Sita's Sins, Big and Small

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

Sita's Sins, Big and Small-2`

 

 

We saw Sri Mythily ruing Her insult to Raghava, that He was verily a

woman in a man's garb, afraid and incapable of protecting His spouse against the

terrors of the jungle. This is perhaps the worst insult that could be hurled at

the personification of bravery and virility that was Sri Rama. Another unjust

accusation She makes is that Rama, in abandoning Her at Ayodhya, is verily

leaving Her at the mercy of others, practically selling Her away to others,

verily like a shameless dancer- " sailUsha iva mAm Rama: parEbhyO dhAtum icchasi " .

Sri Janaki realises this and attributes Her travails in the Asoka vanam partly

to this apachAram to the Lord. However, She terms this offence a small

one- " dushkritam kinchit " . If such an unjustifiable insult could be termed

little, what could be the one She considers great?

 

 

 

Sri Ramanuja, while seeking extinguishment of all sins, lists them in the

ascending order of gravity- " bhagavat apachAra, bhAgavata apachAra, asahya

apachArAn " . Grievous as bhagavat apacharAm (insult to the Lord) is, graver still

is bhAgavata apachAram (offending Emperuman's devotees). While the Lord readily

forgives any transgression aimed at Him, He is extremely reluctant to take a

lenient view of bhAgavata apachAram, as His votaries are dearer to Him than

Himself and are His very life-breath ( " Mama prANA hi PAndavA: " ). Just as worship

of bhAgavatAs is dearer to the Lord than veneration offered to Himself ( " tasmAt

parataram prOktam tadeeya ArAdhanam subham " ), so too offences against His

devotees attract His severe displeasure and render the offender liable for

exemplary punishment.

 

 

 

It is with this in view that Sri Janaki says " dushkritam mahat " (great sin),

referring to Her words of anger and anguish hurled at the innocent Lakshmana,

whose devotion to his elder brother is beyond question. When MarIcha takes the

form of a magnificent golden deer and lures away Sri Raghava, intent on

satisfying Sita's desire of possessing the mAyamAn, Sri Raghava instructs

Lakshmana to guard Sita till His (Rama's) return. After a long chase, when

MarIcha is at last felled by Sri Rama, the asurA lets out a great cry, in Rama's

voice, apparently calling out in distress to Sita and Lakshmana, in the hope

that Lakshmana would be misled by this and rush to the rescue of his distressed

brother, leaving Sita alone and an easy prey to the waiting Ravana.

 

 

 

While Lakshmana, knowing the true might of his invincible brother and refusing

to be misled by the machinations of the rAkshasa, stays put at the Ashramam, Sri

Sita is extremely distressed at the apparently impassioned cry of Rama for

succour, little realising that it is another ruse by the rAkshasa to lure

Lakshmana too away. She implores Lakshmana to rush to Rama's rescue, in reply to

which the former gives Her a vivid account of Rama's prowess and His

invincibility. Neither mortals, nor dEvAs, nor other beings like pisAchAs,

GandharvAs, YakshAs, kinnarAs etc. are capable of vanquishing Rama, avers Sri

Lakshmana. He pooh-poohs Sita's suggestion that his brother could be in

distress, absolutely unshakeable in his conviction about Rama's insuperability.

 

 

 

True to Her feminine susceptibilities to emotion, Sri Mythily is equally

convinced that Her husband is in distress. Her helplessness and worry turn into

anger at Lakshmana, who refuses to go after Rama, leaving Her alone. When

repeated entreaties and instructions to rush to Rama's rescue fall on apparently

unreceptive ears, with Lakshmana sticking to his stand, Sri Mythily, prompted by

all-consuming worry and beside Herself with fear for the life of Her beloved,

accuses Lakshmana of deliberately contriving to do away with Rama, so that he

(Lakshmana) could satisfy his long-cherished inappropriate intentions vis-à-vis

Mythili. Not stopping with this, Sita drags in innocent Bharata too, accusing

the younger brothers of conspiring against their unsuspecting elder.

 

 

 

Even to a casual student of Srimad Ramayana, it would be evident as to how close

Rama and Lakshmana are, right from childhood-( " bAlyAt prabhruti susnigdha: " ).

Each is the other's life-breath ( " bahi: prANa ivApara: " ). They do not eat or

sleep without each other's company. For all practical purposes, they are the

same entity, albeit with two separate bodies. Hence each knows the other inside

out and can bear no harm to come to the other. When Rama is denied the throne,

it is Lakshmana who is more exercised and threatens all sort of mayhem against

those responsible for the conspiracy. Thus Lakshmana's devotion and sincerity

towards his elder brother are axiomatic and beyond question. It is this ideal

fraternal relationship that Sri Mythily casts aspersions on, in Her anger.

