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Pearls from the Ramayana
The stories of the Lord are
thrilling to listen to. Over the years we had the good fortune
reading several great and poetic accounts by great sages and
saints of the Lord’s earthly sojourn as RAMA. Valmiki, Tulsidas,
Kamban….just to name a few.
But what if
God himself were to tell his own story? The exact intentions of
His actions? What if He were to dive deep into the ocean of His
leelas and give you the pearls of wisdom? You would consider
yourself extremely fortunate, won’t you? Well, you and me are
indeed fortunate. Because, in the next few pages, we have Swami
Himself speaking to us on the Ramayana! Go ahead! Enjoy!
WHEN
YOU RECOGNISE THE SUPREME REALITY
When Rama, along
with Lakshmana and Sita, was moving in the forest and talking to
several Rishis, there used to be
congregations where the women used to sit on one side and the
Rishis used to sit on the other side
and discussions used to take place. In the place where all the
women were sitting, Sita also joined them. Rama and Lakshmana,
because they were living in the forest and because they were
wearing clothes appropriate to the forest were also looking like
the Rishis. However, between the two,
Rama was showing a certain amount of Divine Light.
In the place where
Sita was sitting, some of the women went to her and asked: “Have
you come alone or have you come along with your husband as well?”
She replied that her husband too had come. With the women wanting
to see and find out who her husband was, they were asking her many
questions. Sita, a sacred woman given to righteous conduct all her
life, would not get up when all the Rishis
were present and say, “Here is my husband,” by way of
introduction. She would not do that; and knowing what was passing
through Sita’s mind and recognising her reluctance to get up and
point to her husband, one of the women asked Sita by pointing at
one of the men, “Is that person your husband?” She then replied in
the negative by just nodding her head. Another woman came and
asked her, “Is that person whose hair is tied up in knots your
husband?” She again nodded her head in the negative. In this way,
when many women came and asked Sita, pointing at the wrong person
and asking the question, “Is that your husband?” she was nodding
her head to indicate a negative reply. When Rama who was sitting
there was actually pointed out, Sita said neither, “yes” nor “no.”
She simply exhibited a significant, happy and pleasant smile.
Our
Vedantha teaches us something which
is exactly similar to this story. If you point at the wrong thing
and if that is not the supreme reality, then you say “no.”
Anything that is shown and is not the right thing should call
forth the comment, “this is not that,” “this is not that,” and so
on. When you put your finger on supreme reality, the
Brahman, then you are in supreme
bliss and happiness. Such is the nature of
Vedantha that we are able to give today to you, young
students, with pure and unwavering hearts. I am glad that you are
attempting to acquire the good things of our culture and the
teachings we are giving you.
ON MAYA
You are also being
told a few things about Maya. Just as
our own shadow will always accompany us and will not separate from
us, so also Maya will always
accompany God and will not separate from Him. There is a very good
illustration of this fact in the Ramayana.
At the time Rama, accompanied by Lakshmana and Sita, was moving in
the forest. The forest was a thick one and there were no wide
roads and they could only follow a narrow path; the way they were
walking was such that Rama was going in front, immediately behind
him was Sita, and Lakshmana came behind Sita. In this way, all the
three, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were moving forward along a narrow
path. In order to be able to recognise and understand this
situation, you hold up your three fingers. The first finger
represents Rama, God or Paramatma.
The second finger immediately behind represents Sita or
Maya. The last finger in this row of
three, represents Lakshmana or the Jiva.
Paramatma, Maya
and Jiva, these three are going along
in a narrow path in the wild forest of life. After a little while,
Lakshmana, whom we have symbolised as Jiva,
has got the desire and the ambition to have a look at God or
Paramatma. What is it that he has to
do in order to fulfil his desire? There are only two ways of
looking at Rama or getting his darshan.
One is for Sita, who is in between, to move away a little and let
Lakshmana have the darshan of Rama.
