Ramanavami Spl: Essay series by Sri.Bannanje Govindacharya -5

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kapikaTakadhurINaH kArmukanyastabANaH

kShapitaditijasainyaH kShatriyEShvagragaNyaH|

jaladhirachitasEturjAnakItOShahEtuH

pathi pathi guNasAMdraH pAtu mAM rAmachaMdraH||

 

 

Some criticise sage Valmiki for propagating casteism and some accuse Lord Rama of being a casteist. Their main target is the episode of shambuka, a shudra who got killed for performing penance. Is it wrong for a person of a low caste to perform penance? Why did the Lord kill shambuka? Didn’t the Lord kill Ravana too who was infact a Brahmin?

In this final episode of “saNNa pAtragaLa doDDa koDuge”, pujya Sri Bannanje Govindacharya explores the truth behind the slaying of the shudra tapasvi.

 

…”shivanAgabayasi shavavAda shambUka”… an essay about caste, intrinsic nature of the soul and intentions behind actions…

 

Here ends the five-part series of the essay “saNNa pAtragaLa doDDa koDuge” by Sri Bannanje Govindacharya.

The single file containing all the five parts is also attached in this mail for the ease of archiving.

 

Our humble obeisance and heartfelt thanks to pujya Sri Bannanje Govindacharya for this unique chintane of the Ramayana.

Thanks to Sri Dilip Sundar for preserving and providing the article in parts.

 

Wish you all a very happy Ramanavami!

 

||shrI madhveshArpaNamastu||

 

Regards,

Dilip

 

smarAmi bhavasaMtApa hAnidAmRutasAgaraM|

pUrNAnaMdasya rAmasya sAnurAgAvalOkanaM||

 

2 of 2 File(s)

 

 

 

 

 

Mantra_RAmAyaNa_All-in-One.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

Mantra_RAmAyaNa_Story-5.pdf

[Guest guest]

||shrI harayE namaH||

 

Here is the English translation of the last part of shri Bannanje Govindacharya's essay " saNNa pAtragaLa doDDa koDuge " by Dr. P.R. Mukund.

Our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Mukund for translating the entire essay in English and sharing it with us.

 

Regards,

Dilip

 

 

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 2:27 AM, P R Mukund - NanoArk <prmukund wrote:

Hi,Please find attached the last part in the 5 part series of Shri Acharyaru's short articles on Ramayana.

I am sorry for the delay in translating it.I also offer my sincere apologies to Shri Acharyaru for limitations in my ability to translate. No one can get the true spirit of his words into an alien language.Sarvam Shri Krishnaarpanamastu.

Mukund-- P.R. Mukund, Ph.D.President & CEONanoArk Corporation125 Tech Park DriveRochester, NY 14623Phone: (585) 424-2765, ext. 18e-mail: prmukund

URL: www.nanoarkcorp.com

 

 

Shambuka – Aspirations to Ashes

 

By pUjya Shri Bannanje Govindacharya

 

Translated to English by P. R. Mukund

 

A lot of intellectuals are mad at Valmiki. This is their complaint: A story where a Brahmin boy is saved by killing a shudra doing penance!? It is caste-ism. Worthy of rebuke!

Some respond: Valmiki just chronicled what happened. Why is it his fault?

The elite respond: Aha! If that is the case, then Rama is the culprit. To turn a person, who upholds caste-ism, into a Hero is also Valmiki’s fault.

Some folks who continue to love Valmiki say: this whole story sounds fishy. It cannot be Valmiki’s writings; some intoxicated Brahmin would have made it up.

Anyhow, this story has been bugging the intellectuals for a long time. They can neither like nor dislike the story. That is the dilemma. They feel that Valmiki needlessly brought blame on himself; and worse, on Rama too. It is probably best to drop the whole story!

But there is a fundamental flaw in their thought process. They think that their beliefs are eternally true. All their discussions are based on this imagination.

If we want to understand a work, we should immerse ourselves in the beliefs of the time and the author of the work. On the contrary, we cannot heap our beliefs on the author!

If not, Vaishanavas cannot enjoy the story of Harihara. Shaivas cannot enjoy reading Kumara Vyasa or Jaimini’s Bharata. The works of Pampa and Ranna will have to be avoided by the Jains.

Why go so far? Staunch Shaiva’s will have to reject Valmiki’s Ramayana itself! They may have to excommunicate Bhagavad Gita!!

It was not always like this. People used to know the art of accepting a poet’s beliefs along with their own.

So, then, what is the poet’s belief here? What is the background?

To get to this, we need to understand one basic fact. Doing penance is not anything great, in itself. The goal of penance is what is important.

One can do penance for the good of the world: that is satvik. On the other hand, one can do it for the well being of the self: that is rajasik. Worst is when the penance is aimed at the destruction of the world. Now, that is definitely tamasik.

A lot of sages have performed penance; so have the likes of Ravana and Hiranyakashipu. The sages got salvation. Ravana and others like him get destroyed. Both are fruits of penance. A curse can become a boon. And, a boon can become a curse.

 

Who did it is not the issue. What they did is not important. Why they did it alone is the key issue: the differentiator between right and wrong.

