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srI:
SrI  upakAra  sangraham ? 43
--- 
adikAram ? 1
poorva upakAra paramparai
(The Foremost Series of Favours) 
---   
SECTION ? 5 (9)  
(27 Favours of the Lord leading to the means for
MOKSHAM)  
----- 
        The Lord did not stop with revealing the VEdas and
the related scriptures like the PAncarAtra samhitas
and not only directly Himself but also through the
Azhvaras and AchAryas. He also took births whenever
there was danger for the dharma, and saved it. 
When the righteous persons started adopting the
dhArmic activities and purifying themselves, He
captivated their minds by revealing His beautiful form
and attributes. Once they came closer to Him, in His
incarnations He gave discourses directly on the ways
of leading lives on the righteous path. He also
conducted Himself according to dharma so that the
jIvas can follow His example. It was yet another
favour done by the Lord.  This is the theme of the
next sub-section taken up by SwAmi Desikan:

(9) ?upadEsha - anuShtAnankaLAlE   dharma-
pravartthanam   paNNumthuvum;? 

        We already noted, in the previous section, the
various qualities of the Lord with which He attracted
the people.  The Lord gave discourses on the righteous
conduct and conducted Himself accordingly, in many of
His incarnations. In some, He gave instructions on the
righteous conduct and in some others, He showed it by
practicing himself, that is, through anushtAnam. . 
        Even though the Lord has taken many incarnations for
establishing righteousness in the world, two of them
are the most prominent, namely, SrI rAmavatAram and
SrI KrishNAvatAram.  During these two incarnations,
the Lord taught the essence of dharma whenever the
occasion demanded. As SrI KrishNa, His Bhagavad Gita
and Uddhava Gita are well known and being read with
commentaries even today. 
        In VAlmIki rAmAyaNa, we see a number occasions when
SrI rAma gives His advice on various aspects of
righteous conduct, including that of a son towards his
father, a wife towards her husband and that of a king
to his citizens. 
        We shall now look at these instances when SrI rAma
gave His advice and set an example by His own conduct.
The first one is regarding how a son should conduct
himself towards his parents. 
             In AyodhyAkANda, SrI rAma obeyed His
father, Dasaratha?s decision to banish Him to forest
for 14 years just before He was to be made the
Crown-Prince. When His mother, KausalyA prevented Him
from proceeding to the forest, He was very firm that
He cannot flout the command of His father. SrI rAma
refers to Sage KaNdu, the sixty thousand sons of
Sagara and ParashurAma. Sri rAma tells his mother:
?Their fathers? behest was carried out by them as well
as by many other godlike men. I too shall do a good
turn to my father, Oh godly mother! I am not
introducing any new sacred practice. That path is
being followed by me, which was intended and traversed
my forbears. That alone, which is worth doing in this
world, is being done by me in this case. It is indeed
well known that anyone not carrying out the bidding of
his father is forsaken by virtue.?
        He also tells his brother, LakshmaNa, ?Righteousness
is paramount in the world and truthfulness is rooted
in piety. This command of my father too is supreme in
that it is based on righteousness.?  In fact, the
command came from KaikEyI to SrI rAma to go into
exile. He refers to this and tells LakshmaNa: ?Since I
have been commanded by KaikEyI, according to the
pledge given to her by my father, I, constituted as I
am, dare not flout her command in any case.?
        Realizing that SrI rAma was firm in His obedience to
the command of His parents, KausalyA urged him to take
her along with Him. Not agreeing to His mother?s
request, SrI rAma advised her thus: 

?jeevantya hi striyA bharthA daivam prbhurEva ca /
  bhavatyA mama caivAdhya rAjA prbhavathi  prbhuh //?
(AyodhyAkAnNda, 24-21)

(For a married woman, so long as she is alive, her
husband indeed is her deity as well as her lord. The
king, our master, holds away over you as well as over
me now.)

        When Bharata went to the lovely hills of Citrakoota
and met SrI rAma there, He placed Bharata on His lap
and gave him instruction on administering a country.
(AyOdhyAkANda, 100.) 
He gave this instruction to Bharata, while enquiring
about his rule. What SrI rAma taught was the dharma of
governing a country by a ruler. He made an extensive
survey of the statecraft. He asked these questions
which contained several norms of dharmic ruling:
1)      Whether Bharata was worshipping Guru Vasishta,
elders and teachers.
2)      Whether he had rightly selected ministers?
3)      Whether he was making deliberations secretly
without divulging to others?
4)      Whether the administration of justice was entrusted
to impartial persons, whether he was punishing persons
properly;
5)      Whether he observing the feelings of the people
about the administration etc.

