Pearls from the Ramayana

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!! Sri Rama Jayam !!

 

Pearls from the Ramayana (By - Sri Sathya Sai..)

http://www.saibaba.ws/articles1/pearlsramayana.htm

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. "

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Hare Krishna

Hare Rama