Have you ever wondered how do you ask a question that results in an extremely accurate answer. Asking such a question requires you to provide a lot of detail and ask it with several parameters as well as enthusiasm and excitement to find out.
So much so that the one responding is as excited to give you an answer, but only after some deep analysis and thought.
Let’s visit the opening of Shrīmad Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇam and simply observe
There is a belief that the shloka format was pioneered by Maharṣi Vālmīki. This actually happens later when we get into the story.
The first sarga in the first part or Bāla Kānḍa is known by many names such as Saṅkṣipta Rāmāyaṇam or Shatashlokī Rāmāyaṇam as it is an overview of the whole book in 100 shlokas. It’s a brief overview of the entire text instead of a table of contents.
The first shloka simply describes the scene where Nārada has come to visit Vālmīki and he is asking a question.
Let’s get into it. Bāla Kānḍa, Sarga 1, Shloka 1. (Notice the 1.1.1)
तपस्स्वाध्यायनिरतं तपस्वी वाग्विदां वरम् ।
नारदं परिपप्रच्छ वाल्मीकिर्मुनिपुङ्गवम् ।।1.1.1।।
The composition is designed so it can be chanted or sung beautifully, but we’ll break it down to understand as prose. In essence it lists Nārada’s qualities as:
तप: स्वाध्यायनिरतम् - There really isn’t a very good English translation for the word तप: but it has a deep meaning. On the surface it translates simply to heat but is much more profound and is about someone engaged in something akin to penance and usually spans several years.
स्वाध्याय is स्व अध्याय (अध्ययन्) or self-study.
निरतं is engaged in. रत is immersed or involved (pleasureably) and is also the second part of the name भारत.
तपस्वी - Usually used for an ascetic, but it really means someone who is always in penance, and this extends beyond asceticism. It can also be used for someone who is perpetually involved in gathering knowledge for example.
वाग्विदां वरम् - Eloquent and articulate amongst the knowledgeable. It’s a combination of वाक् (speech), विद् (knowledgeable), and वरम् which is a superlative but also has other uses.
नारदं परिपप्रच्छ वाल्मीकि: - Nāraḍa was asked (enquired of) by Vālmīki
मुनिपुङ्गवम् - This is yet another superlative. पुङ्गव is bull, so many western translators (and some Indians also) translate this incorrectly as “Bull among sages” which means nothing to us culturally and sounds nonsensical.
However, the Amarakosha has a rule for such adjectives.
स्युरुत्तरपदे व्याघ्रपुङ्गवर्षभकुञ्जराः
सिंहशार्दूलनागाद्याः पुंसि श्रेष्ठार्थगोचराः
I’m not going to break this down, but essentially it means that when one of the adjectives such as व्याघ्र (Tiger), पुङ्गव (Bull), ऋषभ (Bull), कुञ्जर (Elephant), सिंह (Lion), शार्दूल (Tiger), नाग (Snake or Elephant) is in the Uttara Pada (Following word), then it signifies a superlative as in best, pre-eminent etc (श्रेष्ठ).
So, let’s put this back together.
वाल्मीकिः परिपप्रच्छ मुनिपुङ्गवम् नारदं यः तपस्स्वाध्यायनिरतं तपस्वी वाग्विदां वरम्
Just introduced यः (who) which was otherwise implicit.
Vālmīki inquired of Nārada who was the best among sages and who was always engaged in self-study and was the most eloquent and articulate amongst the knowledgeable.
Now, let’s get to the detailed question that Vālmīki asked and it took him multiple shlokas for this.
कोन्वस्मिन्साम्प्रतं लोके गुणवान्कश्च वीर्यवान् ।
धर्मज्ञश्च कृतज्ञश्च सत्यवाक्यो दृढव्रत:।।1.1.2।।
Let’s break this down
कोन्वस्मिन् = क: नु = Who indeed is
अस्मिन् साम्प्रतम् लोके = In our world at this current time (presently)
गुणवान्कश्च वीर्यवान् = गुणवान् कः च वीर्यवान् = Full of good qualities and brave
धर्मज्ञश्च = धर्मज्ञ: च = Dharma Jnani = A knower of Dharma
कृतज्ञश्च = कृतज्ञ: च = Always grateful
सत्यवाक्यो = सत्यवाक्यः = Speaker of truth
दृढव्रत: = Firm in his aims and vows
क: नु अस्मिन् लोके साम्प्रतम् अस्ति यः गुणवान् च वीर्यवान् च धर्मज्ञ: च कृतज्ञ: च सत्यवाक्यः च दृढव्रत: ?
or
क: नु अस्मिन् लोके साम्प्रतम् अस्ति यः गुणवान् वीर्यवान् धर्मज्ञ: कृतज्ञ: सत्यवाक्यः दृढव्रत: च ?
