valmikiramayana-balakanda-Episodes of Bhageeratha and Ahalya

February 22, 2007

Visvamithra told the rshis in Siddhasrama that he was going to Himalayas through Mithila. The rshis followed him for some disrtance along with the animals and birds of Siddashrama which showed that all beings show regard for great sages. Visvamithra walked till the sunset with Rama and Lakshmana and they reached the SOna river.where they stopped for the night.Rama asked Visvamithra about that region which was very fertile and he told them about it.

Ramavathara was anushtAnapraDHAna, as Rama showed the right conduct to the world by his actions. Here, by accepting the words of Visvamithra to go to Mithila even though he was sent by his father only for the protection of the yaga, he shows that one should always obey the elders.

The region they were staying belonged to Vasu , one of the four sons of Kusa, mAnasaputhra of Brahma, and the forefather of the vamsa of Visvamithra, from whom he got the name Kousika. Visvamithra briefly told Rama about his vamsa and the next day they started to cross the river and go towards north. Here the seemingly innocent question of Rama and the reply of Visvamithra have deeper meaning. Rama asked the sage by which way they will cross the river , meaning at which part of the river they will go across.

The question was 'katharENA paTHA brahman santharishyamahe vayam? "by which path shall we cross"and Rama calls Visvamithra brahman as he was brahmarshi. The answer was 'Esha panTHA mayOddhishtO yEna yAnthim maharshayah,' "I decide on the path followed by the great sages." This has the implication .'mahAjano yEna ganthah sa panTHA.' The path followed by the great personages is the one to follow.in order to cross the ocean of samsara

Then they walked for long and reached the Ganges and Rama asked Visvamithra 'thrylOkyam kaTham Akramya gathA nadha nadheepathim,' about how the river traversed the three worlds and reached the sea.Visvamithra started to tell the story of Ganga and Bhagheeratha.He told Rama about Himaavan and his two daughters,Ganga and Uma. Himavan gave Ganga to the devas on being requested and she went to heaven. Uma, Dakshayani in her next birth, became the spouse of Lord Siva.

Sagara, the king of Ayodhya was given the boon by the sage Bhrgu that one of his two wives will get one son who will continue the lineage and the other will get 60000 sons.Of the two, Kesini chose the first and Sumathi, the other one, chose the second..Asamanjas, who became mentally deranged, was born to Kesini and Sumathi had 60000 valiant sons.Asamanjas was banished from the country and his son Amsuman, unlike his father, was wise and good.

Sagara performed the asvamedha sacrifice and Indra, who is always wary of anyone doing it as it will give them the power over himself, stole the sacrificial horse and Sagara sent his sons in search of it. They looked all over the earth and not finding the horse dug the earth to reach patala and water filled where they dug and became the seas. That is why the sea got its name as SAgara.The sons of Sagara went to Patala and found the horse grazing near the sage Kapila and suspecting him to be the thief, they advanced on him shouting and Kapila, disturbed from his penance reduced them all to ashes by his power.

Not finding his sons or the horse and not being able to complete the sacrifice, Sagara sent his grandson Amsuman who found the horse and brought it back. He was told by Garuda that the souls of his uncles who were reduced to ashes will attain peace if the river Ganges is brought to Patala to wash the ashes.

Sagara completed the sacrifice but died in grief for the loss of his sons and his inability to bring the Ganges. Amsuman and his son Dileepa were also unable to bring down the Ganges by their Tapas and it was left to Bhagiratha, son of Dileepa to do so.The story of Bhagiratha is an example of persistence.

