SRI RAMACHARITRA MANJARI

(In this edition, transformation of Vishwamitra from being Kshatriya into a Brahmin is explained. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

The substantiation about the distinction between the body of Lord Sri Rama and the bodies of Lakshmana, Bharata and and Shatrughna has been indicated in the word “PrajAtaha” in which the syllable “JA” means one who took the incarnation well. The letter “pra” in the original expression further points to “PrAdurBhUtaha”.

Readers may be wondering at the length of this explanation for the first stanza of Ramacharitrya Manjari. Unless all this explanation is given, the hidden meaning of the stanza will remain lost and therefore, late Sri P.P. Lakshminarayana Upadhyaya has provided this great insight into the story to make the work of Sri Raghavendra Swamy a very comprehensive one.

In this first stanza, Sri Raghavendra Rayaru has said: “NeetO VishwAmitrENa mantrAhruedanusanjAta…”, which can be written in direct or prose style as : “Atha VishwAmitrENa anujasahitaha neetaha”, which is further elaborated as: “TadA VishwAmitraha RAmAvatAram shrutwA DasharaThagruham prAptavAn| Atha RAmaha DasharaThEna anujnAtaha salakkshmaNaha VishwAmitrENa neeyamAnaha| This means: Then, having learnt about the incarnation of Vishnu as Sri Rama, sage Vishwamitra reached the palace of Dasharatha. Later, Sri Rama secured the direction from Dasharatha to accompany sage Vishwamitra, along with his younger brother Lakshmana.

This simple statement projects us to explore and know something more about sage Vishwamitra.

In the dynasty of Moon (Chandravamsha) was born a king named Gadhi. Due to the blessings and grace of his son-in-law Rucheeka, a Rishi, a son called Vishwamitra was born to Gadhi. Being a very strong king, Vishwamitra went on a glorious expedition and reached the Ashram of Vasishtha during the course of that expedition. Sage Vasishtha, with the assistance of Kamadhenu, a celestial cow, hosted a very good party to Vishwamitra and his huge army. Having come to know the extraordinary and mystic power of Kamadhenu, Vishwamitra forced sage Vasishtha to part with it. When Vasishtha refused, Vishwamitra stole Kamadhenu, which produced an army with its divine power and crushed the entire army of Vishwamitra. The army produced by Kamadhenu also destroyed the one hundred children of Vishwamitra. Vanquished Vishwamitra did a fierce penance to invoke Lord Rudra and secured Brahmastra and other lethal Astras from the Lord. Vishwamitra fired those Astras at Vasishtha, who transferred the power of his penance into a club and placed it in front of himself. The club destroyed all the Astras fired by Vishwamitra. Realising that the power of a Brahmin is greater, Vishwamitra did a penance for one thousand years in praise of Lord Brahma, seeking to be converted into a Brahmin. Lord Brahma, who appeared in front of Vishwamitra, just said “You have become a Rajarishi”. Realising that he had not yet attained Brahminhood, dissatisfied Vishwamitra again did  penance. (To be continued)   

SRI MADHWAVIJAYA - TRUTEEYAHA SARGAHA SHLOKAS 22, 23 AND 24

(In these stanzas, the spiritual discourse of a scholar named Shivabhatta has been explained. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

ParishadA nitarAm parivAritaha shivapadaha kila dhautapaTOdBhavaha|

Iha kaThAm kaThayan dadrushE tataha pruThudiyA pruThukAkrutinA(a)munA||22||

SUMMARY: Vasudeva, a fully learned boy by birth (Poornabodha) saw a Puranik named Shiva, who belonged to a dynasty called Dhautapata, giving a discourse, even as he was surrounded by a large assemblage of audience.

IdamuvAcha vichAvichakShaNaha shuchivachaha shanakaihi sa janAntarE|

AparaThA kaThitam kaThaka twayA nanu matAnmahatAmiti sasmitam||23||

SUMMARY: Being an exponent of sensible spiritual knowledge, Vasudeva said in a soft voice and a sweet smile from the midst of the audience, “Oh Puranik, whatever you have told isn’t as per the opinion of elderly people.”   

Scholars are of the opinion in this context that the subject of discourse being presented by Shivabhatta then was probably related to some difficult instances from epics like the killing of Vali, incident of Shambuka, desertion of Seeta by Sri Rama or acceptance of five husbands by Draupadi. The presentation of Shivabhatta was perhaps not in accordance with what Sri Vyasa or Shukamuni had already dealt with. The view expressed by Vasudeva also conveys the meaning that mere popular presentation of a discourse is not enough. It should be presented in a way to please Lord Janardhana. There is a message behind this act of Vasudeva that whenever a person utters something during the course of a discourse that is not in line with the established truth, the audience is duty bound to oppose and object.  

AgaNayanna shivam janatA tadA savachanE vasudEvasutAhwayE|

MuKharamichChati kO mrugaDhUrtakam prakrutahumkrutasihmashishau sati||24||

SUMMARY: As soon as Vasudeva said those words, the audience began ignoring the discourse. Who would pay attention to the barks of a fox when the cub of a lion unleashes a roar?

SRI MADHWAVIJAYA - TRUTEEYAHA SARGAHA SHLOKAS 19, 20 AND 21

(Father gets surprised by the grasping power of Vasudeva. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

Lipikulam nanu tAta gate dinE liKhitamEva punarliKhitam kutaha|

It nijapratiBhAguNaBhAvitam haripadasya vachastamanandayat||19||

SUMMARY: The words “Father, why have you written the same alphabets that you wrote yesterday” of Vasudeva earned the admiration of Madhyageha Bhattaru.

It can be understood here that Madhyageha was still unaware that his son Vasudeva was an incarnation of Lord Vayu.

Shishurasau pratiBhAmbuDhirityalam janamanOvachanagrahapeeDanA|

Na BhavatAditi tam vijanasThalE swatanayam samashikShayadEShakaha||20||

SUMMARY: Realising that “this child of mine is an ocean of talent and the devilish impact of the mind and tongue of evil minded people shall not fall on him,”  Madhyageha began teaching his son in a place of tranquillity and loneliness.

Madhyageha was perhaps aware that the words of jealous people could have a negative impact on the child’s growth.

MahavatA swajanEna sameeritaswajananeesahitEna kadAchana|

RuchiravAchanayA(a)rchitavAkChriyA pratiyayE praBhuNA Ghrutavallyapi||21||

SUMMARY: Vasudeva, an affluent person of sweet words with which the speech was getting honoured, went to Ghruvalli, along with his mother and as per the wishes of his near and dear.

It is said that it has been mentioned in Bhavaprakashike that Ghrutavalli was a different name of a village called Neyampalli.   

SRI RAMACHARITRA MANJARI

(In this episode, Sri Rama, along with his three brothers are born from Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi after the deities were born in different sects of monkeys as Vanaras. Please read, comment and Share. SDN)

According to the instruction of Lord Brahma, Devendra took birth on earth as Vali; Moon as his son Angada; Sun as Sugreeva; Fire God as Neela; Varuna as Sushena; Vishwakarma as Nala;  Ashwini goddesses as Mainda and Vividha; five deities of Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana and Samana as Gaja, Gavaksha, Gavaya, Vrushabha and Gandhamadana respectively; Bruhaspatyacharya as Tara; Shachi Devi as Vali’s wife and Tara’s sister Tara Devi; Kubera as Katthana; Nirruti as Durmukha; the three prominent of the forty-nine Maruts were born as Shweta, Sampati and Kesari, Parjanya as Sharabha; Parjanya as Sharabha and two chiefs of the Ashtavasu were born as Panasa and Shatabali.  Similarly, all the deities were born in different sects and served Sri Hari.

Later, Sri Hari’s four forms namely Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha took birth as follows: Vasudeva was born to Kausalya on Chaitra Shukla Navami Tithi with Punarvasu star in the sky and at the auspicious afternoon Lagna called Karkataka; at that time, sun was in Mesha, Guru in Karkataka, Shani in Tula, Kuja in Makara, Shukra in Meena were all in exalted positions. Moon was occupying his own house of Karkataka and Budha was stationed in a friendly house of Vrushabha. At the time of his birth, the minds of righteous became clear and those of the evils turned gloomy. Brahma and other deities showered flowers.

He was named as Rama because He is the husband of Ramadevi; “Ra”  means the one who bestows Moksha and other ideals of a person to everyone; “Ma” is synonymous of large wealth and thirdly He is the one who casts a mystic, mesmeric and magnetic attraction among women and others towards himself.      

SRI MADHWAVIJAYA – TRUTEEYAHA SARGAHA SHOLKAS 16, 17 AND 18

(A little more insight into childhood of Vasudeva can be read in these stanzas. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

Tamupagruhya sutam sutapOniDhirgruhiNeesahitO yayau|

Udayateeti hi bAladivAkarE smitamaBhUt sajanAnanavArijam||16||

SUMMARY: MadhyagEha, who was involved in continuous penance,  began his journey towards his home, along with his wife and son Vasudeva. With this young sun rising in that manner, the lotus-like faces of righteous blossomed too. 

VaravimAnagirAvapi chanDikA shushumahO jananee tamalAlayat|

AparaThA parituShTamanAha kaTham chiramihaiSha vasEdwisahAyakaha||17||

SUMMARY: Mother Goddess Durga, who was there at the sprawling Vimanagiri, was also looking after Vasudeva continuously. Otherwise, could that child stay there peacefully without anybody’s care?

