re bow's story - further points on JASN mail - post 3

[Guest guest]

jasn sn [jayasartn]

Saturday, November 27, 2004 10:13 AM

Re: Bow's story – further clarifications on questions

raised.

 

JASN: SrI: Respected sri Vasudevan swami, Thank you for your mail. I

look forward to your comments. Meanwhile I thought I can share some

more views.

 

MGV: Welcome.

 

JASN: This is about Brahmasthram. On the one side we see that the

brahmasthram sent by Indrajit could only tie up Hanuman (Sundhara

khandam) and on the other, we find that Rama delayed (?) the use of

it till he got tired (?) of cutting Ravana's head. He is said to have

weighed the options of what asthra to use and then decided to shoot

the Brahmasthra.

 

MGV: sri hanumaan had the boon by brahmaa, that all weapons including

his own brahmaasthram cannot do any harm to hanumaan. Just to show

respect to pithaamahan, the athidhEvathaa for that asthram, that too

in front of others, hanumaan waited as though he was bound. Also,

that was a pretext, so that, if, a chance comes in his way, he could

see that so called mighty raavaNan. That chance eventually came in

his way. This is fully explained in sundhara kaaNdam.

 

JASN: Also we see repeatedly that Rama always applies discretion as

to what asthras to use. A blade of grass became his asthra to punish

kaakaasura, but that he waited for a while to decide on to use

brahmasthra is a point to ponder.

 

MGV: For kaakaasuran – it is immediate punishment – for, he has done

physical damage to raamaa's wife, that too in front of raamaa and in

the vicinity of raamaa. Further his identity at that stage may be a

point, since he is a dhEvaa. For dhEvaas, no hesitation is shown by

raamaa in punishing them.

 

As said in vaali's slain by sri anjaneyalu, vaali made a heavy

mistake of making friendship with raavaNan. Similarly the son of king

of dhEvaas, jayanthan, who is kaakaasuran, has to be severely

punished for the crime. Further he did not have brahmaa's boons like

raavaNan.

 

Also as said in manu smruthi the `punishment levels' for the same

type of crime, to people among the chaathur varNam vary. The severest

is for BraahmaNan –1st varnam and lightest for the 4th varnam. Since

jayanthan is one more than the 1st varnam itself, viz. dhEvaa, the

punishment level to him has to be naturally higher than braahmaNan.

He has to receive severest punishment, that too immediately, that is

what happened in jayanthan's case.

 

For raavaNan it is with a hesitation. For brahma only had given the

boon to raavaNan. Perhaps raama had the doubt of whether brahma's own

asthram will work against brahmaa's own `boon recipient', the

raavaNan.

 

But since shooter is somebody else, presently raama, who is the super

lord of brahma himself, the servant brahma has to do his duty / job,

as well his asthram. Or otherwise also brahmaasthram is forced to do

that assigned job of killing raavaNan, since command is by the

supreme lord.

 

JASN: I deduce that in the case of Hanuman [irrespective of the curse

(or boon?) (or I consider the boons and curses only to reinforce the

already pending result)] had that he would be bound by Brahmasthra

for 1 muhoortha kaalam, the Brahmasthra was powerless against him, in

view of his being protected by Dharma and exalted virtues. Applying

the same yardstick, the Brahmasthra, if used earlier on Ravana would

not have vanquished him, with some dharma still sticking to him and

protecting him. Rama seemed to have waited for the right moment to

use it.

 

MGV: comment already given above.

 

JASN: A corollary can be found in Karna's demise. Again Karna's use

of Brahmasthra on Arjuna, would not have resulted in the demise of

Arjuna even if the Lord were not to be physically present, by the

logic that arjuna was still shielded with dharma. This may also be

the reason why the asthra could not meet the target (Arjuna) (Dharma

in the form of Krishna protected him). Because we get to hear that

these asthras are precision-driven not by physical aiming but by some

manthras. Once shot, the asthra would certainly find its target. But

that it could not in Arjuna's case (though by the curse that karna

had) may be primarily to do with the strength of the target and the

kind of protection that the target enjoys. I wish to see you take up

a write-up on Brahmasthras as found in the two epics for better

understanding for all of us. regards, jayasree saranathan

 

MGV: as stated I will take up this separately.

 

Dhaasan

Vaasudevan m.g.