Vamana Avatara is the fifth incarnation of Vishnu. This is the first Avatara where Lord Vishnu took complete human form as a dwarf at the beginning. The uniqueness of this Avatara is that Vishnu did neither use any weapon nor kill any asura. The only weapon he used was that of begging in front of King Bali as a Brahmachari. And then, he tricked and conquered him in a soft way. It may be said that unlike other Avataras, Vamana Avatara was a Sattvik Avatara.

Sage Valmiki, as you may all know well, is the author of the holy epic 'Ramayana'. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses. Valmiki is also the author of Yoga Vashishta, a text that elaborates on a range of philosophical issues.

This talk is an attempt to give a brief account of this great Sage and the circumstances leading to the composition of the Valmiki Ramayana.

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Broche varevaru ra

This is a popular Telugu composition of Mysore Vasudevacharya in Carnatic Music.

Mysore Vasudevacharya was in direct line of Saint Thyagaraja’s disciples and has composed more than 200 compositions mostly in Telugu and Sanskrit.

This song, Broche varevaru ra, in the Raga Khamas set to Adi Taala, is one of his popular kritis in Telugu.

In this composition on Lord Rama, he says:

‘O the best among the descendants of Raghu? O repository of compassion! I cannot let go of your lotus-feet because who else, other than you, is my saviour.

I am incapable of even praising your glory. O the One worshipped by Brahma, why is this neglect on your part to remove my sorrow and grant my wishes.

O husband of Sita, do you not have compassion for me?

O, One worshipped by Hanuman, can't you listen to my prayers?

Aren't you the Vasudeva who rushed to save the King of the Elephants?

Dispell all my sins, o Lord, firmly hold my hand and do not go away from me.

Sivapuranam

This hymn is in Tamil language and is from Thiruvasagam.

Thiruvasagam which means ‘the sacred utterance’ is a volume of Tamil hymns composed by Manikkavasagar, the ninth century shaivite bhakti saint of Tamil Nadu. It contains 51 compositions and is a part of Tirumurai, the sacred anthology of the Tamil philosophy of Shaiva Siddhantha.

Manikkavasagar was the Prime Minister of the then Pandya king of Madurai. But he renounced his post in search of divinity. The king sent him with money to buy 10000 horses, but on the way he was taken to divinity by the vision of Lord Siva. He spent the entire money in building a temple for Lord Shiva at a place called Thiruperunturai. The temple is considered as an architectural marvel among Hindu temples. From that time onwards, he wandered to various temples and composed devoted hymns on Lord Shiva.

The first chapter of Thiruvasagam is known as Sivapuranam.

I have also brought about an audio book titled ‘A few hymns on Lord Shiva’ which you may like to hear. It is available with leading audio book-sellers like Google’s play books.

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Swati Tirunal‍ Rama Varma was the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Travancore, in pre-independent India. He is also a brilliant music composer and has composed more than 400 compositions in both Hindustani and Carnatic classical music.

This song is the one composed by him on Goddess Parvathi in the form of Mahishsuramardini. In this composition he says:

Oh mother, the slayer of the demon Mahishasura, please reside in my heart always. You eradicate mountains of sins as if with an axe. You are the sister of Lord Padmanabha and you are adored by Lord Brahma. You look lovely with gem studded necklaces. Your eyes are beautiful like lotus petals. Oh mother, please remain with me always and protect me.

This song ‘maamava sadaa varadey’ in the raga Nattakkurinchi set to Roopaka taala is rendered by Nirmala Ramachandran.

This is a composition in Sanskrit by Muthusamy Dikshitar. In this song, Dikshitar seeks refuge in the effulgence of Lord Shiva, the consort of Sivakami, through his blissful cosmic dance. He describes Lord Shiva as the one who is resplendent like the lustre of crores of Suns and who is well-known for protecting the weak and the down-trodden.

Lord Shiva is the one who has given the vision of his cosmic dance to the divine sages like Patanjali and Vyaagrapaada, is the one who is adept in bestowing bliss as well as salvation, and is the one who is worshipped as the form of the space within the heart of a yogi. He has the blue neck and is the one wearing the ganges and the moon. He is the basis of Kedhara and other temples. He wears the hide of a tiger and is like the divine ether. He is the Lord of the three thousand Brahmin sages and the Lord of the universe.

Dikshitar continues to portray Lord Shiva as the one whose heart is as soft as fresh butter, the ever-compassionate father of Lord Guruguha, the primordial one and the one whose praises is sung in the vedas. He is free of all desires, immeasurable and expounded the philosophy of advaita.