Sakalashabdamayee cha Saraswatee satatamAnamati  swayamEvayam|

DwijavarO(a)Tha kadAchana mAtrukAha kila sutam parichAyayati sma tam||18||

SUMMARY: That super Brahmin Madhyageha once thought of initiating Lord Vayu, who was being eternally saluted by embodiment of all syllables, Bharati Devi, into learning the alphabet “Aksharabhyasa”.

A stone slab on which Vasudeva began learning the writing skills is seen at Pajaka even today.   

SRI RAMACHARITRA MANJARI

(Sri Hari agrees to take birth on earth to save deities and all deities too follow suit, as ordained by Lord Brahma. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

The fact that Lord Brahma, Indra and other deities, who had all been tortured by Ravana, appealed to Sri Hari to protect them, has been mentioned as follows: “RAvaNAdirAkShasapeeDitabrahmAdidEvaihi prArThitaha|” It is therefore clear that the demons were causing a lot of trouble to Indra and all other deities, who were subordinate to him or who belonged to a lower strata or cadre. However, Lord Brahma and Lord Rudra were not troubled. They were perturbed because of the trouble that other deities were subjected to by Ravana and others.

Lord Sri Hari immediately assured Lord Brahma and others that he would soon relieve all of them, including righteous and culture-bound human beings on earth and summoned a deity, who had a portion of the divine power of Lord Brahma and told him: “You should emerge from the sacrificial fire that Dasharatha has lit, handover the bowl containing the sweet gruel to Dasharatha, make his wives consume it and inform them that they would soon become pregnant by consuming the gruel.” The deity took permission of Sri Hari, disappeared from the Vaikuntha, presented himself from out of the sacrificial fire, handed over the Payasa to Dasharatha and conveyed the message that Sri Hari told him to. Dasharatha gave half of the quantity of what was there in the bowl to Kausalya, gave half of what remained to his third wife called Sumitra, another half the quantity of what remained to Kaikeyi and gave the remaining quantity again to Sumitra. The three wives who drank it became pregnant.

Meanwhile, Lord Brahma summoned all the deities and said: “Even though there is no personal use, Lord Sri Hari has agreed to descend on earth for our sake. Simultaneously, you should all take birth from female animals like monkey and bears and serve him. This is your duty. I cannot take any birth on earth. Even then, some time ago, when I yawned, the manifestation of Dharma took birth from my mouth and he is called as Jambavanta. I will be present in his body and serve Lord Hari in that form. You should execute the task at your hands too, diligently.” Accordingly, all the deities took birth from female monkeys and bears to serve Lord Hari.   

SRI MADHWAVIJAYA - TRUTEEYAHA SARGAHA SHLOKAS 13, 14 AND 15

SRI MADHWAVIJAYA – TRUTEEYAHA SARGAHA SHOLKAS 13, 14 AND 15

(Three-year-old Vasudeva continues his narration and surprises his father with his eloquence in these stanzas. Please read, comment and share. SDN)

TaditarAyatanAt tu yadA(a)gamma krutanatihi Khalu tatra Harihi saKhA|

AhamihApi mahEndradigAlayam praNatavAnuta yAvadaDheeshwaram||13||

SUMMARY: “Was he not the same Narayana of Talekudi, who was with me from the time I saluted there, set off from there to arrive at the Chandramauleshwara temple in the eastern side here and till I saluted Sri Hari, the intrinsic Lord present within Lord Chandramauleshwara?”    

The custom of saluting Chandramauleshwara is still in vogue at Udupi. 

It has been mentioned in Rajatapeethapuramahatmya that there was a holy pond in the place where Sri Chandramauleshwara temple is presently situated. Later, Lord Moon did a penance to appease Lord Shiva there and as a token of that penance, the presiding deity has become Sri Chandramauleshwara.  

Api tatO(a)hamupEtya sahAmunA BhagavatE(a)tra satE praNatim vyaDhAm|

Iti nigadya viBhAti shushuhu sma vismitasaBhAjanacheerNasaBhAjanaha||14||

SUMMARY: “I came from there to this place, along with him, and saluted the Lord present here.” With these words, Vasudeva surprised everyone there. He got honoured by all those who had assembled there.

This incident establishes the fact that Lord Narayana will always be with Lord Vayu and it also reaffirms that Lord Narayana will always protect his devotees.  

Virahitaswajanm charaNapriyam viviDhaBhUtaBhayankaravartmani|

Ayi krupAlaya pAlaya bAlakam laGhushuBhasya mamEtyanamadwijaha||15||

SUMMARY: Sri Madhyageha appealed to the Lord by stating “Oh Lord, epitome of kindness, please protect this son of mine, as I am the most unfortunate to be always keen on travelling, from the spirits and vampires that abound on the dreadful path.”