Bhagiratha pleased Brahma with his thapas and he granted his wish but told him that the earth cannot stand the force of the river and directed him to do thapas on Lord Siva. Bhagiratha did so and Siva agreed to catch the river in his matted locks but Ganga was arrogant and descended with full force to stagger Siva, who, angered, held the whole river imprisoned in his locks.Then Bhagiratha had to appease Siva once again and he let out the river in seven streams, three of which flowed west and three east and one stream followed Bhagiratha. This was however not the end of the struggle for Bhagiratha because, on the way to patala Ganga flooded the hermitage of the sage Jahnu, who took the whole river in his palm and drank it. Again Bhagiratha had to propitiate the sage , who let it thriough his right ear, Thus coming out of Jahnu maharshi Ganga acquired the name JAhnavi. Finally Bhageeratha achieved his mission and his forefathers were sanctified by the water of Ganga.Since Bhageeratha was instrumental in bringing Ganga to the earth, she came to be called BhAgirathi. Valmiki says,

Dhanyam yaSasyam Ayushayam puthryam svargyam atheeva cha

yah sravayathi viprEshu kshatriyEshvithareshu cha

To the one who makes others, whichever varNa they belongs to, hear this episode will get wealth, fame,long life, progeny,life in heaven. etc.

Yah sruNOthi cha kAkuthsTha sarvAn kAmAn avApnuyAth

sarvE papAh praNaSyanthi Ayuh keerthiScha varDhathe

To the one who hears this, life and fame are increased. He attains the fulfilment of all his desires and all his sins are destroyed.

After staying for a day in the city of Visala they all set out for Mithila. They came across a beautiful hermitage on the way whcih was uninhabited. Rama asked Visvamithra about it and the sage told him the story of Ahalya.

The hermitage belonged to sage Gouthama whose wife was Ahalya , who was created with all the beauty in the world by Brahma and Indra and Gouthama wanted to marry her. Brahma stipulatedthat she will be given to one who goes round the three worlds first and Indra started on his Airavatha whileGouthama went round Kamadhenu, who was about to deliver a calf, three times and claimed her hand, saying that it is equivalent to going round the three worlds. Indra could not conquer his desire for her and came to the hermitage in the diguise of Gouthama when Gouthama was away and enjoyed her company. When Gouthama came while they were together he was enraged and cursed Indra to lose his manhood and Ahalya to live there for 1000 years invisible to all and having only air as her food exposed to heat and rain.When she asked for forgiveness he said she will attain her chastity again when Rama sets foot in the asrama.Then Visvamithra asked Rama to enter the hermitage to free Ahalya friom her curse.

Here it is interesting to note that Valmiki never mentions that Ahalya became a stone. It is found to be so in adhyathma Ramayana however and Kamban also followed the latter version.Then Rama set foot in the hermitage and Ahalya came back to life and offered hospitality to Rama and Gouthama appeared and took her back. After their salutations to Ahalya and Gouthama Rama and Lakshmana started for Mithila with Visvamithra.

Valmiki says that Ahalya knew that it was Indra who came in the guise of Gouthama but was vain enough to enjoy his company, intoxicated with her beauty that attracted even the lord of the devas. But the penance done by her was powerful enought to wash off her sins and the holy feet of the Lord purified the whole hermitage including her.Here we are reminded of the words of Krishna 'api chEth sudhurachAro bajathE mAm ananyabhAk; sadhurEva sa manthavyah,'(BG-9-30)which means that the one who thinks of the Lord incessantly is to be considered as one with merit even if he was a worst sinner.Ahalya by thinking constantly on Rama's arrival became pure.

Kamban slightly differs in recounting this episode.According to him Ahalya was lying there as a stone. and when the feet Rama touched the stone she came back to life and Rama asked Visvamithra about her and the sage told him her story.There is a beautiful verse in Kambaramayana when Visvamithra praises Rama for freeing Ahalya.

