conclude/pps/bharatha

[Guest guest]

srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

 

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s',

 

One of the reasons why I think the humorous anecdote on the 44th

Azhagiasingar and his old friend of Mannargudi (my post of 30 January)

appealed to many of you is that it reveals the true nature of 'virakthi'. It

starkly shows us that the revulsion felt by a 'vivEki' for the glitz of the

material world can be true only if he can reject it even when it is all well

within his means to indulge or wallow in it. If he renounces a thing (like

the old gentleman of Mannargudi renounced 'cheedai') out of inability to

indulge in it, then such self-abnegtion cannot constitute real 'virakthi'.

 

This is an aspect of 'virakthi' which sometimes in the real world we fail to

appreciate. The result is we often attribute this noble quality to quarters

that do not merit it at all.

 

As for Sri.Bharatha's 'virakthi' in the Ramayana there is little needed by

way of explanation to establish its genuineness. The prince amply

demonstrated his revulsion for the power and pelf that goes with the office

of the King of Ayodhya; he spurned the job with all its attendent

perquisites of opulence and ostentation; he was willing to denounce his

mother, father and even his guru; he did not have a moment's thought for his

own spouse; the majesty of the Court of the Ishvaku Empire meant nothing to

him; palace treasury, royal guards, hunting trips, banquets and balls,

carriages, splendid horses, court jesters and poets, retinues of loyal

courtiers or a harem of lovely courtesans --- everything could have been his

for the asking !

 

True 'virakthi' made Bharatha turn away from it all as one would turn away

from things funereal !!

 

Let us next explore the 'bheethi' that Bharatha experienced.

 

But briefly let us recollect our impressions of 'bheethi' from our post of 1

February:

 

"....In this stage the aspirant is overcome by "holy terror" ...because

while he realizes that earthly existence is NULL he, however, finds nothing

from the heavens to fill the VOID."

 

"...He ....is beset by doubt if the Lord, the "Abode of ALL Auspiciousness",

would ever deign to accept one as imperfect and infirm as himself."

 

"...He sees the vast chasm of 'samsAra', and of his own 'karma', that still lies

separating him and the Lord; and the very thought of it makes him give up

all hope of ever being able to cross it. Instead all he can feel is the

disease of temporality gripping him, like fatal gangrene, ever more firmly

and inextricably. He doubts if he will ever be able to break loose..."

 

"....Even if he did succeed would the Lord ever consider his incorrigible self

"eligible" for redemption ?"

 

"....What then is the value of even such measures like 'gnana', 'karma' or

'bhakti' ?"

 

Now, in the 'ayodhya-kAndam' it is described how Bharatha followed Lord Rama

into Chirtrakoota to persuade Him to return to Ayodhya. There are several

passages in Valmiki's version which show that Bharatha was beset by very

deep anxieties on the way to Chitrakoota. He was filled with a deep sense of

foreboding that perhaps, given all that had happened in the palace, and in

spite of the intimacy and mutual love each had for the other as brothers,

Lord Rama might never come around into believing that Bharatha was innocent

of the insidious plot his mother, Kaikeyi, had hatched.

 

The 'ayodhya-kAndam' portrays, with a stirring pathos surpassing that of the

best of any Shakespearean drama, the character of Bharatha wrenching the

heart and bowels of his soul out in the thought that Lord Rama, after all,

may yet find it difficult to believe his brother's expressions of remorse

for the inequity done to Him by the 'Ishvaku' family.

 

There are scenes described in this 'kAnda', dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', that

are capable of running, again and again, a blade of red-hot pain through

your heart as you imagine the scenes where Sri.Bharata mouths his

soliloquies on a dark and brooding fear that gnawed away the innards of his

soul --- the fear of being rejected out of hand by Lord Rama !!

 

To give a sample, Bharatha is said here to have agonised :

 

"How could my Lord ever possibly persuade himself to believe me ? How could

one such as I, brought forth unto this sorry world by a womb as unfortunate

as Kaikeyi's, be possessed of such faultless character as could regain Lord

Rama's affections ?"

 

Such was the depth and fury of the 'bheethi', dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', that

gripped the soul of even one as noble and virtuous as Sri.Bharatha !!

 

And yet, dear friends, he persevered on, in the true relentless spirit of a

SriVaishnava, bearing the heavy cross of his destiny and trudging up the

"4th step" of Swami Desikan's 'paramapada-sOpAnam' until .... until he began

to see the light at the end of the tunnel ... the 'prasada-hetu' !!

 

We will discuss the 'pramANam' of 'prasAdana-parva' in Bharatha's life in my

next post which, I assure you, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', will be the truly last.

 

srimathE srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha

 

sudarshan