Sriramayana on telebridge#20

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Sriramayana#20

Om Asmatha Gurubhyo Namaha

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

In this 25th sarga, Sage Vishvamithra narrates the birth, marriage and curse

upon Thataka. He also bids Rama to eliminate her without any hesitation of

killing a female, for she is horrible towards the society. On hearing the words

of sage Vishvamithra about Thataka, Rama asks the Sage, "Oh Maharishi! Yaksha's

strength is slight, and how can a female exert the strength of a thousand

elephants?" Sage Vishvamitra replied. "This female became outstanding, because

of the boon she received.

 

Once there was a yaksha named Suketu, and he was infertile, so he performed a

great Tapas. Pleased with his Tapas, Brahma* *gave him a gemlike daughter named

Thataka. Brahma also gave her the strength of a thousand elephants. She grew up

to be a real beauty, and her father Suketu gave her hand to Sunda as wife. After

a while Thataka delivered a strong son, name Mareecha. One day Sage Agasthya got

rid of Sunda by a curse, who offended the great Rishi and Thataka wanted to take

revenge on sage Agasthya. Accompanied by her son Mareecha she rushed towards the

sage to kill him. Agasthya Maharshi saw her with her son, and He understood

their intent. So He first cursed Mareecha saying 'you will attain demon-hood',

and then he cursed Thataka saying 'you will become a man eater, you will loose

your beauty, and you will roam these forests, because of your monstrosity.

 

That Thataka is now vandalizing this auspicious province, in which sage Agasthya

once stayed.* *She is atrocious, with dreadful behavior and she has no fear of

anybody or anything. My Dear Rama you shall eliminate this yakshini for the

welfare of Brahmans and cows. Except you there is none to eliminate her in the

three worlds as no one equals her in brevity. Do not feel compassionate, since

it is the duty of the prince to protect the people. For this reason the

protector always has to execute such deeds and this is the Sana:than Dharma.

Eliminate her now and don't hesitate. We have heard that Indra once eliminated

Manthara, the daughter of Virochana, when she wished to annihilate earth. I am

sure, you know that. And many others have eliminated females who departed

themselves from the righteous path. My dear Rama, by my decree you let go of

compassion and eliminate her." Thus, sage Vishvamitra commanded Rama to

terminate Thataka's existence.

 

This is a much discussed topic in Ramayana. Rama's adventures start with the

killing of a female. Scriptures says that killing a female is sinful; here

killing of a female, right or wrong is the topic for discussion. Vishnu Purana

says that eliminating one evildoer for the sake of many innocent is neither sin

nor a crime to the kings and rulers.

 

Other than the story of Thataka what we have to learn here, that both Rama and

Krishna, they first killed a female. So what the female represent here?

 

IGNORANCE: for one to proceed any further in life one has to extinguish the

darkness of ignorance and light the lamp of knowledge. Without the knowledge we

will never know the righteous path or right way of living. So it is one's

Acharya who leads them in the path of light, by giving them wisdom and

eliminating the darkness of ignorance. Rama was a devoted pupil, and Sage

Vishvamithra was the apt teacher.

 

After listening to his guru's order how Rama reacted and removed Thataka…let us

know....

 

Contd.

Jai Srimannarayana

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