the perfect is yet to come..

the perfect is yet to come..

वर्णप्रकर्षे सति कर्णिकारे दुनोति निर्गन्धतया स्म चेतः।

प्रायेण सामग्र्यविधौ गुणानां पराङ्ग्मुखी विश्वसृजः प्रवृत्तिः॥

कालिदासप्रणीते कुमारसम्भवे महाकव्ये ३-२६

varṇaprakarṣe sati karṇikāre dunoti nirgandhatayā sma cetaḥ|

prāyeṇa sāmagryavidhau guṇānāṁ parāṅgmukhī viśvasṛjaḥ pravṛttiḥ||

kālidāsapraṇīte kumārasambhave mahākavye 3-26

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A very interesting quote from Kumarasambhavam of Kalidasa.. Sargam 3

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The yajna of Daksha is over.. and Mother Sati has immolated herself in the sacrificial fire.. Carrying her burning body the crying Rudra ran across the length and breadth of india, and Vishnu followed him to pacify him.. in vain.. As rudra was running helter skelter, vishnu sent his discus again and again and cut down parts of the burning body of Sati the Dakhaayani , and wherever a part fell becam a holy Shakthi Sthala in India.. Thus Her body covers the entire hallowed land of Bharatha Varsha.

Shiva whose mind became almost blank after losing the Shakthi, is in solemn penance.. indifferent to everything.

The enemies of the gods are on the increase and only the Son born to Shiva can conquer them and restore peace for the Devas..

Shiva who is single now after the tragic fire accident to Mother Sati, and is singularly averse to any external attention or pleasure had to be united with the Divine mother so that the Divine couple can beget a worthy son.

To achieve this object the penance of Shiva is to be broken.. and he has to be brought back to lovely worldly thoughts.

Sati is already reborn as Uma the darling daughter of Himavan.. And Shiva is doing penace nearby in the beautiful valley of Himavan..

The Devas depute the god of love Kamadaeva, on a mission to stir up the meditative Lord Shiva from his penance..

It is indeed a risky job..

The Lord can be quite destructive if he is disturbed against his will..

But Kamadeva, the Manmatha has no choice..

He had to send his flowery darts on the Lord in meditation , even at the risk of his own life..

The God of love Kamadeva sets out on his mission in the company of his lovely wife Rati, and his constant companion, Madhava..

They enter the forest where the Lord is doing penance.. It is spring time..

As they enter the forest they see the Karnikara.. Kanikkonna കണിക്കൊന്ന Konnai. in full bloom with golden yellow flowers all over.. the flowers covering the trees even submerging the green leaves, and covering the entire area with the beauty of the golden colour of the flowers..

But then the poet finds that the Creator Brahma never endows perfection to anything..

The spring is beautiful..

The flowers are beautiful to watch..

In that perfect backdrop,

it would have been a befitting tribute to nature if these attractive flowers were endowed with catching fragrance too..

But that was not to be so..

The flowers did not have any fragrance..

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The meaning of the slokam is

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On seeing the play of golden colour lighting up the Karnikara flowers the mind of the viewer while being ecstatic at the beauty, becomes inexplicably sad because of the thought that these beauties are not endowed with fragrance..

One is tempted to think regretfully of quirkly reluctance of the Creator Brahma in hol endowing perfection or completeness in any of his creations..

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Yes, God has not created anything as perfect..Perhaps he reserves the perfection for himself.. or pehaps for his final creation which is yet to come..

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The story continues.. Kamadeva sends his dart of flowers on the Lord, the lord opens his eyes in anger.. the lord of love is turned to ashes..

But then the mind of the lord Shiva stirs.. in time He meets Uma doing penacnce in the same forest.. He marries Her.. The son Kumara is born..

Kumara or Karthikeya is anointed as the commander in Chief of the army of Gods.. He defeats the demons like Tharaka and restores peace and plenty for the Gods..

The pathetic lamenatations of Rati.. the heart rending cries that reverberated the valleys of Himalyas.. after her beautiful husband Kamadeva is burnt to ashes.. converted to beautiful verses called Rathivilaapam.. is one of the classical situations of pathos in the annals of Sanskrit literature.. or for that matter any type of poetry ever written..

Regards.

k v ananthanarayanan.