SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam – 23 – ayOdhyA kANdam 86.1 – AchachakshEtha, 99.12 – subhagaSchithrakUta:

_{SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:}

We are continuing to enjoy the vyAkhyAnam for SrI rAmAyaNa SlOkams that was given to us mercifully by periyavAchchAn piLLai.

In this series, we have already completed the vyAkhyAnams for important bAla kANdam SlOkams and presently we are enjoying the SlOkams in ayOdhyA kAndam.

When king dhaSaratha decides to coronate SrI rAma as the king, he conveys his desire to SrI rAma and to the people of ayOdhyA. As the preparations for the coronation ceremony happen, kaikEyip pirAtti, influenced by mantharA, has a change of heart. She insists on king dhaSaratha to satisfy the two boons which were given by him. Through the first boon she desires to send SrI rAma to the forest; and the second boon, she desires to coronate her son bharathAzhwAn as the king.

King dhaSaratha, without having an alternate solution, agrees to send SrI rAma to the forest. As SrI rAma gets ready to depart, sIthAp pirAtti and iLaiya perumAL compel SrI rAma to take them along with him. sumanthra takes them in the chariot, and the people of ayOdhyA follow them.

After travelling some distance, while the people are asleep, SrI rAma with the intention to send the people back to ayOdhyA, proceeds ahead with only sumanthra, sIthAp pirAtti, and iLaiya perumAL. sumanthra also returns to ayOdhyA after leaving them on the banks of the river gangA.

At this juncture, guhap perumAL meets perumAL and friendship blossoms between them. perumAL accepts guhap perumAL as his younger brother. Then, they bid farewell to guhap perumAL and go to bharadhwAja rishi’s hermitage. From there, after getting directions from the rishi they decide to go to chithra kUtam. chithra kUtam is a beautiful mountain on the banks of the mandhakini river. The three of them begin to live in that beautiful place. iLaiya perumAL builds a parNa SAlA (hermitage) there for perumAL and pirAtti.

In the meanwhile, bharathAzhwAn returns to ayodhyA and learns about the death of king dhaSartha. He expresses his anger using harsh words towards his mother kaikEyip pirAtti. Sage vasishta and others urge bharathAzhwAn to become the king. He refuses and condemns them for such advice by stating that it is against dharmam and that it is not practiced in ikshvAku dynasty.

bharathAzhwAn then decides to go after SrI rAma to convince him and bring him back to ayOdhyA. With the intention of bringing SrI rAma back, he takes all the people of ayOdhyA along with him, he also takes the elephantry and cavalry and the troops along.

On his way, he meets guhap perumAL. guhap perumAL knowing that bharathAzhwAn’s mother kaikEyip pirAtti was instrumental in sending perumAL to the forest and out of extreme love for perumAL, becomes furious upon seeing bharathAzhwAn in the forest with his troops.

He mistakes bharathAzhwAn’s intentions. He thinks that bharathAzhwAn has come to fight with SrI rAma and hence immediately organises his troops and gets ready to fight. But the people who came along with bharathAzhwAn tell guhap perumAL about bharathAzhwAn’s intention. They also tell him that bharathAzhwAn has no desire to become the king and that he is similar to iLaiya perumAL in traits and love for perumAL. After hearing their words, guhap perumAL then looks at bharathAzhwAn for the first time without any anger. He sees bharathAzhwAn’s teary eyes and weak body and understands that his pain is caused due to SrI rAma’s separation. Upon understanding bharathAzhwAn, guhap perumAL immediately aspires to present him with something that is apt for bharathAzhwAn. With that intent, he decides to speak of iLaiya perumAL’s glories. This SlOkam is guhap perumAL’s words to bharathAzhwAn praising iLaiya perumAL.

(Note from kAlakshEpam: azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr has taken the word – sadhbhAvam from this SrI rAmAyaNam SlOkam for the 85th chUrNikai (iLaiyOn sadhbhAvam) in AchArya hrudhayam.

AchArya hrudhayam 85 chUrNikai – “mlEchchanum bhakthan”, “iLaiyOn sadhbhAvam” (Lowly guhap perumAL became an equal friend of SrI rAma, the lord, being accepted as his immediate brother [even before his other brothers], held spear and bow, checked lakshmaNa who was born after SrI rAma, and informed the greatness of younger brother lakshmaNa to the elder brother bharathAzhwAn. Thus, he came to be counted in the same clan as SrI rAma).

