ராதே கிருஷ்ணா 23-07-2014
Sri Ramanin Padhayil - Episode 19 - Aug 25 2013
ஸ்ரீராமஜெயம்
Rama namam is equivalent to saying the sahasra(1000) names of Vishnu referred as SriVishnu Sahasranamam.
Slogam : "Keno payena laguna Vishnor nama sahasrakam| patyate panditair nityam shrotumicchamyaham prabho:
Parvathi asks Shivan "what is the solution if some one cannot say all the 1000 names? "
Shiva answers that saying Rama namam is equivalent to saying all the 1000 names of vishnu as in the slogam
Slogam: "Sri Rama Rama Rameti, Rame Rame Manorame; Sahasrenama tattulyam, Rama Nama Varanane"
Saying Rama Nama helps in reducing Papam and reducing our karmam. Similarly, another way to reduce the papam is to go and visit places related to Raman and take bath in the holy waters.
there and one can find them and do the same. Veda's declare the list of papam and prayachitams for each but we cannot easilyunderstand or follow. So there are common prayachitams whichreduce the impact and will save us from the ill effects of those papam. This is something feasible.
Kannan in Mahabharatham, Shanti Parvam , Raja dharmam explains about the list of common prayachitam.
1. Upavasam
2. Namasankeerthanam
3. Deva Poojai - vigraham pujai at home
4. Theertha yatrai
5. Yaga yagyam
6. Dhanam koduthal
7. Atma Paramatma pattri sindhithal
While we go on a Yatrai most of the above will be taken care automatically. The time is spent in bhagavad gyanam, doing archanai in various temple so deva poojai is taken care, no disturbance due to telephone, people and other disturbances, Upavasam too due to miss in the eating schedule, dhanam, bath in the holy sacred water. So an yatrai takes care of all the common prayachitam. Explaining all this to explain the importance of yatrai. So yatrai is very important for each one of us. Our dear Rama had also gone for yatrai. He walked across the Bharata bhoomi inorder to make all the bhoomi as punya kshetram due to his presence. Keeping this in mind Ram started from Bharadwaj Aashram.
From bharadwaj ashram Ram wanted to go to Chitrakoodam. All the disciples of Bharadwaj rishi wanted to join Ram to show him the way to cross Yamuna and reach chitrakoot. Later 4 of his shisyas helped Ram to crosss the Yamuna and show the way. Here is Yamuna and a huge long bridge through which we crossed the river Yamuna. Beautiful Yamuna and on this river bank if you happen to climb the steps one can see Thulasidasar aashram. When Ram came to this side of Yamuna, all of them on this bank of the river were happy to welcome Ram. SriRama Prabhu Ghat - Ram crosssed the river Yamuna and then all the people on this side were happy that prabhu has come. So this steps and Ghat are called as Prabhu Ghat. Let us next visit Thulasidasar.
Ramanyanam has many names Sri Ramanyanam, Sita charitam, Poulasya Vatham ( Poulasyar is a Rishi and Ravanan was born in this Vamsam and since Ram killed Ravanan it is called so). Many have translated Ramanyanam in many languages. Not just translation, instead all these writters have got the blessings/arul of Ram. Kambhar translated Valmiki's Sriramayanam in Tamil. Tulasidas has writtenRam charitha manas in Hindi in a hindi dialect called "Avadhi". Manas means Lake. Raman charitham sollum yeri/lake/manas and hence called as Ram Charitha Manas. We are going to see Tulasidas's house and temple/Ashram and his original manuscript.
Tulasidasar lived for aound 120 years. He was born in uttarpradesh. Tulasidasar attained mukthi in 1680 while he was in banaras/kasi/varanasi at Hasi ghat. One of his Shisya called Gana pat Ram collected all the items of Tulasidasar, like the aradhanai - Narasimha Salagrama moorthi, Original manuscript of Ram charitha manas and his Padugai. With all these items Gana Path Ram came back to Tulasidasar's home town which is this place on the banks of River yamuna. On hearing the news of Tulasidasar's death all were very upset. Tulasidas's wife is Bhuthimathi. She understood Tulasidasar's Ram bhakthi and his disinterest in family life. She was very supportive and instrumental in Tulasidasar getting Sanyasam. On seeing Gana Path Ram the family members were worried. Tulasidasar came in the dreams of his family and told about his Vigraham on the banks of yamuna river and he asked them to find it and to do the pradhistai. The family members went and searched for the vigraham but they could not find it in the river Yamuna which is huge like a sea. The family members were unhappy. Again Tulasidasar came in the dream and told them about the vigraham in the prabhu ghat. The family members searched in the prabhu ghat and they found the vigraham and did the pradhistai of that vigraham here in this temple near Prabhu Ghat. This place is before chitrakoot on the banks of river yamuna. Let us visit some important things in this temple.
1. First here is Tulasidas vigraham with thiruman kappu, hands doing namaskaram, wearing long shawl,
2. Sita Ram in white marble. Thulasidasar was worshipping Ram and Sita and hence these idols - Ram, Lakshman and Seetha. Thulasidasar aaradhitha perumal.
Thulasidasar house - two houses one in which he lived where pada rakshagai, saligramam are placed.
4. Also there is RadhaKrishna silai which was added at a later stage.
5. Also we can see Thulasidasar padukai and
6. then the salagrama vigraham which he had done the aradhanai for the perumal.
This place is called as Thulasidas Ghar and we all had the bhagyam of seeing these things in this house.
Pujari there talks about Ram. Let us hear from him.
"Hye prabhu aapke liye sansar ka sara rasta sugam hai. Mein koun sa rasta aapko bhathavun. Ramji ko tho uttar bharadwaj ji ne de diya. Lekin BHaradwajji maharaj ke hrudaya me Santhosh nahi huha. ayodhya me paidha huha Ram, paidhal kutti thak aaya hai. Rasta bhatane ka inke saath jana Bharadwaj maharaj apne shisyon ka aawaj diya. "
Slogam - "yavath.."
Brahma through Naradar blessed valmiki which made Valmiki to write 24000 slogam of Sri Ramayanam. "Till himachalam, surya chandrar, Gangai, exist till that time the greatness of Ramayanam would exist and will not get destroyed or will not reduce. This is a boon/order i am giving" - Says four faced brahma. As per this, the perumai of Ramayanam exists and has been increasing day by day. Ram is in our hearts. Manasarovar is a lake near Kailash. Near that lake the swan used to live. When we think about that our hearts are filled with joy. Similarly when someone thinks of Ram's Guna then the hearts are filled with joy. Probably thats why Thulasidasar named his Ramayanam as Ram Charitha Manas. Ram's story is a treasure. Ram's charitham is a great reference for our life whenever we are in confused situation or when we have to decide on something or when we have lost something or when we are frightened or when are minds are wavering, or when there is no peace/unity in a family, many such situation - all these exist in Ramayanam across various chapters of incidents. For us to learn is one Ramayanam not enough ? There is a precious stone/manikkam, when seen from one side we can see the brigtness. If we polish it and see if from another angle it looks more brighter and precious. This precious stone will be valued as a treasure only by person who understands about the precious stone. Similarly, when Valmiki looked at Ramayanam, some of the great treasures are revealed in the Ramayanam. When Kambhar looked into it some more treasures got revealed from different angle and when Thulasidas looked into it some more treasures got revealed. Even if we can see Ramayanam, through the eyes/vision of these great people since we do not have that shakthi/skill,(time, knowledge) we can understand and discover many treasures.
Such a great Ram bhakthar is Thulasidasar - 1554- 1680 - lived for 126 years. The house he lived is a temple today. We have reached this temple now. Here we happen to see 439 year old olai chuvadi. Thulasidas he himself had written this script. He has written Ram charitha manas when he was 74 years. He wrote hanuman chalisa too. He had written 22 works. His hand written script version of the ayodhya kandam is available here. Scintillating explerience to see the ollai chuvadi. Great Bhagyam to see the same. Here is the ollai chuvadi. The pujari took one by one all the vatsaram(cloth) which was covered over the ollai chuvadi. All the mahan who had come here had given salvai, thagadi, ponnadai as present. Like how we give salvai to great people, the visitors had given the salvai to Thulasidasar by giving it to his works. Here we can see the treasure given to us by thulasidas. After a wonderful cover, the pujari shows the script which is treasured safely today.
Details of Thulasidasar..
All these olai chuvadi has been written in mara yezhuthani(wooden nib) and anjanam(Kan mai). The olai chuvadi has been prepared manually using palm tree leaves. For sticking, they had used the glue from the tree barks. Using all these, he had made this great work in those days. We had the bhagyam of seeing all his great work and things he had used. There is also a huge photo of Thulasidasar with the Slogam near the place where the ramayanam is chanted (parayanam) everyday. Akbar had given this place to Tulasidas's family and we can see the note on the same saying that this place belongs to Thulasidas family and whatever he has written let them be thought/spread from this place. A copy of that original is also available here.
Raman Vana Gamana Margam - Raman's exile route map which has beeen listed by Thulasidasar.
There is also note on the mapping of the alphabets which was in use during Tulasidas time and the one in usage currently. We can also see the place of ramanyana daily parayanam..
Next Ram had gone to valmiki asharamam to find the way to Chitrakoot. Let us all join the Yatra.
Pujari from Tulasidas Temple talking.........
This is a very important slogam in Valmiki Ramayanam. Raman reaches Chitrakut. When we look at the place, mountain and how ram live there, it looks as if Kuberan was living in his Garden with joy and happiness. Here is chitrakut mountain. Beautiful place - peryezhil. Place where Ram is going to stay. Ram wanted to spend the rest of the years of exile in this place. Since Bharath came and gave the kingdom to Ram and took the Padugai. Then Ram thought if i stay here, all the people will come here and the forest should not become a kingdom. Kadu nadaga koodathu.... Kaikeyiku kodutha vakku poika koodathu. He want to follow the boon he had given to Kaikeyi that he will live in the exile for 14 years. Ram went to Dhandakaranyam else he would have stayed here. Like how kuberan was playing in his Garden, Ram was staying in this place like that.
We saw Sarayu, gangai, yamanuai, sarawathi, shrona, Kandagi saw those punya river and now valmiki river. We took bath and climbed the mountain. on the mountain there is a beautiful sirpam which explains the valmiki bird story ( which we had seen in detail in Bittoor Episode).
First slogam "Mani....."
Then brahma came to valmiki ashram in bittoor and because of Brahma's belssing Valmiki wrote Ramayanam. We can see idols depicting these incidences here. From this place/mountain through the temple's salara..(window) we can see the entire chitrakut, the parikrama route, Ithihasa mahatvam vaintha sthlangal.
Is the valmiki ashram here or in bittoor.. We had discussed this when we saw the bittoor episode. Rishi's keep moving.. there is one Valmiki ashram in Naimisharanyam too. When Ram had come here Valmiki was here in Chitrakoot. similarly Bharadwaj, agasthya ashram are also there in many places. Rishi's/Muni keep travelling from one place to another.
Ram worshipped Valmiki. Valmiki asked "why did you come here what is the reason ?", Ram explained.. Valmiki advised Ram to stay at Chitragiri - "Chitragiri is here and you can stay here....KamadaGiri - a place which gives what we ask for. Stay here". Ram took leave from Valmiki and started walking towards Chitrakoot. Lots of rich trees on the way. As per bharadwaj guidance Ram reached chitrakoot and following Valmiki's words ram decided to stay here.
Beautiful place with fruits and flowers.. - Maa, pala, kamugu , palai, paku, arasa maram, parasa maram, purasa maram, aala maram, kurukathi poo, padari poo, karumugai poo, kunudha malar, Thamarai, malligai, Jaathi, Shenbhaga pushpam, iruvatchi, maruvu, dhavanam, Kozhunthu. An exhibition of all flowers.
So this is called chitrakoodam - Azhagana koodam - parpatharke ullam uvanthu irukkum koodam. Now we are reaching chitrakootam hill and we have the best experience going forward.
1 - Mandagini river - boat ride - Ram and Sita had taken bath and lived on the banks of this river. Such a sacred river. Lots of Gatam and boats in that river. Sandhyavandanam, Jala tharpanam, Pithru tharpanam, had holy bath and played too.
2 - kamadha giri - mountain which gives what we wish for... filled with monkey, peacock, deer, cuckoo, Kamam means viruppam/wish. So many types and colour of monkey as sung by thirumangai azhwar. We remember sugreevan, hanuman on seeing those different types of monkeys. On one side of the mountain, ram's face, bharath's face are all there.
3 - Bharatha milap - Bharathan vandhu ramanai sandhitha idam, raman padugai kodutha idam. Even today we can see Ram's thiruvadi chuvadu.
4 - Ram Ghat - Very important ghatam on the bank of river Mandagini. lots of temples on this ghat. Ram/Sita did the pinda pradhanam, jala tharpanam.
5 - Janaki kundam - place where sita used to take bath when she used to come alone. Ekanthamana, aachariyamana place.
6 - Hanuman Dhara - This is little outskirt from the city and on the top of the mountain. Water flows from the top and falls on hanuman's head and flows down. Unable to find the source and where it flows down.
7 - Sita Rasoi - Kitchen , madapalli of Sita. Most of the time they had eaten raw vegetables,fruits and at times cooked food.
8 - Spatiga Shila - A huge rock/parai on the river bank of mandagini river, a crow came and troubled them when ram was sleeping on Sita's lap. Ram took a darbai(grass) and he sent the darbai, the darbai followed the crow and at last the crow seeked Sita's refuge and saved his life.
9 - Gupta Godhavari - It is an adventure to visite this place. under the cave Godhavari runs down under the cave in the pathalam. Godhavari had come here and she had Ram's darshan by hiding under the cave. She wanted to invite Ram to Panchavati and hence she came here in the pathalam.
Beautiful place on the border of UP and MP and a must visit. We shall see Chitrakut in the next two weeks and let us get relieved from all our mental stress.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Rama Nama Mahatvam
Slogam: "Sri Rama Rama Rameti, Rame Rame Manorame; Sahasrenama tattulyam, Rama Nama Varanane"Rama namam is equivalent to saying the sahasra(1000) names of Vishnu referred as SriVishnu Sahasranamam.
Slogam : "Keno payena laguna Vishnor nama sahasrakam| patyate panditair nityam shrotumicchamyaham prabho:
Parvathi asks Shivan "what is the solution if some one cannot say all the 1000 names? "
Shiva answers that saying Rama namam is equivalent to saying all the 1000 names of vishnu as in the slogam
Slogam: "Sri Rama Rama Rameti, Rame Rame Manorame; Sahasrenama tattulyam, Rama Nama Varanane"
Saying Rama Nama helps in reducing Papam and reducing our karmam. Similarly, another way to reduce the papam is to go and visit places related to Raman and take bath in the holy waters.
Prayachitam and Yatra importance
For many years/ages, we all have been doing lots of papam knowingly or unknowingly. Today admidst busy schedule, can we find what all papam one has done and can one find ways to come out of it. Can we list the papa and find prayachitams for all the papam ? Even if we find the prayachitams, it is not feasible or easy to perform the prayachitams at times. Jyotitar's tells us about the problem by looking at the Jatakam. Also they gives us prayachitam. We are not sure if the prayachitam told is correct because Jyotitar's are not consistent. But Jyothisha is true. It is not easy to do the prayachitam's for various papam in this busy schedule. To solve this in the ancient days, common prayachitam as been clearly explained. Specific prayachitam are alsothere and one can find them and do the same. Veda's declare the list of papam and prayachitams for each but we cannot easilyunderstand or follow. So there are common prayachitams whichreduce the impact and will save us from the ill effects of those papam. This is something feasible.
Kannan in Mahabharatham, Shanti Parvam , Raja dharmam explains about the list of common prayachitam.
1. Upavasam
2. Namasankeerthanam
3. Deva Poojai - vigraham pujai at home
4. Theertha yatrai
5. Yaga yagyam
6. Dhanam koduthal
7. Atma Paramatma pattri sindhithal
While we go on a Yatrai most of the above will be taken care automatically. The time is spent in bhagavad gyanam, doing archanai in various temple so deva poojai is taken care, no disturbance due to telephone, people and other disturbances, Upavasam too due to miss in the eating schedule, dhanam, bath in the holy sacred water. So an yatrai takes care of all the common prayachitam. Explaining all this to explain the importance of yatrai. So yatrai is very important for each one of us. Our dear Rama had also gone for yatrai. He walked across the Bharata bhoomi inorder to make all the bhoomi as punya kshetram due to his presence. Keeping this in mind Ram started from Bharadwaj Aashram.
Sri Rama Prabhu Ghat on River Yamuna
Ramanyan in many languages
Valmiki Ramayanam "Kavyam Ramayanam..."
Ramanyanam has many names Sri Ramanyanam, Sita charitam, Poulasya Vatham ( Poulasyar is a Rishi and Ravanan was born in this Vamsam and since Ram killed Ravanan it is called so). Many have translated Ramanyanam in many languages. Not just translation, instead all these writters have got the blessings/arul of Ram. Kambhar translated Valmiki's Sriramayanam in Tamil. Tulasidas has writtenRam charitha manas in Hindi in a hindi dialect called "Avadhi". Manas means Lake. Raman charitham sollum yeri/lake/manas and hence called as Ram Charitha Manas. We are going to see Tulasidas's house and temple/Ashram and his original manuscript.
Thulasidas and Sri Ram Prabhu Ghat
Here are the Beautiful steps in the Prabhu ghat leading us from the river yamuna to the Temples. Let us hear the story as we visit those places. Tulasidasar's vigraham was found from this Ghat and prathistai is done in the temple we are going to visit.
Tulasidasar lived for aound 120 years. He was born in uttarpradesh. Tulasidasar attained mukthi in 1680 while he was in banaras/kasi/varanasi at Hasi ghat. One of his Shisya called Gana pat Ram collected all the items of Tulasidasar, like the aradhanai - Narasimha Salagrama moorthi, Original manuscript of Ram charitha manas and his Padugai. With all these items Gana Path Ram came back to Tulasidasar's home town which is this place on the banks of River yamuna. On hearing the news of Tulasidasar's death all were very upset. Tulasidas's wife is Bhuthimathi. She understood Tulasidasar's Ram bhakthi and his disinterest in family life. She was very supportive and instrumental in Tulasidasar getting Sanyasam. On seeing Gana Path Ram the family members were worried. Tulasidasar came in the dreams of his family and told about his Vigraham on the banks of yamuna river and he asked them to find it and to do the pradhistai. The family members went and searched for the vigraham but they could not find it in the river Yamuna which is huge like a sea. The family members were unhappy. Again Tulasidasar came in the dream and told them about the vigraham in the prabhu ghat. The family members searched in the prabhu ghat and they found the vigraham and did the pradhistai of that vigraham here in this temple near Prabhu Ghat. This place is before chitrakoot on the banks of river yamuna. Let us visit some important things in this temple.
Thulasidas Ghar/Temple
2. Sita Ram in white marble. Thulasidasar was worshipping Ram and Sita and hence these idols - Ram, Lakshman and Seetha. Thulasidasar aaradhitha perumal.
Thulasidasar house - two houses one in which he lived where pada rakshagai, saligramam are placed.
