SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
For the question of “Where can we see this principle in practice where an individual will forget about the great ability of rakshaka (emperumAn, the protector) and protect him, being bewildered by his beauty etc?” piLLai lOkAchArya is showing that this is based on SishtAchAram (practice of wise elders).
sUthram 246
ivvarththam chakravarthi, SrI janakarAjan thirumagaL, viSvAmithran, SrI dhaNdakAraNyavAsigaLAna rishigaL, thiruvadi, mahArAjar, SrI nandhagOpar, SrI vidhurar, piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar thudakkamAnavargaL pakkalilE kANalAm.
Simple Explanation
This principle can be seen in dhaSaratha chakravarthi, the divine daughter of SrI janakarAja, viSvAmithra, the divine sages of dhaNdakAraNya, hanumAn, sugrIva mahArAja, SrI nandhagOpa, SrI vidhura, piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar et al.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
ivvartham …
perumAL married pirAtti and mercifully returned to SrI ayOdhyA, when paraSurAma arrived; though dhaSaratha chakravarthi knew perumAL’s great prowess from the killing of thAtakA and her sons, looking at his childishness and beauty, he became fearful thinking “What is going to happen now?” and rushed ahead of him towards paraSurAma and surrendered as said in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 75.6 “kshathra rOshAth praSAnthas thvam bhrAmaNaScha mahAyaSA: | bAlAnAm mama puthrANAm abhayam dhAthum arhasi ||” (You are being a very famous brAhmaNa who are peaceful instead of a kshathriya who is angry; thus, you qualify to give refuge to my young children); seeing that paraSurAma is still having anger towards perumAL, he became lifeless and subsequently became joyous on hearing that paraSurAma lost and retreated, thinking that he and his children were born again as said as in “gathOrAma ithiSruthvA hrushta: pramudhithO nrupa: | punarjAtham thadhA mEnE suthAnAthmAnam Evacha ||” (Hearing that paraSurAma was defeated, dhaSaratha chakravarthi became joyous; he rejoiced along with his ministers; at that time, he thought he and his children were born again).
SrI janakarAjan thirumagaL
Though sIthAp pirAtti is the one who knows emperumAn’s greatness fully, being close to [inseparable from] him, seeing that perumAL (SrI rAma) was having well-decorated divine form for his divine coronation, and was heading to the palace of dhaSaratha chakravarthi, being captivated by his beauty, she became bewildered due to love thinking “What is going to happen now?” and followed him to the gate performing mangaLASAsanam as said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 19.2 “pathi sammAnithA sIthA bharthAram asithEkshaNA | AdhvAram anuvavrAja mangaLAni abhidhathnushI ||” (Being honoured by SrI rAma, her husband, the black-eyed sIthAp pirAtti followed her husband performing mangaLASAsanam) and prayed for the protection of dhik pAlas (the guards of the directions) as said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 16.24 “pUrvAm dhiSam vajradharO dhakshiNAm pAthuthE yama: | varuNa: paSchimAmASAm dhanESasthUththarAm dhiSam ||” (Let indhra protect you in the east; let yama protect you in the south; let varuNa protect you in the west; let kubEra protect you in the north). SrI janakarAjan thirumagaL can also be split as SrI janakarAjan and thirumagaL. In that case, though SrI janakarAjan had witnessed perumAL’s great prowess in launching rudhra’s bow, while giving sIthAp pirAtti in marriage saying “Please accept her who is having greatness in high family heritage etc” as said in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 73.27 “iyam sIthA mama suthA sahadharma charIthava | prathIScha chainAm badhram thE pANim gruhNIshva pANinA ||” (Here is my daughter sIthA; I am handing over to you; she will support you in your righteous acts; accept her; let you live long; you hold her hand), seeing his beauty and tenderness and becoming bewildered, performed mangaLASAsanam saying “badhram thE“, desiring that no evils affect the divine couple.
viSvAmithran, while having perumAL come along with him for the protection of his adhvara (yagya), as he saw thAtakA angrily arriving there with a great roar, though he knew the great prowess of perumAL as he said in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 19.14 “aham vEdhmi mahAthmAnam rAmam sathya parAkramam” (I know that SrI rAma is an invincible personality who has indestructible strength), seeing the tenderness and being bewildered, went ahead of perumAL and stood in front of her, roared at her and performed mangaLASAsanam to perumAL and his divine brother as said in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 26.14 “viSvAmithrasthu brahmarshir hunkArENAbhi barthsyathAm | svasthi rAghavayOr asthu jayanchaivAbhya bhAshatha ||” (viSvAmithra, the brahma rishi, by his uproarious sound, threatened thAtakA and told that SrI rAma and lakshmaNa should be victorious) desiring that no evils affect them.
