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Musings on Desikan's "araNyakAndam"

From the Bhakti List Archives

M K Sudarshan • December 22, 1996 


srimathe lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNe namaha
sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

Dear "bhAgavatOttama-s",

Through verses#23 and #25 and #28 of the "Raghuveera-gadyam" Swami Desikan
showed us how when a "grihasta", which Lord Rama was in the 'araNya-kAndam',
observes strictly 'grihastAshrama-dharma-s', his household verily turns into
lush and wholesome "Dandaka-woods" fit for "tapas". By carrying out
faithfully such 'dharmA-s" the 'grihastA' could be said to be truly carrying
out "penances" (tapas) like a great 'rshi'. And the result of such 'tapas'
will eventually be GOD-LOVE such as the one Swami Desikan describes as
"jhangamapArijAtha" in Verse #28.

If you think about the above verses deeply for a moment, dear
'bhAgavatOttamA-s', and relate them to our 'loukika' lives, you will easily
appreciate the truth behind them. 

We live in a world where the greatest human tragedies occur not in the
battlefields of nations but in the domestic hearth-places of communities.
More unhappiness is caused in peoples' lives by broken homes and marital
discords than is caused by war or natural calamities in this world.

Men and women today find it difficult to make a success of their marriages;
they fail to make "happy homes" fit for themselves and their children; they
fiercely chase individual "careers" instead in which they "drown" themselves
as if being a "successful workaholic" or a "great career-woman" is any
worthy substitute for being a "good husband" or "a good wife"; they have no
time for each other and they mistakenly are even proud of the fact ....
until eventually tragedy strikes in the form of a failed marriage or a
broken home.

In such a world where domestic and marital upheavals are daily occurences
even in the lives of Royalty (look at the tragedy of Princess Diana and
Prince Charles !!), the example of Lord Rama and Sita 'pirAtti' as described
in Verses#23, #25 and #28 of the "Raghuveera-gadyam" is indeed a great and
wonderful lesson worthy of our attention and emulation.

We shall next go to Verse #26 of the 'gadyam' which holds out another great
'grihastAshrama-dharmA' for our examination and appreciation :

      pishitaruchi vihita durita balamathana-thanaya balibhuganugathi
sarabhasa shayana thruNashakala paripathanabhaya chakitha
sakala suramunivara bahumatha mahAsrasAmarthaya !

We will examine the above in my next posting.

srimathe srivan satagopa sri narayana yatindra mahadesikaya namaha

sudarshan