Dear friends in Kuwait, Here is a profoundly moving passage from the 'Aranya-kAnda' of Srimadh Valmiki Ramayana which clearly sets out the 'dharma' of War and Disarmament. It contains a sterling lesson for the whole world -- especially today, even at this very moment -- when we are all teetering on the verge of a War that shall soon envelop us. You will be surprised to know that in this passage it is not the paragons of "dharma" such as Rama, Vasishta or Bharata who propound the ethics of War. The "dharma" of War and of Disarmament is, wonder of wonders, pronounced by none other than a lady -- none other than our demure but irrepressible Sita-pirAtti. It would also surprise you to note that in this passage Sita delivers a splendid oration on 'dharma' to none other than Rama Himself! This passage in the 'Aranya-kAnda" contains such a lofty message of 'dharma' it could easily rank, in my humble opinion, alongside the "Gita". Verily, we may say, this passage from the 'Aranya-kAnda' is "sitOpadEsam". ************************* As Rama, Sita and Lakshmana travelled across the dense forests of DandakAranya, they rested for a few days in the hermitage of the rshi-s Sarabhanga and Sutikshana. Taking the opportunity of Rama's brief stay in their "ashram", the rshi recounted to the couple the untold grief and oppression they were suffering continually at the hands of the 'rakshasa' gangs that terrorized the forest-lands and hermitages of the rshi-s. The rshi-s narrated their pathetic condition and fervently appealed to Lord Rama to rid the forests of all evil (what today we would probably describe as "the Axis of Evil") and wipe out the whole race of terrorists called "rAskhasas". Lord Rama and Lakshmana assured the hapless "rshi-s" that Dandakaranya would be rid of these agents of evil. "Leave it to me. We are resolved to exterminate these rAkshasA-s", said Rama. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana then prepared to take leave of the hermitage and the rshi-s. On this occasion, just as they were about to depart, it was Sita-pirAtti who hastened to fetch the great bow and arrows of Lord Rama. Rama was a little surprised by this act of Sita as it was not her wont to fetch his deadly arsenals for him. As he took the menacing weapons from Sita's hands, Rama glanced at her face and quickly noticed the rather intense and meaningful look she gave him. In the mute but eloquent ways through which good spouses sometimes choose to communicate with each other, Rama knew that Sita was silently meaning to convey something very important to him? but was unwilling to do so in the presence of their hosts, the venerable 'rshi-s'. The couple bid farewell to Sage Sutikshana and continued on their journey through Dandakaranya. After walking some distance without a word along the way, Sita eventually broke the silence and began to speak a trifle vehemently to her husband: "snEhAccha bahumAnAccha smArayE tvAm na sikshayE na kathanchana sA kAryA gruhItadhanushA tvayA (III.9.24) "streechA-palAdEta-dudAhrutam mE dharma cha vaktum tava ka: samartha vichArya buddhayA tu sahAnujEna yadrOchatE tatkuru mA chirENa (III.9.33) "My Lord, I am not teaching you anything, I only remind you of what you already know. Unfortunately in life some circumstances occur and drive fruitful thoughts away from the mind. They go away to the corner of your mind and it is necessary to bring them to the forefront. I am doing that service. That is all I remind you, and I am not teaching you. "I submit this thought of mine to you. You may accept it or you may reject it. Consult with your brother and then between the two of you, decide the matter as seems to you both best. Being a woman and having my mind constantly fixed on the duties of human tenderness and love, I thought I should press this matter upon your attention". (translation by Rt.Hon'ble Srinivasa Sastry "Lectures on the Ramayana"-- circa 1944) So prefacing her thoughts, Sita then launched into a magnificent peroration which in the original Valmiki Ramayana appears as verses 9, 2-6, 9-10, 14-15 of the "Aranya kAndam", the translation of which is dealt with most eloquently by the "silver-tongued orator" Sri.Srinivasa Sastry. Sita tells Rama: "My Lord, there are three transgressions to which a man is liable even when he makes a slight departure from 'dharma'. Lying or uttering a falsehood is an important transgression. The other two are even worse. One is violating the wife of another man. The other is adopting force or resorting to violence towards a person without proper provocation i.e. without a genuine