Udaiyavar had now come to stay at srirangam. The place was near the vadakku uthara veedhi thAyar sannadhi where there is a madam called sriranganarayana jeeyar madam and in that madam only Udaiyavar stayed all his life. For about 80 years Udaiyavar stayed in srirangam itself. Such a great kshetram is Srirangam. When telling about Srirangam, azhwar in the tirumAlai describes the fame of the rama avataram. The most stresta avataram is the rama avataram. Only in the rama avayaram the bhagavan is establishing the truth so well. By and large whenever Rama is being described they would call him purvabhashi.
To understand what Purvabhashi is, let's say in a sabha we go onto, there are known as well as unknown people. Known people to us would be there and what we would think is that, "let them first talk to us before we speak to them". But Lord Rama would not think like that. He would be the first to go and talk to them so he is called purvabhashi. Not only that he will also speak beautifully called mruthubhashi and also madhurabhashi as all his discourses would be so beautiful. Not content with just these qualities, he would not lie, being the embodiment of truth itself. He would not have any kapatam keeping something in the heart and speaking the other, being a ruju. Such a great avataram is the Rama avataram. Vedam itself told "satyam vada" that vedam which told to talk the truth akso told "dharmam chara", to follow the Dharma. It will be easy to tell dharma to others such as get up in the brahmamuhurtham, jagat is anithyam, paramatma alone is truth, one should not get angry, one should not cheat others, one should behave so and so. Who would not give such an upadesham. In India that which is freely available without paying any money is the upadesham only. Whomsoever sees the other they would start this upadesham. Upadesham is very easy but in order to follow it and practice is the most difficult thing. The greatness of Rama avatar is that dharma was followed and practiced. Dharma is not just lending some 100 or 500 rupees when they come to you for help. Dharma is a way of life. Dharmatma is when one comes and asks for anything, with out unflinching if one gives that is called dAnam - igai. dharmam is inded a way of life as dictated by our sastras and our elders who have dictated a way that should be followed no matter what without unflinching in our duty. The whole world is construed from such a dharmam. Such is the avataram of the Rama avataram. Azhwar now talks of the rama avatar - "oru villal".
"Oru villAl Ongum munneer" as azhwar says in the tirumAlai. He talks of the Rama avatar - "Oru villAl", says Azhwar. "I will go and see with great interest at all the pictures of Sri Ramar. Whilst looking so, I would think it would be rare to see a picture of Sri Ramar as a child, ball rAmar. By and Large, we can find a lot of pictures of Bala krishna. In other pictures, we could see little Sri Krishna holding a pot of butter in his hands. Another picture where little Krishna would have a laddu in his hand. As a child, little navaneeta krishna performing dance. Yet another picture of bhagavan Sri Krishna is when being tied by YashOda. Like this, we can see a number of pictures of the little child bala gopala krishna. A picture of bala ramar is very rare to see. Bhagavan Krishna also lived for 125 years in the world when he performed his avatar. Ramar lived for 1000 years. Having lived for 1000 years, yet, we cannot find the picture of bala rAmar nor we have found a picture of Sri Rama even in his old age. Yet another thing is that during the period Sri Ramar was in the forest, I would noticed one thing. In the forest life of Sri Rama, by and large, we can find the picture where Sabari offered the flowers to Sri Rama. Also the picture where Sabari offered the fruits to Sri Rama is there. Another would be picture of Lord Sri Rama being with Sugriva. We can also see the picture of Swami accepting the Saranagathi of Sri Vibhishana. When Hanumar was searching through the parks for Sita in Sri Lanka, many pictures of such can be seen. Many pictures of Hanumar who, after finding Sita, comes back to inform Sri Rama and embracing Sri Rama can also be seen. When leaving to find Sita, we can find the picture of Hanumar receiving the ring from Sri Rama. We can also find the picture of Sri Rama embracing Hanumar. In all these pictures, if we observe closely, we can find that Sri Ramar would not have a pleated hair at all. Not only that there is no picture of Sri Ramar having a beard. But the truth is, when starting for the forest, at the place where Sri Rama met Guha, at the pepal tree where Rama stayed, he asked Guha to bring the milk of the tree and with this he made a pleat of his hair. On which head, Sage Vasistha wanted to perform the pattabhishEkam, Guhan brought the milk from the pepal tree for Sri Ramar.
