SPOTLIGHTS
ON
THE RAMAYANA
By
Sri Swami Premananda
Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder of
The Divine Life Society
SERVE, LOVE, GIVE,
PURIFY, MEDITATE,
REALIZE
So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
Sri Swami Premananda
Dedicated
TO
MY HOLY MASTER
SATGURU SRI SWAMI SIVANANDAJI MAHARAJ
PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE
Instruction by way of narration through heroic poems
written in stimulating language has
been in all countries an effective medium of awakening the
drooping spirits in man to a vision of the
forces that operate in the universe. The Ramayana of sage
Valmiki, which had its immortal
successor as the great work of Sant Tulsidas and several
others in the languages of India,
is regarded
as the first Sanskrit poem ever, which recounts the deeds
of Rama, his exploits, forming the various
scenes of his life.
The work is a reservoir from which flowed countless streams
of powerful poetic works
touching upon some one or the other of the incidents and
episodes of the epic. The importance of the
Ramayana is in its perennial appeal to the spirits of humanity
in general, whose different sides are
ably touched by the deft imagery of Valmiki, and the line
of poets who followed in its wake.
The present publication throws some light on certain
aspects of the Ramayana, which
presents an interesting reading to students and the public
who are devotees of the valuable scripture.
The approach departs markedly from the usual devotional and
religious reading common among
the Ramayana circles, not because the holy epic is not a
superb masterpiece of religious literature,
which it really is beyond doubt, but because the
supernatural features of the epic seem to call for a
novel study these days in the light especially of western
thinking for which a natural interpretation
might provide a diversion well expected. The work also
includes a few pages on questions and
answers on different themes.
Shivanandanagar,
27th August, 1980 The Divine Life Society.
FOREWORD
OM
Salutations to Holy Master Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji
Maharaj.
Worshipful homage unto Lord Rama, divine incarnation of the
Supreme Deity, Bhagavan
Narayana. May His perfect personality representing the
perfect ideal human individual, inspire all
beings to strive to improve their own character and conduct
and to emulate the noble behaviour of
Maryada Purushottama, Bhagavan Sri Ramachandra.
When I was approached with a request to give a brief
foreword to this present work, I was
somewhat nonplussed and a bit puzzled as to what I could
write about a scripture that is being read
by millions of people all over India and many other parts of the
world and which has been translated
into numerous languages and upon which very many writers
have written numerous books over the
past centuries. I felt as one would feel if he was asked to
give a foreword to a book like the “Old
Testament” or the “Illiad” or the “Odyssey”.
iv
However, after reading the Publisher’s Preface and the
author’s own statements in the first
ten or twelve opening pages, I became aware of the very
special approach and the analytical nature
of this present work. This made me aware that it has a
unique value as a manual of human conduct
and a guide to righteous living to every individual in
general and to aspiring spiritual seekers who
are striving for a higher inner unfoldment, in particular.
The narrative has also been interpreted as an allegorical
work, somewhat similar to
Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Vedantic Wisdom is also to
be found within its pages in such
versions that contain most illuminating and instructive
dialogues as in the conversation between
Lord Sri Rama and his brother Sri Lakshmana in the “Rama
Gita”. Revered Sri Swami
Premanandaji has done a valuable service in culling
together, within the covers of this present
work, all these precious aspects of the great divine drama
of the “Ramayana” for the benefit of the
English-knowing public who may not have access to the
original versions either in Sanskrit
“Valmiki”, or in the other Indian vernaculars like Hindi “Tulsidas”,
Tamil “Kamban”, etc.
Readers will find a rich treasure in this work, “Spotlights
On The Ramayana”, by Sri Swami
Premanandaji who has himself delved deep into the
well-known “Sri Ramcharitmanas” and who is
himself a great Ramayana-Premi. I wish the book wide
circulation and careful study.
May the abundant Divine Grace of adorable Lord Sri Rama
ever be upon Sri Swami
Premanandaji and may the Lord’s blessings make him shine as
an ideal person adorned with all
sublime virtues and Divine spiritual qualities. May the
Lord’s Grace grant unto all the readers joy,
peace and spiritual illumination. Salutations, again, to
Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda. Victory to
worshipful Lord Rama.
Sivanandashram (Rishikesh)
Dated: 11th September, 1980 Swami Chidananda.
INVOCATION
Salutations to Lord Ganesha who removes all impediments and
ensures blessedness and
success.
Reverence to Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge and
learning, and Parvati, consort of
Lord Siva, bestower of strength and energy.
Prostrations to my Satguru Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj,
an ocean of benevolence and
compassion, who removes defects of vision and purifies the
eyes of understanding and guides on
the path of spirituality, wisdom and devotion and protects
his humble disciples from all sides.
Adorations to Lord Mahadeva, over whose divine body the
holy ashes are auspicious and
ecstatic and who narrated the sacred Sri Ramacharitmanas
(Ramayana) to his holy consort Uma.
Veneration to Lord Rama and Janaki Sita, incarnations of
Lord Hari and Goddess Lakshmi
respectively, who remove illusion and illumine the heart
& mind with devotion and truth.
v
Obeisance to Hanuman, an ideal and faithful
servant-cum-devotee of Sita Rama, by whose
blessings truth is made manifest and the Yugal-sarkar grant
their darshan to a devotee.
Benedictions be from great sage Valmiki, the first author
of Ramayana, and Sant Goswami
Tulsidas, an incarnation of Valmiki, who composed Sri
Ramcharitmanas in Hindi for the
redemption of mankind, in this perverse Kali Yuga.
MY SUBMISSION
The holy Ramayana, a masterpiece in Sanskrit classics of
the great sage Valmiki, the
Adi-kavi, is the first and foremost specimen of exquisite
poetry. There are other Ramayanas viz.
Adhyatma Ramayana, Anand Ramayana, Maha-Ramayana, Adbhuta
Ramayana, Ramcharitmanas
and several others in different languages such as Hindi,
Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, South Indian
languages like Tamil and others.
The Valmiki Ramayana and Sri Ramcharitmanas of Goswami Sant
Tulsidas, enjoy a unique
place among the classics of the world’s literature. Valmiki
Ramayana has since been translated,
both in prose and poetry, in English, French, Italian,
Latin and some other languages. Almost
similar is the case with Sri Ramcharitmanas of Sant
Tulsidas.
Someone told me that Ramayana has also been translated into
Russian language and they
are now staging and screening some of the important scenes
of the same—of course in their own
way and style. In fact, in India
and the Far East, the great epic of Lord Rama,
Jagatjanani Sita and
celibate Hanuman is not just an ancient classic; its
mystique and mythology based on some facts as
well as history have inspired and influenced the entire
cultural framework of South-East Asia for
four millennia.
As ancient Greece
had two famous epics Odyssey and Illiad, ancient India had the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Ramayana, which describes
the wanderings of Prince Rama
banished from his kingdom, has something in common with the
famous Odyssey. The Ramayana
and the Mahabharata together comprise the whole of the epic
literature of ancient India,
and they
present a most graphic and life-like picture of the
civilisation and culture, customs and traditions,
the social and political life, the religious and spiritual
thoughts of ancient India,
which cannot be
ignored in any way.
The races which flourished in the Northern region of India,
approximately one thousand
years before Christ, amongst them the Kosalas of Oudh, now
in the province
of Uttar Pradesh and
the Videhas of Bihar (now it is a province), were
considered the most cultured races and their kings,
monarchs and priests were famous for their administration,
bravery, learning and prowess. They
were glorious, righteous and truly Dharma abiding.
The great sages and distinguished priests in those times
founded schools of arts and learning
which were well-known all over India and several students joined
from surrounding countries for
study and research.
vi
Our ancestors those days did a lot of research on several
subjects including the mysteries of
the soul and into the nature of the One Universal Soul
which pervades the entire creation, which are
still preserved in the holy and marvellous Upanishads.
Besides the Vedas, the Upanishads,
Ramayana and Mahabharata and some other wonderful legacies
are a most valuable heritage left by
the ancients to us.
Historical Facts
Time lent higher and greater lustre to the achievements of
these gifted races and the age in
which they flourished appeared to their descendants as the
Golden Age of Bharatavarsha.
Dasaratha, the king of the Kosalas, is considered as an
ideal king, who laboured for the good of his
subjects. His capital was Ayodhya on the bank of the river
Saryu. The ruins of his fort and palaces
and Hanuman Garhi are still there, approximately six miles
from Faizabad, in Uttar Pradesh.
The king of Videhas, Raja Janaka is accepted as a monarch
and a saint of high order. Lord
Rama, the eldest son of Dasaratha is the hero of epic
Ramayana, whereas Sita, the daughter of Raja
Janaka is the heroine.
Three brothers of Lord Rama are Bharata, Lakshmana and
Shatrughna and they were
married with the daughters of the Videhas, namely Mandavi,
Urmila and Srutakirti respectively.
Their sons were founders of great cities and kingdoms as
stated under, which flourished in the
fourth, fifth and sixth centuries before the Christian era.
i. Lava and Kusa, the two sons of Rama, ruled in Sravasti
an old and famous historical town
which was the capital of Oudh
for sometime during the days of Lord Buddha and the latter founded
Kusavati at the foot of the Vindhya mountains. I have
personally visited this place, which is now in
the Behraich district of Uttar Pradesh.
ii. Bharata’s two sons—Taksha and Pushkala—founded famous
and flourishing kingdoms
on either side of the river Indus, now in Punjab.
Its Western part is now in Pakistan.
On the East of
the Indus river
Taksha-sila (known to Alexander the Great and the Greeks as Taxila) was founded
by Taksha. Pushkala founded his kingdom known as
Pushkalavati to the West of the Indus.
(Alexander and the Greeks called the same as Peukelaotis.)
iii. Lakshmana’s two sons, Angada and Chandraketu, funded
the kingdoms of Karupada
and Chandrakanti respectively in the Malwa region.
iv. Shatrughna’s first son, Subahu, ruled Mathura and the second son named Shatrughati
became the king of Vidisha.
Sri Ramcharitmanas is considered to be the best work on
Devotion by the Father of the
nation, Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest men of the
modern world. This immortal poem has an
universal appeal and is accepted by all classes of people
from Bihar to Punjab and from the
Himalayas to the Narmada.
The characters shown in it are the characters of flesh and blood, virtues
and vices, ideals of devotion and truth, bravery and duty,
sacrifice and greatness, struggle and
success, womanly faithfulness, love for domestic life based
on Dharma, respect for the values of
vii
higher life and the goal of human life in the end. The exemplary
government is known as
‘Ram-Rajya’ in the historic world.
There is something indescribably touching and tender in the
description of these characters.
Deeper than all the other characteristics is the sense of
Rama’s duty towards his father, his consort
and brothers, his mother and step-mothers, towards his
subjects, his foes and friends and others,
including even birds and beasts. For the pious Hindus, Rama
is Lord Rama, whose life in the form
of a man and king is the ideal life in all respects. His
life exemplifies triumph of good over evil
forces. It is a life of submission and service to sages and
saints.
It is the truthfulness, power of endurance and sincerity of
Rama under suffering and
privations which impart the deepest lessons to man’s character.
