Shivaratri By Sri Swami Sivananda This falls on the 13th (or 14th) day of the dark half of Phalgun (February-March). The name means “the night of Shiva”. The ceremonies take place chiefly at night. This is a festival observed in honour of Lord Shiva. Shiva was married to Parvati on this day. People observe a strict fast on this day. Some devotees do not even take a drop of water. They keep vigil all night. The Shiva Lingam is worshipped throughout the night by washing it every three hours with milk, curd, honey, rose water, etc., whilst the chanting of the Mantra Om Namah Shivaya continues. Offerings of bael leaves are made to the Lingam. Bael leaves are very sacred as, it is said, Lakshmi resides in them. Hymns in praise of Lord Shiva, such as the Shiva Mahimna Stotra of Pushpadanta or Ravana’s Shiva Tandava Stotra are sung with great fervour and devotion. People repeat the Panchakshara Mantra, Om Namah Shivaya. He who utters the Names of Shiva during Shivaratri, with perfect devotion and concentration, is freed from all sins. He reaches the abode of Shiva and lives there happily. He is liberated from the wheel of births and deaths. Many pilgrims flock to the places where there are Shiva temples. The Story of King Chitrabhanu In the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, Bhishma, whilst resting on the bed of arrows and discoursing on Dharma, refers to the observance of Maha Shivaratri by King Chitrabhanu. The story goes as follows. Once upon a time King Chitrabhanu of the Ikshvaku dynasty, who ruled over the whole of Jambudvipa, was observing a fast with his wife, it being the day of Maha Shivaratri. The sage Ashtavakra came on a visit to the court of the king. The sage asked, “O king! why are you observing a fast today?” King Chitrabhanu explained why. He had the gift of remembering the incidents of his previous birth. The king said to the sage: “In my past birth I was a hunter in Varanasi. My name was Suswara. My livelihood was to kill and sell birds and animals. One day I was roaming the forests in search of animals. I was overtaken by the darkness of night. Unable to return home, I climbed a tree for shelter. It happened to be a bael tree. I had shot a deer that day but I had no time to take it home. I bundled it up and tied it to a branch on the tree. As I was tormented by hunger and thirst, I kept awake throughout the night. I shed profuse tears when I thought of my poor wife and children who were starving and anxiously awaiting my return. To pass away the time that night I engaged myself in plucking the bael leaves and dropping them down onto the ground. “The day dawned. I returned home and sold the deer. I bought some food for myself and for my family. I was about to break my fast when a stranger came to me, begging for food. I served him first and then took my food. “At the time of death, I saw two messengers of Lord Shiva. They were sent down to conduct my soul to the abode of Lord Shiva. I learnt then for the first time of the great merit I had earned by the unconscious worship of Lord Shiva during the night of Shivaratri. They told me that there was a Lingam at the bottom of the tree. The leaves I dropped fell on the Lingam. My tears which I had shed out of pure sorrow for my family fell onto the Lingam and washed it. And I had fasted all day and all night. Thus did I unconsciously worship the Lord. “I lived in the abode of the Lord and enjoyed divine bliss for long ages. I am now reborn as Chitrabhanu.” Spiritual Significance of the Ritual The Scriptures record the following dialogue between Sastri and Atmanathan, giving the inner meaning of the above story. Sastri: It is an allegory. The wild animals that the hunter fought with are lust, anger, greed, infatuation, jealousy and hatred. The jungle is the fourfold mind, consisting of the subconscious mind, the intellect, the ego and the conscious mind. It is in the mind that these “wild animals” roam about freely. They must be killed. Our hunter was pursuing them because he was a Yogi. If you want to be a real Yogi you have to conquer these evil tendencies. Do you remember the name of the hunter in the story? Atmanathan: Yes, he was called Suswara. Sastri: That’s right. It means “melodious”. The hunter had a pleasant melodious voice. If a person practices Yama and Niyama and is ever conquering his evil tendencies, he will develop certain external marks of a Yogi. The first marks are lightness of the body, health, steadiness, clearness of countenance and a pleasant voice. This stage has been spoken of in detail in the Swetaswatara Upanishad. The hunter or the Yogi had for many years practised Yoga and had reached the first stage. So he is given