DEIVATHIN KURAL # 215 (Vol #3) Dated 22 April 2010.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 215 (Vol #3) Dated 22 April 2010.

(These e-mails are translations of talks given by Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. Today we are proceeding from page 1010 of Vol 3 of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too, mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://Advaitham.blogspot.com constantly updated.)

MANGALA AARATHIE

1. For the weaklings the support is Sri Ramachandra Murthy. “nir bal ke bal ram” says Surdas. When one is overwhelmed by bad times, who can be our saviour? It is Sri Rama only. We chant, “aabadaama apahartaaram”, then “agrata: prushta: cha eva, paarsvatasva maha bhalou”; (1.2.3. Dwadasa Nama Panjaram Uttara Bhagam), thereby meaning; at the time of grave difficulties, the protecting force in front and rear, on all sides, below and above, the most able, powerful force is Bhagawan Sri Ram! He is ever ready with the strings of His bow Kodandam stretched taut to shoot an arrow at our enemies and weaknesses. His younger brother Lakshmana is equally ready to follow suit, never leaving the elder brother alone! “aakarNa poorNou dhanwaanou rakshetaam Rama Lakshmanou” says the sloka, meaning thereby that ‘those with their bow strings stretched taut up to the ears, Rama & Lakshmana take care’. But this Avatara Purusha, the best amongst humans, this Veera (brave) Raghava, this Vijaya (victorious) Raghava, has clearly indicated that, He could complete the purpose of His coming to this earth as a human being, successfully because, He was so ably supported by the Maha Veera Anjaneya Hanuman!
2. He assumed the human role to perfection. When He acted so truly as though He was just not aware as to where Sita had been taken away and hidden, it was Anjaneya who searched for the Mother and located her whereabouts! More than He suffered by separation from ‘viola’, Sita suffered ten million times more! Rama’s problem was that His devoted wife was not nearby. But she had to suffer separation as well as bear with constant entreaty by that Raktchasa who had nothing else to do than pester Her!
3. Woman is known as ‘abala’, meaning powerless! The very Mother of all existence Maha Lakshmi, having come to the earth as Sita had to suffer all that threat and insult at Ashoka Vana! She was seriously deliberating committing suicide, by hanging from the branches of that very tree, at which she was looking up to, when She saw and heard Anjaneya chanting the name of Her beloved, ‘Ram, Ram’, by which She was saved! (It is interesting to note by the by that, the name of that forest or garden as ‘Ashoka Vana’ was a misnomer! Ashoka means, ‘devoid of sorrow’!)
4. There is no end to Anjaneya Hanuman’s exploits, not just one or two! But, out of all of them, the peak of His achievement was to arrive at the right point in time and space to be of help to Mother of all! What was Her condition at that time? She was like the plant which was shrinking dry unto itself, due to absence of rain. At that precise moment, He arrived ‘as the man on the spot’, like the monsoon clouds bearing rain and sustenance! That is why we emphasize this service of His saying, “anjana nandanam veeram janaki shoka nasanam”!
5. Having been born as the son of a monkey mother Anjana, he gave immense pleasure to her. There is nothing great in that! However much a son may be mischievous, he always gives happiness to his mother! At least till he is a child! That is why the child is known as ‘nandana’ to mean ‘the one who gives happiness’ like, Dasaratha Nanadana, Devaki Nandana and Anjana Nandana! That is alright. But the fact that, Hanuman not only made his mother happy, He made the Mother of all existence happy. Sitamma, the ideal for generations of mothers yet to be, it was Her great sorrow that He removed! For this act of His, we have to prostrate before Him repeatedly!
6. At that time inside Sita, the fire of sorrow was festering. When they lighted up Hanuman’s tail by tying a cloth around and dipping it in oil, it was not that fire which burnt the whole of Lanka. It was Sitamma’s Shoka Agni, which was inside the fire on His tail! Valmiki the author says this. “ya: shoka vanhim janakaatmajaayaa: aadaaya teneiva dadaaha lankaam”. ‘janaka aatmajaayaa:’ = Janaka’s daughter’s. ‘Shoka vanhi’ = festering fire of sorrow. ‘teneiva’ = by that only. ‘lankaam dadaaha’ = burnt the Lanka.