So, let us forget about who Shambuka was, just for a moment. Why did he do penance? What was his goal? As the ancient teachers say, and as Valmiki briefly points out, here was his goal: to conquer the world of the Devas. He wanted to be above all devates. Even beyond Indra. Why be just satisfied with just moving upwards? He wanted to become Shiva himself. Then, there is no need to meditate on anyone. Others will have to meditate on him, and ask for boons. Now that is a height worth aspiring for, thought Shambuka.

So, that was Shambuka’s desire. Anyone who approves of such a penance should be admitted to a mental hospital!

Gautama too performed penance for upward mobility. But, there was no desire to knock someone off their rightful place. That was satvik penance. Even then, he got punished. Now, Shambuka’s is not good for the world. The punishment for this has to be greater. Death alone is the right punishment.

Even Ravana had similar desires. At least, he did not want to become Shiva himself. At the very least, he had respect for Shiva. Now, this fellow has worse desires. Rama would have made a grave mistake if he killed Ravana, but left Shambuka alone.

So, here, Shambuka’s family origins are not important.

There is another point to be made here. Ravana was a brahmin. He was the grandson of Pulastya. He was a descendent of a sage. But, Rama killed him.

A brahmin who makes a mistake has to be punished. A shudra, if he does not make a mistake, should not be punished. That is Valmiki’s belief; that is Rama’s belief. It would bring discredit to the spirit of the source, if we interject caste-ism into the mix.

The seeds for this topic were sown at the start of the Ramayana itself. Dasharatha, who knew the art of discerning different types of sound, shoots an arrow in the direction of a water slurping sound far away. He thought it was an elephant drinking water. But, the arrow actually hit a young mendicant.

When Dasharatha gets closer, the youth says: “Oh King! I am not a brahmin. I am a shudra mendicant. My father is a vyshya and my mother is a shudra. First, go and take care of them.”

So, Ramayana starts with a curse of a shudra mendicant. If it was the belief of the time that a shudra should not perform penance, Dasharatha should have been overjoyed at killing the young man. The question of asking for his forgiveness would not have arisen.

So, we can conclude one thing: It is true that Shambuka was a shudra. But, that is not the reason Rama killed him. It was Shambuka’s base mentality.

Then, what is the true meaning of the statement: “A brahmin youth died due to a shudra performing penance. And, when the shudra was killed, a brahmin youth survived?” Translated to English by P. R. Mukund

What is the spiritual meaning of these words?

One who understands the Vedas, a wise one who follows the path of spirituality, is a brahmin. One who has lost his way, and is immersed in misery, is a shudra. These are the etymological meaning of the words.

Actually, Shambuka was not even a shudra. He was an asura by the name of Jambha. True to his name, he was extremely arrogant. In the past, in his original form, he had meditated upon Parvati and obtained a boon to live the whole Kalpa. He became even more arrogant after getting this boon. And then, he was born as a shudra on earth. And here, he started a penance to surpass even Parvati, and become Shiva himself!

This is worse than Bhasmasura wanting to burn Shiva, who gave him a boon in the first place. A pain to society, with no equals. If this fellow is not killed, who should be killed?

He is an asura. Ramachandra puts an end to asuras. So, what had to happen, happened! The story should not suffer at the hands of those that are suffering from the disease of caste-ism. One should contemplate on the real meaning of the story.

What to do? Sometimes, Valmiki creates a problem by not saying everything to be said. To understand Valmiki, one needs to pay attention not just to his words, but the silence in between.

So, in the midst of confusion, Shambuka too plays a part in the portrayal of the greatness of Rama’s character.

 

 

 

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 5:28 AM, Dilip Rathnakar <diliprathnakar wrote:

 

kapikaTakadhurINaH kArmukanyastabANaH

kShapitaditijasainyaH kShatriyEShvagragaNyaH|

jaladhirachitasEturjAnakItOShahEtuH

pathi pathi guNasAMdraH pAtu mAM rAmachaMdraH||

 

 

Some criticise sage Valmiki for propagating casteism and some accuse Lord Rama of being a casteist. Their main target is the episode of shambuka, a shudra who got killed for performing penance. Is it wrong for a person of a low caste to perform penance? Why did the Lord kill shambuka? Didn’t the Lord kill Ravana too who was infact a Brahmin?

In this final episode of “saNNa pAtragaLa doDDa koDuge”, pujya Sri Bannanje Govindacharya explores the truth behind the slaying of the shudra tapasvi.

 

…”shivanAgabayasi shavavAda shambUka”… an essay about caste, intrinsic nature of the soul and intentions behind actions…

 

Here ends the five-part series of the essay “saNNa pAtragaLa doDDa koDuge” by Sri Bannanje Govindacharya.

The single file containing all the five parts is also attached in this mail for the ease of archiving.

 

Our humble obeisance and heartfelt thanks to pujya Sri Bannanje Govindacharya for this unique chintane of the Ramayana.

Thanks to Sri Dilip Sundar for preserving and providing the article in parts.

 

Wish you all a very happy Ramanavami!

 

||shrI madhveshArpaNamastu||

 

Regards,

Dilip

 

smarAmi bhavasaMtApa hAnidAmRutasAgaraM|

pUrNAnaMdasya rAmasya sAnurAgAvalOkanaM||

 

1 of 1 File(s)

 

 

 

 

 

small_roles_part5.pdf