This holy book is also a treasure of
higher philosophy of wisdom, devotion and Karma-yoga. The
ancient ideal may seem to modern
man far-fetched in these days, but one can never fully
comprehend this great moral epic of the
ancient Hindus unless one develops the requisite sincerity
to know the Reality behind things.
According to an old and respected Christian missionary “no
one could hope to understand
the people of Upper India
till he had mastered every line that Tulsidas had written.” This Ramayana
is deep like an ocean, vast like the infinite space, full
of moral and ethical teachings and
soul-illuminating treasures. In order to reap the benefit,
one has to dive deep to bring out the pearls
and to rise higher and higher in the realm of spirit with devotion
and faith.
Difference Due To Ages
It is not just a facetious novel but contains within itself
the novelty of human life, lofty
ideals and a record of the meritorious deeds of
Raghuvansmani Rama, based on facts—as the
popular saying goes, “there is no smoke without fire.” The
variance in the different Ramayanas
seems due to Kalpa-bheda (difference of age-cycles)
according to mystagogues and mythologists
and religious pandits, and the varied approach by various
authors at different times.
While concluding Sri Ramcharitmanas, Sant Tulsidas has
warned;
This story however should not be repeated to a perverse
knave, who does not listen
attentively to the story of Hari, nor should it be recited
to a greedy, or lustful man who worships not
the Lord of all animals and inanimate creation.... They
alone are qualified to hear Sri Rama’s
narrative, who are extremely fond of communion with holy
men. They alone are fit to hear it, who
are devoted to the feet of their preceptor and are lovers
of propriety and votaries of the Brahmans.....
So, generally, whenever I happen to talk on Sri
Ramcharitmanas, I mostly touch upon the
philosophy and teachings of Ramayana and the beauty and
meaning of the words and phraseology
rather than a narration of the mere story, events or
exploits of Rama or other characters. I never
thought of writing a commentary on the Ramayana but this
book has come up suddenly on its own.
Thus, my purpose of writing this “Spotlights On The
Ramayana” is somewhat strange and may be
construed as a new approach.
viii
During my recent visit to the US
and Canada,
I was confronted with several peculiar types
of queries and arguments not only by the American and
Canadian brothers and sisters but also by
the educated Indians who have settled there. It was an astonishing
phenomenon. Of course such
Hindus are in India also. My mind therefore
started thinking, how to place the picture of the epic on
a different footing without lessening the faith in Lord
Rama, and naturally I prayed to Him and to
Satgurudev. Consequently, I first wrote an article titled “Esotericism
in the Ramayana” However it
was later developed along the lines of a somewhat rational
appreciative critique, which is now in the
hands of the readers in form of “Spotlights On The Ramayana”.
At the end of the book, a chapter on
‘Questions and Answers’ has been added, which are of
general interest to seekers and sadhakas.
Here it would not be out of place to add a few words on the
role of the epics in the literature
of the world. The “Mahabharata”, the “Ramayana”, the “Illiad”
, the “Odyssey”, the “Aeneid”, the
“Divine Comedia”, the “Paradise Lost and Regained” the “Shahnama”
of Firdaus may be
mentioned as perhaps the greatest epics of the world. We
may add the Iceland
“Eddas” & the
Silappadikaram in Tamil as masterly specimens in this
category. Translations of the “Ramayana”
such as that of Kamban stand, again, unparalleled in epic
literature, and do they tell us only stories
for our leisure hours?
Travel Diary of The Soul
Far from being tales and legends, they rise above the
ground of mortal comprehension to the
height of a majesty which can only be described as a travel
diary of the sojourn of the soul in the
cosmos. Written in tumultuously powerful styles and with a
virility that can brook no comparison,
the epics of the world are the depiction of the soul of man
as the chief hero in the drama of creation.
Who can read these masterpieces without an electrifying
touch of the supernormal, felt within
oneself? The epic poets are the messengers of eternity who
speak in the language of man, charging
it with the force that they receive from the depths they
have plunged and the heights they have
scaled.
Under such circumstances, it should look idle to cavil and
carp at the messages of the epics
as a grandmother’s story, amyth, a fable, a fantasy,
something ‘unhistorical’. And what is history to
the eye that can see all the details of creation with one
sweep? How could events which have a
cosmic significance be regarded as unhistorical? Is history
merely a record of events capable of
physical verification confined only to this earth? Are we,
all-seeing men and there can be nothing
beyond the ken of human perception? Humility should be
considered as the insignia of true wisdom
and insight.
Parading of modern empirical researches has often become
these days a major theme in
many recent journals and papers, learned editorials which
denounce the super-physical nature of
life and shout down anything that is superhuman. Man
himself is more than man! He strides the
very heavens in an inner reach of his own being. These are
the regions explored in the mighty epics.
One should wish more caution and patience from these
distortions of modern scholarship.
This sevak is not a writer and his intellect is a poor
match to the unlimited glory and exploits
of Lord Rama. I may even not be qualified to write anything
by way of this exceptional approach. I
hope that the generous readers will hail this new attempt
believing that there may be some divine
ix
purpose, some play of divine Grace, behind this novel urge
which has in one way or the other
inspired this sevak to undertake this task. I hope too that
learned and devout readers will not wholly
denounce this new attempt and will forgive my impertinence
and errors, if any.
Before concluding, I am eager to express my gratitude with
reverence, to His Holiness Sri
Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj for favouring me so graciously
in writing the foreword to this book.
Similarly, my heartfelt thanks naturally go to Revered Sri
Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj and Shri
Baldeo Sahaiji whose valuable guidance, suggestions and
practical assistance encouraged and
helped me to place this book in this form before the
readers. I am also very much thankful to Shri
Kailash Chanderji Sachdev and his entire family who worked
hard and helped in bringing out this
book. Lt. Col. Birmaniji’s suggestions and assistance have
their own place and I amgrateful to him.
May God Almighty and Satgurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji
Maharaj bless these families, who were
chosen by the Lord to fulfil this task. There are several
others who have assisted me in this work in
one way or the other, and I thank them all.
Sivananda Ashram,
8th September, 1980 SWAMI PREMANANDA.
I
THE STORY
The story of Lord Rama has inspired millions over the
centuries. It is said that the first
Ramayana, as the epic is called, was written by sage
Valmiki in Sanskrit, much before the incidents
occurred. Valmiki was a contemporary of Rama and when Sita,
his consort, was exiled by King
Rama. She stayed at the Ashram of sage Valmiki. The latest
recension was done by Sant Tulsidas in
Avadhi, the language of the masses, in the 15th century.
In the present interpretation of the epic the main actors
of the drama are personified by
various attributes common to the human race. This
interpretation could, therefore, command
universal appeal. This is called Adhyatma or
spiritual Ramayana which explains the esotericism in
the great epic.
Till very recently, none in India bothered to verify the
veracity of the story. It was not their
concern to investigate the actual happenings in history—when
Rama lived and ruled or the places
he occupied during his fourteen years’ period of banishment
by his father. To Indians it was the
grain that mattered and not the chaff.
The modern period is the age of reason, not of faith—faith
in tradition, in the past, in epics,
in authority, in parents, even in oneself. For everything
the modern generation clamours for proof,
authenticity and verification. In the case of past events
there can be circumstantial evidence,
historical support, archaeological proof and literary or
even astronomical occurrences to support
dates and incidents. The Ramayana, i.e. the history of Lord
Rama, in the light of the temper of
times, has also been subjected to detailed scrutiny.
Historians have been busy locating various
places where certain events of his life took place.
Some are of the view that Lord Rama never went beyond the
Vindhyas and the entire
episode occurred in northern India. Lanka of the Ramayana is
said to be somewhere in Madhya
Pradesh. Mandu is pinpointed as the city where Mandodari,
the wife of Ravana, lived. The demon
king Ravana is also said to have been living nearabout. As
evidences are cited a huge brick-mound
known even today as Ravana Kursi or the seat of Ravana, a
musical instrument played with a bow
on strings popular in the region is called Ravana-hattha.
Panchavati is supposed to be situated near
Nasik and authentically shown round to visitors as the place
where Sita lived with her husband and
his brother Lakshmana for a part of the banishment period.
The historians contradict these views and quote literary
events in the Valmiki Ramayana to
prove that Lanka did lie across the seas and Rama offered
prayers to Siva before launching the
construction of the oversea stone-bridge. At Rameshwaram
there is a temple with the idol of Lord
Siva who was worshipped by the royal couple before they
mounted an attack on Lanka. Since
Rama’s spouse Sita was in the custody of Ravana and the
worship could not be performed without
the wife being by his side, it is said that Ravana agreed
to send Sita for a short while so that the
worship could be performed according to the rites laid down
in the scriptures.
1
There are historians who contradict all this since,
obviously, it looks strange and incredible.
According to them, there was no Rama, Sita, Ravana, the
battle, the banishment and a victory of
Rama over his rival Ravana. They say that the entire story
is a tale told by elders from generation to
generation assuming the shape of history over the years.
The story, like any other fiction, has been
so much ingrained in the race-unconscious that by constant
repetition over a few thousand years,
people have started believing that it is a part of history
which is far from the truth.
Be that as it may, we will not enter into an argument
whether the story of Lord Rama is a
historical fact or otherwise. We would prefer to stick to
the grain and start with the assumption that
the story is basically true. It has inspired millions of
Indians all over the country to follow the right
path. It continues to inspire millions today, and will
continue to do so in future.
Many epics have been written about the life and activities
of Lord Rama. There are
hundreds of them written in the North, South, East and West
of the country. Among these about 36
are considered to be important. One of them, the Adhyatma
Ramayana, gives a symbolic
interpretation of the various characters and events of
Ramayana. Since such an interpretation could
be of universal significance, we would concentrate here in
giving a brief outline of the symbolism.
Before we do that it would be better to be acquainted with
the generally accepted story of Lord
Rama.
There Was A King
There is an ancient city of Ayodhya on the banks of broad-bosomed river
Saryu in the Utter
Pradesh State of India. There
lived a king called Raghu, so powerful, that he was invited by even
Indra of Swargaloka to help him in his battles against the
demons. Swargaloka is heaven, but
interpreted these days as a land lying somewhere in the
North amidst the hoary heights of the
Himalayas and Indra, according to this reading, must have been a
powerful king enjoying all the
luxuries of life but constantly threatened by some other
kings who were equally affluent and brave.
The arts and sciences of that age are not well-known now.
The elixir of youth, the devas—Indra was
their lord—had discovered is treated now as a myth. Their
adversaries, the Asuras or demons, were
anxious to get hold of the prescription of the elixir.
In war there are descriptions of many weapons which could
cause fire like modern Napalm
bomb, or whirlwind and a storm which are not known today.
There were mnemonic formulae which
were recited to invoke supernatural powers to help one
party to harm the other. These formulae
called mantras are also mostly on way out and have not been
preserved in the original form. There
are descriptions of aerial cars, horse-driven golden chariots
and palaces of gold and silver.
A scion descended from this king was Dasaratha, king of
Ayodhya. Dasaratha had
everything that nature could bestow, but he had no progeny.
