Interpretation of stories in epics


Story involving sage Kapila, the demon Gana and Lord Ganesha.

To the King abhijit and queen Gunavati was born a beautiful son named Gana. He was very bright and strong. In addition, he had great devotion to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva pleased with his devotion granted him some boons. However, this increased Gana's ego and he also fell into bad company. One day he visited sage Kapila's ashram. Kapila had a gem called Chintamani which was wish-fulfilling and could provide food for thousands. When Gana saw this, he wanted to possess the gem but Kapila did not want to give it to him. But Gana forcibly took it away from him.

Kapila prayed to Lord Ganesha and Ganesha appeared in the dream of Gana and cut off his head. Gana, on waking up, did not repent but became angry and took his army to kill Kapila. Gana's father, abhijit, pleaded with Gana to give Kapila back his gem but Gana did not heed the advice. However, on reaching Kapila's ashram he found that Ganesha had assembled an army. In a huge fight, Gana was killed by Ganesha and Ganesha restored the chintamani to Kapila.

Kapila, however, gave it back to Ganesha saying that even a small gem like that is the cause of all troubles and wealth is the root of many troubles of the world. Kapila, however, requested Ganesha to stay in that place. That place is called 'Chintamani Vinayaka' and is at Theur, near Poona (Pune). Further, wealth is the cause of all troubles. Shankara in bhaja govindam says 'A rich man fears his own son.' How true. People like to earn wealth, hoard it, guard it etc., as if they take it with them.


Could you please tell me the inner meaning of the kiirtimukha?

Rahu was once sent as a messenger to Siva to demand that the latter surrender His wife to the king. "Why does an ascetic require such a beautiful wife?" Siva got angry and from His anger a rather fierce being emerged, with three heads, seven legs, and terrible fangs. The being rushed at Rahu in order to devour him, and Rahu dived at Siva's feet begging for protection. "I am only a poor brahmin, sent as a messenger." he said, "please Siva, protect me !". On hearing the word 'brahmin' the being immediately left off his attack, and Siva allowed Rahu to return to the demons. The being, however, complained to Siva that he was hungry, and Siva told him that if he were truly hungry he should eat his own hands and feet. The being took this as an order, and devoured his own limbs until only his head was left. At this, Siva became very pleased and called him "kiirtimukha" and bade him to protect the doors of his temples forever. Kiirti means fame, while mukha means face. However, here, kiirtimukha refers to the terrible face one has, but a Heart which will obey Shiva even without thinking about its health. We should all be like that.


What is the inner significance of the Satyavan-Savitri story ?

It is true that atman does not die. That means, we should not grieve even if a close friend/family member dies. And surely, the wise do not grieve for the living or the dead (Bhagavad Gita) since they don't see someone being born to die. Anything born has to die, but Brahman is not born. And a jnani sees only Brahman everywhere.

However, for a person who is not a jnani (i.e one who has not wiped out his/her vaasanas which constitute one's perceived avidya), death is real. [What causes these vaaasanas ? Desire, selfish work and expectation of results of the work leads to transmigration (Vivekachudamani)]. Thus, except for a person who has realized the Self, death/birth/ successes/failures are real. He/she is told not to be enamoured by it and look upon everything as Brahman to purify the mind (again, Vivekachudamani) and wipe out avidya.

In a dream, one is hungry and eats. Only _after waking up_ can the person say that he need not have eaten in the dream and could have still survived. So long as one in the dream, one has to follow the rules. Thus, so long as there is an even slight hint of duality, we have to follow dharma.

We cannot fault Savitri for trying to get back Satyavan. For her, death was real. She was able to see Yama and walk with him only because of her penance. She was not, yet, a jnani. When Yama spots her walking behind him, he gives her a wish (anything other than satyavan's body), she asks for the health and wealth of her inlaws. He again gives her one more wish and she asks for the sons for her father. For the final wish, she asks Yama for children and Yama grants it. Savitri calmly points out that she cannot beget children without Satyavan and Yama proceeds to remove the noose from the neck of Satyavan.

When Yama gave her two wishes, she did not ask anything for herself when she could have got practically anything she wanted. The same is the story of Yama and Nachiketa. He also does not ask Yama for personal benefits. This shows how magnamious she was, it shows a high maturity if someone asks things for others benefit and shows she is not selfish.

Secondly, what is the jungle and the realm of the dead where all sort of wild things are mentioned when Savitri follows Yama ? It is an allegory. The wild things were the lust, anger, jealousy ... and when one follows the Guru/God, he/she is attracted by all these but one who follows unperturbed is a true yogi. What are the wishes ? Siddhis. Anyone who practices yoga to attain siddhis is ignorant, as Patanjali point out. Thus, though Siddhis are offered/attained, the true purpose of realizing the Self should never be lost. Like Savitri, who only wanted to get back Satyavan and nothing else, everything else in the realm of the mind should be ignored for a higher purpose (liberation). For the final wish, Yama gave her children i.e happiness. But only a person who has regained Satyavan (attained liberation) can be happy. So, the end of the story can be written as

Yama : Ask for anything but Brahma GYAna

Savitri : Give me happiness.

Yama : ok.

Savitri : But I cannot be happy without Brahma GYAna. All other pleasures are ephemeral.

How is Brahma GYAna given ? By removing the noose tying Satyavan's neck. Who is Savitri ? Daughter of Sun God i.e Light. We are all Light, but have forgotten the purpose of "attaining" Satya (Truth). Because of the noose. The noose called avidya weaves over Satya as maya and till the noose is removed the Self is not apparent though it is Here and Now.

And marriage, according to Hinduism (atleast from what I have read) is not 'Until death do us apart,..' but continues on to several births and rebirths. For example, during the kanya dana of the vivaha (marriage ceremony), the bride's father takes her hands and places them in the groom's, transferring his responsibility for her to the groom. The groom assures her father that he will not be false to her in dharma, artha, or kama. The ritual of agni pradakshina follows, where the bride and groom walk around the sacrifical fire seven times (why seven ? There is a legend involving Shiva and Parvati). During the pheras, the bride stands upon a stone, to signify firmness and that she will be faithful to her husband always. As Yama says, this can be assumed to last only till death, but there is certainly no mention of it.

Therefore, the story of Satyavan and savitri also shows that if one follows dharma according to the rules strictly, even Yama cannot escape from the stronghold of dharma.

[Of course, there are other ways to escape Yama, besides following him in the realms of dead. See Vishnu Purana where Yama mentions people he wouldn't (or rather cannot) touch].


Ganesha and Ravana

There is a story for the Ganesa idol in GokarNa in Karnataka. Pleased with Ravana's tapas, Lord Shiva gave him an atmalinga making Ravana invincible. Shiva said that it will lose its power if he puts it down. So, Ravana always carried it and did a lot of atrocities. Seeing this, the gods approached Lord Shiva but he was unable to come up with a plan. But Ganesha did and appeared before Ravana as a cowherd boy. Since Ravana had to bathe in a pond nearby, Ravana gave the cowherd boy the linga and told him not to put it down. After a few moments, Ganesha cried out 'This linga is too heavy, I cannot hold it any longer.' Before Ravana came out of the pond, Ganesha put it down. Ravana got very angry and tried to lift the linga, but he couldn't and the linga is slightly bent at this place due to this. Ravana also hit Ganesha on the forehead. But Ganesha did not retaliate but simply became an idol (this idol has a mark on the forehead and a bent ear, I think).

Whenever someone insults us, we should not retaliate or even talk back to them. Instead, we should clap our hands and become very happy. A non-response to a [perceived] insult shows how far we have come in the journey we call life. After all, there are no insults. If the right hand does a mistake, does the left hand become angry ? In fact, we should join both our hands together to thank the person for coming to us in a form and testing us.


Who is nambi-andaar-nambi ?

I mention in the home page: Lord Shiva (and Shakti) don't look into what the devotees offer but how they offer it. Whatever is offered through pure Love is accepted (irrespective of whether it is meat offered by kannappan, or flowers offered by ordinary devotees, or jewels offered by kings).

In the town of Naaraiyoor (Tamilnadu) which houses the famous Ganapati temple, pollaa-p-pillaiyaar, there lived an unsophisticated lad, nambi-andaar-nambi. He used to accompany the priest to the temple when the priest did puja to Ganapati. One day, the priest had to go out of town and left this person in charge. Except for the main puja, this lad did not know much else. So he was in trouble when a family brought modhaka for puja. They said it was an offering to Ganapati and went on their way. Naturally, the lad assumed that Ganapati was supposed to eat them and waited for him to "come and eat." but nothing happened. The lad cried, pleaded, and even apologized if he had any puja wrong but it was important for Ganapati to eat the modhaka, otherwise he would lose the job. Finally, he became so angry that he hit the idol of Ganapati a couple of times. Ganapati came and ate the modhakas with delight. But the lad thought this was normal. The family which had offered the modhakas came back and wanted a couple of them as prasad but the lad said Ganapati ate them all. The family complained to the priest the next day that the lad, nambi, must have eaten all the sweets.