Here, it says, guhap perumAL checked lakshmaNa out of fear for bhagavAn. He suspects iLaiya perumAL who knew nothing other than serving perumAL. This is called “asthAnE bhaya Sankai” (having fear unnecessarily) – one need not fear for bhagavAn who is all capable, yet the mangaLASAsanaparars fear for him due to overwhelming love. The same is also explained in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 10 “Angu AravAram adhu kEttu azhal umizhum pUngAraravaNai” (Adhi SEshan, is always spewing hot fire to keep the enemies – even where there are no enemies, away from emperumAn).

guhap perumAL who was born in the forest, iLaiya perumAL, perumAL and bharathAzhwAn who are princes, all became one family. One, who understands this concept, will know that it is not correct to see inferiority and superiority by birth. It becomes an offence, if one sees this distinction among SrIvaishNavas.

guhap perumAL speaks about the glories of iLaiya perumAL even though he understands that bharathAzhwAn is aware of iLaiya perumAL’s virtues. This shows the closeness in their relationship.

avathArikai (Introduction)

At first, guhap perumAL who was unaware of bharathAzhwAn’s intentions, was enraged when bharathAzhwAn came to the forest.

He thought, “Let me see how he (bharathAzhwAn) and his troops reach the other side of the river and reach SrI rAma. I shall have all my boats, fighters, and weapons lined up readily for attack”. At this juncture, sumanthra approaches guhap perumAL and tells him that there is no reason for him to be furious with bharathAzhwAn.

sumanthra says to guhap perumAL, “bharathAzhwAn’s nature is the same as that of iLaiya perumAL. You have to see him, once you see him (his divine body) you will understand his nature”.

guhap perumAL immediately goes to see bharathAzhwAn, and instantly on seeing him, he thinks “What a wonder! Such a good-natured person!”.

Instantly, he has a desire to do something that is apt to the greatness of bharathAzhwAn. He feels that narrating iLaiya perumAL’s virtues would be a suitable offering for him.

(Note from kAlakshEpam: guhap perumAL understands bharathAzhwAn’s concern about SrI rAma’s pain of being in the forest. So, he wanted to tell him about iLaiya perumAL’s service to SrI rAma as it would provide some solace to his troubled mind.)

Thus, guhap perumAL begins to describe the virtues of iLaiya perumAL.

AchachakshE’tha sadhbhAvam lakshmaNasya mahAthmana: I
bharathAyApramEyAya guhO gahanagOchara: II

Word-by-Word meaning

atha: – after that
gahanagOchara: – one who is lives in the forest
guha: – guhap perumAL
mahAthmana: – esteemed soul
lakshmaNasya – iLaiya perumAL’s
sadhbhAvam – qualities of goodness
apramEyAya – infinite or incomprehensible
bharathAya -to bharathAzhwAn
AchachakshE – said

Simple Meaning

guhap perumAL, who lives in the forest, spoke to bharathAzhwAn, whose qualities of goodness are incomprehensible, about mahAthmA iLaiya perumAL’s virtues.

Notes from periyavAchchAn piLLai’s vyAkhyAnam

guhap perumAL began to state the virtues of iLaiya perumAL to bharathAzhwAn.

AchachakshEtha sadhbhAvam

sadhbhAvam means conduct of a sAdhu.

vishNu purANam 3-11-3 “sachchabdha: sAdhuvAchaka:” (the word sadh refers to sAdhu)
vishNu purANam 3-11-3 “sAdhava: kshINadhOshAsthu” (sAdhu refers to those whose sins/flaws have been removed).

(Note from kAlakshEpam: In bhagavath gIthA 4.8, kaNNan emperumAn says, “parithrANAya sAdhUnAm”. bhagavath rAmAnujar in his commentary for this, explains the word sAdhu as one who is an eminent vaishNava).

bhAvam refers to the conduct of a person.

(Note from kAlakshEpam: For a SrIvaishNava, his conduct is very important, since only with good conduct he can even be called a SrIvaishNava.)