Alternatively, if Sita insists on staying where she is, Lakshmana
has to move aside a little. To get Sita to move away, he may have
to push her out from the place where she is standing, but then he
will be offending Rama. So what Lakshmana did was to pray to Sita
in all humility and ask her to give him a chance of having
darshan of Rama. Sita, in all her
graciousness and in all her kindness, said, “Yes, certainly you
can have the darshan of Rama,” and
just stepped out a little. So if you get angry with
Maya, and if you want to use force
and your own strength on Maya and
push her out of her place and then have the
darshan of the Lord, you will not succeed.
Maya then will play tricks with you.
Not only that, God will not allow such a thing to be done. The
only way, therefore, to fulfill your ambition is to recognise that
Maya is the inseparable shadow of God
Himself and pray in all humility and ask for an opportunity by
which Maya will stand aside.
HANUMAN AND
DHARMA
In
Ramayana, we have the story of
Hanuman. He sets an example to all of us by the manner in which he
conducts himself. When he comes close to Rama, he shows extreme
humility and respect. What is the reason for Hanuman exhibiting
such humility in the presence of Rama? The reason for such
behaviour lies in the description of ‘Ramo
Vigrahavan Dharmaha’ of Rama. Rama is the embodiment of
dharma and therefore in the presence
of dharma, he shows humility. The
same Hanuman, when he went to Lanka, had put himself on a pedestal
higher than that of Ravana, because Ravana asked him to squat on
the floor like a monkey. The reason for this is that while in the
presence of dharma, Hanuman is humble
and obedient but in the presence of a boasting king he would not
show any humility. In the same manner, you should bow down to
dharma, and show respect to teachers
and elders. On the other hand you should show courage and prudence
when placed in a predicament which is
adharmic. Even then, you should not take to anarchic
methods.
HOW TO BE
NEAR THE LORD
When Rama was going
to the forest, he told Sita to stay back and serve his parents. He
said that he would come back in fourteen years. But Sita gave up
all her comforts to accompany Rama to the forest. Because she
sacrificed everything, she could have the company of Rama. What is
the reason? Sita thought, believed and put into practice the ideal
that to a wife, her husband is of utmost importance. This is the
essence of the culture of our land.
However, the
enticement of Maya at times is
irresistible. In the forest, it so happened that Sita was
attracted by the golden deer, although she gave up much more
valuable things earlier in life. Rama went after the golden deer
to secure it for her. The final result was that Sita had to leave
Rama and go away. Sita had to lose the sacred company of her
husband, and she was taken away to Lanka. It implies that when she
gave up kama, or lust, Rama was near
her; but the moment she was attracted by the desires, Rama became
distant from her. If you want Rama to be with you,
kama has to be given up. If you have
worldly desires, then Rama will not be near you. You have to
choose between Rama or Kama, that is,
either you cling to God or to his Maya.
THE IDEAL OF
LAKSHMANA
During all the years
of his service to Sita and Rama, Lakshmana was sitting at their
feet and did not even look closely at Sita’s face. When Sita was
being carried away by Ravana over the Chitrakoota Mountain, she
dropped several of her jewels so that people could find them and
convey the news to Rama. When Rama and Lakshmana became friendly
with Sugriva, he brought the jewels, which his followers had
gathered and showed them to Rama. At that time Rama asked
Lakshmana if he could recognise the jewels. Lakshmana said that
while he could not recognise the other jewels, he could certainly
recognise those which Sita wore on her feet. When Rama asked how
he could recognise these, Lakshmana replied that every morning he
used to go and touch her feet; hence he was quite familiar with
them.
Lakshmana was
looking at the wife of his brother as his own mother and was
looking only at her feet. He never looked at her face. Lakshmana
would always bend his head low if he found some other woman coming
in front of him. Lakshmana was a person of exemplary character.
The vision and the eyes of the young people today do not bend even
if we bend them by force. If they use their vision for unsacred
purposes, disturbance of the mind will surely follow. The first
important sadhana is to control our
vision. Lakshmana had such sacred thoughts and mind. If only he is
taken as an ideal example and we follow him, there will be no
doubt of our own elevation.
