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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00093 May 2005

 
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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





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