Ramayana Doubts

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Dear respected members of the group,

 

At most times in the discussions on Ramayana,

reference and quotations are made from Valmiki as this

is the original Ramayana or the first kavya as its

author Valmiki, the first poet (adi kavi). Valmiki

Ramayana is like an ocean of literal beauty with

spiritual instructions but it requires very deep

analysis to get the gems or the real meaning of

Valmiki’s instructions. Valmiki stresses the human

aspect of Rama, Rama as son of Dasaratha although

Valmiki recognizes that Rama is Vishnu himself. In

treta yuga the teachings of Vedas itself was revealed

by Valmiki in form of Ramayana (vedavedye pari pumsi

jate dasarathaatmaje vedah prachetasadasit

sakshadramayanatmana).

 

The hearing, reading, remembering as well as

discussion of Ramayana purifies the mind as it is also

a part of devotional service (sarvanam kirtanam vishu

smaranam……..). Almost everyone of the personalities in

Ramayana has a lesson to teach Rama as the ideal son,

brother, husband, king and etc, Sita as the ideal

wife, Lakshmana the ideal brother and so also Baratha

and Satruguna, Sugriva as the ideal friend, Hanuman as

the ideal servant plus many more lessons that can be

learnt from Dasaratha, Sumantara, Guha, Vibisheena,

Ravana, Kumbakarna, Indrajit, Jatayu, Sampati,

Jambavan, Angada, Maricha and the rest of the

characters in Ramayana.

 

The lessons from Ramayana can also be applied in

modern management of organization especially the

leadership qualities of Lord Rama in administration of

Ayodhya and there are also many modern management

concepts such as EQ, MBO, Kaizen, strategic planning,

organising principles and etc where its origin can be

traced from Valmiki Ramayana.

 

Ramayana has great influence in many part of the

world. Even here in Malaysia in the state of Kelantan

the Ramayana show, Wayang Kulit (the local Malay

version) is popular pastimes in kampungs or villages

narrated by Pak Dalang or the story teller. The

Indonesian also recognizes Jatayu and Sampati (their

airlines known as Sempati air) and of course the name

of Rama is also used by kings in Thailand and other

parts of Indo China.

 

In studying and analyzing Ramayana one need to take a

macro approach rather than a micro approach. In a

macro approach we get the birds eye view of the whole

picture whereas in a micro approach we only get a worm

eye view or a limited view. As a result of analyzing

Ramayana taking micro approach a lot of confusions and

questions arises eg why did Rama kill Maricha, kill

Vali from behind, accuses Sita, exiled Sita, killed

the sudra and etc.

 

In a macro approach on the other hand, we need to look

at the starting point (the origin of the issue) the

which can be found in Srimad Bhagavatam, reference to

Jaya and Vijaya incident in the 1st Canto followed by

appearance of Jaya and Vijaya as Hiranyaksa and

Hiranyaksipu and in Ramayana as Ravana and Kumbakarna

and latter in Dwapra Yuga as Sisupala and Danthakara.

In the bigger picture we can see that the lord appear

to exhibit his transcendental activities and past

times and Jaya and Vijaya plus all other devas came to

take part in the lord’s past times. In other word,

Rama knows that he will killed Ravana, Sita knows that

she will be abducted, Ravana knows that he will be

killed yet they do their functions as ordained. This

version is based on Adhyatma Ramayana, a part of

Brahmanda Purana said to be composed by Vyasa Muni. In

Adhyatma Ramayana at every step we are reminded that

Rama is Vishnu himself. His sorrows and sufferings are

only external. Even when he appeared, Adhyatma

Ramayana presents him at birth as four handed Vishnu

and at Kausalya’s request he transforms himself into

human infant.

 

Reference to Adhyatma Ramayana can also be used to

explain Sita’s fire ordeal. Before Ravana came to

abduct Sita, Rama informed Sita to stay with Agni for

one year leaving behind Maya Sita (Vedavati, reference

to Uttara Kanda of Valmiki). The Sita abducted by

Ravana was not thereal Sita but Maya Sita. After

Ravana was killed Rama in order to get his real Sita,

Maya Sita was ordered to enter Agni.

 

One of the only English translations of Adyhatma

Ramayana that I managed to find is by Swami

Tapasyanada published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras.

This text is a good source of reference although it

has more advaitic flavor.

 

Most of the questions can be answered if we study not

only the entire Valmiki Ramayana or Adyhatma Ramayana

but also other versions such as Tulasidas, Kambar plus

the other vedic literatures such as Mahabaratha,

Srimad Bhagavatam and the other puranas. In Valmiki

Ramayana itself answers for various questions can be

found such as why Dasaratha Maharaj was separated from

Rama (killing of a young ascetic boy and the curse by

his parents, Ayodhya kanda) why Rama was separated

from Sita (curse by Bhrigu Muni, Uttara Kanda), why

Hanuman could not do anything when Sugriva was

banished by Vali (cursed of the rishis, Uttara Kanda)

and many more. From Ramayana also we can get answers

in latter incidents in Mahabaratha, Srimad Bhagavatam

and etc.

 

To the respected members of the group, I am just

giving my viewpoints. I may be wrong, correct me if I

am wrong as I am still learning Ramayana and other

vedic literatures and of course there are lot more to

learn by discussions with all of you.

 

For members who are staying far in places when

Ramayana texts are hardly available, below I have few

urls where you can download and read different

versions of Ramayana.

 

For Valmiki, great translation work in English are

carried out by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K. M. K.

Murthyat at the following url

 

 

http://www.valmikiramayan.net

 

Ramayana resources can be found at the following url

 

http://www.valmikiramayan.net/resources.htm

 

For online reading of the entire Tulasidas Ramayana

please go to the following url

 

http://www.gitapress.org/english/epbooks_eng.html

<http://www.gitapress.org/english/epbooks_eng.html>

 

Online Ramayana by Rajagopalachari (the entire book)

can be found at

 

http://home.att.net/~gitaprasad/ramayana.htm

 

I could not find any online English translation of

Kamba Ramayana so far.

 

Excellent articles on Valmiki and Kamban by Sri Hari

Krishnan who posted series of article on Vali Vadham

can be found in www.chennaionline.com religion and

festival section.

 

I do hope the above resources will plus our

discussions help members in learning and understanding

Ramayana.

 

Regards

 

Bala

Penang, Malaysia.

 

 

=====

 

Balakrishnan A/L Muniapan

 

Mobile: 6-016-4838038

 

http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/District/9622/resbala.html

 

 

 

 

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