Therefore he performed a sacrifice and
was given the essence of that sacrifice to be distributed
among his queens. This was divided by
Dasaratha in three parts for his three queens, Kausalya the
eldest, Kaikeyi the second and Sumitra
the youngest. It so happened that the last one ate double
the share. In course of time Kausalya gave
birth to Rama, Kaikeyi to Bharata and Sumitra to Lakshmana
and Shatrughna. Among the queens,
Kaikeyi who came from the Kingdom
of Kekaya (supposed to be the area
near the Caucasus
mountains by moderns) was the most beautiful and well
versed in the art of war. She often
2
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
accompanied the king to battle and once when the king’s
chariot was disabled due to a broken axle,
Kaikeyi put her arm in the wheel to support the chariot so
that the King could fight undisturbed.
When the king discovered the kind of courage and
determination displayed by her, he was very
pleased and offered to grant her two boons. It is also said
in some Ramayanas that the king of
Caucasus had agreed to marry his daughter on the condition that the
son born of her would be the
crown-prince. Years rolled on and one day when Dasaratha
discovered that his hair was turning
grey, he decided to enthrone his eldest son, Rama, as the
king. Rama was very obedient, loyal and
handsome, dear to all the three mothers and the public of
Ayodhya. The declaration was greeted
with joy, but Manthara, the maidservant of Kaikeyi, became
a fly in the ointment and she reminded
the queen, of the king’s promise that her son would be
enthroned as king. Kaikeyi became wild with
rage and dismissed her insinuations with contempt, but
persistent persuasion of the cunning
Manthara had the desired effect.
When the king visited her in the evening, she expressed her
desire to reclaim the boons to
which the king agreed. The first boon Kaikeyi asked for was
that Bharata and not Rama, should be
made the king. Secondly, she asked for the banishment of
Rama from the kingdom for 14 years. The
king, after painful reluctance, agreed to grant the first
boon but could not bear the separation of
Rama for such a long period. The queen, however stuck to
her stand and Dasaratha kept his word.
When Rama left for the forest, his wife Sita and brother
Lakshmana also insisted upon
accompanying him. After their separation the king died of a
broken heart.
When Bharata who had been sent away to his maternal uncle,
returned to Ayodhya and
became aware of the developments. He reprimanded his
mother. He went to Chitrakuta, where
Rama with Sita and Lakshmana was staying, in order to bring
back Lord Rama and enthrone him as
king. After great persuasion by Rama, taking it as a
command of the Lord, he agreed to rule the
kingdom only as a representative of Lord Rama, his elder
brother.
II
COSMIC DRAMA
Events in this universe do not occur in isolation or
individually. Incidents are inter-related
and interdependent. There is a flux in the totality of
events and the whole drama is played on a
cosmic plane. Can a wave in the ocean claim to ride on the
crest on its own or a whiff of wind blow
independently of the atmosphere?
You must have watched an army of ants going about their way
in a disciplined manner as
busy-bodies. To be sure, if they had better brains they
would feel being engaged in an enormous
task, marching in a row, contacting each other while
moving, constantly engaged in a great task.
What do we humans feel about their work without rest?
Perhaps we laugh in our sleeves at their
activity. So, are busy innumerable insects, birds and
beasts exciting in us no more than a passing
attention.
3
THE STORY
So are millions of men, each engaged in his own task,
governing a country, undertaking
construction, increasing production, serving the people and
their own family. Each one thinks he is
engaged in a mighty endeavour. Suppose there was a better
race of beings before whom we are no
more than mere ants, how would they view our ponderous
plans and untiring efforts in
implementing them? But most men regard themselves as a
class by themselves, superior to the
entire creation, plants, insects, animals and beasts.
If there is a cosmic plan and we are all like waves in an
ocean, there is hardly anything that
we really can do on our own. In the ocean each wave
impelled behind propels forward in rhythmic
motion. So in the atmosphere winds rise, go to the area of
low pressure, rush out again, moving in a
continuous motion, urged on by the whiffs behind and whiffs
forward.
We all go about our activities under the mistaken notion
that we all act individually and
independently taking the credit for achievements and
blaming the failures on others. Nothing
happens in this universe independently of other happenings.
There is a continuous motion
sometimes rhythmic and at others not so rhythmic. It is all
a part of the cosmic plan and we are all
mere waves rising and falling without any will of our own
in this grand drama.
Rama knew this cosmic plan. He knew that he was merely a
cog in the wheel of the great
universe. Or, to view him as an incarnation of Vishnu, he
was well aware of the meaning behind the
play of the cosmos, of which he was the great central
pivot. With this wisdom ingrained in him he
was not elated when his father proposed his name as a king.
Nor did he sink into the abyss of
despondency when the next morning he was banished from the
kingdom for 14 long years.
He accepted the command of his father gracefully and
approached not only Kausalya, his
own mother, but also Sumitra and, of course Kaikeyi who was
the cause of all this disaster. It was,
he felt, the cosmic will and he should accept its verdict
cheerfully. Therefore Rama is always
referred to as one of the best specimens of the human race
who always respected the right
cause—Maryadapurushottama Rama.
When he discarded his royal robes, put on the mendicant’s
attire and prepared himself for
the forest. His wife Sita, herself the daughter of a great
king, bred and brought up in luxury, sought
the permission of her in-laws to accompany her husband.
There was a lot of argument, but she
convinced all that a wife’s place is always by they side of
her husband—in prosperity or in penury.
Her arguments, according to Indian traditions, were
incontrovertible. She was allowed to
accompany Rama.
But Lakshmana, Rama’s brother, who had his young wife
Urmila, did not allow the couple
to go alone into the inhospitable forest infested with wild
beasts and wilder tribals. A fire-brand and
rather aggressive, he had his way and formed one of the
trio who finally left their luxurious life and
loveable surroundings for the hardships of the forest.
Whereas Sita had the satisfaction of
accompanying her husband and being by his side, Urmila,
Lakshmana’s wife denied herself even
that privilege and pleasure and stayed back to serve her
in-laws.
4
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
Ideal Human Relationships
Ramayana is an epic which delineates with remarkable
clarity and the precision of a
surgeon’s knife, how to conduct human relationships of all
types. To my mind it appears to be an
authentic interpretation in sociology, a comprehensive
directory of human relations. There is no
end to this variety of relations between man and man, man
and woman and it may be surprising that
the ideal behaviour of almost every human relationship has
been depicted in this epic. To name a
few: the relationship between father and son as represented
by Dasaratha and Rama; son and
stepmother—Rama and Kaikeyi; husband and wife—Lakshmana and
Urmila; king and his
subjects—Rama and inhabitants of Ayodhya; brother and
brother—Rama, Bharata and
Lakshmana; married man and a wanton—Lakshmana and
Surpanakha; God and devotee—Rama
and Sugreeva; king and his army—Rama and the Vanaras;
master and servant—Rama and
Hanuman; sworn enemies—Rama and Ravana; ideal husband and
wife relationship—Rama and
Sita. For every human situation, for every intricate
relationship, there is an answer in the Ramayana
and it is an ideal answer worthy of emulation in all
countries, by all people, at all times.
To continue the story, Rama had been sent to the forest as
an actor as it turned out to be—to
fulfil a grand design and the troubles started very soon in
Panchavati in Dandakaranya where they
stayed. The sister of Ravana named Surpanakha heard of the
two princes and a lady living in the
forest and had the easy curiosity of having a look at them.
She was a treacherous woman and visited
Panchavati in her best attire.
Almost at first sight she fell in love with the handsome
Rama and dared to woo him. Rama
smiled and explained that he was accompanied by his wife
and, in a lighter vein, suggested that she
should approach his younger brother Lakshmana who was much
fairer and equally handsome.
Lakshmana lacked the sobriety and sanguinity of his elder
brother. He also said that he was a
married man and that she should leave him alone. But the
woman was equally adamant and when
she started making advances, Lakshmana was enraged and
chopped off her ears and nose. She ran
away bleeding and cursing, to her brothers Khara and
Dushana, kings of two small principalities.
She presented entirely a different story—that that the
princes wanted to molest her and when she
took a stand, the younger brother disfigured her. Both the
brothers raided Panchavati and after a
fierce battle both were slain. Thus, right from the
beginning the stage was set for something more
ominous to occur which ultimately led to the wholesale
slaughter of the demonic elements along
with their king of kings, Ravana.
As the story goes, after her brothers were killed, she went
to Meghanatha and finally to
Ravana, instigating them to avenge her dishonour. Ravana
was a clever king and when he heard that
the two brothers had been slain by Rama and Lakshmana, he
could guess that they were no ordinary
warriors. He therefore set a trap and sent a man Maricha,
who could take any form, to go near
Panchavati in the form of a golden deer, and beguile the
brothers away. The plan worked and when
Sita saw the golden deer she asked her husband to get it
for her, Rama saw the game and told Sita
that it was only a ruse and that she should not pay any
attention to it, but cosmic plan had its
influence and Sita became restless and compelled Rama to
bring the golden deer for her.
Rama instructed Lakshmana to look after Sita and started
the chase. As planned, when
Maricha was dying he shouted for Lakshmana. Sita suspected
that Rama was in danger and insisted
5
COSMIC DRAMA
upon Lakshmana’s going to his help. Lakshmana tried to
convince Sita that nothing untoward
would happen to Rama and that it was all a trick to take
him away from her. But a woman’s heart,
she was harsh on Lakshmana and went to the extent of
imputing motives to him, which compelled
Lakshmana to go in search of his brother. Before departure,
he drew a line on the ground with his
bow and told Sita not to cross the line, come what may. As
soon as the two brothers had gone, a
mendicant appeared to beg for alms. He noted the line and
knew that if he crossed it he could be
burnt to ashes. He therefore requested her to come out of
the line, and as she did so, the mendicant
who was none else but Ravana, took her away forcibly in his
aerial car.
III
THE PLOT THICKENS
While being abducted, Sita flapped her limbs like a caged
bird, shrieked and shouted but
there was none to come to her rescue. On the way she left a
trail by dropping her ornaments. When
Ravana was intercepted by Jatayu, a devotee of Rama, who
put up a fight, the latter eventually lost
the battle and fell down. Ravana thereafter reached his
capital without any disturbance and confined
Sita to a garden in his palace, called Ashoka-Vatika.
Rama returned to find Panchavati without its soul, its
life, its Sita. He suspected foul play
and went round asking for the whereabouts of Sita from
birds and beasts, plants and trees, wailing
and weeping like an ordinary man. Rama is never projected
as the Supreme Lord of the universe
who knew the past, the present and the future, but as amere
mortal, although as an ideal man. While
looking for Sita the trail of ornaments led the two
brothers to Jatayu who told them all about the
abduction of Sita by Ravana and then he breathed his last
on Rama’s lap.
