The Ramayana of sage Valmiki: an introduction

 Hari Aum.

Om Sri Ramayah Namah.

As mentioned in a previous post, I have taken up the reading of the Ramayana (the original version composed by the sage, Valmiki). Like other spiritual texts, the Ramayana, or legend of Lord Rama, contains a number of teachings that are helpful for the spiritual seeker. 

I therefore thought it would be useful to write a bit about what I have read so far from the Valmiki Ramayana.

The Ramayana is lengthy and I obviously do not plan to summarise the entire book here (it is readily available online for those who would like to read the original). However, what I thought I would do, is summarise of the key aspects, and spend some time reflecting upon the spiritual teachings conveyed by the story. 

Before, we delve into the Ramayana, let us pause and reflect upon what is meant by 'Rama'? (I have written about this elsewhere on this blog but, as I am now starting to write about the Ramayana, it would be useful to remind ourselves of the meaning again).

In straightforward terms, 'Rama' is everything and more. It is impossible to define Rama, it is impossible to truly understand Rama-- with the human intellect, that is. The frail, little human intellect, with its many limitations, is incapable of truly grasping the essence of its Creator, who is Rama Himself, the Supreme Being, the One without birth or death, who is beyond time and space.

However, it is possible to understand to an extent, the activities of the avatar, Sri Rama. Our Gurus tell us that Rama can be known by the heart (but not by the head/intellect). Through the cultivation of devotion or bhakti towards Lord Rama, one can indeed come to know and experience Him in full. 

This is the declaration of many Gurus, saints and devotees since time immemorial. 

Rama is not a distant Being, a faraway God, or an ancient king of a time long gone by. No, the Gurus say emphatically, that is not all that there is to Rama.

Rama is here and now, within you and me. Rama is the essence of us all. All that we think, feel, say and do, is by the power and will of Rama alone. With that understanding, let us continue.

 An avatar is defined by the Gurus and yogis as 'the descent of divinity to help the ascent of man'. Rama is one such avatar of the Supreme Being where He takes the form of a human being.

Why did Rama appear on Earth? The Gurus say that the purpose of this particular avatar was to present before humanity the example of an ideal human being. Every avatar comes to protect the good and destroy evil-- but this avatar came with an additional purpose. That purpose was to set an example for humanity to follow.

Unlike the Krishna avatar, who showed an awareness of His own divinity from the moment He appeared on Earth, the Rama avatar appeared, in many ways, to be unaware of His own divinity. This avatar, though as powerful as any other manifestation of the Supreme Being, appears to throw Himself completely into playing the part of a human being with all the accompanying joys, sorrows, victories and challenges.

So, on that note, let us begin to examine the Ramayana written by sage Valmiki (I will sometimes refer to this by the popular term 'Valmiki Ramayana' here).

The Valmiki Ramayana consists of six sections or 'kandas' in Sanskrit.

These are as follows:

1. Bala Kanda: this describes Rama's childhood and early youth

2. Ayodhya Kanda: this describes events in the kingdom of Ayodhya

3. Aranya Kanda: this delineates the experiences of Rama during His exile in the forest

4. Kishkinda Kanda: this portion describes events that occur in the kingdom of divine monkeys

5. Sundara Kanda: this section is dedicated to the valiant actions of Hanuman (devotee of Rama)

6. Yuddha Kanda: this portion describes a great war between the forces of good and evil and the triumph of the Divine.

I have been reading the Bala Kanda recently and would like to write a little about this here. 

The Bala Kanda is a relatively happy section of the Ramayana. It is more lighthearted and cheerful than the other portions. In essence, it describes the birth of Rama, His training under His Gurus (the sages Vashishtha and Vishvamitra) and certain events that demonstrate His power and glory as an avatar of Narayana. It describes how He commences the key task of His avatar to destroy evil. 

It describes the great joy of His winning the hand of Mother Sita (who is an incarnation of Mother Lakshmi). This is perhaps the happiest event in the Ramayana. (The joyful event of the wedding of Sita and Rama is celebrated in many devotional circles even today with special pujas and singing of spiritual songs e.g. as the 'Sita Kalyanam').

One interesting and unique feature of this portion of the Ramayana is the description of the meeting of two avatars of Narayana-- Lord Rama and Lord Parashurama. It is quite rare for two avatars of Narayana to be manifest at the same time and even meet each other. This is not really seen in most of the other legends of the avatars but is seen here. And the encounter between them is quite dramatic and interesting and I will write about this in more detail in another post soon.

In addition to the description of the early part of the life of Rama and Sita, the Bala Kanda provides a detailed description of the lives and activities of other important figures connected with Them, for example, Their family lineages, the remarkable legend of sage Vishvamitra, the reason for the manifestation of the sacred river Ganga on Earth, and the saving power of Rama's grace (that redeems a lady known as Ahalya).

I will write another post (or a few, depending!) on the Bala Kanda of the Ramayana and describe some of these key events with reflections upon the spiritual teachings conveyed.

For now, I will conclude with the famous verse known as the 'Ekasloki Ramayana', i.e. the Ramayana in one verse. The recitation of this Sanskrit verse is said to give great spiritual merit as it connects one's mind and heart to Sri Rama and helps in the cultivation of devotion towards Him.