the name Suswara. Do you remember where he was born? Atmanathan: Yes, his birthplace is Varanasi. Sastri: Now, the Yogis call the Ajna Chakra by the name Varanasi. This is the point midway between the eyebrows. It is regarded as the meeting place of the three nerve currents (Nadis), namely, the Ida, Pingala and the Sushumna. An aspirant is instructed to concentrate on that point. That helps him to conquer his desires and evil qualities like anger and so on. It is there that he gets a vision of the Divine Light within. Atmanathan: Very interesting! But how do you explain his climbing up the bael tree and all the other details of the worship? Sastri: Have you ever seen a bael leaf? Atmanathan: It has three leaves on one stalk. Sastri: True. The tree represents the spinal column. The leaves are threefold. They represent the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna

Shankara–The First Guru of Kali Yoga By Sri Swami Madhavananda Whereas the generality of Avataras is for the purpose of re-establishment of Dharma through and by means of the destruction of the wicked and the protection of the righteous and whereas this sort of Avataras take place several times in each Yuga according to the needs of humanity, yet there is another, a special kind of Avatara described in our scriptures as coming into being sometimes after the commencement of each Yuga, not for the destruction of this or that individual monster or set of monsters and so on, but as the first Jnana Guru for the Yuga; viz., for the sole purpose of giving spiritual, psychic and ethical illumination to the lives of that Yuga and setting before them the path, which will take them to their goal of happiness here, salvation hereafter, ultimate emancipation from all bondage and consequent eventual Realization of their oneness with God. Dakshinamurti Thus we are told that, in the first Yuga known in our scriptures as Satya Yuga or Krita Yuga, the natural tendency of the great mass of sentient beings was (with of course the usual and invariable exception to the rule), one which impelled them to become ‘Krita Krityas’, viz., to fully and correctly perform the duties enjoined on them by the Shastras in respect of Karmas (actions), Upasana (Devotion and worship) and Jnana (spiritual knowledge) in due and full accordance with the different Adhikaras which were theirs by virtue of their Varnas, Ashramas and so forth. Hence the name Krita Yuga may be explained in terms of saying: ‘Krita Krityanaam Yugam Krita Yugam.’ For the various aspirants of those days on the ladder of spirituality used to perform all their respective functions in the three Kandas fully and correctly, and were therefore Krita Krityas (persons who had discharged all their duties). From this it naturally follows that in as much as the performance of Svadharma is the path of Chitta Shuddhi (purification of heart) as laid down in the scriptures, in Sri Krishna’s words in the eighteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita: Yajnadanatapahkarma na tyajyam karyameva tat,Yajno danam tapaschaiva pavanani maneeshinam. (Yajnas, Charities, Penances and other Karmas are purifiers of the heart; therefore they should not be neglected but should necessarily be performed) and so on, it is consequently obvious that persons of the type described must naturally be pure in heart. And such, we find, was actually the case in respect of the great mass of the Jivas in the Krita Yuga. This type of Jivas is symbolised and illustrated before the world in the personalities and through the examples of Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara and Sanatsujata and others. In the next place, we note the Scriptures telling us that Chittashuddhi (purity of heart) is the direct and immediate means for the attainment of Jnana (Divine illumination); and we similarly find Lord Jesus Christ saying: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” From this it follows that Sanaka and others of the Krita Yuga typify and represent the great order of the highly evolved souls who have become Krita Krityas, achieved Chittashuddhi and become Adhikaris for Atma Jnana (spiritual wisdom). We, therefore, find that they are not called upon to undergo an elaborate process of instruction and training of questioning and their answers, of discussing things and having them expounded and so forth. They go forward by a stroke of inspiration to the Adi Jagadguru of Krita Yuga, namely Bhagavan Dakshinamurti with various questions in their hearts for which they seek answers. But lo! and behold! They are astonished and gratified at the experience that when they actually go and sit before Him, they find all their questions