4. Also there is RadhaKrishna silai which was added at a later stage.
5. Also we can see Thulasidasar padukai and
6. then the salagrama vigraham which he had done the aradhanai for the perumal.
This place is called as Thulasidas Ghar and we all had the bhagyam of seeing these things in this house.
Pujari there talks about Ram. Let us hear from him.
"Hye prabhu aapke liye sansar ka sara rasta sugam hai. Mein koun sa rasta aapko bhathavun. Ramji ko tho uttar bharadwaj ji ne de diya. Lekin BHaradwajji maharaj ke hrudaya me Santhosh nahi huha. ayodhya me paidha huha Ram, paidhal kutti thak aaya hai. Rasta bhatane ka inke saath jana Bharadwaj maharaj apne shisyon ka aawaj diya. "
Slogam - "yavath.."
Brahma through Naradar blessed valmiki which made Valmiki to write 24000 slogam of Sri Ramayanam. "Till himachalam, surya chandrar, Gangai, exist till that time the greatness of Ramayanam would exist and will not get destroyed or will not reduce. This is a boon/order i am giving" - Says four faced brahma. As per this, the perumai of Ramayanam exists and has been increasing day by day. Ram is in our hearts. Manasarovar is a lake near Kailash. Near that lake the swan used to live. When we think about that our hearts are filled with joy. Similarly when someone thinks of Ram's Guna then the hearts are filled with joy. Probably thats why Thulasidasar named his Ramayanam as Ram Charitha Manas. Ram's story is a treasure. Ram's charitham is a great reference for our life whenever we are in confused situation or when we have to decide on something or when we have lost something or when we are frightened or when are minds are wavering, or when there is no peace/unity in a family, many such situation - all these exist in Ramayanam across various chapters of incidents. For us to learn is one Ramayanam not enough ? There is a precious stone/manikkam, when seen from one side we can see the brigtness. If we polish it and see if from another angle it looks more brighter and precious. This precious stone will be valued as a treasure only by person who understands about the precious stone. Similarly, when Valmiki looked at Ramayanam, some of the great treasures are revealed in the Ramayanam. When Kambhar looked into it some more treasures got revealed from different angle and when Thulasidas looked into it some more treasures got revealed. Even if we can see Ramayanam, through the eyes/vision of these great people since we do not have that shakthi/skill,(time, knowledge) we can understand and discover many treasures.
Such a great Ram bhakthar is Thulasidasar - 1554- 1680 - lived for 126 years. The house he lived is a temple today. We have reached this temple now. Here we happen to see 439 year old olai chuvadi. Thulasidas he himself had written this script. He has written Ram charitha manas when he was 74 years. He wrote hanuman chalisa too. He had written 22 works. His hand written script version of the ayodhya kandam is available here. Scintillating explerience to see the ollai chuvadi. Great Bhagyam to see the same. Here is the ollai chuvadi. The pujari took one by one all the vatsaram(cloth) which was covered over the ollai chuvadi. All the mahan who had come here had given salvai, thagadi, ponnadai as present. Like how we give salvai to great people, the visitors had given the salvai to Thulasidasar by giving it to his works. Here we can see the treasure given to us by thulasidas. After a wonderful cover, the pujari shows the script which is treasured safely today.
Details of Thulasidasar..
All these olai chuvadi has been written in mara yezhuthani(wooden nib) and anjanam(Kan mai). The olai chuvadi has been prepared manually using palm tree leaves. For sticking, they had used the glue from the tree barks. Using all these, he had made this great work in those days. We had the bhagyam of seeing all his great work and things he had used. There is also a huge photo of Thulasidasar with the Slogam near the place where the ramayanam is chanted (parayanam) everyday. Akbar had given this place to Tulasidas's family and we can see the note on the same saying that this place belongs to Thulasidas family and whatever he has written let them be thought/spread from this place. A copy of that original is also available here.
Raman Vana Gamana Margam - Raman's exile route map which has beeen listed by Thulasidasar.
There is also note on the mapping of the alphabets which was in use during Tulasidas time and the one in usage currently. We can also see the place of ramanyana daily parayanam..
Next Ram had gone to valmiki asharamam to find the way to Chitrakoot. Let us all join the Yatra.
Pujari from Tulasidas Temple talking.........
Ram at Chitrakoot
Slogam : "Subhahas chitrakooto.."This is a very important slogam in Valmiki Ramayanam. Raman reaches Chitrakut. When we look at the place, mountain and how ram live there, it looks as if Kuberan was living in his Garden with joy and happiness. Here is chitrakut mountain. Beautiful place - peryezhil. Place where Ram is going to stay. Ram wanted to spend the rest of the years of exile in this place. Since Bharath came and gave the kingdom to Ram and took the Padugai. Then Ram thought if i stay here, all the people will come here and the forest should not become a kingdom. Kadu nadaga koodathu.... Kaikeyiku kodutha vakku poika koodathu. He want to follow the boon he had given to Kaikeyi that he will live in the exile for 14 years. Ram went to Dhandakaranyam else he would have stayed here. Like how kuberan was playing in his Garden, Ram was staying in this place like that.
Valmiki Aashram at Chitrakoot
Before coming to this place, they crossed Yamuna ghat in a bambhoo boat made by Lakshman. Before entering Chitrakoot, there is Valmiki ashram and Ram went and met him. There is valmiki ashram here and a river called valmiki river infront of the ashram.We saw Sarayu, gangai, yamanuai, sarawathi, shrona, Kandagi saw those punya river and now valmiki river. We took bath and climbed the mountain. on the mountain there is a beautiful sirpam which explains the valmiki bird story ( which we had seen in detail in Bittoor Episode).
First slogam "Mani....."
Then brahma came to valmiki ashram in bittoor and because of Brahma's belssing Valmiki wrote Ramayanam. We can see idols depicting these incidences here. From this place/mountain through the temple's salara..(window) we can see the entire chitrakut, the parikrama route, Ithihasa mahatvam vaintha sthlangal.
Is the valmiki ashram here or in bittoor.. We had discussed this when we saw the bittoor episode. Rishi's keep moving.. there is one Valmiki ashram in Naimisharanyam too. When Ram had come here Valmiki was here in Chitrakoot. similarly Bharadwaj, agasthya ashram are also there in many places. Rishi's/Muni keep travelling from one place to another.
Ram worshipped Valmiki. Valmiki asked "why did you come here what is the reason ?", Ram explained.. Valmiki advised Ram to stay at Chitragiri - "Chitragiri is here and you can stay here....KamadaGiri - a place which gives what we ask for. Stay here". Ram took leave from Valmiki and started walking towards Chitrakoot. Lots of rich trees on the way. As per bharadwaj guidance Ram reached chitrakoot and following Valmiki's words ram decided to stay here.
Beautiful place with fruits and flowers.. - Maa, pala, kamugu , palai, paku, arasa maram, parasa maram, purasa maram, aala maram, kurukathi poo, padari poo, karumugai poo, kunudha malar, Thamarai, malligai, Jaathi, Shenbhaga pushpam, iruvatchi, maruvu, dhavanam, Kozhunthu. An exhibition of all flowers.
So this is called chitrakoodam - Azhagana koodam - parpatharke ullam uvanthu irukkum koodam. Now we are reaching chitrakootam hill and we have the best experience going forward.
Chitrakoot
SriRamanin Padhayil we are here at chitrakut on the banks of river mandagini. Ram and Sita took bath in the river mandagini. Lots of rishi's have attained mukthi in this place. Chitrakut is a special place in bhologam. Everyone should take a break from mechanical life and stay here for a vacation to get relieved from the mental stress. On the 8th day we reached this place around 8 pm. we decided to stay here for 2 days to visit all the places. Next day morning, we woke to do the Parikrama of the mountain.
Chitrakoot Parikrama
Lots of benefit to go around this mountain and this city. Let us all go for the parikrama. Valam varum pothu what are the places to visit1 - Mandagini river - boat ride - Ram and Sita had taken bath and lived on the banks of this river. Such a sacred river. Lots of Gatam and boats in that river. Sandhyavandanam, Jala tharpanam, Pithru tharpanam, had holy bath and played too.
2 - kamadha giri - mountain which gives what we wish for... filled with monkey, peacock, deer, cuckoo, Kamam means viruppam/wish. So many types and colour of monkey as sung by thirumangai azhwar. We remember sugreevan, hanuman on seeing those different types of monkeys. On one side of the mountain, ram's face, bharath's face are all there.
3 - Bharatha milap - Bharathan vandhu ramanai sandhitha idam, raman padugai kodutha idam. Even today we can see Ram's thiruvadi chuvadu.
4 - Ram Ghat - Very important ghatam on the bank of river Mandagini. lots of temples on this ghat. Ram/Sita did the pinda pradhanam, jala tharpanam.
5 - Janaki kundam - place where sita used to take bath when she used to come alone. Ekanthamana, aachariyamana place.
6 - Hanuman Dhara - This is little outskirt from the city and on the top of the mountain. Water flows from the top and falls on hanuman's head and flows down. Unable to find the source and where it flows down.
7 - Sita Rasoi - Kitchen , madapalli of Sita. Most of the time they had eaten raw vegetables,fruits and at times cooked food.
8 - Spatiga Shila - A huge rock/parai on the river bank of mandagini river, a crow came and troubled them when ram was sleeping on Sita's lap. Ram took a darbai(grass) and he sent the darbai, the darbai followed the crow and at last the crow seeked Sita's refuge and saved his life.
9 - Gupta Godhavari - It is an adventure to visite this place. under the cave Godhavari runs down under the cave in the pathalam. Godhavari had come here and she had Ram's darshan by hiding under the cave. She wanted to invite Ram to Panchavati and hence she came here in the pathalam.
Beautiful place on the border of UP and MP and a must visit. We shall see Chitrakut in the next two weeks and let us get relieved from all our mental stress.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Sri Ramanin Padhayil - Episode 20 - Sept 01 2013
ஸ்ரீராமஜெயம்
We are at Chitrakoot as part of Sri Ramanin Padhayil. Ram and Sita wanted to spend happily the rest of the duration of their Exile here at Chitrakoot. Chitrakoot is in MP /UP border. Chitrakoot is in the center of India.
Char dham popularly knowsn for the following temples - Northern side it is Badrikachalam, west Dwaraka, East Puri Jagannthan, South Rameswaram. The center of all these 4 is the PARAMA DHAM is Chitrakoot.
Pasuram : Anganedu... from Perumal Thirumozhi.
PERUMAL THIRUMOZHI- 10.1
Note from Sadagopan.org : After Darasaratha’s lamenting decad, AzhwAr relishes singing the entire Ramayanam in his last set of verses in PerumAL Thirumozhi. The whole Ramayanam is beautifully narrated in just 11 verses and is sung referring to Thirucchithrakootam Diyya Desam perumAL.The same Lord Sri Rama resides here in this divya desam permanently. Thillai Thirucchitrakootam Pasurams of Kulasekhara are nothing but Sampoorna Ramayanam.The same chitra kootam Rama resides with Sita and Lakshmanan. He salutes the Lord as the one, who enjoyed the bliss with Sita Devi at the foot hills of Chitrakootam.Kulasekhara was moved by the beauty of Tillai nagar that he was reminded of the beauty of the Chitrakootam of the north and called Thillai as Thiruchitrakootam.He is a great Rama Bhaktha and hence moved by the beauty of the Archa murthy of that Kshetram. He saw in Govinda Raja Sri Ramachandra and composed his
Sampoorna Ramayanam then and there. These verses have enshrined themselves containing mantrams, Sundara khaandam (or RamAyaNam) meanings and inner meanings that are commonly understood and commented by our AchaaryAs.
angaNedu mathiLpudaisoozh ayOtthi yennum
aNinagaraththu ulaganaitthum viLakkum sOthi
vengathirOn kulatthukkOr viLakkaayth thOnRi
viNmuzhuthum uyakkoNda veeran thannai,
sengaNedunkarumugilai iraaman thannai
thillainagar thirucchithra koodanthannuL
engaLthani mudhalvanai yemperumaan thannai
yenRukolO kaNkuLirak kaaNum naaLE 10.1
meaning from sadagopan.org
Filled with the most beautiful places, tall ramparts of the buildings, in the city named Ayoddhi, where Jagath kaaraNan, the Param jyOthi Sriman Narayanan took avathAram as Sri Ramachandra in Surya vamsa, in an unparalleled avathAram, the most valorous One who removed the sorrows of everyone; who has the most beautiful red lotus eyes; who is like dark hued rainy clouds; who enchants everyone with His divine beauty and most beautiful ruddy lined large eyes; who shows Himself at Thillai Chithra kootam divya desam; who is Primordial Chief; Our Master; - such most wonderful Lord- emperumAn- when will I able to enjoy seeing Him and relish His divine beauty?- longs AzhwAr.
Ram the king of Ayodhya, ulagathaiye vilakum jyothi, surya kulathuku oru vilakku, andru antha chithirakoodathil irunthar, avarai indru sevikka vendum yendram indru thillai chithira koodathil amarunthum, sayanithum sevai sathikirar - Govinda Raja Perumal. Moola murthy sayana thirukolam, Utsava murthy acharyamaga amartha thirukolam, like how Ram must have sat in Chitthirakut. Lets go back to Chitirakut.
Slogam
Ramaya Rama Bhadraya
Ramachandraya Vedhase
Raghu Nathaya Nathaya
Sitayah Pataye Namaha
Meaning : To Rama, Ramabhadra, Raghunatha(These are different names of Lord Rama),the Lord, the Consort of Seetha, our salutations to him.
Slogam :
Meaning : Even if ram does not listen to me just for the sake of all these animals, ministers, goat, cow, hen, kula guru will not Ram return back to ayodhya. So bharathan started from Ayodhya as followed the route as told by Gugan, Bharadwaj and he reached Chitrakut where Ram was staying. Huge troups came to chitrakut and the place they stayed is here and they also stayed at Brahma Theertham.
On the kamada Giri mountain itself they have carved the faces of the mountain Kamada giri, ram and bharathan. Very beautiful. The face of the mountain is with mouth open state in which we can see the teeth and in the place of the last two teeth one can see the salagrama thirumeni. It is said that Bharathan had insalled those salagramam there. Ram had done the puja for those salagramam. Everyone did archanai and puja for the mountain wishing all the wishes to get fullfilled especially for the yatra to get over successfully. We did samarpanam of fruits, dhoti, milk, lemon. Kamadagiri - place which was worshipped by Ram himself. There is one temple which is the big face of the mountain and a small face too. The small face is Ram's which was installed by Bharathan and the big face is that of the mountain kamadagiri which was installed by Ram. Wonderful Kamadagiri.
Pujari talking about Bharath Milap.
Some adventurous experience with the monkey which took away many things from the yatrika's. Then we also did the Parayanam. Very important ghatam. Bharathan vanthathu, ramania kanda vudan keezhe vizhunthathu, Ram avanai thooki alli anaithathu mogarunthu than madiyil amarthi kondu kelvigalaga thulaithathu, avanukku asirvatham panninathu, yellam intha idathil than nadanthathu. Lets hear the parayanam and the upanyasam. Beautiful place.
Upanyasam : Kamadagiri - Naam aasai pathavaigal yellam kuduka kudiya malai ithu. The reason for this name is very interesting charithram. When Ram was here, the mountain changed itself to a shape of a face and gave darshan to Ram - Malai mugha vadivil Ramanukku Sevai kuduthathu. Ram hence installed that face here which is the big face. In that big face we can see some rose flowers in the picture and inside that face there are 7 Salagramam. Some of the salagramam are moving and some are not moving. Next to that big face of kamadagiri is the small face which is done by Ram as a prana prathistai. Raman started from this mountain towards southern side. During that time, the mountain questioned Ram on why he is leaving. Ram told that mountain that he is naming the mountain as Kamadha Giri and all the wishes of his devotee will be fullfilled here and you stay here to fullfill the devotees wish. Ram did this anugraham to this mountain and he started from Chitrakut. So this mountain is called Kamadha Giri and the perumal here is called as Kamadha Giri Nathan. This mountain grants all the wishes, especially Rama Bhakthi. This place gets all the importance due to Bharath's visit here. So if we all can get a little bit of the Rama bhakthi which Bharath had by praying to this Kamadha giri that would be great.
Azhwar says Nindravarum, irunthavarum, kidanthavarum ninaipariyana.
In one of the pasuram Periazhwar says "Chitrakutathu iruppa siru kakai mula theenda athirame avan kannai aruthathumo adayalam".
Ram was sitting here in chitrakut. Let us hear from the pujari who is talkign about the mahatmiyam of that place and we also did parayanam/upanyasam in that place.
The pujari explained about the place where Ram was sitting, Sita was sitting and the explanation in Ram charitha manas. He also showed the place where lakshman was sitting.
One important information which we need to understand is the guna of Ram. Yeperpatta kutram seithalum, raman marakiran, mannikiran, porumaiyaga irukkiran. We as part of Ramanin padhayil need to understand about patience and need to develop tolerance. Whatever the blunders one does, if the person is seeking Ram's feet and if he is doing saranagati and if he is praying and requesting to perumal, then in a second perumal forgets everything and forgives him.
Kurathazhwan says "Brahma kalpa niyutha anubha...janthu ..."
I have accured sins and it would take many janmam to experience the impact of sin which i have collected in just one second. Such is the longlist of my papam. But if i go to perumal and say"i will not repeat those misktakes and i am seeking refugee at your feet ( un thiruvadigale thanjam), Perumal immediately helps us."
That is what has happened in this place too. Raman was sleeping with his head on sita. At that time an asuran in the form of a crow called Jayanthan who is INdiran's son, comes and troubles sita and he injures Sita's chest which resulted in blood oozing from Sita's chest. Sita tried to push the crow but the crow kept coming again and again to trouble her. Then she tried to wake up Ram who was nearby and sleeping. Ram woke up and he saw the crow which was trying to escape. Ram took a dharbhai (vallanukku pullum ayutham) and he utterred the brahmaasthra slogam and sent the grass as a weapon. The crow went to all the loka's and no one helped the crow and finally it came to Ram. Then also it was not the crow's head which touched Ram's feet instead it was Crow's feet resulting in another abacharam. Then sita helped the crow and turned the crow's feet towards Ram's feet. Ram must have killed the crow, instead with all karunai he did the raksha of the crow. Ram is karuna murthy, porumai, yenna kutram seithalum maranthuvidugirar. we are here at that great place.
We have seen places in Chitrakut today like Ram chat, temples around, Bharath milap, Janaki kund, Kamadha giri and spatika shila. We have few more places to visit which are in outskirts from Chitrakut and all the yatrika's are ready in their small vehicles. Let us also visit those places with them next week.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
We are at Chitrakoot as part of Sri Ramanin Padhayil. Ram and Sita wanted to spend happily the rest of the duration of their Exile here at Chitrakoot. Chitrakoot is in MP /UP border. Chitrakoot is in the center of India.
Char dham popularly knowsn for the following temples - Northern side it is Badrikachalam, west Dwaraka, East Puri Jagannthan, South Rameswaram. The center of all these 4 is the PARAMA DHAM is Chitrakoot.
