rāmāyaṇa insights

[Mana]

Namaste yajvan, all

I was lead to thinking of this thread whilst listening to a lecture on Jyotish, I found my self pondering this whilst studying sankranti.

Could the 14 years in the forest be any reference to the 14 days of the dalk half or krishna cycle of the tithi and the transition between two signs of the Bhāva of a planet. The 15th tithi would bring about the opening of the 3rd eye of siva a vision of god with no form and with it his curse in which he would lose sita and renounce fully. Ramahs devotion to his wife and worldly affairs restricting the time in the darkness of the forest? So rather than being a reference to a length of time could this be a reference to a border of time and its effect on the change between two different characteristics or bhava.

Thank you for your kind consideration.


praNAma

mana

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~

namasté

Namaste yajvan, all

The 15th tithi would bring about the opening of the 3rd eye of siva a vision of god with no form and with it his curse ...
mana

Here are my views on this matter, only taking one idea and not the full 14 year idea which I covered in the previous #8 post above.


From a kaśmiri śaivism point of view this 3rd eye is bhāla netra¹ . It is perfect, and full (pūrṇa) awareness. Due to this fullness (pūrṇa) we find it associated with the full moon. The interesting part is that of 15. Another name for 15 is tithi as there are 15 tithi's in the 1 part (fortnight) and 15th tithi's in the second part of the lunar month. We can then call it tithhayaḥ as the plural version of tithi.

So, we can all each tithi a part, a portion. For this we can use the term kalā. This has a few meanings. It is the single part of anything; it is also 1/16th of the moon's diameter; it comes also to be known as the number 16.

So here is the connection. There are 15 kalā's in saṃskṛtam that are from the sound/phonemes 'a' to 'aṁ'. It is the 16th that is 'aḥ' , called the 16th kalā. It is known as visarga-kalā as this ḥ is visarga and is written in saṃskṛtam like this : In English we call this a colon : . Now I wrote it like this 'aḥ' yet some write it like this 'ḥa' as it is an asperated breath at the end of a word - as in tithhayaḥ. The last vowel in this example is 'a' and what follows is an unvoiced breath that comes from the mouth in the same mouth position that is formed from the vowel 'a'.

The 16th kalā = ḥ = : = śiva. This 16th kalā is the backgound, the 'canvas' for all the other kalās. So it is with the fullness of the moon's waxing and wanning that brings you to pūrṇa, and the fullness of it is found on the background ( canvas) in the 16th kalā = ḥ = : = śiva.

This 16th kalā is also known as āmṛtakalā ( or immortal kalā); This knowledge is not that of vedānta nor of sāṁkaya, but that of the śaiva śastra-s.

Now why do I mention all this ? Because with the opening of this bhāla netra¹ , it is only fullnesss filled with āmṛtakalā; no curse comes with this wholeness (pūrṇa).

praṇām

words

• bhāla - the forehead , brow
• netra - the eye (as the guiding organ)
• see post 13 regarding pūrṇa and 16
• see post 8 regarding the 14 year period

[Mana]

Namaste yajvan,

Thank you for your kind consideration; it is so true that one mans curse is another mans enlightenment? negative, being a relative perception, is nothing more than a perspective, just as both the full moon and the new moon bring about a high tide, only one of those tides are visible by the light of that moon.

Could it be that there is no curse when one is within the knowledge and dharma; the structure of Kashmir shavism or other such like; the knowledge, the structure removing any darkness.

I have been absorbed today with the notion of Sanskrit and language; I thank you for this most welcome inspiration.

I have been exploring these words...

छन्दस् = chandas = metrical science, metre, sacred text of vedic hymns
ब्रह्मदण्ड = brahmadaNDa = curse of a Brahman
दण्ड = daNDa = rod, fine , punishment, stick.
दण्डक = daNDaka = line, row, staff, beam, staff of a banner.

You must please excuse me as I know that you have already discussed these words, I am very slow to realise some times. For ideas and concepts to be absorbed; I need quite some time ...

Your reference to the Moola Dasa is quite fascinating; I am studying this also.

The Moola Nakshatras is a curiosity in its self.


praNAma

mana