desire 2

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in the previous post how desire of a hunter – his kaamam - laid the foundation for the birth of the first slokam of the world. Now let us see few slokams connected with this episode.

 

thasya abhyaasE thu mithunam charantham anapaayinam |

dhadharsa bhagavaan thathra krounchayOh chaaru nisvanam || 1-2-9

 

meaning: There, the godly sage Vaalmeeki saw a couple of lovely krouncha birds, in the vicinity of that river's foreshore, flying there about in togetherness, [and of course, fearless of any calamity,] and calling charmingly.

 

thasmaath thu mithunaath Ekam pumaamsam paapa nischayah |

jaghaana vaira nilayO nishaadhah thasya pasyathah || 1-2-10

 

Meaning: A tribal hunter with all his evil intent, as he is an enemy of forest living beings, killed the male one of them – out of the couple - of these 2 birds, while Vaalmeeki is looking on.

 

tham sONitha pareethaangam chEshTamaanam maheethalE |

bhaaryaa thu nihatham dhrishTvaa ruraava karuNaam giram || 1-2-11

viyukthaa pathinaa thEna dhvijEna sahachaariNaa |

thaamra seershENa maththEna pathriNaa sahithEna vai | 1-2-12

 

Meaning: She, who is ever together with her husband, the lusty male bird with flighting wings and with a prideful red crest, one who always had a heart for her, now, is being separated from him. Gone is that togetherness. And she, on seeing her slain husband, whose body is blood-soaked, is reeling on the ground in the anguish of pain, bewailing with piteous utterances.

 

Point: [actually here govindaraja interprets that the birds were enjoying sex and at that time the hunter kills the male and that is what I heard in many an upanyaasams also]

 

Seeing this scene, the maharshi vaalmeeki expresses his anguish or sorrow.

 

thathah karuNa vEdhithvaath adharmO~ayam ithi dhvijah |

nisaamya rudhatheem krouncheem idham vachanam abraveeth || 1-2-14

 

meaning: Then on seeing the wailing female krounchi bird, compassion haunting him and perceiving the killing of male bird as unjust, the sage uttered this sentence.

 

Point: That leads to composing or writing or framing of this 'aadhi kaavyam' sreemadh raamaayaNam. Thus the starting scene itself is laden with 'kaamam' – simply 'desire' to deep 'love' - leading to 'sOkham' – 'sorrow'. That sentence is the first slokam composed which reads --

 

maa nishaadha prathishThaamthvam agamaH saasvatheeh samaah |

yath krouNcha mithunaath Ekam avadheeh kaama mOhitham || 1-2-15

 

meaning: Oh! ill-fated hunter, by which reason you have killed one male bird of the couple, when it is in its lustful passion, thereby you will get an ever-lasting reputation for ages to come " .

 

Dear readers, please note – vaalmeeki's use of words - kaama has become kaama mOhitham – the subtle difference – kaama as long as it remains a 'desire' – perhaps it is not that harmful. When kaama becomes intensified, then it becomes mOham – then it becomes dangerous – as the definition or meaning of the words goes.

 

moha

móha m. (√1. muh

• ifc. f. Ä) loss of consciousness, bewilderment, perplexity, distraction, infatuation, delusion, error, folly AV. & c. & c. (moham-√brÅ«, to say anything that leads to error

• mohaṃ-√yÄ, to fall into error

• mohÄt ind. through folly or ignorance)

• fainting, stupefaction, a swoon MBh KÄv. & c

• (in phil.) darkness or delusion of mind (preventing the discernment of truth and leading men to believe in the reality of worldly objects)

• (with Buddhists) ignorance (one of the three roots of vice Dharmas.139)

• a magical art employed to bewilder an enemy (= mohana) Cat.

• wonder, amazement L.

• Infatuation personified (as the offspring of BrahmÄ) VP.

 

mohita

mohita mfn. stupefied, bewildered, infatuated, deluded (often in comp., e.g. kÄma-mâ—‹, infatuated by love) MBh. R. & c

 

infatuation meaning -

1. a foolish and usually extravagant passion or love or admiration

2. temporary love of an adolescent [syn: puppy love]

3. an object of extravagant short-lived passion

 

That ladybird since became kaama mOhitham and that led to avadhee – suffering - because of separation from her husband – all because of excessive love. From srungaaram or love, thus the portion of the story leads us into karuNai – sympathy.

 

That is how vaalmeeki frames the rest of the story also. Same way – raama and seethaa were enjoying a calm forest life, suddenly raavaNa lifts seethaa – raama becomes sorrowful – we get sympathy on raama. Same way vaali and thaara – suddenly vaali got killed. When thaaraa weeps we get sympathy on her. So a loving life suddenly changes and creates sympathy. Srungaaram to karuNai.

 

We will see more in next post.

 

DhasanVasudevan MG