ivvaNNam nigazndha vaNNam ini indha ulagukkellam

uyvaNNam anri mattru Or thuyarvaNNam uruvadhu undO

maivaNNatharakki pOril mazaivaNNatthaNNale un

kaivaNNam angu kandEn kAl vaNNam ingu kandEn

" When such things happen with your grace, where can be any suffering in this world any more?Oh lord of dark hue like the clouds , I have seen the power of your arms in the fight with the she-demon(Thataka), who was black like the night, and the power of your feet here now." Apart from the poetics (the same word being repeated several times etc.) the meaning is more beautiful.Kamban uses the words maivaNNam to denote the dark colour of Thataka and mazai vaNNam to describe the colour of Rama. The rakshasi was frightening like the darkness that implies thamas, and hence the word 'maivaNNam' is used. 'Mai ' stands for blackmagic. Mazai vaNNam on the other hand denotes the mercy of the Lord who is Ardhra, soaked in krpa, like the dark rain-bearing cloud. Kamban's Visvamithra tells Gouthama to accept Ahalya saying 'nenjinAl pizaippu ilALai nee azaitthiduga.' Even though Ahalya did wrong with her body her mind was not tainted, says Visvamithra whereas Valmiki says 'munivEsham sahasrAksham vijnAya raghunandhana;mathim chakAra dhurmEdha dhEvarajakuthoohalAth.' meaning that Ahalya knew it was Indra in the guise of the sage but still accepted him out of eagerness for Devendra.

Then they proceeded towards Mithila.

February 24, 2007

Dear Smt. Saroja, I humbly disagree with you. According to our AchAryas, rAma should be viewed as a supreme being and His actions as His leelas rather than an ideal human being. His anushTAnam is "sakrt prapanna janatA samrakshaNaika vratam". Also as said in the very beginning of raghuveera gadyam, His udayam is for reaching out to us, "jayatyASrita santrAsa dhvAnta vidhvamsanOdaya:". Also Sri parASara bhattar's interpretation for parardhi: tells us that His kalyANa guNas outshine even those of para vAsudEvan, which is very clear from His pastimes "parama spashta:". The view of azhwars and acharyas is further unambiguous as the commentaries for divya prabandham are fully encriched with quotes from SrImadrAmAyaNam. adiyen ramanuja dasan Vishnusarojram18 <sarojram18

wrote: . Ramavathara was anushtAnapraDHAna, as Rama showed the right conduct to the world by his actions. Here, by accepting the words of Visvamithra to go to Mithila even though he was sent by his father only for the protection of the yaga, he shows that one should always obey the

elders. .

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February 24, 2007

I would concur with Sri Mahavishnu regarding this matter, and compliment for bringing this point up in this forum. By suggesting that the Lord has provided some right and wrong course of action suggests that the chetana has some personal responsibility in its spiritual growth. It also places upon the sole of burden of responsibility on the human being to determine what is right or wrong, something that our egos always prevent us from doing correctly.

This is in stark contradistinction to the position that it is the Lord Alone Who is the Means and the End. If there is anything we are to " do " , it is merely to acknowledge that we are solely dependent upon Him, and that our actions are only the result of His Grace. So, if there is something called Dharma on our parts, it is only in His Using Us an Instrument to His Good.

adiyen

On 2/24/07, Srimahavishnu Vinjamuri <vsmvishnu

> wrote:

Dear Smt. Saroja,

I humbly disagree with you.

According to our AchAryas, rAma should be viewed as a supreme being and His actions as His leelas rather than an ideal human being. His anushTAnam is " sakrt prapanna janatA samrakshaNaika vratam " .

Also as said in the very beginning of raghuveera gadyam, His udayam is for reaching out to us, " jayatyASrita santrAsa dhvAnta vidhvamsanOdaya: " . Also Sri parASara bhattar's interpretation for parardhi: tells us that His kalyANa guNas outshine even those of para vAsudEvan, which is very clear from His pastimes " parama spashta: " .

The view of azhwars and acharyas is further unambiguous as the commentaries for divya prabandham are fully encriched with quotes from SrImadrAmAyaNam.

adiyen ramanuja dasan

Vishnusarojram18 <sarojram18 wrote:

..

Ramavathara was anushtAnapraDHAna, as Rama showed the right conduct to the world by his actions. Here, by accepting the words of Visvamithra to go to Mithila even though he was sent by his father only for the protection of the yaga, he shows that one should always obey the elders.

..

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