SRI RAMA – AN EMBODIMENT OF DHARMA

The Ramayana is a story of Sri Rama. In our cultural heritage the character of Rama and the story of Ramayana penetrated and influenced every aspects of our living so deeply that the ideal life lived by Rama became the ultimate goal of our existence. The human excellence in terms of character, impartial ruling of subjects, behavior and truthfulness as portraited by him have been inspiring for centuries and to great extent guiding our aspirations to reach this unreachable goal. Even our politics aims to bring about ‘Ram Rajya’ conceptualized by Tilak and Gandhi ji and later followed by the right-wing parties. In any event, we remain now so far from Rama Rajya since the disappearance of Rama from earth.

Ramayana written by Valmiki comprises of 20000 verses in Sanskrit to describe the life of Rama, Sita and his contemporary characters related to his life. It was about 5000 years back, Dasaratha, the principled King of Ayodhya, ruled his kingdom with great merit and treated his pupils with love. In spite of having everything a king could ask for, he was unhappy because he had no children. On the advice of Vashistha, the king invited sage Rishyasringa to conduct a great sacrifice. In the Mahabharata we find very explicitly that Vyasa fathered the next generation. In Ramayan this aspect had been kept under wraps. The sage who lived for one year to conduct the sacrifice, in reality, fathered the birth of Rama born to Kausalya, Laxman and Satrughna born to Sumitra and Bharata was born to Kaikeyi. It is possible that in Rama’s time the biological process of child birth effected by someone else other than the father, was not revealed due to stigma associated with it and it continues to be so, but instead at that time given a divine dimension to it.

On the birth of Sri Rama and the three brothers the King and the Queens were immensely happy. Dasaratha observed the birth of his four sons with great festivities and distributed food, cows, gold to the Brahmins and pupils had participated in the programs and enjoyed good food to their heart’s content. The childhood of all the four passed of peacefully in the care of father and mothers enjoying their childhood. The parents too were immensely happy with the children. Times do not stop. It was time for the children to go to Guru’s abode in the forest to study and learn the art of living, as a prince, learning metaphysics, warfare, moral teachings and how to be a good ruler.

When Rama reached the age of 15, Vishwamitra comes to Dasharatha to ask for Rama’s help in eliminating the ‘Rakshashas’, relations of King Ravana in Lanka, who were not letting the Rishis to perform their Yagnas. It was very difficult for King Dasaratha to part with Rama at his tender age and pushing him to face formidable enemies. In those days Rishis’ had tremendous power to bless or to curse so it was believed. So, we can surmise that curses were invalid against the Rakshasas and applicable to only to human beings? In any event Dasaratha could not dare to displease Vishwamitra and he offered himself to do the job and definitely that signaled his unwillingness to send Rama with him. On insistence of Vishwamitra that only Rama had to do the job, Dasaratha for the first time sensed that Rama had crossed his vulnerability as a child and emerged as a person to take on the world. Laxman being a devoted follower of Sri Rama, he too accompanied him. Once they completed their service to the Rishis, an invitation from the King Janaka came to Vishwamitra to grace the ‘’Sayamvar” of Janaka’s daughter Sita.

Vishwamitra tells Rama and Laxman to accompany him to this Sayamvara. On the way to Mithila they stumble upon an Ashram which looked barren but only a Tulsi plant was green and a big stone in the middle. On Rama’s questioning, Vishwamitra replied that ‘Áhalya’, the beautiful wife of Rishi Gautama who was duped by Indra who posed as her husband enjoyed her. Seeing Indra coming out of his hut, Rishi Gautam was enraged and cursed him dispossessing him all his powers. Ahalya too was cursed by Rishi Gautama and turned her into a stone. It was only by the touch of Sri Ram that she got liberated. It shows that Rishi Gautama could not differentiate unreal from the real, what kind of a Rishi was he? He could only curse without finding the truth? This episode also showed that so called god like Indra had all the human weaknesses and does not deserve to hold the post of a god. Perhaps that is why we see many of the godmen of our time follow Indra in this respect?

