Nityaraamasmaranam Aranya Kaanda - Ch. 222-A
Deeper insights from Lakshmana's conversations
What Lakshmana 'really' meant
Story so far…
Last week’s chapter seemed like a conversation between Shri Rama and Lakshmana on winter, as they walked to the River Godavari for a bath. Let us understand the secrets in their chat!
Read last week’s chapter here, before scrolling further! – https://bharatnarratives.in/itihaasa/ramayana/nityaraamasmaranam-222/
The commentators have given beautiful and relevant meanings to Lakshmana’s words…
The demons will come
Lakshmana says – “The nights are long and sleeping under the open skies is hard. The commentators explain this as a hidden signal to point to the arrival of Rakshasas, who are powerful at night.”
Here, Nivritta Aakaasha Shayanaa – Inability to sleep in the open – is also a way to point to the “Devas who are unable to rest peacefully.”
So Lakshmana hints that Rama must end the demons soon.
“Sun, Moon and Shri Rama”
Lakshmana says – “Though the Sun rose long ago, spreading his beams around, he is besieged by the mist and looking like the moon.”
The commentator Sri Govindaraja calls Shri Rama the Sun has risen to destroy the Rakshasas, but Lakshmana asks if his radiance has dimmed like the winter Sun, asks Lakshmana demons, while the demons are still radiant by their activities.
“Pastures are misty”
Lakshmana says – “Pastures are moistened by the dewdrops, but the forest fields are being graced by sun’s tender warmth.”
Here, the pastures are the poor Rishis of Dandaka, whose piteous tears are the dewdrops, as they are being troubled by the demons. But soon, the warmth of the tender sun (Shri Rama’s valour), will grace them and destroy the Rakshasas.
“Animals & birds fear the frost”
Lakshmana says -“Elephants stay away from the freezing lakes even if thirsty and water-birds too stay away like cowards from a battlefield.
What the commentator means here is to ask “O Rama, though you are an expert warrior, why are you staying away from a war with demons? Are you like these fearing water-birds?”
Of Invisible rivers and…
Lakshmana says – “The rivers are covered with dew and mist, but water-birds are invisible and known only by their cooing, The rivers’ sandbanks and shores are moist.”
The rivers here are the sages whose minds are covered by the mist of fear of demons and only their weak moans reveal their presence. Just like water birds, the Rishis are unable to come out of the mist.
…withered lotuses
Lakshmana says – “As the snow falls and the Sun stays soft, the water deep down the wells is generally agreeable for drinking. Only Lotus stalks are left in the lakes as their petals are aged and withered by the cold and they are ungracious to look at.”
This falling of the snow indicates the falling of demons upon Rishis, and sun’s softness hints at Bhagavan’s soft attitude so far, says the commentator Sri Maaheshwara Teertha. Aged Rishis and their lotus-petal like tapasya are shattered by demons, and the remaining sages are just like the stalks of withered lotuses.
