1. ATHIMAANUSHA STHAVAM OF SRI KOORATHAAZHWAN
Part 9:
SLOKAM 28: ?LIGHT AND HEAVY, ALL AT ONCE?"
SLOKAM 29: ?A MASS EXODUS!?
SLOKAM 30: ?EMPATHY PAR EXCELLENCE?
(ANBIL RAMASWAMY)
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SLOKAM 28: ?Light and heavy, all at once??

EtEna vai suviditO abhavat indra satrO:
Maayaastra bandhna nibhandhanajO vimOha: /
Yat lakshmaNa tu tvad anujO ripu sakti mugdha:
satrO: guru: hanumatastu laghutvam aapa //

?Oh! Rama! When your brother LakshmaNa was bound by the weapon called
?sakti? wielded and directed towards him by RavaNa, he became so heavy that
the Rakshasas could not even move him while at the same time, he became so
light for Hanuman, when he took him to the divine physician, SushENa. And,
you appeared helpless bound by the illusory astra of Indrajit! And, the
whole world has come to know that this was a mere pretense and not real!?

NOTES:
? Indrajit fought with Perumaal and ILaya PerumaaL on two occasions.
During
the first encounter, he used the serpent power (naaga astra) to bind. When
Sri Rama came out of the swoon, he lamented on the plight of LakshmaNa who
had still not come out of his coma. When RavanNa attacked LakshmaNa again
with the weapon called ?Sakti? and tried to lift him for taking to Lanka,
LakshmaNa became too heavy for him.
Himavaan mandarO mEru: trailOkhyam vaa sahaamarai:/
Sakhyam bhujaabhyaam udhartum na sakhyE bharataanuja: //
? At the same time, when AnjanEya lifted LakshmaNa to take him to the
divine
physician, SushENa, he became as light as a flower garland.
vaayusoonO: suhrutvEna bhaktyaa paramayaa cha sa:/
satrooNaam aprakampyOpi laghutvam agamat kapE: //
? In Udaata raaghava drama, the ancient poet, ?Maayoo raajan? portrays
how
Sri Rama explained this incident to Bharat, he himself mentioning
specifically that it was a superhuman feat.
? Azhwaan wonders how the same object could appear in two opposite ways
and
concludes that it must, indeed, be a superhuman effort.
? Did not the Azhwaar declare:
?Meyyan aagum virumbi thozhuvaarkku ellaam,
poyyan aagum puramE thozhuvaarkkellaam?
The same Lord appears true to a true devotee and false to a false one.
? ?Yaadrusee bhaavanaa yasya sidhir bhavati taadrusee?
?As is one?s attitude, so is the result? is an old saying.
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SLOKAM 29: ?A MASS EXODUS!?
Haa! Hanta! Hanta! Bhavatas charaNaaravainda
Dvandvam kadaa nu vishyee bhavitaa mama akshNO:/
yOyam nirargaLa vinirgaLa dandhakaarai:
vrikshai: truNai: cha sulabham samayam vyateeta: //

?When am I going to see with my two eyes your glorious feet that dispelled
the ignorance and gave Jnaanam even to plants and shrubs (including the
lowliest blade of grass) to attain the Kingdom of God ? an opportunity that
I had missed so miserably, so unfortunately??

