of Ravana. Looking at the defenseless Ravana, the Lord allowed Ravana to retire from the battle field. The Vanaras were happy to watch bald headed Ravana walk away from the field. They followed him making fun of him. As Ravana tried to enter the fort the door keepers looked at him through a small window and refused to allow him because they did not recognize him. Ravana pushed his head through the window and asked them to count his heads. At that moment, a couple of Vanaras also peeped through the door thus the door keeper counted a dozen head. As Ravana was known to have ten heads, they refused to let him inside the fort. Ravana then asked them to feel his head and count only bald heads and leave out hairy head from their count.

Thus Ravana felt humiliated. This humiliation was worse than death. Thus Lord Rama felt angry when his devotee was hurt and rushed to protect his devotee. This quality of the Lord appealed to Nachiar and thus she called Him as her “sweetheart”.

‘At least after hearing about the Lord’s anger against the offenders who hurt His devotees; get up and join us,’ said Nachiar.

The girl immediately woke up and joined the girls.

The Rudram in Vedam sings the praise of Lord Rama and not of Lord Siva. The manthram starts with,

Namperumal Lord Ranganatha on Hanumath Vahanam

Namaste Rudra manyava utota ishave Namah | Namaste astu dhanvane bahubhya muta te Namah |
This manthram means “Oh! Rudra Deva! My salutations to your anger and also to your arrows. My salutations to your bow and to your two hands.”

Thus this manthram speaks about the anger of Lord Rama against the offenders who torment His devotees. He is also the only deity who is pictured as holding a bow and arrow.

The second manthram is “

Ya ta Ishu shivatama shivam babhuva te dhanuh| Shiva sharavya ya tava taya no Rudra mrudaya |
Oh! Rudra! By favor of your arrow, bow, and quiver, which have shed their anger and turned auspicious, please render us happy.”

Rudra means the one who makes us cry. To this day people cry when they hear Ramayana thinking about the hardships experienced by Lord Rama. Thus Lord Rama is Rudran because He made us cry out of love for Him.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/800x600-from-pullin-vaaykeendaanaip.html