In conclusion, Dikshitar says that Lord Shiva is the one who derives pleasure in music and instruments and the one whose cosmic dance both causes and distinguishes the various questions about life and beyond.

The song is in the Raga Kedaram set to Misra Chapu Tala and is rendered by Nirmala Ramachandran.

Shiva Manasa Pooja

This stotram is composed by Adi Sankara. Normally when we do puja, we offer a number of delicacies, flowers, fruits etc and dress the idol of the god with beautiful clothes and ornaments. Being a Sanyasin, Adi Sankara can’t do the puja in this way. So, he offers all of them to Lord Shiva in his mind. Thus, this is called the Shiva Manasa Puja.

Here, Adi Sankara gives a bath to Lord Shiva in the water of melted snow from the Himalayas, gives him a silken cloth to wear, offers him a throne made of precious jewels, offers bilwa and champaka flowers, ghee and the sweet payasam in a golden vessel, five different dishes made of curd and milk, panakam made of sweet fruits, tasty sweet scented water to drink and the betel leaf and nut.

Sankara also offers a lamp made of camphor along with tinkling bells, couple of decorative fans and a shining mirror. He also sings and dances along with the sounds from the Veena, Kettledrums and Mrudanga.

But all these things, he offers to Lord Shiva in his mind and requests Lord Shiva to accept this form of worship.

My soul is your temple.

Victory to you, Oh, ocean of mercy. Oh, the greatest of Gods and Oh benevolent one.

Please pardon me Oh lord! For all those acts committed by me by hands, by action, by body or by hearing, by my sight, or by my mind, whether they are proper or improper.

I have also brought about an audio book titled ‘A few hymns on Lord Shiva’ which you may like to hear. It is available with leading audio book-sellers like Google’s play books.

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https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/VENKATARAMAN_M_A_few_hymns_on_Lord_Shiva?id=AQAAAEAcdhw2EM

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The Trinity of Carnatic music namely Thyagaraja, Muthusami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri are recognized as being distinct in style, and original in handling ragas. This is a song composed by Saint Thyagaraja. In this song starting with Bantu Reethi, Saint Thyagaraja pleads with Lord Rama to give him the post of a guard for Sri Rama symbolically meaning that he always wants to be in the presence of Sri Rama. Further he says that the guard’s post should be such that he is empowered to destroy: Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya which are the six passions of the mind. If this is translated in a simple manner these respectively mean desire, anger, greed, delusory emotional attachment, pride and envy. These passions are termed as demons which are called as Arishadvargas. Finally he says that he says that he should be blessed with the emblem of Ramabhakti that is devotion to Sri Rama and given a sword called Raama Naama meaning the name of Raama, to perform his guard's job.

The song in the Raga Hamsanaadam set to Adi Taala is rendered by Nirmala Ramachandran.

This is a brief mention about Sage Agasthya, one of the ancient sages of India.

Sage Agasthya is stated to be the father of traditional Indian Medicine. There are a number of interesting stories about Sage Agasthya. Some of them have been briefly mentioned in this episode. There is an interesting anecdote about Sage Agastya being involved in the birth of River Cauvery in South India. This has been mentioned here.

There is a practice of worshipping Lord Ganesha with what is known as 'Pillaiyar Kuttoo' in Tamil nadu. This practice is attributed to Sage Agasthya. You can find about this and some other practices in the book titled 'Yathni's Travel to Kailash' about which mention has been made here.  Copies of this book will be available with [email protected].

I have also brought about an audio book titled ‘Ancient Sages of India’ which will be available with leading audio book-sellers like Google’s play books.

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/ancient-sages-of-india

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Carnatic music is considered spiritual and one that can elevate the individual, both intellectually and emotionally. The lyrics are mainly based on religious themes and talk about various Hindu philosophies.

What you hear in this episode is a composition – Sarasiruhasanapriye- on Goddess Saraswathi composed by Puliyur shri Doraisamy Iyer in Sanskrit Language. He was also known as Panchanatha Iyer or Manattattaai Duraiswami Aiyar. He was also a renowned musician. He was proficient in Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit.

Goddess Saraswathi is considered as the Goddess of Knowledge. In this composition the composer describes Goddess Saraswathi as one who has two lotus like eyes, who has the face like the autumn moon and who attracts great devotees. Paying his salutations to the Goddess of Knowledge, he says, Oh Mother – I surrender to you, the goddess who likes to sit on a lotus and is surrounded by gems, who likes to always play on the Veena, who has a heart filled with joy and who shines holding a collection of books in her hand.

The composition in the Raga Naattai and set to Adi Taala is rendered by Nirmala Ramachandran.