Post 4 Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer, In the previous post, we saw lakshmaNa, the embodiment of renunciation, telling seethaa the devotion, I am leaving you protection-less. We saw this slOkam from vaalmeeki raamaayaNam. But he did not go and waited for few more moments, before he finally actually left. gamishyE yathra kaakuthstha: svasthi thE asthu vara aananE || 3-45-33 rakshanthu thvaam visaalaakshi samagraa vana dhEvathaa: | meaning: I am going there where Rama is, oh, lady with best visage, you be blest, and oh, broad-eyed one, let all of the forest deities protect you. [this was the slOkam seen in last post before concluding the post] There is a beauty of a point here. LakshmaNa addresses seethaa as 'vara aananE' and 'visaala akshee' - one who has a beautiful face and having broad eyes. The face has lost its sObhaa, - eyes, even though broad and big, have lost its 'sight', in materialistic pursuits and lost their 'vision', - because of that false voice calling, deceit's calling 'lakshmaNaa' - seethaa's thinking went unidirectional in a wrong way - in that serious 'barthaa kshEma aarthee or kaankshee' - as already mentioned - desiring her husband's safety even though knowing fully well, he cannot be overpowered so easily by anybody - mind blinded - devotion going unidirectional with lot of personal and materialistic desires behind. Whenever personal ambitions and desires come in front of devotion that is always troublesome and produces wrong results. There is nothing wrong in devotion being unidirectional, in fact, has to be unidirectional towards the lord, but, that should not be covered with 'self interest'. Also lakshmaNa calls her jaanakee, the daughter of king Janaka, meaning, hey you are that daughter of a highly judicious person, but, now you are unable to discriminate.' He calls her vaidhEhee that is, one 'coming from vidhEha province.' vidhEha also means 'without body' - meaning - seethaa you are not an ordinary person, but some supernatural, yet that deceit golden deer has beguiled you' and so on. So vaalmeeki puts words, so nicely, conveying a lot, even while addressing each other by these characters. nimiththaani hi ghOraaNi yaani praadhurbhavanthi mE | api thvaam saha raamENa pasyEyam punaraagatha: || 3-45-34 meaning: lashmaNa says to seethaa before leaving - 'Gauging by those dangerous forebodings that are now bidding fair, can I see you again along with Raamaa on my return, or not? That I do not know.' When lakshmaNa said this see seethaa's reaction. gOdhaavareem pravEkshyaami heenaa raamENa lakshmaNa | aabandhishye athavaa thyakshyE vishamE dhEham aathmana: || 3-45-36 meaning: Without raama I plunge myself in river gOdhavari, or else I string up myself, or discard this body of mine from heights..." Thus seetha started to vent out her feelings. pibaami vaa visham theekshNam pravEkshyaami huthaasanam | na thu aham raaghavaath anyam kadhaaapi purusham sprusE || 3-45-37 meaning: I drink deadly poison, or I enter a flaring fire, but I will never touch another man other than raaghavan. ithi lakshmaNam aasrutya seethaa duhkha samanvithaa | paaNibhyaam rudhathee duhkhaad udharam prajaghaana ha || 3-45-38 meaning: seetha on declaring to lakshmaNan in this way, she, who is anguished and weeping bitterly, then started to smite her belly with both of her palms in a heightened agony. thaam aartha roopaam vimanaa rudhantheem soumithri: aalOkya visaala nEthraam | aasvaasayaamaasa na chaiva bharthu: tham bhraatharam kinchith uvaacha seethaa || 3-45-39 meaning: Observing the agonised aspect of seethaa that cheerless soumithri started to cheer her up by repeatedly informing that her husband raama will come soon. Even then seethaa has not spoken in the least to the brother of her husband, and maintained a silence of antipathy. thatha: thu seethaam abhivaadhya lakshmaNa: krutha anjali: kinchidh abhipraNamya | avEkshamaaNO bahusa: sa maithileem jagaama raamasya sameepam aathmavaan || 3-45-40 meaning: But then, holding seethaa in usual reverence that self-respectful lakshmaNa briefly came to her fore, making a reverential palm-fold that briefly, and then he proceeded to the proximity of raamaa, while repeatedly looking back at that lonely lady in the thick of forest. Point: Now only lakshmaNa really leaves. But see, there is no trace or suggestion at least, of making a 'line of control', the famed 'lakshmaN rEkha' for seethaa. Only words of soothing comfort were uttered repeatedly, even though her reaction was very forceful declaring, 'I will die this way, that way, I will not touch any other male' etc, as though some body like lakshmaNa or bharatha has desired for her, [except raavanan that too later in the story]. On this 'krutha anjali: kinchidh abhipraNamya' some points are given which are worth learning for our guidance in our life. "Till now lakshmaNa is at her behind or at her sideways, as he usually stands a foot behind raama or seetha, and now came to her fore to revere her vis-à-vis and made a semi-salute, i.e., briefly and briskly adjoined and disjoined his palms, without bringing the joined palms up to his heart or his face. Bringing the folded palms up to one's own heart is suggestive of 'pouring forth one's own heart' at the other, which is known in prayers as iungo manus ante pectus. The hands, if they are lifted up to forehead, it is suggestive of 'concentrating with whole of the mind.' If hands are totally lifted into air, it is for the "god unknown". But here lakshmaNa does this iungere manus, which is neither ante pectus, infra pectus, nor supra abdomen but a quick gesture. He is performing an ishta namaskaara 'uninterested greeting...' 'a half-hearted gesture' like a 'cold-handshake' rather than a 'warm' one, because he is now sent by her compulsively and compulsorily. [this point on anjali of lakshmaNa taken from valmikiramayan website] Going back to our topic on line of control, as such, vaalmeeki does not give even an indication of the famed "lakshman rekhaa". We will move on to kamban in next post. Dhasan Vasudevan m.g ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UwRTUD/UOnJAA/i1hLAA/VkWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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