Rama and Krishna-contradictory or complementary

November 18, 2006

It is true that there is a lot of opposites in the two avatharas but

you cannot say that they are contradictory but they are really not

only complementary, but rather complimentary to each other, I would

say. One commentator has said that there is only one similarity in

both avatharas in that both of them first killed a woman who stood

for adharma , Rama killed Thataka and Krishna, Poothana!.The reason

is that it is more dangerous when a woman opposes dharam than a

man.Otherwise there are differences in each and every

aspect.Ramavthara happened in daytime,in Uttarayana, and Krishna was

born in the night in dhakshinayana.Rama gave joy to his mother while

Devaki became a soorowful mother because she had to part with him as

soos as he was born.The son of the Sungod Sugreeve was the friend of

Rama while Karna, the suryaputhra was opposed to Kridshna and the

roles of the sons of Indra, vali and arjuna werre also reversed in

the same manner.Rama was a Ekapathni vratha while Krishna had many

wives. In Ramayana Hanuman went as the messenger of Rama whereas in

Krishnavathara , he himself went as a messenger of Pandavas For this

also a beautiful reason is imagined by the commentators, which I

will relate in the end. Rama was brought up as a prince but

underwent rigours of forestlife but Krishna was brought up as a

cowherd and lived as a prince.Rama kept his word but Krishna was

called "ElAppoygal urAippAn,' by Godha in her Nacchiar thirumoZi,

teased the gopies by his false promises! More than anything else,

Rama stood for dharmathatthva and Krishna for Brahmathatthva.Rama

lived and spoke like a human but Krishna was the supreme Lord through

out and never disguised His divinity to those who were pure in

heart.But still thereis no contradiction because the LOrd as Rama

lived the life which He was going to describr in Krishnavathara

through His Gita.IN this manner the two avatharas were complementary

and also a compliment to each other..

Now to come to the point of dhouthyam. Hanuman says in Sundarakanda

to Sita aas well as to Rama that normally only persons of lower cadre

will be sent as a messenger in order to assure sita that others in te

army of Sugriva are more competent than him, which dialogue he

repeats to Rama ' na hi prakrshtaa preshyanthe ,preshyanthe heethare

janaah.' So perhaps the Lord doubted whether Maruthi really thoght

like that and hence in Krishnavathara He Himself went as a dhootha to

show the excellence of the dhouthyam to reassure Hanuman!

Saroja Ramanujam

November 20, 2006

Namaskarams,

I think we can not compare each incarnations of Him. What sages and seers call as Avatara Rahasyam (The Principle Behind His Incarnations) would not be fully decipherable at one shot. Is'nt it?

Thanks and Regards,

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Deepak Vasudevan

http://www.lavanyadeepak.tk/

http://www.saranamayyappa.tk/

http://deepakvasudevan.blogspot.com/

http://viewsreviews.wordpress.com/

91 98400 26014

-------

November 21, 2006

True. But when there is some question regarding this we are bound to clarify the doubt without undermining the divine aspect. As long as it is laudatory and not decrying the incarnations there is nothing wrong id dicussing them After all parikshit asked Suka all sorts of questions not out of lack of devotion but lack of understanding >so it is the duty of anyone coming forward to instruct about sipritual and f religious matters to set right the misconceptions in order to establish the greatness of our puranas and ithihasas. This is the greatness of Hinduism that the questioning has been encouraged if notinstigated to help clear understanding.Bhakthi should be armed with jnana to secure Moksha and the question answer method encouraged from the time of upanishads is the wayto acquire jnana.Man is bound to get doubts which he may stifle or fail to express out of dogmatic attitude of gurus or as in some other religions where if you ask question youare stamped as an unbeliever

but the doubts willbe there till the janana become full and scures selfrealisation. Upanishad says, 'bhidhyathE hrdhayagranTHih chiddhyanthE sarvasamsayAh,kseeyanthE asya karmANi thasmin dhrshtE parAvarE.' meanig, all the knots of the heart unravel, all doubts vanish . all karma destroyed when(nd onlywhen) one has the perception of the highest reality.

Deepak Kumar Vasudevan <deepak.vasudevan (AT) inbox (DOT) com> wrote: Namaskarams,

I think we can not compare each incarnations of Him. What sages and seers call as Avatara Rahasyam (The Principle Behind His Incarnations) would not be fully decipherable at one shot. Is'nt it?

Thanks and Regards,

-------

Deepak Vasudevan

http://www.lavanyadeepak.tk/

http://www.saranamayyappa.tk/

http://deepakvasudevan.blogspot.com/

http://viewsreviews.wordpress.com/

91 98400 26014

-------

May god bless you,

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.