Vali Slain - Part IX

[Guest guest]

Dear raama bhakthaas,

 

 

 

we saw in earlier post how thaara puts raama’s attributes in a single slOkam.

May be, if you are in a bhakthi bhaavam laden mood, you can praise the lord in

very exemplary manner, provided he puts the words of his own praise in his

bhakthaas mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When thaaraa saw raamaa, she just had lost her husband or almost about to lose,

and in a mood of desperation. At that stage a simple look at the lord changes

her to pour out that excellent slOkam. So you can judge the power of that simple

look at raamaa. Now let us see the commentaries on that slokam. Just for

recollection first the slOkam -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thvam apramEya: cha dhuraasadha: cha jithEndhriya: cha uththama dharmaka: cha |

 

 

 

aksheeNa keerthi: cha vichakshaNa: cha kshithi kshamavaan kshathaja upamaa

aksha: || 4-24-31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Point: Commentaries on this and next verse of thaaraa, from ‘Govindaraja’s

commentary on raamaayaNam’ are excerpted here. [Few points as below and in

previous post on the ‘nivaasa vruksha’ are taken from www.valmikiramayan.net and

edited to suit the flow here]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. ‘thvam’ – thaaraa says 'you, oh raamaa, of whom I am about to give a positive

picture, though presently contrary to that of your aspect and action'. The

singular word ‘thvam’ 'you' implies his singularity, uniqueness. 'You are

without any other divine paraphernalia and yet you can manage the entire

universe, singularly, but presently you appear to be manlike, with arrows and a

bow. May be you are hiding your divine disc and conch shell etc., thus we are

unable to elicit whether you are 'that' or 'this' being with our limited

physical faculties'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. ‘thvam apramEya: cha’ – you are 'indeterminate’ ‘that is your aspect'.

vEdhaas themselves have no consolidation of your aspect when said as,

 

 

 

· ‘vEdhaahamEtham purusham mahaantham’ - 'Supreme Person is endless in

nature'.

 

 

 

· ‘ka iththhaa vedhaa' ‘who knows that the being is like this or that'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further svEtha asva thara Upanishad at 4-19 and also mahaa naaraayaNa Upanishad

at I-10 say:

 

 

 

Om - na Enam rthvam na thiryaNcham na madhya parijagrabhath |

 

 

 

na thasya prathim asthi yasya naama mahad yasa: ||

 

 

 

meaning: "None has ever grasped Him by his upward limit, or His middle portion,

or His limit across. His name is 'great glory' for nothing limits His nature by

definition".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘thvam apramEya’ continued - VEdhaas also say that he does not know of himself.

‘sO anga vEdha yadhi vaa na vEdha’. But raama is evident before thaaraa’s eyes.

That is not the reality of that being, so disputes thaara. This present aspect

is only a namesake. While we worship the unknown, we conceive a picture or

statue to our contemplation but not for his benefit as stated in ‘upaasakaanaam

kaaryaartham brahmaNO roopa kalpanaa'. He does not need any benefits from us,

should we be benevolent.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. thaaraa continues – ‘thvam dhuraasadha:’ - Though we are unable to know you

by our physical faculties, can we know you, oh raamaa, by our mental faculties?

Even that is impossible for us, because you are dhuraasadha: - ‘an inaccessible

entity'. Then she says this way,

 

 

 

· because you are eternal, there is no perish,

 

 

 

· because you are ever dynamic no impasse can occur,

 

 

 

· because you are ever blissful no depression can occur,

 

 

 

either to you or to your administration of dharma'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what is available in Bhagavadh-Geethaa at 11-53:

 

 

 

na aham vEdhai: na thapasaa na dhaanEna na cha ijyayaa |

 

 

 

sakya Evam vidhO dhrashtum dhrushtavaanasi maam yathhaa||

 

 

 

'not through vEdhaas, not through charities, not through rituals I can be

discerned, hey arjuna'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. She further analyses: ‘thvam jithEndriya:’ 'Because you are such an

inaccessible being, but we are all accessible to you, can you excite yourself to

grab this kingdom or the females or riches in it? You cannot do so, because you

are jithEndhriya: 'one with his senses conquered'. You will give away all this

to sugreevan. You are said to be not eyeing at other's wives. ‘na raama: para

dhaaram vai chaksubhyaam api pasyathE’ - then how you eye at us? No, you

cannot.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This goes with the saying of svEtha asva thara upanishad, 3-19:

 

 

 

‘apaaNi paadhO javanO graheethaa pasyathya chakshu: na sruNOthi karna:’

 

 

 

'no hands no legs, He goes everywhere, no ears no eyes He sees everything...'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus the sensory organs and their activities are for the mortals, immortal is

beyond them. Thus you have conquered all such physicality, oh raamaa.'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. ‘thvam uththama dhaarmika:’ - 'I thought you to be an unrighteous person in

killing my husband, but you are uththama dhaarmika:’ - supreme among the

righteous souls, because you have helped sugreevan without any personal greed'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A person who undertakes and does a deed only for himself is a base-level

righteous person [adhama]. One, who does so for his benefit, and for the benefit

of a few others, is a middle-level righteous one [madhyama]. A highest level

righteous one undertakes anything to protect righteousness alone [uththama].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In killing vaaali, raama has got only one point in view, 'to eliminate an abuser

of tradition, ‘chaarithra dhooshaka’ and not even bothering for the searchers of

seethaa. When raama can eliminate 14000 demons of khara in aaraNya kaaNdam and

also when he can put the sea to turmoil, can he not fling his arrow to the other

side of that ocean to kill raavaNan?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He can, but, he has to course through sugreeva's friendship, mainly to punish

vaali, among other things. ‘So you are supreme among these kinds of benefactors,

because you have paved way to vaali to go to heavens instead of netherworlds, so

no discredit ensues’ concludes thaaraa by this address.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. next is ‘thvam aksheeNa keerthi’. Raama may question thaaraa as 'why you are

eulogizing me, when I got discredit in killing vaali without confronting him?'.

