line of control 4

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Post 4

 

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In the previous post, we saw lakshmaNa, the embodiment of renunciation, telling

seethaa the devotion, I am leaving you protection-less. We saw this slOkam from

vaalmeeki raamaayaNam. But he did not go and waited for few more moments, before

he finally actually left.

 

gamishyE yathra kaakuthstha: svasthi thE asthu vara aananE || 3-45-33

rakshanthu thvaam visaalaakshi samagraa vana dhEvathaa: |

 

meaning: I am going there where Rama is, oh, lady with best visage, you be

blest, and oh, broad-eyed one, let all of the forest deities protect you. [this

was the slOkam seen in last post before concluding the post]

 

There is a beauty of a point here. LakshmaNa addresses seethaa as 'vara aananE'

and 'visaala akshee' - one who has a beautiful face and having broad eyes. The

face has lost its sObhaa, - eyes, even though broad and big, have lost its

'sight', in materialistic pursuits and lost their 'vision', - because of that

false voice calling, deceit's calling 'lakshmaNaa' - seethaa's thinking went

unidirectional in a wrong way - in that serious 'barthaa kshEma aarthee or

kaankshee' - as already mentioned - desiring her husband's safety even though

knowing fully well, he cannot be overpowered so easily by anybody - mind blinded

- devotion going unidirectional with lot of personal and materialistic desires

behind. Whenever personal ambitions and desires come in front of devotion that

is always troublesome and produces wrong results. There is nothing wrong in

devotion being unidirectional, in fact, has to be unidirectional towards the

lord, but, that should not be covered with 'self interest'.

 

Also lakshmaNa calls her jaanakee, the daughter of king Janaka, meaning, hey you

are that daughter of a highly judicious person, but, now you are unable to

discriminate.' He calls her vaidhEhee that is, one 'coming from vidhEha

province.' vidhEha also means 'without body' - meaning - seethaa you are not an

ordinary person, but some supernatural, yet that deceit golden deer has beguiled

you' and so on. So vaalmeeki puts words, so nicely, conveying a lot, even while

addressing each other by these characters.

 

nimiththaani hi ghOraaNi yaani praadhurbhavanthi mE |

api thvaam saha raamENa pasyEyam punaraagatha: || 3-45-34

 

meaning: lashmaNa says to seethaa before leaving - 'Gauging by those dangerous

forebodings that are now bidding fair, can I see you again along with Raamaa on

my return, or not? That I do not know.'

 

When lakshmaNa said this see seethaa's reaction.

gOdhaavareem pravEkshyaami heenaa raamENa lakshmaNa |

aabandhishye athavaa thyakshyE vishamE dhEham aathmana: || 3-45-36

 

meaning: Without raama I plunge myself in river gOdhavari, or else I string up

myself, or discard this body of mine from heights..." Thus seetha started to

vent out her feelings.

 

pibaami vaa visham theekshNam pravEkshyaami huthaasanam |

na thu aham raaghavaath anyam kadhaaapi purusham sprusE || 3-45-37

 

meaning: I drink deadly poison, or I enter a flaring fire, but I will never

touch another man other than raaghavan.

 

ithi lakshmaNam aasrutya seethaa duhkha samanvithaa |

paaNibhyaam rudhathee duhkhaad udharam prajaghaana ha || 3-45-38

 

meaning: seetha on declaring to lakshmaNan in this way, she, who is anguished

and weeping bitterly, then started to smite her belly with both of her palms in

a heightened agony.

 

thaam aartha roopaam vimanaa rudhantheem soumithri: aalOkya visaala nEthraam |

aasvaasayaamaasa na chaiva bharthu: tham bhraatharam kinchith uvaacha seethaa ||

3-45-39

 

meaning: Observing the agonised aspect of seethaa that cheerless soumithri

started to cheer her up by repeatedly informing that her husband raama will come

soon. Even then seethaa has not spoken in the least to the brother of her

husband, and maintained a silence of antipathy.

 

thatha: thu seethaam abhivaadhya lakshmaNa: krutha anjali: kinchidh abhipraNamya

|

avEkshamaaNO bahusa: sa maithileem jagaama raamasya sameepam aathmavaan ||

3-45-40

 

meaning: But then, holding seethaa in usual reverence that self-respectful

lakshmaNa briefly came to her fore, making a reverential palm-fold that briefly,

and then he proceeded to the proximity of raamaa, while repeatedly looking back

at that lonely lady in the thick of forest.

 

Point: Now only lakshmaNa really leaves. But see, there is no trace or

suggestion at least, of making a 'line of control', the famed 'lakshmaN rEkha'

for seethaa. Only words of soothing comfort were uttered repeatedly, even though

her reaction was very forceful declaring, 'I will die this way, that way, I will

not touch any other male' etc, as though some body like lakshmaNa or bharatha

has desired for her, [except raavanan that too later in the story].

 

On this 'krutha anjali: kinchidh abhipraNamya' some points are given which are

worth learning for our guidance in our life.

 

"Till now lakshmaNa is at her behind or at her sideways, as he usually stands a

foot behind raama or seetha, and now came to her fore to revere her vis-à-vis

and made a semi-salute, i.e., briefly and briskly adjoined and disjoined his

palms, without bringing the joined palms up to his heart or his face.

 

Bringing the folded palms up to one's own heart is suggestive of 'pouring forth

one's own heart' at the other, which is known in prayers as iungo manus ante

pectus.

 

The hands, if they are lifted up to forehead, it is suggestive of 'concentrating

with whole of the mind.'

 

If hands are totally lifted into air, it is for the "god unknown".

 

But here lakshmaNa does this iungere manus, which is neither ante pectus, infra

pectus, nor supra abdomen but a quick gesture. He is performing an ishta

namaskaara 'uninterested greeting...' 'a half-hearted gesture' like a

'cold-handshake' rather than a 'warm' one, because he is now sent by her

compulsively and compulsorily. [this point on anjali of lakshmaNa taken from

valmikiramayan website]

 

Going back to our topic on line of control, as such, vaalmeeki does not give

even an indication of the famed "lakshman rekhaa". We will move on to kamban in

next post.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g