Ravana was a strange foe. He was well-read knowing all the
Vedas and Sastras, unbeaten in
argument and having great knowledge of various arts and
sciences. Indian artists therefore show
him as a person having the wisdom of ten wise men—with ten
heads. In spite of being so learned
and wise, he committed the contemptible act of taking away
forcibly another man’s wife. Therefore
the artists add a donkey’s head to the personality of
Ravana demonstrating his folly. Ravana
retained his propriety, however, in dealing with the
captive Sita. She was put under the charge of
dreadful demonesses who cajoled her, compelled her,
threatened her to accept Ravana as her
husband. Nothing availed, and Sita stood like a rock in her
faithfulness and loyalty to Rama. Credit
must be given to the mighty king Ravana who on his frequent
visits to Sita in Ashoka Vatika
always, awaited her acceptance and never for once touched
her person.
At the other camp, once Rama came to know that Ravana had
taken away Sita, a search was
launched to find the exact spot where she was confined. The
job was performed by his great
devotee, Hanuman, son of Vayu (wind God) who had acquired
several Siddhis (miraculous powers)
like assuming several forms ranging from the tiniest and
the lightest to the largest and the heaviest.
He took the ring of Rama as a token to establish his
identity and dropped the ring from a tree under
which Sita was sitting. Sita was delighted to receive
amessage from Rama and gave an ornament in
return as a token of her message to her Lord.
6
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
Before returning, Hanuman was caught by the henchmen of
Ravana who tried to burn him
alive but Hanuman assumed a huge form and in turn caused
enormous damage to Lanka. When
Ravana’s brother Vibhishana advised Ravana to return the
captive, Ravana disgracefully turned
him out of the court. Thus Vibhishana surrendered to Lord
Rama and became his devotee for ever.
Rama did not take any precipitate action. An emissary,
Angada, son of Bali, was sent to the
court of Ravana asking for the return of Sita to avoid
bloodshed. Angada was told by Ravana that he
would prefer a fight to avenge the dishonour done to his
sister than to patch up by returning Sita.
Vibhishana had joined the forces of Rama and with the help
of king Sugreeva, a huge army
was raised and a bridge laid across the sea to reach Lanka.
Feverish preparations followed on both
sides but before starting the war Rama sought the blessings
of Lord Siva for his success. Hanuman
was asked to bring the idol of Lord Siva from a particular
holy place but the Brahmins said that the
Yajna could not be performed by Lord Rama unless his wife
was by his side. Amessage was sent to
Ravana to spare Sita for a short while so that worship
could be performed according to the scriptural
rites. There lies the greatness of the foe who agreed to
send Sita temporarily and equally the
magnanimity of Rama who duly returned her after the Lord had
been worshipped.
There are instances after instances which point to the
ideal character of not only Lord Rama
but of many individuals, especially the main actors who
participated in this drama. It is difficult to
decide who excels whom. Even a tribal woman who wanted to
entertain Rama by offering him
plums, tasted each to ensure that only the sweet ones were
eaten by the Lord, although it is refuted
by some scholars giving a different meaning as Lord Rama is
considered Maryada Purushottama.
Friends, foes, brothers, devotees and others all leave an
indelible impression upon the mind of the
reader and tender ideal advice about one’s duty in a
variety of human situations. In fact almost all
conceivable situations have been covered and without being
didactic, the advise dawns upon the
person through a concrete example.
I leave it to scholars to conduct research and find out the
veracity of various incidents,
persons and places. The grain is to see how a particular
individual acted in a given situation, and
draw lessons therefrom. As Longfellow sang:
Lives of great men all remind us.
We can make our lives sublime.
The day of reckoning arrived and the great battle began
between the forces of good and evil.
There were many ups and downs in the battle. At one point
Lakshmana was mortally wounded and
there were less chances for his survival. But he was
revived by the Sanjivini herb brought by
Hanuman from the Himalayas.
Thousands of Vanaras of Rama’s Army were killed by Meghnatha,
the son of Ravana, who at last was slain in the battle by
Lakshmana. Ahiravana, another son of
Ravana, who was in the Patal Loka took away Rama and
Lakshmana through his Maya to be
sacrificed at the altar of Devi. However, they were rescued
by Hanuman, and Ahiravana was killed
by Hanuman. Kumbhakarana, a great warrior and brother of
Ravana, was also killed by Lord Rama
on the battlefield.
7
THE PLOT THICKENS
Ravana was a bitter foe and a man of miracles. It is said
that he could assume many forms
and bodies. Rama was hard put to finish him off.
Eventually, his brother Vibhishana let out the
secret that Rama should shoot an arrow at his navel which
contained the elixir of his life and unless
the elixir was drained off Ravana would not die.
At last the end came and Ravana fell dead on the ground.
Sita was rescued and taken to
Ayodhya in Pushpaka Vimana, an aerial car. They were
received by the people of Ayodhya and
brother Bharata who had ruled the country in his absence as
a regent. Rama was crowned king
amidst great rejoicings.
IV
IN WORLD LITERATURE
Before we go over to explain the esotericism of the
Ramayana, let me say a few words about
the prevailing criticism about the veracity of various
events mentioned in the epic.
First, there is no doubt that early Indians had an approach
to history which was rather
different from the present day attitude. The word for
literature in India
is Sahitya, i.e. which will
help in the progress and welfare of mankind. While writing
history, maybe they kept the objective
of human welfare uppermost.
Secondly there may have been some intermingling of history
and mythology. Although
mythology is said to be based on what C.G. Jung has called
the ‘race-unconscious’ and therefore
projects the innate inhibited aspirations of a race; they
did not draw any definite line of demarcation
between mythology and history. It is, therefore, possible
that either some events were exaggerated
or new material interpolated which cannot pass the portals
of history as is understood today.
Thirdly, some recent trends in Western thought had a great
influence on the thinking of the
world, particularly on India which was a colony of the
British for almost two centuries. In this trend,
the most important influence in recent times has been of
Herbert Spencer who formulated the
theory of evolution much before Charles Darwin and Wallace.
Spencer’s evolution has a wider
sweep and covers all physical and biological phenomena.
According to him, the world is evolving
from worse to better. Conversely, as we go back in time,
the civilisation would have been worse and
worse. As such, the state of affairs in India at
present should be definitely better than they were a
few hundred or a few thousand years ago. Therefore it is
just not possible that the people of ancient
India—or for that matter, of any country—could be more
prosperous, more intelligent and more
advanced than at present. This philosophy cuts at the root
of all ancient civilisations and treats the
facts of ancient world as fiction. India’s
philosophy, on the other hand has an exactly opposite
approach than the evolutionary progressivism of Spencer.
According to it, the world is going from
bad to worse—not necessarily in the material sense but in
moral essence. The cycle of the universe
begins with Satyayuga the age of truth, benevolence and
moral rectitude, but gradually degenerates
into Treta, Dwapara and the age of Kali, during which moral
values gradually go down. After the
8
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
worst comes to pass and only little morality is left in the
world, one cycle of creation is completed
and the whole world is dissolved into nothingness, rising
again with Satyayuga.
This approach is nothing unusual to India. There
are references in the literature of other
countries which speak of high civilisation in the past for
which scientific explanations have yet to
be formulated. There are two courses open to us, either to
reject them as fantasies or to undertake
research on modern lines to evaluate their truth.
Let me refer to the Babylonian Etana epic deciphered from
clay-tablet library of the
Assyrian king, Assurbanipal (669-662 BC). The actual origin
of the epic is unknown but parts of it
are included in the much older epic of Gilgamesh written in
the Akkadian language.
The Sumerians began to write down their past in 2300 B.C.
Just as Enkidu, the hero of the
epic of Gilgamesh was carried up above the Earth by a god,
Etana also floats high in the air. Here are
the essential passages as quoted by Erich Von Daniken in
his “In Search of Ancient Gods”. The
passages from the Etana epic say:
The Eagle said to him, to Etana:
‘My friend, I will carry thee to heaven—Anus,
Lay thy breast on my breast,
Lay thy eyes on the pinion of my wings,
Lay thy sides on my sides.....’
When he had carried aloft for a while,
The Eagle spoke to him, to Etana:
‘Look my friend, how the land has changed,
Look at the sea at the side of the world mountain!
The Land there looks like a mountain,
The sea has become like water course ....’
When he had carried him aloft a little longer,
The eagle said to him, to Etana:
‘Look my friend, how the land has changed.
The earth looks like a plantation of trees...’
Daniken comments, “I am firmly convinced that ‘gods’ in
mythology can only be a
synonym for space travellers, for lack of a more accurate
name for flying phenomena.” Daniken
gives many photographs from ancient scriptures found in
different parts of the world which appear
to be not only strange but bizarre as they do not conform
to anything the like of which we know
today. He quotes from a translation of Enoch published in
Thubingjm in 1900.
It is said in chapter 14 of the Book of Enoch:
“They bore me up into the heavens. I entered and walked
until I came to a building of crystal
stones and surrounded by tongues of fire, and it began to
strike terror into me. I went into the
tongues of fire and came to a large house built of crystal
stones. The walls of that house were like
unto a floor paved with crystal stones and its floor was of
crystal. Its roof was like the paths of the
9
IN WORLD LITERATURE
stars and lightning, with fiery cherubs in between. A sea
of fire was round its walls, and its doors
burnt with fire.”
It is said in chapter 15.
“And when I heard the voice of the most high: Fear thou
not, Enoch, the righteous man and
scribe of righteousness—go thou and speak to the guardians
of heaven who have sent thee in order
to intercede for them.”
According to Daniken there is little doubt that a ferry
ship took Enoch from earth to the
command module which was orbiting around the earth. “The
gleaming metal hull of the spaceship
seemed to him to be built of crystal stones. Through a
heat-rejecting fortified roof he could see the
stars and meteorites and also observe the flashes from the
steering jets of small spaceships.”
There are references of strange happenings in Mayan
literature and stone reliefs. One
Mayan legend says that there was a civilisation in full
boom 10,000 years ago, although
archaeologists question this early dating in their meagre ‘revelations’.
It has however been proved
that Mayan cities were not destroyed by wars or natural
catastrophes, they were simply abandoned
by their inhabitants. The Maya disappeared without a trace.
Why did they leave their magnificent
cities which were built to last with massive blocks of
stones? Only three Maya manuscripts, the
so-called Codices, were spared in the burning of the books.
Maya calendar was of an incredibly high calibre starting in
the year 3117 B.C. South
American experts claim that the mysterious year has no
connection with the actual history of Maya,
having only a pure symbolic value like the Jewish phrase ‘since
the creation of the world’. The
Maya calendar operates with cycles of years that were only
supposed to have repeated themselves
over 374,000 years—so similar to the four yugas of India.
If we follow the Aztec calendar, the present age is ripe
for the destruction of the earth by an
earthquake. During construction work in Mexico in 1700,
a round stone disc 3 feet thick and 12 feet
in diameter was found. A bass relief of faces, arrows and
circles were carved on the stone. It was
discovered that these motifs were data for the secret Aztec
calendar. But Aztecs, it is said, took over
the essential parts of the calendar from their forefathers,
the Mayas.
We should, therefore, not be surprised when we hear of
Vimanas or the aerial cars, in the
epic of Ramayana. These should have been the flying
machines, navigated at great heights with the
aid of quicksilver with a great propulsive wind. These
Vimanas could cover vast distances and
travel forward, upward and downwards—amaneuverability which
may be envied even today. Here
is a quotation from the translation of Ramayana by M.N.
