Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 10

Date: 2016-04-13 Author: Narahari das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord 's strength and valour.

While fighting with , Lord Rama fought with him for 7 days and nights. Finally when Ravana was about to be killed, Lord Rama continuously showered arrows and cut off the heads of Ravana. But when head was cut off, a new head appeared and in this way, the Lord severed his head 101 times and still the heads were appearing. Lord Rama thought to Himself, "These were the arrows which killed demons like Khara, Dushana, etc. These arrows have never let Me down in the war. But now against Ravana these arrows are proving ineffective." Finally, Lord Rama's charioteer Mathali advised Lord Rama, "Oh Lord, you are just counteracting the arrows shot by Ravana without killing him. You are behaving as if you do not know the glory of . Please shoot the brahmastra on his heart and this is the only way to kill him." Then the Lord then shot the brahmastra and Ravana was finally killed.

Now a question may arise, "Why Lord Rama did not hit Ravana on his chest in the beginning and why He needs to cut off the heads and then get advice from Mathali?" The acharyas explain that the Lord did this to honour the boon of Lord and also to give him glory and to allow Ravana to enjoy the boon he has acquired from Brahmaji.

From the Uttara Khanda, we learn that Ravana did great penance to Lord Brahma for 10000 years and every thousand years, he used to cut one of his ten heads and offer it in fire to have darshan of Lord Brahma. In this way, he cut each head and when he was about to cut his final head, Lord Brahma appeared before him and asked for boon. Ravana asked for a boon that he should not be killed by demons, devas, and all kinds of species, but he neglected to ask exemption from human beings and monkeys as he thought them to be insignificant. Brahmaji granted the boon and also in addition granted the boon that whenever his heads are cut by any weapon, they will grow again and Ravana will not die because of this. To honour this boon of Brahmaji, Lord Rama exactly fought like kshatriya who does not know about Ravana's secret. Also He wanted Ravana to enjoy the benefit of his boon and see his heads growing even after they are cut off. By this, the Lord also proved to the world that Brahmaji's benedictions are true and never futile.

Also He choose brahmastra to kill Ravana, so that the glory of Lord Brahma and his divine weapon becomes famous. Lord Rama also taught valuable lessons for all the kshatriyas as to how to fight in an ideal way. The incarnation of Lord Rama was mainly to teach humanity how an ideal king, ideal son, ideal husband should behave. Killing of Ravana was not the main purpose. The Bhagavata purana verse (5.19.5) confirms this as follows.

martyāvatāras tv iha martya-śikṣaṇaṁ rakṣo-vadhāyaiva na kevalaṁ vibhoḥ kuto ’nyathā syād ramataḥ sva ātmanaḥ sītā-kṛtāni vyasanānīśvarasya It was ordained that Ravana, chief of the , could not be killed by anyone but a man, and for this reason Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared in the form of a human being. Lord Ramacandra's mission, however, was not only to kill Ravana but also to teach mortal beings that material happiness centered around sex life or centered around one's wife is the cause of many miseries. He is the self-sufficient Supreme Personality of Godhead, and nothing is lamentable for Him. Therefore why else could He be subjected to tribulations by the kidnapping of mother .

The Lord taught that one should not use divine weapons like brahmāstra, unless absolutely necessary, because they can harm the entire world and rather one should depend on the dexterity only in handling the weapons. This is sharp contrast to the way fought. Indrajit recklessly used brahmastra and other divine weapons in the war. Also Lord Rama taught the lesson that if there is good advice from the charioteer, one should honor that advice and accept it. We can see the exact opposite behaviour by Karna in war. Shalya was Karna's charioteer and while Karna aimed to shoot nāgastra in , he aimed the weapon on Arjuna's head. Shalya advised Karna to aim at Arjuna's chest and Karna refused to do it. Because of this, when the weapon was shot, Lord Krishna pressed the chariot into the ground and saved Arjuna and Karna was defeated finally.

Apart from honouring the boons of devatas, teaching lessons to humanity etc., there is one more very important reason why the Lord exhibits human behaviour and performs pastimes. We will see that reason in the next offering Krishna willing.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai.