desire 3

March 29, 2008

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

We saw in the previous post how the desire of a hunter – his kaamam - laid the foundation for the birth of the first slokam of the world and had the slokams connected with their meanings.

Before we list out who are all the kaamam laden persons, who moved the story with their kaamam laden activities, we will have to analyse on the type of kaamam.

Is it that kaamam – is connected with sexual enjoyment only, or, some other deep desire? If so then we have to classify that into different types or categories like --

If it is predominantly connected with sex, then we can identify that as type A.

If it is 'others' with appropriate title under type B, then going for sub classification B 1, B 2 etc.

If it is a mixture of both A and B then it can be called type C.

Now we will try to list out the main 'kaamam' laden story pushers in srimadh raamaayaNam, who, by their acts of kaamam made the story advance to some definite conclusions.

Amongst a host of players prominent under each of A, B, C above are

In type A are

kaamam of raavaNa – towards vEdhavathee first and knowing that she only has come as seethaa, then also exhibiting that kaamam with intention of enjoying her sexually, in spite of having "a sea of ladies" at his inner courtyard.

kaamam of soorpaNakaa – towards raama – again with the intention of enjoying with him sexually – that kaamam arising out of his physical beauty.

kaamam of ayOmukhi on lakshmaNa.

kaamam of sugreeva - in enjoying his wife and his brother's wife thaara after vaali's death - leading to raama's anger and lakshmaNa's reprimand of sugreeva.

In type B are

kaamam of kaikEyee – her deep desire to get her son bharatha crowned as king of ayOdhyaa in spite of her initial love on raama, her step son, which resulted in failure on two counts – losing her beloved husband and as well crown not being adorned by son bharatha.

kaamam of kooni or manthara – the hunchback lady – her desire to get her pet queen kaikeyee's son bharatha getting crowned. So her plot only twists the story.

kaamam of 'raama' himself – not towards seethaa in making love with her – even if it existed and expressed or acts done, it is legitimate, so we have nothing to comment on it - but his intense kaamam or desire to adhere to his father's 'directions' or 'order' – thus pushing himself or leading into the forest sojourn and his dear wife seethaa getting abducted and resulting war and finally the elimination of the villain raavaNa etc. Later after crowning also, his kaamam of adhering to dharmam, and respecting public opinion and views, as a true democrat, resulting in separation from the beloved wife seethaa once again – for he only abandoned her.

kaamam of lakshmaNa – [surprised?] – his intense desire towards raama - in serving raama – that forced him to say 'I will kill father dhasaratha, if he stands in the way of your coronation'. Also resulting inseparation from beloved wife oormiLa for 14 long years. Is it not again another kind of kaamam?

Kaamam of seethaa on the 'golden deer', to take it to the palace when they return to ayOdhyaa – which led to her being abducted.

kaamam of bharatha – in not accepting crown and wanting himself to be accepted as a true servant of raama and / or a voluntary 'sacrificer' or 'renunciate' in not accepting the crown.

Now we will have to list out type C --

kaamam of dhasaratha to kaikEyee – basically with the intention of begetting a son – giving an assurance that her son will become the king at the time of marrying her – since, efforts with other two wives have not yielded results – this assurance being given in his father in law the king of kEkaya. Later on also his kaamam was not bearing fruits. So he had to resort to yaagam and all that. By the time he got 4 sons, his kaamam became so intense on his son raama and that led to awkward results – in his death itself.

kaamam of vaali to punish his brother for an error committed by him and that led to snatching his brother's wife ruma also – which lead vaali himself being killed by raama.

Though the following are also kaamam laden, these did not really push the story but gives a sustained interest in the story and contains some morals.

kaamam of indhra, the king of dhEvaas - towards ahalyaa – type A- leading him into being deprived of the love organ itself. And her being cursed by husband to be a 'aroopavathee' - 'one without a form or living as one who could not be seen by others in physical shape' as stated by vaalmeeki. [in stone form is as said by others]. [of course this is only a side story and is NOT really pushing the story of raamayaNam]

The kaamam of people of ayOdhyaa – type B - in having raama as their king – though they consented when the king proposed and adopted a 'democratic process' in selecting a successor to himself, in raama, their excessive kaamam or attachment to raama made them initially suffer separation from that raama, and wait for 14 long years, for others' kaamam laden acts came in between.

kaamam of visvaamithra – type C - in getting that title of brahma rishi from vasishta's mouth, then his kaamam towards mEnakaa as a side story.

Now dear bhakthaas, I invite comments, inclusions and omissions, before I proceed further.

Dhasan Vasudevan MG