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SUNDARAKANDA : Reason for its name and the significance
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The great Hanumān dominates the whole Kānda, except a few Sargās at the end. Since “Rāmayana” is the story of Rāma, it is not probable, that the poet would choose the name of any Kānda, after any other personage, since the name of every Kānda bears and has close nexus with, the name of the activity or the name of the place of activity of the supreme hero, Rāma. Then how came this Kānda to be called Sundarā Kānda, without detracting from Rāma’s eminence ?!
Bhagawān Vālmeeki, created a powerful mantra, which is a garland of 27 (an auspicious number 1/4×108) names of the exploits and the high qualities of the head and heart of Hanumān, which is known as Sundarā Hanumān mantra and he flowered forth from this Kānda. Rāma also has a claim to this epithet Sundarā, (beautiful). Thus serving both ways this Kānda is called Sundarā Kānda. In this Kānda only, all the great exploits are Hanumān’s exclusively. In the next Kānda (Yuddha Kānda) he shared the laurels with the other mighty monkey-chiefs, except in the two amazing deeds of bringing the mountain having the life saving herbs for Lakshmana. It is claimed and proved true that by a devout reading of this Kānda, one gets all his reasonable desires fulfilled by the grace of Lord Hanumān. Again this Kānda contains many splendid descriptions of various objects the ocean, the sky, the city of Lanka, its gardens and the superb description, of Moon light, of the pathos of Sita Dēvi’s form and situation in superb abstract similar and of the most beautiful physical features of Rāma, in their most ideal aspects (as if the poet was writing the Sāmudrika sāstra), of the splendid Rāvana’s features and his court, of the terrible fights of Hanumān and of the hideous beauty of the great fire of Lanka and so on. Thus this Kānda fully deserves its title Sundarā Kānda, which is more appropriate than any other title. The Kānda, by itself, appears as a Kāvya, by its varied sentiments, (Rasās) in various situations created by this mighty poet in various meters (as scholars say). Again, there is a Slōka, said to be sung at the time of the marriage of Lord Hanumān with Suvarchala Dēvi, the daughter of Sun-God. It says that Hanumān is capable of assuming any form (Kāmaroopi) and in whatever from he assumes he is Sundarā (very beautiful). He is beautiful as a bachelor (at the first meeting with Rāma), as a house holder, as a Vānaprastha hermit (third order of life) as Yati (wandering monk), as a very old person (with Bheema in Mahābhārata), as a young person, or as a boy, or as a simpleton (a dark horse by curse), or in a very small form (in Lanka, while searching for the Dēvi Sita) or in his cosmic form; and he is most beautiful in the three worlds, even though he is born as a monkey.
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It seems this Kānda, more than the other Kāndās, lends itself to allegoricala, philosophical thoughts by the scholars. Further the words and phrases used by this great poet occur in the sāstrās dealing with some occult disciplines, though they seemingly describe the attempts of the great Hanumān to ready himself for his great flight. A great critic sees in it a brief exposition of the most difficult and sacred and esoteric Kundalini Yōga (activating the dormant primordial cosmic energy – “serpent power” located in the person, in the plexus, (in Astral plane only) in the region where the legs commence). When it (Kundalini) in activated by thus Yōga (discipline), It is said to “wake up” and pass up through the Sushumna Nādi (an Astral nerve along the spine) through the higher “chakras” and finally reaches the thousand petalled chakra or Padma in the brain. (The holy union, resulting in samādhi, the super conscious state where mental modifications cease to exist. When this Kundalini is travelling up, the sādhaka will be having mystic experiences and great celestials will be coming into his mental vision. That is what the great Yōgi Hanumān had got. The great poet, thus symbolically suggests this Kundalini Yōga, by double meaning words, as the critic claims. He bases his opinion on the fact, among other things, that, throughout this Kānda, only two crucial names Hanumān and Marutatmaja of Hanumān occur, the former signifying Yogi and the latter, Praanaayama the very basis of Kundalini Yōga. Again, this Kānda begins with ततोरावण नतायः: – the first letter Tat is obviously the first sacred letter (वर्ण) of the holy Gāyatri mantra, the mother of seven crores of Mahā mantrās. Thus this Kānda speaks of two occult disciplines- Gāyatri and Kundalini Yōga – an additional reason for this Kānda being named Sundarā Kānda. The prophetic dream of Trijata, is obviously the mystical exposition of Mahā Gāyatri mantra . In mantra sāstra, Rāma is Gāyatri Dēvi (Lalithāmbika) and Lord Krishna is said to be Syāmala Dēvi. The full Gāyatri mantra, with the 7, instead of the 3 Vyāhrutis (bhU, bhuvaha,) and its head (apo Jyoti etc.,) is called praanaayama mantra.
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The poets say of Hanumān, assuming many beautiful forms, in his flight and adventures, an additional reason for this Kānda being called Sundara Kānda. For instance before Surasa there is the beauty of his utter humility and devotion and before Simhika, the beauty of his ferocity. Taking the cue from the great critic, who spelt the esoteric Kundalini (serpent power) Yōga, I offer my little thoughts as follows.