When the priest asked nambi, nambi was surprised that someone would offer God something and not expect that to be eaten. To cut a long story short, nambi finally showed the priest how Ganapati came out and ate all the modhakas by offering him more modhakas. Nambi-andaar-nambi, of course, became of one of the famous poets. There is a similar incident involving Namadeva, who biography appears in biographies.


Have you heard of Kaikeyi being a good woman ?

The story of rAmayaNa is indeed familiar to all of us as it is one of our cradle tales. The key villain in the story is kaikeyi, one of the three wives of King dasharatha. Along with the food for our nourishment, our parents narrated to us another story also, the story of shrAvaNa kumAra (This is also a favourite of Gandhiji). It is the tale about the boy who used to carry his blind parents everywhere, how one day he was trying to fill his pitcher with water for his thirsty parents, how the bubbling water made the hunting king Dasharatha suppose it to be a deer, how the boy died of a wound caused by Dasharatha's arrow, and how the grieving parents of the deceased boy cursed the king to suffer the pangs of sorrow due to separation from his son. In ancient days, the curses by the gods, R^ishhis and chaste brahmins with learning always came to pass. They could never be stopped, their effect in some cases could only be mitigated.

Kaikeyi had knowledge of this curse in her possession. So she dearly wants her husband and her step-son Rama to be spared of the ill effects of this unfortunate shApa. Dasharatha wants to crown Rama as the supreme king of the ikshhvAku race. He chooses the tenth day of the waxing moon (caitra shuddha dashami) as the auspicious day for this event. Just at that time, Kaikeyi approaches the king to remind him of the boons granted to her. She wants Rama to be banished to the forests and her son bharata to be coronated in Rama's place. A promise is a promise and even kings cannot break one. There was no option for the king but to accede to his queen's wishes. Rama, accompanied by his right foot sIta and his left foot lakshhmaNa willingly heads for the woods. The King Dasharatha dies of heart-break due to the separation from his sons. Bharata, the other son of Dasharatha for whose sake all this drama was enacted, was all the while in his maternal grand-father's house in na.ndigrAma. He returns to ayodhya to visit his parents. At the outskirts of Ayodhya, he stops the chariot to take some much-needed rest. A temple-like structure was visible nearby. Bharata enters this building and learns that it is a museum housing the statues of the ancient kings of the ikshhvAku dynasty. To his surprise, he observes a statue that resembles his father, Dasharatha. He asks the curator of the museum whether staues of living kings were also housed in that hall. The curator, unaware that he was speaking to Dasharatha's son, replies that the statues bear their likeness only to dead kings. After listening to these words, Bharata swoons. Just at that moment, the retinue of vasishhTa and the three widowed queens arrives there to receive Bharata and to escort him for his coronation. After regaining his senses, Bharata disowns his mother and decides to go to the forests and spend his days with Rama. Rama receives Bharata and consoles him. He advises Bharata that just as he was obeying his father's wishes, Bharata too must do so by returning to Ayodhya to perform the kingly duties. Bharata receives the sandals (pAduka) of Rama and returns to Ayodhya to rule as Rama's representative.

Thirteen years pass and Rama has to perform the shrAddha of his father. At this juncture, rAvaNa arrives in the garb of a brahmin well-versed in all aspects of learning including shrAddhakalpa (performance of ceremonies for the dead). Rama receives him and requests him of the ways to propitiate the dead spirits of his father (The spirits are the pitR^idevatAs similar to the Roman manes). Ravana says that a certain golden deer residing in the himAlayAs is the best offering he could make. Rama animatedly discusses of the plans to go to the himAlayAs. Just then, they sight a kA.nchanamR^iga (manifesting as the rAkshhasamAya of Ravana) in the distance. Rama goes in pursuit of this and at this time Lakshmana was away to receive the patriarchs. Ravana seizes this chance and abducts the lonely Sita to la.nka. sumantra, the minister of Ayodhya, and Bharata learn of the abduction of Sita, the killing of vAli, the the installation of sugrIva, the intent to retrieve Sita, etc. Bharata was hurt immensely after receiving these sad tidings. He reproaches his mother Kaikeyi.