SrI rAma's instructions on the principles of
administration which constituted three virtues,
namely, the ruler should protect dharma; to protect
his own dharma and to protect his own people. 
Besides giving instructions, the Lord, as SrI rAma
Himself observed certain conduct setting an example
for others. We may see some of them:
Purity:- It must be both external and internal. It
should be maintained in food, mind, speech and body.
Scriptures have declared that the purity of internal
organs is achieved through the purity of food. The
purified internal organs lead to unfailing memory. 
SrI rAma maintained both physical and mental purity.
Sage nArada describes Him as shucI. Before taking up
any instruction from His guru, either Vasishta or
VishvAmitra, Sri rAma used to perform ?Acamana? ?
sipping water with devotion and maintaining purity of
mind.  Women were no exception to perform Achamana.
According to scriptures, when one sheds tears in
grief, he or she should perform Acamana, to purify
oneself. Kausalya broke down and shed tears when SrI
rAma departed for the forest on exile. She later
performed Acamana to purify herself before she blessed
SrI rAma. 
The importance of purity is stressed by Sage
Patanjali, who says: 
?By purity one achieves the purification of heart,
cheerfulness of mind, the power of concentration,
control of passions and fitness for securing the
vision of reality.?       
Dama and Shama:- Controlling of the ten senses is dama
and controlling of mind is Shama. The need for
controlling senses has been emphasized in the shruti
in a well known prayer:

Bhadram karNEbhih shruNuyAmdEvA bhadram
pashyEmAkShabhiryajatrAh /
sthirairgaistuShtuvAmsastanubhih vyashEma dEvahitam
yadAyuh //

(Oh, God! May we hear auspicious words with our ears.
May we see the auspicious with our eyes; praising the
Gods with steady limbs and bodies, may we live the
full-span of our lives as ordained by the Gods.)

The Lord, SrI rAma kept His senses and mind under
control as per the scriptural instruction. Hence, the
divine Sage nArada described SrI rAma as VashI. He was
called ?arindama?, as He conquered the vices of all
senses, such as, lust, anger, greed, ignorance, pride
and envy. 

BrahmacAryam (Celibacy):- A person who is on vow of
studying Veda before marriage is called BrahmacAri. It
is not correct to think that this BrahmacArya is not
intended for married persons. In fact, all sages were
married. After marriage, having taken a life-mate, man
should look at other women as mother or sister, and
women should look at other men as her son or brother.
A special rule is mentioned for persons who are
married, that is, gradually withdrawing from sex
activity. 
        This aspect of dharma has also been highlighted in
rAmAyaNa at different stages.
The Lord?s Consort, Sita has also shown by Her conduct
how a woman should lead her life as a wife.  The epic
is also called, ?SitA caritam mahat? ? the great story
of sItA dEvi. When SrI rAma proceeded to the forest,
she was bent upon following Him. She old Him She
always liked to follow dharma with valour. 
        A notable aspect of Her story in the forest is Her
discussion with AnasooyA, the wife of Sage Atri in
their hermitage. After listening to the instruction
from AnasooyA on the duties of a devoted wife, Sita
told her: 

?yadyapyESha bhavet bhartA anAryO vruttivarjitah /
   advaidhmatra vartavyam tathApyESha mayA bhavEt //
   
   kim punaryO guNShlAghyah sAnukrOshO jitEntriyah /
   sthirAnurAgO dharma mAtruvat-pitruvat-priyah //? 
(AyOdhyAkANda,118-3,4)
  
(Even if the husband of mine were ignoble and without
any means of livelihood, I ought to have conducted
myself just in the same way without any hesitation or
scruple towards him; this was my duty. How much more
worthy of devotion, then, is he who is deserving of
praise by virtue of his excellences and full of
compassion, who has controlled all his senses, who is
constant in his love, whose mind is set on
righteousness and who is loving as a mother and a
father combined!)

        Sita was praised by Sage Agasthya for her conduct in
following her husband to the exile. He compared her
with Sage Woman Arundhati, wife of Vasishta. Her
compassion is matchless.  She prevented Hanuman from
killing the ogre-women who had tortured her. 

Satya: This dharma covers not only speaking truth but
also standing by it and truthful conduct. There are
several facets under this dharma including
impartiality, self-control, humility, endurance,
renunciation, fortitude, compassion and non-violence.
The Lord, as SrI rAma is known for his truthful
conduct. Sage nArada described Him as Satya Sandha,
true to his promise. VAlmIki described him in several
places in rAmAyaNa as SatyavAdin (who speaks truth),
Satya Sheela (truthful character), Satya ParAkrma
(truly valourous) and SatyAtmanah (personification of
truth).
        We have already seen a number of virtues in the
previous sub-section, which SrI rAma possessed. The
Lord established righteousness by practicing it during
His incarnation as SrI rAma, along with His Consort
SrI.                  

(To continue)
dAsan 
Anbil S.SrInivAsan)
----------      


                



      
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