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Saturday, June 07, 2008

#074, Lakshmana- To live long we should do housewarming ceremony

PART 2, CHAPTER 56, VERSE 22, SANSKRIT:
ain`eeyam maamsam aahrutya
shaalaam yakshyaamahee vayam
kartavyam vaastushamanam
saumitree cirajiivabhihi.


CONTEXT:
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita at Chitrakoot`a Hills. Fixing a hut made of branches and leaves. Lakshmana built the leaf-hut with branches and leaves. Then, Rama asks Lakshmana to bring meat of an antelope for the purpose of pacifying the architectural practices (known as "vaastu" in India).

ENGLISH:
To live long, we should perform the housewarming ceremony and remove evil forces. For the purpose, bring the meat of an antelope.

BLOGGER'S VIEWS
*Did Rama build World Trade Centre, so as to be afraid that evil forces would destroy it?
*For a shelter made of thatched leaves, does he need do sacrifice antelopes?
*Rama himself was depicted as Supreme Lord everywhere. Can't he defend himself without sacrificing deer?
*Did he live 11,000++ years by sacrificing deer everyday?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Truthseeker,

I think you have made one mistake here. The "vaasthu" sacrifice is not compulsory everyday; only when one moves into a new place of residence or makes alteration in the house/hut, there is a need for doing vaasthu pooja and the sacrifice.

As you very well know, any pooja requires some item of food to be given to the deity worshipped. In many cases the main god which is worshipped will alone not be worshipped; there has to be a vighneswara pooja to ward off the anger of Vighneswara and make the pooja obstruction-free, plus, most deities have to be worshipped along with their "upadevatha"s - normally two. Thus there has to be provision for at least three 'naivedyams'. Nowadays we make do with plantain fruit, milk, jaggery etc., and 'payasam' for the main diety but you will kindly appreciate that in the forest Rama had no chance of getting such stuff.

Yet another point one must bear in mind is that Valmiki was essentially 'Ratnakara' the hunter/robber who turned into a saint. Hence it is quite natural that he describes the way of life in the forest very realistically.

ybr (alias ybrao a donkey) said...

Sir: The whole world is moving without Vastu Puujaas. Why Indians alone are more enamored with excess Vaastu?

Could n't Rama get fruits and flowers in the forest? In those days the forests must have been abundant.

Pl. see my post No.093. Rama promised his mother to live like a sage, eating fruits and foots. Verse is 2-20-29.

Valmiki might have been Ratnakara, a hunter before his liberation. But his emotions as a poet have started from "karuna rasa" which flowed from his compassion to the female bird of the "krauncha midhunam." . Valmiki started his Ramayana describing Rama as person who has all the virtues including being a "karuna payonihi Ocean of Compassion". Is it not strange that Valmiki's hero violated the object of Valmiki's emotions?

Thank you very much for your frank views.