Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
It is well known that lord raama had a number of virtues and even his
own father king dhasaratha listed a number of qualities of his son
and thus recommended that such a raama be coronated as the crown
prince of ayOdhyaa. The details on what are these guNams or qualities
are available in first sargam of ayOdhyaa kaaNdam of srimadh
raamaayaNam.
[also please refer the series of articles of MGV titled `how could
such a raamaa do that?']
Also known to us is the fact that, there is a protocol that when a
king [or such a great personality] meets another king [or a great
personality], somebody else like an assistant or minister or a body
guard of the two kings [the greats] first meet each other, prior to
the arrival of the kings, get introduced to each other, then
finalises the details of the protocol to be used, when these two
kings meet each other.
Here in this article we are going to see how raama the great,
observes such a protocol while meeting one great personality ? sage
agasthya - and simply NOT observe that to the others like sage
bharadhwaja.
This simply means raama differentiates between personalities and not
treat all equally, or may have valid reasons for such differentiation
[which may be a wrong thing to say so]. First the positive side is
presented to you..
aagathaa: sma aasrama padham soumithrE pravisa agratha: |
nivEdhaya iha maam praaptham rishayE saha seethayaa || 3-11-94
meaning: We arrived at the threshold of the hermitage, oh, Soumithri,
you enter first and submit to Sage Agasthya about my arrival at this
place, along with Seethaa.
Point: When raamaa is about to meet the sage agasthya in his aasramam
[place of living], raamaa and seethaa stand at the entrance, and
observe or follow the protocol of informing the sage through
lakshmaNa, and seeking the sage's permission to enter his aasramam.
sa pravisya aasrama padham lakshmaNO raaghava anuja: |
agasthya sishyam aasaadhya vaakyam Ethadh uvaacha ha || 3-12-1
meaning: On entering the hermitage LakshmaNa, the younger brother of
Raaghava, reached Agastya's disciple and spoke this sentence to him.
raajaa dhasarathO naama jyeshta: thasya suthO balee |
raama: praapthO munim dhrashtum bhaaryayaa saha seethayaa || 3-12-2
meaning: A king named Dhasaratha was there, his eldest son and the
dynamic one, Raama has arrived along with his wife Seethaa to see the
sage.
lakshmaNo naama thasya aham bhraathaa thu avarajO hitha: |
anukoola: cha bhaktha: cha yadhi thE srOthram aagatha: || 3-12-3
meaning: I am his loyal, dedicated, and adherent younger brother
named LakshmaNa, if ever you have heard of us.
thE vayam vanam athyugram pravishtaa: pithru saasanaath |
dhrashtum icchaamahE sarvE bhagavantham nivEdhyathaam || 3-12-4
meaning: Such as we are, we entered the awful forest at the decree of
our father, and we wish to see the godly sage, let this be informed
to him." Said LakshmaNa to the disciple of agasthya.
thasya thadh vachanam sruthvaa lakshmaNasya thapOdhana: |
thathaa ithi ukthvaa agni saraNam pravivEsa nivEdhithum || 3-12-5
meaning: On hearing that sentence of LakshmaNa, that disciple, who is
ascetically rich, replied 'agreed, ' and he entered the sanctum of
Ritual-fire to submit the same to agasthya.
sa pravisya munisrEshtam thapasaa dushpradharsaNam |
kruta anjali: uvaacha idham raama aagamanam anjasaa || 3-12-6
yathaa uktham lakshmaNEna Eva sishya: thasya agasthasya sammatha: |
meaning: He, that agreeable disciple of sage, quickly approached the
irrefutable sage, by his asceticism, made palm-fold, and said this to
the eminent sage about about the arrival of Raama, exactly as said by
Lakshmana.
puthrou dhasarathasya imou raamO lakshmaNa Eva cha || 3-12-7
pravishtou aasrama padham seethayaa saha bhaaryayaa |
meaning: Sons of King Dhasaratha, Raama and also Lakshmana thus have
entered the threshold of hermitage along with the wife of Raama,
namely Seethaa.
dhrashtum bhavantham aayaathou sushrooshaartham arindhamou || 3-12-8
yadh athra anantharam thath thvam aajnaapayithum arhasi |
meaning: Those two enemy-destroyers have come cherishing to see and
serve you, hence it will be apt of you to order what next is to be
done in this regard." Said the disciple to the sage.
Thatha: sishyaath upasruthya praaptham raamam sa lakshmaNam || 3-12-9
vaidhEheem cha mahaabhaagaam idham vachanam abraveeth |
meaning: Having heard from the disciple that Raama has arrived with
LakshmaNa and with highly fortunate Seethaa the sage said this to the
disciple.
gamyathaam sathkruthO raama: sa bhaarya: saha lakshmaNa: || 3-12-11
pravEsyathaam sameepam mE kim asou na pravEsitha: |
meaning: Go forth and make welcome to Raama, Lakshmana and to
Seethaa, and they be entered here, why you have not invited them as
yet?
Point: See here the protocol is observed to the core. First the two
assistants of the two greats meet. Then each other announces the
introductory messages between themselves, then the announcement to
the master host, about the arrival of the master guest along with his
wife.
Now, dear bakthaas, you may ask me, what is so great in this, that we
can also read all these in raamaayaNam. So I am putting the question
across which is lingering in my mind ? when raama has followed so
much protocol when he met sage agasthya, why he has not followed same
protocol when he met other sages in the forest. Is any special reason
mentioned elsewhere or in commentaries elsewhere?
You may raise how can you say raama has not observed the protocol?
The answer I will give by quoting slOkams from raamaayaNam itself in
next post.
Before that I want to add one more point. May be, first, when raamaa
met sage visvaamithra, raamaa did not observe any such protocol,
since the sage was to be received by king dhasaratha. Also raamaa was
of less age at that time and perhaps not learnt about these
protocols.
When he met other sages in the forest, he was sufficiently aged and
also followed in one case and did not follow in other cases, as
evidenced from that very same valmeeki raamaayaNam. That is why I
want to place this question in the list and would like to seek an
answer from the learned bhaagavthaas and raamaayaNam experts.
Dhasan
Vasudevan m.g.
Azhvar EmberumAnAr JeeyAr ThiruvadigalE Saranam
http://www.vedics.net
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