Ordeal by Fire -- Feedback from a few members

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Dear Members,

 

I have received a number of comments from you all,

both privately and through the main-list.

 

I welcome all comments/views so long as they are based

on "pramANam", sound reason and intelligibility. Sri

M.Krishnaswami's feedback below quoting Srinivasa

Sastry's lectures are well taken. It is true I'm very

deeply influenced by the 'Sastri Approach' to the

understanding of the Ramayana.

 

Many of you have sent in comments which I find are

rather emotional. You have taken me to task for daring

to be critical of Sri Rama. Some of you have simply

used convenient labels such as "nAstikam" and

"tAmasam" to characterize my viewpoints. But labels

are not arguments.

 

You find it so terribly hard to digest that on the

basis of "pramANam" the Ramayana makes available, we

can indeed put forward reasonable and credible grounds

of argument to say the conduct of "pirAtti", and the

standard of "dharma" she demonstrated in the

"agni-parIksha" episode, stands head-and-shoulders

above the conduct and "dharma" of Rama.

 

But I do not blame you at all. I can and do understand

why some of you react that way. It is an emotional

reaction born of "bhakti" which, like Sri Sadagopan

Iyengar, is trained by long, blind habit of mind to

say almost reflexively, "If Rama did it, it must be

correct".

 

Rama has a special place in all our hearts (mine

included) -- as AndAL says in her TiruppAvai he is

"manatthukku iniyan", a Tamil phrase so eloquent and

evocative it is impossible to translate. The best one

can do is to say Sri Rama is everyone's

"prince-charming". The word Rama itself, as Parashara

Bhattar says in his commentary on the

Vishnu-Sahasranamam, means "ramayatAm shrEshtah:" --

i.e. one who spreads happiness and cheer wherever he

goes, and to whomsoever encounters him.

 

But after reading the Ramayana, do we ever ask

ourselves why this 'Prince-charming', the spreader of

happiness ... why did such a great one make exception

of his own beautiful wife, causing her so much

heart-burn, so much grief, every now and then,

throughout their avataric sojourn on earth?

 

We find it extremely difficult to explain it, isn't?

 

SriVaishnavite theologists often explain it away (as

Sri Sadagopan Iyengar did) using convenient but

specious pretexts. They explain that Sita got what she

deserved for what she did to Lakshmana in the

"mArIcha" episode -- i.e. her so-called sin of

"bhAgavata-apachAram".

 

I do not accept this theory of my learned

SriVaishnavite brethren. I reject it totally. I'd like

to believe I demolished it in my postings.

 

If it is offense to question the position "If Rama did

it, it must be right", then I say it is equally

offensive not to extend the same rule to "pirAtti"

too. If I came up to you and said, "If Sita did it, it

must be right", how many of you would dare be willing

to accept that statement? None, I'd say, since the

moral, theological and philosophical questions such a

position would raise would simply overwhelm the best

of you. It would raise a proper furore amongst our

SriVaishnavite theologists.

 

Which is, I say, why we must avoid taking extreme

positions. It is always wiser to take the balanced

middle-course in all our discourses on the Ramayana.

It is much more sensible, for instance, to look at the

matter this way:

 

The Almighty and "pirAtti" both merely acted out their

respective human roles in the Ramayana. The roles were

conceived in order to enlighten Man on the many shades

of "sUkshma" that there are in the principle and

practice of "dharmA". In some scenes, Rama looks good

and glorious. In others Sita-pirAtti looks good. But

it so happened that in the "agni-parIksha" scene, only

one of them could look really glorious. Why? Because

the script demanded they should be pitted bitterly

against each other.

 

We might want to think that Rama came out better in

the scene... and Sri Sadagopan Iyengar's article

"Ordeal by Fire" was trying to establish that. But in

reality, as I explained in my postings, it was Sita's

role indeed that stole the show...

 

**************

 

There is nothing atheistic or heretical in our wanting

to evaluate, or even critique the relative performance

of Rama and SIta as actors in episodes such as the

"agni-parIksha". In doing so we only carry out what is

our sacred duty, called "dharma vichAram" (inquiry

into "dharma"); we are NOT, on that account,

committing the sin of sitting in judgment over the

Almighty Himself.

 

Thank you, one and all, for your kind views/comments.

I always enjoy your feedback.

 

Rgds,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

--- MK krishnaswamy <krishnaswamy wrote:

 

> Dear Members,

>

> The discussion on the subject prompted me to read

> again the Lectures on Ramayana given by the late

> Right Hon'ble V.S. Srivivasa Sastri which was

> published in book-form in 1986 by the Madras

> Sanskrit Academy.

>

> In his introduction, T.R. Venkatarama Sastri

> observed: "It is well known that particular

> incidents in the story of his (Sri Rama) life have

> been subjected to criticism as not coming up to the

> highest standards ...................... To my

> mind, even these criticisms are not wholly

> purposeless ................"

>

> In the concluding paragraphs, Srinivasa Sastri has

> observed: " .... the real coronation is in our

> hearts. Rama and Sita should be crowned in our

> hearts. Let them govern our thoughts and regulate

> our lives. At all important times remember them,

> and then we cannot go wrong." This last statement is

> inspite of his unreserved criticism of Sri Rama's

> treatment of Sita Piratti after victory over Ravana

> (Chapter XII).

>

> As observed by the Lecturer, the Ramayana Epic has

> survived in the hearts and minds of all devotess

> over centuries because of Valmiki making it

> "essentially a human document". I would suggest to

> members to read Srinivasa Sastri's scholarly

> Ramayana Lectures; I hope that copies are still

> available at book-sellers and with the Publishers,

> the Madras Sanskrit Academy.

>

> Dasan

> Krishnaswamy M K

>

 

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