Dutt done in 1801:
‘At Rama’s behest the magnificent chariot rose upto
amountain of cloud with a tremendous
din...’
We cannot help noticing that not only a flying machine is
mentioned, but the chronicler
talks of a tremendous din. Here is another passage from the
Mahabharata:
10
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
“Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as
brilliant as the sun, and
made a noise like the thunder of a storm.”
If it is all imaginary and mythological, then even
imagination needs something to start it off,
says Daniken. “How can the chronicler give description that
presupposes at least some idea of
rockets and the knowledge that such a vehicle could ride on
a ray and cause a terrifying thunder?”
he asks. In another ancient treatise, a clear distinction
is drawn between chariots that fly and those
that cannot.
The first book of the Mahabharata reveals the intimate
story of the unmarried Kunti, who
not only received a visit from the Sun-god but also had a
son by him who is supposed to have been
as radiant as the Sun himself. As Kunti was afraid of
falling into disgrace she laid her child in a
basket and put it in a river. Adhiratha, a worthy man of
the Suta caste, found the basket and the child
and he brought up the infant. It is indeed a story so
remarkably like the story of Moses.
Like Gilgamesh, Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata,
undertakes a long journey in order to
see the gods and ask for weapons. There are numerical data
in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata,
which are so precise that one gets the impression that they
were written from first-hand knowledge.
Be that as it may, at this point of time it is difficult
for us to state with certainty how far the
events described in the Ramayana are factually correct and
to what extent there is a mixture of
mythology. We thought it appropriate to invite the
attention of the readers to the literature and
art-work in other parts of the world which speak of events
on similar lines. These at least do indicate
that in the ancient world things might have not always been
worse.
V
ESOTERICISM OF RAMAYANA
There is a spiritual interpretation of the story of Rama
which would be found beneficial to
the entire mankind. According to the esoteric explanation
of the Ramayana, man himself is the
battlefield where a constant war is going on between the
good and evil propensities. Information
about the external world is collected through the five
sense organs. These perceptions are turned
into impressions with the help of mental background,
different in different individuals. On the basis
of these impressions the individual acts through the five
organs of action. It is by controlling the
sense organs and disciplining the mind with the help of the
intellect that man can take proper action
and lead a happy life. After continuous disciplining of the
mind and the senses, ignorance is
dispelled and one is able to discriminate between good and
evil.
A person who is able to command his ten senses is called
Dasaratha. Among his wives,
Kausalya can be said to be an embodiment of Devotion,
Kaikeyi of Attachment and Sumitra of
Detachment. Similarly, Rama represents Wisdom, Bharata
Discrimination, Lakshmana
Renunciation and Shatrughna Thought. The knowledge
contained in the Vedas is personified in
sage Vashishtha who first teaches and trains the four
princes—Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and
11
IN WORLD LITERATURE
Shatrughna. It is only when wisdom, discrimination,
renunciation and asceticism are combined that
universal brotherhood or Vishwamitra emerges who imparts
further training and help to Rama and
Lakshmana to conquer evil forces like Tataka (Anger-lust
combined), Maricha and Subahu
(Temptation). After that sage Vishwamitra takes them to
Mithila, the kingdom
of Raja Janaka, to
participate in Swayamvara, the, marriage function of his
daughter Sita. On their way to Mithila,
Rama revives Ahalya who had turned into stone i.e. without
feeling and sensation, due to a curse
which fell on her, and is again brought back to her full
sensibilities.
There the contest was that whosoever lifts the bow of Siva,
Sita will be married to him.
Many princes and kings competed for the hand of Sita but
they were not able even to move the great
bow and were therefore disappointed. This bow, according to
our allegory stands for pride and Sita
is an embodiment of Devotion. Now unless a man is able to
rise above pride, he cannot attain
devotion. Parasurama is a devotee of the Lord and stands
for Ego. He was enraged not only as the
great bow was lifted but broken into two. Whereas Rama
tried to assuage the feelings of Parasurama
with sweet words, Lakshmana, his brother almost challenged
the great sage for unnecessarily
interfering in the internal affairs of king Janaka.
As an embodiment of wisdom and being the eldest amongst the
princes, Rama is rightly
chosen by his father to be crowned as king, but on account
of the intervention of Kaikeyi, he is
compelled to banish Rama from the kingdom for 14 years.
Thus Rama, Sita and Lakshmana left for
the forest and minister Sumanta (i.e. Sukarma—good actions)
accompanied them but wisdom
(Rama) compelled him to go back to Ayodhya.
The trio (Wisdom—devotion—renunciation) proceeded further.
The meeting of wisdom
(Rama) with skillful Nishada helped the trio to cross the
Tamsa river (river of Brahma-Vidya) on
the boat of pure sankalpa and then accompanied with Nishad,
the trio reached ‘Triveni’ the
conjunction of three rivers (Ganga,
Yamuna, Saraswati) which symbolically represent Ida, Pingla
and Sushumana. On the bank of Triveni they had the darshan
of Pranav (i.e. Bharadwaja) and
afterwards of Valmiki Rishi (Discipline) who advised them
(wisdom-devotion—renunciation) to
stay at Chitrakut, the place of reasoning and
understanding, for sometime.
When Bharata returned to Ayodhya from his maternal uncle’s
place, he is able to
discriminate and see the injustice of the whole episode.
But he fails to dissuade Rama from
following the orders of his father as well as of Kaikeyi.
Rama does not leave the kingdom alone and
is accompanied by Renunciation (Lakshmana) and Devotion
(Sita). Then the trio left Chitrakut
also. On the way they met the great sages Atri (Truth), and
Anasuya, wife of Atri, an embodiment of
loyalty and faithfulness.
The trio of Wisdom, Devotion and Renunciation occupy
Panchavati—literally an abode
standing for an embodiment of the five sense organs. There
Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana and an
embodiment of Desire, approaches Rama and Lakshmana for the
satisfaction of her lust. But neither
Wisdom nor Renunciation are attracted or lured by Desire
who is not only turned away but also
disfigured by Lakshmana. Surpanakha approached her brothers
Khara and Dushana, who stand for
Pride and Evil. But in a battle royal they are not able to
measure swords with Wisdom and
Renunciation. Whosoever makes use of wisdom before taking
any action—and if that wisdom is
12
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
tempered with renunciation—pride and evil cannot stand
before the combination, and
automatically disappears.
Then we reach the climax of the story where Ravana or
Dasanana, literally a person with ten
heads, decides to avenge the dishonour done to his sister.
Having analysed that the ascetic princes
are no ordinary individuals and have withstood not only
Pride and Evil but also Desire, Dasanana
decides to organise an attack with the help of Deceit, in the
form of Maricha. Maricha or Deceit
could assume a variety of forms and hence he was used by
Ravana as a ploy to appear before Sita as
a golden deer so that she might be attracted towards him.
It is said that at this juncture, in order to save Sita—a
Princess who had been brought up in
luxury—She was concealed by Rama with the help of Fire and
in her place an illusion of Sita was
created by him. It was this illusory Sita who fell for the
golden deer and asked her husband to bring
it for her. Rama, through his wisdom saw the game but on
account of Sita’s persistence and to play
his part in the cosmic drama gave the deer a chase.
The deer enticed him away from Panchavati and as he was
dying, he cried Lakshmana as if it
was Rama himself crying for his help. The illusory Sita
heard the cry and asked Lakshmana to rush
to Rama’s help. Lakshmana tried to assure Sita that no
calamity could befall the wise and brave
Rama but she insisted and even insinuated motives to
Lakshmana who had to leave to find out facts.
When Sita was alone, Ravana approached Panchavati as a
hermit, begging for alms and took her
away forcibly. He was intercepted by Jatayu, an embodiment
of peace, who lives for others, but
who was fatally wounded.
Since Rama is depicted in the Ramayana as an ordinary but
an ideal man, finding Sita
missing, he begins to lament and cry for help as any
husband would do. Finally he runs into Jatayu
who tells him the truth. Several efforts are made to
dissuade Ravana from evil path and to make him
return Sita, but nothing avails of. Finally, Rama strikes
friendship with Sugreeva, who is
personified action, which has lost power and strength on
account of the defeat inflicted upon him by
his brother Bali,
literally a very brave man. Sugreeva introduces Rama to Hanuman who stands for
absolute renunciation, who is sent to find out the exact
whereabouts of Sita. On the way, the
water-spirits—Surasa, Simhika and Lankini—standing for
three attributes of Sattva, Rajas and
Tamas, which pervade the universe—try to hinder the
progress of Hanuman. He rises above all the
three attributes and it is only after he masters all of
them that he reaches Lanka and finds out Sita in
the forest
of Ashoka trees. After
delivering the message of Rama to her, he creates havoc in the city
and lets himself be caught by Meghanatha so that he is
produced in the court of Ravana.
There he speaks of the valour and virtues of Rama and tries
to dissuade Ravana from evil
ways. Ravana’s brother Vibhishana also tries to give good
advice to the king and asks him to return
Sita so that bloodshed may be avoided. But the king strikes
at Vibhishana and turns him out of the
court, who then joins the forces of Rama. Even the
entreaties of Mandodari, his queen, do not
prevail upon the king. Wisdom (Rama) also sends another
emissary, Angada, to persuade Ravana to
give up his evil ways. But Attachment and Desire, as
personified in Ravana are determined to have
their way and finally a battle royal ensues.
13
ESOTERICISM OF RAMAYANA
Ravana had all the evil forces like Greed, Deceit and
others on his side but they were all
destroyed by Rama, causing consternation in Ravana. But his
Desire in the form of his son
Meghanatha, consoled him and succeeded in striking at
Renunciation (Lakshmana) sending him to
sleep for a short while, but Good Actions in the form of
the medicine-man Sukhena came to the help
of Renunciation and revived him with the help of the
Sanjivini herb, i.e. determined good action.
Even Kumbhakarana standing for pride, could not stand
before wisdom and was killed. Finally
Desire and Attachment (Ravana) were completely annihilated
by Wisdom and when illusory Sita
came to Rama, Wisdom declared that he had no place for Maya
and sent her back to fire.
Bharata had been ruling Ayodhya with great discrimination
and once the period of 14 years
was over, Wisdom, Renunciation along with Devotion,
Absolute Renunciation, Bravery and other
attributes returned to Ayodhya, to establish the reign of
righteousness—Ramaraj.
VI
FACT OR FICTION
Throughout the great epic of the Ramayana, the Adi-kavi,
Sage Valmiki, the foremost poet
and the first author of the Ramayana represents Lord Rama
as an avatara of God. But at several
places in the same work, the great sage alludes to Rama,
merely his human character, with human
limitations. Yet he has unfolded the manifold excellences
of Sri Rama’s wonderful character, the
various aspect of his life that one should dwell upon.
Rama, from his very boyhood prepared
himself and his companions for the unique part they had to
play in the Divine Drama. Sometimes
the sage heightened his character, and often glorified him
in this cosmic play.
