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.