||    Sri Rama Navami Day Celebrations ( 1997 ) - Part VI   ||

I will cover the 7th and 8th charaNa vaakyams in this posting .

SEVENTH CHARANAM
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puraaNa purusha nruvaraathmajaasritha
paraadheena karaviraadha raavaNa
viraavaNa anagha paraasara manOhara
vikrutha THYAGARAAJA SANNUTHA (jagadhaanandakaaraka)

This charaNam was the second level at which the Saint was going to stop. Hence he added another svanaama mudhraa. Then he thought about it and added three more charaNams to reach the level of 108 naamaas for his ashtOtthara pancharathnam.

The Naamaas enshrined in this SEVENTH charaNam are SEVEN in number:

1. Om PuraaNa purushaaya nama :
2. Om nruvaraathmajaaya nama:
3. Om aasrtitha paraadheenaaya nama:
4. Om Kara viraadha RaavaNa viraavaNaaya nama :
5. Om anagaaya nama:
6. Om Paraasara manOharaaya nama:
7. Om vikrutha Thyagaraajaaya sannuthaaya nama :

Sri Raamaa is without beginning and end as revealed by VishNu sahasra naamam: "Anaadhi nithanam VishNum sarvaloka mahesvaram". He is anaadhi or akaalOpadhikan. Sage Valmeeki has pointed out that those, who think about the puraaNa purushotthaman, Sri Raaman, will receive all the blessings in this life and the hereafter:

yE tvaam dhruvam bhakthaa: puraaNa purushOtthamam I
praapnuvanthi sadhaa kaamaan iha lokE parathra cha II

Om PuraaNa purushaaya nama: is also one of the naamaas of Sri Rama AshtOttharam .

The second naamam of this charaNam is "Om nruvaraathmajaaya nama:". Nruvaran refers to Dasaratha chakravarthi. His aathmajan (progeny) is Raaman ( Chakravarthy kummaran ) or Daasarathy. The name Daasarathy is very close to the heart of the saint. He has celebrated the Nruvaraathmajan (Dasarathy ) in number of his krithis:

1 .DaasarathE dayaa charathE (Kokilapriyaa raagam)

2. Dasaratha nandana dhaanava marthana
dayayaa maam paahi (Asaaveri raagam )

3. Daasarathee nee ruNamu theerpa taramaa (Thodi Raagam )

The third namaskaaram of this charaNam is " Om aasritha paraadheenaaya nama: ". Raama has been caught up in the net of vaathsalyam (Bhakthi) of his devotees and is under their influence (paraadheenan). Raamaa is readily accessible to His devotees through Dhyaanam as indicated by the following passage of the verse:

bhaktha priyam , bhaktha samaadhi gamyam ,
chintaaharam , chinthitha kaamadhEnum --"

For those meditating on Him with amala hrudhayam through His Taaraka manthram , He readily becomes accessible and is " commanded" by them (vide: Thirumozhisai Aazhwaar):

nithyam Sri Raama manthram
nirupamaadhikam neethisugyana manthram I
sathyam Sri Raama manthram
sadhamala hrudhayE sarvadhaarOgya manthram II

VaseekaraNam of Sri Raama is made possible for these pure hearted ones reciting Rama naamam. Saint ThyagaraajA performed 96 drores of Rama japam and attained the privelege of seeing Raamaa in person at his house on the Thirumanjana veedhi of Thiruvaiaaru.

The fourth salutation of this charaNam is: " Om Kara viradha RaavaNa viraavaNaaya nama: ". This salutation is for the Veeraraaghavan and follows along the line of Bhagavatham and Nammaazhwaar. Bhagavatham salutes Raama as " Kaladhava dahana: kosalEndraavathaannaha ". Bhagavatham asks for the protection of the wild fire (Raamaa) that burned the trees of the rakshasa kulam (Karan, Viraadhan and RaavaNan) to cinders. NammaazhwAr salutes Sri Raama in this context as: "Irudeekesan Yemmaan ilangai arakkar kulam murudu theertha piraan, yemmaan amarar pemmaan".