automatically answered within their own hearts and there is nothing further for them to ask Him and receive instruction and be enlightened. It needs no elaborate and detailed exposition in optical physics to expound this fact of everyday experience, namely that if and when a mirror is not clean and pure or is a refractor, it does not produce correct reflections but only distorted images of the things before it, but if and when a mirror is absolutely pure and accurate, it immediately and correctly reflects everything before it. Exactly similar is the case with regard to the purity of the human heart and the lack of it. In other words if and when a heart is Sattvic but is of a Rajasic or a Tamasic character, it comes under the operation of the Law of Nature explained by Lord Sri Krishna in the Gita with the words: Sarvarthanvipareethamscha (It distorts all things and receives absolutely erroneous impression about them). But if and when a heart is absolutely pure, it acts as a correct reflecting mirror and automatically receives into itself a wholly right and accurate impression about the nature of God, the individual soul and the Universe. In short, it receives Divine Illumination. Thus, when Sanaka and other disciples of Dakshinamurti merely go and sit before Him, their pure and untarnished hearts naturally play the part of good reflectors and automatically receive and reflect within themselves all the Jnana (Spiritual Light) enshrined within the heart and head of the Lord, who is sitting in utter silence before them. This is why our Scriptures say: He, the eternally youthful one, sits in silence, and, by His very silence, explains everything to them; and all doubts and questions vanish from their hearts. By His eloquent silence, He brings into their hearts the requisite Soul-illumination for which they have come to Him and so on. (“Gurosthu mounam vyakhyanam shisyasthu chinnasamsaya.)” Bhagavan Dakshinamurti is therefore the first Jnana Guru of the Golden age viz. Satya Yuga, wherein the Jijnasu (the seeker after truth) has, (by his previous performance of Svadharma and his penances) destroyed all the impurities within his heart and thus goes before the Master with no obstacles (on his own side) on the path of Divine Knowledge. And the successive Jnana

Sankara–The Genius By SRI SWAMI KRISHNANANDA *Sankara Jayanti Message given on the 17th of May, 1972. Today is Vaisakha Sukla Panchami, the fifth day in the bright fortnight in the month of April-May, when we celebrate the advent of the great Acharya Sankara who is often referred to, by his followers, as Bhashyakara (the commentator on the Prasthana Traya,–the Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita). The famous and immemorable event of his life and work is a consequence of the chronology of social history as well as a consequence of the logic of human thought. The immortal service that he has done for the world is thus an outcome of a chronological process as well as a logical one. First of all, let us see what is the chronological significance of the work of Acharya Sankara in the social history of India particularly and the world in general. Chronology is the sequence of history, and if we trace back the condition of the human society, particularly in India, during the time of the most ancient of human conditions available to us for study,–the time of the Vedas from where we begin the study of human history,–we realise that there was, during the time of the sages of the Vedas, a spontaneous tendency to recognise God in creation. This is the specific characteristic of the time of the Veda Samhitas–to visualise and to behold the creator in what is created, and to see the One in the many. Destiny, perhaps, willed that this should be the beginning of our cultural history so far as it can be recollected by our memories and available data, historically as well as archaeologically. The Samhitas of the Vedas are spontaneous hymns and prayers offered to God in His multifaceted manifestation as this cosmos. To the sages of the Veda Samhitas, the rise of the sun was a manifestation of God. It was the glorious God Aditya that was rising. The dawn was a manifestation of divinity. Similarly, the sunset had its own glory, revealing the divinity of God. The heat of summer, the pouring rains, the cold of winter, and the changing seasons, all that is visible as well as conceptual became a vehicle for enshrining devotion to God. It was a spontaneity of feeling which was, in a sense, a natural result of the intuition of the sages. Throughout the Samhitas, if you make a deep study of them, you will see spread out in various places, thoughts and devotional feelings in their various emphases and stresses, all beckoning the aspiration of the human soul to what is implied and what is hidden behind the manifested phenomena. Now here, in this psychological situation of mankind, we have a twofold significance from the point of view of cultural history. On the one hand, it was a visible expression of an inner realisation by which the sages plumbed the depths of infinity and proclaimed for all eternity and to all mankind “Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti, Indram Varunam Mitram Agni…” All the variety, whether in the field of the Adhidaiva (the transcendent, the presiding principle) or the Adhibhuta (the objective, the world) or the Adhyatma (the subjective, the individual), is a glorious facet or expression of the Supreme Being who is designated in the very commencement of the Rig Veda as “Ekam Sat”,–the One Being, without associating the Being with any cult, creed and religious faith. The most catholic definition of the Supreme Reality we have for the first time given in the body of the Rigveda Samhita. Ekam Sat–The One Being, One Reality, One Substance, One Existence,–that the sages recognise and designate as the manifold. In various ways they sing of the glories of this One Mighty Being. But on the other hand, for pure exoteric observation, it would rather look like an acceptance of polytheism or the worship of the many Gods, as if there is a real multiplicity of the realm of the Adhidaiva, as a counterpart to the multiplicity that we see in the realm of the Adhibhuta or the physical world. The variety of the physical world became the source of a susceptible feeling in the minds of people later on, through the passage of time, that, perhaps, the souls also are many and the Gods also are many, because the objects in the world are many! This is a slightly posterior period to that of the exuberance of the Veda Samhita Mantras wherein there was only a spontaneous spiritual outpouring of devotion to the One on account of Its having been recognised in realisation, in direct experience. But, when we make a study of these outpourings, they do not look like the manifestations of the One Experience. All study that is historical is exoteric, prosaic, mechanised and sensory, and hence the esoteric significance that was the background of the very origination of these Veda Mantras, got lost in the process of time, in the passage of history. The outward form, the visible significance of it as hymns offered to the various centres of divinity, the many Gods as they usually say, got emphasised, and these Gods became not only objects of reverence, but also objects of fear. It was not that Gods were always beneficent. They could also be wrathful. While in the earlier stages of the Veda Samhitas, it was not fear of God or even a reverence, in the ordinary sense of the term, cherished towards God that was the cause of these hymns, but an automatic outpouring in ecstatic poetry of a diviner experience felt within; later on, these recorded hymns became historical record of the utterances of the ancient masters. These Mantras which were visibly recorded for posterity, became objects of study and also vehicles for invocation of the many Gods. To the originators of these Mantras, the Gods were not manifold; they were the many phases of the One. But, now, they lost their connection with the original unity or the background, and only the phases are seen

Sankara Jayanthi By Sri Swami Chidananda Radiant Atman! This week we will observe the jayanti (birthday) of Adi-Sankaracharya, one of the greatest of Self-realised souls and philosophers this world of ours has produced. Leaving home, in a spirit of renunciation and aspiration to realise the Reality, at the tender age of eight years, he completed an unbelievable mission in the span of just a few years, passing away in his 32nd year. During that period he did what is known, as digvijaya (conquest of the quarters), carrying the banner of Advaita Vedanta, the supreme philosophy of absolute monism , into the four, corners of India and overcoming all lesser schools of philosophy through his convincing, irrefutable arguments. His incredible work remains dynamically living, active and ever progressive even to this day, more than 1200 years after he propounded his doctrine. The quintessence of Advaita Vedanta is to affirm the truth and reality of your essential, eternal, divine identity and to resolutely reject the error of thinking of yourself as a finite human creature having a name and form, beginning and end, and subject to changes such as birth, death, old age, disease, decay, pain, sorrow, suffering, etc. Resolutely rejecting this error and simultaneously affirming your eternal, unchangeable divine identity is the centre of Advalta Vedanta sadhana (practice). They call it affirming and rejecting, pushtikarana and nirakarana-neti, neti. Sankara’s most popular work, Vivekachudamani, is a call to discrimination between the Self and the non-Self-atma-anatma viveka. Atman is sat (existence absolute). Anatman is appearance only, temporary in time, limited in space, perishable; it is kshara purusha (perishable being). Atman is akshara purusha (imperishable being)-ajo nityah sasvato’yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire (Unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, the Self is not killed when the body is killed). Thus the Vivekachudamani is a discourse, a treatise and a sadhana on discrimination between the Self and the non-Self. And a second work of his, Atma Bodha, is a light upon what the Self is. As you discriminate between the Self and the non-Self, you get a good knowledge of what the non-Self is, so you can reject it; you will not be deluded by it. You can free yourself from the veil of delusion by knowing the nature of anatman. And then, to be rooted in the Reality, to be fixed in it firmly, to be able to think, reflect and meditate upon it and to awaken the correct awareness within your consciousness, a thorough study of what the Self is of great importance and value. To that end, Atma Bodha can be the way that God can gradually answer your prayer, “tamasoma jyotir gamaya” and “dhiyo yo nah prachodayat” (“From darkness lead me unto light” and “May He illumine our intellects”). To avoid that which is wrong, we have to get a knowledge of what wrong is; and to pursue and practice that which is right, we have the need to have a knowledge and a grasp of what right is of what Reality and Truth is. Thus both the negative and positive aspects of Vedantic admonition are of equal importance in making the mind aware of its error and to make the intellect grasp the truth. When Brahman is the reality to be attained, why unnecessarily know about the world, prapancha, samsara? The answer is that because you want to free yourself from the delusion of the world, you must know the tricks of this deluding appearance. Indeed, you must know everything about it, because it comes in numerous subtle ways. We think the world is outside us, but, by and large, the world or prapancha or samsara is within us. We have to understand that. What is it within us that makes us regard prapancha to be real and makes us move towards it, get attached to it, get bound by it? What is it within us? That has to be rooted out, eradicated first. Thus the study of avidya or maya within is the key to freeing ourselves from delusion and rising from darkness to light. Gurudev again and again reiterated: “Thou art immortal Soul. Thou art not this body nor this mind. They are upadhis, limiting adjuncts temporarily added on to you. They are there as part of your lesser personality, your earth consciousness, but you are also there far beyond them, transcending them, a divine personality, a suprahuman spiritual reality, untouched by time and space, not bothered by pain, sorrow and suffering.” This, then, is to be heard, reflected upon and meditated upon. May you direct all your attention to the practice of this truth which shall make you free. For it is this truth that arouses in us our kinship with the eternal, universal Reality, paramatman. May the grace of the Lord grant you success in this sadhana of being what you really are and of resisting the pull of the lower mind to make you imagine that you are something other than this Reality. Constantly you have to reject the, attempts of the mind and its age-old, inveterate tendencies to keep itself tied down to a lower level of ignorance and mistaken identity. It should be given no quarter. By the strength of your will-power, your positive, awakened consciousness and your resolute and determined sankalpa (thought) to attain realisation in this very body, you must keep this process up. You must shine with an effulgent inner awareness of your own essential, immortal and imperishable divine identity. Your interior should be a mass of effulgence, of jnana prakasa. There should be a state of jnana bodha within, a state of wakefulness within-no slumber. For this you must pray, and for this you must practice. May this week be permeated by the spirit of Jagat Guru (world teacher) Adi Sankaracharya, the Advaita Acharya, and may it have the effect of successfully lifting up your consciousness from the present, ordinary, humdrum human level of earth consciousness into a lofty, sublime higher spiritual level of a divine spiritual consciousness!

