mAyA sItA - 1

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SrI:

SrImatE Sri Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmanE namaha

SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaNN SatakOpa -

SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdEsikAya namaha

 

Dear devotees,

namO nArayaNA. pranAmams.

 

Regarding this mAyA sItA issue, adiyEn would like to share

whatever adiyEn heard from Sri U.Ve.Villur KarunAkaran swAmy,

more than one and a half years ago. Unfortunately, adiyEn

couldn't write before, due to the school schedule/pressure.

 

The central question is whether rAvanan kidnapped sItA pirAtti

OR he kidnapped some other person (jIvAtmA) disguised as sItA.

 

Let us get clarified about what "mAyA sItA" means before entering

into further discussion. "mAyA sItA" implies that some jIvAtmA has

taken the form of sItA pirAtti (ie. appears alike). mAyA sItA

doesn't mean that some "illusionary" effect is there as if sItA is

present, while actually she wasn't present. Nothing is unreal /

illusionary in this world. Everything is a reality only.

 

As many devotees pointed out, there is no mention in SrImad

vAlmIki rAmAyanam about this substitution of sItA pirAtti with

some other person. But, the kidnapping of sItA pirAtti by rAvanA

breaks the heart of all the devotees and we strongly feel to even

kill him if one can. Yes.... No devotee can tolerate such a thing.

 

A Koorma purAnam verse was quoted by Sri Krishna SusarlA , which

basically tells that rAvanA kidnapped chAyA sItA / mAyA sItA and

not sItA pirAtti. This in a way consoles many devotees who are

disturbed by that act of rAvanan. The main argument from the Gaudiya

VaishnavAs is that sItA pirAtti (who according to them is Internal

Potency / Pleasure potency of Lord Krishna - as per adiyEn's

understanding ) can't be touched by a materialist like rAvanan

who is infact filled with lust.

 

The substitution if at all took place, is said to have happened as

soon as yiLaya PerumAL (LakshmanA) left sItA pirAtti (ie. just before

rAvanan's appearence for kidnapping). Probably this is what is

portrayed in SrI TulasidAs's rAmAyanam.

 

But, another rAkshasA named virAdhA kidnapped sItA pirAtti as soon

as they entered dhandakAranyam ( before BharathAzwAn's saraNAgathi

itself).

 

The following is from GItA Press translation ( adiyEn just heard

the verses through phone from Sri JaganAth. So, the transliteration

may not be perfect) :

 

Aranya kAndam Ch2 8-13 :

 

"rAmam lakshmanam chaiva sItAm dhrustvA cha maitilIm

 

abhyadh dhAvath susam krudhava prajaha kAla yevAntataha

satkrutva bhairavan nAdham chAlayamniva mEdhineem

 

ankE nAdhAya vaidhEhIm apakramya thadhA braveet

yuvAm jatAchIrAdharou sabAryove ksheena jeevitau

 

pravishtou dhandakAranyam SarapASipAninou

katam tApa sayOrvO cha rAsaha pramadaya saha

 

adharmachArinow pApow cow yuvAm munidhooshakow

aham vanamidham durgE virAdhO nAma rAkshasaha

 

charAmi sAyudhdhO nitya mrushee mAmsAni bakshayam

yeyam nAri varArOhA mama bhAryA bhavishyati

 

yuvayOhO pApayOschuhAham pArsyAmi ruddhiram mruddhE "

 

" He saw rAmA,lakshmanA and sItA, the princess of mithilA

and attacked them with great anger, as kAlA,the destroyer

of people attacks them. He made a terrific sound as though

making the earth tremble and took vaidEhi (sItA) in his

arms and went afar and then said :

you two having matted hair and wearing a bark garment

and still having a wife with you ,With your life coming

to an end, having entered the dhandakA forest taking

arrows, bows and sword in your hands. Again how are you

two ascetics staying with a women? Who are you sinners

doing unrightious deeds bringing a blot upon the sages ?

Armed with weapons, I as the rAkshasA named virAdhA,

always wander in this forest which is difficult to access,

eating the flesh of sages. This beautiful lady will become

my wife and I shall drink the blood of you two sinners on

the battle field "

 

Anyway, afterwards, that rAkshasA was killed. But, the point is

that even virAdhA kidnapped sItA pirAtti with lusty desires. This

took place as soon as they entered dhandakA forest. So, if mAyA

sItA has to be there at this stage also, then the substitution

must have taken place at ayOdhyA itself. Well, then the entire

rAmAyanam becomes meaningless in a way. Infact, sage vAlmIkI

says that whatever he recorded is "sItAyAsch charitam mahat". This

great story is about sItA and not even rAmA. Such an emphasis is

given to the role sItA pirAtti played in the vibhava avatAra

leelA of the Divya Dampati during thrEtA yugA. Infact, trijadai

saraNAgathi at aSoka vanam is a very important incident that

took place at LankA. Only pirAtti has the power of giving moksham

(*) (ofcourse it is given alongwith PerumAL)and some other

jIvAtmA in a disguise as pirAtti can't grant moksham . rAmAyanam

is infact the saraNAgathi vEdam. There are many more important inner

teachings imparted by the Divya Dampati for us through their leelA,

which can be learnt from our AchAryAs.