The fifth salutation of this charaNam is: " Om anagaaya nama: ". The saint of Thiruvaiaaru has already saluted Sri Raama as " Anagaa paripoorNan " in the first charaNam. He comes back to that name" Aangaa "once again, when he gets overwhelmed by the thought of the blemishless and paripoorNa mangaLa svarupam of the Lord . The parama paavanan, who declared , " Abhayam sarva bhoothEbhyO dadaam yethadh vratham mama " is saluted here as anagan.

The sixth namaskaaram is for the Lord celebrated by Paraasara Muni, the author of VishNu puraaNam known for spreading the Raamaa NaraayaNa naama siddhaantham. Paraasara Muni has revealed to us the greatness of Raama naama japam in his puraaNam:

Yasmin nyastha mathi : na Yaathi narakam
svargOpi yacchintanE vigna :
Yathra nivEsithaathmamanasO brahmOpi lokOalpakaa:
mukthim chetasi ya: sthithOamalavidhyaam pumsaam
dhadhathyavya: kim chithram yadhadhyam
pryaathi vilapam tathraachyuthE keerthithE
-- VishNu puraaNam

(meaning) : Those , who spend their life time on Raama naama mantra japam and svarupa dhyaanam will never land in narakam. For those, who have developed the ruchi (taste) for his naamam, the world of devaas (svargam) will not have any attraction. The world of Brahmaa will be like a inconsequential real estate. The sanaathana, saasvatha prabhu, Sri Raama resides in the hearts of such Bhakthaas and grants them moksham. When one knows the above -mentioned fruits of Raama nama japam and understand the anagaa nature of Sri Raaman and recognize Him as sarva paapa naasi, there is no surprise for them about His power and Bahktha paraadheena guNam.

The seventh and the last salutation of this seventh charaNam is a complicated one: "Om Vikrutha Thyagaraaja sannuthaya nama:". This naamam can be split into two: " Om vikruthaaya nama: and Om Thyagaraaja Sannuthaaya nama: ". The naama Vikruthaaya nama: is connected with the Lakshmi sahasranaamam, " Om vikruthyai nama: ". Here the word "Vikruthi" means limitless or aadhi antha-rahitha paramaathma svarupam. In this context, one can intrepret the saint"s salutation to the limitless form and guNaas of the Lord. The second namaskaaram, "Om Thyagaraaja sannuthaaya nama: " would mean the Lord , who is eulogized very well by Thyagaraajaa .

If we use the naamaa in an undivided sense, then, it would refer to the pitiable and helpless state of Thyagaraaja, who was longing for the Lord"s grace and darsana bhaagyam. This can also be considered as a naicchaanusandhaanam (self-depreceatory statement) of the saint lamenting over his inability to have dhruva smrithi (unceasing rememberance) of the Lord . The following Garuda PuraaNa slokam describes the misfortunes that befall such a vikruthaa not having dhruva smruthi:

Yann muhoortham kshaNam vaapi
VaasudEvO na chinthyatE I
saa haani : tann mahacchithram
sa braanthi saa cha vikriyaa II

(meaning) : Great losses happen to those , who forget VaasudEvaa even for a moment. Inappropriate thoughts and associated paapams accrue to those dhayaana heenis (those with lapses in dhyaanam). They become vikruthaas.

Saint Thyagaraajaa , who was always immersed in Raama naama Japam and naama sankeerthanam and aarAdhanam has criticized himself severely for his lack of dhruva smrithi and considered himself a vikruthaa. For instance, Saint confesses in his varaaLi krithi, " nO rEmi Sri Raama ninnAda " about his deficiencies. Again in his kaapi raaga krithi, " Meevalla GuNa dhoshamEmi , Sri Raamaa " and in his punnaga VaraaLi krithi, " Paahi KalyANa sundara " , he states that he is full of vikruthis and begs for the Lord's grace for dhruva smruthi. As a nija bhakthaa in a mood of aarthi prapatthi, the saint cried out " OM vikrutha Thyagaraaja sannuthaaya nama: ".

