SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
‘SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam’ grantham is a vyAkhyAnam for a collection of SlOkams from vAlmeeki’s SrI rAmAyaNam. It is written by periyavAchchAn piLLai. periyavAchchAn piLLai, after thoroughly studying and understanding the Idu vyAkhyAnams and several upanyAsams has provided detailed explanations for many important SlOkams in this grantham – ‘SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam’.
The following is a summary of translation from SrI u vE sArathy thOthAthri swAmy’s ‘SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam’ grantha kAlakshEpam (along with puththUr swAmy’s explanation for this grantham)
‘SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam’ bAla kANdam 19.14
aham vEdhmi mahAthmAnam rAmam sathyaparAkramam |
vasishtOpi mahAthEjA yE chEmE thapasi sthithA: ||
Word-by-Word Meaning
aham – I
vEdhmi – (am) aware, knowledgeable
mahAthmAnam – as mahAthmA [sublime soul]
rAmam – SrI rAma (is)
sathya parAkramam – with truthfulness, great valour
vasishtOpi – vasishta maharishI also
mahAthEjA yE – resplendent one
chEmE – others who are present here
thapasi sthitha: – those thapasvis / rishis [sages, who carry out penance]
Simple Meaning
This SlOkam is spoken by viSwAmithra when he requests king dhaSaratha to send SrI rAma to the forest along with him to help protect his yAgam. Due to immense love towards SrI rAma and his inability to stay away from SrI rAma even for a short while, king dhaSaratha becomes unconscious upon hearing this. viSwAmithra explains that except for dhaSaratha, the sages present in the king’s assembly along with vasishta and himself are aware of SrI rAma’s true identity and valour. So he assures king dhaSaratha that dhaSaratha doesn’t have to worry about SrI rAma’s safety about entering the forest.
avathArikai (Introduction)
viSwAmithra suspects that king dhaSaratha may not understand SrI rAma’s greatness and invincibility, considering the young age of perumAL; hence he explains to dhaSaratha about perumAL’s unconquerable abilities.
The story of how king kaushika became sage viSwAmithra (The story of viSwAmithra is told here, to emphasise the greatness of the person talking about SrI rAma’s valour and glory).
Before becoming a sage, viSwAmithra, was a king (kaushika). Once as a king he meets vasishta maharishi in the forest during one of his hunting expeditions. At that time, vasishta maharishi uses his cow kAmadhEnu to provide an elaborate feast for the king and his entire army. Fascinated by the abilities of kAmadhEnu, the king requests vasishta maharishi to give him custody of kAmadhEnu but vasishta maharishi refuses. This leads to a confrontation between them during which vasishta maharishi, just by the power of his brahma dhaNdam, is able to defeat the king.
To gain power similar to that of vasishta maharishi, king kaushika does thapas [penance] and becomes a rAjarishi [king among sages] and then later becomes brahma rishi [supreme sage] and also gains the respect and acceptance of vashista maharishi.
The story of SakunthalA, dhushyanthan, and bharathan – This story is told here to show how viSwAmithra was such a great thapasi and a great maharishi, being steadfast in his penance in spite of facing many obstacles.
King kaushika had to encounter many distractions and hurdles before becoming a brahma rishi. An apsara, mEnakA, was sent by indhra to disrupt king kaushika’s (viSwAmithra’s) penance. King kaushika is attracted by apsara’s beauty, and SakunthalA is born. SakunthalA marries dhushyanthan and they have a son, bharathan. bharathan and his descendants ruled the country for many years, and hence the country was named as bhAratha dhESam.
Notes from periyavAchchAn piLLai’s vyAkhyAnam
aham – I
vEdhmi – (am) aware, knowledgeable
Sage viSwAmithra says that he is aware that SrI rAma is paramAthmA but king dhaSaratha is unaware of SrI rAma’s true identity.
Here, periyavAchchAn piLLai gives 11 different interpretations/meanings for this phrase aham vEdhmi by quoting many pramANams.
