desire 8

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in the previous post, how

maareecha described to raavaNa, how visvaamithra had fear of him and ran to

dhasaratha. By that raavaNa was warned on the power of raama and to desist

raavaNa against his desire of abducting seethaa.

 

Dear bhakthaas, perhaps by now

you might have thought, I am meandering on the topic of kaamam without focusing

on the listed personalities who pushed the story of raamaayaNam. But I can say,

I am confining myself to person no 1 - villain de-chief – raavaNa.

 

I covered how he has been advised

by his own kith and kin, not to think of

abducting seethaa, and, on 'who she is', 'what is her power', etc.

 

Incidentally that also served as

introduction to ramaayaNam – from vaalmeeki and thyaagaraaja. Maareecha's advises to raavaNa is continued

now also, and we see he gives one of the 'golden' slOkam – in tamil they say

'pon ezhuththinaal porikka vENdum' - such a one- see

 

para dhaara abhimarshaath thu na anayath paapa

tharam mahath |

pramadhaanaam sahasraaNi thava raajan parigrahE ||

3-38-30

 

meaning: Maareecha to raavaNa says, "Oh, king, there is no other

sin that is outrageous and gravest than the dalliance with another's wife and, besides, you already

have thousands of wives, isn't so?" [3-38-30]

 

Point: See the beautiful way how

maareecha has put it across - 'the way to behave with other's wives', even

though the desire is there to indulge - not to do that since it is gravest sin

- not only to raavaNa - but for people of all ages to come.

 

Though maareecha is a demon and who

lured seethaa in the garb of golden deer, his speaking to raavaNa is something

great. And in many a raamaayaNa upanyaasams, I am afraid this 'maareecha

upadhEsam' topic is not getting its due weightage or proportional coverage.

 

See 'dharma upadhEsam' by a sage

like bheeshma, vyasa or sukha, or vasishta or bharadhvaaja or agasthya is some

thing great and is always welcome for they live in that way.

 

Agreed – but a demon – a fellow

like maareecha who is a demon, who forbid others from doing yagnams and all

that, does this kind of upadhEsam - that too to raavaNa – the king of demons –

then please think what amount of knowledge, courage, and audacity, maareecha

has to tell all these to raavaNa.

 

bhava sva dhaara nirathah sva kulam raksha raakshasa

|

maanam vridhdhhim cha raajyam cha jeevitham cha

ishTam aathmanah || 3-38-31

 

meaning: maareecha continues, "Abide by your own

wife and be delighted with them, oh, demon, safeguard your own clan, thus

safeguard your dignity, your affluence, and your kingdom of demons, thereby

safeguard even your own dear life". [3-38-31]

 

Continuation: we know raavaNa

forced maareecha and then abducted seethaa. But after a first round of defeat

at the hands of raama, raavaNa recalls this seethaa is the same vEdhavathee.

See that slokam

 

SapthO~aham vEdhavathyaa cha yadhaa saa

dharshithaa puraa || 6-60-10

saa iyam seethaa mahaa bhaagaa jaathaa janaka nandhinee

|

 

meaning: raavaNa to himself while lamenting on his

defeat for the first time in the fight with raama, "Further, I was formerly cursed by vEdhavathi when she was

humiliated by me. The same vEdhavathi is born as the highly fortunate Seethaa

the daughter of Janaka. "

 

Please note again the words he uses

to describe 'seethaa' – 'mahaa bhaagaa' – highly fortunate. On this vEdhavathee

born as seethaa, sreemadh raamaayaNam, uththara kaaNdam, sargam 17 says

 

– raavaNa, during a rounding in

himaalayaas,

himavadh vanam aasaadhya

parichakraama raavaNa; [sl 2]

 

when he saw a beautiful lady

vEdhavathee doing thapas, he asked, being laden with 'kaama mohitha' – lusty on

seeing such a beautiful lady

 

- who and why and all that for

doing thapas in himaalayaas alone -,

 

kaama mOha pareethaathmaa

paprachchha prahasanniva [sl 3]

 

she replied – kusadhvaja is my

father -

kusadhvajO naama pithaa brahmarishi

[sl 8] –

 

my father wanted vishNu only as his

son in law – means her husband --

pithuh thu mama jamaathaa vishNuh

kila surEswarah [sl 12]

 

except naaraayaNa, the greatest

among males - no body is my husband --

naaraayaNo mama pathih na thu anyah

purushOththamaath [sl 18]

 

So raavaNa forced her by same words

he used to seethaa in aaraNyam and she retorts before entering into fire since

he was forcing her [MGV is not quoting these in elaboration since it is more or

less a repetition as seen in aaraNya kaaNdam which will be covered later, if

required]

 

--

I will take birth again to kill you oh raavaNa [– and she entered fire

and got burnt].

thasmaath thava vadhaartham hi

samuthpathsyE hi aham punah [sl 32]

 

while I am being born I will be

anayOnijaa she says to raavaNa and also as daughter of a dharmaathmaa and a

saddhu ---

thasmaath thu ayOnijaa saadhvee

bhavEyam dharmiNah suthaa [sl 34]

 

that vEdhavathee is the daughter of

janaka, oh lord raama – [these are stories being told to raama by agasthya in

the uththara kaaNdam]

saa Eshaa janaka raajasya

prasoothaa thanayaa prabhO [sl 40]

 

this lady had name as vEdhavathee

in krutha yugam -

Esha vEdhavathee naama poorvam

aaseeth kruthE yugE [sl 43]

 

In thrEthaa yugam to kill that

raakashasa raavaNa, she only was born in mithila clan – as daughter of

mahaathmaa janaka and her name is seethaa in and as a human

 

thrEthaa yugam anupraapya

vadhaarthE thasya rakshasah

uthpannaa maithila kulE janakasya

mahaathmana: seethaa

uthpannaa thu seethaa ithi

maanushaih punah uchyathE [sl 44]

 

From these slokams and short

translations following points are clear.

1. raavaNa was

living in krutha yugam also.

2. he

continued to live in thrEtha yugam and got killed by raama

3. vEdhavathee

is seethaa

4. raavaNa

tried with vEdhavathee earlier also with his desire to enjoy her - 'kaama

mOhitham' and later with seethaa.

5. naaraayaNa or vishNu is raama and that story is being

told to himself by agasthya

6. since

vedhavathee was not successful in earlier attempt to marry vishNu, now as

seethaa she married raama and got her desire fulfilled.

7. janaka is

dharmaathmaa, saadhu

 

[Earlier few questions came on the

list on

1. raama lived

in thrEtha yugam,

2. on

vEdhavathee etc

and I replied then. But now these

are answered again with proper reference slokams from raamaayaNam itself.

 

Dear readers you also now estimate

what will be raavaNa's age, when he desired to enjoy vedhavathee in krutha

yugam and later seethaa in thrEthaa yugam. I heard from some source, he lived

for 3.5 crores of years. I welcome somebody giving me a reference slokam on

that..

 

We will continue this topic of

desire.

Dhasan

Vasudevan MG