In all the Ramayanas, so far I have gone through, the life
of Rama has been painted as of a
great heroic personality, a virtuous person a man of ideals
and principles, possessing exemplary
character and fine conduct, righteousness, serene, brave,
bold yet gentle and a king who took great
care of his subjects and their views; and in some places as
a Superman with Divine Attributes. The
story of Lord Rama is even now prevalent in several South
East countries especially in the islands
of Java, Sumatra and Bali
of Indonesia—of course in different versions and with variations.
In India,
the term ‘pre-historical age’ was invented by modern historians during the
British
rule, declaring the Ramayana at best as a myth. Whereas the
reality is something else, and the facts
differ. Even the myth which floats in a country, forms the
real backbone of theology. Saint
Goswami Tulsidas is a man of history and his views and ways
cannot so easily be discarded by
saying that he talks of ‘pre-history’. He never attempted
to write or compose Shri Ramcharitmanas
till the age of 78 or 87. Tulsidas, after having the
darshan of Hanuman at Chitrakut and inspired by
him, starts composing the Hindi Mahakavya, famous as Shri
Ramcharitmanas from Tuesday, the
30th March, 1574 A.D. in Ayodhya, the holy abode and
capital of Lord Rama during his
incarnation. He held Lord Rama to be one with Lord Vishnu
and at a place as an incarnation of
Parabrahma.
14
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
Humanity, especially Indians, should be grateful to Sant
Tulsidas, who raised the historical
Rama to the highest Divine status in order to share his
realisation with one and all, for the benefit of
millions in India
in particular, and of humanity in general. It is not merely an imaginative
fiction but
something divine based on facts and his own experience. If
one takes care to study the holy
Ramcharitmanas with devotion and faith, he is sure to reap
the same fruit.
The advent of an Avatara, the incarnation of God upon the
earth planet, is a law of nature. In
fact, it is the descent of God for the ascent of the Divine
Ray of the Cosmic Mind or the Cosmic
Prana, the Life Force, and the One Ruler of the Universe,
Iswara. There is a very firm and faithful
declaration that whenever righteousness decays and
unrighteousness prevails wildly, God
incarnates Himself to vindicate the superiority of
righteousness. For Sant Tulsidas ‘Rama’ was his
“Lord” of the heart, the deity—an incarnation of the
Supreme Being. Hence his Manas has
influenced the hearts and the thoughts of a whole people,
not those alone who have been able to read
his work but those unlettered millions of our countrymen
who have always been there, even during
the earlier days of our culture.
Apart from the Ramayana of Sant Tulsidas there are several
other works of the saints of
Bengal, South India and Maharashtra.
The holy book of Samarth Guru Ramdassji Maharaj has its
own place who has retold the story of Lord Rama after
having his darshan.
On the completion of the Navratri Puja, Hindus celebrate
Sri Vijaya Dasami, which is
mostly called Dussehra in Uttar Pradesh, and is preceded by
“Ramalila” for ten days and even in
villages of Uttar Pradesh. And it ends with the burning of
the gigantic effigies of Ravana,
Kumbhakarana, and Meghanatha. You will wonder to observe
that the entire countryside bursts
into life and activity with Ramalila fairs and plays held
and performed at thousands of places, even
after Dussehra, for many days. These Ramalilas continue
with joy and glory.
This is an occasion for the people to express their regard,
respect, love and reverence for
Lord Rama by presenting dramas and pantomime shows
depicting scenes from the great
Ramayana. I at least, do not feel happy to see in these
days that the holy and inspiring Ramayana is
often misrepresented, misinterpreted and the occasion is
misused by some people for insinuating
non-religious or even irreligious motives behind the nobler
intention of the celebrations.
VII
RAMA GITA
The inspiring and illuminating story of Lord Rama in
several recensions is known the world
over and is a part of life in every Hindu home in India. It is a
vast ocean, very deep, and it is not
possible for this humble sevak to discuss the sacred story
in a little book like this. I have, therefore,
touched upon some of the points and spots of the huge
volume. My heart flows out to the modern
man, whose scepticism about Ramayana is understandable due
to the impact of science and
distance of centuries between Lord Rama and us. No wonder,
Einstien the greatest scientist of our
15
FACT OR FICTION
times had recorded the life of Gandhiji in these words: “Generations
to come will scarcely believe
that such a one in flesh and blood ever walked on the
earth.”
Before wisdom is able to achieve its goal of
self-realisation it has to pass through tedious
tests posed by Satanic forces. Remember the evil dose of
Mara when the Buddha was bent upon
achieving self-realisation under the Bodhi tree. So was the
case with Jesus on the mount. Hence it is
necessary to look into the Ramayana as to what it teaches.
Apart from the lessons which we can
derive from the instances and characters of the persons,
there is much more in the Ramayana which
we can call as direct teaching, constituting the most
impressive portion of the Ramayana,
well-known as the Rama Gita—the upadesa given at different
places to different people, at different
times. Revered Gurudev Shri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj has
referred specifically about this
illuminating portion of Rama Gita in his book titled
Essence of Ramayana. The following extracts
are reproduced from the same book like a few dew drops from
the sky for the benefit of the readers:
“Thereupon Rama imparted to Lakshmana that knowledge which
is declared by the Vedas
for the eradication of ignorance. The aspirant should first
perform in a disinterested manner without
caring for fruits all those duties which are enjoined upon
by one’s own caste and order, and purify
his mind. He should acquire the necessary qualifications or
the four means of Salvation viz. Viveka
(discrimination between the real and the unreal), Vairagya
(dispassion), Shad sampat or the sixfold
virtues viz., Shama (control of the mind) Dama (control of
the senses), Uparati (cessation from
worldly work), Titiksha (power of endurance), Sraddha
(faith), Samadhana (one-pointedness of
mind) and Mumukshutwa (burning desire for liberation).
All actions lead to rebirths. Man does good and bad actions
(dharma and adharma) and reaps
the fruits of his actions viz., pleasure and pain. Karma
produces body and from body arises work. In
this way the course of worldly life (samsara) revolves like
a wheel without an end.
The root-cause of it is ignorance (avidya or ajnana).
Removal of ignorance is the only means
for destroying this course of worldly life. Knowledge alone
is capable of annihilating this
ignorance. Action (Karma) cannot destroy it, because it is
born of ignorance and is not its contrary
or opposite.
Let the wise man, therefore abandon all work. There can be
no combination of Knowledge
and Work because knowledge is opposed to work.
As long as there is the notion of ‘I’, in the body and the
like, due to the influence of Maya, so
long one is bound by the injunction of the Vedas for work.
Let the wise man sublimate or eliminate
the whole of it through the doctrine of ‘neti, neti’ (nor
this, nor this) and abandon all works,
knowing the Highest Brahman or the Eternal.
When ignorance is destroyed by knowledge it cannot produce
actions which lead to further
births. When ignorance has been annihilated by knowledge
which is pure and non-dual, how shall it
again arise?
It is only the intellect of one who superimposes the Self
(Atman) upon the non-self
(Anatma) that entertains the idea of sin in the
non-performance of action. The intellect of the sage
16
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
has no such idea. Therefore, the wise should renounce
action which is enjoined as obligatory. It is
meant only for those, whose minds are attached to the fruit
of action.
When the limiting adjuncts, viz., the pot and walls of the
room are broken, the ether in the
pot and in the room becomes identical with the universal
ether. When the body-pot is broken by the
dawn of knowledge, the individual soul becomes one with
Supreme Self.
The crystal appears to be red when it is placed near a red
flower. Even so this Atman appears
to be of the form of the five sheaths because of its
proximity to them. When one meditates on the
saying of the Upanishads, “Asangoyam Purusha—this Purusha
is unattached”—then he realises
that the Atman is unattached, unborn and without a second.
This Atman is neither an actor nor a thinker. All these are
due to the action of the mind and
the Prana. Verily He is unattached. Dhyativa Lolayativa—He
appears as if meditating, as if
moving.
The conditions of the intellect (Buddhi) are threefold viz.,
waking, dream and deep sleep.
They are due to its associations with the Gunas of satva
(goodness), rajas (activity) and tamas
(inertia). They are not the true conditions of the Supreme
Self, because one of them is absent when
the other is present. Therefore, they are all unreal. They
cannot certainly be of the nature of the
Supreme Self which is unity and bliss itself.
The Atman never dies nor is born. It is not subject to
increase or decrease. It is never new,
never old. It is beyond all additions to its greatness. It
is of the nature of bliss, self-luminous,
all-pervading and one without a second. It is illimitable
and undecaying.
To the Yogi who has practised samadhi, who has completely
withdrawn all his senses from
their objects, who has conquered all enemies such as
desire, anger, greed, delusion, fear and inertia,
who has vanquished the lower self, who has subdued by his
Bhakti, the Lord of six attributes says to
such a yogi I reveal Myself.
Thus contemplating on his own Self day and night, let the sage
abide free from all bonds till
his Prarabdha Karma which gave him this present body is
exhausted. He is absorbed in Me on the
dissolution of his body.
Even though the sage lives in the world for the exhaustion
of his karma he fully realises that
the world is false like the appearance of snake in the
rope, of silver in the mother-of-pearl, of water
in the mirage or the appearance of two moons in the sky or
the turning of the quarters through the
defect of sight.
So long as one does not behold all as My own Self, let him
practise devotion, let him be ever
devoted to My worship. I do abide forever in the heart of
him who has intense faith and devotion to
m
Om Tat Sat
(My humble salutations
to the lotus feet of Sree Swamy Sivananda
and Sree Swamy
Premanda of The Divine Life Society
and also grateful
to
other Swamyjis for the collection)
e.
17
RAMA GITA
My dear Lakshmana! This essence of all the Vedas, this
great mystery has been declared by
me unto thee. The sage who contemplates upon it, is freed
from his load of impurities that very
moment.
My beloved brother, all this visible world is nothing but
Maya. Withdraw the mind from it.
Purify it through meditation on Me alone. Do thou be happy,
free from all sorrow and full of bliss.
He who meditates on Me with pure mind, thinking of Me as
above all attributes or thinks of
Me as possessed of the attributes of Omniscience, becomes
my own Self. He purifies all the three
worlds by the dust of my feet, just as the Sun purifies the
world by his light.
This wisdom which is the essence of all the Vedas, has been
thus sung by Me whose glory
all the Vedantins proclaim. He who reads it with devotion
and faith in his preceptor and practises it
attains the final emancipation. He attains to my own form
if he has faith in My teachings.”
The above Immortal Teachings of Lord Rama, itself show that
he was an incarnation of the
Supreme Being, and not an ordinary man or a king alone. His
holy Epic, the Gospel Divine, is
narrated by so many sacred souls. This is the story of a
struggle between right and wrong, good and
evil, sura and asura hidden within us. The Epic struggle
consists of controlling the senses and rising
above tendencies like desires, indulgence, and evils like
anger, jealousy, hatred etc., so that with the
help of discrimination, knowledge may be converted into
wisdom and human life may become
worth living.
May the blessings of Sri Rama be upon all.
Hari Om Tat Sat!
OM SANTI, SANTI SANTI!
