குழந்தையிலிருந்தே ராமபக்தி

Govinda Damodara Swamigal was immersed in Rama Bhakti (devotion to Rama) right from his birth. Devotion to Rama came to him as a family heirloom. His grandfather (paternal) used to chant the Rama Nama one lakh times every single day before eating. Swamigal’s father had studied the Vedas and lived a life of Vedic rituals. During the discourses of Anantharama Deekshithar and Mayavaram Periyava, he would perform the moola parayanam (reading the original Sanskrit text) of the Ramayana and Bhagavatam. His name itself was Venkatarama Sastrigal. They named Swamigal “Kalyanaraman.”

Swamigal’s father’s uncle (Chithappa) played the tambura and sang the Valmiki Ramayana, giving discourses for fifty years. In one particular town, he gave a Ramayana discourse explaining the meaning of every single verse for an entire year. The people of that town repeatedly asked him to tell it again and again, and so he stayed in that town for five years, constantly narrating the Ramayana. His wife (Swamigal’s aunt/Chithi) heard every one of those Ramayana discourses. Since they had no children, they adopted Swamigal’s father and raised him. When Swamigal was three years old, his mother attained mukthi. Therefore, it was this great-aunt (Chithi Patti) who raised Swamigal. Because she had listened to the Ramayana for fifty years, she narrated the Ramayana to Swamigal with such great joy.

One day, she was telling the Ramayana to Swamigal. His father was sitting on the veranda (thinnai) performing his Ramayana parayanam. They lived near the Rockfort in Trichy. That aunt said, “Kalyanam, Sugriva is watching from the Rishyamukha mountain. Rama and Lakshmana are coming. Now, imagine Rama and Lakshmana are walking right in front of our house entrance, and Sugriva is watching them from the Ucchi Pillayar Temple!” Hearing this, his father ran inside. “Chithi, I have been reading and listening to the Ramayana for so many years. It never occurred to me that Rama and Lakshmana are walking in front of our house. I never got that bhava (feeling). But you have seen the Ramayana as a visual reality before your eyes!” he exclaimed in celebration. Because this aunt kept telling him these stories, Swamigal developed a deep love for the Ramayana.

Swamigal used to share another incident. He suffered from Balarishtam (childhood ailments) and had many diseases. Once, he contracted typhoid and was placed on the veranda. In those days, if they thought a child wouldn’t survive, they would do that. At that time, his father recited a verse from the Ramayana.

It is the story where Dasaratha accidentally hits a young hermit boy (Muni Kumara) with an arrow, and the boy dies. Because of this, Dasaratha receives a curse and suffers the separation of Rama in his final days. In that story, the father of the hermit boy holds the dead child in his lap and laments: “Who will look after us like you did? You were the eyes for us who have no sight. You fed us, bathed us, and looked after us with love when we had no way to earn.” While lamenting, he says, “You used to recite verses so sweetly to the ears. Where will I hear that anymore?”

Reciting that verse, Swamigal’s father said, “Kalyanam, if you go away, who is going to recite verses so sweetly for me anymore?” Immediately, the aunt said, “Don’t say that shloka! Shouldn’t the child recover and come back to life?” She knew exactly where that shloka appeared in the text and its context—it was a lament over a dead child—and she didn’t want it used for a living child. She had listened to and experienced the Valmiki Ramayana so intently. Our Swamigal was the child raised by such a grandmother.

Swamigal started reading the Valmiki Ramayana on his own from the age of ten. There is a hymn called Mooka Panchashati. While he was reading it, he came across the 318th verse:

“Kuntī-karotu vipadam mama kunchita-bhrū-

chāpānchitah shrita-videha-bhavānurāgah |

Rakshopakāram-anisham janayan-jagatyām

Kāmākshi rāma iva te karunā-katākshah ||”

As soon as he read this, he ran from the veranda to his father and said, “Appa, our Rama is mentioned in this shloka!” There happened to be a Mahatma (a great soul) there at the time. He took Kalyanaraman aside to a nearby Amman temple and said, “Child! You don’t have a mother. Keep reciting this Mooka Panchashati without fail. Kamakshi herself will be your mother and protect you.” Swamigal said he never saw that Mahatma again. From that age of ten, Swamigal held onto the Mooka Panchashati firmly. He worshipped that very hymn as his mother, as the Goddess herself. Swamigal would say, “I am very sensitive. If someone said something hurtful to me I would recite this”

“Kripā-dhārā-dronī kripana-dhishanānām pranamatām

Nihantrī-santāpam nigama-mukutottamsa-kalikā |

Parā kānchī-līlā-parichayavatī parvata-sutā

Girām nīvī devī girisha-paratantrā vijayate ||”

He would recite this, knowing that “Nihantrī-santāpam” means “She who destroys all distress.” He used to say, “I would go sit under a peepal tree and recite these verses loudly so the whole town could hear, and that would soothe my heart.”

Because of that devotion to Ambal, Swamigal lived with great compassion toward all women. We shall see that next.

Gopika Jeevana Smaranam… Govinda! Govinda!