Thillai Chithira Koodam
Northern Chitrakoot is what we are going to say. We are going to have the darshan of the chitrakoodam in north india but Similarly in sourthern part of India, chidambaram is called as Thillai nagar thiru chitthira koodam - where we have in dancing posture Nataraja perumal and in sleeping posture Govindaraja swamy Perumal. Kulasekaraazhwar has sung 10 pasuram's in his Perumal Thirumozhi - the last pathigam is samarpanam for thillai Chitthira koodam. But in those 10 pasuram what has been told is Story of Ramayanam. Though the hero of the story "Ram" was in the northern Chittrakut but Kulasekaraazhwar sings as if he saw Ram in the southern region.
Pasuram : Anganedu... from Perumal Thirumozhi.
PERUMAL THIRUMOZHI- 10.1
Note from Sadagopan.org : After Darasaratha’s lamenting decad, AzhwAr relishes singing the entire Ramayanam in his last set of verses in PerumAL Thirumozhi. The whole Ramayanam is beautifully narrated in just 11 verses and is sung referring to Thirucchithrakootam Diyya Desam perumAL.The same Lord Sri Rama resides here in this divya desam permanently. Thillai Thirucchitrakootam Pasurams of Kulasekhara are nothing but Sampoorna Ramayanam.The same chitra kootam Rama resides with Sita and Lakshmanan. He salutes the Lord as the one, who enjoyed the bliss with Sita Devi at the foot hills of Chitrakootam.Kulasekhara was moved by the beauty of Tillai nagar that he was reminded of the beauty of the Chitrakootam of the north and called Thillai as Thiruchitrakootam.He is a great Rama Bhaktha and hence moved by the beauty of the Archa murthy of that Kshetram. He saw in Govinda Raja Sri Ramachandra and composed his
Sampoorna Ramayanam then and there. These verses have enshrined themselves containing mantrams, Sundara khaandam (or RamAyaNam) meanings and inner meanings that are commonly understood and commented by our AchaaryAs.
angaNedu mathiLpudaisoozh ayOtthi yennum
aNinagaraththu ulaganaitthum viLakkum sOthi
vengathirOn kulatthukkOr viLakkaayth thOnRi
viNmuzhuthum uyakkoNda veeran thannai,
sengaNedunkarumugilai iraaman thannai
thillainagar thirucchithra koodanthannuL
engaLthani mudhalvanai yemperumaan thannai
yenRukolO kaNkuLirak kaaNum naaLE 10.1
meaning from sadagopan.org
Filled with the most beautiful places, tall ramparts of the buildings, in the city named Ayoddhi, where Jagath kaaraNan, the Param jyOthi Sriman Narayanan took avathAram as Sri Ramachandra in Surya vamsa, in an unparalleled avathAram, the most valorous One who removed the sorrows of everyone; who has the most beautiful red lotus eyes; who is like dark hued rainy clouds; who enchants everyone with His divine beauty and most beautiful ruddy lined large eyes; who shows Himself at Thillai Chithra kootam divya desam; who is Primordial Chief; Our Master; - such most wonderful Lord- emperumAn- when will I able to enjoy seeing Him and relish His divine beauty?- longs AzhwAr.
Ram the king of Ayodhya, ulagathaiye vilakum jyothi, surya kulathuku oru vilakku, andru antha chithirakoodathil irunthar, avarai indru sevikka vendum yendram indru thillai chithira koodathil amarunthum, sayanithum sevai sathikirar - Govinda Raja Perumal. Moola murthy sayana thirukolam, Utsava murthy acharyamaga amartha thirukolam, like how Ram must have sat in Chitthirakut. Lets go back to Chitirakut.
Yatra @ Chittirakut
We saw all the places while we did the Parikrama of Chitirakut. We all stayed there for two days during the yatra on the 8th and 9th day and on 10th we saw Sarabhanga ashram, Sutheekshanashramam, agasthiyar ashramam. It was a great adventure visiting these ashram.Ram Ghat on Mandagini River
First thing to watch at Chitirakut is Mandagini River and Ram Ghat. One can travel in those beautifully decorated boats from one side to another. Ram hears about his father's death while he was in Chitrakut, when Bharath had come here. Ram was shattered saying "Hye Sita you have lost your FIL and Hye Lakshmana you have lost your Father" and Ram brought all of them to Ram Ghat. This is the place where Ram used to take his bath daily and he did the tarpanam and all the Kriyai for his dad in this place. Having a bath at Ram ghat is holy and scared. Around this Ram Ghat there are lots of temples. First among them is Ram Vanavas Mandir.
Ram Vanavas Mandir
Ram in this temple is in the same attire as how he was in exile. Ram and Lakshan dressed in the form of KattuVasi with Sada mudi, maan thol, maravuri. But Sita is decked up with all jewels and she is celebrated as a queen in this place.
Tree for Puthira Bhagyam
Next there is a tree for Puthira Bhagyam. People are Praying to this tree, asking for blessing from Ram who was here during his Vanavasam. Samarpanam of fruits are done to this temple.
Parna kuti and Brahma Theertham
Brahma during kretha yug did tapas and he picked one place in chitrakut and he purified that place. This place is called as Brahma Theertham. This is the place where Brahma made a homa kundam and did 108 homa kundam and did a yagam. All had come here to make that place a puniya bhoomi. Brahma did wish for Ram/sita to come here. So they created a Parna Kutteram near by ie. the parna salai where Ram had stayed and lived. First is ram's kudil and then next to it is Lakshman's small kudil. This place is what is referred as Parna Kuti.
Slogam
Ramaya Rama Bhadraya
Ramachandraya Vedhase
Raghu Nathaya Nathaya
Sitayah Pataye Namaha
Meaning : To Rama, Ramabhadra, Raghunatha(These are different names of Lord Rama),the Lord, the Consort of Seetha, our salutations to him.
Place where the Bharath & Sena stayed
Pranams to Ram. Lakshman followed Ram to Exile while Bharathan was in Ayodhya. Bharathan was not in town when Ram started to exile. He was in his Mama - yudhajith's (Kaikeyi's brother)kingdom. When Bharathan came back, he heard about his father's death and when he went to his mother and asked she said just like that "Bharatha your Father has gone to the place where everyone has to go one day, don't worry, i have the kingdom for you". Bharathan was shattered and surprised to hear this from his mother. All he wanted was to serve Ram and keep Ram's thiruvadi on his head. Bharathan felt that a big mistake has happened and he started to get back Ram.Slogam :
Meaning : Even if ram does not listen to me just for the sake of all these animals, ministers, goat, cow, hen, kula guru will not Ram return back to ayodhya. So bharathan started from Ayodhya as followed the route as told by Gugan, Bharadwaj and he reached Chitrakut where Ram was staying. Huge troups came to chitrakut and the place they stayed is here and they also stayed at Brahma Theertham.
Bharath Mandir
This Bharath Mandir is on the banks of river Mandagini. We can do our pranam's to bharathan here. The pujari in the temple explains us the great anubhavam. This is Bharath mandir and all of them who had come from Ayodhya with Bharath had stayed here and in the huge ground in front of this temple. Staying in this temple, Bharath had got Vashistar's permission and asked his soldiers to go and find ram. The place where Ram stayed is the parna salai and it is little far from this place. They happen to see the smoke from the parna salai while searching. The the messengers went to check who was there doing some yagam in that parna salai. They went there to See Ram and immediately went to inform Bharath.
Janaki Kund
This is not referred as Janaki theertham or Janaki Ghat. Ram Ghat is the place where Ram and Seetha used to bath. Janaku kund is the place where Seetha used to come alone to take bath. A beautiful and safe place with lots of rock. We can see Seetha's thiruvadi on the rocks on the bank. These are not artificial. This has been natural and is here for many years close to 17,00,000 years. How is it possible. Sita's thiruvadi yendro pattathu ? Deivathin thiruvadi. Idam intha idam thane. The mahatmiyam of this place is that Sita was here and her thiruvadi patta idam. There are lots of places which has been marked stating that the place where sita sat, place where sita kept her clothes, place where she washed the clothes, place where Sita sat with Rishi pattini's, place where she had bath. This is just to signify the place and does not mean that it is exactly those places where it had happened. We are not here to argue or answer questions like "is this the place where Sita was there 17,00,000 years ago". This is chitrakut and it is the place where Sita had stayed. But why these marks - that is just for us to understand and no one is claiming that everything happened exactly in those marked areas. This is wonderful Janaku kund where Jagath Janani had taken bath.
Kamada Giri
Chitrakut's very important mountain is Kamada Giri. Kamam means our desire/viruppam/aasai. da means kodukkum. Namathu viruppam niraiverum. Wishes will be granted here. Ram used to walk around this mountain everyday. We also has part of Ramanin Padhayil wanted to go around this mountain. Wherever you go ayodhya, brindavan, naimisaranyam or in chitrakut in all these places Parikrama is very important. Parikrama means Valam Varathal. Govardhan mountain parikrama is 21 KM, ayodhya is 10 KM and 18 KM. Here at chitrakut is a beautiful small mountain with 5.5 KM parikrama of Kamada Giri. One can walk along with peacock, deer, monkeys during this parikrama. Ram anu yatra so monkeys will be there and one need to be careful with them. We finished the parayanam and upanyasam at Bharatha milap before it gets dark and when parikrama started it was 6.30 PM. Few people also did parikrama in rickshaws. They drive the rickshaw so fast chanting jai sita ram, Siya ram, sita matha ki jai instead of using bell. It took 1 hour to complete one parikrama by walk. On the four sides there are 4 temples. One can start the Parikrama from any corner. 4 beautiful temples. Before starting the parikrama one needs to do the namaskaram first - shastanga namaskaram. First pray to the mountain and then start walking. Lots of shop along the way and in those dvd shops ramayan will be played in those TV. There will be crows in front of all the shops watching those Ramayan in different forms. yatrika's also enjoyed the lassi, lemon juice, milk, butter milk, sugar cane juice from the shops while doing the parikrama. Also we saw a mountain and a temple for Thulasidas on the way. Finally reached Bharatha Milap - place where Ram and Bharath met.
On the kamada Giri mountain itself they have carved the faces of the mountain Kamada giri, ram and bharathan. Very beautiful. The face of the mountain is with mouth open state in which we can see the teeth and in the place of the last two teeth one can see the salagrama thirumeni. It is said that Bharathan had insalled those salagramam there. Ram had done the puja for those salagramam. Everyone did archanai and puja for the mountain wishing all the wishes to get fullfilled especially for the yatra to get over successfully. We did samarpanam of fruits, dhoti, milk, lemon. Kamadagiri - place which was worshipped by Ram himself. There is one temple which is the big face of the mountain and a small face too. The small face is Ram's which was installed by Bharathan and the big face is that of the mountain kamadagiri which was installed by Ram. Wonderful Kamadagiri.
Bharatha Milap
Bharathan came here and met Ram and gave the kingdom. But Ram didn't accept the kingdom from Ram. Ram told that he had to stay in the exile for 14 years as per his promise to Kaikeyi. So ram asked Bharathan to go back to ayodhya. Instead of Ram returning to ayodhya, ram decided to give his Padukai. We have already seen Nandi gram where padukai pattabhishekam was done. This is the place where the padukai was given to bharath. All the yatrikas felt emotional when they visited this place - pullarichu pochu. At Nandigram, We saw bharathan and hanuman meeting at nandi gram raising the question on who has more bhakthi. Now here in Chitra kut there is huge tree and near that the place where Ram sat. Near this is one THITTU in which we can see Ram's kaladi chuvadu and Lakshman's Kaladi chuvadu and Sitadevi Kaladi chuvadu. We cannot walk and one can see the place and the fossil there. very important place to visit. On the other side beautiful temple with ram, bharath vigraham. This place is a sacred place.Pujari talking about Bharath Milap.
Some adventurous experience with the monkey which took away many things from the yatrika's. Then we also did the Parayanam. Very important ghatam. Bharathan vanthathu, ramania kanda vudan keezhe vizhunthathu, Ram avanai thooki alli anaithathu mogarunthu than madiyil amarthi kondu kelvigalaga thulaithathu, avanukku asirvatham panninathu, yellam intha idathil than nadanthathu. Lets hear the parayanam and the upanyasam. Beautiful place.
Upanyasam : Kamadagiri - Naam aasai pathavaigal yellam kuduka kudiya malai ithu. The reason for this name is very interesting charithram. When Ram was here, the mountain changed itself to a shape of a face and gave darshan to Ram - Malai mugha vadivil Ramanukku Sevai kuduthathu. Ram hence installed that face here which is the big face. In that big face we can see some rose flowers in the picture and inside that face there are 7 Salagramam. Some of the salagramam are moving and some are not moving. Next to that big face of kamadagiri is the small face which is done by Ram as a prana prathistai. Raman started from this mountain towards southern side. During that time, the mountain questioned Ram on why he is leaving. Ram told that mountain that he is naming the mountain as Kamadha Giri and all the wishes of his devotee will be fullfilled here and you stay here to fullfill the devotees wish. Ram did this anugraham to this mountain and he started from Chitrakut. So this mountain is called Kamadha Giri and the perumal here is called as Kamadha Giri Nathan. This mountain grants all the wishes, especially Rama Bhakthi. This place gets all the importance due to Bharath's visit here. So if we all can get a little bit of the Rama bhakthi which Bharath had by praying to this Kamadha giri that would be great.
Three postures of Ram and the Three places
Raman in sitting posture at Chitrakut was very beautiful. Raman nindrathu(standing), Raman amarthathu(sitting), Raman kidanthu(lying down) - three famous places. Utathe Rama masiyum - Ram was sitting at Chitrakut(amaruntha thirukolam), After killing Vali Ram's standing posture at Kishintha(nindra thirukolam) and in thirupullani Rameshwaram Sethu karai on the sea shore, with his hands as pillows Ram was in lying posture, did saranagathi and requested the Samudra rajan to pave way(kidantha thirukolam).Azhwar says Nindravarum, irunthavarum, kidanthavarum ninaipariyana.
Place we stayed
Next we are going to hear an important story and the place where that happened. We all had stayed at a medical center called AROGYADHAM PANCHAVATI - place where they make medicines of ayurvedam and siddh from the varoious herbs/muligai from those mountain. Lovely serene place. There was a small river also near the place where we stayed.
Spatika Shila
On the other corner of the town we reached Spatika Shila. This is the place where Ram tried to kill the Kakai Asuran and that kakai asuran was saved by Sita. The mandagini there is little deep and on the bank there is a huge rock.In one of the pasuram Periazhwar says "Chitrakutathu iruppa siru kakai mula theenda athirame avan kannai aruthathumo adayalam".
Ram was sitting here in chitrakut. Let us hear from the pujari who is talkign about the mahatmiyam of that place and we also did parayanam/upanyasam in that place.
The pujari explained about the place where Ram was sitting, Sita was sitting and the explanation in Ram charitha manas. He also showed the place where lakshman was sitting.
One important information which we need to understand is the guna of Ram. Yeperpatta kutram seithalum, raman marakiran, mannikiran, porumaiyaga irukkiran. We as part of Ramanin padhayil need to understand about patience and need to develop tolerance. Whatever the blunders one does, if the person is seeking Ram's feet and if he is doing saranagati and if he is praying and requesting to perumal, then in a second perumal forgets everything and forgives him.
Kurathazhwan says "Brahma kalpa niyutha anubha...janthu ..."
I have accured sins and it would take many janmam to experience the impact of sin which i have collected in just one second. Such is the longlist of my papam. But if i go to perumal and say"i will not repeat those misktakes and i am seeking refugee at your feet ( un thiruvadigale thanjam), Perumal immediately helps us."
That is what has happened in this place too. Raman was sleeping with his head on sita. At that time an asuran in the form of a crow called Jayanthan who is INdiran's son, comes and troubles sita and he injures Sita's chest which resulted in blood oozing from Sita's chest. Sita tried to push the crow but the crow kept coming again and again to trouble her. Then she tried to wake up Ram who was nearby and sleeping. Ram woke up and he saw the crow which was trying to escape. Ram took a dharbhai (vallanukku pullum ayutham) and he utterred the brahmaasthra slogam and sent the grass as a weapon. The crow went to all the loka's and no one helped the crow and finally it came to Ram. Then also it was not the crow's head which touched Ram's feet instead it was Crow's feet resulting in another abacharam. Then sita helped the crow and turned the crow's feet towards Ram's feet. Ram must have killed the crow, instead with all karunai he did the raksha of the crow. Ram is karuna murthy, porumai, yenna kutram seithalum maranthuvidugirar. we are here at that great place.
We have seen places in Chitrakut today like Ram chat, temples around, Bharath milap, Janaki kund, Kamadha giri and spatika shila. We have few more places to visit which are in outskirts from Chitrakut and all the yatrika's are ready in their small vehicles. Let us also visit those places with them next week.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Sri Ramanin Padhayil - Episode 21 - Sept 08 2013
ஸ்ரீராமஜெயம்
ulagam yAvaiyum tAm uLa Akkalum
nilai peRuttalum niikkalum nI"ngalA
alagu ilA viLaiyATTu uDaiyAr avar
talaivar annavarkkE caraN nA"ngaLE.
The above prayer translates into English as: "We only surrender to that One who is the Lord (of all), and whose timeless, unlimited divine play involves the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the entire universe."
Ulagathai padaipavan, kappavan and thannul odunga vaipavan Bhagawan. Emperuman for the sake of his bhaktas has come from Vaikuntam to bhoologam in various avataram and he does lots of leelai. From all his actions, we can understand the Dharma and the way to live, rules to live. Sriramanin padhayil is brought to you all for this reason. There are so many historical stories and incidences from Ramayanam. Ram has showcased lots of Guna's and good behaviour. Ithihasa, puranas are there for us to understand this. Purana stories are also true and we are learning them. Most important in them is the rules(kotpadugal) and moral.
Key Takeaway
1. The Ithihasa and puranas are for us to learn the rules(kotpadugal) and moral's to follow in our lives.
The yatra group is at Chitrakut at MP and UP border. All the yatrikas were very happy during their stay at Chitrakut. We stayed here for two days having darshan of Ram, seetha, Bharathan milap. Now we are going to Gupta Godavari.
Chitrakut is an important thiruthalam/place in Sri Ramanin Padhayil. As the name says "Chitrakut" is a beautiful place with a beautiful mountain, rivers, forest, bhakthas, monkeys who follow us to all the places, blossoming trees with flowers and fruits. Ram took advise from Bharadwajar and they chose this place to stay. Ram met valmiki before entering Chitrakut. Ram was staying for almost a year in chitrakut. Chitrakut is on Mandagini river. This is a place for all those who want to take a break from concrete jungle. Place filled with natural breeze, herbs.
Lots of places to visit in chitrkut and one can stay here for a week to experience nature and Rama Bhakthi and to kindle mental peace. Let us all watch and enjoy chitrakut.
Now we are at Gupta Godavari. Gupta means hidden/maraintha. Godavari starts in Maharastra near Nasik-Panchavati where Ram had gone to Godavari. Ram had stayed and taken bath in Godavari along with Sita at Panchavati. Why did that Godavari come here ? Godavari was worried whether Ram will come to Godavari banks. Chitrakut has Mandagini and hence one more river cannot get in easily to that place. So Godavari decides to calmly come here and stay inside the cave. Godavari had the darshan of Ram when he was in Chitrakut. Since Godavari was hiding in a cave she was called Gupta Godavari. Let us all go inside the cave bravely and by bending our backsso that we can go inside the cave. There are two caves. Wonderful caves. Ramchandran is there inside the cave. Let us go inside and cave and visit all the places and Gupta Godavari.
