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"Srimad Ramayana Sudha "

(Part 1)

June 29, 2008

OM... OM... OM...

Sai Ram

Pranams at His Lotus Feet! Today I would like to summarise the story of Ramayana, the festival that concluded yesterday, and discuss its significance. As the story is very well known to all of you, I will be brief in my summarisation, and my highlights about the story and its meanings will be in context of what Baba has said about it.

We Are All Dasaratha

First, I would like to discuss King Dasaratha with you. The meaning of the name ‘Dasaratha’ is quite important. Dasa means ‘ten’ and ratha is ‘a chariot’. What is the significance of this? We have five karmendriyas; that is, five senses of action. And we have five jnanendriyas, five senses of cognition. So, five karmendriyas or senses of action, and five jnanendriyas or senses of cognition yield a total of ten senses. These ten senses are Dasaratha, so everyone is Dasaratha—every man and woman. Everyone is Dasaratha.

King Dasaratha’s four sons—Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha, and Sathrughna—represent the four Vedas. These sons represent four of the highest, the ultimate Sanathana Dharma, the ultimate truths of Vedic literature.

The eldest son, Rama, represents the Yajur Veda. The Yajur Veda speaks of two important aspects: Sathya and Dharma, Truth and Righteousness. Rama led his life according to these two principles, according to the paths of Sathya and Dharma, Truth and Righteousness. These two are the cardinal principles of the Yajur Veda. Therefore Rama represents Yajur Veda.

Lakshmana, the second son, represents the Rig Veda. Lakshmana considered serving his brother, Rama, and His wife, Sita, to be a spiritual and holy ritual—a yajna—rather than a duty. Lakshmana repeatedly chanted His name and helped Him, attending to all of His duties. Lakshmana did not consider this to be service, but rather yajna. The Rig Veda focuses on ritualistic aspects, on mantras, on penance, on yajnas. Therefore Lakshmana, the second brother, represents the Rig Veda.

The third brother, Bharatha, spent all his time singing Rama’s glory, singing His stories, singing the entire Ramayana. Keeping His sandals on the throne, he ruled the whole kingdom in the name of his brother. Sama means ‘song’. Bharatha sang the glory of Rama, as he governed the kingdom for Him. So Bharatha embodies the lessons of the Sama Veda.

Finally, Sathrughna represents the Atharvana Veda. Sathrughna had no enemies. No one dared attack Sathrughna. He kept his brothers and his kingdom free of attack from all foes. Sathrughna could face any enemy at any time. He was a terror to any potential enemy. Sathrughna stands as a symbol for the lessons of the Atharvana Veda.

So Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Sathrughna are the four brothers, and they represent the four Vedas: the Yajur Veda, the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharvana Veda.

Yesterday evening, Baba gave wonderful insights into the story of Ramayana. He called me and asked me to sit by His side. I thought He would ask me to speak. Indeed, when I approached Him, He did so.

I responded by saying, “Swami, some aspects of Ramayana have to be stressed, have to be made clear, because some of the interpretations by some of the speakers have not been to our satisfaction. So okay, I am ready to speak.”

He laughed and said, "You speak on music."

Music? Music has to be sung, not spoken! So what would I say? I replied, “Swami, I'll do it right after Arathi!” After Arathi, I knew that nobody would be there, so I could entertain just the colourful bricks of this building with my musical recital.

Returning to the story of Ramayana, the four brothers represent the four Vedas. The father, Dasaratha, represents every person who has five jnanendriyas and five karmendriyas, five senses of action and five senses of perception. The place they lived happened to be Ayodhya, the ‘unconquerable’. Nobody can intrude—impossible! Ayodhya!

Dasaratha also had three wives: Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. When I say that everyone is a Dasaratha, then people may ask me, why don’t they have three wives? Where are they? If everyone is Dasaratha, how about three wives being included in the deal?

Actually, you do have three wives. Who are they? The three wives represent the three gunas, the three qualities or attributes. And what are those three attributes?

One wife represents the sathwic nature; that is to say, balance, steadiness, piety, and composure. These are all sathwic qualities. The second represents rajasic nature: qualities of the emotions, passion, and desire. The third wife embodies a thamasic nature, with attributes of fear, gluttony, and laziness. So the three wives—Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi—represent sathwic, rajasic and thamasic qualities. In that way, everyone is Dasaratha, and everyone has these three wives and four sons.

