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dear srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Smt.Jayasree saranathan has sent this long mail to me and sri sadagopan swamy 
as a personal mail. since it is of interest to all, i am sharing this with you 
all without Jayasree madam's express permission to do so. hope she will not 
mind that.

dhasan

vasudevan m.g.

PS: Sadagopan swamy, hope you are on my side in sharing madam's article with 
all.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jayasree Saranathan [mailto:jayasree.saranathan@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 5:36 PM
To: M.G.Vasudevan; sadagopaniyengar@xxxxxxxx
Subject: The Crow's crime


SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA

Namaskaaram.

The write-ups by yourselves on Crow, the crime and Raman's reasons
have come at a right time when Navaaha parayanam of Sundhara khandam
for this navarathri dealt with these on this  6th day today.

The Ramaanubhavam on this day make me write this mail from 2
perspectives. Hope these make some relevance.

(1)     The issues around Crow written by Sri SSC in his article and the
related ones by Sri MGV.
(2)     Why Rama used the Brahmaasthram to kill a crow.


About (1)  there are more issues than what meet the eyes in the choice
of crow- body by Jayanthan.
(a) Why should he choose this body first of all?
(b) What were his intentions?
(c) Can someone like the son of Indran even dream of doing this
apachram to Piratti?
For (b) & (c), I concur with Sri MGV's friend that some curse might
have been there.

And there are other factors too.

The clue lies in kaakasura vrudhantham itself.
Before taking leave of Rama, Jayanthan in crow's body pays pranams to
Raman and Dhasharathan.

'sa raamaaya namskruthva raajye Dhasharathaaya cha' (38-38)

Where was Dhasharatha  in this  scene is a question.

The possible answer is that since the crow stands for a conduit for
paying off pithru ruNam (pithru kadan), Jayanthan could have thought
it safe to appear as a crow, expecting Rama to see his pithrus in crow
 and refrain from harming him.

Or since he has brought disgrace to the entire species of crows which
receive the pindam for pithrus, he invoked dhasharatha and sought his
blessings (or pardon  by prostrating before him)

Another factor is about the very name of crow in Sanskrit.
It is kaaka:
The crow's only language is kaa kaa.
Kaa means 'who is she' in Sanskrit.
The crow seems to be only species which always says 'who is she?' 'who is she?'
Is this she?
Is that she?
Or
Is this Sita she?

 The crow seems to have tried to ascertain who this purushakaari is.
It seems to have come down from Indra lokam to show to this world and
humanity of all times who this purushakaari is.

When it tried to test this Sita, Sita did not harm it at the first instance.
So 'this she' is one with immense patience.

At the second occasion too, she didn't harm the crow for what  it had
done to her.
So no doubt about her extreme patience with aparaadhis.

But Rama intervened.

Again only in her presence, could he get a lease of life.
So it is known without doubt that this is she, the purushakaari.
That is why the crows always sing 'who is she"
'Who is she, who is merciful to even the worst offender?'

Not only that, the crow also seems to remind us who  he  is who
pardons even the worst offender. 'kaha?' 'kaha?'


Therefore it is kaaka:

Not only the Indian crow but also the crow in a foreign land goes
about spreading the message 'kaa' 'kaa' 'who is she?'

I think the crow is an apt character to bring out the highest quality
of the divine couple.

Jayanthan's impersonation seems to be with such far-reaching intentions!!

Yet another factor is about the safety (or so) in crow's garb.
This can be understood only through pancha pakshi shastra.

This is one among the 4 main parts of the samhitha skandam of
Jyothisha shastra. This is about 'aaroodam' in astrology, which had
been popularly in vogue in Ithihasic times. Like swapna shastra,
nimittha shastra (sagunam etc), pancha pakshi was  fo0\llowed by all
in those days.

As per this, 5 birds have been identified as depicting or showing
certain characteristics based on which a person can decide about doing
or not doing an activity.