All our buses were stopped little far from Gupta Godavari. It is a cave mountain. Godavari here runs in a hidden fashion beneath the mountain and forest. Lots of shops on the way towards the temple. All the yatrika's did lot of shopping. Need to climb steps and on the left side of the steps beautiful Ram, lakshman. Next to that we need to get the tickets for archanai. After the steps, we need to get into the cave through a narrow steep path. Though the cave is big, the path towards the cave is narrow. Then once we enter the cave, there is huge space and we can hear water splashing noise. This place is called Sita Kundam where sita used to take bath and wash her clothes. At that time, a rakshashan called Mayank (this charithram is not in valmiki ramayanam, but the people here are referring to Ram charitha Manas and explaning this ) took and ran with the clothes of Sita. At that time, Lakshman came and hit him and cursed him to be a stone in that place itself and he is here as this huge stone. At that time, Mayank asks on when he will be relieved from the curse and till that time what will he eat.
Lakshman replies to him saying that whoever comes and visits Gupta Godavari, they will be relieved from all the papam/sins and since you are a stone you can take those papam as your food. Though it is difficult for the Rakshas Mayank, it is more easy for us since we can go there to get relieved from papam. Inside the cave is wonderful Ram, sita , lakshman.
The godavari river, crosses vidhya mountain and runs across many caves and reaches this place Gupta Godavari and emerges from a place in this cave.
This place as one more name called Dhanush Kund. Dhanush means Bow and there is also a story that Ram shot an arrow and godavari water emerged and came out this place. The place is also in the shape of a bow of Ram. Raman ambhu vittu thanneer piritu kondu vanthathu. So on one side is Sita Kund and on the other side is Dhanush kund. After this if tried to walk in the water for some distance to check on the deeper side of the cave but we could not. Then all the yatrikas managed to come out through the narrow path they went in which was also a great challenge. The water which is coming out of the cave and is collected as a pond outside the cave. The place is beautiful with two ponds. One cannot understand the source and where that water flows from and to. Such a lovely place. It was a great challenge to get back all the yatrikas back into the buses. There were lots of old and young children who told stories about this place. lets all hear from them. ( check the video).
Beautiful place and very powerful place. We advised some of the yatrika's to stay in the choultry since it is difficult to climb but everyone joined us since they wanted to see the place from the bus. But after sometime, we realized that everyone had started to climb to visit this powerful hanuman. The pujari there explained us on the greatness of that place and the shakthi that place gives to its bhakta's ( udvegam, utsahathai kudukum). Let us hear from the pujari who is explaining it with utsaham. Pujari says - This pahad(mountain's) name is Hanuman Dhara.
Here one can see 5 face hanuman and 1 faced hanuman. The famous darshan is Virat roop Darshan. Bajrang bali got this roop in the pathal pur when he killed ravana. The five roop includes - Varaha, Garudan, Mahaveer, Narasimhan , Hayagriv. One does not know where this Dhara water comes from or where does it goes further. When Hanuman set Lanka to fire, the heat due to that act did not lessen for Hanuman. Ram hit bow/arrow and this water had come and had given shanthi to Hanuman. This is hanuman dhara. Starts in the mountain and flows on hanuman and comes down as Hanuman's Sripada theertham and goes till the kund in the bottom. praying to this Hanuman the wishes will be granted in a year. This Hanuman in chitrakoot nava grahathai adaki kondu virat swaroppathil katchi alikirar. The Anjaneyar here is Maha veera anjaneyar with additional faces like Varahan, Garudan, Narasimhan and
hayagriv on both the sides. Pathala Logathil ayi mayi ravananai kondru vittu antha kovathil anjaneyar swami ingu irukkirar. This story is also told in naimisaranyam. Anjaneyar kuliruntha idam, shakthi vaitha anjaneyar, Grahagalai namakku anukulamaga vendum badi vecchu irukkum idam. 5 items are served to this Hanuman - oil( to reduce the heat), sindoora podi, Janda/kodigal ( since he is veer anjaneyar, vijaya anjaneyar.
If we happen to climb further on the mountain there is one more anjaneyar sannadhi. Though the path is rough the anjaneyar gives all the shakthi and removes the laziness. One can hear all these in praises/slogam here like - Jai Sita Rama Anjaneya ki, Mariyadha palan anjaneya ki Jai, Hanuman dhara anjaneya ki Jai. Let us also praise this highly disciplined Hanuman by saying those slogam's.
"Kavyam ramayanam krishnam sitayam charitham mahathu poulasya vathamithyeva." - is an slogam.
More than Ram, it is for Sita all our Azhwar and acharyas have given importance. Even though we say Ram Ram - he has both kovum and karunai. But for Sita it is just Karunai and no kovum. Seeking Sita, we have many benefits. Mahalakshmi kataksham is important.
Key Takeaway
2. Sita is full of Karunai and she does not get angry on her child i.e we jeevatma's. Though Ram has karunai he has kovum too. Mahalakshmi kataksham is key for us and through her to reach HIM.
3. The food cooked by the women in the house is what perumal likes and he wants us to offer him the food cooked by the women.
4. Athithi satkaram is a key dharmam which needs to be followed by every women/sthri/illathu arasi. Sita showed us all these.
5. Men also need to learn cooking. Learning to cook and offering the food to perumal is a key dharma which need to be followed by men and women.
Agasthiyar, Sutheekshanar, Sarabhangar and Valmiki. Athithi Satkaram which is very important dharmam for every Sthri/Women/Illathu arasi. This means giving a great stomach filling feast to the guest who visit us. When the guests are eating stomach full and if the bless saying "nanna iru", then that aasirvatham helps the entire family. There are deeper bhakthi moral and sanathana dharma karuthu. All we need to do is to give food for 4 people who are struggling for food. Sitai has followed this dharmam even while she was in the exile. Everyone has to understand this. Men and women should learn to cook. Sanatana Dharmam does not accept if one is saying that i do not cook even after they are married for 10 years. Veda margam does not accept this. Even Men should learn to cook. But food cooked by women is what perumal likes a lot. If we look at the vigraham here, sita is in sitting posture cooking. Next to her in standing posture is Ram and lakshman. This is sita's place and hence Sita is sitting while Ram is standing. Let us take the blessings from sita and the 5 Rishi's. Yeppadi Sitai andru samaithalo, athu pola yellar samayal araiyum, thaligai pannum idam niranthu neengatha selvathode vayirara unavu makkal anaivarukkum kidaika vendum. Thani oruvanukku unavu illai yenil jagathinai azhithu viduvom yenbathu munor gosham. Athu pola yellarukku unavu kidaikavendum yendru Sita Rasoiyil Sita vidathil vendi konkolvom. Next let us visit Anusuiya in her ashram. Anusuya - Pengalukke matharasi.
Words from the pujari at Sita Rasoi- check video.
When Ram starts from Chitrakut towards south on the way to Sharabhanga ashram towards viratha kund, in the outskirts of Chitrakut is Athri-Anusuiya Ashram.
From there we reach Athri-Anusuiya Ashram.
like Gold/silver/Diamond. But those jewels were naturally made from the trees. Anusuiya says "Hye sita keep these. These will be very helpful for you. All these will not get spoiled for how many ever days you wear them. " and she keeps those jewels and clothes to Sita. Sita thought why am i going to wear these for several days. But later when Sita was in Ashoka vanam when
imprisoned by Ravan - she was in same clothes for 10 months even without bathing. At that time all the jewels given by Anusuiya is what she was wearing which didn;t get spoiled at all.
Anusuiya with dheerga darisanam happen to give these clothes and jewels to sita. Here is Athri.Anusuiya Ahsram. Athri is one of the Saptha Rishi. He is one among the famous DasaPrajapathi. Marichi, Athri, Angiras, pulasthiyar, pulahar, krathu, Vashistar are the saptha Rishi. Athri means sappitar - Ganga theertham oru thadavai vai kopalikka kuditharam. So he is called Athri - since he drank the entire Ganges water once. Athri Anusuiya had one thing in common. Anusuiya means Poramai illathaval - one who does not feel jealous. Here we can see lots of Vigraham and dolls.
There was a lady called Silavathi. Her husband is ugrasavas. due to the curse of Mandavya rishi he was about to die. At that time due to her karpu kanal She stopped the Suryan in the sky. At that time, all the three murthi's consoled her and promised her that they will fix the problem. She didn't listen to them and also she didn't allow the suryan to pass by in the sky. At that
time, all the 3 murthi's came to Anusuiya asking her to advise Silavathi so that suryan keeps moving in his way. Anusuiya agreed to advise her but Anusuiya also requested for children since she didn't have children for long time. All the three murthi's gave a boon and promised that they will be born to her as her children. Anusuiya convinced Silavathi and Suryan went ahead in the sky. On the other side, after many days Athri was doing tapas for Puthira peru. All the three Deivam - Brahma, Vishnu, Sivan Wanted to test Anusuiya's Karpu. So all the three told Anusuiya to serve food in a naked manner. Then anusuiya accepted since she was good in virunthombal and she turned all the three murthi's to kids and she fed them as per the rule they had told. Knowing the greatness of Anusuiya all the 3 murthi's took birth as her children. Shiva's amsam is Dhurvasar, Brahma's amsam is Chandran, Vishnu amsam is Dattatreyan.
All these we can have the Darshan in this place. Asuya means jealous/poramai. Anasuiya means the one without jealous. Not only that she does not have jealous, no one can even look at her and feel jealous - such is her greatness. Devi's of all the 3 murthi's came to Anusuiya and asked for forgiving the mistake done by their husband and then all the 3 husband were saved.
Anusuiya is the daughter of Devahuthi and kardhamaPrajapathi. Athri Maharishi's Dharma pathini. We saw this Athri-Anusuiya Ashram. This entire place is a punya sthalam. Lovely serene natural place. Though they have built new buildings it would have been nice if they had old ashram form itself.
With Athri - Anusuiya Ashram the Chitrakut Anubhavam is completed. All the yatrika's were not willing to start from that place and wanted to come back once again. We are going to start from Chitrakut and going to enter the dense forest and request you all to join us too - Varungal.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Kambha Ramayana Slogam...
உலகம் யாவையும் தாம் உள ஆக்கலும்
உலகம் யாவையும் தாம் உள ஆக்கலும்
நிலை பெறுத்தலும் நீக்கலும் நீங்கலா
அலகு இலா விளையாட்டு உடையார் அவர்
தலைவர் அன்னவர்க்கே சரண் நாங்களே.
ulagam yAvaiyum tAm uLa Akkalum
nilai peRuttalum niikkalum nI"ngalA
alagu ilA viLaiyATTu uDaiyAr avar
talaivar annavarkkE caraN nA"ngaLE.
The above prayer translates into English as: "We only surrender to that One who is the Lord (of all), and whose timeless, unlimited divine play involves the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the entire universe."
Ulagathai padaipavan, kappavan and thannul odunga vaipavan Bhagawan. Emperuman for the sake of his bhaktas has come from Vaikuntam to bhoologam in various avataram and he does lots of leelai. From all his actions, we can understand the Dharma and the way to live, rules to live. Sriramanin padhayil is brought to you all for this reason. There are so many historical stories and incidences from Ramayanam. Ram has showcased lots of Guna's and good behaviour. Ithihasa, puranas are there for us to understand this. Purana stories are also true and we are learning them. Most important in them is the rules(kotpadugal) and moral.
Key Takeaway
1. The Ithihasa and puranas are for us to learn the rules(kotpadugal) and moral's to follow in our lives.
The yatra group is at Chitrakut at MP and UP border. All the yatrikas were very happy during their stay at Chitrakut. We stayed here for two days having darshan of Ram, seetha, Bharathan milap. Now we are going to Gupta Godavari.
Gupt Godavari
Godavari who is hiding and who is staying here in a secret manner. We shall be questioned on why did Godavari come here ? Godavari wanted to meet Ram and invite him to her place and for that she came here secretly in a hidden manner. Godavari starts in Maharastra near Nasik-Panchavati. She wanted Ram to come to her place. She was worried what if Ram goes back to North from Chitrakut. So to invite Ram and also to see Ram who is staying in Chitrakut - Godavari is here and she flows in a hidden manner. Lets go there. The place is inside a cave and there is water almost till waist and need to see Ram and let us hear the mahatmiyam of that place from that place.Chitrakut is an important thiruthalam/place in Sri Ramanin Padhayil. As the name says "Chitrakut" is a beautiful place with a beautiful mountain, rivers, forest, bhakthas, monkeys who follow us to all the places, blossoming trees with flowers and fruits. Ram took advise from Bharadwajar and they chose this place to stay. Ram met valmiki before entering Chitrakut. Ram was staying for almost a year in chitrakut. Chitrakut is on Mandagini river. This is a place for all those who want to take a break from concrete jungle. Place filled with natural breeze, herbs.
Lots of places to visit in chitrkut and one can stay here for a week to experience nature and Rama Bhakthi and to kindle mental peace. Let us all watch and enjoy chitrakut.
Now we are at Gupta Godavari. Gupta means hidden/maraintha. Godavari starts in Maharastra near Nasik-Panchavati where Ram had gone to Godavari. Ram had stayed and taken bath in Godavari along with Sita at Panchavati. Why did that Godavari come here ? Godavari was worried whether Ram will come to Godavari banks. Chitrakut has Mandagini and hence one more river cannot get in easily to that place. So Godavari decides to calmly come here and stay inside the cave. Godavari had the darshan of Ram when he was in Chitrakut. Since Godavari was hiding in a cave she was called Gupta Godavari. Let us all go inside the cave bravely and by bending our backsso that we can go inside the cave. There are two caves. Wonderful caves. Ramchandran is there inside the cave. Let us go inside and cave and visit all the places and Gupta Godavari.
All our buses were stopped little far from Gupta Godavari. It is a cave mountain. Godavari here runs in a hidden fashion beneath the mountain and forest. Lots of shops on the way towards the temple. All the yatrika's did lot of shopping. Need to climb steps and on the left side of the steps beautiful Ram, lakshman. Next to that we need to get the tickets for archanai. After the steps, we need to get into the cave through a narrow steep path. Though the cave is big, the path towards the cave is narrow. Then once we enter the cave, there is huge space and we can hear water splashing noise. This place is called Sita Kundam where sita used to take bath and wash her clothes. At that time, a rakshashan called Mayank (this charithram is not in valmiki ramayanam, but the people here are referring to Ram charitha Manas and explaning this ) took and ran with the clothes of Sita. At that time, Lakshman came and hit him and cursed him to be a stone in that place itself and he is here as this huge stone. At that time, Mayank asks on when he will be relieved from the curse and till that time what will he eat.
Lakshman replies to him saying that whoever comes and visits Gupta Godavari, they will be relieved from all the papam/sins and since you are a stone you can take those papam as your food. Though it is difficult for the Rakshas Mayank, it is more easy for us since we can go there to get relieved from papam. Inside the cave is wonderful Ram, sita , lakshman.
The godavari river, crosses vidhya mountain and runs across many caves and reaches this place Gupta Godavari and emerges from a place in this cave.
This place as one more name called Dhanush Kund. Dhanush means Bow and there is also a story that Ram shot an arrow and godavari water emerged and came out this place. The place is also in the shape of a bow of Ram. Raman ambhu vittu thanneer piritu kondu vanthathu. So on one side is Sita Kund and on the other side is Dhanush kund. After this if tried to walk in the water for some distance to check on the deeper side of the cave but we could not. Then all the yatrikas managed to come out through the narrow path they went in which was also a great challenge. The water which is coming out of the cave and is collected as a pond outside the cave. The place is beautiful with two ponds. One cannot understand the source and where that water flows from and to. Such a lovely place. It was a great challenge to get back all the yatrikas back into the buses. There were lots of old and young children who told stories about this place. lets all hear from them. ( check the video).
Hanuman Dhara
Ram, sita and Lakshman are at Chitrakut. We are going to an important place in Chitrakut called Hanuman Dhara on top of a small hill and one need to climb around 250-300 steps.Beautiful place and very powerful place. We advised some of the yatrika's to stay in the choultry since it is difficult to climb but everyone joined us since they wanted to see the place from the bus. But after sometime, we realized that everyone had started to climb to visit this powerful hanuman. The pujari there explained us on the greatness of that place and the shakthi that place gives to its bhakta's ( udvegam, utsahathai kudukum). Let us hear from the pujari who is explaining it with utsaham. Pujari says - This pahad(mountain's) name is Hanuman Dhara.
Here one can see 5 face hanuman and 1 faced hanuman. The famous darshan is Virat roop Darshan. Bajrang bali got this roop in the pathal pur when he killed ravana. The five roop includes - Varaha, Garudan, Mahaveer, Narasimhan , Hayagriv. One does not know where this Dhara water comes from or where does it goes further. When Hanuman set Lanka to fire, the heat due to that act did not lessen for Hanuman. Ram hit bow/arrow and this water had come and had given shanthi to Hanuman. This is hanuman dhara. Starts in the mountain and flows on hanuman and comes down as Hanuman's Sripada theertham and goes till the kund in the bottom. praying to this Hanuman the wishes will be granted in a year. This Hanuman in chitrakoot nava grahathai adaki kondu virat swaroppathil katchi alikirar. The Anjaneyar here is Maha veera anjaneyar with additional faces like Varahan, Garudan, Narasimhan and
hayagriv on both the sides. Pathala Logathil ayi mayi ravananai kondru vittu antha kovathil anjaneyar swami ingu irukkirar. This story is also told in naimisaranyam. Anjaneyar kuliruntha idam, shakthi vaitha anjaneyar, Grahagalai namakku anukulamaga vendum badi vecchu irukkum idam. 5 items are served to this Hanuman - oil( to reduce the heat), sindoora podi, Janda/kodigal ( since he is veer anjaneyar, vijaya anjaneyar.
If we happen to climb further on the mountain there is one more anjaneyar sannadhi. Though the path is rough the anjaneyar gives all the shakthi and removes the laziness. One can hear all these in praises/slogam here like - Jai Sita Rama Anjaneya ki, Mariyadha palan anjaneya ki Jai, Hanuman dhara anjaneya ki Jai. Let us also praise this highly disciplined Hanuman by saying those slogam's.
Ramayanam known as Sita Charithram
Valmiki Muni wrote Ramayanam. This story is known by the name of Ram. One might think that Sita had also done many things, why not her name. especially women might think so. This is also known as Sita Charithram but not popularly known by this name."Kavyam ramayanam krishnam sitayam charitham mahathu poulasya vathamithyeva." - is an slogam.
More than Ram, it is for Sita all our Azhwar and acharyas have given importance. Even though we say Ram Ram - he has both kovum and karunai. But for Sita it is just Karunai and no kovum. Seeking Sita, we have many benefits. Mahalakshmi kataksham is important.
Key Takeaway
2. Sita is full of Karunai and she does not get angry on her child i.e we jeevatma's. Though Ram has karunai he has kovum too. Mahalakshmi kataksham is key for us and through her to reach HIM.