It is at this juncture that Kaikeyi informs Bharata about the curse, how she wanted to spare the deceased king of the permanent separation from his son Rama (don't forget that shRavanakumAra died and Kaikeyi does not want Rama to die and thinks separation in terms of retirement to forest is better than death) and how in her confusion she uttered the words fourteen years instead of fourteen days and how people like vasishTa and vAmadeva were in the knowledge of these facts. Bharata becomes ashamed and begs the forgiveness of his mother. He does not want to be a silent spectator. He wants to help his brother Rama in his quest to defeat Ravana and he prepares to march with his army. By this time, Ravana was defeated and vibhIshhaNa was installed on the throne and the returning Rama encounters Bharata and his army. All of them are reunited and the coronation of Rama takes place.

All is well that ends well! In this beautiful play, Bhasa made very interesting changes to the original Ramayana story and thus enhances its value. First of all, Kaikeyi, instead of the jealous mother spurred by the vicious manthara, is depicted as a magnanimous woman acting out of pure and irreproachable motives. The way in which Bharata learns of his father's death by viewing his father's pratima in the hall of statues is indeed poignant. To me, Lakshmana's absence during Ravana's arrival at the hermitage of Rama and Sita is quite significant. We are spared of the ugly remarks of Sita with Lakshmana when Rama was pursuing the golden deer. Thus Sita's character was ennobled in a tremendous fashion. The pursuit of the golden deer was not at the behest of Sita, but for a higher purpose to propitiate the spirits of Dasharatha. I still cannot understand why all these changes made by Bhasa never received the acceptance of the readers as those by kAlidAsa. These changes made everyone's character very noble and at the same time the essential thread of the epic remained the same.


Who is Nandanar ?

Nandanar is a saint extolled in the periyapurana, a saiva siddhanta scripture. In a village, engaged in the trade of selling the carcasses of the cow and tending his landlord's farm was an unusual person. He had great love for Lord Shiva. He was desperate to visit a temple, Thiruppunkoor. This place is situated a mile away from the famous vaidheeswaran temple, around a hour's journey from Chidambaram (Thillai). [Lord Shiva has kindly permitted me to visit this temple many times] However, his landlord would not allow him to go despite frequent requests. Finally, one day in frustration, the landlord said, 'If you can till all the 40 acres of land in a single day, you can go.' This impossible feat was done by Lord Shiva itself overnight enabling Nandanar to visit the temple. Since Nandanar (who belonged to a lower caste by birth) could not enter the temple and see the Lord, the Nandi moved a good 2-3 feet (which is seen as such to the present day). With the movement of the Nandi, he could see Lord Shiva despite standing outside the temple. Sekkizhar in periyapuranam says that Lord Shiva asked Nandi to move. The tank in the temple was built by Nandanar.

The story of Nandanar attaining mukti is, however, a great tale. After Nandanar returned to his village, he wanted to go to Thillai but he was caught up in his work. He expressed his desire for Thillai to everyone, and slowly people started asking him every day, 'When are you leaving for Thillai ?' He used to say 'Tomorrow I will go.' It is said that his name became 'Naalai' because he used to say Tomorrow every time. Finally, one day he decided to leave. Because of his low caste (parrayan), he used to go to the top of every street in Thillai and stand and shout 'Varuhalamo' (May I come in ?) The high caste people would close their doors and stay inside till he crossed the street.

Still, Nandanar was very afraid to enter the temple and stayed in the city. The song 'Varuhalaamo (May I come)' is very beautiful. The second stanza goes, 'You are the treasure of the compassion, are you not ? This parrayan, is he fit to pay you compliments ? To see your blissful dance, May I come in ? O Thillai Varadaa One who can extinguish my feverish longing (of seeing you) May I come in ?' Shiva taking pity on him came in the dreams of many brahmins and told them there was a superior bhakta. And that the brahmins were to construct a fire and Nandanar would enter and come out unscathed. Therefore the Brahmins built a huge fire and called nandanar to cross the fire. The story says that he crossed the fire without any burns and entered the temple, but did not come out of the temple, because he merged into the Lord Nataraja there. This story has not been told in periyapuranam in detail but Bharatiyar brings the cruel situation of casteism /racism between people and shows how the Lord does not look for the jati but only prema. Such is the Lila of Lord Shiva, who has no equal.


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