The next destination was Mithila where the ‘Sayamvara’ was in the offing and Rama, Laxman with Vishwamitra arrive there. In the competition Rama breaks the Shiva’s bow and win over Sita’s hand. There appears Parshuram who challenges Rama but was subdued by the valor and humility of Sri Rama. Here Rama’s character manifests in a most exemplary way of a prince while Laxman takes an offensive approach in response to a daunting task. To complete the formal ceremony of marriage, an emissary was sent to bring King Dasaratha and his family while another emissary went to bring Bharata and Satrughna to join in the festivities of Rama’s marriage. In fact, all the four brothers got married to Janaka’s two daughters, Sita and Urmila and Janaka’s brother’s two daughters Mandavi and Shrutakurti; Rama married Sita, Laxman Urmila, Bharat weds Mandavi and Satrughna Shrutakurti. With all pomp and show befitting the marriages of the Princes, they headed for Ayodhya. Here again they were welcomed by the people of Ayodhya and the king’s relations. It looked as if the whole of Ayodhya and their families were celebrating their own children’s marriage. The festivities went on for a month and everyone was fed and gifts were given to all by the King.

In the midst of happy ceremonies, Dasaratha felt that time was ripe enough for him to relinquish the kingship and handover the rein of the kingdom to the eldest son Rama and Dasaratha and his wives to take Vanaprastha, the 3rd phase of 4 Varnashram Dharma. So, it was decided with the approval of the council of ministers and with the blessings of respected citizens, that Rama should be coronated as the next king of Ayodhya. As the news spread of Rama’s becoming the King of Ayodhaya, the whole city burst into festivities and merriment, playing with colors followed by singing and dancing.

At this hour of celebration, a conspiracy was being hatched in the private chamber of Kaikey. On the instigation of Kaikey’s maid, Manthara, and Kaikey too finding some sense in what Manthara said, she asked for the two boons once the King Dasaratha promised her in recognition of her love and care taken when he was desperately fighting for his life in a war against the Ashuras supporting the Devas. She asked for Bharat to be made the king of Ayodhya instead of Rama, being the first boon and Rama should go to forest for 14 years being the second boon. Now question arises why this tragic turn of event to take place. Was Kaikey solely responsible for this turn? Or was this a play of destiny? But what is destiny? The answer could be whatever is sure to happen is destiny. If that is so it means that human beings are helpless to change whatever destined to happen? Dasaratha forgot the curse of Shantanu, a hermit, the father of Shravan Kumar that the way he killed his son, though mistakenly thinking a deer was drinking water, using sound following arrow, he too will die in deprivation of his most dear son. In the meantime, Bharat and Satrughna were called by their grandfather to visit him as he was in failing health. They too were unhappy to leave Rama and Laxmana but duties, may be at times difficult to carry out because of emotional attachment, made a call and they had to abide by it.

My understanding is that all incidents in life whether be it individual or a nation are linked to what follows the future incidences involving hundreds and millions of people’s lives. They are so intertwined that it is impossible to untie the thread and disrupt the whole mechanism of lives experiences that lead to fulfil certain goal of nature – right or wrong. For nature there is no right or wrong. It is the human conception, whatever is favorable to us is good, whatever is not is bad. In this case of Kaikey’s demand was a prelude to the chain of events not even known to her were waiting to manifest. The great Rishis and saints who were praying for a visit of Sri Ram before they could close their sojourn on earth was the most significant part of Ramayan. The teachings that come out of Sri Rama’s interaction with the Rishis and Seers are of great wealth of spiritual knowledge for posterity. Here we must give credit to Kaikey for unknowingly doing a great service to humanity. Of course, elimination of Ravana was another great event that could have remained unaccomplished if the story did not move the way it was intended to. All human activities are subject to causality – cause and effect. Cause we may see but effect remains unseen till it happens and that is the mystery of life. Ramayan proves once again that even the apparent worst situation has a silver lining in it.

The character of Bharata in Ramayana had not been highlighted much in proportion to his sacrifice, service and surrender. On arriving at Ayodhya when he was told that what happened in his absence and he was to be coronated as king of Ayodhya instead of Sri Rama, he reacted as if heavens had fallen and he was responsible for it. Here we see his sincerity the way he treated his mother, although he was quite impolite, and conducted himself without losing time to proceed and attempted to bring back Sri Rama to Ayodhya. As Rama remained true to his words, so Bharata did accept after a prolonged discussion in the presence of great Rishis that Rama’s wooden slipper would represent Sri Ram and he would rule on his behalf. Bharata also took a vow that a single day’s delay in arrival of Sri Ram would not see him alive. Bharata proved his great love and admiration for his brother Sri Rama and raise the benchmark of brotherhood to a new height.

In the meantime, Rama, Sita and Laxmana move to Dandakaranya forest. There used to live in the forest a large number Rakshasas. Seeing three human beings with attractive personality, Surpanakha felt drawn to Sri Rama. Without much ado, Surpanakha directly proposed Sri Rama and drew a romantic picture of their life would be if at all her desire to marry Rama fructifies. Sri Rama politely declined her offer saying he was already married and Sita being his wife present there but he gave an alternative to her. He showed Lakhmana as a potential bridegroom for Surpanakha. Although it was with a sense of humor that Sri Rama proposed this. Was Sri Rama not aware of its consequences, or he too was powerless to stop the trail of events? Was he playing just a role as Sri Rama and could not change the script, even if he knew it was not right? Laxmana who is always alert and would not enjoy any humor in any form, cut the tip of the nose of Surpanakha when she innocently approached with the same proposal. This one act strengthened the possibility of the future war with Ravana.

Hearing her tale of owe and description of Sita’s beauty Ravana decides to kidnap her to take revenge as well as to satisfy his desire to possess and marry such a beautiful lady. Keeping that plan in view Ravana arranged for a golden deer in disguise to woo Sita. The presence of such a golden deer deceived not only Sita but also Rama and Laxmana believing its doubtful existence. It looks improbable that all the three could have been deluded to such an extent and Sri Rama goes after it on the urging of Sita. Sri Ram knew that it was a hoax but did not try to convince Sita that it was so. He willfully chased the Deer. Does it show that he did not know that a trap was laid to take him away from Sita? If he knew but could not stop its happening shows his human weakness, if not it was inevitable destiny that played its role. Or was it that his power of discrimination got clouded for a while. It clearly shows that maya(illusion) is so powerful to delude even Sri Rama? In this context the second question arises how Sita could doubt Lakhman’s integrity and right intention? It is unthinkable that the graceful Sita could even harbor thoughts of Laxman’s carnal design on her. It shows either the author, Valmiki, strayed away from the purity of thoughts he kept all along or the fear of losing Rama, an unlikely event, Sita lost her cool. In any case it was not simply anger but much deeper sense of insecurity in the absence of Sri Rama could have triggered her outburst.

Before leaving Sita in wilderness, Laxmana drew a semi-circle in front of the hut and advised Sita not to cross that line in any eventuality. One by one the layer of security around Sita was compromised and that is what Ravana was waiting for. Sita crosses that line of security layer fearing the curse uttered by disguised Ravana. So Sita was deluded on two counts – one believing a golden deer to be true and secondly failed to differentiate between real and unreal. Sita had to pay a heavy price for her errors in judgment. Ravana’s plan succeeded and he took Sita by force and flew away to Lanka.

Having faulted on many counts, Sita’s common sense became active. While Sita was being flown she started dropping her ornaments thinking when Rama and Laxmana will look for her, these will help guide them to locate her. Her cry drew the vulture bird to obstruct the path of the flying machine. Ravana had to fight and kill the vulture to clear his way. The monkey King Sugriv also got a bundle of ornaments that Sita threw down while flying over the hills where Sugriv was spending his days of banishment in fear of his brother Bali.

On return after killing the disguised deer, Rama and Lakshmana found the hut empty. There was no trace of Sita. Fearing the worst Rama burst into tears, while Lakshmana too felt aggrieved but consoled his brother saying that she must have gone out to fetch water. After a long search they could not get any indication as to where Sita could have been. Accidentally they met Guhak, the vulture king who was almost on his last breath. There they could know that Sita was carried away by Ravana, the King of Lanka in his Pushpak Rath(flying machine). So, the long journey to Lanka begun.

Behind the scene of apparent grief, there was a hidden purpose played by the inexorable destiny. Many of the saint and seers were awaiting Sri Rama’s arrival to see the Supreme enjoyer manifesting great qualities like beauty, knowledge, wealth, health, poise, sincerity, power of discrimination, harmony in his human form. While most of them knew him to be the possessor of Godly qualities, Sri Rama was oblivious of his own stature. Practically speaking, the Rishis wanted to pass on to him their great spiritual wealth and to prepare Sri Rama for the pending war with Ravana. Here we see the complimentary relationship between Sri Rama and The Rishis, one fulfills the other. This mutual fulfilment makes life complete.

