is she capable - continuation 3

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We are continuing the discussion - "is seethaa not capable of

eliminating raavaNa on her own?" We have seen that seethaa is

fasting, as also raama not eating non-vegetarian food or wine etc.,

due to separation of seethaa. But it is not so clear a fasting, in

the case of raama, as is the case of seethaa. Further considering the

fact that raama is possessing the knowledge of balaa and athibalaa

manthraas, given by sage visvaamithra [as seen in post 2], the

fasting or not eating meat etc., is not going to, in any way, affect

raama physically. So no `upavaasa krusaam dheenaam' as far as raama

is concerned.

 

NO evidence is given by vaalmeeki, that raama has recited or used

these bala athibala manthraas for their effectiveness. One can only

reasonably presume that, having learnt / got such a powerful manthra,

raamaa would definitely have used it whenever required, and not

otherwise. On the other side seethaa is really fasting and does not

have any such armoury in her possession. So, dear raama

bhakthaas, `who is really great?' you can conclude. `SiRai irunthvaL

ERRam' is raamaayaNam. `seethaayaascharitham mahath'.

 

Incidentally, when I was viewing the mahaa bhaaratham serial, I was

really stunned to hear a small, simple, but very powerful line of

lyrics. Just before the start of the 18-day war, Sikhandi just mocks

at bheeshma saying `bheeshma is a coward'. When asked why he [or she]

says so by paaNdavaas and krishNa, the reason he pours out, out of

vexation is – hey, he is having the very safe armor of `ichchaa

maraNam' – `death only when wished'. So unless he himself wishes a

death, bheeshma cannot be killed. If he does not have that boon, then

bheeshma is just nothing. So, `what is great in bheeshma?' He says.

 

Now let us consider two more slokams in sundhara kaaNdam.

 

saa seethaa vachanam sruthvaa poorNa chandhra nibhaananaa|

hanoomantham uvaacha idham dharma artha sahitham vacha: || 5-37- 1

 

amrutham visha sampruktham thvayaa vaanara bhaashitham | 5-37-2 a

 

meaning: that seethaa, who has a full moon like face, on hearing the

speech of hanumaan, which had all dharma and artha etc, spoke [to

hanumaan] hey vaanara – monkey – what you said about raama is like

nectar mixed with poison.

 

Point: 1. When going for a straight interpretation - what hanumaan

said to seethaa `raama never thinks about any other than you', it is

like nectar to seethaa. For any lady will normally expect that only

from her husband, that he does not have relationship with any other,

that too when she is physically away. But when hanumaan said `he is

always immersed in `sOkam' – worried or sad', then it sounds like

poison to seethaa. That is why `amrutham visha sampruktham'.

 

2. To interpret this slokam in slightly different manner – First –

hey hanumaan what you said is sweet nectar to me- viz. `when he gets

up says `haa priYe ithi Evam [slokam 44 36th sargam] - idham dharma

artha sahitham vacha: hanoomantham – that is also amrutham. What you

said `hey vaanara – hey monkey – what you said is a typical `monkey

statement' – `vaanara bhaashitham'. For he is already having the

great armour of bala and athibala, and what is so great about his non-

eating of meat or wine and not sleeping `anidhra' etc. Here I am

fasting really.

Also lakshmaNa, you, king sugreeva et al are all giving raama [or

keeping him] a good company, whereas you have seen what kind of

company I have, surrounding me. As such what you told me now is a

typical monkey statement of `nectar mixed with poison'.

 

Now we will see a krithi of thyaagaraajaa in raagam bhavapriyaa.

 

44 bhavapriya mELam

 

Aa: S R1 G2 M2 P D1 N2 S

Av: S N2 D1 P M2 G2 R1 S

thaaLam: dhEsaadhi

Composer: thyaagaraaja Language: Telugu

 

pallavi

sreekaantha neeyeda bala athi bala chelangaga lEdhaa vaadhaa

 

anupallavi

paakaarinutha neevaari balaa-balamunu theliyaga lEdhaa

 

charaNam

kaaka dhaithyu nEka saramuna nEya kajja jaasthramai baraga lEdhaa

sreekara dhvijulai dhaari neruga lEni chintha neeku dhOchadhEmi

thyaagaraajanutha

 

A point on raagam selection. Bhava is siva. Hanumaan is said as

rudhra avathaaram as considered. So siva priya is raama naamam.

Hanumaan does that raama naama japam anavaratham – incessantly. So

an apt raagam selection. The starting word in pallavi is also sree

kaantha – meaning lakshmi kaantha – ramaa kaantha or raama.

Looking at another way – hanumaan is rudhra avathaaram – he is now

sitting in front of seethaa, the priyaa of bhava's priya raama. So

she cannot but be bhavapriyaa also. So the raagam's name whether it

is bhavapriya or bhavapriyaa - in both ways it is so apt.

 

The meaning and why this krithi in this topic we will see in next

post.

 

dhasan

vasudevan mg.