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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00075 Oct 2004

 
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Dear raama bhakthaas, 

 

we saw in earlier post how thaara puts raama?s attributes in a single slOkam. 
May be, if you are in a bhakthi bhaavam laden mood, you can praise the lord in 
very exemplary manner, provided he puts the words of his own praise in his 
bhakthaas mouth.

 

 

 

When thaaraa saw raamaa, she just had lost her husband or almost about to lose, 
and in a mood of desperation. At that stage a simple look at the lord changes 
her to pour out that excellent slOkam. So you can judge the power of that 
simple look at raamaa. Now let us see the commentaries on that slokam. Just for 
recollection first the slOkam -

 

 

 

thvam apramEya: cha dhuraasadha: cha jithEndhriya: cha uththama dharmaka: cha |

 

aksheeNa keerthi: cha vichakshaNa: cha kshithi kshamavaan kshathaja upamaa 
aksha: || 4-24-31

 

 

 

Point: Commentaries on this and next verse of thaaraa, from ?Govindaraja?s 
commentary on raamaayaNam? are excerpted here. [Few points as below and in 
previous post on the ?nivaasa vruksha? are taken from www.valmikiramayan.net 
and edited to suit the flow here]

 

 

 

1. ?thvam? ? thaaraa says 'you, oh raamaa, of whom I am about to give a 
positive picture, though presently contrary to that of your aspect and action'. 
The singular word ?thvam? 'you' implies his singularity, uniqueness. 'You are 
without any other divine paraphernalia and yet you can manage the entire 
universe, singularly, but presently you appear to be manlike, with arrows and a 
bow. May be you are hiding your divine disc and conch shell etc., thus we are 
unable to elicit whether you are 'that' or 'this' being with our limited 
physical faculties'.

 

 

 

2. ?thvam apramEya: cha? ? you are 'indeterminate? ?that is your aspect'. 
vEdhaas themselves have no consolidation of your aspect when said as,

 

·        ?vEdhaahamEtham purusham mahaantham? - 'Supreme Person is endless in 
nature'.

 

·        ?ka iththhaa vedhaa' ?who knows that the being is like this or that'.

 

 

 

Further svEtha asva thara Upanishad at 4-19 and also mahaa naaraayaNa Upanishad 
at I-10 say:

 

Om - na Enam rthvam na thiryaNcham na madhya parijagrabhath |

 

na thasya prathim asthi yasya naama mahad yasa: ||

 

meaning: "None has ever grasped Him by his upward limit, or His middle portion, 
or His limit across. His name is 'great glory' for nothing limits His nature by 
definition".

 

 

 

?thvam apramEya? continued - VEdhaas also say that he does not know of himself. 
?sO anga vEdha yadhi vaa na vEdha?. But raama is evident before thaaraa?s eyes. 
That is not the reality of that being, so disputes thaara. This present aspect 
is only a namesake. While we worship the unknown, we conceive a picture or 
statue to our contemplation but not for his benefit as stated in ?upaasakaanaam 
kaaryaartham brahmaNO roopa kalpanaa'.  He does not need any benefits from us, 
should we be benevolent.'

 

 

 

3. thaaraa continues ? ?thvam dhuraasadha:? - Though we are unable to know you 
by our physical faculties, can we know you, oh raamaa, by our mental faculties? 
Even that is impossible for us, because you are dhuraasadha: - ?an inaccessible 
entity'. Then she says this way,

 

·        because you are eternal, there is no perish,

 

·        because you are ever dynamic no impasse can occur,

 

·        because you are ever blissful no depression can occur,

 

either to you or to your administration of dharma'.

 

 

 

This is what is available in Bhagavadh-Geethaa at 11-53:

 

na aham vEdhai: na thapasaa na dhaanEna na cha ijyayaa |

 

sakya Evam vidhO dhrashtum dhrushtavaanasi maam yathhaa||

 

'not through vEdhaas, not through charities, not through rituals I can be 
discerned, hey arjuna'.

 

 

 

4. She further analyses: ?thvam jithEndriya:? 'Because you are such an 
inaccessible being, but we are all accessible to you, can you excite yourself 
to grab this kingdom or the females or riches in it? You cannot do so, because 
you are jithEndhriya: 'one with his senses conquered'. You will give away all 
this to sugreevan. You are said to be not eyeing at other's wives. ?na raama: 
para dhaaram vai chaksubhyaam api pasyathE? - then how you eye at us? No, you 
cannot.'

 

 

 

This goes with the saying of svEtha asva thara upanishad, 3-19:

 

?apaaNi paadhO javanO graheethaa pasyathya chakshu: na sruNOthi karna:?

 

'no hands no legs, He goes everywhere, no ears no eyes He sees everything...'

 

 

 

Thus the sensory organs and their activities are for the mortals, immortal is 
beyond them. Thus you have conquered all such physicality, oh raamaa.'

 

 

 

5. ?thvam uththama dhaarmika:? - 'I thought you to be an unrighteous person in 
killing my husband, but you are uththama dhaarmika:? - supreme among the 
righteous souls, because you have helped sugreevan without any personal greed'.

 

 

 

A person who undertakes and does a deed only for himself is a base-level 
righteous person [adhama]. One, who does so for his benefit, and for the 
benefit of a few others, is a middle-level righteous one [madhyama]. A highest 
level righteous one undertakes anything to protect righteousness alone 
[uththama].