3. The food cooked by the women in the house is what perumal likes and he wants us to offer him the food cooked by the women.
4. Athithi satkaram is a key dharmam which needs to be followed by every women/sthri/illathu arasi. Sita showed us all these.
5. Men also need to learn cooking. Learning to cook and offering the food to perumal is a key dharma which need to be followed by men and women.
Sita Rasoi
Have we seen this Sita cooking ? Pengalin kai pakkuvathai virumbhi antha antha veetil pengal samaithu than perumal amudhu seigirar. Similarly penarasi yana Sitai "Narinam uthama vaduhu" aval samaitha idam known as Sita Rasoi. We can see that place in Chitrakut. One needs to climb further up from Hanuman Dhara another 100 steps which are steep too,. ( Note sholoinganallur is 1300 steps) . Once you climb those 100 steps one can see Sita Rasoi - the place where Sita cooked. Here Lakshman used to get fruits, vegetables, leaf, roots to Ram. Once a while many Rishi's used to come to meet Ram. During those time, sita used to cook those raw food and used to serve them. There is a place depicting Sita serving food for 5 rishi's - Athri,Agasthiyar, Sutheekshanar, Sarabhangar and Valmiki. Athithi Satkaram which is very important dharmam for every Sthri/Women/Illathu arasi. This means giving a great stomach filling feast to the guest who visit us. When the guests are eating stomach full and if the bless saying "nanna iru", then that aasirvatham helps the entire family. There are deeper bhakthi moral and sanathana dharma karuthu. All we need to do is to give food for 4 people who are struggling for food. Sitai has followed this dharmam even while she was in the exile. Everyone has to understand this. Men and women should learn to cook. Sanatana Dharmam does not accept if one is saying that i do not cook even after they are married for 10 years. Veda margam does not accept this. Even Men should learn to cook. But food cooked by women is what perumal likes a lot. If we look at the vigraham here, sita is in sitting posture cooking. Next to her in standing posture is Ram and lakshman. This is sita's place and hence Sita is sitting while Ram is standing. Let us take the blessings from sita and the 5 Rishi's. Yeppadi Sitai andru samaithalo, athu pola yellar samayal araiyum, thaligai pannum idam niranthu neengatha selvathode vayirara unavu makkal anaivarukkum kidaika vendum. Thani oruvanukku unavu illai yenil jagathinai azhithu viduvom yenbathu munor gosham. Athu pola yellarukku unavu kidaikavendum yendru Sita Rasoiyil Sita vidathil vendi konkolvom. Next let us visit Anusuiya in her ashram. Anusuya - Pengalukke matharasi.
Words from the pujari at Sita Rasoi- check video.
Ram starting from Chitrakut
Ram is all set to start from Chitrakut. We have all the places in Chitrakut. Ram wanted to start from Chitrakut since everyone knew that place and his promise to Kaikeyi will not get fullfilled if everyone starts to come to see him. So he wanted to go south towards the forest called Dhandakaranyam. We are now in the final sections of Ayodhya Kandam in Ramayanam.When Ram starts from Chitrakut towards south on the way to Sharabhanga ashram towards viratha kund, in the outskirts of Chitrakut is Athri-Anusuiya Ashram.
Das Hanuman Temple
Just before that is Das hanuman temple. Hanuman is Ram Dasan and we are Hanuman Dasar's. We can also see the Chitra roopam of Azhwar, Acharyas. We can see Bhagavad Ramanujar.
From there we reach Athri-Anusuiya Ashram.
Athri-Anusuiya Ashram
This Ashram is on the banks of river mandagini in a beautiful place. The buses had to stop 1 KM far and one needs to walk down the bazar selling kundu mani, pasi mani. Anusuiya is Athri Maharishi's dharma pathini. Once Anusuiya and Sita happen to talk for a long time. At that time Anusuiya gives Sita a saree and few jewels which are naturally made and not made of metallike Gold/silver/Diamond. But those jewels were naturally made from the trees. Anusuiya says "Hye sita keep these. These will be very helpful for you. All these will not get spoiled for how many ever days you wear them. " and she keeps those jewels and clothes to Sita. Sita thought why am i going to wear these for several days. But later when Sita was in Ashoka vanam when
imprisoned by Ravan - she was in same clothes for 10 months even without bathing. At that time all the jewels given by Anusuiya is what she was wearing which didn;t get spoiled at all.
Anusuiya with dheerga darisanam happen to give these clothes and jewels to sita. Here is Athri.Anusuiya Ahsram. Athri is one of the Saptha Rishi. He is one among the famous DasaPrajapathi. Marichi, Athri, Angiras, pulasthiyar, pulahar, krathu, Vashistar are the saptha Rishi. Athri means sappitar - Ganga theertham oru thadavai vai kopalikka kuditharam. So he is called Athri - since he drank the entire Ganges water once. Athri Anusuiya had one thing in common. Anusuiya means Poramai illathaval - one who does not feel jealous. Here we can see lots of Vigraham and dolls.
There was a lady called Silavathi. Her husband is ugrasavas. due to the curse of Mandavya rishi he was about to die. At that time due to her karpu kanal She stopped the Suryan in the sky. At that time, all the three murthi's consoled her and promised her that they will fix the problem. She didn't listen to them and also she didn't allow the suryan to pass by in the sky. At that
time, all the 3 murthi's came to Anusuiya asking her to advise Silavathi so that suryan keeps moving in his way. Anusuiya agreed to advise her but Anusuiya also requested for children since she didn't have children for long time. All the three murthi's gave a boon and promised that they will be born to her as her children. Anusuiya convinced Silavathi and Suryan went ahead in the sky. On the other side, after many days Athri was doing tapas for Puthira peru. All the three Deivam - Brahma, Vishnu, Sivan Wanted to test Anusuiya's Karpu. So all the three told Anusuiya to serve food in a naked manner. Then anusuiya accepted since she was good in virunthombal and she turned all the three murthi's to kids and she fed them as per the rule they had told. Knowing the greatness of Anusuiya all the 3 murthi's took birth as her children. Shiva's amsam is Dhurvasar, Brahma's amsam is Chandran, Vishnu amsam is Dattatreyan.
All these we can have the Darshan in this place. Asuya means jealous/poramai. Anasuiya means the one without jealous. Not only that she does not have jealous, no one can even look at her and feel jealous - such is her greatness. Devi's of all the 3 murthi's came to Anusuiya and asked for forgiving the mistake done by their husband and then all the 3 husband were saved.
Anusuiya is the daughter of Devahuthi and kardhamaPrajapathi. Athri Maharishi's Dharma pathini. We saw this Athri-Anusuiya Ashram. This entire place is a punya sthalam. Lovely serene natural place. Though they have built new buildings it would have been nice if they had old ashram form itself.
With Athri - Anusuiya Ashram the Chitrakut Anubhavam is completed. All the yatrika's were not willing to start from that place and wanted to come back once again. We are going to start from Chitrakut and going to enter the dense forest and request you all to join us too - Varungal.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Sri Ramanin Padhayil - Episode 22 - Sept 15 2013
ஸ்ரீராமஜெயம்
As part of Sri Ramanin Padhayil, the next part is very important. Today we are going to visit three important asharam - Sudeekshana Ashram, Sarabhanga Ashram, Agastiyar Ashram. When we went on Ram any yatra in 2006 and 2010, the places we are seeing today are the most adventurous and places we visited with lot of effort. The places include Viradha kundam, Sarabhangar ashramam, Sutheekshanar ashramam and finally
Agastiyar ashram.
We can also do a quick recap of all the places we had seen in chitrakut.
1. Kamadhagiri a wonderful mountain which grants our wishes and the face of kamadhagiri with teeths which are of Salagramam. Ram himself had come and visited this place.
2. Bharatha Milap.
3. Mandagini River
4. Ram Ghat on Mandagini river where Ram did Jalatharpanam and pithru tharpanam
5. Lots of small small temples on the bank of the river mandagini.
6. Spatika Shila
7. Hanuman Dhara
8. Gupt Godavari
9. Sita Rasoi
Like this we have seen many places and now we need to travel towards Sharabhangar ashram. It is not very far, around 14 KM in kachha roads. Ram and Sita when they entered the forest area, they met athri-anusuya at their ashram and then they walk southwards to enterDhandakaranyam.
Kambhar - "aravagi sumathiyil ayin ....or vayin vizhingithal....ithai arinthal siralo..."
Meaning - Virathan asks Rama - how do you manage bhoomi devi and Mahalakshmi. You have given space for Mahalakshmi in your chest. You saved Bhooma devi during varaha avataram, during Trivikarama avatharam (thavi alanthai)measured her. In the f orm of adi shesan you are holding her by staying in the pathalam, during pralaya trouble you are eating this entire bhoomi and safe guarding it in your stomache. So much love and affection towards Bhoomi devi. Doesn't Mahalakshmi get angry due to this affection of yours towards Bhoomi devi ?
Such beautiful questions were asked by Viratan. We all wanted to go and visit the Virata Kund. It was in deed a dense forest and we all checked with the local guide on the route. They asked us on how many of us have come and we told them 400 people and 600 people. I can take you inside this forest and you all might have to walk for 10 Kms but when we return if are just half i am not responsible. said the guide. So we decided not to go there and we all stood on the banks and finished the Paarayanam and did namaskaram towards that side. We all just hope to meet Ram and Viradan during our next trip and started from that place. Next is the important Shrabhangar ashramam.
Shrabhangar river is running near that ashram. Once we reached the ashram, we all had hot breakfast. We should always eat on time, the correct quantity and especially the food which was offered to GOD(kanduarulapanninathu). Since we were all eating the food which was offered to GOD, no difficulty or health problems during the entire 21 days trip. Infact, we all had change of water everyday, took bath in various rivers. Still we all did not face any trouble and GOD does not trouble us. We ourselves invite trouble most of the times.Getting health problems is very common and part of the Samsaram, we need to develop the ability to be patience and face the problem. Then we went inside to meet Sharabhangar.
Key Takeaway
1. Getting health problems is very common and part of the Samsaram, we need to develop the ability to be patience and face the problem.
Ram came to Shrabhangar ashram. He met Shrabhangar and asked him if he can stay and spend his time in Exile in this place. Sharabhangar replied " Rama you can stay here and infact i was waiting here, expecting when you would come here. Once you are here and i have met you now, I want to attain the highest abode of Mukthi. While you are watching me i am going to start on my journey towards Mukthi. So you cannot stay here, instead you should travel little further where you can see Sutheekshanar's ashram. Keep walking on the banks of river mandagini - one of the tribtary of Mandagini is river Sharabhangar which flows near the ashram, then you would reach Sutheekshanar ashram and you can ask him and stay there. Look at the Sharabhangar vigraham - it looks like Narayanan and all the localities refer to this narayanan as Sharabhangar. We wanted to know why they are saying so and we took help from books. We did the parayanam of ram meeting Sharabhangar and Shrabhangar mukthi adainthathu and Ram continuing his journey. Would like you all to hear the same.
Parayanam of Ramayana Sargam.
As per this Sargam, Sharabhangar had taken the form of Narayanan and has attained the highest abode of mukthi. Black coloured form with Sangam Chakram on his hands in the form of Narayanan. Sharabhangar is a Rishi and how come he went in Narayana form ? Whoever it is, all are Bhagawan's amsam and we are all Bhagawan's thirumeni Sariram. That is why, when Ram was watching, he heard the sound of fire(sa da sa da nu neruppu osai), Sharabhangar's atma Jyothi mela purapattu sendrathu, Ram did namaskaram and sent him. We happen to see this place where all these had happened. This place can be reached only after 7 am in the morning. A place with Natural bliss. Lots of Mahant and sanyasi stay in the temple itself. They live by eating roti and sabji , especially with what they get near the ashram. They do not even go to Chitrakut to buy and stock things. they are happy with what is available in that forest and they live with those things. Now in this modern world, we talk about sustainability of not getting raw materials from some other place instead use sand available locally to build houses. This will only results in green building. All these have been part of living in those ancient world. Growing crops in one place and taking it another place need not be done. Whatever grows here and water which flows there and live with nature. We all didn't feel like starting from that place.. such lovely place. The organiser's had to rush the crowd so that other ashrams are not missed.
Key Takeaway
2. Try to live with nature without disturbing nature
But when we started from Sharabhanga ashram, we lost the way to sutheekshana ashram. Lets see what happened.
The route Ram had traveled is all forest area filled with natural scenes and beauty. Now we have reached sutheekshanar ashram. You must have heard about the route to
sutheekshanar ashram Ram came in the route as told by sharabhangar and reached sutheekshanar ashram. But when we went, we lost the way and got stuck. Then a farmer came and helped us and he took us by walk and we reached the place which was just 1/2 Km from where we got stuck. Later we managed to find a route which can be taken by bus and managed to reach the ashram with great difficulty. Ram too met Sutheekshanar and asked him if they can stay here. But sutheekshanar replied saying "you can stay here Rama, but there are more wild animals here. They keep coming and disturbing us too. We are managing due to our Thava valimai(penance). " Then Ram thought that since he is a Kshatriyan, he will be forced to kill the disturbing wild animals which will result in blood near the muni's ashram. Ram didn't want to disturb the serene environment of the ashram. So he decided not to stay there and asked sutheekshanar "Sutheekshanare i want to meet many rishi's, so can i go around to meet them ? " Sutheekshanar said yes and also he told the path to all the rishi's ashram. Ram had been going around from one ashram to another and another for almost 10 to 10.5 years. Travelling to so many places and Ram met many Rishi's in all those places. Sutheekshanar was the one who paved way for this. This place is a lovely place. We took help from our trust for the thirupani of this place by getting place to stay and cook for these people. After the yatra, we wanted to help them and requested them, they also agreed. So after returning to chennai, we managed to help in renovating this place. You all should go and visit both these ashrams which can be covered in 6-7 days including chitrakut. In front of the sutheekshanar ashram, there is a small odai(water) and from that place if you see one gets a doubt on where is that place ? is it on heaven or earth ? lush green with mountain till the eye sight distance. Inside this place, we had the darshan of Ram, lakshman and sutheekshanar. Place surrounded by trees and little buildings. Fertile land everywhere. We took leave from sutheekshanar and he told route to ram to agasthyar ashram.
As part of Sri Ramanin Pathayil, we are going to visit Agasthiyar Ashram. Agasthiyar ashram is in MP near Sathna(patna tamouli ?) and also in Maharastra near Manmad and also in nasik panchavati too. Agasthiyar must have kept travelling to all these three ashram. Agasthiyar is a Tamil Muni. Tamil valartha munivar. Sanga kala tamizh. Tholkappiyam written by Agasthiyar's seedar Tholkappiyar. Tamizhagam and Agasthiyar have very close relationship. He is related to sanga Kalam(Sangam Period). He had written a book on Iyal thamizh, isai thamizh , Nadaga thamizh which is not available now. So we were all very eager to visit this Muni's ashram who is very much related to tamizh. The ashram cannot be reached by bus and for about 9 to 10 KM travelling by bus was not possible. There is a river in front of the ashram and based on the water level one can cross it and then only we can reach the ashram. If the water level is high then one cannot cross. Muddy land and one can only go in a jeep. This was what we heard from the local people on how to reach the ashram.
When we went first time in 2006, we managed to get lots of jeep and managed to go. But when we reached it was 3 PM, we should have reached by noon. But we started from chitrakut in the morning and finished the first two ashram and reached at 3 PM. As we reached closer in the jeep, due to rain it was getting very muddy and we could not proceed further. we were all very anxious and sad that we could not see in spite of reaching so closer. The cameraman and few youngsters decided to go in spite of it getting dark and they asked us to proceed towards Ramtek.
The cameraman crew, in spite of it being dark and raining managed to get some glimpses of agastiyar and ramsita sannidhi. They managed to reach after 2.5 hours. We all waited since we didn't want to leave them and go. This is how we managed to go in 2006 and the trip was unsuccessful to agastiyar ashram. We all didn't loose heart and decided to be more prepared and planned when we come next time so that we can have the darshan of agasthiyar. We took help from Panchayat leaders and other elders and contacted them. They were all eager to help us who is visiting from TN to meet their agasthiyar. We replied saying "He is our agasthiyar too and has helped in growth of Tamizh langauage". First instruction they gave us was to have truck too along with Jeep so that we can managed the muddy area. Next instruction is to cross the river infront of the ashram and they told us about erecting a temporary bridge. We were surprised. Then they continued telling that they will erect the bridge too with around 30-40 vounteeers. We just went and were surprised to see the entire villlage assembled to welcome us.
They welcomed us with garland and the entire village happen to come leaving all their work including school kids. They had so much PAROPAKARA CHINTAM - helping mindset. We all got into the tractors and managed since we reached this time around 1 PM. Let us go in the tractor and meet at Agasthyar ashramam.
We are travelling in the tractor and hence the scene you are watching is also shaking. Ram enquired on the route to agasthyar ashram to sutheekshanar. We are on the way to agasthyar's ashram. Agasthiyar is Thamizh Ma Muni and he had lived in pothigai malai(mountain) charal. Agasthyar was here and was doing his penance. When ram had come here, agasthiyar has given a Bow as a gift to Ram. Sathnais an important place in MP. From Sathna, need to come till salega and 5 Km from salega is a place called patna thamouli. From patna tamouli, one need to travel in jeep or tractor for 5 KM to reach a beautiful river. With the grace of Varuna bhagawan, if the water level is less then we can cross the river. The river can be crossed by walk too. After crossing the river, we need to climb a mountain to have the darshan of Agasthiyar.
From Chitrakut, we have reached the Agasthiya ashramam in MP. There is a river in front of the ashram. We managed to reach the river in 3 groups since we had limited tractors and we had to shuttle 3 times. Also not many people can stay there at the same time. So we decided to go in sets/groups and took turns. First group reached the place and went to agasthyar ashram.
Next group also came but the first group didn;t feel like going back from that serene place of river, mountain and scenic beauty and all the ages started to climb the mountain. The MLA and Panchayat leader had also come. The localites kept on telling us that we need to start before dawn since there will be lot of insects and wild animals in that area once it is dark. No one listened to them and we organisers also could not make so many rules. We wanted to enjoy the beauty and be happy ofcourse if there is hurdle in returning we have to face it. Can't get too much of discipline at times too. Once we crossed the river and climbed the mountain, it was a great surpise for us to see Ram, Lakshman and Sita. Beautiful vigrahams. next to them was agasthiyar vigraham. Vigraham's were not like the usual ones and were in the form of stones too. We had the darshan of all the agasthiyar too.
Upanyasam from Agasthiyar ashramam : All the muni's stay along with the nature enjoying nature to meditate about brahmam(brahma dhyanam) and to increase the brahma gyanam and to focus on brahmam. They find such a beautiful place to enable them to do all these. Such a place is Agasthiyar's ashram. Let us see the importance of this place. Agasthiyar had gifted a bow to Ram. There is an idol of Ram with that bow which one cannot see anywhere else. Archealogical survey of india - (thol porul, agazh porul araichi kazhagam) have reported on this vigraham.
The only vigraham of Ram with Kondai on his head is only here. Ram goes to forest and he does not have the time to deck him up like how he used to be in ayodhya. So Ram is with Sada mudi. This form of Ram can be seen in this ashram. Also in this vigraham, ram is in the ready posture with bow and arrow ( ambhu yidithina padi sada mudiyudan Ramar). Ram in this vigraham also has a udai val (knife) on his hip and he is wearing man thol- mara vuri. He is alone in this vigraham without Sita or Lakshman. When we happen to have darshan of this vigraham our hearts are becoming sad and it is haunting since one part of the bow is there and the below part is broken. Very ancient vigraham. Let us all pray that this vigraham need to be restored and all bahktas need to have darshan. Ram in this idol is with one leg in the front and the other behind and slightly bent ready with the bow. Near this is a wonderful sannidhi of Anjaneyar. In the north red coloured anjaneyar are very famous. Wherever Ram is hanuman would be there. As per Ramayan, Ram is yet to reach kishkinta to meet Sugreeva and others.
But the bhakthas desire is to have Hanuman here even before Ram meets Hanuman. Agasthiyar in sitting posture with varna kalabam in yoga posture. Agasthiyar has all the greatness like the saptha rishi's. Why are we so inclined towards agasthiyar ? All the other rishi's worked towards the growth of vada mozhi(sanskrit), but Agasthiyar worked towards the growth of Tamizh. He got all praises for the southern region due to all his efforts to the langauge of south- tamil. It was agasthiyar who helped in getting the river cauvery flowing. Agasthiyar has done many upadesam to Ram and has also gifted bow and ornaments to Ram. Let us pray to seek the blessings of such great Agasthiyar. The localities are safeguarding this temple inspite of the challenges. Let us all say thanks to all the efforts by the local people. We all reached here inspite of great challenges, let us stay here for some more time have the darshan of ram and let us also see the beauty of this place during sunset.
We did parayanam of agasthiyar and Ram's meet.
Kulasekarar's "serivathu ... thathon intha .. thambhiyal van yetri munivarum venda"
Ram was wishing to meet agasthiyar. When sutheekshanar explained the route to ram, he had told Ram to travel 4 yojanai distance to reach agasthiyar's brother's place. Take Agasthiyar's brother along with you and he will take you to agasthiyar's place which is 1 yojanai distance. Now we have also reached this place.
Now a small story about agasthiyar.
Meru Malai(mountain) started to grow inorder to compete with Vindhya malai(Mountain). No one was able to control the same. When the vindhya malai started to grow till suryan and chandran they could not even travel around. All the deva's came and did prathanai to Agasthiyar. Agasthiyar came to vindhya malai. As soon as the mountain saw the rishi, the mountain bowed to do pranams to the rishi. Agasthiyar told the mountain " This pranam posture of yours is very nice, i am going to south and till i come back you have to be in this same posture doing pranam till i come back.". Saying this Agasthiyar travelled towards south and stayed in the podigai malai charal and he helped in growing the tamil language. He never went back and he didn;t cross the vindhya malai. So even today the vindhya malai is like this.
Such is the greatness of agasthiyar and the local people were very excited and happy to hear all this about agasthiyar. They requested us to visit the place very often, we all thought that is it a place which can be visited often ?. :) Now it is almost 6 PM and we have to get back all the 600 speople back from that place. We were all so engorssed in talking to the local people and in enjoying the scenic beauty. We totally forgot about all the trouble, danger and hurdle we had to take to return from that place. To our surprise, when we returned there were only 20 trucks and the other truck drivers had returned since we didn;t turn up as per the plan. The vehicles were not enough for all of us to go. The local people told us to stay there that night. Though it sounded great but not a wise idea due to the wild animals and varied insects. Then we decided to go in 3 trips and it was a great adventure to return back from agasthiyar ashramam. Let us see more on this next week when we meet. Agasthiyar thiruvadigalukku pallandu padi intha varam niraivurugirathu achariyamana kattu vazhkai, thotta vazhkai, iyarkai, avasiyam yellarum darishikka vendum.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
As part of Sri Ramanin Padhayil, the next part is very important. Today we are going to visit three important asharam - Sudeekshana Ashram, Sarabhanga Ashram, Agastiyar Ashram. When we went on Ram any yatra in 2006 and 2010, the places we are seeing today are the most adventurous and places we visited with lot of effort. The places include Viradha kundam, Sarabhangar ashramam, Sutheekshanar ashramam and finally
Agastiyar ashram.
Yatra group starting from Chitrakut
From Chitrakut we took leave with heavy heart. Whenever we go on a punya yatra, it is advised to go on a parikrama before leaving the place either by walk or by vehicle. Just before we start from any place going to the temple, river or pond in those places is always good. So we also went around the chitrakut Kamadha giri.We can also do a quick recap of all the places we had seen in chitrakut.
1. Kamadhagiri a wonderful mountain which grants our wishes and the face of kamadhagiri with teeths which are of Salagramam. Ram himself had come and visited this place.
2. Bharatha Milap.
3. Mandagini River
4. Ram Ghat on Mandagini river where Ram did Jalatharpanam and pithru tharpanam
5. Lots of small small temples on the bank of the river mandagini.
6. Spatika Shila
7. Hanuman Dhara
8. Gupt Godavari
9. Sita Rasoi
Ram on his journey towards Sharabhangar Ashram
Like this we have seen many places and now we need to travel towards Sharabhangar ashram. It is not very far, around 14 KM in kachha roads. Ram and Sita when they entered the forest area, they met athri-anusuya at their ashram and then they walk southwards to enterDhandakaranyam.
Viratha Kund
First person to meet is an arakan called virathan. Virathan came with his huge body and he ran away with Sita. Ram and Lakshman fought with that arakan Virathan and rescued Sita. Due to some curse that arakan was in that form. They dug a huge hole(kuzhi) and they pushed him into that pit and did the last rites which resulted in Virathan getting punya gathi. This is the kund where Ram did the last rites for virathan and got him punya gathi. Kambhar and Valmiki explains in detail about how Virathan did stotram on Ram.Kambhar - "aravagi sumathiyil ayin ....or vayin vizhingithal....ithai arinthal siralo..."
Meaning - Virathan asks Rama - how do you manage bhoomi devi and Mahalakshmi. You have given space for Mahalakshmi in your chest. You saved Bhooma devi during varaha avataram, during Trivikarama avatharam (thavi alanthai)measured her. In the f orm of adi shesan you are holding her by staying in the pathalam, during pralaya trouble you are eating this entire bhoomi and safe guarding it in your stomache. So much love and affection towards Bhoomi devi. Doesn't Mahalakshmi get angry due to this affection of yours towards Bhoomi devi ?
Such beautiful questions were asked by Viratan. We all wanted to go and visit the Virata Kund. It was in deed a dense forest and we all checked with the local guide on the route. They asked us on how many of us have come and we told them 400 people and 600 people. I can take you inside this forest and you all might have to walk for 10 Kms but when we return if are just half i am not responsible. said the guide. So we decided not to go there and we all stood on the banks and finished the Paarayanam and did namaskaram towards that side. We all just hope to meet Ram and Viradan during our next trip and started from that place. Next is the important Shrabhangar ashramam.
Sarabhangar Ashram
After having darshan of Viratha Kund from far away, we all were excited to visit a very important place. A very calm, serene place which is not accessible easily. for 10 KM there is kaccha roads and not much communication facilities. Beautiful place full of nature. Totally away from the moden world and not impacted due to the modern world. With great excitement, fear and lots of expectations we reached that place. Though the place was not with wild animals, but the route was difficult. First we reached Sharabhangar ashramam. We managed to reach this place easily without much difficulty. Narrow muddy path and difficult for vehicles to go. By Saying Rama Namam " jai Sriram " we all managed to go and reach Sharabhangar Ashram.Shrabhangar river is running near that ashram. Once we reached the ashram, we all had hot breakfast. We should always eat on time, the correct quantity and especially the food which was offered to GOD(kanduarulapanninathu). Since we were all eating the food which was offered to GOD, no difficulty or health problems during the entire 21 days trip. Infact, we all had change of water everyday, took bath in various rivers. Still we all did not face any trouble and GOD does not trouble us. We ourselves invite trouble most of the times.Getting health problems is very common and part of the Samsaram, we need to develop the ability to be patience and face the problem. Then we went inside to meet Sharabhangar.
Key Takeaway
1. Getting health problems is very common and part of the Samsaram, we need to develop the ability to be patience and face the problem.
Ram came to Shrabhangar ashram. He met Shrabhangar and asked him if he can stay and spend his time in Exile in this place. Sharabhangar replied " Rama you can stay here and infact i was waiting here, expecting when you would come here. Once you are here and i have met you now, I want to attain the highest abode of Mukthi. While you are watching me i am going to start on my journey towards Mukthi. So you cannot stay here, instead you should travel little further where you can see Sutheekshanar's ashram. Keep walking on the banks of river mandagini - one of the tribtary of Mandagini is river Sharabhangar which flows near the ashram, then you would reach Sutheekshanar ashram and you can ask him and stay there. Look at the Sharabhangar vigraham - it looks like Narayanan and all the localities refer to this narayanan as Sharabhangar. We wanted to know why they are saying so and we took help from books. We did the parayanam of ram meeting Sharabhangar and Shrabhangar mukthi adainthathu and Ram continuing his journey. Would like you all to hear the same.
Parayanam of Ramayana Sargam.
As per this Sargam, Sharabhangar had taken the form of Narayanan and has attained the highest abode of mukthi. Black coloured form with Sangam Chakram on his hands in the form of Narayanan. Sharabhangar is a Rishi and how come he went in Narayana form ? Whoever it is, all are Bhagawan's amsam and we are all Bhagawan's thirumeni Sariram. That is why, when Ram was watching, he heard the sound of fire(sa da sa da nu neruppu osai), Sharabhangar's atma Jyothi mela purapattu sendrathu, Ram did namaskaram and sent him. We happen to see this place where all these had happened. This place can be reached only after 7 am in the morning. A place with Natural bliss. Lots of Mahant and sanyasi stay in the temple itself. They live by eating roti and sabji , especially with what they get near the ashram. They do not even go to Chitrakut to buy and stock things. they are happy with what is available in that forest and they live with those things. Now in this modern world, we talk about sustainability of not getting raw materials from some other place instead use sand available locally to build houses. This will only results in green building. All these have been part of living in those ancient world. Growing crops in one place and taking it another place need not be done. Whatever grows here and water which flows there and live with nature. We all didn't feel like starting from that place.. such lovely place. The organiser's had to rush the crowd so that other ashrams are not missed.
Key Takeaway
2. Try to live with nature without disturbing nature
But when we started from Sharabhanga ashram, we lost the way to sutheekshana ashram. Lets see what happened.
Sudeekshanar Ashram
Ram who started from Sharabhangar ashram reached Sutheekshashanar ashram. Sutheekshashanar ashram is a very lovely beautiful place. If i have to explain the route to this place, I will surely give a wrong route. It is not easy to remember and find this route irrespective of how many times one has come to this place. This entire place is filled with huge trees and many water bodies. Ad midst, natural beauty this ashram is located. Everyone should visit this place at least once. In the entrance there is a small odai(river) welcoming us and crossing that leads us to the ashram. The Sadhu's here have been worshiping Ram and Sutheekshanar for many years. Let us go inside the temple to have darshan of sutheekshanar. Before that - what did Ram and Sutheekshanar talk ? How did Ram came here from Sharabhanga ashram ? let us find answers to these too.
The route Ram had traveled is all forest area filled with natural scenes and beauty. Now we have reached sutheekshanar ashram. You must have heard about the route to
sutheekshanar ashram Ram came in the route as told by sharabhangar and reached sutheekshanar ashram. But when we went, we lost the way and got stuck. Then a farmer came and helped us and he took us by walk and we reached the place which was just 1/2 Km from where we got stuck. Later we managed to find a route which can be taken by bus and managed to reach the ashram with great difficulty. Ram too met Sutheekshanar and asked him if they can stay here. But sutheekshanar replied saying "you can stay here Rama, but there are more wild animals here. They keep coming and disturbing us too. We are managing due to our Thava valimai(penance). " Then Ram thought that since he is a Kshatriyan, he will be forced to kill the disturbing wild animals which will result in blood near the muni's ashram. Ram didn't want to disturb the serene environment of the ashram. So he decided not to stay there and asked sutheekshanar "Sutheekshanare i want to meet many rishi's, so can i go around to meet them ? " Sutheekshanar said yes and also he told the path to all the rishi's ashram. Ram had been going around from one ashram to another and another for almost 10 to 10.5 years. Travelling to so many places and Ram met many Rishi's in all those places. Sutheekshanar was the one who paved way for this. This place is a lovely place. We took help from our trust for the thirupani of this place by getting place to stay and cook for these people. After the yatra, we wanted to help them and requested them, they also agreed. So after returning to chennai, we managed to help in renovating this place. You all should go and visit both these ashrams which can be covered in 6-7 days including chitrakut. In front of the sutheekshanar ashram, there is a small odai(water) and from that place if you see one gets a doubt on where is that place ? is it on heaven or earth ? lush green with mountain till the eye sight distance. Inside this place, we had the darshan of Ram, lakshman and sutheekshanar. Place surrounded by trees and little buildings. Fertile land everywhere. We took leave from sutheekshanar and he told route to ram to agasthyar ashram.
Agasthyar ashram
Ram managed to reach agasthyar ashram, but we got stuck and we lost the route. In 2006 we almost reached agasthyar ashram but could not have the darshan. In 2010, we did all the necessary arrangements in advance and managed to visit the place. You can also watch it happily with us.As part of Sri Ramanin Pathayil, we are going to visit Agasthiyar Ashram. Agasthiyar ashram is in MP near Sathna(patna tamouli ?) and also in Maharastra near Manmad and also in nasik panchavati too. Agasthiyar must have kept travelling to all these three ashram. Agasthiyar is a Tamil Muni. Tamil valartha munivar. Sanga kala tamizh. Tholkappiyam written by Agasthiyar's seedar Tholkappiyar. Tamizhagam and Agasthiyar have very close relationship. He is related to sanga Kalam(Sangam Period). He had written a book on Iyal thamizh, isai thamizh , Nadaga thamizh which is not available now. So we were all very eager to visit this Muni's ashram who is very much related to tamizh. The ashram cannot be reached by bus and for about 9 to 10 KM travelling by bus was not possible. There is a river in front of the ashram and based on the water level one can cross it and then only we can reach the ashram. If the water level is high then one cannot cross. Muddy land and one can only go in a jeep. This was what we heard from the local people on how to reach the ashram.
When we went first time in 2006, we managed to get lots of jeep and managed to go. But when we reached it was 3 PM, we should have reached by noon. But we started from chitrakut in the morning and finished the first two ashram and reached at 3 PM. As we reached closer in the jeep, due to rain it was getting very muddy and we could not proceed further. we were all very anxious and sad that we could not see in spite of reaching so closer. The cameraman and few youngsters decided to go in spite of it getting dark and they asked us to proceed towards Ramtek.
The cameraman crew, in spite of it being dark and raining managed to get some glimpses of agastiyar and ramsita sannidhi. They managed to reach after 2.5 hours. We all waited since we didn't want to leave them and go. This is how we managed to go in 2006 and the trip was unsuccessful to agastiyar ashram. We all didn't loose heart and decided to be more prepared and planned when we come next time so that we can have the darshan of agasthiyar. We took help from Panchayat leaders and other elders and contacted them. They were all eager to help us who is visiting from TN to meet their agasthiyar. We replied saying "He is our agasthiyar too and has helped in growth of Tamizh langauage". First instruction they gave us was to have truck too along with Jeep so that we can managed the muddy area. Next instruction is to cross the river infront of the ashram and they told us about erecting a temporary bridge. We were surprised. Then they continued telling that they will erect the bridge too with around 30-40 vounteeers. We just went and were surprised to see the entire villlage assembled to welcome us.
They welcomed us with garland and the entire village happen to come leaving all their work including school kids. They had so much PAROPAKARA CHINTAM - helping mindset. We all got into the tractors and managed since we reached this time around 1 PM. Let us go in the tractor and meet at Agasthyar ashramam.
We are travelling in the tractor and hence the scene you are watching is also shaking. Ram enquired on the route to agasthyar ashram to sutheekshanar. We are on the way to agasthyar's ashram. Agasthiyar is Thamizh Ma Muni and he had lived in pothigai malai(mountain) charal. Agasthyar was here and was doing his penance. When ram had come here, agasthiyar has given a Bow as a gift to Ram. Sathnais an important place in MP. From Sathna, need to come till salega and 5 Km from salega is a place called patna thamouli. From patna tamouli, one need to travel in jeep or tractor for 5 KM to reach a beautiful river. With the grace of Varuna bhagawan, if the water level is less then we can cross the river. The river can be crossed by walk too. After crossing the river, we need to climb a mountain to have the darshan of Agasthiyar.
From Chitrakut, we have reached the Agasthiya ashramam in MP. There is a river in front of the ashram. We managed to reach the river in 3 groups since we had limited tractors and we had to shuttle 3 times. Also not many people can stay there at the same time. So we decided to go in sets/groups and took turns. First group reached the place and went to agasthyar ashram.
Next group also came but the first group didn;t feel like going back from that serene place of river, mountain and scenic beauty and all the ages started to climb the mountain. The MLA and Panchayat leader had also come. The localites kept on telling us that we need to start before dawn since there will be lot of insects and wild animals in that area once it is dark. No one listened to them and we organisers also could not make so many rules. We wanted to enjoy the beauty and be happy ofcourse if there is hurdle in returning we have to face it. Can't get too much of discipline at times too. Once we crossed the river and climbed the mountain, it was a great surpise for us to see Ram, Lakshman and Sita. Beautiful vigrahams. next to them was agasthiyar vigraham. Vigraham's were not like the usual ones and were in the form of stones too. We had the darshan of all the agasthiyar too.
Upanyasam from Agasthiyar ashramam : All the muni's stay along with the nature enjoying nature to meditate about brahmam(brahma dhyanam) and to increase the brahma gyanam and to focus on brahmam. They find such a beautiful place to enable them to do all these. Such a place is Agasthiyar's ashram. Let us see the importance of this place. Agasthiyar had gifted a bow to Ram. There is an idol of Ram with that bow which one cannot see anywhere else. Archealogical survey of india - (thol porul, agazh porul araichi kazhagam) have reported on this vigraham.
The only vigraham of Ram with Kondai on his head is only here. Ram goes to forest and he does not have the time to deck him up like how he used to be in ayodhya. So Ram is with Sada mudi. This form of Ram can be seen in this ashram. Also in this vigraham, ram is in the ready posture with bow and arrow ( ambhu yidithina padi sada mudiyudan Ramar). Ram in this vigraham also has a udai val (knife) on his hip and he is wearing man thol- mara vuri. He is alone in this vigraham without Sita or Lakshman. When we happen to have darshan of this vigraham our hearts are becoming sad and it is haunting since one part of the bow is there and the below part is broken. Very ancient vigraham. Let us all pray that this vigraham need to be restored and all bahktas need to have darshan. Ram in this idol is with one leg in the front and the other behind and slightly bent ready with the bow. Near this is a wonderful sannidhi of Anjaneyar. In the north red coloured anjaneyar are very famous. Wherever Ram is hanuman would be there. As per Ramayan, Ram is yet to reach kishkinta to meet Sugreeva and others.