7. ‘When Anjaneya’s tail was lighted up, it did not affect him in any-way, because of Sita’s wishes.’ We all know this. But that He could act as the ‘incendiary bomb’, was the power of Her sorrow! It was that ‘shoka agni’ that Ravana put in the tail of Hanuman. Who gave him the idea to do so? When Ravana got that idea, it was a situation of the end of tethers for Janaki. The one man who came to help her was a prisoner. That was the ‘last straw ‘ so to say ‘on the camel’s back’! The world could not have borne Her sorrow anymore! It was like the volcano about to burst. Somebody had to bear it and let it off. Who could it be other than Anjaneya Hanuman?
8. No one else could have done that. That is why, Ravana got the idea to do so. It did not make any difference to Hanuman. He felt, “How does it matter if they light up my tail. They do not know what I can do with it!” It was Janaka Aatmaja’s fire of sorrow that He took upon Himself to light up the whole of Lanka. It was the fire of discrimination which punished only the wicked and spared the good people. Because it was the fire of Her sorrow, it did not hurt Her husband’s messenger and support!
9. The greatest assistance provided by Anjaneya was to find and tell Him the whereabouts of Sita. The greatest assistance rendered to Sita was the assurance that Rama will come to save Her! That too when she was seriously thinking of committing suicide. His coming to Ashoka Vana was the silver lining on the otherwise dark perspective! Thus Anjaneya proved to be the tangible support for both Rama and Sita. But how could He do all that? He could do all that by the power of Rama and by the power of Rama Nama!
10. He jumped over the ocean between Lanka and the southern reaches of the Indian subcontinent. He could do that by chanting the Rama Nama, by the power of those two words! When Sita was ready to give up life, how did He save Her? Not by prostrating before Her and begging Her not to die! She would have thought of him as another trick of the Rakshasa’s maya. Once bitten twice shy, the saying goes. Having been duped by Ravana once by presenting Mareecha as a golden deer, she was not going to be duped anymore. Everything looked like a magic trick for Sita. Hanuman knew this. By his perfect celibacy of years of Brhmacharya he could read other’s minds crystal clear! So what did He do when Sita was about to give up Her life? He simply started chanting the Rama Nama. He started saying the ‘Rama Katha’ with reverence. Rama Nama by the mouth of Hanuman had the power to chase away all duplicity and delusion of Maya. The fire of Sita’s sorrow was quenched by being drenched by the sprinkling of Rama Nama Amirta! In gratitude, She granted that the fire should not scorch the giver of Amirta.
11. Both Sita and Rama often spoke about their gratitude to Hanuman for being kind enough to save them from certain death. Saving Sita when She was about to give ‘prana aahuti’, saving Rama and Laxmana (who was dearer to Rama than even Sita), by bringing ‘sanjeevani oushadi’ at the most opportune moment; Rama felt indebted to Hanuman, that can never be paid for! Both Rama and Sita were forever looking for opportunities for returning the compliments!
12. How did they reciprocate for their indebtedness? Once the coronation of Sri Rama took place, after a gap of 14 years, Rama was giving away prizes to all the people who had assembled there. He had given a beautiful Pearls necklace to Sita. She had removed it from her neck and was keeping it in her hands. She glanced all over the assemblage and looked at Her husband again. As a couple with complete unity of perspective, they both made a plan to felicitate Hanuman in front of all the assemblage. It is as though Sita asked Sri Rama, just by her looks as to who should this pearls necklace be given to? The answer was given by Rama that, the Pearl Necklace be given to the one who has indomitable power, wide range of abilities, discerning intelligence, analytical brains and sincere humility!
13. Sita gave it to Anjaneya. As the award is given immediately after the citation has been read, without mentioning the name when Rama listed the qualitative requirements, She gave the Pearl Necklace to Anjneya Hanuman. Had He said give it to so and so, there could have been some reactions as to why! Since Hanuman had all these qualities and all were aware of the same, the award was well received by the assemblage!
14. In the ambient atmosphere of the Pattabhisheka (corona-tion), this was a grand gesture by Sita and Rama. The way the pearl necklace rolled on his massive chest, it looked like some white cloud had come to rest on a mountain valley highlighted by a full moon above (his face)!
