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