WHEN YOU THINK OF GOD YOU BECOME GOD
As
soon as Rama, Lakshmana and Sita arrived, Bharatha prostrated
before them and, as a result of his being overjoyed, he went and
embraced his brother Rama and felt exceedingly happy. He made his
brother Rama sit in the chariot and he himself was leading the
chariot. When Rama was sitting in that chariot and Bharatha was
leading the chariot through the streets of Ayodhya, the citizens
of Ayodhya could not distinguish between Bharatha and Rama. The
reason for this was that Bharatha was also wearing his clothes and
his hair was like Ramachandra. Moreover, the brilliance in
Ramachandra’s face was exactly the same as the brilliance in
Bharatha’s face. Their bodies were different but their ideas,
their thoughts and their views were identical. Bharatha was
continually thinking and uttering the name of Rama. Consequently,
Rama’s form and Rama’s brilliance entered Bharatha’s body.
That is why it is
said “Brahma vid Brahmaiva bhavathi.”
One who has the knowledge of Brahman
will become identical with Brahman.
As he was continuously thinking of Rama, he was transformed into
Rama. Citizens who came to garland Rama could not recognise who
was Rama and who was Bharatha. They put all the garlands on
Bharatha thinking that he was Rama.
ADHYATMA
RAMAYANA, The spiritual essence of the Rama Story
Man has got five
working organs and five sensory organs. Altogether he has got ten
indriyas, and Dasaratha literally
means the human body which has got five working organs and five
sensory organs. Dasaratha symbolises this chariot of the human
body which has got ten organs. Dasaratha also attracted three
gunas in the form of Kausalya,
Sumitra and Kaikeyi. The four Purusharthas:
dharma, artha, kama and moksha are
symbolised by Dasaratha’s four sons. Dasaratha was one who
proclaimed such a significant inner meaning to the world and urged
the people to lead an ideal life.
Sita is the daughter
of the king of Mithilapura whose name was Videha. Videha means one
who has no body or one who has no consciousness of his human body.
The capital of Dasaratha was Ayodhya. Ayodhya means a city into
which enemies cannot enter. Dasaratha had such noble qualities and
ideals that he was carrying on the rule of his country in an
exemplary manner. Sita can be identified with wisdom, and Sita
marries Rama or becomes one with Rama who is
dharma. When wisdom comes together with
dharma, in the ordinary course, such
a good event will meet with some obstacles. It is customary and
quite natural that every good thing is met with by some obstacles.
As I state often, pleasure is only an interval between two pains.
If there is no pain at all, there is no value for pleasure. Sita
is the embodiment of wisdom and she had been taken away by Ravana,
who symbolises selfishness and ego.
If one wants his
little wisdom to disappear, all that one has to do is to promote
his selfishness, jealousy and ego. Ravana symbolises selfishness,
jealousy and ego. To make a search for Sita, who had been taken
away by the bad qualities, selfishness, jealousy and ego, Rama, in
the form of dharma, along with the
other Purusharthas, i.e.,
artha, kama and moksha, makes a
journey. Here Lakshmana is to be identified with the mind. We
should notice that Rama, the embodiment of
dharma, combines with Lakshmana, who is identified as mind,
and goes to the forest, which signifies life. In that forest of
life, Rama searches for wisdom in the form of Sita. In this
context, there is an argument between the two brothers Vali and
Sugriva. Sugriva can be compared to the ability to distinguish
between right and wrong. Here the inability or the weakness which
is called dhirathwa has been
destroyed in the form of Vali; and Sugriva, who symbolises the
ability to distinguish between right and wrong, comes out
victorious. Along with Sugriva, who symbolises
viveka, or the ability to distinguish
right from wrong, we have Hanuman. The combination of Sugriva and
Hanuman is like the combination of viveka and courage. The
viveka and courage went together in
search of Sita, the wisdom. They meet with one obstacle in the
form of an ocean of moha. Thus the
ocean of moha had to be crossed and
this crossing was effected with the help of courage in the form of
Hanuman.