 

 

 

Similarly, Lakshmana's behaviour towards Sri Sita is impeccable and in tune with

the highest standards of propriety. His attitude is one of devotion and

dedication, with not even a breath of impropriety about it. This comes to the

fore when he confesses to Sri Rama his inability to identify any of the

ornaments worn by Janaki, except those on Her feet, because He constantly

worships Her tiruvadi and never looks up at Her face- " noopurE tu abhijAnAmi,

nityam pAdAbja sEvanAt " . It is this paragon of propriety that Sita accuses of

harbouring inappropriate notions.

 

 

 

Anger is akin to temporary insanity and clouds reason, leading to further

deterioration in conduct and speech- " krOdhAt bhavati sammOha: " . And when

distress combines with anger, we often know not what we say or do. When the

distress relates to danger, real or perceived, to a loved one, it becomes all

the more malignant and prompts unreasonable conduct, which we would otherwise

never even dream of, when in full possession of our senses. Reason deserts the

angry person, and, bereft of the guiding lamp of reason, the angry one is

blinded and says and does abnormal things.

 

 

 

Similar is the predicament of Sri Mythily too, for Her normal regard for

Lakshmana is boundless and She treats him verily as Her own progeny. In

interactions with everybody, She praises Lakshmana sky high and speaks almost

jealously of the relationship between the brothers. Sri Mythili's words of

accusation must therefore be viewed against the background of the perceived

danger to Rama's life and Lakshmana's apparent inactivity despite hearing Rama's

apparently desperate cry for assistance. Imagine any devout wife's mental state

when she finds her husband in mortal danger and an avowedly attached younger

brother not rushing to the husband's rescue despite impassioned entreaties. This

is what made Mythily speak to Lakshmana as She did. Inexcusable as Her words may

sound, the extenuating circumstances offer adequate mitigation for Her conduct.

 

 

 

The mills of God may grind slow in ordinary cases, but as for bhAgavata apachAra

is concerned, they grind with expedition and mete out exemplary penalty, as was

proved in Sri Sita's case-immediately as the mortally offended Lakshmana left,

Ravana appeared on the scene, abducted the hapless Mythily and imprisoned Her in

Lanka, plunging Her in a whirlpool of suffering and sorrow. During Her long and

lonely days and nights in the Asoka vanikA, Sri Janaki recalls time and again

with remorse, Her cruel words addressed to Lakshmana , of the unimaginable hurt

they would have caused the innocent and devoted younger brother. When Tiruvadi

makes his appearance on the scene and seeks a message for Sri Rama, Sri Janaki

sends Her beloved a short message of one sloka, but waxes eloquent while

inquiring about Sri Lakshmana, in all of eight slokas.

 

 

 

" Convey my inquiries to Lakshmana, who sacrificed all palatial luxury and

princely comfort for a life of servitude with Sri Rama in the inhospitable

jungle. Hasn't he given up his all, his father, mother, newly wed wife and

unimaginable riches, solely for the sake of his brother? He has indeed treated

me with unparalleled devotion, akin to that shown by a dutiful son towards his

beloved mother. He is verily like a surrogate farther to Sri Rama, always caring

for His welfare and always ready to be of all sorts of service. He is indeed

dearer to my husband than I am, any day. Such a mahApurusha, unbelievably

delicate and soft-spoken for all his prowess and parAkrama, so kind, pure of

heart and unblemished, would indeed be hard to find. Do convey my inquiries to

dear Lakshmana! " says Sri Janaki, heaping encomiums on Ilaya Perumal, making up

for the horrible insults hurled at him in a moment of fear and anger.

 

 

 

Any sin is washed off through observance of the appropriate atonement

(PrAyaschittam). It is perhaps to rid Herself of the two sins, the only two that

could be laid at Her doorstep throughout Her life, that Sri Sita decides to

undergo an ordeal by fire. When Sri Rama refuses to accept Her back into His

fold after setting Her free from Ravana's prison, though any number of options

is open to Sita to establish Her purity, She opts to go in for the hard option

of entering the fire. Perhaps She finds it to be adequate atonement for the

bhagavat and bhAgavata apachArAs She considers Herself guilty of. And it is

indeed significant that She requests Lakshmana to prepare the fire, indicating a

desire to undergo punishment at the hands of one She had offended earlier.

Otherwise, the ideal person to have made a fire was Sri Hanuman, with his proven

penchant for pyrotechnics, displayed in full measure in the burning of Lanka.

 

 

 

Piratti's sins, if they could be called such, were prompted by extreme Bhagavat

bhakti. The intolerance of even the thought of anything untoward happening to

the Lord and inability to countenance any delay in initiating rescue operations

in that regard, were what occasioned the cruel remarks addressed to Lakshmana,

while in the case of Sri Rama, the derogatory references were the result of an

apprehension of being parted from Him for an interminably long fourteen years,

when it would have been hard for Her to be away from Him for even fourteen

seconds. Thus we are inclined to conclude that the two occasions of

inappropriate conduct on the part of Piratti were indeed ruses to show us all

the ill effects of anger and anguish, even if prompted by the best of

considerations.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

Dasan, sadagopan