cause. "Falsehood you, My Lord, would never utter, I know that for certain. You have never done so in the past and you won't do so in future. And no impropriety with another man's wife, certainly. (High-class testimony from a wife indeed!). These two evils will never approach you. But the third one, my Lord, the making of war or molesting another person without provocation, is an evil which seems to have approached you now. These rshi-s have told you that they are suffering from the depredations of 'rakshAsa-s' (terrorists belonging to an "axis of evil": Khara, Ravana and Indrajith) and have sought your protection, and you have extended forthwith your protection to them. But I ask you, What business is it of yours? It looks to me, my Lord, that now both you and your brother, have taken license freely into your hands and with these great weapons of yours, both of you will now go into the forest and begin launching your offensive against every 'rAkshasa' in sight! This is wrong, it is not 'dharma'." ***************************** At this point in the Ramayana, Sita makes bold to even narrate a parable -- a morality tale -- to drive home her point to Rama! It is recounted in Stanzas 19-22 of the "Aranya-kAnda". "Once upon a time there lived a rshi who undertook severe 'tapa" -- penance -- and soon, as you know, the gods like Indra became extremely jealous of him. Indra, in the disguise of a hunter, one day came up to the rshi and handed him a magnificent but lethal sword and said, "Sir, please keep this sword in your custody for a while until I come back. I won't be long.". After Indra left, and the sword fell into his possession, life began to change dramatically for the rshi. (Like Mary and her little lamb), wherever the rshi went he took the great sword along with him. Even when he went into the forest to pluck fruits and herbs for his ascetic's meal, the rshi carried the sword with him to make sure that it was safe in his custody. The sage could never take his eyes off the magnificent, shining sword. Gradually, the rshi began to even admire the weapon -- feeling its cold, sharp edge, its brilliant steel and lethal looks. Feeling the savage metal with tenderly with his fingers, the rshi thought to himself "What dire execution this will do if it were in a brave man's hands". Thus, slowly but surely, the man who had always had 'tapas' on his mind began to find his mind wandering often into a weird fascination over the sword. After a while, fascination turned into preoccupation? and at last preoccupation turned into perverse obsession. "Tapa" and "dharma" took a back seat and gradually, the rshi's pure mind began to transmogrify into something sinister and cruel. His mind instead of being filled with tender and pure thoughts became filled with images and fantasies of gore, violence, savagery, blood and ruthlessness. Wherever the rshi now turned to in the forests he saw nothing but evil, violence and blood --- all being images associated with the sword that the cunning Indra had left behind with the rshi, with the sole and malicious intent of destroying the sage's 'tapas'?. Having lost all power of his 'tapas' ? the rshi thus soon fell into perdition! In the first place, the sage had never wanted the weapon at all, poor fellow! The thing was left with him for safe-keeping, but by constant association with the weapon, by its mere proximity, the man fell from the eminence of innocence to the depth of cruelty and paved the way to his own damnation. ************************* After recounting the above story, Sita continued exhorting Rama: "My lord, let not your assurance of protection to these rshis of Dandakaranya, let not your taking up arms on their behalf against the rAkshAsas, let not your constant preoccupation with the war that you must wage on their behalf turn you into the rshi whom Indra turned into a demon! Beware that when a 'kshatriya', trained to fight, finds his weapons within reach all the time and ever ready to strike, or when 'agni' constantly finds fuel nearby, then there is always danger near at hand, for both the 'agni' and the 'kshatriya' are easily provoked to an exhibition of their strength. "This, my Lord, seems to me to be wrong. You are transgressing 'dharma'. Lest you forget, permit me to remind you that you have come here into these forests primarily to lead the life similar to that of a 'yati' or 'muni'. Remember, you are not a 'kshatriya' who is back at home in Ayodhya ruling over a kingdom. You and Lakshmana did not bring yourself here into the forests to turn yourself into a two-man army for the rshis