The rishis who were living in SrI dhaNdakAraNya, who were performing sAdhanam (religious practice) towards perumAL considering him to be the one who eliminates their dangers and bestows their wishes, became immersed in his physical beauty and performed mangaLASAsanam, on seeing him as said in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 1.11 “thE tham sOmamivOdhyantham dhrushtvAvai dharmachAriNa: | mangaLAni prayunjAnA: prathyagruhNan dhrudavrathA: ||” (The sages of dhaNdakAraNya who are following righteous practice, saw SrI rAma who resembles a new moon and honoured him performing mangaLASAsanam).
thiruvadi (hanumAn), on his first sighting of perumAL, saw the strength of his divine shoulders resembling wooden clubs as said in SrI rAmAyaNam kishkindhA kANdam 3.14 “AyathAScha suvruththAScha bhAhava: parigOpamA: | sarva bhUshaNa bhUshArhA kimartham na vibhUshithA: ||” (Why are your shoulders which are lengthy, beautifully rounded resembling a rounded clubs and is deserving to be decorated with all ornaments, not decorated?) determined in his mind “He is well-qualified to be my protector”; yet, being immersed in his physical beauty, unnecessarily doubted “What will happen if evil eyes of people befall him?” He feared holding his stomach (in fear) saying “Why is he not hiding this beauty with divine ornaments?” Even subsequently, after seeing perumAL’s great prowess in many ways, due to meditating upon his tenderness, he always cared for him remaining with him in all situations thinking “What will happen to him?”
sugrIva mahArAjar, though having seen perumAL’s great prowess in defeating vAli et al, being worried on seeing his tenderness, when SrI vibhIshaNAzhwAn arrived with his four associates, determined that he has arrived to kill perumAL who is our singular life and thereby killing all of us, as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.5 “Esha sarvAyudhO pEthaScha chathurbissaha rAkshasai: | rAkshasObhyEthi paSyathvam hanthum na samSaya: ||” (This rAkshasa, vibhIshaNa is arriving along with four others and all weapons to kill us. See! There is no doubt in this) and showed them to the monkey elders. Though he had previously heard the words in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.16 “rAghavam SaraNam gatha:” (I surrendered unto SrI rAma) and SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.13 “nivEdhayatha mAm kshipram” (Quickly inform about me), he only saw vibhIshaNa’s relationship with rAvaNa and wanted to torment him as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.27 “vadhyathAmEsha dhaNdEna thIvrENa sachivai: saha | rAvaNasya nruSamsasya bhrAthAhyEsha vibhIshaNa: ||” (This vibhIshaNa along with his ministers, deserves to be killed by the mace, since he is the younger brother of rAvaNa) and said a few words indicating “You should mercifully consider him as sent by rAvaNa and I feel it is apt to punish him” as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17.24 “rAvaNEna praNihitham thamavaihi niSAcharam | thasyAham nigraham manyE kshamam kshamavathAm vara ||” (Oh best among patient ones! Understand that he is sent by rAvaNa. I think that he deserves to be punished). Saying in this manner, he remained fully confident that vibhIshaNa should be punished and he considered perumAL to be someone dependent upon him. perumAL had to mercifully convince him by showing his prowess as said in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 18.23 “piSAchAn dhAnavAn yakshAn pruthivyAnchaiva rAkshasAn | anguLyagrENa thAn hanyAm ichchan harigaNEshvara ||” (Oh leader of the monkey army! If I wished, I can kill the demons, demoniac people of higher worlds, ghosts, demoniac people of this earth with the tip of my finger), explaining the story of pigeon [where the pigeon sacrificed its own life to feed a hunter who took shelter under tree where it lived], the story told by kaNdU rishi and sent him to bring SrI vibhIshaNAzhwAn saying as in “Anaiyainam hariSrEshta” (Oh best among monkeys! Bring him!).