Crow is one among them.
Not only that, the crow has a primary position among them, in that it
rules for a long time at a stretch. i.e., for 2 naazhigai, than any
other pancha lakshi and its jurisdiction is top of all others', namely
it stands for 'ruling' (arasu) and its duration is a  favourable one
too. Even in nimitthna shastra, the sight  of a crow to one's left is
considered auspicious.

The crow of pancha pakshi shastra is not to be confused with crow as
vahanam for Sanishwaran. The implication and relevance differs in
different places.

But crow as one among the pancha pakshi is powerful in accomplishing things.

Since people would not harm the pancha pakshi but instead look them up
for favorable results, Jayanthan would have felt it safe to look like
a crow. Other wise why should a crow which usually is a scared one
feeding on left overs and dead ones, wish to taste a live person's
flesh?

The analysis on lines of pancha pakshi throws some interesting
information which are relevant in the second perspective I mentioned
earlier ( Why Rama used the Brahmaasthram to kill acrow?)

As per this shastra. The choice of crow, fell doom on Jayanthan.
It is a practice in astrology to look for other factors to ascertain
the veracity of a prediction or an observation.

In this context, Jayanthan's name stands for another pancha pakshi
namely cock, which is an enemy to crow as per this shastra. So it must
spell doom for a person of cock to don a crow, which Jayanthan did.

Also it became possible for him to irritate Sita (of  pancha pakshi,
the owl) for owl and crow are enemies. But Rama's pancha pakshi is
vulture which had an over powering effect on the crow.

As per this shastra, the kaakasura episode could have happened on a
Thursday, or else Jayanthan could not have escaped like this.

If one wonders whether it could be true that Rama and Sita would have
taken lightly on the crow initially on consideration of pancha pakshi,
my reply is "strongly possible"

Because at many places in Ramayana, the daily or hourly nimittham had
been considered for favorable or unfavourable events.

Even the fixing of muhurtha for Rama's coronation was done (rushed) by
Dhasharatha on maasam, tarabalam and thidhi balam, while the natal
horoscope of Rama did not support coronation at that time.

Dhasaratha tells rama about the bad dream (nimittha shastram) he had
and the prediction by astrologers of the nearing of his anthimama
denoted by aspect of his birth star by sun (in mesha) and Rahu and
Mars. Calculating from Rama's birth chart we find that Rahu must have
been at Thula at that time with Mars, for mars at 4th bhava from
Rama's chnadra rasi stands for what happened then. This means Rama had
Sun at 10th and Rahu and Mars at 4th and when sun in the 10th in
gochara has planets in 4th, they form vedai spelling doom on whatever
good the 10th sun was capable of doing.
By this, I mean to tell that birth horoscope was hardly given
importance in fixing coronation for Rama.

Dhasharatha expresses fears about some trouble from Bharatha and
combining it with prediction of his maraka, rushes to fix the
coronation on the day's strength, which however could not be
proceeded. Even before the onset of the favorable day, the damage had
occurred.

Again at Yuddha kandam we find Rama depending on Tarabalam while
setting out for journey to lanka.

My contention is that importance was given to day's or hora's position
as signified  by hora shastra, nimittha sashtra (there are many
instances in Ramayana alone) and pancha pakshi shastra.

So Crow's body is a safe one.

Now about the astram.

In this context, 3 instances need to be seen to understand the inner
taathparyam.

Rama plucked the darbai from his asanam and invoked the Brahmastram in
it to punish kaakasuran

Though he was seated on darbaasanam, he summoned Lakshmana to get his
astras to punish samudra rajan. He did not use the darbai of his
asanam.

Though he was possessed of Bramasthram among other weapons, he had to
be reminded of that by his sarathy, Maadali to punish Ravana, the
greatest offender of all.

The first was a Devan, the 2nd a Thanavan and the 3rd a Rakshasan.
The first  and the 3rd were punished, while the 2nd says why Rama can
not punish him. This is brought out by Hanuman too in today's (6th
day) parayanam.

"Rama is one who knows when to show anger" ('sthana krodha: -34-31)
"Rama is one who knows about when and where and how to punish his
enemies" ('dEsha kaala vibhakanjya:' 35-21)

He knows Raja neethi and follows the 4 neethis (one among them is
Danda neethi) as per the situation. (Raja vidhya vineedhas cha -35-
13)

So  there is some meaning behind every act of Rama in his danda neethi.