8TH CHARANA VAAKYAMS
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THERE ARE SIX NAAMAAS HERE:

1. Om sajjana maanasa abdhi sudhakaraaya nama:
2. Om Kusuma Vimaanaaya nama:
3. Om Surasaa ripu karaabhja laalitha charaNaa
VaghuNaaya nama:
4. Om asura gaNa matha haraNaaya nama:
5. Om sanaathanaaya nama:
6. Om Aja nuthaaya nama:

In the first namaskaaram, Saint Thyagaraajaa indicated that Raamachandra murthy is like the chandran for the ocean (mind) of great bahkthaas with dhruva smrithi such as the child Dhruvan , the old lady Sabari, the asuraa child Prahlaadhan, Bheeshmar, Vithurar, Vyaasar, Sukar and Parasarar. They have niradasiaya sraddhaa, bhakthi and mahaa viswaasam in the Lord and therefore are of the kind of sajjanaas, whom the saint wants to emulate.

In the second namaskaaram, " Om Kusuma vimaanaaya nama: ", Here the reference is to the journey of Raamaa back from Lankhaa on Pushpaka vimaanam to Ayodhyaa with His dear consort Sitaa , the Lord of Lankhaa, VibhishaNaa , LakshmaNaa and the monkey king Sugreevaa , Hanumaan and others brought back to life from the battle field. BhOdEndrAL prays for this Pushpaka vimaana sanchaari to play in his mind always:

svetha pushpakamaaruhya Sithaayaa saha Raaghava: I
SugreevAdhi bhavath bhakthai : manOmadhyE ramasva mE II

The third namaskaaram of the 8th charaNam is connected with an incident that happened over the Ocean, when Hanumaan was jumping over it to reach Lankhaa and search for Sitaa there. During samudhraa lankanam described in the Sundara Khaandam , the mother of sarpams , Surasaa devi took a gigantic form and obstructed the flight of Hanumaan. She commanded Hanumaan to be her food. Hanumaan shrank his size from the gigantic one to that of the size of a thumb and entered her outstrtched mouth and left it very quickly. Valmeeki salutes Hanumaan's daring performance as similar to the exit of chandran from the mouth of Raahu. Surasaa devi was pleased with Hanumaan's cleverness and assumed the figure of a beautiful youg woman and blessed Hanumaan to be victorious in his endeavour.

Saint Thyagaraajaa addresses Hanumaan in this namaskaaram as " Surasaa ripu " or the enemy of Surasaa. Hanumaan"s kaimkaryam in pressing RamachandrA's tired feet with his soft hands is described in the rest of the namaskaaram as "{(Sarasaa ripu) karaabhja laalitha charaNaavaguNaaya nama:}" .

The fourth namaskaaram of this charaNam is: " Om asura gaNa madha haraNaaya nama: " . The madham or the arrogance of the hordes of the servants of RaavaNaa was destroyed by Raamaa in the battle field. Saint ThyagarAjA saluted the valour of Raghuveeran here.

The fifth namaskaaram Is " Om sanaathanAya nama: ". This naama is closely asociated with the 898th VishNu sahasra naamam ( Om sanaathana tamaaya nama: ) . The name sanaathana refers to the ancient, timeless aspect of the Lord. " Even in the past He was new. Despite the fact that His existence is eternal , He is always more enjoyable and fresh , as though He is new and never seen before ." He is the PuraaNa purushan, Sanathanan as saluted by BodEndraaL :

vedhyam visvamayam svaleena bhuvana svaraajya soukhya pradham I
purNam purNataram puraaNa purusham RAAMAM bhajE taarakam II

The sixth and the final namaskaaram is , " Om Aja nuthaaya nama: ". Here the reference is to the salutations of Chathurmukha Brahmaa after recovery of the VedAs with the help of the Lord , who took Matsyaavatharam and Hamsaavatharam and Hayagreevaavathaaram for helping His son. Ajaa is the name for Brahmaa.

Om Sri Raamabhadra ParabrahmaNE nama:

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

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