Musings on Sita's "agni-pravEsam" #14

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Dear members & friends who are following this thread,

 

"anumAnam" in the Vedantic tradition is recognized as one of the principal

"alternate ways" in which the human mind pursues, perceives and apprehends

Truth.

 

What is "anumAna" ?

 

It is the bridge which our rationality throws across the distance between

"appearance" and "reality". When we cross that "bridge" we easily

accomplish the "leap of inference" which transports us from the slippery

slopes of Unknowing to the safe shores of Certainty.

 

"Inference" or "anumAna" is, in other words, the vehicle which carries us

from "known truths" to "unknown Truth" .... from "mere appearance" to

"essential Truth".

 

For instance, it is "anumAna" indeed which takes us from the "appearance"

of smoke to the "truth" of fire.... and so we have the common idiom: "where

there is smoke there is fire".

 

It is the same inference of "anumAna" too, which if you have noticed, leads

one to make that common quip,"Tell me who your friends are and I will tell

you who you are."

 

Again, it is "anumAna", indeed, though of a very high scientific and

sophisticated order, which made Newton "infer" the truth of Gravity from

the appearance of a falling apple.....

 

The examples no doubt can be cited endlessly.... but it would

just suffice here if we properly understood that most of the "truths" with

which we live and swear by in this world ---- in this vast, whirling world

of sensory phenomena ---- most of such "truths" are really and largely

apprehended by us only through the inferential process called "anumAna".

 

The question we may then be led to ask is: "Is it possible to attain the

Vedic Truth gloried by the "purusha-suktam" .... "vedAhamEtam purusham

mahAntam...." ..... is it possible for us to attain that "para-brahm-ic"

Truth through the same inferential process by which mankind vaulted over

falling apples to land at the grand realization of the universal Law of

Motion and Gravity?

 

No, say the Vedas..... "nAnyafpanthA".... there is no way...not by

"anumAna"

in any case....

 

Why?, we may persist in asking.

 

It is because just as the physical faculty of "pratyaksham", as we saw

earlier, possesses infirmities and limitations... so too is the human

faculty for rational inference naturally afflicted with several flaws and

imperfections. Consequently, flawed inference oftentimes leads us to

grievously flawed truth.

 

******************* ************* *****************

 

Now, sometimes "anumAnam" leads one, in fact, to make downright absurd

conclusions too. A funny instance of how "anumAna" went astray was once

recounted by my "manaseega-AchAryan", Sri.Mukkur Swamy II ... and it will

bear recalling here before we proceed to relate it all to the events of the

"agni-pravesam".

 

"One early but bright "mArghazhi" morning, many years ago" he began....

"I was proceeding from home in Mambalam to Lord Parthasarathy's temple at

Tiruvellikeni. Unable to engage an auto-rickshaw immediately I strolled

over to the nearest bus-stand. Along with about half-a-dozen others

gathered there, I began the long and patient wait for the rare privilege of

Chennai's public transport."

 

"After about a quarter of an hour I witnessed a most unusual event..... it

was so unusual that a few of my fellow passengers-in-waiting too were drawn

to it."

 

"About a hundred yards from where we stood at the bus-stop, Usman Road

turned sharply into Doraisamy Road. Suddenly an auto-rickshaw pulled up at

this same street-corner. Eager to engage it, a few of us quickly proceeded

towards the rickshaw until what we saw abruptly halted us in our tracks."

 

"I saw an elderly brahmin gentlemen alighting from the auto-rickshaw. His

deportment and demeaneour indicated that he was an orthodox "vaidika

brahmin".... he wore his "dhoti" in the traditional "pancha-kaccha" style,

a rough-hewn shawl was draped around his shoulders, he wore the tuft on his

head and displayed proudly on his body and limbs were the 12 marks of the

"Urdhva-pundram" that shone forth with dazzling "brahma-tejas" ( the lustre

of religious grooming) ! He looked extremely venerable, indeed... every

inch the man given to observing the puritanical discipline of impeccable

Vedic conduct."

 

"As I watched him alight from the rickshaw, I saw this "vaidika" gentleman

pull out some currency from under his shawl and give it to the

rickshaw-man..... the fare perhaps, I thought. A moment later I saw him

mutter a few words to the same rikshaw-man.... and then to my utter

surprise, and to all those gathered there at the bus-stop, I watched the

venerable "brahmin" suddenly stride across to the other side of the road

and enter "Radha Bhavan"..... the wayside restaurant!!".

 

"We were simply aghast. I was speechless, dumbstruck..... I could not

believe my eyes!

 

"Here was I, it flashed across my mind, here was I watching the living

proof of Vedic degeneration in the age of Kali !!"