But the bhakthas desire is to have Hanuman here even before Ram meets Hanuman. Agasthiyar in sitting posture with varna kalabam in yoga posture. Agasthiyar has all the greatness like the saptha rishi's. Why are we so inclined towards agasthiyar ? All the other rishi's worked towards the growth of vada mozhi(sanskrit), but Agasthiyar worked towards the growth of Tamizh. He got all praises for the southern region due to all his efforts to the langauge of south- tamil. It was agasthiyar who helped in getting the river cauvery flowing. Agasthiyar has done many upadesam to Ram and has also gifted bow and ornaments to Ram. Let us pray to seek the blessings of such great Agasthiyar. The localities are safeguarding this temple inspite of the challenges. Let us all say thanks to all the efforts by the local people. We all reached here inspite of great challenges, let us stay here for some more time have the darshan of ram and let us also see the beauty of this place during sunset.
We did parayanam of agasthiyar and Ram's meet.
Kulasekarar's "serivathu ... thathon intha .. thambhiyal van yetri munivarum venda"
Ram was wishing to meet agasthiyar. When sutheekshanar explained the route to ram, he had told Ram to travel 4 yojanai distance to reach agasthiyar's brother's place. Take Agasthiyar's brother along with you and he will take you to agasthiyar's place which is 1 yojanai distance. Now we have also reached this place.
Now a small story about agasthiyar.
Meru Malai(mountain) started to grow inorder to compete with Vindhya malai(Mountain). No one was able to control the same. When the vindhya malai started to grow till suryan and chandran they could not even travel around. All the deva's came and did prathanai to Agasthiyar. Agasthiyar came to vindhya malai. As soon as the mountain saw the rishi, the mountain bowed to do pranams to the rishi. Agasthiyar told the mountain " This pranam posture of yours is very nice, i am going to south and till i come back you have to be in this same posture doing pranam till i come back.". Saying this Agasthiyar travelled towards south and stayed in the podigai malai charal and he helped in growing the tamil language. He never went back and he didn;t cross the vindhya malai. So even today the vindhya malai is like this.
Such is the greatness of agasthiyar and the local people were very excited and happy to hear all this about agasthiyar. They requested us to visit the place very often, we all thought that is it a place which can be visited often ?. :) Now it is almost 6 PM and we have to get back all the 600 speople back from that place. We were all so engorssed in talking to the local people and in enjoying the scenic beauty. We totally forgot about all the trouble, danger and hurdle we had to take to return from that place. To our surprise, when we returned there were only 20 trucks and the other truck drivers had returned since we didn;t turn up as per the plan. The vehicles were not enough for all of us to go. The local people told us to stay there that night. Though it sounded great but not a wise idea due to the wild animals and varied insects. Then we decided to go in 3 trips and it was a great adventure to return back from agasthiyar ashramam. Let us see more on this next week when we meet. Agasthiyar thiruvadigalukku pallandu padi intha varam niraivurugirathu achariyamana kattu vazhkai, thotta vazhkai, iyarkai, avasiyam yellarum darishikka vendum.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Sri Ramanin Padhayil - Episode 23 - Sept 22 2013
ஸ்ரீராமஜெயம்
Agastiyar Ashram
Slogam :
Tath-vidhi Prani-paataena Pari-
Kannan in Bhagavad gita, advises us to reach to Gnani's and seek/learn/acquire knowledge from them.
One is not born wise and it all depends on ones environment, growth, situation, mom/dad's bhakthi status and knowledge status. Based on this our knowledge and bhakthi also varies. Bhakthi does not foster for people who does not have the opportunity. At times, people who have the opportunity to foster bhakthi does not make use of the same. If someone wants to foster knowledge and bhakthi then there is an important path for the same. Need to seek/gain knowledge with due respect from learned people who know about atma/paramatma. There is no use in thinking that i know everything.
Key Takeaway
1. To gain knowledge and to foster bhakthi one need to seek/gain knowledge with due respect from learned people(acharya's) who know about atma/paramatma. There is no use in thinking that i know everything.
"Katrathu Kai manalavu , kallathathu ulagalavu ayitre" - This is not just an upadesam told to us and i nfact to make us all understand SriRamachandran himself went from one ashram to ashram to meet Sharabhangar, Sutheekshanar, Agasthiyar and from all these great people Ram was learning many great things. At times it is difficult for us to learn everything by ourselves by learning, so it is advised to learn from other learned men who have not only learnt it but are also following it and living with discipline and they have lots of experience. Learning from them will be helpful for us and for that one and only prerequiste is to listen and learn from others. One should not think that why not i find it myself. Yes one should first listen and then try to analyze the same. Not listening is bad. Not listening will result in us being not aware of some great suggestions. We might even miss an angle to solve that problem. But expeirenced people will probably give that view of the problem too. If this is true for wordly things then think about atma/paramatma which are not visibile for naked eyes. So to learn atma/paramatma we need the help of books, learned scholars and above all one should respect and adhere to elderly people's words. We need to understand this clearly. Nowadays the very key thing that is preached to youngsters is "do not listen to what others say, do your own research and find out, do not listen to the upadesam of people who are trying to attract your mind, so do not heed to them". We need to think before accepting such advises. Are all the scriptures written so many years ago like bhagavad gita, ramayanam, mahabharatham not to be learnt and not to be followed ? If one follows these scriptures the life will only prosper. Then why do people misguide like this... this is generally to caution from people who advocate wrong things and preach wrong this. So these words are to stay away from those wrong preachings and not to stop following the advises of parents,relatives. So one should listen and before acting do the thinking and research and then act.
A request for the viewers - if you want to follow Sri Ramanin padhayil then one need to follow and obey the orders by the elders. Elders have been thinking for our good from our childhood.
Key Takeaway
2. Obeying and listening to elders is the most key aspect when we think of following Ram's foot path. Elders think for our good from our childhood.
So one need to open the ears and mind and listen to the elders. Accepting and acting or arguing is next step. First let us all learn to listen. One can continue to argue, but we cannot just live for arguing. This is the truth which Ram is explaining and teaching all of us by his travel to Agasthiyar's ashram. Why should Ram do this ? Does he not know everything or is there anything which he does not know ? Ram has learned from Vashitar. Ispite of that he had wishes to visit Agasthiyar to learn from him too. Each acharya will have great meanings to teach so he went. We should also learn to see the world in this angle. We understood this truth in SriRamanin Pathayil by travelling to Agasthiyar's ashram.
Upanyasam at Agasthiyar Ashram : Agasthiya muni is kuru munivar. Tamizh valartha ma munivar. In MP near PATNA TAMOULI, in panna district is this place. Very ancient place. The more adventurous reaching the place is and the
more is the joy once we reach this place. Sriram with Sita and lakshman had visited this place to meet Agasthiyar.
Agasthiyar had gifted a bow to Ram. Kulasegara azhwar explains in his pasuram that "thamizh maa munivar agasthiyar ramanukku villai kuduthar". Pasuram is "Vali vannuku varai nedun thozh.. van thamizh ma muni kudutha vari vil vangi". One should admire the scenic beauty of the place before entering agasthiyar ashram. Lush green scenic beauty.
Now we are starting from Agasthiyar's ashram in MadhyaPradesh as part of our SriRamanin Pathayil. Agasthiyar is short in height. Aga means Mountain. Stha means "iru yendru niruthiyavar" Agasthiyar means "malai valaruvathai niruthiyavur" .. one who stopped the growth of a mountain. We have already discussed about vindhya malai. Vindhya malai started to grow beyond the heights of Meru mountain to even impact the path of suryan and chandran. As per the request of the Deva's, Agasthiyar crossed Vindhya mountain and the mountain bent to do his pranams. Agasthiyar ordered the mountain to stay in the bent posture till he returns from south. Agasthiyar went south wards and he didn't return from here.
Agasthiyar was born to Urvasi so he was also called as "AVRASEYAR". He was born to the mithravaruna's from a kumbham. Vashistar is Agasthiyar's sibling and was born along with him. So he was also known as "KUMBHA SAMBHAVAR". Like this agasthiyar is known by many names.
Once Agasthiyar was carrying the palanquin for Indiran. Nakusan is a maharaja who had done great penance and got the indira pathavi. He goes with the wish of sitting next to indirani in the simhasan. He calls the saptha rishi to lift the palanquin. All the rishi's carried him in the palanquin. Agasthiyar was small and hence he could not walk faster. Nakusan poked Agasthiyar saying "Sarpa Sarpa" i.e "Vegama po Vegama po". Agasthiyar got angry and he cursed Nakusan to be born as a Serpant. Then Nakusa Maharaja was born as a serpant later and he asked when will the curse be releived(Sapa vimochanam). During Dwapara yuga, mahabharatha war will happen before that the pancha pandavas will come for Agnatha
vasam(vana vasam) at that time Dharmaputhiran will touch you(serpant) and then you will get releived from the curse. This is Nakusa maharaja's charithram and the greatness of Agasthiyar.
With such greatness is Agasthiyar the short size muni who lived in POdhigai Malai and was born in Brahma's vamsam.
Brahma -> Marichi -> Kashyapar -> Suryan -> Agasthiyar
Agasthiyar's wife is LopaMudhra. She is the one who came out of the Kamandalam in the form of water as cauvery river.
Such a great agasthiyar cannot be seen easily and hence we had all these adventure during the visit to his ashram.
Though it was adventurous all the yatrika's were very happy and heart filled joy.
Now we have to return from that place. When we were about to leave, half the vehicles weren't there and they had left leaving us since we didn't get back on time and went late. So with the remaining vehicles had to do shuttle trip. No electricity, lots of insects came as a swam, somehow we kept doing Rama nama bhajan and was doing saranam to Agasthiyar requesting him to safeguard/protect us like how he took care of Ram. Finally we managed to take all of them safely to the town. The last trip in which we came, the driver was suggesting us to come and go early atleast in our next trip. But one good thing in staying late was that we were able to have the sight of the clouds, stars, moon and night sky.
Nalla yendra rathiriyil suvar kozhi saptham irukkum pola nisaptham, oru saptham illai nothing other than our hare rama saptham along with the sounds of the animals in the forest. Though we were scared we managed and came back safely.
When we were in the bus, the local people came and gave us tender coconut, pori kadalai to all the passengers in the bus. We were wondered and awe stuck seeing the small village trying to feed the 600 of us in the bus. Avargal virunthombhal ninaithu ninaithu ipavum achariyamaga irukku. We got leave from all of them and started our journey towards Ramtek. - virunthombal
Key Takeaway
4. Virunthombal is part of our dharmam
We have to go to Maharastra and need to travel the entire MP and cross MP to reach Maharastra. We need to cross the river Narmada. Then we need to go to Ramtek which is in the north of Nagpur. Let us all go there.
asked if they have arrived at Ramtek. They were all clueless on where they were. Then we explained that it is not yet Ramtek, but we have reached Narmadha. Everyone were surprised and happy to have a bath in the river Narmadha who was flowing pure. All of us had a bath and got ready and started from that place at 5.30 am. Then we started from there to get into Maharastra. In 2006, we had to change the buses when we crossed the border. It was a great challenge. Next time in 2010, we covered the entire 8000 KM in a single bus till srirangam. We managed to cook when the buses were trying to get the permit. We started from that place to reach a beautiful place called Ramtek.
enquire and he figures out that somewhere in his kingdom some mistake has happened and hence they boy had died in such young age. Ram comes to Ramtek to find the mistake which has happened. It was in Ramtek that mistake was happening due to which there was such a death in Ram's kingdom. Ram found the person who did the crime and punished him by curbing his head. The boy who died got life and came back to life. This great incident has happened in Ramtek. We all reached Ramtek. At Ramtek, there is a pond called "Ram Talab" and we all had a bath in that in 2006. Ram had taken bath in this pond. Then we went to the ancient temple at Ramtek. Temple with great sculptures and work. Let us all go and have the darshan.
Pasuram :
seRithavach sampugan thannaich senRu konRu *
sezhumaRaiyOn uyir mIttuth thavaththOn Indha *
niRaimaNip pUN aNiyum koNdu ilavaNan thannaith *
thambiyAl vAn ERRi munivan vENda **
thiRal viLangkum ilakkumanaip pirindhAn thannaith *
thillainagarth thiruchchithrakUdam thannuL *
uRaivAnai maRavAdha uLLam thannai
udaiyOm * maRRuRu thuyaram adaiyOm anRE27 10.9
This is kulasekarar azhwar's pasuram from Perumal Thirumozhi. Sambhukan's story comes in valmiki ramayan'suttarakandam. To see this story we have reached Ramtek. This is in Maharastra in the Vidarbha desam, it is situated 50 KM north of Nagpur. We managed to reach this place inspite of many delays due to border checks. We had booked a hall. All the yatrika's co-operated in getting ready as early as possible and adjusted with the co-ordinator to adhere to the schedule especially when there were delay.
The yatrika's develop adjusting and patience and tolerance during the trip. This is what we need to conquer the world. We are all suffering because we are unable to tolerate anger. When we develop tolerance, friends, relatives will all adjust and will get along very well. Shouting, yelling, screaming will only result in gap between people. Only time when yatrika's get angry is when they are hungry and ofcourse we organisers have to take care of that.
When we all got ready, we got into the bus and need to climb a mountain. The path to the temple on the mountain is very beautiful and scenic. One can see the Ram talab and it is belived that Ram has taken a bath here. The localities even believe and tell that Ram took this path when he went from Agasthiyar ashram towards Nasik Panchavati. One more belief is that the agasthiyar's ashram is itslef only here. Whichever belief might be true but this place is sacred and we are here to have the darshan. Once we climbed the mountain, from the bus stop till the temple lots of shop selling pasi mani, kunthu mani, karuga mani. We managed to hurry up the yatrika's since it was getting late. Once we climbed and reached a temple we were astonished to see such a beautiful temple with great sculptures. Very ancient temple.
In our Bharathadesam, from Sethu till Himachalam, all the places have greatness in them w.r.t sculptures, bhakthi and how ancient they are, scientific reasons, Nature or forest .. our country has everything and it is one of the very good country which is good in aanmigam. Though there are some minor areas to improve.. still our country is the best.
The temple in Ramtek had those pakoda's the long gopuram. We went inside the temple and we are going to have the darshan. Let us hear what happened there first.
Upanyasam: We are now at a place called as RamaGiri and also known popularly as Ramtek which is a temple on a beautiful mountain. This place has two greatness. One that Ram had come to this place from Chitrakut to meet agasthiyar in his ashram here on his way to Nasik Panchavati. From here he went to meet Sutheekshanar and then to Panchavati. Again after Ram-Ravana war, pattabhishekam and when Ram was ruling the kingdom he had come here to kill a person called Sambhukan to safeguard the kingdom. So people here say that Ram had come here twice before and after pattabhishekam. Valmiki had also explained this in detail in Uttara kandam. The Sannidhi;s here are eye catching and beautiful one for lakshman, one for Ram, One for Mahalakshmi, one for agasthiyar since his ashram was here. On the top there is a airy kuda gopuram we can see the thiruvadi thamarai of Sriram. All these are very wonderful to watch. Valmiki says that Ram is the one who will be liked by all due to his beauty. Ram's each and every temple is like that it seems. All the places Ram lived and all the places Ram's thiruvadi was blessed, all the temples in which he is in the archaavataram all are capturing/captivating the eyes and mind of the people who visit these places. If we come to these places, Ramanin thiruvadi sambhandam yerpattu, athan sparisam nam thalaiyil padugirapadiyal, adi sudam arakaga namabhu swathanthriyam, serukku, arivinmai, yellam ozhinthu perumanukke nam adimai yendru Rama bhakthi migunthavargal aga naam avom yenbathu nichayam. -
Key Takeaway
3. Visiting places related to Ram i.e traveled by Ram while make us realize that we dependendent on HIM, we shall get rid of ego, we shall get rid of our ignorance and we shall all gain Rama bhakthi. The greatness of the place and the vibrations in those places will bring this change in us.
So in this temple at Ramgiri, we have Ram lakshman sannidhi and Agasthiyar's sannidhi. Agasthiyar here is Red in color. Ram's sannidhi and there is lakshman's sannidhi. It was a challenge for all of us to go have darshan since the place was small. so one group did pradakshinam and another had the darshan. We did bhajanai and parayanam of that sargam too.
On the way to Nasik there is a town called as Koundinyapur which is the town of Kannan's Rukmini Devi. Now we have to start towards Nasik. Let's go.
When we started from Ramtek in 2010, we wanted to visit Koundinyapuram which is Rukmini's home town. It is part of Vidharbha desam and is referred as Kundinapuram. This is the place where rukmini kalyanam happened. That is Kannan came and took rukmini from this place. Since it was night time we could not go to this place. The route was also very bad. After a long journey we all reached Nasik.
But in 2006, we got down from the bus we travelled for 10 days at Nagpur and took train till nasik. In 2006 we had lot of train travel. From Chennai to Kanpur, Nagpur to Nasik, Nasik to Kishkintha we got down in guntakal and took bus to Kishkintha/hospet, From Kishkintha/hospet to Dharwad, and then to Mysore to go to Lakshmana theertham. From Mysore again took train to reach Maniyatchi to go to Thirukurungudi. We took so many trains when we went in 2006. Train travel is good for elderly person but the disadvantage is to co-ordinate buses and luggage when going to and from railway station. It
was also a challenging to catch the train at Nagpur since we got stuck due to traffic jam and rain. By the help of volunteers we managed to bring the luggage safely and somehow we managed to catch the train at 8 PM and by Ram's grace we did not miss the train and also got all the luggage safely. Then we reached Nasik station at 6 AM next morning. Thanks to the great work by all the volunteers and all the yatrika's appreciated the great work by the volunteers. After getting down at Nasik, we took another set of buses and managed to get the entire yatrika's seated/allocated in new set of buses which didn't had the same number of seats as the earlier buses we travelled for 10 days. Similarly, the challenge is also when we allocate rooms in the boarding places. At times there might be shortage of rooms inspite of advance booking. All these are sweet challenges we keep facing through the entire yatra.
Starting from Godavari the experience is wonderful. Near Nasik is Jatayu moksha sthalam, Janasthanam is there. All these places are ramaneeyamana places. To go around the town of Nasik will itself take time. Nasika means Nose in Sanskrit. Nasik means "Lakshman had cut Soorpanaka's nose and ear and thrown it away. He had thrown it from one side of the river Godavari ie from the Parnasalai/panchavati side he threw it and it fell on the other side of the Godavari river which is called as Nasik. Place where soorpanaka's ears and nose were cut, place where Ravanan came to abduct Sita, place where Ram started his search for sita, Place where Ram gave moksham to Jatayu all these had happened in Nasik, Panchavati. A great feast is awaiting for us at Nasik/Panchavati. Let us continue to watch Nasik/Panchavati as part of Sriramanin Padhayil.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
Agastiyar Ashram
Slogam :
Tath-vidhi Prani-paataena Pari-
Kannan in Bhagavad gita, advises us to reach to Gnani's and seek/learn/acquire knowledge from them.
