desire 7

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in the previous post, how

raavaNa was advised by maareecha against raavaNa's desire of abducting seethaa.

Incidentally it is maareecha who describes raama as 'vigrahavaan dharma'. See

slokam --

 

raamO vigrahavaan dharmah saadhuh sathya paraakramah

|

raajaa sarvasya lOkasya dhEvaanaam iva vaasavah ||

3-37-13

 

meaning: Raama is the embodiment of righteousness,

he is an equitable person with truthfulness as his valour, and as with Indhra

to all gods, he is the king of entire world.

 

In previous post, when we saw

maareecha describing seethaa - that she has her own thEjas, power, - also

specific words like 'narasimhasya simha uraskasya bhaaminee' etc, a doubt must

arise in reader's mind as to

when and where maareecha saw seethaa? how maareecha knew raama married her?

how maareecha learnt that she is raama's wife?how he knew she was so powerful and all that?

 

Does it mean that maareecha had

another bout offacing raama's arrows? Or he had the taste of seethaa's

pathivratha agni - powerful fire out of her 'pathivratha' vows?

 

Because, after killing and

clearing off thaataka, subhaahu and their accomplices, and pushing off far away

maareecha, the son of thaataka, with raama's 'maanava asthram', then only, raama

helped sage visvaamithra complete his yagnams.

 

After that, rama, lakshmaNa, sage

visvaamithra and all rishis went to mythila. And then followed instances of

breaking of siva dhanus, seethaa's marriage,

return of raama to ayodhyaa, the couple living happily for 12 years, in 13th year proposal for coronation,

immediately raama sent off to forest, and there they lived for about 11 / 12 years.

 

To clear the above 4 questions, we have to look into

lakshmaNa's words, when maareecha appeared as the golden deer -

 

charanthO mrugayaam hrishTaah paapEna upaadhinaa

vanE |

anEna nihathaa raama raajaanah kaama roopiNaa ||

3-43-6

 

meaning: lakhsmaNa says to raama, 'Oh, Raama, when

kings engaged in hunting games and were moving delighted in the forest, this Maareecha

killed many of them resorting to many disguises, for he is a guise-changer by

his wish'.

 

Comment:

point 1. So the kaamam, desire,

of hunting of the kings, transformed into kaamam of maareecha in killing the

kings themselves. "when you desire to kill somebody for your pleasure, you get

killed for same pleasure of killing by somebody else. That is the beautiful

lesson here in this one slokam.

 

Point 2. maareechaa was thus

roaming in the forest, with his desire to hunt kings, he heard all these stories

of raama going to mythila, marrying seethaa etc.

 

Point 3. Also since 12/ 13 years

have passed in the forest life of the trio, raama, seethaa, and lakshmaNa,

mareecha while roaming in forest have learnt about raama and lakshmaNa killing

viraadhan, giving vow to protect the rishis etc, might have seen them without

he being noticed by the trio. That is

why he is able to say all these to raavaNa.

 

I invite readers to give any

slokam reference available than this inference.

 

Continuation: Incidentally while

maareecha was thus advising raavaNa, he also said something about sage

visvaamithra. Many a times we presume once seethaa kalyaaNam is over there are

no more references on visvaamithra, even as a flash back. Fact remains

otherwise. Since that is quite interesting, I want to share that with you all.

 

visvaamithrO atha dharmaathmaa math vithrasthO mahaamunih || 3-38-3

svayam gathvaa dhasaratham narEndhram idham

abraveeth |

 

meaning: The virtue-souled great-saint Visvaamithra, who was highly

scared of me,

then went to Dasharatha in person, that great-saint spoke this to the lord of

people.

 

ayam rakshathu maam raamah parva kaalE samaahithah

|| 3-38-4

maareechaath mE bhayam ghOram

samuthpannam

narEsvara

|

 

meaning: An awesome dismay has befallen on me owing

to this Maareecha, oh, lord of people Dhasaratha, let Raama safeguard me by standing

alert to the opportune time of the Vedic-rituals.

 

Comment: See the funny desire of

maareecha, in claiming visvaamithra is afraid of him and that is why

visvaamithra, on his own, ran to dhasaratha and desired raama to stand guard

for his yagnam. Since slokam 4 is in first person we have to accept the

veracity. But there remains a fact that visvaamithra ran out of that location

or place. That is as stated by him – see slokam

 

krutha sramah niruthsaahah thasmaath dhEsaath apaakramE |

na cha

mE krOdham uthsrashTum buddhih bhavathi paarthiva || 1-19-7.

 

Meaning: visvaamithra says to

dhasaratha, 'Striven [that much, but on becoming] unenthusiastic, I take to my

heels from that place, and to me there is no will, to let loose my anger. Oh!

King, [1-19-7]

 

thathhaa

bhoothaa hi saa charyaa na saapah thathra muchyathE |

sva

puthram raaja sardhoola raamam sathya paraakramam || 1-19-8.

 

Meaning: Like that, the works of

the ritual on becoming thus, [i have to depart,] and no curse can be issued

[under that vow, therefore] your son, oh! Tigerly-king, Raama, the

virtue-valiant... [1-19-8]

 

Comment: Not because out of fear

for maareecha, but visvaamithra did not want to let loose his anger as stated

by him. Of course, once a person runs away from the scene, the other can

interpret it in many ways to suit his own desire and convenience. That is what

is happening here.

 

See the study of human mind in

minute details in such situations in raamaayaNam.

 

Or it can be that maareecha

desired to give a threat indirectly to raavaNa about raama –"out of fear for me

visvaamithra ran, and brought raama at his 12 years of age, and I was diven

away like hell, hey raavaNa, now that boy of 12 is fully grown and more

experienced in warfare also. Besides I learn sahe agasthya also gave lot of

asthrams etc, why do you want to abduct his wife and thus invite his

wrath?"

 

So the desire of one gives twists

to the known tales also in different ways. That is the point here. Let us

continue in next post.

Dhasan

-- Vasudevan MG