mahArAjar is also explained as jatAyu mahArAjar. That is – while jatAyu mahArAjar fought with rAvaNa to save pirAtti and was lying in a near-death stage and was visited by perumAL at that time, though he had known about perumAL’s individual valour and the shoulder strength of destroying fourteen thousand rAkshasas in janasthAnam, as said in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 67.15 “yAm Oshadhamiva AyushmAn nanvEshasi mahAvanE | sA dhEvI mamacha prANA rAvaNEnObhayam hrutham ||” (Oh my lord who will live long! The sIthAp pirAtti whom you are searching like searching for a rare medicinal herb in a mountain, was carried away, along with my life, by rAvaNa) – while saying “You are searching for sIthAp pirAtti and roaming in this vast forest just as one will search for a rare medicinal herb in the forest, sIthAp pirAtti who is like your eternal life and my life were taken away by the evil rAvaNa”, he prayed for long life to SrI rAma saying “Ayushman” seeing the fatigue in SrI rAma’s body due to the suffering in separation, his tenderness and his great enmity with the demoniac clan, fearing “What will happen to him?”
Though SrI nandhagOpar had seen krishNa’s divine prowess in killing pUthanA, only seeing his tenderness due to being a child, prayed for his protection saying as in mahAbhAratham “rakshathu thvAm aSEshANAm bhUthAnAm prabhavO hari: | yasya nAbhi samudhbhUtha pankajAth abhavath jagath ||” (Let hari, from whose divine navel, several worlds were created, who is the origin of all creatures and the one who destroys the enemies of devotees, protect you).
Though SrI vidhurar had known krishNa’s omniscience, omnipotence etc, when he was given a throne which was a trap, he became fearful and due to being blinded by love, checked the seat he laid in his own divine palace, with his own hand as said in mahAbhAratham udhyOga parvam “samspruSan nAsanam SaurEr vidhuras sa mahAmathi:” (That very wise vidhura, place the seat for krishNa and pressed on the same).
Knowing the gyAnam (knowledge), Sakthi (ability) etc of bhagavAn, while piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar knows that perumAL is the protector, due to being overwhelmed by love, he will always hold the dagger saying “While perumAL is going on a divine procession, even if there is a slight shake in his divine form, I will kill myself” – this is well known.
thudakkamAnavargaL
Here, these other personalities who have performed mangaLASAsanam are indicated.
The residents of SrI ayOdhyA performed mangaLASAsanam as said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 2.52 “sthriyO vrudhdhA: tharuNyaScha sAyam prAthas samAhithA: | sarvAn dhEvAn namasyanthi rAmasyArthE yaSasvina: ||” (The women, elderly, young girls gathered at all times (day and evening) and worshipped all dhEvathAs for the well-being of SrI rAma).
SrI kausalyA performed mangaLASAsanam as said in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 52.33 “yan mangaLam suparNasya vinathAkalpayath purA | amrutham prArthayAnasya thaththE bhavathu mangaLam ||” (Let the auspiciousness which was prayed by vinathA for garudAzhwAr to bring the nectar, occur for SrI rAma).
SrI vasudhEvar performed mangaLASAsanam as said in SrIvishNu purANam 5.3.10 “jAthOsi dhEvadhEvESa Sanka chakra gadhAdhara: | dhivya rUpam idham dhEva prasAdhE nOpasamhara ||” (Oh nArAyaNa who is the lord of lords! You incarnated being decorated with conch, disc and mace. Oh lord! Due to mercy towards me, please conceal this form of vishNu).
SrI dhEvakip pirAtti performed mangaLASAsanam as said in SrIvishNu purANam 5.3.3 “upasamhara sarvAthman rUpamEthath chathurbhujam | jAnAnumAvathAram thE kasyOyam dhithijanmaja: ||” |(Oh lord who is the antharyAmi of everyone! You conceal this four-handed form. Let this demoniac kamsa not know about your incarnation).
And more such personalities have performed mangaLASAsanam.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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