nor to serve them like hired, contract-killers --- nor act as if your were self-appointed roving vigilantes of DandakAranya!" ****************************** At this point in his lecture which was being delivered way back in 1944, the Rt'Hon'ble Srinivasa Sastry added a very insightful commentary on Sita's story and its illuminating message on the 'dharma' of War and the disarmament of evil. I reproduce it below in full since it is so admirably topical and so very apt for the circumstances under which we here in Kuwait find ourselves in. Sita's story also delivers an apt lesson for the whole world -- a lesson that made eminent sense at end of the Second World War in 1944 just as exactly as it makes sense today on the eve of the First War of the 21st century to begin in a few days: "Now it seems to me", said Sri Srinivasa Sastry, "that we must recognize there is truth in it (in what Sita told Lord Rama in the "Aranya-kAnda")? The sight of anything harsh hardens Man's feelings. Familiarity with cruel deeds, or even the entertainment of cruel thoughts changes our nature. That is why, ladies and gentlemen, I am disposed to disbelieve utterly, wholly and unreservedly, the protestations that are now being made on behalf of nations that are about to be victorious in this terrific war (Sastry was talking of the WW-II, but his words would perfectly fit the Iraq-War today). They think that the defeated nations should be disarmed and prevented from being mischievous for generations to come. They call them the aggressive nations (they call them "axis of evil" now). The aggressive nations must be deprived of their armaments, but those nations which are victorious and describe themselves as peace-loving nations ought to have at their disposal enough forces at any time to crush the insurgent-nations (today referred to as "rogue-nations"). Now look at that! The whole thing is utterly unscientific, to divide nations of the world into war-like and peace loving. Most nations that have come up and built up some kind of prosperity for themselves have been war-like and warlike with a vengeance. How long ago was Britain peace loving, or Russia? (Today we should ask the same question of America). All these countries have enormous forces at their disposal and cannot remain in peace. The very possession of these forces will drive them into war. There is no mistaking this at all. The division into warlike and peace loving nations is wrong. Self-righteous nations describe themselves in that way in order that they may justify their intention to remain armed and to keep other nations disarmed! The proper thing is for no nation to be armed, and to give the necessary weapons into the hands of an international power. A discussion of that problem will take me far (from the purpose of these lectures). But I want to tell you this, that this story of Sita is a pointer. Although we may safely build this proposition, that any nation that is armed to the teeth may be peace loving for some time, for 5 or 10 years, or it may be so perhaps for even one whole generation, you cannot guarantee that the next generation or their children's children will also remain peace loving. Such a state of things is foreign to human nature, foreign certainly to well-armed human nature." ****************************** The Ramayana tells us that possession of evil weapons is inherently wrong no matter in whose hands they are in -- whether a rshi or a rAkshasa. And as Sita deftly points it out to Rama, it is not 'dharma' for even God Almighty to use His mighty weapons (of mass-destruction) without provocation and just cause! The time perhaps has arrived when the world should be looking to disarm those very nations that seek to keep their own weapons intact on the pretext they are needed to disarm other "rogue-nations" in the name of, and for the sake of peace! As the Rt Hon'ble Srinivasa Sastry rightly said, "Although we may safely build this proposition, that any nation that is armed to the teeth, may be peace loving for some time, for 5 or 10 years, or it may be for one generation, you cannot guarantee that the next generation or their children's children will also remain peace loving. Such a state of things is foreign to human nature, foreign certainly to well-armed human nature." Rama was easily 'disarmed' in the Valmiki Ramayana by Sita's soft but wise words of counsel. But who will disarm the United States of America -- the 'rshi' with the sword who has gone out of control? Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/
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