protocol 1

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

It is well known that lord raama had a number of virtues and even his

own father king dhasaratha listed a number of qualities of his son

and thus recommended that such a raama be coronated as the crown

prince of ayOdhyaa. The details on what are these guNams or qualities

are available in first sargam of ayOdhyaa kaaNdam of srimadh

raamaayaNam.

 

[also please refer the series of articles of MGV titled `how could

such a raamaa do that?']

 

Also known to us is the fact that, there is a protocol that when a

king [or such a great personality] meets another king [or a great

personality], somebody else like an assistant or minister or a body

guard of the two kings [the greats] first meet each other, prior to

the arrival of the kings, get introduced to each other, then

finalises the details of the protocol to be used, when these two

kings meet each other.

 

Here in this article we are going to see how raama the great,

observes such a protocol while meeting one great personality – sage

agasthya - and simply NOT observe that to the others like sage

bharadhwaja.

 

This simply means raama differentiates between personalities and not

treat all equally, or may have valid reasons for such differentiation

[which may be a wrong thing to say so]. First the positive side is

presented to you..

 

aagathaa: sma aasrama padham soumithrE pravisa agratha: |

nivEdhaya iha maam praaptham rishayE saha seethayaa || 3-11-94

 

meaning: We arrived at the threshold of the hermitage, oh, Soumithri,

you enter first and submit to Sage Agasthya about my arrival at this

place, along with Seethaa.

 

Point: When raamaa is about to meet the sage agasthya in his aasramam

[place of living], raamaa and seethaa stand at the entrance, and

observe or follow the protocol of informing the sage through

lakshmaNa, and seeking the sage's permission to enter his aasramam.

 

sa pravisya aasrama padham lakshmaNO raaghava anuja: |

agasthya sishyam aasaadhya vaakyam Ethadh uvaacha ha || 3-12-1

 

meaning: On entering the hermitage LakshmaNa, the younger brother of

Raaghava, reached Agastya's disciple and spoke this sentence to him.

 

raajaa dhasarathO naama jyeshta: thasya suthO balee |

raama: praapthO munim dhrashtum bhaaryayaa saha seethayaa || 3-12-2

 

meaning: A king named Dhasaratha was there, his eldest son and the

dynamic one, Raama has arrived along with his wife Seethaa to see the

sage.

 

lakshmaNo naama thasya aham bhraathaa thu avarajO hitha: |

anukoola: cha bhaktha: cha yadhi thE srOthram aagatha: || 3-12-3

 

meaning: I am his loyal, dedicated, and adherent younger brother

named LakshmaNa, if ever you have heard of us.

 

thE vayam vanam athyugram pravishtaa: pithru saasanaath |

dhrashtum icchaamahE sarvE bhagavantham nivEdhyathaam || 3-12-4

 

meaning: Such as we are, we entered the awful forest at the decree of

our father, and we wish to see the godly sage, let this be informed

to him." Said LakshmaNa to the disciple of agasthya.

 

thasya thadh vachanam sruthvaa lakshmaNasya thapOdhana: |

thathaa ithi ukthvaa agni saraNam pravivEsa nivEdhithum || 3-12-5

 

meaning: On hearing that sentence of LakshmaNa, that disciple, who is

ascetically rich, replied 'agreed, ' and he entered the sanctum of

Ritual-fire to submit the same to agasthya.

 

sa pravisya munisrEshtam thapasaa dushpradharsaNam |

kruta anjali: uvaacha idham raama aagamanam anjasaa || 3-12-6

yathaa uktham lakshmaNEna Eva sishya: thasya agasthasya sammatha: |

 

meaning: He, that agreeable disciple of sage, quickly approached the

irrefutable sage, by his asceticism, made palm-fold, and said this to

the eminent sage about about the arrival of Raama, exactly as said by

Lakshmana.

 

puthrou dhasarathasya imou raamO lakshmaNa Eva cha || 3-12-7

pravishtou aasrama padham seethayaa saha bhaaryayaa |

 

meaning: Sons of King Dhasaratha, Raama and also Lakshmana thus have

entered the threshold of hermitage along with the wife of Raama,

namely Seethaa.

 

dhrashtum bhavantham aayaathou sushrooshaartham arindhamou || 3-12-8

yadh athra anantharam thath thvam aajnaapayithum arhasi |

 

meaning: Those two enemy-destroyers have come cherishing to see and

serve you, hence it will be apt of you to order what next is to be

done in this regard." Said the disciple to the sage.

 

Thatha: sishyaath upasruthya praaptham raamam sa lakshmaNam || 3-12-9

vaidhEheem cha mahaabhaagaam idham vachanam abraveeth |

 

meaning: Having heard from the disciple that Raama has arrived with

LakshmaNa and with highly fortunate Seethaa the sage said this to the

disciple.

 

gamyathaam sathkruthO raama: sa bhaarya: saha lakshmaNa: || 3-12-11

pravEsyathaam sameepam mE kim asou na pravEsitha: |

 

meaning: Go forth and make welcome to Raama, Lakshmana and to

Seethaa, and they be entered here, why you have not invited them as

yet?

 

Point: See here the protocol is observed to the core. First the two

assistants of the two greats meet. Then each other announces the

introductory messages between themselves, then the announcement to

the master host, about the arrival of the master guest along with his

wife.

 

Now, dear bakthaas, you may ask me, what is so great in this, that we

can also read all these in raamaayaNam. So I am putting the question

across which is lingering in my mind – when raama has followed so

much protocol when he met sage agasthya, why he has not followed same

protocol when he met other sages in the forest. Is any special reason

mentioned elsewhere or in commentaries elsewhere?

 

You may raise how can you say raama has not observed the protocol?

The answer I will give by quoting slOkams from raamaayaNam itself in

next post.

 

Before that I want to add one more point. May be, first, when raamaa

met sage visvaamithra, raamaa did not observe any such protocol,

since the sage was to be received by king dhasaratha. Also raamaa was

of less age at that time and perhaps not learnt about these

protocols.

 

When he met other sages in the forest, he was sufficiently aged and

also followed in one case and did not follow in other cases, as

evidenced from that very same valmeeki raamaayaNam. That is why I

want to place this question in the list and would like to seek an

answer from the learned bhaagavthaas and raamaayaNam experts.

 

Dhasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.