For this she says ‘thvam a + ksheeNa keerthi’ - 'unmitigated is your glory'.

'you are renowned not by a few of us but all the vEdhaas extol you'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what is available in Bhagavad-Gita at 15-15:

 

 

 

sarvasya chaaham hrudhi sannivishtO maththa: smruthirgnaanamapOhanam cha|

 

 

 

vEdhai: cha sarvai: aham Eva vEdhyO vEdhaanthakruthvEdhavidhEva chaaham||

 

 

 

- 'by all vEdhaas, I alone can be known', and

 

 

 

- there is another vEdhic saying ‘thasya naama mahadh yasa:’ is also

there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. ‘thvam vichakshaNa:’ – thaaraa continues - 'oh raamaa, you are a very

discriminating person - you are vichakshaNa:. This indiscrimination is evident

in you, because you have eliminated only one scandalous vaali, but not the

entire race of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You, yourself, said, 'I will eliminate all the demonic race', when you wanted to

punish raavaNan, the abductor of your wife, when you have seen seetha's

ornaments [as at SR 4-6-25].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That analogy is not shown here in kishkindha. When sugreevan examined your

capacity, you also examined the capacities of vaali and sugreevan in their first

round of fight. Because sugreevan prayed for your mercy, you simply did not kill

vaali, but a calculated approach is adopted by you, in the second round, and

hence you are very discriminating'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dear bhakthaas, please note the point in the commentary here, why the second

round of fight has taken place]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. ‘thvam kshithi kshamavaan’ – oh raamaa, you are earth-like, in endurance' and

as told by naaradha to vaalmeekee ‘kshamayaa pruthvee sama:’ 'in perseverance

equals with earth' - baala kaaNdam 1-1-18. You are tolerant of us, the other

monkeys, though we were on the side of erring vaali. You have not taken us to

task en masse because of your tolerance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. ‘thvam kshathaja upamaa aksha:’ –oh raamaa, your eyes are blood-streaked like

those of an emperor, unlike the bloodshot eyes of a murderer. ‘raamO rakthaantha

lOchana:’ and ‘kshathaja upamaa akshaH’ - a sovereign should have roseate eyes,

mouth and palms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘raktha aasya nEthra paaNi: thrithaamra’ as per saamudhrika saasthram the

physiognomic canons. Even though your eyes are reddish, you are not looking like

nara-simha, man-lion incarnation at the time of killing hiraNya kasipu'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Please note, the words like 'cha' 'thu' 'Eva' either play a havoc or go in

drain in their usage. Here 'cha' is used for six attributes while two more are

not suffixed with it. The usage of 'cha' to six of the attributes is to tell

that those aspects are available in the Supreme alone. The last two attributes

are not suffixed with this 'cha' because these two are raama's attributes in his

personal humanly nature and the Supreme is above these things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Leaving all the above to a side for a moment, there is another viewpoint for

these aspects. The word 'cha' if taken as 'alone' or 'only' then the meanings as

stated above undergoes a change as

 

 

 

a. ‘apramEya: cha’ - 'you are knowable 'only' by your adherents [alone]

despisers cannot know you'.

 

 

 

b. ‘dhuraasadha: cha’ - 'you are inaccessible to others and accessible

'only' to your adherents [alone].

 

 

 

c. ‘jithEndhriya: cha’ - 'indulgent in your adherents 'only / alone' and

by conquering your senses you do not cast your glance at the disavowed'.

 

 

 

d. ‘uththama dhaarmika: cha’ - 'you are the 'only' supreme Dharma, or you

alone is Supreme Dharma'.

 

 

 

e. ‘vichakshana: cha’ - 'you 'only' can discriminate good from bad, right

from wrong. as you alone have said ‘mithra bhaavEna sampraaptham na thyajE ayam

katham cha na’ 'I will not leave off one who befriends me'.

 

 

 

f. ‘kshithi kshamavaan cha’ - 'the only / alone forbearing being'. Here

also the 'cha' can be brought in as per dhehalee dheepa nyaaya, the syndrome of

'portico-lamp', a lamp kept in portico beams a little inside the house also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus Govindaraja comments on this verse are so elaborate. Dear bhakthaas,

perhaps by pouring out all these attributes on raama, by her saththvic guNam,

thaaraa establishes her in a high pedesal. We, also, are convinced that vaali

vadham from behind a tree is not an act of controversy but a dhaarmic act. As

sreeman sadagopan iyengaar swamin puts in his ordeal by fire – ‘if only raama

does, it should be correct’.

 

 

 

With due respects

 

 

 

v.anjaneyulu, itarsi

 

 

 

 

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