Dasavatara and Bhagavtgita

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Vamanavathara

 

Vamana was jnanasvaroopa, embodiment of jnana. Without

jnana wealth and power swell the pride as could be seen in the case of Mahabali, who thought that he had everything and

could give anything forgetting that all he had was given to him by the grace of

the Lord. He was a devotee but still his behaviour shows that even a devotee could become

inflated with pride if he forgets that evrything belongs not to him but to the

Lord only. When the pride is destroyed by seeing that he could not give even

the land measured by three feet , the devotion becomes pure and the wisdom

becomes all encompassing like Thrivikrama. The

Lord rewards it by giving Himself, as He says in Gita, jnaanee thu

athmaaiva me matham aasThithaH sa hi yukthaathmaa maameva anutthamaam gathim.(BG.

7.28/29) The jnani is not different from Me. Being united in Me he

attains the greatest status He gave Mahabali anutthmaam gathim, the highest state and also

promised to be the gate keeper to Mahabali in his abode in Patala.

 

Paarasurama

 

Parasurama represents the yogi who has rooted out inner

enemies like kama and krodha, represented by

the adharmik kshathriyas. When rajas and thamas are destroyed satthva comes to

the surface and this is denoted by Parasurama giving the earth conquered by him

to kasyapa. The axe, paraSu of Parasurama signifies viveka and vairagya by

which rajas and thamas are conquered.

 

The Asvattha tree described in the Gita which is nourished

by the sensual pleasures born out of desire, kama, is axed by detachment, as

said in the 15th chaopter of the Gita, aSvattham enam

suvirooDamoolam asangaSasthreNa dhrDena Chithvaa (BG.15.3), cutting this

asvattha tree which has deep roots with the eweapon of detachment.

 

Ramavathara

 

If the others were illustrations , ramaavathara was an

elucidation of Gita. What He said as Krishna He lived it as Rama. He displayed

as Rama the anantha kalyanagunas attributed to Him as Lord .Narayana. Ramo

vigrahavan dharmaH , Rama was the personification of dharma. He not only

preached dharma to all but also set an example to others by His life upholding

dharma.

 

Dasaratha means the one who can fight ten chariots at a

time. It also means the ten indhriyas which are carrying us towards the sense

objects. His three wives, kousalya , kaikeyi and Sumithra represent bhakthi,

jnana and karma respectively. When the mind drawn by the ten chariots of

indhriyas is attached to desire-motivated karma it loses its discrimination and

is destroyed in the end. Buddhinaasaath praNaSyathi as said in the Gita.

When desire overpowers the mind it avoids jnana

and bhakthi, and dharma is

expelled, though the mind is in unrest as the result of conscience as Dasaratha

suffered in sending Rama to the forest.

 

Of the four brothers Rama is dharma and Lakshmana is

arTha. Lakshmano laksmisampannaH, arTha meaning wealth, should always be

earned according to dharma. arTha also means

anything desired and not only

wealth. Hence it means that all things acquired , money, power, position etc

must be according to dharma. Hence Lakshmana is said to be with Rama always.

The greatest arTha , wealth, is the Lord as Desika said in his vairagya sataka,

asthi me hasthisailaagre vasthu paithaamaham Dhanam, there is a great

wealth of my fore fathers is on Hastigiri, meaning Lord Varada.

 

Bharatha signifies

moksha as he was the illustration of the sannyasi and devotee described in the

18th chapter of Gita, .asakthabudDhiH sarvathra jithaathma

vigatha sprhaH naishkarmya siddhim paramaam sannyaasena aDhigacChathi(BG18.49),

One who has detachment from everything, being self controlled, free from

desires, attains the supreme state of inaction through renunciation. and

attains mukthi. sarvakarmaaNi api sadhaa kurvaaNo madhvyapaaSrayaH

mathprasaadhaath avaapnothi SaaSvatham padham avyayam(BG.18.56) "He attains

the eternal and immutable state through My grace when he does all actions in

total dependence on Me always." Sathrughna

denotes kama which is

associated with moksha.