After crossing the
ocean, they encounter the three gunas:
the rajas,
thamas and sathwa on the
opposite bank of the ocean. They are Ravana, Kumbha-karna and
Vibhishana representing the three gunas
respectively. The rajas and the
thamas, Ravana and Kumbhakarna, were
removed from the scene and finally the
sathwa Guna gets the upper hand in the form of Vibhishana.
He has been crowned the king. After making Vibhishana the king of
Lanka, Rama has the vision of wisdom born out of experience, in
the person of Sita. Rama, prior to finding Sita, could be called a
Brahmajnani but when he found Sita,
symbolising the knowledge of experience, there is a reunion of the
knowledge of experience with the pure Brahma
Jnana, and the culmination was the coronation, the story
which we called Sahasrartha Ramayana.
This description which has now been given can also be called
Adhyatma Ramayana. It is only when we
can understand this interpretation of
Adhyatma Ramayana, there is some benefit for us and a
possibility of the realisation of the nature of
Atma. If we keep on thinking of
Ramayana in the human form of a king
Dasaratha, a son Rama and look only superficially, how can we know
the real significance?
NONE CAN
SEPARATE A DEVOTEE FROM THE LORD
Lakshmana, Bharatha
and Satrughna one day went to Sita and made a complaint and said
that Hanuman was with Rama all the twenty-four hours, and that he
is not giving them any opportunity for doing service to Rama. They
requested her to arrange that whatever services have to be done to
Rama, be distributed equitably amongst them. Then they made a long
list of services to be rendered to Rama from the morning till the
next morning. They also prayed to Sita that all these services be
approved by Rama. Rama looked at the list and approved all the
services and suggested that they be distributed amongst
themselves. He suggested that they go and tell Hanuman that
nothing is left so far as Hanuman is concerned. When these
brothers met Hanuman, they told him that the entire list of
services has been drawn up and that they were distributed amongst
themselves. They said that no service was left for him and that he
would have nothing to do from the next day.
Hanuman thought for
a little and thought of the name of Lord Rama and then he asked
Lakshmana that if any other service was left over, it may be
allotted to him. The three brothers looked at the list very
carefully and came to the conclusion that nothing was left. They
agreed that if anything is left, Hanuman may take the service.
Hanuman said, there was one service, which was left over and he
requested that this be given to him. When kings or elders or
wealthy people yawn, at that time it was customary to make a noise
with the fingers in front of the mouth. Hanuman asked that this
service be allotted to him. From that time, Hanuman insisted that
wherever Rama went, whether it is in his bedroom or in the
bathroom, Hanuman must be present. Thus he insisted, because one
does not know when Rama would yawn. When Rama yawned, he should be
present there. Thus, it so turned out that the little service
which was left to Hanuman necessitated his continuous presence and
made Hanuman stay close to Rama always.
What we should see
here is that in spite of all the attempts made by Lakshmana,
Bharatha and Satrughna not to leave any service for Hanuman, it is
the sacredness of Hanuman that has resulted in his getting a
service by which he could be with Rama at all times. No one can
separate a real devotee present from his Lord.
PARTICIPATE IN THE LORD’S MISSION
Once upon a time
Hanuman met Vibhisana. Vibhisana conveyed his anguish to Hanuman.
"Hanuman, how fortunate you are. I am constantly thinking of Rama,
but I have failed in getting Rama's darshan. From the moment I
wake up, throughout the day, till I go to bed I chant Rama's name
incessantly. But I have not been able to see Rama." Hanuman
replied, "Vibhisana, you are merely uttering Rama's name by mouth.
But you do not participate in his work and mission. It is not
sufficient if you chant Lord's name. But you should contribute in
his work. It is ten months since Sita has come to Lanka. Have you
made any efforts to free Sita? Rama's name can be compared to
current and participation in His service is compared to a bulb.
Name is the current; service is the bulb. You can attain Divinity
only when you combine chanting of Lord's name with participation
in His service."