It is universally recognized in all religions, that them macrocosm has its reflection in the microcosm inside man but in an Astral form, the Astral counterpart of the physical body of man. The Mynāka mount coming in the way of Hanumān is symbolic of the Brahmagrandhi in the Kundalini Yōga. (These Astral nets are psychic forces tied up or concentrated and are situated along the Astral counter part of the spinal column). This Bahmagrandhi nourishes the student of Yōga. That is exactly what Mynāka intended to do for Hanumān. Goddess Surasa might stand for Vishnugrandhi. It tests the students’ capacity and eggs him on the spiritual path Simhika, the Ogress, is obviously Rudragrandhi. It prevents the student from further practice or even destroys him when he is wantonly guilty of a grave lapse, or sinister motives or becomes a demon in the making, our to vitiate the dharma and all of such ugly features in his practices requiring to be nipped in the bred. The micro cosmic yōgic features in man, are more sacrosanct thereafter, the Rudra Grandhi being near the final goal of the 1000 petalled lotus in the brain, in the Astral form. In the “Divine Comedy” of Dante, even the great Latin poet Virgil was denied entrance into “heaven”, under the new dispensation after the “Advent of Christ”. The Sundara Hanumān (beautiful in every aspect and beauty being truth and dharma) passed through this Rudra Grandhi Simhika and had the beatific vision of that supreme Gāyatri Dēvi (represented by Sita) in the thousand petalled lotus in the brain (occult aspect). The lotus rises magnificently over the miry waters. The Gāyatri Dēvi (the Goddess-Mother) is seated in the 1000 petalled lotus in the brain which is worse than mire, with all kinds of hellish thoughts. Sita Dēvi was also like that Gāyatri Dēvi. Kālidas says of Sita in the midst of fiends as ‘being a life-saving herb, surrounded by poisonous creepers’.
Again the seer-poet, Vālmeeki, uses two similes in this connection. One says that Hanumān shed his colossal form to resume his small form, like Mahā Vishnu, after pushing Bali down into Pātāla Lōka, resuming is Incarnate form of Vāmana. This might be a mere figure of speech But the other simile which says that Hanumān resumed his original form (small) like a realized soul who knowing the truth about the self (Brahman), sheds his delusions and misconceptions about the human body and the spirit (soul) this simile is certainly the suggestion about the Kundalini (Gāyatri) and Prānāyāma Yōga. The summum bonum of these occult Vidyās is this knowledge (realization) of the self (soul) – the knowledge that all “beings” are perishable and the “soul” is imperishable and pervades the “body” the form of matter, the ignorant persons thinking that soul (spirit) is subject to change and destruction – a mere delusion that even persons, striving spiritually, but not sublimated, are apt to experience. Thus the “true self of man is the “soul” and not the “matter” “the body” which it (soul) pervades. The “holy Gīta” says of one more divine entity, calling it the super soul (the super-spirit – purushottama), which pervades both the “perishable beings” in the form of hunger, thirst, Prana Apāna etc., to sustain “those beings” and also the soul (the spirit). Hence, he is called the “super-soul”. Thus the great poet has suggested the “Gāyatri Vidya” in this Kānda (Sundara). As a matter of fact, the whole of “Rāmāyana” of Vālmeeki, is a subtle exposition of the great Gāyatri Mahāmantra. For every thousand Slōkas, there is one mystic varna of Gāyatri, Its 24 varnas covering the 24000 Slōkas. Kānda-wise the varnas, from Tat to Yāt are 3 (in 1st Kānda), 4 (in 2nd), 2, 2, 3, 6 and 4 (7th Kanda) total 24 in number. Again, in my little opinion, ‘Tat Savituhu’ signifies (Tat = Parabrahma; Savituhu, the Adityaha behind the visible Sun) that great God (Tat) is born as Rāma in the Solar Dynasty. This is Bala Kānda. Rāma, showed himself to be the most perfect and adorable being by his virtues, signified by वरेण्यं in Ayōdhya Kānda. In Aranya and Kishkindha Kāndas, Rāma is Bhargaha, with splendour of God Rudra, destroying the Janasthāna garrison of Rāvana and killing Vāli and in Sundara Kānda he is Bhargaha, through his brotherly counterpart, Hanumān (almost alter-ego) and ob viously Bhargaha, in Yuddha Kānda. Rāma is ‘Devasya Dheemahee’- a worshippable great God, throughout all the Kāndās. Being a God and by virtue of his God-Head only, Rāma redeemed Ahalya, Kabandha, Virādha from their curses. At the great fire-ordeal of Sita, all the Gods appeared and worshipped Rāma as the great God “त्वं यज्ञः, त्वम् वषट्कारः, त्वं ॐकारः” etc., all being the aspects of Gāyatri. Further, on Rāma’s mere asking, God Indra, restored to life all the monkeys, killed in the battle. Then the last portion (the third “feet”) of Gāyatri – ‘Dhiyoyonah Prachodayaat’
May he inspire our intellect (or thoughts) is illustrated throughout the epic and more so in the seventh Kānda (Uttara Kānda) by his exploits in peace-time and his exemplary conduct throughout the epic. Again Gāyatri and the Vēdās followed Rāma to the river Sarayu on his departure to his Abode of Vaīkuntha. Again it is inconceivable that the reading of the life history of any human being, however great he might be, will confer spiritual merit, beyond some enlightenment. But the great Vālmeeki, with raised hands, declares “Rāmāyana” to be so potent both materially and spiritually. Thus the “Sundara Kānda” (even the whole of Rāmāyana) is a subtle exposition of Gāyatri and other esoteric Vidyās.
Extracted and abridged from: Valmiki Ramayana, Commentary by L.Ananta Rama Rao
Sundara Kanda, Sarga (1)
http://www.ramayanaepic.com/sarga_k5_s1.htm
Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/literature-articles/poetry-of-valmeeki-birth-of-rmyana-1337739.html#ixzz0ospEmoGT
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
About the Author
Sri L.A.Rama Rao was born in 1911 at Kathevaram near Tenali in Guntur district. He graduated from AC College, Guntur and obtained his Law Degree from Banaras Hindu University and practised at Tenali and Guntur Bars and later on moved to Hyderabad to practice at High Court. He wrote this commentary on Valmeeki’s Ramayana giving vivid descriptions of the various incidents in style. http://www.ramayanaepic.com/about_author.html
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