Naam Ramayana – Disciplining is not punishing
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Naam Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, names 41 and 42. Shurpanakhaarthi Vidhaya Karama, Kharadhushana Mukha Sudha Karama. As the narrative moves forward, now the most plot turning incident, the pivotal incident after which the whole Ramayana's character shifts drastically, that the build up to what is being done now.
Shurpanakhaarthi Vidhaya Karama. So Vidhaya, Vidhi is instruction, Vidhaya is one who gives the instruction. Shurpanakhaarthi.
So Lord Ram told, gave the instruction that Shurpanakha be punished, be disciplined. And then Kharadhushana Mukha Sudha Karama. That Ram and eventually he overpowered Kharadhushana.
So Shurpanakha was the sister of Ravana and she used to wander around in Nandaka forest. And when she suddenly smelled the flesh of humans, her mouth started watering and she was conjuring up dreams of a delicious meal. And then suddenly she came to the clearing where she saw Ram, Lakshman and Sita.
When she saw Ram, suddenly her desire changed from a desire for food to another desire. Part of her anatomy became activated and she started craving, lusting for Ram. And she actually went and proposed, she changed her form to a very beautiful looking woman, a kind of woman who most men would find irresistible and she propositioned him.
And when Ram saw her first, Ram played along with her and he said that actually I will accept you but I already have Sita. Sita will be my chief queen. She's been my first queen and you will have to be her maid servant.
Instead why don't you go and accept Lakshman. Now here this was just done in a sense of fun. Actually they could have very well at that time itself taken offence at the whole thing.
For a woman to approach another man right in the presence of his wife and to proposition him was highly improper and yet she did that and Ram did not castigate her immediately. Ram played along with her. Lord also has his different moods and in his different moods he may act in different ways.
So in this particular situation he told why don't you ask Lakshman and Shri Rupanka was so fickle that he immediately turned men to Lakshman. And so actually there is love and there is lust. Love is where we want to give to our beloved.
Lust is where we want to use our beloved for our own sensual gratification. And lust is sometimes blind to anyone except the object of lust. But then there is specific lust and there is generic lust.
Generic lust is when one just feels sexually agitated. Specific lust means when one is attracted to a particular person and usually then people try to pursue a relationship with that person later. Now in this situation Shri Rupanka she initially seemed to have been attracted to Ram but just very nonchalantly when Ram told her to go to Lakshman she went away to go to Lakshman.
And Lakshman of course saw that Ram and Lakshman they were close to each other and Lakshman immediately read Ram's mood and Lakshman also decided to play along with her. And then he told her actually I am the servant of Ram. If you become my wife then you will have to serve three of us.
All three of us. Do you want to do that? Better you go to Ram itself. And when she went back, she turned to go back to Ram and that time she realized that what was standing between her and Ram was actually Sita.
Not in a physical sense but in a sense of the fulfillment of her desire. And she decided to eliminate Sita. And she immediately went and caught Sita and tried to strangle her.
Sita was shocked and she could barely call out for help. And Ram saw this, what she had done, what Shri Rupanka had done. At that time Ram realized this is a game which has gone too far.
And immediately he decided to pull her apart, pull her back. Now it was not just that he decided to punish her because she was a woman. He decided not to kill her.
But it was her beauty that had infatuated her and had made her want to destroy a happy family. Sometimes that's what happens. Some women are called as home breakers.
They try to seduce the man and then they break a happy family by that. So Shri Rupanka was trying to do something like this in Ram's family and Ram decided and she had not only attempted to break the family by trying to proposition Ram but she had also assaulted Sita. That is a serious offense.
And Ram would have been remiss in his duty if he had not responded with an adequate enough punishment to assault on his wife. In his presence that too. So he decided to punish Shri Rupanka by an appropriate means.
And he told Lakshman and Lakshman immediately as Shri Rupanka was pulled back, Lakshman took out his sword and he lopped off her nose. And Shri Rupanka, now cutting off the nose was from the ego point of view also humiliating. Normally to cut off the nose is considered to be a, it's also a non-literal usage where it says that he cut off my nose means he completely defeated me, humiliated me.
And also cutting off the nose also in a physical sense is very beauty destroying. So the nose is considered a prominent part of the facial beauty. And in this way by showing her her place, by pointing out to her the error of her ways, Ram punished and instructed her that she should not interfere with others family just because of her lusty desires.
So Shri Rupanka Aarti Vidayaka Rama, he was the one who instructed that Shri Rupanka be punished and that instruction was executed by Lakshman. And then Kharadushana Mukhusudaka Rama. And later when Shri Rupanka went and complained to her brothers about the mortifying condition that she had been reduced to.
So at that time they came angry and with 14,000 warriors they attacked Ram. But Ram single-handedly devoured all of them. So not devoured, destroyed all of them.
He just fought fiercely. He ensured that Lakshman was with Sita in a cave, guarding her from some underhanded attack. The demons might try to take Sita hostage and then she would be like a bargaining chip to force Ram to bow down to them.
Ram did not want any such eventuality to happen. And so he had Sita in a safe cave with Lakshman on guard. And Ram single-handedly fought and this is among the most spectacular displays of martial power by Ram in the entire Ramayana.
Of course later on in the climactic war also Ram exhibits phenomenal prowess as a fighter. But before that war, this is one of the most spectacular, had earlier fought and overpowered demons but a single warrior fighting against 14,000 demons. Normally demons are so powerful that no human being can fight even against one demon.
Sometimes five or ten warriors, human warriors are together then they might be able to best a demon. So where one human is not equal to one demon. Here one human ended up besting 14,000 demons and these were not ordinary demons.
They were all powerful warriors and among them there was Trishira who was a three-headed demon and there was Kharadushin who were the brothers of Ram and Trishira was like their main warrior. So all three also Ram overpowered them. Ram destroyed them and this way he attained a stupendous victory.
Ram's victory here is something somewhat similar to Arjuna's victory at Virat. He was single-handed against a whole army. So Arjuna won.
Similarly Ram won. Of course in one sense Arjuna's victory in Virat was much more stupendous because there were not just one or two but practically all the formidable warriors of the Kuru dynasty were there at that time. But still the principle of a single-handed warrior winning against an entire army, that principle is demonstrated by Ram in his astonishing victory over the entire army of Rakshasagar Janasthan which is led by Kharadushin.
Kharadushina Mukhasudaka Rama. Thank you.