Vali Slain - Part IX

[Guest guest]

Dear raama bhakthaas,

 

we saw in earlier post how thaara puts raama’s attributes in a single

slOkam. May be, if you are in a bhakthi bhaavam laden mood, you can

praise the lord in very exemplary manner, provided he puts the words

of his own praise in his bhakthaas mouth.

 

 

 

When thaaraa saw raamaa, she just had lost her husband or almost about

to lose, and in a mood of desperation. At that stage a simple look at

the lord changes her to pour out that excellent slOkam. So you can

judge the power of that simple look at raamaa. Now let us see the

commentaries on that slokam. Just for recollection first the slOkam -

 

 

 

thvam apramEya: cha dhuraasadha: cha jithEndhriya: cha uththama dharmaka: cha |

 

aksheeNa keerthi: cha vichakshaNa: cha kshithi kshamavaan kshathaja upamaa aksha: || 4-24-31

 

 

 

Point: Commentaries on this and next verse of thaaraa, from

‘Govindaraja’s commentary on raamaayaNam’ are excerpted here. [Few

points as below and in previous post on the ‘nivaasa vruksha’ are

taken from www.valmikiramayan.net and edited to suit the flow here]

 

 

 

1. ‘thvam’ – thaaraa says 'you, oh raamaa, of whom I am about to give

a positive picture, though presently contrary to that of your aspect

and action'. The singular word ‘thvam’ 'you' implies his singularity,

uniqueness. 'You are without any other divine paraphernalia and yet

you can manage the entire universe, singularly, but presently you

appear to be manlike, with arrows and a bow. May be you are hiding

your divine disc and conch shell etc., thus we are unable to elicit

whether you are 'that' or 'this' being with our limited physical

faculties'.

 

 

 

2. ‘thvam apramEya: cha’ – you are 'indeterminate’ ‘that is your

aspect'. vEdhaas themselves have no consolidation of your aspect when

said as,

 

· ‘vEdhaahamEtham purusham mahaantham’ - 'Supreme Person is

endless in nature'.

 

· ‘ka iththhaa vedhaa' ‘who knows that the being is like this

or that'.

 

 

 

Further svEtha asva thara Upanishad at 4-19 and also mahaa naaraayaNa Upanishad at I-10 say:

 

Om - na Enam rthvam na thiryaNcham na madhya parijagrabhath |

 

na thasya prathim asthi yasya naama mahad yasa: ||

 

meaning: "None has ever grasped Him by his upward limit, or His middle

portion, or His limit across. His name is 'great glory' for nothing

limits His nature by definition".

 

 

 

‘thvam apramEya’ continued - VEdhaas also say that he does not know of

himself. ‘sO anga vEdha yadhi vaa na vEdha’. But raama is evident

before thaaraa’s eyes. That is not the reality of that being, so

disputes thaara. This present aspect is only a namesake. While we

worship the unknown, we conceive a picture or statue to our

contemplation but not for his benefit as stated in ‘upaasakaanaam

kaaryaartham brahmaNO roopa kalpanaa'. He does not need any benefits

from us, should we be benevolent.'

 

 

 

3. thaaraa continues – ‘thvam dhuraasadha:’ - Though we are unable to

know you by our physical faculties, can we know you, oh raamaa, by

our mental faculties? Even that is impossible for us, because you are

dhuraasadha: - ‘an inaccessible entity'. Then she says this way,

 

· because you are eternal, there is no perish,

 

· because you are ever dynamic no impasse can occur,

 

· because you are ever blissful no depression can occur,

 

either to you or to your administration of dharma'.

 

 

 

This is what is available in Bhagavadh-Geethaa at 11-53:

 

na aham vEdhai: na thapasaa na dhaanEna na cha ijyayaa |

 

sakya Evam vidhO dhrashtum dhrushtavaanasi maam yathhaa||

 

'not through vEdhaas, not through charities, not through rituals I can be discerned, hey arjuna'.

 

 

 

4. She further analyses: ‘thvam jithEndriya:’ 'Because you are such an

inaccessible being, but we are all accessible to you, can you excite

yourself to grab this kingdom or the females or riches in it? You

cannot do so, because you are jithEndhriya: 'one with his senses

conquered'. You will give away all this to sugreevan. You are said to

be not eyeing at other's wives. ‘na raama: para dhaaram vai

chaksubhyaam api pasyathE’ - then how you eye at us? No, you cannot.'

 

 

 

This goes with the saying of svEtha asva thara upanishad, 3-19:

 

‘apaaNi paadhO javanO graheethaa pasyathya chakshu: na sruNOthi karna:’

 

'no hands no legs, He goes everywhere, no ears no eyes He sees everything...'

 

 

 

Thus the sensory organs and their activities are for the mortals,

immortal is beyond them. Thus you have conquered all such

physicality, oh raamaa.'

 

 

 

5. ‘thvam uththama dhaarmika:’ - 'I thought you to be an unrighteous

person in killing my husband, but you are uththama dhaarmika:’ -

supreme among the righteous souls, because you have helped sugreevan

without any personal greed'.

 

 

 

A person who undertakes and does a deed only for himself is a

base-level righteous person [adhama]. One, who does so for his

benefit, and for the benefit of a few others, is a middle-level

righteous one [madhyama]. A highest level righteous one undertakes

anything to protect righteousness alone [uththama].

 

 

 

In killing vaaali, raama has got only one point in view, 'to eliminate

an abuser of tradition, ‘chaarithra dhooshaka’ and not even bothering

for the searchers of seethaa. When raama can eliminate 14000 demons

of khara in aaraNya kaaNdam and also when he can put the sea to

turmoil, can he not fling his arrow to the other side of that ocean

to kill raavaNan?

 

 

 

He can, but, he has to course through sugreeva's friendship, mainly to

punish vaali, among other things. ‘So you are supreme among these

kinds of benefactors, because you have paved way to vaali to go to

heavens instead of netherworlds, so no discredit ensues’ concludes

thaaraa by this address.

 

 

 

6. next is ‘thvam aksheeNa keerthi’. Raama may question thaaraa as

'why you are eulogizing me, when I got discredit in killing vaali

without confronting him?'. For this she says ‘thvam a + ksheeNa

keerthi’ - 'unmitigated is your glory'. 'you are renowned not by a

few of us but all the vEdhaas extol you'.

 

 

 

This is what is available in Bhagavad-Gita at 15-15:

 

sarvasya chaaham hrudhi sannivishtO maththa: smruthirgnaanamapOhanam cha|

 

vEdhai: cha sarvai: aham Eva vEdhyO vEdhaanthakruthvEdhavidhEva chaaham||

 

- 'by all vEdhaas, I alone can be known', and

 

- there is another vEdhic saying ‘thasya naama mahadh yasa:’

is also there.

 

 

 

7. ‘thvam vichakshaNa:’ – thaaraa continues - 'oh raamaa, you are a

very discriminating person - you are vichakshaNa:. This

indiscrimination is evident in you, because you have eliminated only

one scandalous vaali, but not the entire race of him.

 

 

 

You, yourself, said, 'I will eliminate all the demonic race', when you

wanted to punish raavaNan, the abductor of your wife, when you have

seen seetha's ornaments [as at SR 4-6-25].

 

 

 

That analogy is not shown here in kishkindha. When sugreevan examined

your capacity, you also examined the capacities of vaali and

sugreevan in their first round of fight. Because sugreevan prayed for

your mercy, you simply did not kill vaali, but a calculated approach

is adopted by you, in the second round, and hence you are very

discriminating'.

 

 

 

[dear bhakthaas, please note the point in the commentary here, why the

second round of fight has taken place]

 

 

 

8. ‘thvam kshithi kshamavaan’ – oh raamaa, you are earth-like, in

endurance' and as told by naaradha to vaalmeekee ‘kshamayaa pruthvee

sama:’ 'in perseverance equals with earth' - baala kaaNdam 1-1-18.

You are tolerant of us, the other monkeys, though we were on the side

of erring vaali. You have not taken us to task en masse because of

your tolerance.

 

 

 

9. ‘thvam kshathaja upamaa aksha:’ –oh raamaa, your eyes are

blood-streaked like those of an emperor, unlike the bloodshot eyes of

a murderer. ‘raamO rakthaantha lOchana:’ and ‘kshathaja upamaa akshaH’

- a sovereign should have roseate eyes, mouth and palms.

 

 

 

‘raktha aasya nEthra paaNi: thrithaamra’ as per saamudhrika saasthram

the physiognomic canons. Even though your eyes are reddish, you are

not looking like nara-simha, man-lion incarnation at the time of

killing hiraNya kasipu'.

 

 

 

10. Please note, the words like 'cha' 'thu' 'Eva' either play a havoc

or go in drain in their usage. Here 'cha' is used for six attributes

while two more are not suffixed with it. The usage of 'cha' to six of

the attributes is to tell that those aspects are available in the

Supreme alone. The last two attributes are not suffixed with this

'cha' because these two are raama's attributes in his personal

humanly nature and the Supreme is above these things.

 

 

 

12. Leaving all the above to a side for a moment, there is another

viewpoint for these aspects. The word 'cha' if taken as 'alone' or

'only' then the meanings as stated above undergoes a change as

 

a. ‘apramEya: cha’ - 'you are knowable 'only' by your adherents

[alone] despisers cannot know you'.

 

b. ‘dhuraasadha: cha’ - 'you are inaccessible to others and

accessible 'only' to your adherents [alone].

 

c. ‘jithEndhriya: cha’ - 'indulgent in your adherents 'only /

alone' and by conquering your senses you do not cast your glance at

the disavowed'.

 

d. ‘uththama dhaarmika: cha’ - 'you are the 'only' supreme

Dharma, or you alone is Supreme Dharma'.

 

e. ‘vichakshana: cha’ - 'you 'only' can discriminate good from

bad, right from wrong. as you alone have said ‘mithra bhaavEna

sampraaptham na thyajE ayam katham cha na’ 'I will not leave off one

who befriends me'.

 

f. ‘kshithi kshamavaan cha’ - 'the only / alone forbearing

being'. Here also the 'cha' can be brought in as per dhehalee dheepa

nyaaya, the syndrome of 'portico-lamp', a lamp kept in portico beams

a little inside the house also.

 

 

 

Thus Govindaraja comments on this verse are so elaborate. Dear

bhakthaas, perhaps by pouring out all these attributes on raama, by

her saththvic guNam, thaaraa establishes her in a high pedesal. We,

also, are convinced that vaali vadham from behind a tree is not an

act of controversy but a dhaarmic act. As sreeman sadagopan iyengaar

swamin puts in his ordeal by fire – ‘if only raama does, it should be

correct’.

 

With due respects

 

v.anjaneyulu, itarsi

 

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