 

(*) : That is in accordance with the teachings of SwAmi Desikan.

 

 

So, vAlmIki rAmAyanam is very clear in its intent that sItA pirAtti

was kidnapped twice - once by virAdhA and second time by rAvanA.

 

But, we have another pramAnam (koorma purAnam) which says that

rAvanA kidnapped mAyA sItA. If this were not an interpolated verse,

and is authentic, then it means that in one of the kalpams, during

the rAmAvatAram, mAyA sItA was present instead of sItA pirAtti.

This is known as "kalpa bEdham" . Whenever the portrait of some

incident differs from one sAthvIka purAnam to another (well, can

be extended for other purAnams also in a way), then it means that

those two incidents has taken place at different kalpAs.

 

adiyEn remembers the materialistic analogy given by Sri KarunAkaran

swAmy. If two statements are there as follows : "India beat West

Indies in the world cup" and "West Indies beat India in the world

cup". Obviously, one has to understand that this refers to different

world cup series/matches and it doesn't refer to the same match.

Since sage vyAsar had the vision of many a things, each time, each

incident was narrated. This is actually a very trivial thing. There

are infinitely many brahmAndAs and in each brahmAndA PerumAL's

avatAram takes place during various kalpams and so many possibilities

of variegatedness are present. So, if some difference in the portrait

of some incidents are there amongst purAnAs(esp.sAthvik), it is

obviously due to kalpa bEdam.

 

So, mAyA sItA might have been present for one such rAmA avatAram.

 

As a side note adiyEn would like to tell that the purAnAs are not

there for teaching astronomy, geography etc to us. The main intent of

PurAnAs is to make one understand the various kalyAna gunAs of

PerumAL and esp. the leelAs He personally performed during various

time periods. The main lesson given by the Divya Dampati through

their leelAs is that, whatever be one's status in this material

world, its all only temporary and transient. It has no relevance

to the jIvAtmA. The svaroopam of a jIvAtmA is to serve the Divya

Dampati and to attain Sri VaikuNTham, one has to follow either the

path of bhakti OR prapatti. PurAnAs are filled with the actual

episodes in which the Divya Dampati grants moksham to many such

mumukshus. So, after reading purAnAs, one should get that

vairAgyA (detatchment from materialistic pleasures) and start

devoting oneself for performing kainkaryams to Divya Dampati and

their devotees , following either bhakti yOgA / prapatti.Ofcourse

no one is performing bhakti yOgA (upAsanA) these days. If one

chooses bhakti yOgA, various brahma vidyAs are described in

upanishads and the mumukshu will be highly gaining from vEdAs now.

 

Sri EngaLAzhwAn (AchAryA of Sri nadAdUr ammAL) infact discusses

this very issue (import of purAnAs) in his brilliant commentry

on Sri Vishnu purAnam. One purAnam gives the distance between

sun and earth as "x" and another purAnam gives some other value.

This is a very trivial thing since purAnam is not meant for

astronomy etc. This is only a very side point and one shouldn't

be bothered about such trivialities.

 

If Srimad Azhagiyasingar after having some computer scientists

as sishyAs gives some analogy using computer jArgons (after

learning one or two things from His sishyAs), probably some

terminology mistake etc might happen. But, that is not at all

the intent of Azhagiyasingar. It is only an incidental statement.

One should not bang one's head and keep thinking as to why

Azhagiyasingar told "Cobol" while it has to be "Visual C++".

 

Life is so short and one has to gain the vairAgyA and understand

the sarIra sarIri bhAvam eternally existing between Sriman

nArAyaNA and oneself, and adopt a way to reach Sri VaikuNTham after

realizing that one has wasted all their past lives. The main focus

of the purAnam should not be out of our minds.

 

One has to understand that even the most opulent rAvanan who had

enormous credits with him due to his tapas (even the dEvAs were

trembling in front of him) was finished off just because of his

lusty desire. A single mistake costed everything.Hiranyakashipu

was ruling this earth and other allied lOkAs for around 71 chatur

yugAs. All the dEvAs were mere servants of him and infact he was

thinking that he was the supreme of all. Not a single vaishnavA

was there in his kingdom except PrahlAdan. But PrahlAdan after

attaining the Brahma jn~Anam from Sage nAradar was always in

rememberance of Sriman nArAyaNA. Even when the whole world was

glorifying Hiranyakasipu as the supreme, PrahlAdA didn't had even

a trace of doubt regarding the fact that Sriman nArAyaNA was

the supreme of all. We then know how the most glorious nrusimha

avatAram took place and how PerumAL finished off Hiranyakasipu.

 

So, such vairAgyam, jn~Anam and bhakti has to be developed after

hearing purAnams / leelAs of PerumAL which He did specifically

for these very reasons. One shouldn't miss this at any cost.

 

We shall discuss the philosophical issues concerned with this

mAyA sItA episode in the next posting.

 

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam