re bow's story - note JASN points

[Guest guest]

jasn sn [jayasartn]

Saturday, November 27, 2004 10:13 AM

Re: Bow's story - further clarifications on questions raised.

 

JASN: SrI: Respected sri Vasudevan swami, Thank you for your mail. I look

forward to your comments. Meanwhile I thought I can share some more views.

 

MGV: Welcome.

 

JASN: This is about Brahmasthram. On the one side we see that the brahmasthram

sent by Indrajit could only tie up Hanuman (Sundhara khandam) and on the other,

we find that Rama delayed (?) the use of it till he got tired (?) of cutting

Ravana's head. He is said to have weighed the options of what asthra to use and

then decided to shoot the Brahmasthra.

 

MGV: sri hanumaan had the boon by brahmaa, that all weapons including his own

brahmaasthram cannot do any harm to hanumaan. Just to show respect to

pithaamahan, the athidhEvathaa for that asthram, that too in front of others,

hanumaan waited as though he was bound. Also, that was a pretext, so that, if, a

chance comes in his way, he could see that so called mighty raavaNan. That

chance eventually came in his way. This is fully explained in sundhara kaaNdam.

 

JASN: Also we see repeatedly that Rama always applies discretion as to what

asthras to use. A blade of grass became his asthra to punish kaakaasura, but

that he waited for a while to decide on to use brahmasthra is a point to ponder.

 

MGV: For kaakaasuran - it is immediate punishment - for, he has done physical

damage to raamaa's wife, that too in front of raamaa and in the vicinity of

raamaa. Further his identity at that stage may be a point, since he is a dhEvaa.

For dhEvaas, no hesitation is shown by raamaa in punishing them.

 

As said in vaali's slain by sri anjaneyalu, vaali made a heavy mistake of making

friendship with raavaNan. Similarly the son of king of dhEvaas, jayanthan, who

is kaakaasuran, has to be severely punished for the crime. Further he did not

have brahmaa's boons like raavaNan.

 

Also as said in manu smruthi the 'punishment levels' for the same type of crime,

to people among the chaathur varNam vary. The severest is for BraahmaNan -1st

varnam and lightest for the 4th varnam. Since jayanthan is one more than the 1st

varnam itself, viz. dhEvaa, the punishment level to him has to be naturally

higher than braahmaNan. He has to receive severest punishment, that too

immediately, that is what happened in jayanthan's case.

 

For raavaNan it is with a hesitation. For brahma only had given the boon to

raavaNan. Perhaps raama had the doubt of whether brahma's own asthram will work

against brahmaa's own 'boon recipient', the raavaNan.

 

But since shooter is somebody else, presently raama, who is the super lord of

brahma himself, the servant brahma has to do his duty / job, as well his

asthram. Or otherwise also brahmaasthram is forced to do that assigned job of

killing raavaNan, since command is by the supreme lord.

 

JASN: I deduce that in the case of Hanuman [irrespective of the curse (or boon?)

(or I consider the boons and curses only to reinforce the already pending

result)] had that he would be bound by Brahmasthra for 1 muhoortha kaalam, the

Brahmasthra was powerless against him, in view of his being protected by Dharma

and exalted virtues. Applying the same yardstick, the Brahmasthra, if used

earlier on Ravana would not have vanquished him, with some dharma still sticking

to him and protecting him. Rama seemed to have waited for the right moment to

use it.

 

MGV: comment already given above.

 

JASN: A corollary can be found in Karna's demise. Again Karna's use of

Brahmasthra on Arjuna, would not have resulted in the demise of Arjuna even if

the Lord were not to be physically present, by the logic that arjuna was still

shielded with dharma. This may also be the reason why the asthra could not meet

the target (Arjuna) (Dharma in the form of Krishna protected him). Because we

get to hear that these asthras are precision-driven not by physical aiming but

by some manthras. Once shot, the asthra would certainly find its target. But

that it could not in Arjuna's case (though by the curse that karna had) may be

primarily to do with the strength of the target and the kind of protection that

the target enjoys. I wish to see you take up a write-up on Brahmasthras as found

in the two epics for better understanding for all of us. regards, jayasree

saranathan

 

MGV: as stated I will take up this separately.

 

Dhaasan

Vaasudevan m.g.