On the way to South of India, Sri Rama meets his greatest devotee in Hanuman. Hanuman arranged a meeting with Sugriv, a banished king. There Sri Rama found Sitas’s thrown away jewelry and recognized it. Now he had to help Sugriv to get back his lost kingdom from his brother Vali. In a duel Sri Rama from hiding shot an arrow and killed Vali. Vali on his deathbed told Sri Rama that it was unethical and unjustified act to intervene and shot him while the two brothers were fighting to the finish. Sri Rama’s argument in favor of this act does not sound very convincing. He told Vali of his atrocities on his brother Sugriv and how he was kicked out Vali of his own kingdom and took away his wife. The more important thing Sri Rama gave weight to was to set the wrong right. My argument is that the standard we humans follow is not applicable to Monkeys. They do not follow ethical line that we do. Sri Rama’s interference had two objectives, the first one is to protect the surrendered soul and favor him and the second one is Hanuman, Sri Rama felt, is helpful to locate Sita and is a powerful Monkey who could, in the long run, play a vital role in the fight against Ravana, the biggest evil of that time.

Finally, the Monkey king ordered four groups to go in search of Sita in four directions. Hanuman landed up in Lanka and found Sita sitting under an Ashoka tree. They recognized each with the help of Sri Rama’s ring. Having established mutual trust, Hanuman attracted the attention of the sentries by breaking trees, eating fruits, uprooting plants. Very soon a fight broke out and Indrajit had to come and arrest Hanuman. When Hanuman was presented in Ravana’s Court, he was punished by putting his tail on fire. Hanuman took this opportunity to lit the Lanka on fire and met Sita to find out that Sita was safe, Hanuman left and came back to Sri Rama’s presence and confirmed his visit to Sita.

Preparations started in real earnest to reach Lanka but the Sea stood as imponderable hurdle to cross over. So, a floating bridge was conceptualized and work started vigorously. Within a short span of time the unthinkable mission was accomplished. Till then Ravana and his people thought that Rama and his supporters could never make it to Lanka. This incredible feat by Sri Rama made Ravana jittery. In the meantime, the only sensible Vibhisana, who advised Ravana to return Sita with honor to Sri Rama. This advice was not liked by Ravana and Vibishan was kicked out of the Court. Vibhisana thought it to be prudent to surrender to Sri Rama as he was fighting for a justified war against Ravana. Logistical know how of Vibhishan gave Sri Rama an advantage over Ravana. Ravana and his sons and Kumbhakarna all fought valiantly and at times Ravana was on the verge of winning the war. It was Hanuman who saved twice Rama and Laxmana from jaws of death. One by one the great warriors of Ravana fell on the battle field and finally Ravana was eliminated by Sri Rama.

Now the most horrendous test for Sita was arranged to prove her chastity. She had to walk through fire to prove that she was entirely pure. Women at that time was subject to all kinds of tests to prove their chastity but none of the male folk had to undergo such tests. This uneven social law always weighed in favor of men. Our Indian society still try to keep the majority of women away from the roles of social involvement. It is always men who formulate laws to regulate social conduct for women when they themselves are quite ignorant of an integrated family values and societal responsibilities. So long we keep women behind men and not on his side, the progress of our society will be tardy and we will always be behind progressive nations. We worship women as Goddess, but we do not respect women. What kind of a paradox it is? This dual character of men is the reason why, in spite of our golden heritage in respect of spiritual wealth we brag about, we lag behind because half of the population are kept in the dark. Even when our Government does something in favor of women, they take credit for it. We must remember that all progressive ideas now we are trying to implement for women are their rights and no credit the society can claim. In fact, we must feel ashamed that what we are doing now is too little and too late. The value of a society depends on how educated and cultured habits women live up to.

After coronation of Vibhisan on the Throne of Lanka, Sri Ram returned to Ayodhya along with Sita, Laxman and Hanuman. People of Ayodhya celebrated Sri Rama’s arrival by lighting Diwas, singing and dancing on the street to welcome Sri Ram and his entourage. This celebration still continues as Diwali in India.

Finally, Sri Rama was crowned as king of Ayodhya.