Oru villAl Ongum munneer adaithu - the bridge "sEthubandanam was constructed, why, it was not just for Rama's own purpose. Only if Ravana is killed, the world will be at peace, the dEvas will be happy - "munneer adaithu" - why because - "ulagangazhuyya". What did he do "seruvilE" meaning war, "arakkarkOnai" - the chieftain of the Rakshasas being Ravana himself.
"SetranamsEvakanAr" - having attained victory in war, "nam sevakanAr", it is indeed ramachandraprabhu being referred here. Even in the war, looking at Ravana, Sri Rama says "indrupOi nAlai vaa" which shows the quality of Sri Rama. "SeruvilE arakarkOnai chetra" - Even during the war in case Ravanan comes to perform Saranagathi, Sri Ramar will be ready to accept it. Such is his gunman.
In the Sundarakandam, pirAtti speaks with Ravana and says this, "For one who thinks he is the greatest can never bow before anyone". Even if Ravana thinks that he is a great rakshasa as being the lord of lanka, his son Indrajit having conquered Lord Indra, is the guardian of this country which is lankini herself.
"The devas are frightened with us as well as the navagrahas. Such a kingdom, being ruled by me and why will I fall at the feet of the human called rama, thinks Ravana. If such a thought exists, why does he not have "mithra bhAvEna". No need to have a darshan of Rama nor prostrate before him but at least have a friendship with him, shake his hands. At least he could go to him as a friend and he will grant you refuge.
Ramapiran himself says 'indru pOi nAlai vaa'. If you are not able to fight the war today, go today and come back tomorrow.
seruvilE arakkarkoil sevakanar - The avatar of Rama mainly shows how one can do sEva in various ways. In the aranya kandam when the maharishis of the dandaka forest being in the midst of the rakshasas and troubled by them, in the janasthana including kara dhUshana, Sri Rama destroys all the 14000 rakshasa - a sEva. The rishis in the forest would have to perform the dhyAnam and tapas free from the fears and worries of the rakshasas. If their tapas has to bear fruit, the earth should be freed from rakshasas and their movement and in order to do this, Rama destroys the rakshasas thus performing seva even whilst in the forest.
When Sri Rama was still a small child but not yet married, Sage Viswamithra came to fetch Ramapiran.
"AbAgachan mahatEjO vishwamithrO mahAmunihI". Sage Vishwamithra asks Dasaratha looking at Sri Rama, "Send Rama with me". "kAkapaksha tharam veeram". Why because I am performing yagnas and during that time the rakshasas tAtaka, subhAHu, mAreecha come and disturb my yagna which I cannot complete, so please send Rama with me.
Dasaratha thinks about Sri Rama's age.
"UnasashOdasha varushOme ramO rAjivalOchanaHa".
It is not known what is Rama's age at that time but Valmiki estimates that it is not crossed sixteen. A child with lotus-like eyes and not even 16 years of age, having performed no war at this young age nor seen one, Dasaratha is not ready to send Rama. Dasaratha offers himself to come with Vishwamithra for the task. But Vishwamithra is adamant that it is Sri Rama whom he needs. What is the need for Sage Viswamithra to insist on Sri Rama. "Aham vedmimahAtmAnam rAmam satya parAkramam". He tells Dasaratha that Sri Rama is paramAtma himself although you call him your child, he is Vaikuntapathi, Narayanan - Such a bhagavan has been born as your son. Dasasaratha replies that he cannot see Sri Rama as a lord. Why because there is a difference in what the mahAns see versus what ordinary mortals see. Both cannot see the same thing, then why would one call them as mahatmas. As a mahatma is a yOgi and can see things and happenings which are impossible for the ordinary mortal to see. Not only that, the mahatmas can see, hear, understand or listen what we cannot see with our ordinary senses.
What is the difference? Vishwamithra says, "Dasaratha, you are sitting in the throne, whereas I am sitting on the dharbha grass. You are having a crown over your head, whereas I have braided hair. Daily you are eating pAyasam, alwa, kheer whereas I am eating only fruits. Your thought is always here and there on other kings and focusing on who is your enemy, focusing on increasing your treasury whereas I am controlling all senses and focusing on the paramAtma in my heart. Your chariot goes in ten directions whilst I have controlled all my ten senses. So what you see I cannot see and vice versa as both are opposite in nature."
For one to whom the world is known, the God will remain unknown to him. Likewise for one to whom the God is known, the world will remain unknown to him because of their opposite characteristics. The person who knows God will see everything as the swaroopa of the bhagavan and the world will remain unknown to him.
What the mahans can see versus what the kings can see is different as the perception is opposite. Because it is maya that is separating them. One is prakriti and other is brahmam. If one said that there is both darkness and light in the same place which cannot be true, likewise where there is darkness there won't be light.
Therefore in the Rama avatar it was Sage Vishwamithra who came first to take Rama for doing sEva towards Yagna samrakshanam and protect the sages from the vile doings of the rakshasas. Followed by Ahalya being redeemed of her curse, another sEva. Eliminating the arrogance of Parasurama, another sEva. Protecting the inhabitants of the Dandaka forest, another sEva. Whatever was troubling the rishis of the forest and getting rid of their troubles was another sEva. Then there is kapandhan and he performs shApa vimochanam for him and that is sEva. He gives darshanam to Sabari and accepts her love and Bhakti which is another sEva.