- meaning 1 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because perumAL can be seen only with the inner eyes (purified mind), and not with the external eyes.”
Sage viSwAmithra infers that because of his penances, with a purified mind, he is able to see SrI rAma as paramAthmA whereas dhaSaratha sees rAma as his son using his external eyes.
periyavAchchAn piLLai quotes the following pramANams here to support his interpretation.
~ muNdaka upanishadh 3.1.8 “na chakshushA gruhyathE nApi vAchA nAnyairdhEvaiSthapasA vA| jnAnaprasAdhEna vishudhdhasaththvaSthathaSthu tham pashyathE nishkalam dhyAyamAna:||” (paramAthmA is not grasped by the eye; nor by speech; nor by other senses; he is seen only with one’s purified mind)
~ vishNu dharmam 273.2 “manasA thu viSudhdhEna” (paramAthmA can be seen only with the purified mind and not just with the normal [external] eyes).
~ periya thiruvandhAdhi – 28 “katkaNNAl kANAdha avvuruvai nenjennum utkaNNEl kANum uNarndhu” (our external eye is similar to the eye which is present on the feather of a peacock . On that day when our heart, which is also called as internal eye, is able to see the divine form of emperumAn, our external “peacock” eye, which is unable to see the divine form of emperumAn, will be able to see)
- meaning 2 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I have the required wisdom to understand that SrI rAma is paramAthmA”
viSwAmithra explains that he has such wisdom because he has gained that knowledge by approaching, serving and learning from many AchAryas; whereas dhaSaratha, being a king, has not served AchAryas, rather he is served by others and looked upon by his subjects and hence doesn’t have the same level of wisdom as he (viSwAmithra).
periyavAchchAn piLLai quotes the following pramANams here to support his interpretation.
~ mahAbhAratham: sabhA parva “gyAnavruththA mayA rAjan bahava: paryupAsithA:” (Oh king! Many knowledgeable elders were worshipped by me)
- meaning 3 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I am always seen with dharbhai grass [sacred grass], but you are always seen with a bow and arrow.”
dharbhai grass here indicates that viSwAmithra is a thapasvi, but dhaSaratha being a king is seen with bow and arrow, always ready to be engaged in battle.
- meaning 4 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I am with matted hair, but yours is crowned.”
Matted hair, here, indicates that viSwAmithrA is a thapasvi who spends time in penance, but dhaSaratha being the crowned king, has to spend his time protecting his subjects and kingdom.
- meaning 5 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I am in sathva guNam, but you are in rajO guNam”
sathva guNam [purely noble qualities], here, indicates that viSwAmithra is a thapasvi who spends time in penance, but dhaSaratha, being a king has to be in rajO guNam [qualities related to desire, anger, passion etc] to be able to accumulate wealth and to extend his kingdom etc.
- meaning 6 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I have always made sure that my position is below my guru’s position; but you are always sitting high in a simhAsanam”
Position, here, indicates that viSwAmithra being subservient to his guru [AchArya or teacher] and hence capable of understanding about paramAthmA; on the other hand, people sitting on a throne as a king are not aware of such matters.
- meaning 7 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I am always in yOgam/meditation, but you are always in bhOgam.”
yOgam [synchronisation between physical body, mind, AthmA and paramAthmA], here, indicates that viSwAmithra is always in a meditative state experiencing bhagavAn and hence capable of understanding about paramAthmA; on the other hand, since dhaSaratha is a king, he is experiencing mere material enjoyment and therefore not aware of such matters.
- meaning 8 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because I do yAgam in the interest of mOksham, but you do yAgam such as puthrakAmEshti in the interest of having a son.”
Interest in mOksham indicates viSwAmithra’s detachment to worldly things which leads to understanding of spiritual truth, but doing yAgam in the interest of having children indicates worldly attachment and hence he indicates dhaSaratha may not understand.