The Two Great WORKS of Ramayana

The Ramayana is really best embodied by the works of two people. In Valmiki’s epic, he tells the story of Ramayana with a poetic excellence, revealing all sorts of things about the nature of the characters, their roles, their duties, their obligations, and their spirit of idealism. It is a story very, very well told. Valmiki is the first composer of this story, and so he is called Adi Kavi. Adi means ‘the first’, and kavi means ‘composer or poet’.

The second great telling of Ramayana was written by Vyasa, and it is Vyakol Narayana Hari. People say that Vyasa is none other than God Himself. He wrote Adhyatma Ramayana. Adhyatma Ramayana tells about the spiritual aspects of Ramayana. So the story of Ramayana was told by Valmiki, while the spiritual aspects of Ramayana were addressed by C. G. Vyasa.

The Greatest Ramayana of Them All

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has also written the story of Ramayana. He wrote Rama Katha Rasa Vahini, a work of two volumes. He also gave a series of talks on Ramayana during the summer school on Indian culture and spirituality, which is now available as a book entitled Atma Ramam.

These three books by Baba are the definitive treatises on Ramayana. I am not here as a salesman, and am certainly receiving any commission. I am only giving you these as the essential references. Both volumes of Rama Katha Rasa Vahini and the collected discourses in Atma Ramam will give you all you need to know about the entire story of Ramayana. They are a blend of Valmiki’s narrative and Vyasa’s spiritual discussions. Baba's writings on Ramayana represent a synthesis of Valmiki’s and Vyasa’s works.

These books by Baba also include some of the songs that He composed on Ramayana, ones that He often sings during the festivals. His songs are essentially based upon Janapada, the folklore associated with Ramayana. So Baba's writings on Ramayana embody the classical, folk, and spiritual aspects of Ramayana. He has blended these three aspects together beautifully.

The Gifting of The Gayathri To All Humanity

Returning again to the story of Ramayana, what happens next? (As I said, we have just half an hour to meet now, so what we don’t cover today we will discuss next week, God willing.)

Let’s talk now about when Rama and Lakshmana followed Sage Vishwamitra into the forest to defend the sages there who were doing penance, doing yajna in the forest. Rama and Lakshmana followed Vishwamitra there to kill the demons that were interfering with the spiritual activities of these rishis.

The story we know. We know that the first thing Vishwamitra did on the banks of the river by the edge of the forest was teach the Gayathri Mantra to the two brothers:

Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvaha

Thath Savithur Varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi

Dheeyo Yonah Prachodayaath

O Divine Mother,

Our hearts are filled with darkness.

Please make this darkness distant from us

And promote illumination within us.

This Gayathri Mantra was taught by Vishwamitra; that we know. But do you know what Baba has to say about this? On that day, the Gayathri Mantra was gifted to mankind: Rama and Lakshmana were the instruments for our receiving that teaching.

As Rama was Divine, Vishwamitra certainly knew that Rama knew everything, and therefore already knew this mantra. So then, why did Vishwamitra teach it to Him?

The goal of teaching the Gayathri to Rama was to ensure that the whole world would come to know it. The situation was only an opportunity to benefit all of us by gifting the Gayathri Mantra to all of us through this teaching by Vishwamitra to Rama.

So what does Baba say about this? By gifting this Gayathri Mantra to the entire humanity, Vishwamitra has endeared himself. Humanity is highly indebted to that sage, to Vishwamitra. Swami says that therefore his very name is justified: Vishwa means ‘the entire universe’ and mitra is ‘friend’. Through this act, he earned his name as Vishwamitra. He is friend to the universe; he is a friend of all. The Gayathri, therefore, was gifted to the entire humanity through his act of teaching it to Rama. What a beautiful explanation this is!

The Holy Union of Sita-Rama, Creation-Creator

Then we have the holy wedding of Rama and Sita—what we call Sita Kalyana. What has Baba to say about it? In most Indian marriages, the mangala sutra, the holy knot, is tied around the neck of the bride. This holy knot, this mangala sutra, is tied by the bridegroom around the neck of the bride. But what does it represent?

Before the tying of this knot, the girl is an individual. But once this holy knot is tied around her throat, the girl becomes the bride, the wife from now on. Once she has become the wife, she has a fifty-percent claim on all of the bridegroom’s property. Before marriage she has no rights; but after marriage, fifty-percent is hers.

Baba, however, takes this further and explains the deeper spiritual meaning of this act. Baba has explained to us that once you have this mangala sutra, this holy knot of devotion, you will have right to God. You will have fifty-percent of His grace. This is not mentioned in any book. This no other scholar tells us.

