7. KOSALASUTHAA KUMARA BHAVA KANCHUKITA KAARANAAKAARA!
Hail to thee who hid his avathara rahasyam through your birth as the child of queen Kousalai!
O Lord ! The entire Universe emanates from You, and therefore you are the root cause for every thing, on this universe created, sustained and destroyed by, You out of your mere Sankalpa(ideation ) could have destroyed, Rabvana and removed the worries of the Devas. You the supreme l, being hid all of Your glories and did garbha Vaasam in, queen Kousali’s womb as a mere mortal child . As a continuation, of that play, you were born on this earth, breast fed at Your mother’s, breast, cried when you were hungry and played on the sands of Sarayu, like an ordinary child.The people of Ayodhya and the world were unable, to understand your divinty and supreme status as Sriman Narayana, as a result of the deeds that you performed as a mere human child. You thus hid your avathara KaaraNam and Rahasyam.
The Great Rama Bhaktha Kulasekhara saluted this “human child”, and hastened in the same breath to salute the Sarvesvaratvam of the, Lord of ThirukkaNNapuram in his lullabies addressed to Him. Some, representative passages are:
MANNU PUKAZH KOUSALAI TAN MANI VAIYRU VAAITTHAVANEH
TENNILANGAIKKOHN MUDIGAL CHINTHUVITTHAAI
( O Lord who chose to honor the blessed womb of queen Kousalai WITH UNDIMINISHING FAME, lullaby to you ! — O Lord who shed the ten heads of the king of southern kingdom of Lanka on the earth in the battle field! lullaby to you )
KONGUMALI KARUM KUZHALAAl kOUSALAI TAN KULA MADALAAI
— DASARATHAN TAN MAAMADALAAI –DEVARAIYUM
ASURARAIYUM DISAIKALAIYUM PADAITTHAVANEH–
YEVAR VANCHILAI VALAVAA RAGHAVANEH TALELOH
( O Lord who redeemed the kulam of Kousalya known for her perfumed dark tresses by your incarnation as her child ! — O Daasarathi , the eldest son of emperor Dasaratha!–O Lord who created the Davas, Asuras and the directions for them toroam around ! O Lord with the Bow adorned with the powerfularrows set to destroy the enemies of your devotees whosought refuge at Your lotus feet– lullaby to YOU !
Thus the Kousalyaa Suprajaa Raman becomes the objectof adoration for Swami Desikan in this seventh Gadhya salutation.
Our Scriptures in Tamil reveal to us the Avathara Rahasyam ofthe Lord. Avatharam is based on the root Avatharathi to descend.He descends from Sri Vaikuntam out of concern for us,to transform us, the Nitya Samsaaris to Nitya Suris through theact of Prapatthi thru a proper Acharya. He demonstrates his Sowlabhyam or ease of access, while he takes the Vibhava Avatharams like Sri Ramachandra. Nammazhwaar reveals that the Lord took the Avatharam not for killling Ravana and other evil doers, but to overwhelm US with HIS charm and Kalyana Gunas.The Lordcould have easily destroyed Ravana by his Sankalpam alone. He had however other motives to descend down as Rama.Nammazhwaar states that he became Bhagavat PravaNan as a result of that Daya and Grace of the Lord. Chandogya Upanishad and Bhattar’s Commentary on the Sahasra Namam “Vamanan ” refer to this aspect of the Avathara Rahasyam. Vamam means Kalyana Gunas. Since the Lord makes usthrough His Grace to have most of those Kalyana Gunas, He is calledVamanan and that Avatharam is Vamanaavatharam. Although Ramasays that he is only a mere mortal to hide His Avathara Rahasyam.The Lord, who is Sarvasmaath Paran and Sarva Rakshakan becomesaccessible to us thru Vibhava avatharams and Archa State.
8. KOWMAARA KELI GOPAAYITHA KOUSIKAADHWARA!
Hail to Thee who protected the yagam of Sage Viswamitra as if it were a child’s play !
Here Swami Desikan pays tribute to the extraordinary. valor of Sri Raghavan even as a small boy. He destroyed the mighty foes of Sage Viswamitra (the Rakshasas and their. leaders, Maricha and Subahu ) with effortless ease, when they interfered with the performance of the sage’s Yagam at his hermitage. He sent Maricha spinning in the sky over enormous distance and dumped him inot the ocean and yet spared his life this time. He killed the other demon Subahu. Sri Rama constructed a canopy of arrows over the site of the Yagam. Kamban the Illustrious Tamil poet describes the valor of Sri Rama this way :
MAnniNAI KAAKINRA MANNAN MAINDHARGAL
KAnnINAI KAAKINRA IMAYIN KAATTHANAR
(The sons of the emperor Dasaratha, who protects the citizens of the earth protected the Yagam of Sage Viswamitra like the eye lids protect the eyes).
This act of valor led Sage Viswamitra to praise Sri Rama this way : ” I stand accomplished of my purpose (Kruthaarthosmi ),O mighty -armed (Maha Baaho ) and highly illustrious hero, in that the bidding of your Guru (me) has been carried out by you (Valmiki Ramayanam Sargam 30.26). Kamban salutes Sri Rama as Sundara Villi (the beautiful one, who handled his bow Kothandam to protect the sacred six day Yajnam of the inhabitants of Siddhasramam and Viswamitra).
Saint Thyagaraja who offered his Satva Sangeetham as his Naivedyam to this Raghuveeran all his breathing moments sang the praise of the lord in one of his Bowli Divya nama krithis:
DEENA JANAAVANA SRI RAMA
DAANVA HARAnA SRI RAMA
NIRMALA HRUDHAYA SRI RAMA
KAARMUKHA BAAnA SRI RAMA
RAGHU KULA TILAKA SRI RAMA
BRIGHU SUTHA RUPA SRI RAMA
DASAMUKA MARDHANA SRI RAMA
SIDDHAJANA PRIYA SRI RAMA
PRASIDDHA CHARITRA SRI RAMA
In the last two lines of the salutation, the saint pays tribute to Sri Rama of clebrated fame as the one dear to the residents of Siddhaasramam (Tapovanam where Vishnu once did penance).
In another song, Saint Thyagaraja sitting at he banks of the river Cauveri at Thiruvayyaru saw with his inner eye(JyanakkaN ) the beauty of the heroic Rama hurling Maricha into the ocean with his arrow (Maanavaasthram ).Our Sadguru enjoys this scene in his Madhyamaavathi krithi:
ALAGALALLA LAATAKAGANIYAARANMINI YETU PONGENOH
CHELUVUMEERAGANU MAARICHUNI MADHAMANATHSU VELA
Sage Viswamitra’s joy is shared and experienced by Saint of Thiruvayyaru here. He says: Oh, How must have the heart of Sage Viswamira leaped with joy at the sight of the effortless heroismof Sri Rama when he destroyed the haughtiness of Maaricha.At that time this Sundara Villis’ face had no strain or pressure ormarks of strain(Vikaaram ). He looked so beautiful during this effort of a mighty heroic nature.
Swami Desikan celebrated with this Gadhya portion, the heroism of the young boy Rama, who completed the assigned task as if it was a child’s game and received the gratitude of Sage Viswamitra and the residents of Siddhaasramam .
Sri Raghu Veera Parabrahmaneh Nama :
