Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the forty third sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Grace flows after thousands of years of the penance of king bhagIratha. River ganga descends onto the earth en route the matted hair locks of Siva, flows into the nether worlds and delivers the sons of sagara…
viSwAmitra continues… O rAma, as lord brahma disappeared suggesting bhagIratha to pray to lord Siva, he at once began a punishing and prayerful penance for lord Siva standing on his big toe! In a year, the lord of uma and all the beings manifested in front of bhagIratha! He conferred pleasant appreciation upon bhagIratha for his devotion and granted his desire that He should act as a speed breaker for ganga by taking her descent on His own forehead.
O rAma, approved thus by lord Siva, river ganga, hailed by all in the world, began her forceful descent with copious volumes of water! Proud of her might and force, ganga thought she will flow into the nether worlds taking lord Siva along with her! Being aware of the proud and convoluted intention of ganga, lord Siva concealed her in His large matted locks on his head which resembled mount himavAn itself. ganga was trapped and lost in the matted locks of Siva and could not find a way out of it to reach the earth for many years!!
bhagIratha was anxious not to find ganga on the earth and performed penance one more time. Siva was pleased with bhagIratha’s penance and released ganga into the bindusara or the bindu lake.
The emerging ganga flowed in seven auspicious streams causing prosperity. Three streams flowed east and were called hlAdini, pAvani and nalini. Three streams flowed west and were called suchakshu, sIta and sindhu. The seventh stream followed the divine chariot riding sagely king bhagIratha. ganga that fell on the matted locks of Siva flowed out onto the earth with a roaring sound bringing with it fish, turtles and a whole host of aquatic animals. This celestial spectacle of the grand descent of ganga from the heavens was witnessed with utmost wonder by the gods, demigods, sages and all other celestial beings who had assembled there in their respective levitating vehicles like horses, elephants and large aerial chariots. The skies shone with the brightness of multitudes of gods and their well decked brilliant ornaments. The aquatic animals descending with ganga appeared like lightning. At the point of the descent the splash of the glistening waters formed brilliant white foam in such quantities that they appeared like flocks of swans.
ganga flowed on the earth, rapidly somewhere, slowly elsewhere, now widely, now in a narrow geography, hither in high dashing waves and thither in low.
Having fallen from the sacred head of Sankara, ganga assumed holiness and was worship worthy for the gods, sages and earthlings. Those that experienced fall from the high heavens due to their sins, took bath in the glistening waters of the holy ganga and cleansed of the sins, reascended the heavens. People were ecstatic at the sight of the sparkling waters of ganga and were relieved of their fatigue by taking a dip in it.
The sagely king bhagIratha moved in his divine chariot and ganga followed him. Along with the inhabitants of ganga, the aquatic forms, even the gods, demi gods, apsaras, Rshis – all of them followed his chariot.
In that mighty and fierce flow ganga inundated the sacrificial altar of miraculous sage jahnu who was performing a yajna. Furious at the fiery pride of ganga, the sage jahnu at once drank away all the waters of ganga!! The dEvas and sages were astounded at this unimaginably miraculous act of the sage and prayed to him to treat the river as his daughter and release the waters. The resplendent jahnu was pleased and released the waters of ganga through his ears. Ever since, the holy river ganga also came to be known as jAhnavi.
Having resumed its journey the river ganga passed through the earth and entered the nether regions following bhagIratha. The amazing and successful bhagIratha was depressed for a moment to behold the heaps of ashes of his forefathers. O rAma, the holy waters of ganga then flowed over the heaps of ash submerging those and granting salvation to the sons of sagara who attained the high heavens thus having been sanctified of their sins.
Here we conclude the forty third sarga of the bAlakAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 