lakshmi-nrsimha karAvalamba stOtram- 12.1

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(CONTINUED from the immediately preceding post No: 12

 

In Srimad Ramayana, in the "ayOdhyA-kAndam" (the chapter on Lord Rama's

halcyon days as the Crown Prince of AyOdhyA), the great epic poet, Sage

Valmiki paints an extremely poignant scene of personal sorrow. It is a

famous "itihAs-ic" setting and its grand depiction of human grief shows us

how the emotion closely resembles the character of an old "koopa" in many

ways similar to the 6 points of comparison detailed above.

 

It all happens when Lord Rama breaks the news of his exile from Ayodhya to

his dear mother, Queen Kausalya. He tells her he is departing and will never

be able to see his beloved Ayodhya during fourteen long years to follow. He

has come to take leave of her and to let her know he is carrying out to the

last letter the express command of his father, Emperor Dasaratha and Queen

Kaikeyi, that he, Rama, should renounce forthwith his claim to the throne of

the kingdom in favour of Bharatha.

 

Kausalya is struck dumb by the news. It breaks her heart.

 

It dawns on her that very instant that her fond dreams and hopes for the

future have been dashed irreparably in one fell swoop of cruel Fate and

palace intrigue; and that she proud Queen of Ayodhya will never again be!

 

The world crumbles about Kausalya like a house of wax on fire. A paroxysm of

personal grief envelops her. She sinks into a "koopa" of sorrow!

 

It is a magnificent scene, yes indeed, this one in the Ramayana! It is a

real classic of high-voltage, heavy-duty drama!

 

Kausalya breaks out into an orgy of lamentation. She speaks out a torrent of

lines that legions of commentators over the years have hailed as being some

of the most powerful and unforgettable ever that Valmiki scripted in the

entire epic of the Ramayana.

 

Here they are in the Sanskrit original and with their respective English

translation (mine, and it is free and not literal):

 

sA bahoonya~manOgnyAni vAkyAni hrudaya~cchidAm I

aham srOshyE sapta~neenAma~varaNAm varA sathee II (II.20.39)

 

"Alas! Now I am going to be the most wretched of the unfortunate queens in

this palace. If my son is banished what shall be my fate!"

 

atO duKhataram kim nu pramaDAnAm Bhavishyati I

mama shOkO vilApashcha yAdrushO~ayamanan~taka-ha II (II.20.40)

 

"My sorrow and my lamentations shall be endless in the days ahead, I fear!

You know a woman is considered contemptible if she does not beget a son. But

having begotten a son, if she were to lose him like I have lost you, all the

misfortunes that were heaped upon her when she had been barren, would now be

increased manifold!"

 

Tvayi samnihitE~apyEvamaham~Asam nirAkrutA I

kim punaha prOshithE tAtha Dhruvam maraNamEva may II (II.20.41)

 

"Even when you are here, a grown-up son with me, so honoured by your father,

so respected all over the world, even with you here, this has been my fate!

When you have gone, what will be my plight? Only Death!"

 

yadi putra na jAyaThA mama shOkAya rAGhava I

na sma duKhamathO Bhuya-ha pashyEyam~ahamaprajA-ha II (II. 20.36)

 

"O, why were you born at all, O Rama, my son? If you had remained unborn, my

sole sorrow would have been that of barren woman….".

 

Eka Eva hi vanDhyAyAhA shOkO Bhavati mAnasaha I

aprajAsmeethi samtApO na hyan~yaha putra vidhyatE II (II.20.37)

 

"A barren woman has only one grief. She has no other burden of the soul. But

having you for my son, you of all people, see what grief I can come to!"

 

athyantham nigraheetAsmi Bharturnityama-tantritA I

parivArENa kaikEyyAha samA vApyaThavA~varA II (II.20.42)

 

"My husband does not show me the honour due to me and soon, I know, shall I

begin to be considered as being no better, perhaps somewhat worse, than any

menial of Kaikeyi."

 

nityakrODhatayA tasyAha kaTham nu KharavAdi tat-th I

kaikEyyA vadanam drashtUm putra shaksyAmi durgatA II (II.20.44)

 

"My dear son, when you are gone from me, and I no longer enjoy your strong

presence, how can I look at her face? Kaikeyi's speech to me is bound to be

harsh!"

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Observe how many times above Kausalya uses words like "dUKha" and "shOkha"!

 

(1) Observe how the cataclysmic events in the IkshvAku household take her

completely aback. Overnight, as it were, they reduce the senior-most queen

of Ayodhya from the pinnacle of regal eminence to the pits of snivelling

self-pity.

 

(2) Observe how pathetic are the expressions of her dark foreboding that she

is in for a long and interminable period of sorrow following Rama's

departure.

 

(3) Observe the depth of her pain and anguish when she exclaims they even

exceed the sorrow of the infertile woman she might have been.

 

(4) Observe how Kausalya's tortured mind reflexively veers towards the

macabre when she wails, "kim punaha prOshithE tAtha Dhruvam maraNamEva may."

She says Death now is certainly her only fate… "Dhruvam maraNam-eva may!" It

is hard to be certain about it, but at this point in the drama of the

Ramayana, it is not unreasonable to conclude that Queen Kausalya may have

silently contemplated putting an end to her life.

 

(5) Observe, finally, how Kausalya says she is convinced that once Rama is

gone, leaving her a desolate and grieving mother, Dasaratha, Kaikeyi and all

of AyodhyA would have no more use for her …except to constantly (6) spurn

her and heap upon her one humiliation after another.

 

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Keeping in mind all that has been explained above, if you read the LNKS

verse#5 …and carefully again the line "samsArakoopa-atigOram-agAdamoolam

samprApya dukha-shatha-sarpa-samAkulasya"…. you will begin to really

understand why Sankara bhagavathpAdA uses the metaphor of "koopa" to denote

the terrible fear of sorrow afflicting Man.

 

The reason is clearly this: the fear of personal sorrow can greatly impede

attaining Faith. It can also erode and destroy attained Faith.

 

In the Ramayana, none other than Kausalya herself, the mother of the Supreme

One, overtaken by sorrow cries out,

 

"yadi putra na jAyaThA mama shOkAya rAGhava I

na sma duKhamathO Bhuya-ha pashyEyam~ahamaprajA-ha II (II. 20.36)

Eka Eva hi vanDhyAyAhA shOkO Bhavati mAnasaha I

aprajAsmeethi samtApO na hyan~yaha putra vidhyatE II (II.20.37)

 

"O, why were you born at all, O Rama, my son? If you had remained unborn, my

sole sorrow would have been that of barren woman… A barren woman has only

one grief. She has no other burden of the soul. But having you for my son,

you of all people, see what grief I can come to!"

 

Kausalya's lamentation has the following grave lessons for us:

 

To be "barren" of Faith in our lives is true sorrow.

To let Faith "depart" from our life out of fear of sorrow is unspeakable

tragedy.

 

The "Well of Sorrow", Sankara's "samsAra-koopa", is thus a terrible human

state indeed! Even someone like Kausalya, living as she did in the proximate

presence of the Supreme Being, could descend into it! What then is to be

said about the fate of mere mortals like us?

 

Should we all hence not raise our hand to the skies and pray for divine

protection from such a state by crying aloud: " hay! lakshmi-nrsimha mama

dEhi karAvalambam !"

 

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In the next post we will take up Verse no.6 of the LNKS dealing with

"Bheekara-kareendra"… the fearful archetype of Death.

 

adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

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