desire 18

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

We concluded the previous post

with the sentence "Slowly the desire takes over the goodness in her" – about

kaikEyee. When manthara started telling kaikEyee, that raama being proposed for

coronation, see how kaikEyee praises raama in front of manthara --

 

 

Dharmajnah, gurubhih dhaanthah,

krithajna, sathya vaak, suchi |

raamah raajnh suthO jyEshTO

youvaraajyamathah arhathi || 2-8-14

 

meaning: Rama knows all

righteousness. Elders trained him. He has a proper gratitude. He speaks truth.

He has a clean conduct. He is the eldest son of king Dasaratha and hence

eligible for the kingdom.

 

bhraathroon bhrithyaamscha dheergha aayuh pithruvath paalayishyathi |

santhapyasE katham kubjE sruthvaa raama abhishEchanam || 2-8-15

bharathascha api raamasya dhruvam varsha sathaath param |

pithru paithaamaham raajyam

avaapthaa purusha rshabhah || 2-8-16

 

meaning: kaikEyee continues -- The long living Raama

will protect his brothers and servants like a father. O, the hunch backed one!

Why are you so pained on hearing about Raama's coronation? After

Raama's rule for 100 years, Bharatha, the best among men, will certainly

replace Raama on his father's throne, which is that of his ancestors. "

 

yathaa nE bharathO maanyasthathhaa

bhooyO~api raaghaavah |

kousalyaathO~ariktham cha sah hi sushrooshathE hi maam || 2-8-18

raajyam yadhi hi raamasya

bharathasya api thath thadhaa |

manyathE hi yathaa aathmaanam

thathhaa bhraathroonscha

raaghavah || 2-8-19

 

Meaning: For me, Raama is as lovable as Bharatha and

even more. Is he not doing more service to me than to Kousalyaa? If Raama

has kingdom then Bharatha has it as well. Raama esteems his brothers just as

his own self. "

 

Point:

Such a kaikEyee, who was extolling raama is touched

on "her own sensitivity" by manthara saying

dharpaan niraakruthaa poorvam thvayaa soubhaagyavat

thayaa |

raama maathaa sapathnee thE katham vairam na saathayEth || 2-8-37

 

meaning: manthara said, "Previously, you treated

Kousalya with disrespect due to arrogance. At that stage you were fortunate [to

get away without any illtreatment being noted by king and given a chiding being

the least]. Will not such Kousalya, your rival wife, revenge now for that

animosity? "

 

point: Being a young queen, and the king dhasaratha's pet

wife, perhaps kaikEyee had in all her youthful arrogance, ill treated kousalyaa

and sumithraa during her young hey days. Since the king has taken kaikEyee in

marriage as his 3rd wife, with the sole purpose of getting a son,

[vamsa

vridhdhhi], and with an assurance to his father in law that her son will become

the crown prince, and also since the other two queens did not bear any

children, kaikEyee might have behaved differently with other two queens. That

is clear from vaalmeeki's slOkam above.

 

This maidservant manthara was sent along with

kaikEyee, when she got married, she knew all matters. So that 'asthram' – of

touching kaikEyee's sensitivity manthara uses now to turn kaikEyee against

raama.

 

Of course manthara says more about raama making a

slave of bharatha once he becomes a king etc, those did not carry much weight

[those we will see when we deal with manthara's desires]. But, this particular

point makes kaikEyee change immediately to ask for raama to be sent away and

bharatha to be made a king.

 

Dear readers, see how the human behaviour is

skillfully analysed by the poet. When you touch upon the ego of a person or

sensitivity of a person, they turn. In modern management, while dealing with 'motivation'

– it is said you kindle the 'ego' of a person, by praise, fear, or punishment

or some other means, so that you can achieve your object with the same person. Same

thing manthara uses here successfully to turn kaikEyee.

 

That asthram changed kaikEyee from praising raama as

deserving the crown and after 100 years of raama's rule let bharatha be the

king etc to ask manthara

 

idham thu idhaaneem sampasya kEna upaayEna mantharE |

bharathah praapnuyaadh raajyam na thu raamah kathamchana

|| 2-9-3

 

meaning: " O Manthara! What is the means by

which Bharata will get the kingdom but Rama will not get it by any method?

Think about it now. "

 

Let us see that means in next post

Dhasan

 

-- Vasudevan MG