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From:   jasn sn [jayasartn@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent:   Saturday, November 27, 2004 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: Bow's story ? further clarifications on questions 
raised. 

JASN: SrI: Respected sri Vasudevan swami, Thank you for your mail. I 
look forward to your comments. Meanwhile I thought I can share some 
more views. 

MGV: Welcome.

JASN: This is about Brahmasthram. On the one side we see that the 
brahmasthram sent by Indrajit could only tie up Hanuman (Sundhara 
khandam) and on the other, we find that Rama delayed (?) the use of 
it till he got tired (?) of cutting Ravana's head. He is said to have 
weighed the options of what asthra to use and then decided to shoot 
the Brahmasthra. 

MGV: sri hanumaan had the boon by brahmaa, that all weapons including 
his own brahmaasthram cannot do any harm to hanumaan. Just to show 
respect to pithaamahan, the athidhEvathaa for that asthram, that too 
in front of others, hanumaan waited as though he was bound. Also, 
that was a pretext, so that, if, a chance comes in his way, he could 
see that so called mighty raavaNan. That chance eventually came in 
his way. This is fully explained in sundhara kaaNdam. 

JASN: Also we see repeatedly that Rama always applies discretion as 
to what asthras to use. A blade of grass became his asthra to punish 
kaakaasura, but that he waited for a while to decide on to use 
brahmasthra is a point to ponder. 

MGV: For kaakaasuran ? it is immediate punishment ? for, he has done 
physical damage to raamaa's wife, that too in front of raamaa and in 
the vicinity of raamaa. Further his identity at that stage may be a 
point, since he is a dhEvaa. For dhEvaas, no hesitation is shown by 
raamaa in punishing them. 

As said in vaali's slain by sri anjaneyalu, vaali made a heavy 
mistake of making friendship with raavaNan. Similarly the son of king 
of dhEvaas, jayanthan, who is kaakaasuran, has to be severely 
punished for the crime. Further he did not have brahmaa's boons like 
raavaNan. 

Also as said in manu smruthi the `punishment levels' for the same 
type of crime, to people among the chaathur varNam vary. The severest 
is for BraahmaNan ?1st varnam and lightest for the 4th varnam. Since 
jayanthan is one more than the 1st varnam itself, viz. dhEvaa, the 
punishment level to him has to be naturally higher than braahmaNan. 
He has to receive severest punishment, that too immediately, that is 
what happened in jayanthan's case. 

For raavaNan it is with a hesitation. For brahma only had given the 
boon to raavaNan. Perhaps raama had the doubt of whether brahma's own 
asthram will work against brahmaa's own `boon recipient', the 
raavaNan. 

But since shooter is somebody else, presently raama, who is the super 
lord of brahma himself, the servant brahma has to do his duty / job, 
as well his asthram. Or otherwise also brahmaasthram is forced to do 
that assigned job of killing raavaNan, since command is by the 
supreme lord.

JASN: I deduce that in the case of Hanuman [irrespective of the curse 
(or boon?) (or I consider the boons and curses only to reinforce the 
already pending result)] had that he would be bound by Brahmasthra 
for 1 muhoortha kaalam, the Brahmasthra was powerless against him, in 
view of his being protected by Dharma and exalted virtues. Applying 
the same yardstick, the Brahmasthra, if used earlier on Ravana would 
not have vanquished him, with some dharma still sticking to him and 
protecting him. Rama seemed to have waited for the right moment to 
use it.

MGV: comment already given above.

JASN: A corollary can be found in Karna's demise. Again Karna's use 
of Brahmasthra on Arjuna, would not have resulted in the demise of 
Arjuna even if the Lord were not to be physically present, by the 
logic that arjuna was still shielded with dharma. This may also be 
the reason why the asthra could not meet the target (Arjuna) (Dharma 
in the form of Krishna protected him). Because we get to hear that 
these asthras are precision-driven not by physical aiming but by some 
manthras. Once shot, the asthra would certainly find its target. But 
that it could not in Arjuna's case (though by the curse that karna 
had) may be primarily to do with the strength of the target and the 
kind of protection that the target enjoys. I wish to see you take up 
a write-up on Brahmasthras as found in the two epics for better 
understanding for all of us. regards, jayasree saranathan

MGV: as stated I will take up this separately.

Dhaasan
Vaasudevan m.g.









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