Sathyam Sivam Sundaram...
g k kaushik
Sathyam Sivam Sundaram
The Sathyam Sivam Sundaram is one of the popular phrases used by all of us to
know the Lord's quality. And there was an article in Hindi on the subject, which
I was reading while traveling from New Delhi to Madras. The article was on
philosophy and not about any particular Lord. But it triggered my thoughts. The
Ultimate is Sundaram.
Saint Valmiki known as AdiKavi wrote the first kavya and named it "Sita
charitham" meaning 'History of Sita'. This kavya is now known as "Ramayana".
There is a canto by name "Sundara Kandam". This chapter of the Ramayana
is unique in many ways. The entire Ramayana is told in this chapter, by Sri
Anjaneya as to what had happened upto then in the life of Rama and Sita, and
then by (pra_buddha meaning 'gyani') Trijata as to what is in
store for Rama and Sita then on. Lord Anjaneya is also known as "Ramayana Maha
Male Rathnam", meaning Lord Anjaneya is the central jewel of the Ramayana.
Sundarakandam is also the central jewel of the Ramayana in two ways. Firstly
because this it the central canto of the epic and contains the entire Ramayana.
Secondly it talks about the mighty Anjaneya and His deeds and acumenship with
which He steers the flow of the events. Leaving this aside while reading the
canto one will be able to realise the strong influence this central character is
able to infuse on the reader. So powerful is the influence of the character of
the Lord that the AdiKavi named this chapter as "Hanumath prabhawam".
When Lava and Kusha in the court of Lord Rama recited the 'Sita charitham',
Anjaneya was wonder struck on the title of the chapter named as "Hanumath
Prabhawam".
Later when with Sri Valmiki, He objected to this chapter being named so. So
powerful is the influence of the character of the Lord that Adi Kavi was not
prepared to name this chapter by any other name. Finally Anjaneya said that
while the other cantos were named after places or events why this chapter should
be named after a character. Then it is said that Valmiki agreed to change the
name as "Sundarakandam". This was agreed upon. It is said that Valmiki
scored over Anjaneya by renaming thus, because Sundaram is also the name of
Anjaneya. Valmiki had mostly used two names "vanarothama" and "kapishshresta" in
this entire canto. The beauty of the character of the Lord Anjaneya reflects
truth (sathyam), pure (sivam) and thereby the beauty in the full
form (Sundaram).
|| Sundaram eava vanara: ||
||Sudaram eava kapi:||
||Sundaram eava sarva: ||