SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
SrIrAma leelAs and their essence
SrIranganAtha, who is known as periya perumAL, reclining in SrIrangam, and who is bhagavAn SrIman nArAyaNa, was present in SrIvaikuNtam which has unlimited bliss, to be served by nithyasUris (eternally free souls) and mukthAthmAs (liberated souls). Though he was enjoying great bliss there, his divine heart was filled with sorrow due to thinking about the bound souls in this samsAram where we are living. He considered in his divine heart that he should help them, uplift them, give them great bliss. In the samsAram, after praLayam was completed, everything was annihilated and had become subtle. At that time, he created countless aNdams (oval shaped universes) and appointed brahmA for each aNdam by selecting the best AthmAs, and created the celestial beings, humans, animals, birds and immovable entities, through brahmA and prajApathis in each of those aNdams. After creating all of them, in each of these aNdams, he remains himself as kshIrAbdhi nAthan in the kshIrAbdhi (milk ocean) and protects everyone. When dhEvathAs starting with brahmA face difficulties, they come to the entrance of kshIrAbdhi and eliminate their sorrow by praying to bhagavAn.
In this manner, once many persons in this world were tormented by a rAkshasa named rAvaNa. Hence, dhEvathAs starting with brahmA were like a ship being tormented in an agitated ocean, seeking for a refuge, came to bhagavAn in kshIrAbdhi and announced their sufferings to him.
bhagavAn too considered to destroy lankA which was filled with many rAkshasas starting with rAvaNa. Vowing in his divine heart to destroy lankA and to uplift the people of this samsAram through that, bhagavAn took birth as the son of SrI kausalyA and dhaSaratha chakravarthi (emperor), as SrI rAma. In our sampradhAyam, SrI rAma is known as perumAL. At that time, along with bhagavAn, bharatha, lakshmaNa and Sathrugna were also born.
vasishta, who is the kula guru, gave apt names to the four children. Due to having a beautiful form which captivates the heart – SrI rAma, due to having the wealth of kainkaryam (servitude) completely – lakshmaNa, due to [vasishta] being aware that the burden of the kingdom will be borne – bharatha, due to winning over the enemy of devotion towards bhagavAn to constantly be devoted towards bharatha who is a devotee of SrI rAma, Sathrughna.
SrI rAma was shining with all noble qualities. All four of them underwent upanayana samskAram, went through gurukula vAsam (traditional study under a guru) and became experts in weaponry. Once the great sage viSvAmithra came to meet dhaSaratha chakravarthi. chakravarthi welcomed him and honoured him well. The sage who is an expert in vEdhas mentioned that he is about to perofmr yAgam and there are rAkshasas who are planning to destroy that yAgam, and requested to send SrI rAma and lakshmaNa for protection. On hearing that, dhaSaratha first fainted due to fear and subsequently regained consciousness and told that his children were too young and he cannot live in separation from them, and hence cannot send them. But viSvAmithra explained the greatness of SrI rAma and with the support of vasishta, made chakravarthi to accept the proposal.
SrI rAma and lakshmaNa followed the sage. After entering the forest, a cruel rAkshasi named thAtakA came in front of them. As per the orders of the sage, SrI rAma shot her with an arrow and killed her. Subsequently, her sons mArIcha and subhAhu came to fight. Among them, subhAhu was killed by SrI rAma. mArIcha was shot by SrI rAma with his arrow and thrown away at a far distance. He killed many other strong rAkshasas. Then, viSvAmithra completed the yAgam, with their protection, in a good manner.