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Some devotees sent questions to Swami
Premanandaji Saraswati which he
answers here in his inimitable style.
Q. I have tried
several times to get out of this illusory world, but am getting deeper into it
and ever new difficulties arise. Why it is so?
Ans. God’s plans are
always for the good. His munificence flows fast. Get into the current
and establish identity with His Will. That will save you
from drowning. Pleasure and pain are the
two sides of the coin of life. Do not be undone in sorrow
and do not forget Him in happiness. Those
who go against His Will, have to suffer. But unless you
destroy the ego, it is difficult to understand
His Will. So far as ego persists, He cannot reveal Himself.
Q. I find it impossible
to follow the path of Truth and sadhana in spite of my earnest desire.
What is the way out?
18
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
Ans. You would not
have raised this question, if it were not possible for you to do sadhana.
Analyse your thoughts. Avoid duplicity and deceit. Be
simple, be content, and have faith in God.
Work without attachment and pray to God with a child’s
heart. You are sure to succeed. In the path
of God-realisation there are three obstacles—wealth, sex
and name and fame. Avoid them.
Q. Many People
believe—eat, drink and be merry, Comment.
Ans. On the other hand
I believe that the aim of human life is to renounce desire, serve
others, worship God, and consider everybody as equal. The
contact of senses with their objects does
appear to give happiness, but it is not real happiness as
it does not last. It only gives a fleeting sense
of pleasure.
Q. I am very sad;
how to get rid of it?
Ans. It is a serious
question, but you have not come out openly. The root of all sorrow in this
world is attachment—mamata, expressed in a variety of ways.
If a person to whom we are attached,
does not listen to us, we are annoyed; or if another person
opposes, we consider that man our
enemy. Also, if we are attached to a person, place or
event, and it is taken away or destroyed, we feel
very sad.
To get rid of such sorrows, one should try to understand
the real nature of persons, places
and events. And that is; everything in this world is
subject to change and destruction, which is
beyond our control. Our own body is constantly undergoing
change, and we have no control over it.
If this situation is well understood you will have less
attachment with the body and concentrate
more on performing your duty. It will strengthen
renunciation and faith in God’s will. Whenever
the presence of God is felt, there is no sorrow.
There are two ways of feeling the presence of God; through
one’s efforts, and through faith
in God’s Mercy. The former path is hard to tread.
Therefore, have faith in God and be happy in
whatever condition. Pray to Him with your entire being.
Very soon you will see Light, and
wherever is light, darkness is dissolved and man rises
above the duality of pleasure and pain.
Q. I do good to
others and they return good with evil. Is this the way of the world?
Ans. To begin with,
root out pride of doing good, rather thank God. He has enabled you to
help, and never expect that they should be grateful to you.
You should be humble to those whom
you serve. Moreover, it may be only suspicion that people
return good with evil, therefore banish
this idea. Nobody can harm you.
The cause of your present troubles may be the result of
your past actions. The present is the
fruit of the past. Remember, you will not suffer without
sufficient cause. Laws of Nature dictate that
effect cannot precede the cause. Whatever misfortune is,
this is the result of one’s actions. It is only
to relieve you of past actions that God in His Mercy has
devised the present chain of events. A
spiritual person and devotee of God should only think that
the person causing pain is only an agent,
19
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
and therefore to be pitied, not hated. To be annoyed with
him, to wish ill of him is not the right
approach—Pray like Jesus Christ for his good.
A person who returns good with evil is despicable, who
returns evil with evil belongs to a
low category, who returns good with good is of average
category, and the one who returns evil with
good deserves God-realisation.
Q. What are the
impediments in God-realisation?
Ans. The biggest
obstacle is ego which involves him in the worldly pains of opposites.
View each person, place or event in an unattached way—that
will lead to salvation. A devotee
always tries to cleanse his consciousness by strengthening
living faith in God. It is only
non-attachment that can annihilate duality and hate, and
manifest love for God. An intense urge for
God, removes all impediments. I have no faith in artificial
means. Fill your heart with love, worship
of God will follow.
Q. How to improve
the falling standards of society, of government, of the world?
Ans. The whole plan of
the world is being worked out according to God’s will. We view
certain events as favourable or unfavourable due to our own
limited egoistic approach. We do not
want to understand the real nature of things, nor do we
meditate on this reality. Think deeply, the
world does not belong to anybody. As to the shortcomings or
the attainments of the society in which
we live, that is also due to our own approach because each
one of us constitute a unit of that society.
It is not material attainments, cars, skyscrapers,
aeroplanes, wealth and weapons that count in
society.
A society is to be judged on the basis of noble actions of
individuals. We are fond of talking
of an ideal society but we do not care to become ideal
individuals. If all of us behave well, the
society will automatically take care of itself; the
government will become better. Finding fault in
others doesn’t help a society or a government. A disease
can be uprooted only when we diagnose its
cause. A religious person should be a man of character. A
society or a government composed of
such persons will only do good to the people, the country,
and world. It is wrong to think that the
progress of one country lies in the fall of another. We
should not neglect any part or any person of
this world. Our scriptures always speak of the good and
welfare of the entire universe.
Q. Which is the
greatest illusion of the world?
Ans. The greatest
illusion is to believe in what I amnot and not to believe in what I am. I am
not this body and this body is not mine: to realise this
reality is the way to get rid of the illusion. You
are wearing a shirt and a watch but you are NOT the shirt
or the watch. So also you say my hand, my
feet, my body, and so on. The ‘I’ is different than all
these. By change in appearances, the reality
does not change. It is so obvious but we are unable to
appreciate it. Our entire behaviour centres
round the body. To realise the reality requires prolonged
sadhana.
20
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
Now the strange thing is that you have no control or
authority over the body which you call
your own. In the case of your shirt, your watch, you can
give those to somebody, sell them, throw
them, destroy them. Please think, whether you have the same
authority on your body? You do not
want your head to ache, your body to grow old, or die. But
you can’t stop it. Even the wealthiest man
cannot put off death. The body therefore is not yours. But
not only you call your body as your own,
you regard other bodies and things as your own. There can
be no greater illusion than this.
Q. How to realise
God?
Ans. You can meet God
if just you want to, but you should pine for Him. It does not require
hard work; it requires Grace-A God who manifests Himself on
account of devotee’s sadhana, hard
work, may also disappear instantaneously. It may be mere
mental perception. God is said to be
Omnipresent Omniconscience, Omnipotent, Attributeless,
Sat-Chidanand.
Q. If God cannot be
realised through sadhana, then why waste time in sadhana? (Why not
just wait for his Grace?)
Ans. Sadhana should
concentrate on purification of heart. Its objective should be
God-realisation. The Grace of God shall reveal itself
according to the devotee’s conception. Since
God is not a distant goal He is Omnipresent. Therefore He
is not to be seen through making efforts.
The more desires you have the more distant is He. The
moment you are without desire and just pine
for Him, He will be there in front of you and the entire
world of desire shall run after you. With our
back to the Sun we see the shadow cast before us, and the
faster we run after it, equally fast it moves
away. Face the Sun and the shadow shall tamely follow you.
Turn your face towards God, that will
lead to chitta-shuddhi. We have to do sadhana to realise
what IS, by understanding the reality of
what IS NOT.
Q. There is a lot
of hullabaloo in the name of religion. Reason?
Ans. Wherever there
are fights in the name of religion there is no religion, no dharma, there
is adharma. Differences are created due to our
short-sightedness and lack of understanding.
Religion and politics are declared poles apart by selfish
people. Secularism does not mean being
irreligious, but to have faith and respect for all
religions. Being fanatic is not the same as being
religious; it is a strange type of blind faith, an
illusion. A handful of persons indulge in such
behaviour due to their own selfish motives by dragging
politics into religion. They couldn’t care
less for the welfare of the society of the world, and then
the honest and simple suffer the most.
The greatest religion is universal brotherhood. By
neglecting humanity you make demons
of men who serve only themselves in the name of God. Every
religion preaches service, love,
renunciation and salvation. By being religious, a man’s
life, his emotions and actions, are purified.
That is the way to the progress of mankind.
In the United
States every coin and note carries the
legend, ‘In God We Trust’. But do they
practise it in daily life? I amnot sure. The motto of our
constitution is, ‘Satyameva Jayate’ or ‘Truth
Triumphs’, but we and our Government do not believe in
practising it.
21
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q. Is democracy
good and appropriate for India?
Ans. I am not a
politician, and your question has a political ring. In my opinion all rules and
regulations are framed for the solution of certain
problems. If these are followed firmly and
faithfully then these should result in good of the
community. The cornerstone of democracy is the
principle that it is ‘of the people, for the people, by the
people’. In practice, ‘of’ is substituted by
‘off’ , ‘for’ by ‘far’ and ‘by’ by ‘buy’. The line
therefore reads, ‘off the people, far the people, buy
the people.’ The principle is right, but the practice is
wrong.
We had been under foreign domination for long; that has
brought about a change in our
religion, culture and way of life. Actually we were not
really fit for freedom; it is due to the
patriotism and sacrifice of some great souls that we got
freedom. Power went to the head of some
people and they went astray. We will have to make more
sacrifices to make democracy real and
establish Ramrajya. In my view democracy is better suited
to this country than other forms of
government. But whatever the form, it can only succeed when
precept and practice are the same.
Q. I try my best to
understand the nature of mind, intellect, consciousness and ego, I
philosophically analyse the real nature of my body and the
world on the strength of scriptures and
the words of great saints. But neither physical attachment
nor the futility of the world is really
understood; how to get rid of this attachment?
Ans. Most revered
Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj laid great emphasis on “Serve, Love, Give,
Purify, Meditate, Realise.” The quintessence of his
teachings are summed up in “Be Good, Do
Good”. Most revered Swami Sharnanandaji Maharaj with whom I
had long contacts and am greatly
influenced by his teachings—also emphasised service, love
and renunciation. In my view it is
extremely necessary to serve the community, to perform our
duty to them. Service and performance
of duty are genuine only when done unattached. To expect
returns from the family or the
community is to get involved in the world.
To be a sadhaka means not to give up action, or to become
lazy, or not to perform one’s
duties. To be a sadhaka means to serve, to get rid of
attachment. The ties of attachment are never
snapped with japa and worship alone, nor Asana. Pranayama
can remove body-attachment. Service
helps in purifying the heart, so does pure love. Affection,
attachment, desire, or lust is not love. In
love also—love everybody alike—all selfish motives have to
be given up.
Give unselfishly unto others with a feeling that whatever
you have is not yours. It is given to
you to serve others. Selfless Dhaan has a high place in our
culture. It is improper to keep more than
what you need; it is also called aparigraha. But Dhaan
often breeds pride, therefore it should be
practised anonymously. So if you practise service, love,
charity, honesty, and leave the rest to God,
you will automatically rise higher, and higher.
Q. We have always
seen you laughing, never angry. Don’t you get angry?
Ans. I also get
annoyed but it is being automatically controlled. Sometimes I deign fake
anger; but when at times I am really angry, I punish myself
later, Passion, whatever its form, is
22
SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
harmful. Iron discipline is required. Anger only betrays
your ignorance. It smacks of your desire for
your pound of flesh.