One time a gentleman asked a great scholar by the name Kamava Dhani (a great Sanskrit scholar) about Baba’s teachings on the story of Ramayana. He approached Kamava Dhani and said, "Sir, you are a great scholar. You must have read and studied all the epics a number of times. We know that you know all of the Vedas intimately. Of this we have one doubt.”

So Kamava Dhani asked this gentleman, "What is it that you want to know?"

The gentleman then went on: “Swami refers to certain incidents when discussing the story of Ramayana. Swami speaks of certain episodes that are not found in the original texts. He tells of episodes that are not found in any other texts. How are we to understand this? How are we to take Baba’s stories, which are not found in the original texts?”

So, do you know what that Sanskrit scholar said to this gentleman? He said, "Sage Valmiki wrote to the extent that he knew of these events. Others did the same. They are all biographers. When Baba speaks about Ramayana, however, He is telling us His autobiography, His own stories.”

Therefore, Baba knows all the details of His own story far better than anyone else, far better than any other authors. So whatever Baba says, we need not question . . . be it found in the original text or not. Baba knows secrets that the others don’t know.

Rama and Sita are not merely two individuals, a male and a female, who were joined together. Certainly not! The marriage of Sita-Rama is the combination of Creation and Creator. Creation and the Creator! Creation is Sita and Creator is Rama.

In a holy Hindu wedding, every invitation will have a sloka from Ramayana at the top, just as Christian wedding invitations cite one or two quotations from the Holy Bible. Hindus do this because we understand that Rama and Sita are the ideal couple. Why? Because whatever Sita wished, Rama did. Whatever Rama did was done according to the wishes of Sita. Whatever she wished, He did. That is what Sita-Rama is.

The point is this: just as you stand in front of the mirror and you see your own reflection, likewise in their union, Rama is God, nature is the mirror and the reflection is Sita, His own Self. Creation and Creator! Just as you see your own reflection in the mirror, Rama sees his own reflection in the mirror of nature, and that reflection is Sita herself. Once this mirror is removed, there is no Sita. Only Rama remains.

Similarly, the mirror of nature is something that gives you an experience of dualism, of the duality we experience here in the world. The mirror of nature affords you this. Once this mirror is gone, however, out goes the illusion and delusions of duality, and then there is only Jnana, only wisdom. Then only the Creator is left, only the wisdom remains. Such a beautiful explanation Baba has given us!

Attraction to The World is Separation From God and Bliss

Later in the Ramayana, Sita and Rama had to be separated, as you know, because of the golden deer. So what does Baba say about that?

I am more interested in the spiritual aspects of this story, my friends, than simply in knowing the facts of the story. Today the world looks at the deeper spiritual meanings of the story. We don't limit ourselves merely to the narrative. We want to know the value that lies within the story. We want to understand the deeper meanings, the profundity, for our daily contemplation, for our daily meditation. What does Ramayana mean to me right now for my spiritual progress? That is what we are interested in.

Please listen to what Baba had to say about their separation. Rama and Sita were separated because of the golden deer. That's how the story goes and that we already know. So what does Swami say about this? What is the meaning?

Sita, as you know, was the daughter of a great emperor, King Janaka, and the daughter-in-law of another great emperor, King Dasaratha. She left the kingdom, all her jewelry, all the palaces, all the gold, and simply followed Ramachandra into the forest. This tells us that she gave priority to God and not to the world. Therefore she was happy.

And later what happened? Seeing the golden deer, she became deluded. She wanted it, and so she had to be separated from Rama and go through all sorts of difficulties, all kinds of troubles; and so Rama had to suffer too.

Baba explains that so long as you give priority to God, you will be happy like Sita, who followed Rama. However, once you're drawn toward worldly attractions, treasures and riches, you will be separated from God, like Sita was, and then you will be kept in Lanka. Finished! It is agonising . . . very painful stuff! So, Sita-Rama should be together, as Creation-Creator. Once they are separated because of her attraction to the world, then life becomes torture. That’s what Swami has explained to us.

I beg your pardon: I must take leave of you abruptly at 11 o'clock as I have an important meeting. In fact, I wanted to go there straightaway, and was going to seek your permission to do so at the beginning; but I found that I could not bear to leave your precious company! I could not bear to wait for one more, long week before seeing you again! No, no, no!

Next week we will speak more about the spiritual aspects of Ramayana. I hope you will all be present.

Thank you for your gracious presence and thank you for your time. Thank you very much!

OM…

Asatho Maa Sad Gamaya

Ttamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya

Mrtyormaa Amrutam Gamaya

Om Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Jai Bolo Bhagvan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji ki Jai!