Ramayanaof valmiki and kamban- Kishkindhakanda-1. The fear of Sugreeva

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Valmiki Ramayana- Kishkindhakanda

 

1. The fear of Sugreeva

 

Rama and Lakshmana reached Pampa saras, the lake called Pampa near Rsyamooka mountain. This is not the Pampa known today as such in Kerala but it must be a lake formed near Hospet and Hampi where the river Thungabashra flows. There are historical evidences that this was called Pampa. It could not be the river Pampa in Kerala as They would not have traveled that far from Panchavati which is near Godavari river. It was only Hanuman and other monkeys with him who traveled towards south as the path described by Sugreeva to them confirms this.

 

The description of Pampa is very long and beautiful in Valmiki and also in Kamban. The beauty of the lake with its lotuses and the spring season tormented Rama on his separation of Seetha and he lamented about it and told Lakshmana that first he lost contact with Bharatha and now Seetha. He tried to persuade Lakshmana to leave him and go to Ayodhya and be with Bharatha as he himself would never return to Ayodhya without Seetha.

 

Lakshmana consoled Rama, the great soul, who was lamenting like an orphan, ithi raamam mahaathmaanam vilapantham anaaThavath, says Valmiki, with fitting words, assuring him that wherever Ravana had gone with Seetha, may it be to netherworld or even inside the womb of Dhithi, the mother of asuras, they will find him.

 

The three verses attributed to Lakshmana at this juncture closely resemble the words which Rama was going to say in his next incarnation as Krishna in the Bhagavatgita, to Arjuna. This is the example how the Lord enacted as Rama what He was going to tell later as Krishna.

 

svaasThyam bhadhram bhajasva aaryaH thyajataam krpaNaa mathiH |

arTho hi nashTaH kaaryaarThaiH na ayatne na adhigamyate

 

"Regain your nature, noble one, and leave off this weakness of mind. Without effort a thing which is lost cannot be regained."

 

uthsaaho balavaan aarya naasthi uthsaahaat param balam

saH uthsaahasya hi lokeshu na kimchit api durlabham

 

"Enterprise is the strength compared with which there is nothing stronger.Nothing in this world is impossible for one who has enterprise."

 

uthsaahavantaH puruSaa na avasiidanti karmasu

uthsaaha maatram aashritya seethaam prathilabhemahi

 

"The men with enterprise does not lose courage in acting. We will regain Seetha through our enterprise."

 

Here the sorrow and desperation of Rama does not undermine his character because it is only an illustration how the Lord is portraying the emotions suitable for His role a man. Only if he had shown no feelings it would have appeared be very strange under the circumstances.

 

Rama and Seetha represent the jeeva and the Lord. The jeevathma is happy as long as it is with the Paramathma . But when the desire for the golden deer, signifying the worldly possessions, entered in, the jeeva is carried away by the senses, the dasakanta ravana, and imprisoned in lanka , the sareera surrounded by the rakshasis, the ills of the samsara. The acharya in the form of Hanuman comes and gives hope to the jiva and unites jiva with .the Lord. The agni pravesa is the rise of jnana by which the karma is destroyed.

 

But Rama and Seetha had no karma and did not suffer from it both being the incarnations of Lord Narayana and Lakshmi. The sorrow of Rama in being separated from Seetha and the grief of Seetha in asoka vana were only to show that the Lord feels the separation of the jeeva as much as the jeeva does, if not more. Rama and Seetha simply enacted their part, Rama acting as appropriate to his role of a man and Seetha to fulfill the avatharakarya.

In the meanwhile Sugreeva was walking on the Rsyamooka mountain and saw them and his mind was filled with fear because he was afraid of Vali and like the one who suspects a snake under every blade of grass. He felt sure that they were sent by Vali. But hanuman reassured him that there was no fear from Vali as long as they were in that mountain. Then Sugreeva told Hanuman to go to them in a disguise and find out their intentions in coming ther