Sankara Jayanti Message By Sri Swami Sivananda Beloved Aspirants! “Religion is realisation. It is not mere learning, or dialectic.” This is the divine message which stands deeply imprinted in the mind of every Hindu. This is not mere fancy. This is not a mental conception. This is not a stretch of imagination. It is not a coinage of the brain. Nor is it a decision arrived at by vehement vituperation and incongruent argumentation promulgated by all ordinary intellectual prodigy. It is the bold assertion of the greatest philosopher of India, the Avatara of Lord Siva. What can we take him for except Lord Siva Himself, who proclaims authoritatively and undauntedly: Jaatam mayyeva sarvam punarapi mayi tatsamsthitam chaiva visvam,Sarvam mayyeva yaati pravilayamiti tadbrahma chaivaahamasmi. “In me is the whole Universe born; In me has it its support; and, in me does it dissolve. Therefore that very Brahman indeed am I.” Srimad Adi Sankara is our Vedanta Guru. He is God incarnate. He was born at a time when Indian thought and culture was decaying; when it underwent sore distraction; when ethical glory and far-spread influence of Buddhistic cult was gradually dying; when there was complete chaos and confusion; when innumerable sects sprang up and with their own individual doctrines confounded the mass; when social evil influences and blind superstitions falsely garbed in the name of religion fancifully attracted the deceptive masses in a frenzy and ambushed them in complete ignorance of the Ultimate Reality. There were no less than seventy-two cults and sects of this type which carried away people from the right path. The advent of Lord Krishna rejuvenated Hindu religion and saved many a soul from their complete ruin by subjugating themselves to passivism and passivism only due to the misinterpretation of the Vedas and the Upanishads. In the same way, Sri Sankara appeared on the earth to deliver very many struggling souls. He set them free, enlightened them and liberated them through his peaceful, unostentatious persuasion and loving propaganda. Through his irresistible logic, he planted the triumphant banner of unique intellectual conquest over all other schools of philosophy. Before him all other theories proved to be phantoms and fallacies. It was only Sri Sankara who gave the unshakable concrete form to Hinduism and established the unity and purity of enlightened Hindu thought and culture. Superstitions and corrupt practices melted away in no time. The age-long six systems of theism which were kept down in the mouth by the prattlers re-emerged in their original glory only through Sri Sankara. His victory over other systems of philosophy was never due to his holding fast to his own faith and reasoning without the consideration of the pros and cons of others. He had mastered even the minute intricacies pertaining to other theories. The underlying currents of his thoughts were the very foundation for other systems too. Hence they were recognised with much reverence by all the other schools of thought despite their difference in the superstructure. The secret of his conquest and the charm therein lay on his most apt and reasonable illustrations in every case. He never based his arguments on theoretical axioms and untestified hypotheses but entirely on integral experience (anubhava). Further all his arguments were based upon Srutis which too are genuine record of religious experiences of various saints and sages and not imaginary speculation with trivial data. He never entered into any hot unpalatable discussions to substantiate his case or disprove others’ theories. With his gigantic intellect he has poured out his masterful exposition and simple and clear elucidation of the supreme authority of the Prasthanatraya (The Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Brahma Sutras), the self-evident validity of the Sruti Pramana and so on. Above all, his philosophy was not only for the highly intellectual. It is within the easy reach of even the layman. With his profound knowledge, all-comprehensive learning, keen intuitive insight, and convincing explanations he has erected the strong edifice of Vedanta at the same time equally accessible to a simpleton as to a man of high intellect. How effectively has he prescribed “Bhaja Govindam” to a scholar who was racking his brain in committing various scriptures to memory! Vedanta is not the only aspect of philosophy which he has preached to the world. He has entered the heart of every earnest seeker after Truth. He encourages the worship of various forms of the Lord and advocates Bhakti Yoga. Without any tinge of partiality to one form or the other, he has given out innumerable slokas, each brimming with full tattva and bhava and which inculcate ecstasy and perennial joy even in the tender undeveloped minds. His untiring work of Lokasangraha marks him out as the veritable master of the Yoga of Activism too. At the background of all these his devotion to his Guru is supermost. Mark him say, “Any person who realises ‘That very Brahman am I’ through the unparalleled mercy and glance of the Sadguru loses all feelings of doubt and with his mind free from illusion attains liberation even while living in the body.” How much efficacy and glory lie in Guru Bhakti! May you all develop Guru Bhakti! May the blessings of Sri Sankara be upon you all!

