desire 30

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Kaamam 30

 

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

We are discussing on raama's

kaamam – his kaamam to observe dharmam at any cost. Now comes the reader Mr.

Harsha simha's point – of 'sva artham' in kaamam – then it is not kaamam etc –

see his point – this point of Sri Harsha simha is in reply to MGV's post 3 on

classification of kaamam – [and I sent an interim reply to him that I will take

his point and reply in appropriate place in the series and time has come now to

do that]

 

 

Quote—

 

Dear Swamin, Its really a great

pleasure going through your analysis. Every mail of yours, takes us through

complete raamaayaNam. In the current mail " desire -3 " , I got bit

confused about the meaning of " Kaamam " . After going through the

analysis, am I right in thinking that *Every* Karma (action) is a result

of Kaamam " ?

 

Even though, one of the meaning of kaamam is desire, I was in an opinion that

all those desires where there is no expectation of fruit (prathiphalam) and not

a result of selfishness (swaartham), cannot be considered as kaamam. With this

definition / interpretation, I am hesitant to include following points under

Kaamam:

 

1. (Point 7) " kaamam or desire to adhere to his father's 'directions' or

'order' "

2. (Point 10) " kaamam of

bharatha – in not accepting crown and wanting himself to be accepted as a true

servant of raama "

 

But we can still have all other points under kaamam, including " (Point 14)

The kaamam of people of ayOdhyaa " . In a general case, excluding those

desires, which are not a result of 'swaartham', I feel that the " limitless

love of bhagavaan towards his devotees " will not come under kaamam. Please

correct me if I am missing something. dAsan, Harsha Simha –unquote--

 

Yes – every karma or action is a result of 'kaamam' –

'desire'. And Bhagavaan states that in geethaa clearly in chapter 2. [and I

stop with that – for my subject presently is not bhagavadh geethaa but

raamaayaNam]

 

Even to observe 'dharmam at any cost' is also a desire -

that results in actions by raama - by way of his own sufferings – all for the

sake of 'dharmam' – is it not 'sva artham' for raama. The intentions behind or

in mix with that kaamam have to be good and beneficial to all.

 

In raama's case, the intention is good, 'dharmam' has to

be observed and while doing so, the results have to be beneficial to many –

like

§

the many sages in forest who wanted a good dharsanam of

the lord,

§

raavaNa's elimination which is in general good to all,

in particular to dhEvaas and sages who do thapas, and ladies etc.

 

So a 'sva artham' in the kaamam, which results in an

action of 'good' to many, is a welcome kaamam. On the second point on bharatha

perhaps Sri Harsha simha has to wait till I take up kaamam of bharatha.

 

Now going back to previous post and continuing the thread,

we saw raama giving an observation to kaikEyee that she has not seen any good

character in raama [guNam] in slokam 2-19-24, so he next says

 

yaavan maatharam aaprchchhE seethaam cha anunayaami~aham |

thathah adhya Eva gamishyaami dhaNDakaanaam mahadh vanam

|| 2-19-25

 

meaning: raama to kaikEyee, "Today itself, I shall go to

the forest of Dandaka after bidding, farewell to my mother and also after

consoling Seethaa. "

 

Thereby raama's desire to stick to 'dharmam' - in obeying

father's orders - is his kaamam – or in other terms make father a sathya

vaagmee – a man sticking to his words – is proved.

 

A small technical point is also added here.

 

From the proposal of coronation to raama departing to

forest is all incidents happening in a matter of days – may be less than a week

also – but sage vaalmeeki gives coverage from sargam one of ayodhyaa kaaNdam to

sargam 44 - by which time raama left, people like kousalyaa dhasaratha are in

grief and sumithra consoles kousalyaa. So much is in detail.

 

But the happy days in forest for about 10 or 11 years in

just 2 slokams in aaraNya kaandam. Similarly the happy days of 12 years of

married life in one slokam, the message is being repeated in 3 places. Again

the happy ruling of raama – for 11000 years in one slokam – message being

repeated in morethan one place. See that kind of elaborations twists

raamaayaNam as a 'sOkha rasa' laden kaavyam. But again vaalmeeki's desire is to

make points on dharmam more elaborate than his giving details of happy moments.

 

Now we will move on to other kaamam of raama – of

accepting surrender of vibheeshaNa – a kaamam to which many oppositions were

there – not to take vibheeshaNa into the fold – that too at the time of an

imminent war.

 

To substantiate his acceptance see raama expressing his

desire –

 

mithra bhaavEna sampraaptham na thyajEyam

kathamchana |

dhOshO yadhi api thasya syaath sathaam Ethadh agarhitham ||6-18-3

 

meaning: raama to hanumaan and sugreevan and all

others assembled in front of him, "By any means, I do not desert anyone who

arrives with a friendly appearance, even if he has a defect. His acceptance is

irreproachable in the eyes of good men".

 

On this the commentator gOvindharaja has given a lot

– we will some in next post.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan MG