One is not born wise and it all depends on ones environment, growth, situation, mom/dad's bhakthi status and knowledge status. Based on this our knowledge and bhakthi also varies. Bhakthi does not foster for people who does not have the opportunity. At times, people who have the opportunity to foster bhakthi does not make use of the same. If someone wants to foster knowledge and bhakthi then there is an important path for the same. Need to seek/gain knowledge with due respect from learned people who know about atma/paramatma. There is no use in thinking that i know everything.
Key Takeaway
1. To gain knowledge and to foster bhakthi one need to seek/gain knowledge with due respect from learned people(acharya's) who know about atma/paramatma. There is no use in thinking that i know everything.
"Katrathu Kai manalavu , kallathathu ulagalavu ayitre" - This is not just an upadesam told to us and i nfact to make us all understand SriRamachandran himself went from one ashram to ashram to meet Sharabhangar, Sutheekshanar, Agasthiyar and from all these great people Ram was learning many great things. At times it is difficult for us to learn everything by ourselves by learning, so it is advised to learn from other learned men who have not only learnt it but are also following it and living with discipline and they have lots of experience. Learning from them will be helpful for us and for that one and only prerequiste is to listen and learn from others. One should not think that why not i find it myself. Yes one should first listen and then try to analyze the same. Not listening is bad. Not listening will result in us being not aware of some great suggestions. We might even miss an angle to solve that problem. But expeirenced people will probably give that view of the problem too. If this is true for wordly things then think about atma/paramatma which are not visibile for naked eyes. So to learn atma/paramatma we need the help of books, learned scholars and above all one should respect and adhere to elderly people's words. We need to understand this clearly. Nowadays the very key thing that is preached to youngsters is "do not listen to what others say, do your own research and find out, do not listen to the upadesam of people who are trying to attract your mind, so do not heed to them". We need to think before accepting such advises. Are all the scriptures written so many years ago like bhagavad gita, ramayanam, mahabharatham not to be learnt and not to be followed ? If one follows these scriptures the life will only prosper. Then why do people misguide like this... this is generally to caution from people who advocate wrong things and preach wrong this. So these words are to stay away from those wrong preachings and not to stop following the advises of parents,relatives. So one should listen and before acting do the thinking and research and then act.
A request for the viewers - if you want to follow Sri Ramanin padhayil then one need to follow and obey the orders by the elders. Elders have been thinking for our good from our childhood.
Key Takeaway
2. Obeying and listening to elders is the most key aspect when we think of following Ram's foot path. Elders think for our good from our childhood.
So one need to open the ears and mind and listen to the elders. Accepting and acting or arguing is next step. First let us all learn to listen. One can continue to argue, but we cannot just live for arguing. This is the truth which Ram is explaining and teaching all of us by his travel to Agasthiyar's ashram. Why should Ram do this ? Does he not know everything or is there anything which he does not know ? Ram has learned from Vashitar. Ispite of that he had wishes to visit Agasthiyar to learn from him too. Each acharya will have great meanings to teach so he went. We should also learn to see the world in this angle. We understood this truth in SriRamanin Pathayil by travelling to Agasthiyar's ashram.
Starting from Agasthiyar's ashram
The villagers of Agasthiyar's ashram gave a warm welcome to the yatra group of Sri Rama Anu yatra. We were also thankful and greatful for all their efforts and told the same to them. We were planning to start by 4.30 but it was almost 6.30 and it was a question on how we shall all return from that place.Upanyasam at Agasthiyar Ashram : Agasthiya muni is kuru munivar. Tamizh valartha ma munivar. In MP near PATNA TAMOULI, in panna district is this place. Very ancient place. The more adventurous reaching the place is and the
more is the joy once we reach this place. Sriram with Sita and lakshman had visited this place to meet Agasthiyar.
Agasthiyar had gifted a bow to Ram. Kulasegara azhwar explains in his pasuram that "thamizh maa munivar agasthiyar ramanukku villai kuduthar". Pasuram is "Vali vannuku varai nedun thozh.. van thamizh ma muni kudutha vari vil vangi". One should admire the scenic beauty of the place before entering agasthiyar ashram. Lush green scenic beauty.
Now we are starting from Agasthiyar's ashram in MadhyaPradesh as part of our SriRamanin Pathayil. Agasthiyar is short in height. Aga means Mountain. Stha means "iru yendru niruthiyavar" Agasthiyar means "malai valaruvathai niruthiyavur" .. one who stopped the growth of a mountain. We have already discussed about vindhya malai. Vindhya malai started to grow beyond the heights of Meru mountain to even impact the path of suryan and chandran. As per the request of the Deva's, Agasthiyar crossed Vindhya mountain and the mountain bent to do his pranams. Agasthiyar ordered the mountain to stay in the bent posture till he returns from south. Agasthiyar went south wards and he didn't return from here.
Agasthiyar's names
Agasthiyar was also known as "Samudhra Chulakar" - one who drank the entire sea water in a gulp(madaku). Why ? Indiran destroyed viruthasuran. He did this using the help of KalaKeyar's. Then the KalaKeyar's started to trouble the people and they went and hid themselves under the sea. Indiran requested Agasthiyar and Agasthiyar drank the entire sea water in a gulp so that the kalakeyar's came out of the sea and then they were killed by Indiran.Agasthiyar was born to Urvasi so he was also called as "AVRASEYAR". He was born to the mithravaruna's from a kumbham. Vashistar is Agasthiyar's sibling and was born along with him. So he was also known as "KUMBHA SAMBHAVAR". Like this agasthiyar is known by many names.
Once Agasthiyar was carrying the palanquin for Indiran. Nakusan is a maharaja who had done great penance and got the indira pathavi. He goes with the wish of sitting next to indirani in the simhasan. He calls the saptha rishi to lift the palanquin. All the rishi's carried him in the palanquin. Agasthiyar was small and hence he could not walk faster. Nakusan poked Agasthiyar saying "Sarpa Sarpa" i.e "Vegama po Vegama po". Agasthiyar got angry and he cursed Nakusan to be born as a Serpant. Then Nakusa Maharaja was born as a serpant later and he asked when will the curse be releived(Sapa vimochanam). During Dwapara yuga, mahabharatha war will happen before that the pancha pandavas will come for Agnatha
vasam(vana vasam) at that time Dharmaputhiran will touch you(serpant) and then you will get releived from the curse. This is Nakusa maharaja's charithram and the greatness of Agasthiyar.
With such greatness is Agasthiyar the short size muni who lived in POdhigai Malai and was born in Brahma's vamsam.
Brahma -> Marichi -> Kashyapar -> Suryan -> Agasthiyar
Agasthiyar's wife is LopaMudhra. She is the one who came out of the Kamandalam in the form of water as cauvery river.
Such a great agasthiyar cannot be seen easily and hence we had all these adventure during the visit to his ashram.
Though it was adventurous all the yatrika's were very happy and heart filled joy.
Now we have to return from that place. When we were about to leave, half the vehicles weren't there and they had left leaving us since we didn't get back on time and went late. So with the remaining vehicles had to do shuttle trip. No electricity, lots of insects came as a swam, somehow we kept doing Rama nama bhajan and was doing saranam to Agasthiyar requesting him to safeguard/protect us like how he took care of Ram. Finally we managed to take all of them safely to the town. The last trip in which we came, the driver was suggesting us to come and go early atleast in our next trip. But one good thing in staying late was that we were able to have the sight of the clouds, stars, moon and night sky.
Nalla yendra rathiriyil suvar kozhi saptham irukkum pola nisaptham, oru saptham illai nothing other than our hare rama saptham along with the sounds of the animals in the forest. Though we were scared we managed and came back safely.
When we were in the bus, the local people came and gave us tender coconut, pori kadalai to all the passengers in the bus. We were wondered and awe stuck seeing the small village trying to feed the 600 of us in the bus. Avargal virunthombhal ninaithu ninaithu ipavum achariyamaga irukku. We got leave from all of them and started our journey towards Ramtek. - virunthombal
Key Takeaway
4. Virunthombal is part of our dharmam
We have to go to Maharastra and need to travel the entire MP and cross MP to reach Maharastra. We need to cross the river Narmada. Then we need to go to Ramtek which is in the north of Nagpur. Let us all go there.
Trip from Agasthiyar Ashram to Ramtek and Narmadha river
As part of Sri Ramanin Padhayil, we have started from Agasthiyar ashram in MP. As on today, we have completed 10 days of our Yatra. Many of us were happy that a major part of the trip was completed. The difficult section of the yatra is over. But there is one more important place. In MP, we started from Sathna and we need to cross Jabalpur and travel south. Need to cross the entire MP. It was 9 PM when we started. In the morning, we had to be in the place called Ramtek. Need to cross the MP border and get into Maharastra. Crossing state border needs permit and it takes time too. We had to cross the huge line in the check post where permit check will be done. All were asleep. Around 2.30 PM the vehicles stopped for the border checking. In 2006, we didn't understand the route so we didn't go to Narmada. Valmiki Ramayanam does not talk about Ram crossing Narmada river. Ram might have come in the eastern side of narmada and it was not clear. So in 2006 we did not go to Narmada river. But in 2010, when we were waiting for the clearance at 2.30 PM , we enquired whether Narmada flows near by. He told us that 70 KM from here on the western side you can see Narmada. It was not part of our plan. If we have to change the plan, we need to communicate to all the 15 drivers. Language was also a problem to communicate to all the drivers. But we managed to communicate since we didn't want to miss Narmadha when we have had bath in Yamuna, ganga, Sarayu, Gandagi and many rivers. Morning 4.15 am we had a lovely river bath. When the bus stopped everyoneasked if they have arrived at Ramtek. They were all clueless on where they were. Then we explained that it is not yet Ramtek, but we have reached Narmadha. Everyone were surprised and happy to have a bath in the river Narmadha who was flowing pure. All of us had a bath and got ready and started from that place at 5.30 am. Then we started from there to get into Maharastra. In 2006, we had to change the buses when we crossed the border. It was a great challenge. Next time in 2010, we covered the entire 8000 KM in a single bus till srirangam. We managed to cook when the buses were trying to get the permit. We started from that place to reach a beautiful place called Ramtek.
Ramtek
Has ram come here to ramtek ? Also there is one Agasthiyar ashram in Ramtek too. Why have we come to Ramtek ? When we look into valmiki ramayanam this place is not told. Also from Agasthiyar ashram if Ram travels west he can reach nasik, Panchavati. Then why ramtek which is in southwest direction. Valmiki ramayan does not explain about Ram coming here to this place during this sargam. However, in the UtthraKandam, When Ram was ruling the kingdom, there was some crime in his Kingdom and a brahmin's boy died at a very young age. The Brahmin brought the boy to Ram and told " Rama you have not ruled the kingdom properly (Look what question has been asked and that to Ram). You have ruled the kingdom in unrighteous manner (Adharma), because of which my son had to face this kind of death(akala maranam)". The king was answerable in those days to his people for the death happening in his kingdom. This is great goverance. Then Ram starts toenquire and he figures out that somewhere in his kingdom some mistake has happened and hence they boy had died in such young age. Ram comes to Ramtek to find the mistake which has happened. It was in Ramtek that mistake was happening due to which there was such a death in Ram's kingdom. Ram found the person who did the crime and punished him by curbing his head. The boy who died got life and came back to life. This great incident has happened in Ramtek. We all reached Ramtek. At Ramtek, there is a pond called "Ram Talab" and we all had a bath in that in 2006. Ram had taken bath in this pond. Then we went to the ancient temple at Ramtek. Temple with great sculptures and work. Let us all go and have the darshan.
Pasuram :
seRithavach sampugan thannaich senRu konRu *
sezhumaRaiyOn uyir mIttuth thavaththOn Indha *
niRaimaNip pUN aNiyum koNdu ilavaNan thannaith *
thambiyAl vAn ERRi munivan vENda **
thiRal viLangkum ilakkumanaip pirindhAn thannaith *
thillainagarth thiruchchithrakUdam thannuL *
uRaivAnai maRavAdha uLLam thannai
udaiyOm * maRRuRu thuyaram adaiyOm anRE27 10.9
This is kulasekarar azhwar's pasuram from Perumal Thirumozhi. Sambhukan's story comes in valmiki ramayan'suttarakandam. To see this story we have reached Ramtek. This is in Maharastra in the Vidarbha desam, it is situated 50 KM north of Nagpur. We managed to reach this place inspite of many delays due to border checks. We had booked a hall. All the yatrika's co-operated in getting ready as early as possible and adjusted with the co-ordinator to adhere to the schedule especially when there were delay.
The yatrika's develop adjusting and patience and tolerance during the trip. This is what we need to conquer the world. We are all suffering because we are unable to tolerate anger. When we develop tolerance, friends, relatives will all adjust and will get along very well. Shouting, yelling, screaming will only result in gap between people. Only time when yatrika's get angry is when they are hungry and ofcourse we organisers have to take care of that.
When we all got ready, we got into the bus and need to climb a mountain. The path to the temple on the mountain is very beautiful and scenic. One can see the Ram talab and it is belived that Ram has taken a bath here. The localities even believe and tell that Ram took this path when he went from Agasthiyar ashram towards Nasik Panchavati. One more belief is that the agasthiyar's ashram is itslef only here. Whichever belief might be true but this place is sacred and we are here to have the darshan. Once we climbed the mountain, from the bus stop till the temple lots of shop selling pasi mani, kunthu mani, karuga mani. We managed to hurry up the yatrika's since it was getting late. Once we climbed and reached a temple we were astonished to see such a beautiful temple with great sculptures. Very ancient temple.
In our Bharathadesam, from Sethu till Himachalam, all the places have greatness in them w.r.t sculptures, bhakthi and how ancient they are, scientific reasons, Nature or forest .. our country has everything and it is one of the very good country which is good in aanmigam. Though there are some minor areas to improve.. still our country is the best.
The temple in Ramtek had those pakoda's the long gopuram. We went inside the temple and we are going to have the darshan. Let us hear what happened there first.
Upanyasam: We are now at a place called as RamaGiri and also known popularly as Ramtek which is a temple on a beautiful mountain. This place has two greatness. One that Ram had come to this place from Chitrakut to meet agasthiyar in his ashram here on his way to Nasik Panchavati. From here he went to meet Sutheekshanar and then to Panchavati. Again after Ram-Ravana war, pattabhishekam and when Ram was ruling the kingdom he had come here to kill a person called Sambhukan to safeguard the kingdom. So people here say that Ram had come here twice before and after pattabhishekam. Valmiki had also explained this in detail in Uttara kandam. The Sannidhi;s here are eye catching and beautiful one for lakshman, one for Ram, One for Mahalakshmi, one for agasthiyar since his ashram was here. On the top there is a airy kuda gopuram we can see the thiruvadi thamarai of Sriram. All these are very wonderful to watch. Valmiki says that Ram is the one who will be liked by all due to his beauty. Ram's each and every temple is like that it seems. All the places Ram lived and all the places Ram's thiruvadi was blessed, all the temples in which he is in the archaavataram all are capturing/captivating the eyes and mind of the people who visit these places. If we come to these places, Ramanin thiruvadi sambhandam yerpattu, athan sparisam nam thalaiyil padugirapadiyal, adi sudam arakaga namabhu swathanthriyam, serukku, arivinmai, yellam ozhinthu perumanukke nam adimai yendru Rama bhakthi migunthavargal aga naam avom yenbathu nichayam. -
Key Takeaway
3. Visiting places related to Ram i.e traveled by Ram while make us realize that we dependendent on HIM, we shall get rid of ego, we shall get rid of our ignorance and we shall all gain Rama bhakthi. The greatness of the place and the vibrations in those places will bring this change in us.
So in this temple at Ramgiri, we have Ram lakshman sannidhi and Agasthiyar's sannidhi. Agasthiyar here is Red in color. Ram's sannidhi and there is lakshman's sannidhi. It was a challenge for all of us to go have darshan since the place was small. so one group did pradakshinam and another had the darshan. We did bhajanai and parayanam of that sargam too.
Ramtek to Nasik Via Nagpur Via Koundinyapur
From there in 2006, we went to Nagpur and by train from Nagpur to Nasik. In 2010, the entire trip was in bus only. Though both as its own advantages and disadvantages. NO one knew about the next tiresome journey and everyones mind was filled with happiness since they had a great darshan of Ram at Ramtek. On the way there is a huge bull, varagam liek nandi keshwar which is also kept near by. We had the darshan of that too.
On the way to Nasik there is a town called as Koundinyapur which is the town of Kannan's Rukmini Devi. Now we have to start towards Nasik. Let's go.
When we started from Ramtek in 2010, we wanted to visit Koundinyapuram which is Rukmini's home town. It is part of Vidharbha desam and is referred as Kundinapuram. This is the place where rukmini kalyanam happened. That is Kannan came and took rukmini from this place. Since it was night time we could not go to this place. The route was also very bad. After a long journey we all reached Nasik.
But in 2006, we got down from the bus we travelled for 10 days at Nagpur and took train till nasik. In 2006 we had lot of train travel. From Chennai to Kanpur, Nagpur to Nasik, Nasik to Kishkintha we got down in guntakal and took bus to Kishkintha/hospet, From Kishkintha/hospet to Dharwad, and then to Mysore to go to Lakshmana theertham. From Mysore again took train to reach Maniyatchi to go to Thirukurungudi. We took so many trains when we went in 2006. Train travel is good for elderly person but the disadvantage is to co-ordinate buses and luggage when going to and from railway station. It
was also a challenging to catch the train at Nagpur since we got stuck due to traffic jam and rain. By the help of volunteers we managed to bring the luggage safely and somehow we managed to catch the train at 8 PM and by Ram's grace we did not miss the train and also got all the luggage safely. Then we reached Nasik station at 6 AM next morning. Thanks to the great work by all the volunteers and all the yatrika's appreciated the great work by the volunteers. After getting down at Nasik, we took another set of buses and managed to get the entire yatrika's seated/allocated in new set of buses which didn't had the same number of seats as the earlier buses we travelled for 10 days. Similarly, the challenge is also when we allocate rooms in the boarding places. At times there might be shortage of rooms inspite of advance booking. All these are sweet challenges we keep facing through the entire yatra.
Yatrika's at Nasik Panchavati Godavari
Now that we have reached Nasik, we have to take a bath in Godavari and on the other side is the Panchavati where parnasalai, kuteeram are located. Wonderful place but today due to population hygene is a concern. Still a wonderful place.Starting from Godavari the experience is wonderful. Near Nasik is Jatayu moksha sthalam, Janasthanam is there. All these places are ramaneeyamana places. To go around the town of Nasik will itself take time. Nasika means Nose in Sanskrit. Nasik means "Lakshman had cut Soorpanaka's nose and ear and thrown it away. He had thrown it from one side of the river Godavari ie from the Parnasalai/panchavati side he threw it and it fell on the other side of the Godavari river which is called as Nasik. Place where soorpanaka's ears and nose were cut, place where Ravanan came to abduct Sita, place where Ram started his search for sita, Place where Ram gave moksham to Jatayu all these had happened in Nasik, Panchavati. A great feast is awaiting for us at Nasik/Panchavati. Let us continue to watch Nasik/Panchavati as part of Sriramanin Padhayil.
ஸர்வம் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்
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