Source:
Radio Sai
E-Magazine, March 15, 2004
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_02/06March15/02_Cover_Story/PearlsRamayana.htm
The Rama
Story
The Rama
Avatar is the first of the three
great Avatars. Thousands of years
ago, the Lord took birth in Ayodhya as the eldest son of Emperor
Dasaratha, choosing the Emperor’s senior-most wife Kausalya as His
mother. Aspects of Him were born as His brothers (Lakshmana,
Bharata, and Shatrugana) to the other two wives of Dasaratha.
When
the Princes were in their teens, Dasaratha sent Rama and Lakshmana
along with Sage Viswamitra to the forest, to guard from demons the
sacred rituals then being performed by the Sage. Later in the
court of Emperor Janaka, Rama lifted the mighty bow of Siva,
winning thereby the hand of Sita, the foster daughter of Janaka.
Along with the wedding of Rama and Sita, the marriages of the
other Princes were also celebrated.
Years later,
Dasaratha decided to step down and crown Rama as the Emperor. But
just hours before the auspicious ceremony, Kaikeyi the third wife
of Dasaratha cashed an old promise given to her, and made
Dasaratha banish Rama to the forest for fourteen years, while her
own son Bharata was nominated to the throne.
Bharatha the
surprise beneficiary was unaware of the scheming of his mother, as
he was then in his grandfather’s kingdom. Rama happily obeyed His
father, and at once left for the forest, with Sita and Lakshmana
accompanying Him.
Unable
to bear the separation from Rama, Dasaratha breathed his last and
Bharatha was immediately sent for. He hastened back to learn that
his father had died of grief and that his dear Brother had been
banished to the forest, all for his sake! Bharatha refused to
ascend the throne, rushed to the forest, and pleaded with Rama to
return and rule. But Rama was firm in standing by His word given
to His father and step-mother. Bharatha returned disappointed,
donned the garb of a hermit, lived in a village, and administered
the kingdom on behalf of Rama, symbolically deriving authority
from the sandals of Rama, reverentially placed on the throne.
After Bharatha’s
departure, Rama, along with Sita and Lakshmana withdrew deep into
the forest. There one day, Sita was abducted by Ravana, the evil
ruler of Lanka, even as Rama was engaged in capturing for Sita, a
golden deer.
Rama and Lakshmana
then began their long arduous search for Sita. In the process,
they befriended Sugriva, the Vanara (monkey) leader. Hanuman, a
minister of Sugriva, became a great devotee of Rama. Sugriva
offered help in the search for Sita. As a part of the process,
Hanuman jumped across the ocean to the island of Lanka, and there
located Sita held captive by Ravana in a garden.
Rama
then invaded Lanka along with the Vanara warriors, building a
bridge across the ocean for the purpose of crossing it. A lengthy
battle ensued at the end of which all the evil doers perished,
including Ravana, who was slain by Rama. Sita was rescued, and
Rama, Lakhsmana and Sita triumphantly returned to the mainland,
flying in the very same aerial chariot of Ravana in which Sita was
earlier carried away. After reunion with Bharata who was counting
the days, the entire party entered Ayodhya, much to the joy of the
people.
The exile having
been duly completed, on an auspicious day Rama was duly crowned, a
ceremony that had to wait for fourteen years because the
Avatar had a promise to keep. Rama
ruled righteously for several years. His reign is symbolic of
peace, prosperity and justice, and even today is held up as a
model for governance.
Rama was God
Incarnate, but He never proclaimed His Divinity. In every respect,
His life was an emphatic message of how one ought to live, always
adhering to Sathya and
Dharma. Rama was an ideal son, an
ideal brother, an ideal friend, an ideal master, and an ideal
King.
The Rama
Avatar proves that the one who
protects Dharma and stands by it,
will himself be protected by that very same
Dharma.
The accompanying
paintings have been done in the traditional Karnataka style.
Source:
Radio Sai
E-Magazine, March 15, 2004
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_02/06March15/02_Cover_Story/RamaStory.htm
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