seethaa's learnings 3

[Guest guest]

Post 3

Dear Sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

 

 

As a sequel to the post 2 in this series sri surender swamin with

email id s_chellappa [s_chellappa ] wrote

 

Monday, July 24, 2006 8:44 PM

 

M.G.Vasudevan

 

Re: seethaa's learnings 2 Pranamams:

 

I was listening to a upanyasam by Velukkudi swamy: When talking about

NeeLaa devi's role in the sampradayam, he was commenting that,

sastram says at one point (purusha sooktam): "Hrishcha te

lakshmishcha patnyow". According to this, only "bhoodevi"

and "sridevi" are pathnis - swamy says that, according to

poorvaachaaryaa's interpretation, in sanskrith, you do not need

two "Cha"s to connect two entities; the second Cha stands for neeLaa

devi. Likewise, in your quote:

 

"anusishTaa asmi maathraa cha pithraa cha vividha aashrayam "

 

could the second 'cha' stand for "guru"?

 

I completely understand that we should go only with poorvaachaaryaa's

interpretations. Please forgive me for connecting two different

things - but I just wanted to share this thought. Adiyen, surendar. –

unquote.

 

 

 

MGV would like to reply to Sri Surender as follows: In this

connection please refer smt jayasree saranathan's mail dated 17 dec

2005 on `hreescha' – in dhvandhva samaasam two cha s are needed to

identify two separate entities, when said as a single word then it

becomes a dual, which is very special only to sanskrith language. But

for `interpreting' it is ok and great.

 

 

 

In the commentary to srimadh raamaayaNam what I refer, there is no

such explicit addition. But as far as availability of a learned guru

in janaka's courtroom, yes, there is maharshi sadhaanandha, the son

of `gouthama ahalyaa' couple. So it can be inferred / interpreted

that way also. He is also the `kula guru' of king and father of

seethaa, the great janaka. He jointly conducted with sage vasishta,

the marriage of seethaa and raama. Please refere seethaa's gOthra

pravaraNam being said by sri sadhaanandha. But as I stated already,

there is no such `slokam reference' for seethaa having been taught by

kula guru like raama and his brothers [which I quoted earlier].

 

 

 

Now coming back to the same slokam, it is

 

"anusishTaa asmi maathraa cha pithraa cha vividha aashrayam"

 

 

 

This can also be interpreted as "maathraa cha pithraa vividha

aashrayam cha anusinshTaa asmi" - combining with balance of the

slokam – then the whole meaning changes as – `hey raama, I need not

be told now, how to deal in any way with anyone, since my mother and

father taught me, many other things also, among my routine and

regular things to learn'. [that many other things include one on how

to deal with anyone].

 

 

 

As I mentioned in previous post, seethaa's reply is full of anger.

 

Further, in an angry reply, there can be some extra words also

falling intentionally or unintentionally, perhaps with or without

meaning – like this `cha' [which incidentally is required

grammatically] - one extra `cha' - if we have to treat this as an

extra cha [please note again this is my interpretation].

 

 

 

For vaalmeeki has reproduced `things as it happened' which he could

visualize due to brahmaa's boon to him, things which are even very

secretive in nature, like conversations between the husband and wife,

raama and seethaa, hero and heroine, [may be their angry, and / or

pleasant praNaya exchanges also].

 

 

 

Trust Sri Surender is replied to his satisfaction here.

 

 

 

Getting back to the topic of seethaa's learnings, in the aaraNya

kaaNdam, raama assures to the rishis that he will eliminate the

raakshasaas from dhanDaka aaraNyam – forest named dhandaka - seethaa

advises raama about usage of weapons against the raakshasaas, being

unprovoked by them - but at the behest of rishis for their [rishis']

protection. Of course, initially, you may feel it has nothing to do

with seethaa's learnings. But the way she suggests or advises to

raama about the `dharmam' exhibits her `depth of knowledge and

learning' and hence I would like to add it here.

 

 

 

adharmam thu susookshmENa vidhinaa praapyathE mahaan |

 

nivruththEna cha sakyO~ayam vyasanaath kaamajaadh iha || 3-9-2

 

 

 

Meaning: seethaa says to raama, `Gross unjust will accrue to any, in

an abstruse way, if his indulgence is kindled merely by his own

desire, and in this world it is possible to fend them off, to have a

recourse to justness'.

 

 

 

snEhaath cha bahumaanaath cha smaarayE thvaam na sikshayE |

 

na kathanchana saa kaaryaa gruheetha dhanushaa thvayaa || 3-9-24

 

 

 

budhDhi: vairam vinaa hanthum raakshasaan dhaNDaka aasrithaan |

 

aparaadham vinaa hanthum lOkO veera na kaamayE || 3-9-25

 

 

 

meaning [combined one]: In affinity and in respect, I am reminding

but not tutoring you, and in anyway improper is that thought of

yours, to wield your bow to kill the demons dwelling in Dandaka

without any enmity, oh, brave one, undesirable is the killing of

offenceless.

 

 

 

[comment: for we have already seen that seethaa confirmed to

raamaa, `I learnt this from you'. Now if she has to teach him, then

the student becomes guru to the teacher. So she says, `I am incapable

to do that but just out of affinity and in respect I do this'.]

 

 

 

let us continue in next post please, since length applies brakes here.

 

 

 

dhasan

 

vasudevan m.g.