Rama–The Apotheosis of Human Perfection By SRI SWAMI KRISHNANANDA Let us observe this auspicious occasion of Sri Ramanavami as a moment of contemplation on a special spark of Divinity that made its advent on the earth. Popularly speaking, in ancient historical times, to emphasise the historical advent of this great Divinity on earth has been the exoteric side of the Epics as people generally understand it. This popular emphasis on the incarnations of God on earth has taken the form of Epics like the Ramayana. We are told in the Ramayana of sage Valmiki, the earliest of these documents, that it was a history par excellence, a history of a chronological procession of divine exploits which is what we generally mean by a divine Epic. It is believed that the earliest record of the history of Rama, the Ramayana of Valmiki, was written during the life-time of Rama Himself. It was not a biography written later on after several years. It was composed then and there, by a contemporary of Rama, sage Valmiki, and so it is but proper that devotees take it as the most authentic of documents pertaining to the history or life-story of Rama. Surprising though it may appear, this master-poet who composed the Ramayana was an illiterate brute in his earlier life, but suddenly transformed into a Master whose genius is today regarded as incomparable in the history of Sanskrit literature. This total transformation by a magical touch, as it were, was given to Valmiki by another genius, sage Narada. One genius created another genius, and this genius has written an Epic, stirring the soul of man, on a genius of human perfection, Sri Rama Himself. And so, even today a contemplation on these aspects of holiness and perfection brings us into contact with a unique feature, namely humanity as it ought to be properly understood and brought to bear on practical life. The whole of the Ramayana is an Epic of humanity. Humanity does not mean mankind but that which particularly characterises human nature. It is in this sense, Sri Rama is oftentimes called the paragon of humanity, an example of the perfection of human nature. This perfection of human nature is not inclusive of the foibles of man in his lower endowments. In the majestic words of Valmiki with which the Epic commences, we are given a description of what this perfection of humanity is, as an answer given by sage Narada to a question put by sage Valmiki as to who is the ideal of human nature. “Whom do you think, O sage, is the perfect embodiment of humanity in this world and can you give me an example of such a perfection?” was the question put by Valmiki to Narada. And then, Narada commences a dignified description of a personality whom today we know and adore as Sri Rama. That majestic feature of bodily personality, the ideal perfection of physiological structure, the profundity and beauty of understanding, dignity of behaviour, exemplary nature of conduct,–to put it in one word ‘perfection’ as conceived or as conceivable by the human understanding–this is what comes forth as an answer from the great sage Narada. We have two Epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, just as in the West they have two Epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two parallel movements of Epic stories, known as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, give us a complete picture of the process of the advancement of the human soul towards its Perfection. It is not to be taken as a surprise that the culture of Bharatavarsha is a culture of the Spirit, so that anything that is said and done or believed in, is directly or indirectly connected with the march of the Spirit to the recognition of its Perfection. We have no other culture here except the culture of the Spirit. A connecting of the visible phenomena with what underlies the phenomena, is the significance of the Epics. And these two master-strokes of genius given to us by Valmiki and Vyasa, in the form of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, give us the religion of India. There were some over-enthusiastic orientalists in the West particularly, and sometimes in the East also, who began to believe that the culture of India is in the Vedas and the Upanishads. But, if we bestow a little thought on the actual situation, it will become clear that if the Vedas and the Upanishads were the sole basis of the culture of India, the Indian culture would have been wiped out like the cultures of Egypt, Greece or Rome. These cultures are only names to us now. They do not actually exist now. They vanished from the process of time on account of their inflexibility, their rigidity of character and their emphasis on a particular aspect of human life. If, as people often believe, the dicta of the Vedas and Upanishads alone were to be taken as the foundation of Indian culture, there would have been no Indian culture today. It would have gone to the winds, because what we have in the Vedas and the Upanishads are ‘principles’, like theorems of geometry or algebra, which are wonderful enough, which are the basis of all scientific approaches and discoveries. Nevertheless, they are principles, and the masses do not live on principles. When we talk or when we move about in the streets, we do not think of the principles behind speaking and walking. We work with the peculiar manifestation of our personality which is spontaneous in its nature. Principles somehow have the aroma of fixity and rigidity. They cannot be changed. But, emotion seeks a spontaneous expression of itself and this feature, this peculiarity of human nature was taken notice of by the sages of the Vedic times themselves. In the Srimad-Bhagavata, one among the eighteen Puranas, at the very commencement itself, we are told that Vyasa felt the necessity of composing the Mahabharata and the Srimad-Bhagavata. And for a similar reason, was the Ramayana