- meaning 9 – sage viSwAmithra says to king dhaSaratha, “I can see that SrI rAma is paramAthmA, but you cannot, because out of the four purushArthams, I am interested in dharmam and mOksham, but you are interested in artham and kAmam”
[purushArtham refers to the ultimate benefit that one pursues – there are four such benefits – dharmam, artham, kAmam, mOksham which refer to righteousness, wealth, lust and liberation from samsAram] Interest in dharmam and mOksham, refers to detachment from worldly materials in pursuit of paramAthmA; and interest in artham and kAmam, refers to worldly pursuits and absence of knowledge of paramAthmA.
- meaning 10 – viSwAmithra further adds that even he does not completely know about bhagavAn, since pramAthAs like brahma themselves are not able to fully understand bhagavAn.
periyavAchchAn piLLai quotes pramANams from different sources with similar statements.
~ bruhadhAraNyaka upanishadh 4-3-6 “nEthi nEthi” (not that, not tha); na ithi, meaning, cannot be thus defined – the glories and greatness of brahmam are countless and thus it is not possible to describe all the attributes of brahmam.
~ kata upanishadh 1-2-25 “ka iththA vEdha” (Who knows the nature of brahmam?), no one is capable of understanding the brahmam completely.
~ thiruvAimozhi – 8.3.9 “thirumAl! nAnmugan senjadaiyAn enRivargaL emperumAn thanmaiyai yAr aRigiRpAr?“
thirumAl – emperumAn’s greatness cannot be fully known by anyone. even pramAthAs like brahma, rudhra, and indhra are not capable of understanding the parabrahmam fully. Even perumAL who is the pramEyam does not fully understand himself. There is no limit or end to emperumAn’s glory as such even emperumAn himself is not aware of his endless glory.
Here, periyavAchchAn piLLai, suspects that some readers may have doubts regarding this, and hence poses the following question to himself and answers it:
If no one, including the pramAthAs and perumAL himself, is aware of the endless glories/ attributes of perumAL, then, how is it possible for sage viSwAmithra to be aware of that?
periyavAchchAn piLLai uses the following pramANams and provides further explanation.
~ muNdaka upanishadh 1-1-10) “yas sarvagyas sarvavith”;
sarvagya – one who knows about everything that exists
sarvavith – one who knows about all the attributes of everything that exists
~ SvEthASvathara upanishadh 6-8 “svabhAvikI gyAnabalakriyA cha” – [emperumAn] by his inherent nature, is knowledgeable of everything
Through the above pramANams, periyavAchchAn piLLai explains perumAL’s true nature and yet, he says, all of those knowledge has not been acquired through an AchArya as told by bhagavAn krishNan in SrI bhagavath gIthA.
And therefore, he always had this regret of not learning from an AchArya, and hence during SrI rAma avathAram, he learnt from sage vasishta and he was always seen with the brAhmaNas, seeking them to learn from them.
~ SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 2-33 “brAhmaNAnAmupAsithA”
- meaning 11 – viSwAmithra further adds that he has learnt and gained this knowledge with much difficulty.
periyavAchchAn piLLai uses the following pramANam to show that.
~ SrI bhagavadh gIthA – 10.10 “dhadhAmi budhdhiyOgam tham”, I give the understanding by which they can come to me.
~ thiruvAimozhi – 1.1.1 “mayarvaRa madhinalam aruLinan”
~ bruhadhAraNyaka upanishadh (6-4-22) “thamEtham vEdhAnuvachanEna brAhmaNA vividhishanthi yagyEna dhAnEna thapasA nASakEna”, Through vEdham, yagyam, dhAnam, and thapas, the brAhmaNas learn about brahmam.
~ bruhadhAraNyaka upanishadh 6-5-6 “SrOthavyO manthavyO nidhidhyAsithavya:”, Only after listening to and through meditation, could one see brahmam.
And viSwAmithra says that, it is by such great measures that he has learnt about paramAthmA.
vyAkhyAnam for the remaining SlOkam to be continued in the next article.
Source –
https://www.youtube.com/live/gFqpZbR82n0?si=myoXUQX2Eu9aHvMB
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