Accepting the friendship of Sugreeva, killing vAli and getting the pattabhishekam of Sugreeva performed is another sEva. Not even able to perform the last rites for his father Dasaratha, yet he performs the last rites for JatAyu and begets vaikuntam for the vulture King JatAyu, yet another sEva. As we look all through the avatar of the Ramayana we only see sEva being performed by Sri Rama all the time. As Sri Rama was always performing the sEva, if we have Bhakti upon Rama, chant namakeerthanam, chant the name of Rama always, perform Saranagathi to him always, Sri Rama will likewise help us too.
He will protect us, will not leave us therefore it is said,
"sEvakanAr" -- Ramapiran all throughout his avatar performed sEva only, isn't it. He gives shApa vimOchanam, pApa vimOchanam, mukthi, performs raja pattAbhishEkam, protects the yagnAs, he will perform sEva to us also, the greatest sEva he is always performing to us is protecting us. For that what we need to do is perform namakeerthanam. That namakeerthanam being Govinda, Narayana, Keshava, arranga like that.
Azhwar now goes one step higher, where is this rAmar, it is only Sri Ranganathar who is sleeping here as Sri rAmar. Therefore "sEvakanar maruviya periyakovil", in this periyakovil, so many bhakthas all over India and all over the world wish that they see the Lord Ranga at least once, be able to see the uthsavam of Sri Ranganathar, who is this Ranganathar, indeed he is Sri Rama himself. Therefore not only chanting Ranga, Narayana, Govinda there are seven, saptha prakArams. It is not just that these saptha prakArams were built by just a king or bhakthas who came after him but it was when the Ranganathar temple itself came into existence that these seven prakArams came into being. The Kings who came after did only thirupani for the prakArams but did not create them. Why because even in the Agama sastras it is said that these seven prakArams existed and the Lord Sri Ranganathar temple is in the midst of these seven prakArams.
Therefore, "maruviya periyakovil mathil" - please see the mathil. Atleast mention the name of the mathil - saptha prakArams, say madhyE or at least say thiruaranga mennA. If not mentioning the name of the perumal, at least mention the name of the temple, even if not that atleast please say the name of the place, Srirangam. No need to say Ranga, Govinda or even the thousand names of the Vishnu sahasranama, can you not atleast say Srirangam or even aranga or thiru aranga or even say that among the walls of the prakArams there is the perumal or see the mathil or even in the shadow of his lotus feet, can you not construct a home and live there.
KaruvilE thiruvizhadheer - garbha sreeman, there are four of them whom we call garbha sreeman. Pariskhith who's saw the bhagavan when being in the womb itself, Prahlada who obtained the updates a from Narada in the womb itself, being the adisEsa amsam, balaramar and lakshmanAzhwar, born with jnAnam, Suka Brahman were all garbha sreeman. All such Bhakti and bhavam and the desire to see Ranganathar will only be felt by a mother with a child in her womb, who has come under the grace of her guru, who offered her the prasadam and having taken this prasadam, the child in the womb will also have this bhavam and Bhakti automatically. The new born child also will beget good Bhakti. That mother while still bearing her child attended to listen all the discourses of the srimad bhagavatham, ramayanam, Vishnu Puranam, the child also will let the derive to listen to these discourses. Likewise if the mother had the desire to visit Srirangam and participate in the uthsavams, then the child also will get the same desire to visit Srirangam. Whilst still in the womb, if the mother had visited the sadhus, obtained their katAksham, blessings and the grace of the bhagavathars, the child thus born will also have such a satsangam, and have the sathbuddhi, and will have the desire to see the perumal. If this did not come, karuvilE thiruvilAdheer, you were not born so, and when being in the womb of the mother, the mother did not have or make attempts to receive such grace by going to the sadhus, visiting the temple and get the grace of the bhagavathars, did not listen to the Katha sravanam, therefore karuvilE thrivilAtheer, what happened then - "kAlatthai kazhikkindreerE".
Like this what is happening is that time is being wasted.
Can anyone try to make the time of 24 hours in a day to become 25 hours instead?
Or even as 24.01.00. Cannot be done, isn't it.
Therefore "kAlam" is very precious.
Therefore what should we do about that? What we should is instead of wasting the time, we should always be thinking / dhyAnam of the bhagavan, chanting the keerthanam / namakeerthanam of the bhagavan and in our heart we should get the anubhavam of the bhagavan. We should experience the anandham. Therefore in this place, Azhwar says - "maruviya periyakovil madhilthiruaranga mennA karuvilE thiruvilAdheer kAlatthai kazhikkindreerE".
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
A Lifetime of Divine Treasure trove of great wisdom galore within Azhaikindran Arangan, a 4 DVD Set. Do not miss this chance of knowing about the enthralling greatness of the perumal and also in revelling the bhakthi, the great lives and deeds of the Azhwars, who showed us the path of namakeerthanam to attain mukthi in our human lifetime! Order today for all the Complete Episodes...for your own treasured lifetime copy as well as preserving it for the generation next, please do not hesitate to contact "Madhuram" - a Unit of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Trust
Radhe Radhe