 

"As if echoing my own mortification, another gentleman who was standing

beside me in the bus-stop, who too had just witnessed what I had, began to

mutter under his breath to himself but within earshot:

 

"Oh, dear, dear....", he said, "What a sorry sight! Oh 'tempora'! Oh

"mores"! What a fall indeed for the Vedic ideal ! Why should it surprise us

that it doesn't rain enough in the land; why should it surprise us that

there is hunger, poverty and disease in this land? Why should it surprise

us that the gods themselves curse this land of ours .... this accursed land

where a "vaidika-brahmin", in full "brahma-vEsham" and regalia, including

his 12 "nAmam-s", his face radiating "vedic-tEjas".... a "brahmin" like

that thinks nothing of striding boldly, without the least compunction, into

a filthy, wayside restaurant for commoners.... that too in the broad

daylight of an auspicious "mArghazhi" morning ! Oh dear, dear, dear me....

what have we come to in this hallowed land of the Vedas.... I wonder what

the 'vaidika' gentleman is up to now! Feasting on what the restaurant

serves him perhaps! Yesterday's rancid "medu-vadai" turned into today's

steaming-special "vadai-curry" perhaps ..... !!".

 

Mukkur Swamy continued, "When I overhead my companion's anguished but

derisive remarks, a great sadness enveloped me too. The sight of a

"vaidikan" caught 'in flagrante delicto' transgressing the Vedic code,

caught entering a wayside restaurant .... just like that ....!! It pained

my heart to see one of our faithful brethren... one of our own.... commit

the unspeakable!!"

 

"Unable to tolerate this blatant act of Vedic tresspass," Mukkur Swamy

continued,"I decided then and there to confront the "vaidika" gentleman".

 

"As he came out of the wretched "Radha Bhavan" I strode up to him and

accosted him in a very belligerent manner."What a shame you are, Sir, to

the Vedic community! You who look so venerable, so full of "brahma-tejas",

how could you stoop to such low behaviour?".

 

"The poor elderly brhamin turned to me," said Mukkur Swamy,"and looked at

me with obvious perplexity.

 

"Pray tell me, SIr, what have I done now, at this auspicious hour, in the

month of "marghazhi", at this spot here at the intersection of Usman Road

and Doraiswamy Road, in the good neighbourhood of Mambalam, in this big

city of Chennai..... pray tell me what have I done that has brought shame

on the Vedic community and which has moved you to such indignation that it

has brought you here godspeed to pick a fight with me first thing in the

morning!", said the the old man equally belligerently.

 

"I then confronted him with the evidence", said Mukkur Swamy,"with the fact

of his visiting "Radha Bhavan" --- a commoner's wayside restaurant ....

unclean and un-vEdic ....

 

"How do you explain your conduct, SIr? Is it becoming of you to do this?

You who have obviously had "pancha-samskara" ....

"samAshrayanam" too!

 

************ ****************** *************************

 

At this point in the narration Sri.Mukkur Swamy paused and looking askance

at us with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, asked,

 

"Do you know what the old vaidika brahmin did next?".

"He drew his shawl over the shoulders and drawing himself up to his full

height, hands on hips, he shouted at me :

 

"Oy, hold it right there! Hold it! Your "anumAna" has gone all awry!"

 

***************************************************

 

Later it was explained what the old "vaidikan" meant by saying that Mukkur

Swamy's "anumAnam" had gone awry:

 

It seems the poor old brahmin on alighting from the autorickshaw had handed

out the fare with fresh currency notes.

 

The rickshaw-man however had expressed difficulty in returning change for

he did not have the necessary denominations of coins.

 

The old man had then pleaded with the rickshaw-man to go over to "Radha

Bhavan" and convert the currency notes into change at the restaurant's cash

counter.

 

The rickshaw-man however had had better ideas.

 

"Swamy, these restaurateurs are very rude fellows," he had said.

"If I go at this early hour in the morning and ask the Radha Bhavan cashier

for small denomination change... believe me, he will scream and throw me

out!

On the other hand, you O venerable Swamy, you who look so holy, so full of

Vedic piety, if you went up to Radha Bhavan and asked for change.... I am

sure

they will not turn you away... they dare not shoo away a good brahmin as

they surely

will an auto-rickshaw man like me.

 

"So I beseech you, Sir, kindly proceed yourself to Radha Bhavan to procure

the change and settle my fare!"

 

**************** ********************* *******************

 

And that was how the poor old 'vaidika-brahmin' had paid a visit to Radha

Bhavan !!

 

And that was how, too, Mukkur Swamy's "anumAn-ic" inference.... that the

old brahmin

had travestied and disgraced the whole Vedic community .....that was how,

in the end, the "anumANa" of Mukkur Swamy was rendered absurdly

erroneous !!

 

----------

 

 

So, now, what has all this got to do with "anumAna" and with the

"agni-pravesam" in the Ramayana?

 

We''ll find out in the next post. But meanwhile may I request you to please

go back to Musing#7 and re-visit the Ramayana scenes described there?

 

adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

sudarshan