A person is known only by his conduct. Just as a wealthy man is known by the wealth that he distributes, a man of high birth by his virtues and mannerism, and a wise person by his actions. In the same way, iLaiya perumAL’s conduct demonstrates his nature – sadhbhAvam.

guhap perumAL begins to narrate everything he saw about iLaiya perumAL to bharathAzhwAn.

guhap perumAL says, “For perumAL’s Sayanam (sleeping), he (iLaiya perumAL) would collect flowers to spread them and make them as a bed. For washing perumAL’s divine feet, he would pick lotus leaves and make them into cups to collect and carry water. For offering water to drink, he would carry the water using lotus leaves and offer it to perumAL. And then, he would offer the remains of it to pirAtti. He would then request perumAL and pirAtti for their Sayanam. He would then, without closing his eyes even for a moment, go around with a bow in his hand protecting them, looking around, even looking at me with suspicion”.

lakshmaNasya mahAthmana:

Trying to describe the glory of iLaiya perumAL is like trying to empty the ocean with one’s hands.

lakshmaNasya mahAthmanas sadhbhAvam apramEyAya bharathAya AchachakshE

To describe the conduct of mahAthma iLaiya perumAL to bharathAzhwAn is like describing the greatness of salt pan to the ocean.

bharathAyApramEyAyAchachakshE

apramEyA – bharathAzhwAn is one who cannot be comprehended with intelligence or described in words. Why is bharathAzhwAn described so (as an ocean), while iLaiya perumAL is referred to by salt pan?

SrI rAmAyaNa ayOdhyA kANdam 31-25 “aham sarvam karishyAmi” (I will do all services to you).
iLaiya perumAL makes a vow by saying, “I will do everything you ask me to do”. But after making such a vow, he refuses to act as per SrI rAma’s desire to stay back in ayOdhyA. This does not seem like an act of a person in servitorship.
Real servitorship is doing what is told. If told to enter the fire – one must enter it. If told to stay back – one must stay back. If told to follow – one must go behind.
In this case, SrI rAma did not tell iLaiya perumAL to enter the fire. He only told him to do something that was good for iLaiya perumAL, that is – to stay back in the kingdom. But iLaiya perumAL did not do what he was told to do. Instead, he compelled SrI rAma and accompanied him to the forest.
On the other hand, bharathAzhwAn, stayed back in ayOdhyA and ruled the kingdom as per SrI rAma’s wishes. Hence, in the above example, bharathAzhwAn is compared to an ocean and iLaiya perumAL to a salt pan.

As such, just like describing the greatness of a salt pan to an ocean, guhap perumAL, describes the virtues of iLaiya perumAL to bharathAzhwAn.

This concludes the vyAkhyAnam for this SlOkam.

AchachakshEtha sadhbhAvam lakshmaNasya mahAthmana: I
bharathAyApramEyAya guhO gahanagOchara: II

SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam – ayOdhyA kANdam 99.12 – subhagaSchithrakUta:

After their meeting, guhap perumAL and bharathAzhwAn understand each other and friendship develops between them. guhap perumAL also helps bharathAzhwAn to cross the river. bharathAzhwAn then proceeds towards chithra kUtam. The greatness of chithra kUtam is described in this SlOkam.

subhagaSchithrakUtO’sau girirAjOpamO giri: I
yasmin vasathi kAkuthstha: kubEra iva nandhanE II

Word-by-Word meaning

nandhanE – in the garden of nandhanam ( indhrA’s garden)
kubEra iva – as kubEra resides
yasmin – in which mountain
kAkuthstha: – SrI rAma, one who is from kAkusthstha lineage
vasathi – is residing
chithrakUta: – chithra kUta
asau giri: – this mountain
girirAjOpama: – is comparable to thirumAlirunjOlai mountain
subhaga: – has the greatness

(Note from kAlakshEpam: – Here, periyavAchchAn piLLai explains girirAjOpama: as “resembles thirumAlirunjOlai mountain”, in other commentaries it can be seen as “resembles the king of mountains”.

As the name thirumAlirunjOlai itself implies – it is where thirumAl (pirAtti and perumAL) reside happily. Since perumAL and pirAtti happily reside there, it is called as the king of mountains.

chithra kUta mountain is comparable to thirumAlirunjOlai mountain since it is also the king of mountains because of perumAL and pirAtti residing there. Similarly, chithra kUta mountain also gets its greatness due to the presence of SrI rAma and sIthAp pirAtti. In this chithra kUta mountain, SrI rAma and sIthAp pirAtti reside happily just like how kubEra resides happily in indhira’s garden -nandham).

vyAkhyAnam for this SlOkam will be continued in the next article.

AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

periyavAchchAn piLLai thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Source – SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam – 23 – ayOdhyA kANdam 86.1 – AchachakshEtha, 99.12 – subhagaSchithrakUta: Audio Video

adiyEn chithrA rAmAnuja dhAsi

Proofreading/Curating done by – kOsalEndhra rAmAnuja dhAsan, krishNan rAmAnuja dhAsan

Artwork – namperumAL rAmAnuja dhAsan

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