The Ekasloki Ramayana is as follows:

In Sanskrit (Devanagari script):

आदौ राम तपोवनादि गमनं हत्वा मृगं कांचनं । 

वैदेही हरणं जटायु मरणं सुग्रीव सम्भाषणं ॥ 

वाली निर्ग्रहणं समुद्र तरणं लंकापुरी दाहनं । 

पश्चात रावण कुम्बकर्ण हननं एतहि रामायणं ॥

इति एकश्लोकि रामायणं सम्पूर्णम् ॥

Transliteration of the above verse in English:

Adau Rama tapovanadi gamanam, hatva mrigam kanchanam.

Vaidehi haranam, Jatayu maranam, Sugriva sambhashanam.

Vali nirgrahanam, samudra taranam Lankapuri dahanam.

Pashchat Ravana Kumbhakarna hananam, etahi Ramayanam. 

Iti ekasloki Ramayanam sampurnam. 

This is my Guru Sivananda's translation of the Ekasloki Ramayana:

"Formerly Sri Rama went to the forest (where Rishis did penance) and killed the illusive deer. Sita was carried away and Jatayu was killed. (Rama) met Sugriva, killed Vali and crossed the ocean. The city of Lanka was burnt (by Hanuman). Ravana and Kumbhakarna were then killed. Thus (is recited) the holy Ramayana."

Om Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama.

May Lord Rama bless us all and grant us true devotion to Him.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Tinted glasses

 Hari Aum.

We all go through ups and downs in life. When we go through a particularly difficult time, we rely upon our own inner strength but also upon support from our network of family and friends. For those who are spiritually-minded, Guru and God also become an important source of strength.

When we go through a rough patch in life, our perception of the world and the people in it can alter significantly. Instead of wearing rose-tinted glasses and having an optimistic vision of life, we may find that we are wearing some grey-tinted ones that show life as being rather lacklustre and gloomy. (Unlike the usual usage of the term, in this article, when I say 'rose tinted glasses', I am referring to a positive approach to life based on reality-- not delusion).

In other words, the tint of our glasses can powerfully shift our perception of reality. As spiritual seekers, especially, it is important for us to be aware of this. When we are in pain, we are often less able to perceive that others in our lives may also be in pain. We may be so busily absorbed in our own experience of our suffering, that we have a reduced ability to notice that of others. We may even incorrectly feel that everybody else is having a good time in life except ourselves and become resentful for no reason at all!

The yogis say that this life is certainly not a bed of roses. According to them, it is more like a bed of thorns with a few roses scattered about. Hence the reason they urge us to seek the everlasting rose of God realisation, which provides a joy and peace that cannot be found in the material aspect of life.

Coming back to human relationships, our expectations play a key role here. When we feel down and gloomy, we often expect to receive comfort from our close circle of family and friends (and if we feel we do not not receive this, we may be seriously upset and offended!). 

However, if a particular family member or trusted friend that we go to for help, is also going through a rough patch of their own, they are unlikely to be interested in us and our problems (as they too are busy sorting out their own issues in life).

We may then (while wearing our grey glasses), perceive them as being cold, cruel and indifferent to our problems. We may blame them for not being there when we needed them the most. Our relationship with them may be severely impacted by these negative and untrue perceptions. 

It is often difficult to be fair and objective when we are suffering in life. We may see injustice where there is none, we may see indifference where there is actually suffering. 

Generally, two people who are both wearing grey-tinted glasses at the same time, cannot be of much help to each other. In fact, they are more likely to end up quarreling and cause more damage to each other! 

And, this is exactly why forgiveness is key for the long-term success of human relationships (it is a sort of life-saving oxygen in many ways). Over time, people are bound to upset and annoy each other, sometimes by mistake, sometimes deliberately. And, this is more likely to happen at times when they were wearing the wrong shade of grey glasses, i.e. they were going through unfavourable circumstances in their lives. 

It is likely that we would like people to forgive us for the mistakes that we made when our vision was obscured by our grey-tinted glasses. Similarly, we should also be prepared to forgive others for the mistakes that they may have made while they were wearing their own grey glasses. 

Life is very much a two-way street. It cannot be one-sided; there has to be give and take, there needs to be balance.

How can we remove the grey tint from our glasses? What is the solution to change our vision and our perception of life? 

I would suggest that, when we are struggling, what we really need is the company of someone wearing rose-tinted glasses who can share their optimistic vision of life with us (this may be a close family member, friend or Guru). 

We also need them to bring along a magical polishing cloth that can help us get our own glasses in order. We need their help to polish away the gloomy grey tint from our glasses and reveal the pretty rose colour that is present underneath. 

We cannot expect others to do all the polishing of course, though they may support us; the main work of polishing has to be undertaken ourselves. As Krishna says in the Gita 'Lift yourself, by yourself'! 

We cannot expect others to set right our vision. We need to recognise that there is an issue with it and work to set it right ourselves. 

And (as you probably guessed that I was going to say!), the ultimate polishing cloth to clean the grey tint off and bring back the rosy hue to our glasses, is the name or mantra of God. This is simply a fact according to the yogis (especially in this gloomy age of quarrels known as Kali Yuga).

Any mantra of God has the power to dispel all gloom from our lives and bring peace, harmony and a rosy hue. It also helps us to develop empathy and understanding, forgive ourselves and others, and set right our vision of the world. These are all very useful qualities that are necessary to have harmony in our relationships as far as possible.

As we know, in the yogic tradition, God has both gentle and stern aspects. When seeking harmony and peace in life, it is good to recite a mantra of a peaceful and loving aspect of God. Some examples would be mantras of Lakshmi, Narayana and Shiva. E.g. Om Sri MahaLakshmyai Namah, Om Namo Narayanaya and Om Namah Shivaya.

May God bless us all with peace and harmony in life (and with healthy rose-tinted glasses!).

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.