What  his guiding principles are, is known by what the Samudra rajan
says when he appears before Raman.

He tells Rama that he can not just make the waters stop or recede.

Because it is not out of desire for prosperity or riches,
nor for desiring something to which he is not entitled,
nor for fear of having incurred some paapam,
is he being made or asked to make the waters behave in the way in
which they can not behave.

This implies that he has not done anything objectionable or wrong as
to attract the wrath of Rama to shoot him with brahmasthram. In the
absence such mukhandram, Rama could not punish him. All that he did
was to threaten him and that was enough for Samdra rajan to come in
the open and give some suggestions to Rama. Brahmasthram was needed to
make him come out as he  was a thanavan of exalted nature.

>From the above, it is known  that desire of something for which one is
not entitled is a cause for Rama's Brahmastra. Kaakasurana nd Ravana
fit in this mukhaandram.

Kakasura is a deva (I concur with Sri MGV's Views on this)  and the
astra chases him till he seeks rakshanam. Pl refer Govinda rajeeyam on
rakshnam in explaining why Rama left Ravana the first time and why
rama appeared only after the vanaras were beaten by Ravana and sought
refuge in Rama.

Sri Govindarajar says that rakshakam is done only in aarthi,
suffering. The vanaras after being badly affected by Ravana rushed to
rama for protection,. Rama became the protector.

Rakshakam is also done when one is helpless. That was when Kaakasuran
fell at his feet and Ravana was about to swoon and  his weapons
slipped from his hands. When Ravana was helpless, Rama's danda neethi
and Raja vidhya is such that he would not kill / punish him. This is
also one part of the explanation for Rama killing Vali. He didn't kill
him when he was helpless. Had Vali been deprived of weapons
(niraayudhapaani), Rama would not have killed him as he did.

Coming to our thread, on sighting Ravana for the first time in the war
field, Rama declares that having sighted him, he not let him go
unpunished. Since Rama had seen him, Ravana can not escape even if he
takes shelter in Indran, yaman, suryan, Brahma devan, agni or
shankaran or in any of the 10 directions.

This happened with Kaakasuran who was right in front of Raman.
Rama could not punish Ravana ( pl recall the many write-ups we wrote
in the past on why Sita had to suffer) immediately because he was not
in his presence. The difference in the scenes is there.

He used brhamastra on a devan (jayanthan) and thanavan (samudra rajan)
but not on Ravanan. He was wondering why the kind of astras he used on
other rakshasas like maareecha, kara dhooshana, viraadha, Kabhandan
etc was not working on Ravana. It was only after Maadhali prayed to
him why he was not using that ultimate astra, and that the time had
come for slaying Ravana,  did he draw it.

The reason for this is in Ramayana itself, that is waiting for the
time. Just during that occasion the ashubha sagunam were described.
Things happen at the appointed time.

For a Rakshasa like Ravana, Rama had thought that other astras were
enough. Such leniency, he did not take on the other two. But Ravana's
other side of the character is such that he had accumulated so much
strength, that there was the need for systematically disarming him by
wrong doings of sorts, of which abduction of Sita was the foremost
(recall the write-ups on whether sita was not powerful). Remember the
gloating by Brahma deva when Rama lifted Sita by her hair while she
was crying over the slain Jatayu. "Kaaryam mudinthadu" said Brahma
deva. A strong reason for Ravana vadam by Rama was done.

Ravana was not an easy target for, his other side of character and
deeds saved him.

Kaakasura was also not an easy target for he can not be killed. But he
was one such person who can quickly correct himself. He did that and
escaped.

And Rama is one who gives along rope, gives many chances. He gave so
to Ravana, for, he is after all a rakshasan, not a devan or thanavan.
Had he been a deva or so, he would not have offended Rama nor have
gone thus far.

Any corrections to the above observations are welcome.

Pardon me for a long mail.

Regards,

Jayasree saranathan


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