Q. Is it improper
to pull up children when they commit mistakes so as to train them
properly?
Ans. In my opinion
anger never helps anybody, it only harms you and others. Anger causes
tension, aggressiveness and other evils—which adversely
affect the body and mind. Instead of
getting angry, or punishing the children, divert their
attention from something wrong to something
right and more attractive. Anger is the sign of Dvesh, of
duality, of attachment. It is by unselfish
love, above attachment, that children are properly trained.
By sacrificing your rights and upholding
those of others you can conquer anger.
Q. It is said in
Sri Ramcharitmanas that the only real thing is the worship of God, the world
is a dream. What is its implication?
Ans. The world is in a
state of continuous flux. A discriminating analysis shall reveal it is a
long dream. We do not see dreams when in deep sleep or
awake, these are seen in a state of half
sleep. As far as worship (bhajan) is concerned, it
manifests itself with satsang, to keep the
consciousness of God alive, and awake in the midst of discharging
your worldly duties in real
worship. This should be practised regularly, morning,
evening, by strengthening association with
God and dissociation with the temporary self.
Instead, we are all the time involved in asserting the ego,
having no occasion to examine that
there is anything beyond. We can only rise above the little
self if we give prominence to satsang.
The same idea is expressed by emphasising unattached action
and surrendering the fruits thereof to
God. Then we do not ‘do’ things as they happen. The
feelings of ‘I’ and ego are eliminated, and the
God’s presence is always felt. That is the reality, all the
rest is unreal, a dream.
Q. Some people
oppose idol-worship, what do you say?
Ans. Worship is a
means to an end. The body comprises five elements and in worshipping
we have to take the help of one element or the other. Some
people block other senses and
concentrate on hearing sabd which is an attribute of akasa,
that is these sadhakas take the help of
air-element. Others perform yajna with the help of another
element—fire; and again some perform
various rituals connected with water element. Similarly,
some sadhakas take the help of idols of
gods and goddesses where the earth-element dominates.
It is not the idol that is worshipped but the symbol to God
that is worshipped
after—according to scriptural injunction. Life is infused
(prana-pratishtha) in all the eight limbs of
that representation. Therefore, the devotee worships the
God Himself who removes his difficulties
and lifts him up to a higher plane of God-realisation.
If that does not happen then we only worship a piece of
stone indeed. The symbol is treated
like God Himself and serves as such. In modern times in the
life of Swami Ramakrishna
23
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Paramahamsa there is a chapter, Ram Lala. Please read it
with devotion, it will set your doubts at
rest. In the Age of Kali idol worship as explained here
yields quicker spiritual results; but then the
devotee should have the feel of it.
Q. You had once said
that sadhana-bhajan should be done secretly. How will then a devotee
achieve progress?
Ans. Sadhana-bhajan
should be done secretly until all the shortcomings of a devotee are
completely eliminated. I had read somewhere or heard from
some great man that worship should be
kept as a guarded secret as the love of a noble lady with
the Czar. If a devotee proclaims his
devotion having all the human faults, then that only
strengthens his ego, his pride; and ego is the
greatest stumbling block in sadhana.
If the world comes to know of a person as a great devotee—and
he has no real devotion
within—that should create a lot of problems for him.
Conversely, if a person is over-brimming with
the love of God, and people know nothing about it, that is
wonderful,
Devotees should always examine two things:
(a) Whether his shortcomings are being reduced;
(b) If his fame is on the increase.
Name and fame cause the downfall and if it does come, the
sadhaka should try to save
himself with humility. The sweet poison of fame has brought
about the downfall of even great
sadhakas. One should always regard his sadhana as
incomplete; that is how he progresses—quietly,
secretly. It is only after the consciousness is purified
that real wisdom dawns and Guru’s and God’s
grace is felt.
Q. Some people
speak ill of you and levy charges against you. Why don’t you talk it over
with them? What is your attitude towards these people?
Ans. The entire world
is full of evil and good. It helps me if some people discover bad
qualities in me. But I shall be obliged if these gentlemen
tell me about them as that would help me to
look at myself. If what they think about me is incorrect, I
shall have an opportunity to explain the
position to them.
By the time their charges reach me through a third party the
original version is garbled and I
am unable to get at the real opinion. Even then the
criticism that reaches me serves as a soap to clean
a dirty sheet, and it helps. Whenever wrong motives are
imputed, I do feel sorry, which I should not,
and try not to have bad feelings for such people.
I am wide awake not to think ill of anybody and I daily
pray to God and Gurudeva that I
should never become a vehicle of thinking ill of any
person, that I should not harbour a feeling of
hate, prejudice, jealousy and tit-for-tat.
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SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
If by abusing me some people try to tarnish the image of
Gurudev or his institution then I am
often unable to put up with it. Gurudev Shri Swami
Sivanandaji Maharaj, even served those who
abused him. I try to do my humble bit—as an infant tries to
trot. Those who talk good of me are
generous, others who talk ill are more generous—and I am
grateful to them.
Q. How do you feel
when people praise you?
Ans. I ama sanyasi
sadhaka, not a siddha.Aliberated soul would be above abuse and praise,
my weakness is that sometimes I am delighted when people
shower praise; this is poison to a
sadhaka. I try my best not to hear my praise, to adopt an
indifferent attitude, but I do not always
succeed. Sometimes people flatter hoping I wouldn’t see
through it—and that makes me laugh.
They may do so to serve selfish ends but by the God’s grace
I am seldom fooled. My
constant effort is that my heart should brim over with the
love of God. The river of life is the
pilgrimage of Discipline, Truth is its water, Mercy
constitutes its waves, sobriety are its banks. I try
to take dips in this river by annihilating ego; that is
real life.
Q. What are the
signs of a liberated soul?
Ans. Liberated souls
are those who have drunk at the fount of Godhead. Those who are
involved in minor miracles like anima, garima and so on,
are not siddhas. Those who have
destroyed their self and realised the Universal Self, are
great souls. They do not even accept or
bother about bhakti and mukti. It is said in Narada
Pancharatra; Siddhis, like salvation and Bhakti
are always at the service of Mahadevi Hari Bhakti.
Q. The other day
you had mentioned three ways of devotion; kindly repeat.
Ans. I do not now
remember all that. The first thing is; there is God, have faith in Him. Then
the following three beliefs must be strengthened;
Tasya Vahiye—I am His
Tavey Vahiye—I am Thine
Twamey Vahiye—I am Thou
Q. Those sadhakas
who adopt a posture of helplessness, do they not suffer from inferiority
complex.
Ans. There is a
difference between helplessness (deen) and insignificance (heen). A
worldly man sacrifices his self-respect and begs of favours
that generates inferiority complex.
When a person is assured of his helplessness and surrenders
himself to All Powerful, then he gains
strength.
25
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
All persons can do sadhana. If a person conducts his
sadhana on wrong lines under the plea
he cannot follow the right path, then he is not honest to
himself. Most revered Sri Swami
Shivanandaji Maharaj used to put it bluntly; A person who
does nothing and who does everything
will both reach the same goal. Rather, a person who does
nothing attains siddhi earlier that the other
one. A person who cannot do things rightly is capable. Both
attain similar siddhis. But a person who
treads the wrong path, only gets sorrow.
Q. Doing everything
and doing nothing—how can both mean the same?
Ans. When a helpless
man knows his incapability, he calls to God. God answers to his
entreaties. But when aman thinks himself capable, he
becomes unaware of his helplessness. That is
the illusion. He becomes proud of his capabilities that
brings about his downfall and he drifts farther
and farther away from the Almighty God. But if he is
convinced of his helplessness he gets
everything. When Gajendra and Draupadi realised their utter
helplessness. God rushed to their
rescue.
Q. How man can rise
above the world?
Ans. My experience so
far is that it is very difficult to rise above the world. But in the light
of the assurance given in Gita by the Lord Himself, it
should not be considered impossible. Once a
person surrenders to God, even the most difficult tasks
become easy. Your questions have been
answered by the Lord in the 14th verse in the seventh
chapter of Gita.
Q. What is most
precious in the world?
Ans. Time inmy view is
the most precious commodity because even a second lost cannot be
reclaimed at any cost. Someone has said that a person who
respects time can win over death.
Q. Some Hindus are
against sleeping with the head towards North. Is it a blind faith?
Ans. I do not think
so, there is a scientific explanation for this. While sleeping with head
towards North, that is in the direction of Pole Star, the
person loses his vital powers and there is
danger of his falling sick. If he persists, his life span
is shortened.
Q. If that is so
then why at the time of death his head is kept pointing to North?
Ans. It is done so
that he is attracted toward Oordha Loka and goes to the higher plane.
Q. Once you talked
about five muktis, what are those?
Ans. Salokya,
Sarishti, Sameepya, Sarupya and Sayujya, respectively standing for
achieving worldly powers like God, name and fame like God,
status like God, image like God and
oneness with God.
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SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANA
Q. A question was
put about a quartet of Sri Ramacharitmanas and replied by Swamiji
Maharaj purporting to point out that according to Sant
Tulsidas, devotion to God is as easy and
enjoyable as taking a morsel to the mouth and eating it.
Food gives satisfaction and strength and
removes hunger. So devotion to God gives contentment and
confidence and removes attachment to
the world. In the path of jnana, one has to renounce
everything. In bhakti, a devotee can progress on
the spiritual path without giving up attachment—but the
attachment should be to God alone. Once
you completely surrender to God, He looks after all your
needs.
Q. What is the
central point of a man’s approach to life?
Ans. Everybody wants
his own good which on account of ignorance turns into his ill. The
centre of man’s objectives should be good of others. A
person who does not have good of others at
heart and his conduct is not according to the precepts of
Dharma, he does not deserve to be called a
man. Only a man of good conduct will work for the good of
others. It is said in Uttar Kand of
Manas: parhit saris dharmanahim bhain.
Q. How dharma is
turned into adharma?
Ans. Due to attachment
and jealousy. On account of ignorance man is all along busy in
strengthening his ego, and associates that ego with the
body. But self, the soul, is different from the
body. Becoming egoistic he is involved in the cycle of
mine, thine, giving rise to attachment and
jealousy, and he is unable to distinguish between dharma
and adharma. (Another question
involving the correct interpretation of a quartet from Sri
Ramcharitmanas)
Q. A dream should
be considered real or unreal?
Ans. Dreams do have an
interpretation and persons, places and events appear to be real in
dream-state. Once a gentleman presented a beautiful watch
to me—in dream. On waking up, the
watch wasn’t there. Now you tell me whether a dream is real
or unreal.
Q. What is purity?
Ans. Purity is getting
away from all that is extraneous to your real nature. And for a devotee
which takes him away from God.
Q. What are the
functions of consciousness?
Ans. Like fire:
It illumines objects at a distance.
BUT
It destroys them on contact.
27
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q. How to stimulate
higher reason?
Ans. If the out-going
tendency of the intellect is curbed and the inward-going tendency is
encouraged, the lower reason itself is transformed into the
Higher Reason.
!!!End!!!
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SPOTLIGHTS ON THE
RAMAYANA