 

 

 

In killing vaaali, raama has got only one point in view, 'to eliminate an 
abuser of tradition, ?chaarithra dhooshaka? and not even bothering for the 
searchers of seethaa. When raama can eliminate 14000 demons of khara in aaraNya 
kaaNdam and also when he can put the sea to turmoil, can he not fling his arrow 
to the other side of that ocean to kill raavaNan?

 

 

 

He can, but, he has to course through sugreeva's friendship, mainly to punish 
vaali, among other things. ?So you are supreme among these kinds of 
benefactors, because you have paved way to vaali to go to heavens instead of 
netherworlds, so no discredit ensues? concludes thaaraa by this address.

 

 

 

6. next is ?thvam aksheeNa keerthi?. Raama may question thaaraa as 'why you are 
eulogizing me, when I got discredit in killing vaali without confronting him?'. 
For this she says ?thvam a + ksheeNa keerthi? - 'unmitigated is your glory'. 
'you are renowned not by a few of us but all the vEdhaas extol you'.

 

 

 

This is what is available in Bhagavad-Gita at 15-15:

 

sarvasya chaaham hrudhi sannivishtO maththa: smruthirgnaanamapOhanam cha|

 

vEdhai: cha sarvai: aham Eva vEdhyO vEdhaanthakruthvEdhavidhEva chaaham||

 

-         'by all vEdhaas, I alone can be known', and

 

-         there is another vEdhic saying ?thasya naama mahadh yasa:? is also 
there.

 

 

 

7. ?thvam vichakshaNa:? ? thaaraa continues - 'oh raamaa, you are a very 
discriminating person - you are vichakshaNa:. This indiscrimination is evident 
in you, because you have eliminated only one scandalous vaali, but not the 
entire race of him.

 

 

 

You, yourself, said, 'I will eliminate all the demonic race', when you wanted 
to punish raavaNan, the abductor of your wife, when you have seen seetha's 
ornaments [as at SR 4-6-25].

 

 

 

That analogy is not shown here in kishkindha. When sugreevan examined your 
capacity, you also examined the capacities of vaali and sugreevan in their 
first round of fight. Because sugreevan prayed for your mercy, you simply did 
not kill vaali, but a calculated approach is adopted by you, in the second 
round, and hence you are very discriminating'.

 

 

 

[dear bhakthaas, please note the point in the commentary here, why the second 
round of fight has taken place]

 

 

 

8. ?thvam kshithi kshamavaan? ? oh raamaa, you are earth-like, in endurance' 
and as told by naaradha to vaalmeekee ?kshamayaa pruthvee sama:? 'in 
perseverance equals with earth' - baala kaaNdam 1-1-18. You are tolerant of us, 
the other monkeys, though we were on the side of erring vaali. You have not 
taken us to task en masse because of your tolerance.

 

 

 

9. ?thvam kshathaja upamaa aksha:? ?oh raamaa, your eyes are blood-streaked 
like those of an emperor, unlike the bloodshot eyes of a murderer. ?raamO 
rakthaantha lOchana:? and ?kshathaja upamaa akshaH? - a sovereign should have 
roseate eyes, mouth and palms.

 

 

 

?raktha aasya nEthra paaNi: thrithaamra? as per saamudhrika saasthram the 
physiognomic canons. Even though your eyes are reddish, you are not looking 
like nara-simha, man-lion incarnation at the time of killing hiraNya kasipu'.

 

 

 

10. Please note, the words like 'cha' 'thu' 'Eva' either play a havoc or go in 
drain in their usage. Here 'cha' is used for six attributes while two more are 
not suffixed with it. The usage of 'cha' to six of the attributes is to tell 
that those aspects are available in the Supreme alone. The last two attributes 
are not suffixed with this 'cha' because these two are raama's attributes in 
his personal humanly nature and the Supreme is above these things.

 

 

 

12. Leaving all the above to a side for a moment, there is another viewpoint 
for these aspects. The word 'cha' if taken as 'alone' or 'only' then the 
meanings as stated above undergoes a change as

 

a.       ?apramEya: cha? - 'you are knowable 'only' by your adherents [alone] 
despisers cannot know you'.

 

b.      ?dhuraasadha: cha? - 'you are inaccessible to others and accessible 
'only' to your adherents [alone].

 

c.       ?jithEndhriya: cha? - 'indulgent in your adherents 'only / alone' and 
by conquering your senses you do not cast your glance at the disavowed'.

 

d.      ?uththama dhaarmika: cha? - 'you are the 'only' supreme Dharma, or you 
alone is Supreme Dharma'.

 

e.       ?vichakshana: cha? - 'you 'only' can discriminate good from bad, right 
from wrong. as you alone have said ?mithra bhaavEna sampraaptham na thyajE ayam 
katham cha na? 'I will not leave off one who befriends me'.

 

f.        ?kshithi kshamavaan cha? - 'the only / alone forbearing being'. Here 
also the 'cha' can be brought in as per dhehalee dheepa nyaaya, the syndrome of 
'portico-lamp', a lamp kept in portico beams a little inside the house also.

 

 

 

Thus Govindaraja comments on this verse are so elaborate. Dear bhakthaas, 
perhaps by pouring out all these attributes on raama, by her saththvic guNam, 
thaaraa establishes her in a high pedesal. We, also, are convinced that vaali 
vadham from behind a tree is not an act of controversy but a dhaarmic act. As 
sreeman sadagopan iyengaar swamin puts in his ordeal by fire ? ?if only raama 
does, it should be correct?.

 

With due respects

 

v.anjaneyulu, itarsi 

 


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