The date of Raama - conclusion

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SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

 

 

Like the inexperienced Abhimanyu lost into a maze, here I am creeping

through a volley of information in continuation of the previous mails

on the date of Raama!

It used to be sarcastically said that while the British are fond

talking of their ancestry, the Americans are ever in the search of

who their ancestors were!! But the saddest part which not many have

realised is that we, the so-called Hindus belonging to the Sanatana

dharma know not much about our ancestry that is steeped into

antiquity and not only that, we are a vital link and legacy in the

continuing span of Kaala chakra, about which our Thri-kaala gyanis of

yore have already documented well.

 

If we go deeper into the question whether Raama came to earth 17 lakhs

years ago and not latter, we are faced with a variety of information

which not only speak of the avataras at cosmic level but also at the

human level.

 

For instance, many puranas say that this kalpa is known as Varaha

kalpa because it began with Varaha avatar with the Brahma deva waking

up to see the Bhagawan lifting up the land mass. Varaha avatara which

is the 3rd in the series as we know is the Kalpaadhi avatara. The

cosmic progression is outlined from then onwards. It is said that in

the first Manvanthra, Swayambhu manu was asked by Brahma to begin

generative evolution etc and got this world divided into 7 seas and 7

continents. Likewise progression is noticed in each manvanthra.

 

Puranas say that in the 6th manvanthra (Chakshashu), churning of the

ocean had taken place. The 7th manu (the present one) was born to

the Sun god (cosmologically true) and the 8th one, Sawarni is the son

of Sun and his wife Chaya !! This is becoming more interesting when we

read another piece of information that Bali who was humbled in this

manvanthra will be the Indra for this next manvanthra!!

 

The Sun –Chaya connection makes us wonder whether the next manvanthra

will have the planetary combination that would be born of the

collision of Sun and its (believed to exist) invisible (therefore

chaaya) binary star. The Bali connection also makes it look like the

progression of the present system. If it is assumed that the

powerfully growing Bali was sent underground (Paadhaalam) by Vaamana

is allegorical of monstrously growing atomic power being trapped

underground so that it would not affect the environment (once again a

task for the Lord to protect the species), then anointment of Bali as

the Indra for the next manvanthra may signal another dimension of

atomic age - of course in a changed environment where progression in

its terms can be possible.

 

The next manu (9th) being the son of Varuna symbolizes a respite from

the heat of the 8th manvanthra and the subsequent ones till the 14th

being the sons of Upasloka needs to be studied in the light of what

scriptures say about them.

After all this, and after the pralaya that will last for a kalpa

period, Bhagawan is going to incarnate but as how, will be a matter

of cosmic importance. It could be anything like Matsya, Kurma or

Varaha but can not be Raama or Krishna who come to us only –the human

beings at the micro level evolution! Thus by simple logic, if Varaha

avatara can happen once in 2 kalpas, the same logic can not apply to

Raama or Krishna. But at the microcosmic level varaha avatara may be

happening every now and then when land forms are elevated, one being

the elevation of the Himalayas, (Varaha purana would throw more light

on this) so also Raama and Krishna avatar.

 

Here again avatars take place in different set-ups, but my contention

is that the background for these 2 avatars are the same every time

they happen.

In Padma purana, sage Pulastya tells Narada that Prahalada worshipped

Thrivikrama at the banks of Yamuna, which raises a question from

Narada how could he when Vaamana avatara had not yet taken place at

the time of Prahalada. The sage explains the avatara at a distant

time in the past when the Lord was born as Gatibhaas who took 3 steps

of land from Dhundhu and killed him by laying the 3rd step on his

head, as a result of which a crater of 1000 yojanas was created. The

mistake Dhundhu, who was the auras-puthra of sage kashyapa, did was

to ape for the throne of Indra, by doing 100 ashwamedha. The Indra

has already been appointed by the Lord and anyone vying to upset His

‘organizational chart’ will not be tolerated. The Thrivikrama of

this past era was worshipped by Prahaladha.

 

Thus we find avatar by same name and purpose, appearing in a different

scenario. This also goes to show that the avatara cycles happen in

quick cycles and not spaced in lakhs of years.

