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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00036 Mar 2008

 
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Dear friends,

As students or adherents of Vedantic faith and
philosophy, we may often find ourselves asking the
question: is there anywhere in the "paurANic"
tradition -- i.e. in the wealth of stories and fables
therein -- can we find anywhere there a character or
characters who may be said to typify, one-hundred per
cent, the Ideal Man described as "sthitha-pragnya" in
the Bhagavath-Gita? Someone who is out-and-out,
un-adulterated, absolute personification of a
"sthitha-pragnya"? 

If we did find such a character perhaps then we may be
able to better understand and appreciate the
definitive description given in Gita Verses 54-72 of
the true "sthitha-pragnya"? 

             ********************

In the scriptural treatises and various exegetic
traditions of Vedanta in India, it is not often easy
to point out to a "paurAnic" character and say
definitively or categorically that he represents,
personifies or symbolizes a certain Vedantic concept,
ideal or principle -- such as saying, this character
is the quintessential "gnyAni", typical "bhakta", pr
archetypical "karma-yOgi" or that he is the perfect
"prapanna". 

Usually, in the story of the "itihAsa" or "purAna", a
particular character may exhibit traits and
behaviour-patterns of more than one nature. The
characteristics of BhismAchArya in the Mahabharata,
for example, are several and various in nature. These
are demonstrated at several different points of time
in the dramatic sequence of the narrative flow of the
epic. In one situation Bhishma appears to conform to
the Vedantic mould of the true devotee i.e. the
"bhakta". At other points of time in the story, he
seems to exhibit the characteristic behaviour of a
true and authentic "gnyAni". And at yet other points
of time in the story --- especially in the terminal
moments of his life when he prepares to depart from
the world on the battle-field of Kurukshetra -- the
words and actions of Bhishma seem so touchingly
reflective of  the ideal "prapanna" "surrendering all"
at the feet of the Almighty appearing before him in
the form of Lord Krishna. 

Doctrinaire commentators of "paurAnic" tradition
however usually look at the major or predominant
behavioural pattern of Bhishma's character in the
"itihAsa" and are wont to hold it up as the perfect
illustration of the model (or rather "role-model") of
either an ideal "bhakta" or alternatively, as an ideal
"gnyAni" as alluded to in pure philosophical terms in
the "Bhagavath-gita".

                   ***************

The point of the matter is, few "paurANic" characters
may thus be said to be 100% "gnyAni" or 100%
"karma-yOgi" or 100% "prappana" etc. These separate
and individual "role-model" ideals are generally found
as a composite of elements collectively constituting
the overall character in the "itihAsa" or "purAna";
and this may well be what it ought to be, since human
behaviour-moulds, as we all know from common-sense, is
rarely, if ever, made up of any one single element. It
is always complex, it is always an amalgam of several
traits, of several motivational drives, of more than
one urge or aspiration.

So, the question still worth pursuing and examining is
this:

Where in the "paurANic" tradition -- i.e. in the
wealth of stories and fables therein -- can we find
the character or characters who typify the Ideal Man
described as "sthitha-pragnya" by the Bhagavath-Gita? 

                   ****************
                  (to be continued)

daasan sudarshan m.k.    
                   















Warm Regards,
Sudarshan

" A life is perhaps worth nothing; but nothing certainly is worth as much as 
life". 
(Andre Malraux)


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