Experience In Life The Essence Of Ramayana

The vehicle of human life is drawn on two wheels by the senses, which are driven by buddhi (intellect), with viveka and vairagya (discrimination and detachment) as the reins, the two wheels being the kalachakram and the karmachakram (the wheels of time and action). The spokes of the wheel are the rules of dharma, bound by the rim of prema. The Self is the rider, and he will not come to harm if the axle is satya and the goal is shanti.

Rama, whose birthday, Ramanavami, you are celebrating today, was the exponent of the means of saving the Self, in this perilous journey from birth to birthlessness. Rama is the embodiment of dharma. That is why He was able to re-establish dharma. Today is a sacred day because you get the chance to recapitulate the glory of God and His relationship with man.

As a matter of fact, if you go deeper into the Ramayana, you will find that Rama is the universal atma, the atma in every being. He did not come down to kill the rakshasa ruler, Ravana; He is not the son of Dasharatha or Kaushalya; nor is He the husband of Sita, weeping for her loss and gladdened by reunion.

On the day when Rama was crowned Emperor at Ayodhya, every personage got some present or other before leaving the city. Hanuman alone refused any material gift. He asked Rama to explain to him the mystery of His life, which he had failed to understand in spite of the length and loyalty of his service. Rama then asked Sita to slake the thirst of Hanuman and reveal to Him the secret of Their careers. Sita announced that She was the mula prakriti (the primal nature), the maya shakti (the energy, which agitates in all matter), which transforms and transmutes it into all this variety that binds and blinds; the Ramayana, She said, was nothing but the play She designed.

The Sweetness Of Ramayana Cannot Be Described

Rama is the eternal, unchanging purusha (spirit). The atma in every being is Rama, hence the name Atma Rama. Rama is eternal and so, the Rama mantram is said to have been taken by Shiva Himself. Rama means that, which showers ananda (bliss), that is all. Now, what can give greater ananda than the atma? Rama is anandam, and He is Atma Rama, the anandam in your Inner Consciousness. You can understand the Ramayana, only if you keep this aspect in view. Orange has a form and a name; when you squeeze it and take the juice, the form is gone and the name, orange, too is gone. The taste alone remains. The sweetness, the flavour, the essence, these alone are experienced. It cannot be exactly described. It is beyond any vocabulary. Hanuman understood from Sita the formless, nameless sweetness of Rama.

Rama, the purusha, accepts prakriti, Sita, and enacts the play, Ramayana. Sita is Brahma chaitanya (consciousness), for prakriti or maya activates the pure existence of Brahman. Now, see what happens! Brahma jnana (knowledge of Supreme Reality) is lost, and Rama wanders about in the jungle, wailing for Her. Of course, Lakshmana or manas (mind) is always with Him, for manas is the instrument, with which liberation has to be achieved. Vali is the spirit of despair, and he has to be overcome with the help of discriminatory wisdom or viveka, viz. Sugreeva.

Ramayana Is Gone Through In Everyone’s Life

You see, it is viveka that sends emissaries to the various corners to discover where Brahma jnana is available. Hanuman is courage. Courage won through unflinching faith that alone can penetrate the darkness and bring the good news of the dawn. Then, Rama crosses the sea of illusion; He destroys the demon of tamo guna (quality of inertia), namely Kumbhakarna, the demon of rajo guna (emotional quality), namely Ravana, and He installs on the throne the satva guna (quality of goodness), Vibhishana. After this, Rama meets and receives Sita, who has become now anubhava jnana (knowledge derived from experience), not merely Brahma jnana. That is represented by the pattabhishekam (coronation).

The Ramayana is, therefore, not a story that had an end. In each one’s life, a Ramayana is being gone through: in the gunas, the indriyas (the senses), in the search, and in the sadhana. Rama is the son of Dasharatha - of the ten chariots. What do you think are these ten chariots? They are the senses, the five karmendriyas (sense organs of action) and the five jnanendriyas (organs of perception). Satya, dharma, shanti, and prema are the four sons, of which Rama is satya, Bharata is dharma, Lakshmana is prema, and Shatrughna is shanti. Take as your ideals these great characters depicted in the Ramayana. You will see how your life is filled with peace and joy, if only you dwell with these ideals.

The Ramayana in the heart is to be experienced; not investigated as a mental phenomenon. As you go on reading and ruminating, the inner meaning will flash on you, when the mind is cleansed by the elevating ideas therein. Do not exaggerate the importance of things that have but material utility; they fade, even while you grasp them by the hand. Search for the sat - that, which suffers no change. Search for the chit - the state of consciousness, which is unaffected by gusts of passion, which is pure, which is free from egoism, or the desire to possess. Then alone, can you experience the light and illumine the path for others. Search for ananda, the ananda that emanates from prema, love with no blemish of attachment. Be like bees, hovering on the flower of the glory of the Lord, sucking the sweet nectar of grace, silently and joyfully.

Shanti Kuteer, Madras, Rama Navami, 25-4-1961