Musings on Jatayu & Category B

[Guest guest]

srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNe namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

 

Dear bhAgavatOttamAs,

 

We now commence examining the questions related to 'Category B' equipped

with the "Rt.Hon'ble Sastry Approach" explained in my last posting.

 

We have with us, as well, the following 'shloka' #39 from the 'Raghuveera

Gadyam' which serves as an excellent stage-setting or backdrop against which

a proper perspective on the Jatayu episode emerges :

 

"vikrama yashOlAbha-vikrIthajIvitha-grdhra-rAja-dEhadidhakshA-lakshita

bhakthajanadAkshiNya !"

 

A simple paraphrasing of the above verse into English will run,

I think (Sanskrit scholars may correct me, if needed), as follows :

 

"(O Rama), the Great Bird (Jatayu) won accolade for the whole tribe of the

Valorous Ones of this world; and paid the price for it with its life in the

bargain ! When you performed the last rites for that great warrior of a

bird, O Rama, how clearly you revealed, indeed, which acts of devotees are

those that merit and elicit your deep abiding affection for them !".

 

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamAs', to truly understand the dramatic context and message

of the 'Jatayu' incident in the 'Ramayana' or the 'Raghuveera-gadya' we need

to begin by first reflecting briefly on the uneasy relationship between Man

and the Animal world.

 

We all know the relationship of man to his environment is not an easy one.

And with the animal world it is even less symbiotic. Man since time

immemorial has sought to subjugate and exploit the animal world. He enslaved

the horse, the mule and the ox; he domesticated the dog, the cat, the cow

and the bird for his own private and selfish purposes.

 

In modern times we witness Man seeking to make (rapaciously sometimes) the

animal world sub-serve his commercial needs. Thence come the mass-scale

"industries" of poultry, bovine, equestrian and aqua-farming in today's

world of global commerce. These "industries" are both a blessing and curse

for mankind; "blessing" because Man seems to regard them as scientific ways

to alleviate the problem of finding ever more food for the ever-growing

population of the specie 'homo sapiens' on this planet; "curse" because

these industries have had untold effects on the delicate ecology of our

planet.They have brought in their wake large-scale human miseries and

tragedies like the "mad-cow beef disease" from Britain that is presently

raging in Europe or like the dangerous depletion of deep-sea life in our

oceans or in the outbreak of unnamed diseases caused by the use of modern

"animal-feed", "synthetic-protein" and bio-hi-technology.

 

Even as you are reading this posting of mine, dear 'bhAgavatOttamAs', far

away in the lush tropical forests of Indo-China, men are mercilessly hunting

down animals as part of what is, as we all know, an ongoing international

trade in fur, tusks, hides and other anatomical organs generating millions

of dollars.

 

It is this sort of brutal relationship created by man which, perhaps, is the

reason why every known animal specie of the world, having lived to survive

the long Darwinian march of evolution to this day and time, wholeheartedly

shuns the society of Man.

 

A bit like the great "rshis" of our ancestry, animals depend instead on the

company of the quiet, wild and deep forests for nourishment, sustenance and

well-being away from the harsh habitats of ordinary men.

 

Now it is in the context of this deep and natural relationship, so

fundamentally distrustful between Man and Animal --- it is in this real-life

context that we must proceed to further examine the ethereal and touching

bond that we know developed between Rama and Jatayu in the "aranyAkAndam".

 

We shall atempt to do it in my next posting.

 

srimathE srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha

 

sudarshan

 

srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha