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From: sadagopan
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SRINIVASAN ; ThiruppathyRaguveeradayal ; devanathan@xxxxxxxxxxx ; sadagopan
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2005 2:47 PM
Subject: A Prince in Distress Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama: A Prince in
Distress Of all emotions, sorrow and sadness are the most debilitating, as most of us know from experience. They sap our self-confidence, breed self-pity, paralyze our normal functioning and turn us into zombies. Distress begets dejection, which turns into despondency, ultimately landing us in despair and depression, from which it is difficult to recover. If you have any doubt about this, you only have to remember Arjuna?s plight, his sorrow (at having to fight and kill relatives and elders) making him throw away the bow and arrow right on the battlefield. Sri Krishna has quite a job, convincing him to fight. Though sorrow may originate from several sources, that caused by the passing away of those near and dear is perhaps the hardest to bear. And even in this class, the death of a beloved son or daughter is especially hard on the surviving parents, often driving them to a premature death. Dasaratha is a case in point, his grief (Putra shokham) being shared by Dhritaraashtra, Kunti, the Pandavas (who lost several of their offspring in the war and subsequent to that) and so on. What exactly is the reason for grief or sorrow? Attachment is the sole source of sadness, says the Mahabharata? ?Sneha moolaani du:khaani snehajaani bhayaani
cha Shoka
harshou tathaa aayaasa: sarvam snehaat
pravartate? Sorrow or Shokham appears
to be an all-pervading emotion, afflicting not only ordinary mortals, but even
Deities. For instance, we find Sri Valmiki chronicling several instances of Sri
Raghava being affected by distress. When He is told to leave for a jungle
sojourn for 14 long years, though Sri Rama doesn?t immediately display any
emotion, we find that His heart was indeed weighed down with sorrow, not perhaps
due to the loss of the Crown, but at the prospect of His departure causing
incalculable harm to His parents and subjects. We are told that on His way to
break the terrible news to His expectant mother, Raghava locked up His sorrow
within Himself and was externally the picture of iron control??Dhaarayan manasaa du:kham, indriyaani
nigrihya cha?. After all, what could be more saddening for the citizenry of
Ayodhya, than the beloved Rama?s departure for the forest? And when they are
sad, it would naturally affect their ruler-to-be, who participates wholeheartely
in their happiness and sorrow??Vyasaneshu
manushyaanaam bhrisam bhavati
du:khita:?. Another instance where Sri Rama displayed sorrow is at the parting with Sita. Finding the cottage deserted upon His return from the engagement with Maareecha, Sri Rama is almost beside Himself with distress at Sri Sita?s abduction, tortured by emotions and memories of the beloved Mythily? ?Sa Raja putra: priyayaa viheena: shokena
mohena cha peedyamaana: Vishaadayan bhraataram aarta roopo bhooyo vishaadam pravivesa teevram?. Rama cries out in torment, much like an ordinary mortal??tam tathaa shoka santaptam, vilapantam anaathavat?. It is left to His younger brother, the wise Lakshmana, to console Rama, to point out the dangers of succumbing to depression and to remind Him of His true stature. All that grief leads to is more grief and none who succumbs to sorrow ever comes out of it, says Lakshmana, in a bid to prise Rama out of the morass of depression into which He appears to be falling. Again, the sight of the slain Jataayu prompts a fresh bout of self-pity and despair in Sri Rama, who is reminded of His own late father and his recent death. The separation from Sita
tells a lot upon Raghunandana and we find Him prepared even to take His own
life, were He not to be reunited with Her within a few hours??Muhoortamapi na jeeveyam tam vinaa
asitekshanaam?. Similar despair seizes Sri Rama, when He finds Lakshmana felled with the Shakti Aayudham? ?Raaghavo bhraataram drishtvaa, priyam praanam
bahischaram Du:khena mahataavishta: dhyaana shoka
paraayana:?. To Him, it appears to be
the last straw on the already heavy load of sorrow that had been thrust on
Him?Denial of the Crown at the last minute, banishment to the jungle for 14
years, the loss of the beloved Mythily, all the inconveniences encountered in
the dense Dandakaaranyam and finally, the felling of Lakshmana, who was verily
Rama?s life spirit??Bahischara iva
praana:?. We thus find any number of instances in Srimad Ramayanam, where the Lord was overwhelmed with sorrow, for some reason or the other. Even granting that all these occasions would have generated the same emotions in any other person, we are plagued by doubts as to whether the feelings should affect Rama, of all people. We are so used to putting Him on a pedestal and worshipping Him as the Model Man, the Magnificent Monarch and the personification of all virtue, that any sign of weakness in Him tends to disturb us. Indeed, anyone would react as Rama did, given the successive slings and arrows that a cruel fate had aimed at Him?but what then would be the difference between we mortals, who are easily susceptible to such emotions, and the Avataara Purusha? And if He Himself is subject to sorrow, how capable would He be in dispelling ours? Further, Shokam or grief is said to be the product of Raajasic and Taamasic temperaments.
(?Harsha Shoka anvita: kartaa
Raajasa: parikeertita?
?Yathaa svapnam bhayam, shokam, vishaadam madam eva
cha na
vimunchati durmedhaa: dhriti: saa Paartha!
Taamasee? This contrasts with the description of the Paramatma as being beyond Rajas and Tamas. The Cchaandogya Upanishad tells us that the Parabrahmam is without any sorrow or sadness? ?Esha Aatma apahata paapmaa vijaro vimrityu:
vishoko vijighatso apipaasa:
Satyakaama: Satyasankalpa:?. The Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram reiterates this with the tirunaamam, ?Vishoka:?, meaning the griefless. In another nama, ?Ashoka:?, the Stotram tells us that He is the remover of all sorrow, Himself being beyond the pale of any such affliction??Shokaadi shat oormi varjita:? says Sri Sankaracharya too, while commenting on this name. If all these citations are true and the Lord is truly without any sadness or sorrow, how then would you explain the display of such base emotions during His avataras? And if He were indeed subject to sorrow, how then could we look to Him for removing ours? Is it not a case of ?Physician! Heal thyself!?? There can be no two opinions that Sadness or Shokam is a debilitating emotion and those who suffer from it can definitely not be elevated to the divine pedestal, which belongs only to the Parabrahmam, which is bereft of all things inauspicious??Akhila heya pratyaneekam? Swami Desikan comes to our rescue in answering this seemingly unanswerable puzzle, which strikes at the very base of the Paramatma Tattvam. In the Siddhopaaya Sodhanaadhikaaram of Srimad Rahasyatrayasaaram, the Acharya tells us that such emotions, affected by the Lord during His avataaras, constitute an act put on by the Sarveswara, to attract the devout and to deceive the unholy??Avataara vrittaantangalilum du:kha abhinaya maatrame ulladu?. These are performances staged by the Paramatma, to gladden the hearts of the devout, who find the Lord?s grief heartening and are drawn to Him. Such play-acting also serves to mislead the unholy, who naturally think that Iswara, being subject to such feelings, is indeed no better than mortals. If that be so, then is the Lord a hypocrite, feigning emotions to mislead gullible mortals, whether they be devout or otherwise? No, says Swami Desikan, telling us that such play-acting on the part of Paramatma is really an upshot of His mercy??adu taanum kripaa moolam?. In defence of his averment, Swami Desikan cites the following Vishnu Purana slokam, which lays down that the Lord, during His sojourn in the world of mortals, affects entirely human emotions and actions, despite retaining all His incomparable attributes like Supremacy? ?Eesan api Mahayogi sarvasya jagata:
Prabhu: Karmaani aarabhate kartum keenaasa iva
durbala: Tena vanchayate lokaan mayaa yogena
Kesava: Ye tam eva prapadyante na te muhyanti maanava:? Though He is the omnipotent
Parabrahmam, the Lord poses at times to be a helpless mortal, affecting emotions
like grief, anger and sorrow, which ordinary men feel on occasion. Those whose
faith in Him is steadfast, are able to appreciate the true purport of such
actions, while the rest of the agnostic or atheistic world takes such
play-acting at face value and is led astray by the Lord, in accordance with
their accumulated baggage of sin. Would anyone in their right minds believe that
Sri Krishna was really in such dire need of dairy products as to steal them and
be punished therefor by being tied up to the grindstone, begging His mother for
freedom with tearful eyes? And why should All these, you would agree, are totally inconsistent with the unbridled supremacy, omnipotence and omniscience of the Paramatma and the only plausible explanation therefor is that He acts in a certain fashion for purposes of His own, which do not in any way detract from His stature as the Ultimate. Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama: dasan,sadagopan
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