Subsequently, the sage brought them towards mithilA dhESam. On the way, at the sage gauthama’s ASrama, gauthama’s chaste wife ahalyA remained as a stone, due to his curse. As soon as the stone had a contact with SrI rAma’s divine feet, that stone again became ahalyA and she got relieved from the curse. Then, the sage, SrI rAma and lakshmaNa reached mithilA. There janaka mahArAja of mithilA, to find a good husband for his daughter sIthA, had announced that the one who strings the Siva dhanus (bow), will be given his daughter in marriage. Many princes tried but they could not even lift the bow. Knowing about this event, viSvAmithra brought SrI rAma and lakshmaNa to the arena where the event was happening. The sage introduced SrI rAma and lakshmaNa to janaka mahArAja and looked at SrI rAma and ordered him to string the bow. SrI rAma effortlessly lifted the bow and strung it. janaka mahArAja and sIthAp pirAtti became very happy. Immediately the date for the marriage was fixed; everyone arrived from SrI ayOdhyA; SrI rAma married sIthAp pirAtti, bharatha married mANdavi, lakhsmaNa married UrmiLA and Sathrugna married SruthakIrthi.
At that time, paraSurAma arrived there. He is also an AvESa avathAram of bhagavAn. He killed evil kings belonging to twenty one generations, with his weapon axe. There is a story behind the Siva dhanus which was strung by SrI rAma. In the previous ages, viSvakarmA made two bows. There was a battle arranged between vishNu and Siva to determine the greater dheyvam based on who wins the battle. One became vishNu dhanus as he took it and the other one became Siva dhanus since Siva took it. As vishNu made a hUnkAram (roar), Siva’s bow cracked a little bit. Seeing that everyone accepted vishNu as the greater dheyvam, considering he has won the battle just by that act itself. That vishNu dhanus went to paraSurAma and Siva dhanus came down to janaka. As this is the case, paraSurAma who came there became angry towards SrI rAma and told that he would kill SrI rAma. Seeing that, dhaSaratha prayed to paraSurAma to spare his son. But paraSurAma still remained angry. When SrI rAma asked how he can prove his goodness, paraSurAma told “You strung the broken Siva dhanu. If you string my vishNu dhanus, I will accept”. At that time, SrI rAma, acquired paraSurAma’s vishNu dhanus along with his penance. He strung that bow too, eliminated paraSurAma’s powers and sent him away to perform penance again.
After that, everyone happily returned to SrI ayOdhyA.
Essence
- bhagavAn out of his mercy, creates this world. He is putting in great efforts to uplift the AthmAs who are present in this world.
- In SrI rAmAvathAra incidents, SrI rAma demonstrates the basic virtue of following elders’ words/command. lakshmaNa demonstrates SEshathvam which is having exclusive servitude towards bhagavAn. bharathAzhwAn demonstrates pArathanthrya which is fully obeying bhagavAn’s words/command. Sathrughna demonstrates bhAgavatha SEshathvam which is to remain with servitude towards bharathAzhwAn who is bhagavAn’s bhaktha. sIthAp pirAtti demonstrates how one should exist for the sake of bhagavAn who is paramapurusha (supreme lord). hanuman demonstrates devotion towards bhagavAn. vibIshaNAzhwAn demonstrates how to perform SaraNAgathi (surrender) to bhagavAn. In this manner, many important aspects are present in SrI rAmAyaNam.
- The reason for most merciful bhagavAn to kill thAtakA who was a woman, is to make us understand that he sees the heart only and not the physical form.
- ahalyA being relieved of her curse is an example for contact of bhagavAn’s divine feet driving away any type of sorrow.
- bhagavAn’s incarnations are classified into mukyAvathAra (Primary incarnations) and AvESAvathAra (Secondary incarnations). In mukyAvathAra, he fully incarnates along with all the qualities he has in paramapadham. In AvESAvathAra, he either places his Sakthi (power) or svarUpa (his true nature) on a jIvAthmA. For those who desire mOksham, AvESAvathAras are not worshippable.
- In the meeting between SrI rAma and paraSurAma, we can understand that AvESAvathAra cannot stand against mukyAvathAra.
- Both SrIman nArAyaNa and SrI mahAlakshmi are always together. But as part of leelA, they incarnate in this world, remain separated for sometime and unite again through divine marriage. Still she is always present on his divine chest.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2024/11/02/srirama-leela-bala-kandam-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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