Another reason to think in these lines is that Puranas recognize in

all 6 types of avataras, namely, Purusha, Lila, Guna, Manvanthra,

Yuga and Shakthyavesha. Of yuga avatars, the verse 10-8-13 from

Srimad Bhagavatham seems to give a different perspective. “Krishna

appears as an incarnation in every millennium. In the past He assumed

three different colours, white, red and yellow and now he has appeared

in blackish colour.”

 

Barring these 2 avatars, all the other avatars have come with either

a cosmic purpose or a specific goal to erase evil. Though Ravana vadam

and Kamsa vadam are the slated objectives of these two avatars, the

Lord had lived a full life to express different kinds of lessons

applicable to different sets of people in different times. I doubt

whether the other avatars have been extensively documented (of course

by His Will) like Raama and Krishna avatars. The obvious reason can be

to live on in human memory for as long and perpetuate thereby the

ideals of Dharma which they came to establish. It is here I find the

mini yuga cycle of 28,800 years fitting in.

 

Some information to substantiate that Raama lived within this cycle:-

Ø It is said in Bhagavatham that Raama lived 31 generations

before the Mahabharatha war.

Ø Many of the hymns of Rig veda have been dated. There are some

which speak of contemporary period such as the ones on Rain god which

were sung at the time of drought during King Shantanu’s reign. Since

Raama was said to have mastered the Vedas (valmiki Ramayana), this

king must have preceded Raama, and not the one who was the father of

Bheeshma. By name and culture, there has been a continuity from Vedic

down to Mahabhatratha times.

Ø The river Saraswati (‘seven - sistered”)had been the ambitama

(best of mothers), naditama (best of rivers) and devitama (best of

Goddesses) of Vedic rishis. That she went underground is reminiscent

of the sand storms (aandhi) of that area. The geological data at most

times tally with the literary content of the Vedas.

Ø Just as how Saraswati had a beginning and an end in her life

span, so too the Ganaga has been depicted. The earliest record of

Ganga’s birth is found in Valmiki Ramayana only. The way she was

brought by Bhagiratha exactly tallies with the release of mighty

rivers at the end of Ice age (Pleistocene) that occurred 10,000 years

ago. So Raama’ s avatar had happened after that time. The Ganga was

led into Sagar, to lay the ashes of 6,000 sons of King sagar, the

ancestor of Bhagiratha. It is said that she settled in a big sea.

Correspondingly, we find in Mahabharatha (Vana parva chapters 101 to

105) an episode in which sage Agasthya was commanded by Lord Vishnu

to drink up the water of the sea under which Kala Keyas was hiding.

The sage did so and Kala keyas who was giving trouble to the people

was subsequently spotted and killed. It is further said that this

emptied space was later filled by Ganga when she was brought by

Bhagiratha. This makes us wonder if it is right to call the Bay of

Bengal as Ganga sagar. This sagar is emptied and then refilled is a

valuable information needed to substantiate what is given in an

earlier mail. That is, the Ganga goes and comes back and as long as

the ganga lives Raama rajyam lives on. Then there sets in anarchy

which leads to mini pralaya, only to regenerate into another cycle of

mini yugas when Saraawati flows down in all splendour.

 

The life around Saraswati and Ganga is what the Vedic way of life is

all about. That their spans have an explanation at geological level

goes to show Raama and Krishna never leave us tattered, untamed or

anarchical for long. They come to us again and again – very soon to

revive our memory (that is perhaps why sages were able to give

meticulously the details, say for instance, to Sabari, before

Raama’s arrival at Pamba.)

 

The astro details perhaps were the effective and non-erasable tools of

measurement at cosmic level, for them to store knowledge for

posterity. The proof of this and for mini yuga of 28,800 years can be

had if someone with the necessary equipments, understanding and

interest come forward to decipher the following information.

It is said, ‘When the sun and moon and the lunar asterism Tishya and

the planet Jupiter are in one Mansion, the Krutha Yuga shall

return.’

The number of years in which this combination is repeated will give the length of one yuga cycle.

 

To conclude, putting the date on antiquity is a hazardous undertaking,

but it is also an important exercise, for, whatever has been stored by

our ancestors (sages) for posterity must not be allowed to dissipate

as empty verses. And by going into every details in the avatars of

Raama and Krishna, it comes easy to ‘feel’ them every moment, at

everything we see around– even in a crow or in the Purnima …….

May Raam, the giver of santhushti perpetuate it in all of us.

 

With pranams to all in this satsangam,

Jayasree