NOTES:
? Uttra RamaayaNa describes how when he went up to his original abode,
Sri
Rama took with him all living beings including plants and shrubs to what is
known as ?Saantaanika lOkam? or ?Kaarya VaikunTam?, reaching which is
possible only when one had got rid of ignorance.
? Azhwaar while referring to this says:
?Karpaar iraamapiraanai allaal marrum karparO?
Purpaa mudalaa pull erumbaadi onriu inriyE
narpaal ayOdhiyil vaazhum chara acharam mutravum
narpaalukku uyithanan naanmuganaar perra naaTTuLE?
? Azhwaan laments that if he had been given birth on that occasion; he
also
could have easily attained the feet of the Lord like those insentient things
and sentient beings and feels sorry for having lost this opportunity.
? How does one get the life of an immobile plant?
?sareerajai: karma dOshai: yaati sthaavarataam nara:?
Meaning:
?It is because of enormous sins committed by a soul through the physical
body?
Why does a soul commit such sins?
Manu, the Law giver says: ?It is because of the darkness of ignorance?
?antah prgjnaa: bhavanti yEtE sukha duhkha samanvitaa:?
? Even those that possess only one sense (ore arivu) unlike humans having
six senses (aaru arivu), do experience joy and sorrow.
Only, they cannot express the same the way other beings can.
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MY COMMENTS:
Long before J.C. Bose was credited with discovering that plants too have
life, Hindus knew right from the days of Manu, that even plants have not
only life but also feelings and that is why specific mantras are required to
be recited, for example, when plucking the sacred basil (TuLasi) or grass
(Dharbham). It is needless to mention that slaughtering animals for
consumption or even causing harm unintentionally to insects were regarded as
sins. That is why, special rites are required to be performed to expiate one
from even unintended harm done to them.
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? But, let us see how the plants and rivers expressed their feelings when
Sri Rama went to the forest on Vanavaasam.
?Plants stood withered, rivers went dry unable to bear the separation from
Sri Rama?
? Sumantrar tells Dasaratha:
?vishayE tE mahaaraaja! Raama vyasana karsitaa:/
Api vrikshaa: parimlaanaa: sapushpaankura kOrakaa:
Upa tapta jalaa nadhya: //?
? In the same manner, when Sri Rama returned to AyOdhya from his exile,
even
the plants and bushes revealed their joy blossoming with flowers and fruits.
?sarva tu phala pushpaaNi?
? Sri Rama took this as sufficient virtue to grant them his world.
? Sri KulasEkara Azhwaar refers to this saying:
?anru chara acharangaLai vaikuntathu Etri?
meaning all of them reached Sri VaikunTam itself.
? There seems to be some confusion and contradiction between the two
statements whether they went to ?Saantaanika lOkam? or ?SrivaikunTam?
itself.
? Swami Desika clarifies that there are several lOkas that lie within the
Prakriti MaNDalam like ?gOlOkam?, ?saantaanika lOkam?, ?kaarya vaikunTam?
etc and that these are part and parcel of ?VishNu lOkam?. Those that reach
these lOkams also do not return to earth for another lease of life, unless
by some curse.
? It is in one of these lOkas that the Dvaarapaalaks were cursed to be
born
again on earth thrice over. ?Sri vishNu lOkaadigaLilE saalOkkhya
saaroopyaadi maatram petraarkku mukta vyapadEsam adoora
viprakarshattaalEyaam athanai?.
? It is clear from this that the world they reached was not ?Paramapadam?
but only ?Saantaanika lOkam?
? While enumerating the conditions that entitle a person for securing a
Sadaachaarya, one of them is the residence in a place conducive to the
same;
?vishNOr kataaksham advESham aabhimukhyam cha saatvikaih/
sambhaashaNam shad Etaani hi Achaarya praapti hEtava: ?
? The Maharishis of DaNDakaaraNya pleaded with Sri Rama that he had a
duty
to protect them from Rakshasas because they were his citizens in the forest
as much as those who lived in AyOdjya:
?tE vayam bhavataa rakshyaa bhavad vishaya vaasina:/
nagarasthO vanasthO vaa nO raajaa janEswara //?
? Swami Desika cites this incident to plead with the Lord that just like
the
sentient and insentient went to heaven by dint of their being in AyOdhya at
the time of Sri Rama, he himself should be granted mOksham by virtue of his
living in the place of ViLakkoLi PerumaaL
?saakEta sambhava charaachara jantu neetyaa
rakshya: prabhO: Vishaya vaasitayaapi aham tE?
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SLOKAM 30: ?EMPATHY PAR EXCELLENCE?
Vamsam raghOr anujikruskshooh avateerNa:
Divyair vavarshitha tathaa atra bhavad guNOugai:/
Tvad sannidhi prabhaava saityajushO yathaa hee
Vrikshaas cha taantam abhajanta bhavad viyOgE //

?Oh! Lord! When you took your birth out of your Sankalpam to be born in the
family of Raghu Mahaaraaja, you took a body in this abysmally dark world
like an ordinary human being but retaining all your unique qualities in full
blossom viewing which, even the trees and other insentient ones revealed
their happiness in your company and were distressed in your absence. Thus,
your very qualities have betrayed your Paratvam, even though you claimed
yourself to be a mere human?

NOTES:

? The very reaction of trees etc revealed Lord?s Paratvam.
? Azhwaan seems to imply that out of the three stages of Para-bhakti,
Para-jNaana and Parama- bhakti, the plants had attained the last stage to
deserve the very heavens.
? Did not KulasEkara Azhwaar desire to be born as a tree in Tirumalai?
?ezhil vEnkaTa malaiyil tambakamaai nirkum thavamuDaiyEn aavEnE?
? For trees to grow, there should be cool waters. Bhagavaan?s cool
kaTaaksham constituted this flow of cool waters for sustaining their growth.
? Swami Desika says in Sri Devanaayaka Panchaasat:
?aardhree bhavaabhi amruta varshanibhair apaangai:?
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