Who indeed is there in this world presently as a person who is full of good qualities, is a knower of dharma, is always grateful, always speaks the truth, and is firms in his aims and vows?
Then he continues …
चारित्रेण च को युक्तस्सर्वभूतेषु को हित: ।
विद्वान्क: कस्समर्थश्च कश्चैकप्रियदर्शन: ।।1.1.3।।
Let’s break this down
चारित्रेण च कः युक्तः = Who also has a good conduct/behaviour/character (चरित्र)
सर्वभूतेषु कः हित: = Who also is a positive for all beings
विद्वान् क: = Who also is knowledgeable
कः समर्थः च = And who is very capable
कः च एकप्रियदर्शन: = Who is one of the most pleasant to look at
So, putting it together
चारित्रेण च कः युक्तः सर्वभूतेषु कः हित: विद्वान् क: कः समर्थः च कः च एकप्रियदर्शन:?
As you can see, it’s a continuation of the qualities he’s looking for as in
Who also has a good character and is a positive influence on all beings, is also knowledgeable and very capable and is one of the most pleasant to look at?
आत्मवान्को जितक्रोधो द्युतिमान्कोऽनसूयक: ।
कस्य बिभ्यति देवाश्च जातरोषस्य संयुगे ।।1.1.4।।
And, he continues with more qualities here …
आत्मवान् क: = Who is also self-restrained
जितक्रोध: = And also who has conquered anger
द्युतिमान् = And is also shining (this is related to personality)
क: अनसूयक: = And is also free from envy
कस्य बिभ्यति देवा: च = And from whom even the devās are afraid
जातरोषस्य संयुगे = When he has reason to be angry
This one is already pretty descriptive
Who is also self-restrained and has conquered anger and also shines and is also free from envy. Who is it that when he has reason to be angry then even the devās are afraid of him?
Now, once he has described the person he is seeking, Vālmīki is now showing his excitement and curiosity even before he gets an answer. And, you can see how this excitement and curiosity will transfer to Nārada when he responds.
This is so nuanced.
Here’s the ending of his question as:
एतदिच्छाम्यहं श्रोतुं परं कौतूहलं हि मे ।
महर्षे त्वं समर्थोऽसि ज्ञातुमेवंविधं नरम् ।।1.1.5।।
एतदिच्छाम्यहं श्रोतुं = एतत् इच्छामि अहं श्रोतुम् = एतत् अहं श्रोतुम् इच्छामि = I would like to hear this
परं कौतूहलं हि मे = I am curious and desirous to know
महर्षे त्वं समर्थोऽसि = महर्षे! त्वं समर्थ: असि = O Maharṣi, you are capable …
ज्ञातुमेवंविधं नरम् = ज्ञातुम् एवंविधम् नरम् = … of knowing a man with the list of these virtues.
I would like to hear this as I am very curious and desirous to know. O Maharṣi! you are the one who is capable of knowing a man like the one I described.
And, thus ends his question or rather a series of questions.
What is interesting is how many things he is looking for in one person. Let’s put this all together in one place before seeing how Nārada reacts to this.
Who indeed is there in this world presently as a person who is full of good qualities, is a knower of dharma, is always grateful, always speaks the truth, and is firms in his aims and vows? Who also has a good character and is a positive influence on all beings, is also knowledgeable and very capable and is one of the most pleasant to look at? Who is also self-restrained and has conquered anger and also shines and is also free from envy. Who is it that when he has reason to be angry then even the devās are afraid of him? I would like to hear this as I am very curious and desirous to know. O Maharṣi! you are the one who is capable of knowing a man like the one I described.
Notice the detail and the excitement.
Of course Nārada’s response is as interesting. We won’t go into too much detail except how he addresses Vālmīki and begins his response with the same level of excitement to first explain the difficulty of matching all these details and then proceeding to answer it in so much detail that he tells the entire Rāmāyaṇa to him in the rest of the sarga, but in brief.
Note how interesting this is as compared to a “Table of Contents”.
It’s in a story format.
There are so many other details in the actual that it is really interesting to read, but one can get the gist of it in the first sarga itself. It is in fact so important despite being so brief that it has its own phala shruti shlokas at the end (Phala shruti is a listing of the benefits of reading any text and they never appear in the beginning of a text, especially the first sarga. Clearly, this is a special case where even reading such an abridged version has benefits).
Now, let’s see how Nārada responds. This is a description of his excitement.
