Continued from previous post...
The Being of the Purusha SuktA
SrI VishwAmitrA makes the following observation about srI rAmA:
‘Aham Vedmi mahAtmAnam rAmam satyaparAkramam’
This is just an analogous sentence to the purusha sukta mantra, ‘vedAhamEdham purusham mahAntam’. There are 11 different meanings for this.
In both these instances, the word ‘vedmi’ or ‘vedA’ refers to vedanam, ie, upAsaNam which is bhakti yOgA. This upAsaNam is defined as tailadhArAvadavichchinna smruti santAnarUpAnubhavA – Concentrated meditation with knowledge as its aspect, like the flow of oil.
After Ravana was killed, Mandodari praises srI rAghavan as,
‘tAmasa paramO dhAtA, shanka chakra gadhAdharA:’
This is the equivalent of ‘adityavarNam tamasas parastAt:’
There is no evidence in srI vAlmiki rAmayaNam that srI rAmA worshipped shiva. Rather, it is mentioned by srI rAmA to sita while flying in the pushpaka vimAnA that the bridge was built by him because of the anugraham of ‘mahAdevA’. This ‘mahAdevA’ in this context is not Rudra, but actually the ocean king, as the common noun ‘mahAdevA’ also means Lord of Waters. It was samudra rAjA who suggested the building of the bridge and helped srI rAmA.
rAmA as sriman nArAyaNa
There are three places in which srI rAmA is recognized directly or indirectly as Vishnu – Firstly, when the evil son of Indra is chased by the brahmAstrA of srI rAghavan, he first goes to Indra, then to Rudra and Brahma for help. He does not go to Vishnu for help, which shows that srI rAmA is Vishnu himself.
The second incident is seen in sundara khanda, the words of Hanuman to Ravana in Lanka:
“Neither Brahma the self-existing god with four faces or Rudra with three eyes and the destroyer of Tripura or Mahendra the god of atmosphere and sky as also the lord of celestials would not be able to protect the one to be killed by Rama in battle." (from vAmikiramayan.net)
Note that Vishnu is not mentioned here. So does the nArAyaNa suktam say, ‘sa brahmas sa siva sEndra’.
The third pramAnam, comes from the words of Brahma who says ‘bhavAnti nArAyanO devA:’ to which rAmA replies, ‘AtmAnam manushyam mAnyE dasarathAthmajam’. Here, the word ‘manyE’ is important. He considers himself the son of dasaratha, but that doesn’t mean he is only the son of dasaratha.
Agni ParikshA
It is a known fact that there are many kuTarka vAdhIs who claim that srI rAghavan insulted Sita after the war and subjected her to agni parIksha.
SrI Krishna sUrI shows how even during the agni pariksha, srI rAmA showed that sita was faultless and hence, the performance of such an act was merely to show her greatness to the world.
SrI rAmA tells Sita the following words:
"You, with a suspicion arisen on your character, standing in front of me, are extremely disagreeable to me, even as a light to one, who is suffering from a poor eye-sight.” (valmikiramayan.net)
The genius of sri Krishna sUri can be seen in his commentary to this sloka. He explains this as follows – SrI rAmA, here, has said that Sita is as disagreeable to him as a great light (dIpaiva) for someone with poor eyesight. If so, it means, Sita is like a great light, and srI rAmA is the one with poor eyesight.
This is the analogy.
Now, if someone with poor eyesight cannot see a great light like the sun, then who is with the defect here? Is it the Sun, or is it the person with poor eyesight who is at fault? Clearly, there is no dOsham associated with the great light. The dOsha belongs to the person with poor vision!
Thus, even the words of rAghavan to sita show the superficial nature of the agni pariksha. This also does not mean Bhagavan has a dOsha. He is speaking on behalf of those assembled who may have had a suspicion. Thus, the fault lies with them.To show that Sita was verily Lakshmi, this agni pariksha was done.
There are many more such interpretations. But finally, acharyas like srI krishna sUri and srI kUrEsar, who gave such meanings, have also mentioned in their works that these meanings of the rAmAyaNa came mainly from the gangapravAham that was the lectures of srI rAmAnuja, who often used to discourse on the rAmAyaNam to his sishyas. Although he wrote no commentary on the rAmAyaNam, he learned these meanings from Nathamuni onwards and communicated it to his sishyas.
So, I end with a beautiful tamil pAsuram praising this aspect of srI Lakshmana Muni, composed by one of his great sishyas, sri ranganAtha muni:
padi koNda kIrthi irAmAyaNam ennum bhakti vellam, kudi koNda koil irAmAnusan guNam kUrum
Meaning: Oh my mind! Let us praise the matchless auspicious attributes of srI rAmAnujA, who has made his heart into a temple for that renowned sAstrA that is an outpouring of bhakti known as srI rAmAyaNam.
Sarvam sri krishnArpanam astu.
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Originally Posted by Sri Vaishnava
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