Only after 14 years, having come back to AyOdhyA, we see that the matted lock of Sri Ramar's pleated hair is removed. By and Large, we can only find the pattabhishEkam photo of Lord Sri Rama in the pooja room of all bhakthars. There would be no home where the photo of the Lord Sri Rama is not there!
Whenever a letter arrives at one's home, it would first be placed at the feet of Sri Ramachandra prabhu before opening it to read. When the salary is received from one's company, they would first place it at the feet of Sri Ramachandra prabhu before starting to spend the money. At homes, whenever one writes a marriage invitation or an invitation for a happy ceremony, they would first place it at the feet of Sri Ramachandra prabhu before embarking upon that activity. "When I see the picture of Sri Rama in each and every home, I would think that it is Sri Rama indeed who is the eldest brother in their homes. Not only in the home of King Dasaratha, but in the homes of all the people where I see the picture of Sri Rama, i would think that Sri Rama is the eldest son of these people's home as well". For Krishna, it is the flute in the picture that signifies Sri Krishna, whereas, for Sri Ramar it is the bow which signifies. There is no picture of Sri Rama where there is no bow and it is the bow that gives the magnificence and beauty to the picture of Sri Rama. Like one who wears the earrings, the mala on the neck, the ring on the finger, for Sri Rama, the bow has become an ornament bedecking him always. Therefore there is a name for Sri Rama in the kshetram called thiruvalliyangudi, called "kOlavil Rama". That bow is like an ornament or a decoration (kOlam) for Sri Rama. In the Sundarakandam, Sita asks Hanumar whether hanumar has noticed three things, if had he closely moved with Sri Rama. Since his early childhood, the one thing that Sri Rama has done is always spoken the truth. Sita asks Hanumar if he has noticed this firstly. Secondly, Sri Ramar hands will never ask anything from anyone, has hanuman noticed this? Thirdly, Sri Rama has never spoken a word without love towards anyone. Like that, we see and notice the qualities (gunas) of Sri Rama everywhere, is it not. If one has done a complete parayanam of Sri Rama charithram, he would think that for one day atleast, can he have not lived with the qualities of Sri Rama himself. Like that Sri Rama is a purvabhAshi, mruthubhAshi, madurabhAshi, dharmAtma, satyasandhan, being with love to one and all, as an aid to everyone. When one is reading the rama charithram, this would occur to him. Such is the greatness of the Sri Rama avatar.
By and Large, when reading the Sri Rama Charithram, one would always say that when Ramar tells a thing once, he would do it without fail. He would not say, like people usually say after promising once, later thinking about it in practical terms, this promise may not be possible. Like this people would say, but not Sri Ramar. Sri Ramar will have only one true and single speech, he would not twist his tongue with words and speak differently each time. Once promised, he would protect his promise and respect it. Like one word that Ramar would keep his promise upon, he has one bow (Oru villAl) - "Oru villAl Ongum munneer".
Likewise, he has one arrow that he would use with his bow. For his aim (lakshyam), he would need to fire one arrow, there is no second. His aim will be attained with just one arrow, there is no need for a second. One arrow, one word. For some, the words will themselves be like arrows, but for Sri Ramar, words and arrows are different. By and Large, people live with one wife only (ekA pathni!) all throughout their life. But in Sri Ramar, what greatness can be attributed to this. Usually bhagavan would take his avatar with Sridevi and Bhoodevi, but in the case of Sri Rama avatar, it is just goddess Sita only - eka pathni vrithan. This is a greatness attributed to the Sri Rama avatar. Having followed the path of dharma in his activities, he would not find faults with the other's activities on any account. patIta pAvana - is another greatness that is attributed to the Sri Rama avatar. Not only that, the nama of Sri Rama would itself make one patIta pAvanam. If the nama itself has such greatness, what then can be said of the greatness of the Lord Sri Ramachandra prabhu. The nama will make even the sinner to be rid of their sins - (patItha / pAvana). The beauty of KodadanpAni Sri Rama which Saint Thyagarajar describes in one of his keerthans "dinusu, manasu, soghusu". Your manas is such, Sri Rama as sung in the lavanya rama keerthana of Saint Thyagarajar. The style in which you stand is "soghusu". The way you walk, the way you speak, the way you look as well as your charithram. Lord Sri Rama himself was amazed at the greatness of his avatar. This charithram, the way it has turned out to be amazed Lord Sri Rama himself, so beautifully has this Rama avatar formed.
Subham
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
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