श्रुत्वा चैतत्त्रिलोकज्ञो वाल्मीकेर्नारदो वच: ।
श्रूयतामिति चामन्त्त्र्य प्रहृष्टो वाक्यमब्रवीत् ।।1.1.6।।
श्रुत्वा चैतत्त्रिलोकज्ञो = श्रुत्वा च एतत् त्रिलोकज्ञः = The “Knower of the 3 Lokas” after hearing this
वाल्मीकेर्नारदो वच: = वाल्मीकेः नारदः वच: = Nārada said to Vālmīki
श्रूयतामिति = श्रूयताम् इति = Listen to this
च आमन्त्त्र्य = and invited (to listen)
प्रहृष्टो वाक्यमब्रवीत् = प्रहृष्ट: वाक्यम् अब्रवीत् = Spoke these words with delight
He is delighted and excited to tell him, but first cautions him.
बहवो दुर्लभाश्चैव ये त्वया कीर्तिता गुणा: ।
मुने वक्ष्याम्यहं बुद्ध्वा तैर्युक्तश्श्रूयतान्नर: ।।1.1.7।।
Lets break it down
बहवो दुर्लभाश्चैव = बहवः दुर्लभाः च एव = Indeed very rare and difficult are these …
ये त्वया कीर्तिता गुणा: = … qualities that you have described
मुने वक्ष्याम्यहं बुद्ध्वा = हे मुने! अहं बुद्ध्वा वक्ष्यामि = O Muni! Having ascertained, I shall tell you
तैर्युक्तश्श्रूयतान्नर: = तैः युक्त श्रूयताम् नरः = About a man possessing these qualities. Listen.
We can restructure this as:
बहवः दुर्लभाः च एव ये त्वया कीर्तिता गुणा:। अहं तैः युक्त नरः बुद्ध्वा वक्ष्यामि । हे मुने श्रूयताम्!
Rare indeed are these qualities you have described. I have ascertained one with these and shall tell you. O Muni! Now listen attentively.
Then Nārada starts describing the one person who matches these qualities
इक्ष्वाकुवंशप्रभवो रामो नाम जनैश्श्रुत: ।
नियतात्मा महावीर्यो द्युतिमान्धृतिमान् वशी ।।1.1.8।।
Lets break this down
इक्ष्वाकुवंशप्रभवो = इक्ष्वाकु वंश प्रभवः = Born in the Vamśa of Ikshvāku (A descendant)
रामो नाम जनैश्श्रुत: = रामः नाम जनै: श्रुत: = The people have heard his name as Rāma
And, then he goes on to describe his qualities.
नियतात्मा = Steady natured
महावीर्य: = Extremely brave
द्युतिमान् = Shining personality
धृतिमान् = Who can command himself
वशी = Has control over himself
Born as a descendant of Ikshvāku, the people have heard his name as Rāma. He is steady natured, extremely brave, has a shining personality, and has command and control over himself …
And, he continues for a while describing all the qualities for which he takes several shlokas. The response far exceeds what Vālmīki asks for but addresses his question rather well.
Obviously, if it is so rare to find a person of the description provided, it only makes sense that there would be more qualities that Vālmīki hadn’t thought of.
This is the opening of Vālmīki Rāmāyāṇam and it as an Itihāsa as I’ve described here
Now, lets talk about where can we use this today.
Just look at the technique of asking the question and the excitement and curiosity accompanying it. Imagine training children to ask a question in more detail so they really can express exactly what they’re looking for and being very encouraging about it.
Sadly, asking questions has become a lost art today.
In several educational settings, it is even discouraged, or at least limited.
Also, look at the encouraging and joy filled way of responding to the question at hand and that too with excitement. While I haven’t provided the details in this article, Nārada goes on to answer in elaborate detail not just about the qualities of the person first (which is what was asked first) but rather adding to the details, and then tells the entire story.
There are so many such interesting tidbits besides the wonderful story.
In case you want to read it, IIT has done a remarkable job of making it easy to read. Otherwise the books are also easily available. Gita Press usually does a pretty decent job, and from what I’ve heard and seen, the Indian language translations tend to be far better because of more congruence in terms of terminology with Sanskrit as opposed to English where some translations just don’t work.
Today we observed how Vālmīki
Asked a question in what he considered complete aspects
But, was brief in his detail
And, was excited to know
And was full of curiosity
And was expectant of a response from someone who was deserving
So much so that the response matched only a single person on the planet at the time.
पुनर्मिलामः 🙏
References
IIT Valmiki Ramayanam - https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in
Amarakosha (विशेष्यनिघ्नवर्गः) - http://amara.aupasana.com
Image Attribution
2010128mrunalini, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
nice post keep it up sir
Very Profound Sanjay. Thank You for writing.