Srimadh Bagawatham - Ramayanam Part 6

Cntinued From:  http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramayanam-part-5.html

 

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Ahalya

In Balakanda there is a narration about Sage Gautama and his wife Ahalya. Ahalya was a beautiful woman who was coveted by Indra. He approached Ahalya in the form of Sage Gautama and loved her. When the sage came to know about this, he cursed Ahalya to become invisible till the time when Lord Rama’s foot dust fall on her. Even though Ahalya is seen to have betrayed Sage Gautama, she is listed as one of the pathivrathas. This story is thus a Vedantic riddle.

The name Gautama means one who has many cows. A cow represents Supreme Knowledge and hence indicates that Sage Gautama had the right kind of knowledge which is knowledge about the Supreme Self.

His wife Ahalya is his faith in God. The name Ahalya means “she who merges in day”. Day is caused by the rising Sun. Spiritualy the rising Sun signifies the Supreme Brahman. Sage Gautama’s bakthi to obtain the Supreme Brahman is so great that the Lord accepts Sage Gautama’s faith. The Lord resides in the heart of every living being. To show that the Antaryami has accepted Sage Gautama’s faith, the Lord is shown to arrive in the form of Sage Gautama. The name Indra is used to represent only the Lord as the Supreme Ruler. The Sage cursed Ahalya to become invisible and Indra to lose his manliness. Indra is hence called as “Meshavrishana”. The word “Mesha” means shower and “Vrishana” means immortality. Thus Sage Gautama praised the Supreme Brahman by calling him as the one who showers immortality. Ahalya is made invisible. It could be taken as to mean that she lost her embodied state which is actually a boon and not a curse. The name Ahalya could also be split into two syllables as A-halya. Halya refers to ploughed land and ahalya means the land which has not been ploughed. The unploughed land is the forest where the Sage performs his meditation. As we have seen earlier, the forest represents the mind. Ahalya is now made as the invisible spirit of the forest i.e the faith in the sage’s mind. When the sage succeeds with his meditation, he obtains the Supreme Brahman in his mind. This is shown by the arrival of Lord Rama. The Sage worships Lord Rama with faith. Ahalya the spirit of the forest or the faith in the sage’s mind is shown to become visible and together Sage Gautama and Ahalya worship Lord Rama.

References: Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology by Narayan Aiyyangar 

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-krishnavataram-part-1.html