15. First time when Sri Rama met Hanuman in Rishya Srunga mountain range, it seems that Rama had already decided that the story of Ramayana was going to proceed further with this man playing an important role! At that time despite having Hanuman as his friend and guide, Sugriva was in a bad state, having lost his wife and suffering due to Vali’s domination. He had carefully investigated Rama and had identified that He was good, powerful and worth cultivating a friendship. He had sent Hanuman to Sri Rama for this purpose only. But Rama could easily foresee that Hanuman is going to be a ‘king pin’! After all, the same Hanuman as Easwara had pre-decided that the drama of Ramayana should unfold in such and such a manner!
16. So by the very way Anjaneya enquired about them, he could correctly assess His capabilities and shower encomiums of praise on Anjaneya while introducing Him to Laxmana as, “New master of grammer, scholar of philology (‘sollin selvan’) and so on. Do not think of Him as only good in talking. He is a multi faceted personality of many capabilities. If the world is a chariot, He is the pin on either side of the axle, holding the wheels in place! In other words, He is the ‘king pin’! Though you may not know him now, one day or the other, you will know Him in all truth!” I quote, “aaNi ivvulagukku ellaam.......pinnark kaaNudi meymmai”.
17. Due to the ‘shaapam’ (curse) of a Rishi, Anjaneya was temporarily unaware of His own capabilities and greatness. It was during that period that, despite having Him as his friend, Sugriva had lost his ‘wife and kingdom’. Very soon Jaambavaan was to remind Hanuman of His powers, thereby annulling the effect of the Rishi ‘shaapam’! Hanuman was yet to do the ‘saagara dharaNam, Lanka Dahanam’ and such exploits! That is why Rama tells Laxmana that ‘you will see for yourself as to how great Hanuman is’!
18. Ramayana is a world by itself. It has seven cantos with seven worlds. This chariot came to a standstill – when Sita had been taken away and Rama started searching for her! The mo-ment Rama met Anjaneya, He knew that He has found the ‘king pin’! The chariot of Ramayana starts running again at once! Sugriva who was in a slump wakes up and challenges Vaali. Rama kills Vaali with His arrows. The monkey teams start a search for Sita in all corners of the globe. Location of Sita in Lanka, the great fire of Lanka, construction of the bridge on the ocean –‘setu bandanam’, Rama – Ravana Yuddham (war), fol-lowed by Pattabhishekam (coronation); the epic moves on inexorably only after that. In all this, the major share of action is that of Anjaneya Hanuman!
19. Till half of Ramayana was over, nobody knew this Hanu-man at all. He enters in Kishkinda Kaandam and becomes more important than the Hero of the epic (kavyam). Then the whole of Sundara Kaandam is all His play. The ardent devotees of Rama will still do ‘paaraayanam’ of this chapter Sundara Kaandam only when it comes to using such action for success in their endeavours! Thus, once Rama met Anjaneya, it was as though, Rama handed over the control of the chariot and told him to take it wherever He wants to! Rama Nama was His. But He used Anjaneya to wield the Rama Nama for saving Sita! He got Anjaneya to fly to Lanka by the power of Rama Nama, while He had to walk the distance!
20. “Whatever I do is all Rama’s Grace”, thought Anjaneya. He also knew that, “It was all Sita’s Anugraha”. He never took pride for having done ‘sagara dharaNam’ and ‘Lanka dahanam’. He knew that it was the power of Rama Nama, that He could fly across the ocean and that it was Sita’s agony that burnt Lanka. He was thankful to Sita and Rama, that they were kind enough to make use of Him for their intended purposes!
21. We generally compete with each other in all our endeavours for getting aids, bonuses, prizes, awards and free dole! Then we have the feeling that we have done so much for others and that we have been dealt badly! But Sita – Rama – Anjaneya, all three of them, have the feeling that they can never be able to pay back properly for the favours received! This is a big lesson for all of us in Ramayana.
22. Anjaneya who was mighty powerful felt that Rama was the cause of his powers. Directly proportional to His powers, He was humble to the core! Generally as the saying goes, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!” In the case of Hanuman, He was absolutely powerful and also absolutely ‘vinay sheel’! We have neither power nor humility! Let us all pray to Rama to endow us with the capacity for diligent work and lack of pride!

(MangaLam. With that we come to the end of Volume three of Deivathin Kural. We will be starting with the Volume IV from the next e-mail onwards!)

Sambhomahadeva.