 

Rama and Seetha are depicted as jeevathma and paramathma

from spiritual point of view. The jeevathma is happy as long as it is with the

Paramathma . But when the desire for the golden deer, signifying the worldly

possessions, enters in, the jeeva is carried away by the senses, the dasakanta

ravana, and imprisoned in lanka , the

sareera surrounded by the rakshasis, the ills of the samsara. The acharya in

the form of Hanuman comes and gives hope to the jiva and unites jiva with .the

Lord. The agni pareeksha is the rise of jnana by which the karma is destroyed,

as declared in the Gita, yaThaa eDhaamsi samidDho agniH bhasmasaath kuruthe

arjuna jnaanaagniH sarvakarmaaNi bhasmasaath kuruthe thaThaa(BG.4.37), as a

fire, when kindled, reduces all fuel, to ashes, , the jnana burns all karma to

ashes.

 

But Rama and Seetha had no karma and did not suffer from

it both being the incarnations of Lord Narayana and Lakshmi. The sorrow of Rama

in being separated from Seetha and the grief of Seetha in asoka vana were only

to show that the Lord feels the separation of the jeeva as much as the jeeva

does if not more. Rama and Seetha simply enacted their part, Rama acting as

appropriate to his role of a man and Seetha to fulfill the avatharakarya.

 

Ravana stands as an illustration of the Gita sloka

.. Dhyaayatho vishyaan pumsaH sangah theshu upajaayathe

sanghaathsanjaayathe kaamaH kaamaath kroDho

abhijaayathe(BG.2.62)

 

 

 

 

kroDhth bhavathi sammohaH

sammohaath smrthivibhramaH

smrthibhramSaath budDhinaSah budDhinaaSaath vinaSyathi

(BG.2.63)

 

By the mind dwelling upon the sense objects attachment, sangha,

is created for them and from that the longing desire to possess them, kaama,

springs up and the desire gives way to

anger, kroDha. From anger delusion, moha, arises and the delusion causes loss of memory, smrthibhramSaH, which

results in destruction of reasoning

power, budDhinaaSaH, and as a result the man is destroyed, vinaSyathi.

 

Ravana represents kama ,

desire as he wanted all that is best in everything. Kumbhakarna denotes moha,

delusion as he was all the time sleeping. The downfall of Ravana started with

his thinking of Seetha,Dhyaayatho, which developed into sangha

longing, then desire, kama, which

turned into krodha, anger when

any one advised against it. He was deluded, sammoha, into believing that

Seetha alone would bring him happiness. He forgot his glory and vedic learning and his curse etc.

This is smrthivibhramaH, as a result of which he lost his reason, budDhinaasaH and

he was destroyed, vinaSyathi as detailed by the Gita sloka.

 

Ravana wanted to separate Lakshmi from the Lord, not

knowing that if the Lord is invited Lakshmi will come of her own accord but if

Narayana is not wanted Lakshmi will not stay long, and he had to suffer while

Vibheeshana united both and got all the prosperity and good fortune.

Vibheeshana represents satthva while Ravana and kumbhakarna stand for rajas and

thamas respectively.

 

Lakshmana is the incarnation of Adisesha, the thousand

hooded serpent, which is the mind with thousand thoughts. Adisesha never

leaves the Lord which shows that the mind always engaged in the Lord doing His

service is the greatest good fortune one can have, which is why Lakshmana is

termed as Lakshmisampanna. He is the illustration of the bhaktha who has

surrendered everything to the Lord and obtains pleasure by serving Him alone. sarvaDharmaan

parithyjya maam ekam SaraNa vraja, as

Krishna says in Gita. So is Vibheeshana

a perfect example of the above charam sloka as he says thyakthvaa

puthraan cha dhaaraamscha raaghavam SaraNam gathaH, that is , he has given

up all possessions and relations and had come to Rama in surrender and he got

everything including the Lord as a result.

 

The Ahalya episode is the illustration of the slokas api cheth sudhuraachaaro bajathe maam

ananyabhak saaDhureva cha manthavyaH (BG

9.30), One who has sinned should be counted as good if he contemplates on

the Lord with devotion and kshipram

bhavathi Dharmaathmaa Sasvath Saanthim nigacChathi(BG9.31) and such sinner when he expiate his sin by

contemplation of the Lord becomes good and gets peace. Ahalya was doing penance

for her sin in the form of a stone for years and her penance was rewarded in

the end and she acame to be counted as one among the pure women later.

 

Sabari illustrates the meaning of the

sloka pathram pushpam phalam thoyam yo

me bhakthyaa prayacChathi thadhaham bhakthyuopahrtham aSnaami prayathaathmanaH,

" a leaf, a flower or a fruit or

water whatever one gives Me in with devotion I will accept it with pleasure.

 

Thus the whole Ramayana

is the illustration of the Gita