Hari Aum.
The Bala Kanda is the section of the Valmiki Ramayana that describes Sri Rama's birth, childhood and early youth. I would like to say that when writing about the Bala Kanda (and about the Valmiki Ramayana in general), I will mainly focus on the life of Sri Rama Himself (as mentioned in my previous post, the book also contains some descriptions of the lives of other persons, which are not necessarily that relevant to the story of Rama and so, in general, I will not discuss too much about these subjects here).
I will provide you a brief outline of the Bala Kanda and then go on to discuss certain parts of it in more detail.
Overview of the Bala Kanda: a succinct summary
The sages:
Sage Narada and Sage Valmiki meet. Valmiki asks Narada to tell him of the most excellent human being, and Narada tells Valmiki the entire legend of Sri Rama in brief.
The demi-god, Brahma, the Divine Creator (an aspect of Narayana) then visits Valmiki and tells him to compose a poem (in a special Sanskrit metre) that describes the entire life of Sri Rama. To enable him to perform this task, Valmiki is then given divine vision whereby he is able to see in detail every aspect of the life of the Rama avatar.
(Valmiki himself plays a key role in the life of the Rama avatar, the details of which we discover later, so he is also present in the poem!).
Valmiki then composes the great epic of the life of Rama and Sita. He gives this wonderful divine poem three titles, which are as follows:
i) Ramayana: meaning 'the way of Sri Rama'
ii) Sita Charitam Mahat: meaning 'the greatness of Mother Sita'
iii) Poulastya vadham: meaning 'the slaying of Ravana'
This beautiful poem is capable of granting great material and spiritual blessings upon those who hear or recite it. The sage therefore feels that it should be taught to his disciples.
The sons of Rama and Sita:
Sage Valmiki wonders which disciples should first receive the teaching of this wondrous poem. At that moment, two young boys, named Lava and Kusha, present themselves. They are the twin sons of Rama and Sita and reside in the hermitage of Valmiki (he is their Guru).
The boys, who look like reflections of Rama Himself, offer to learn the poem. Valmiki gladly teaches it to them and they memorise the lengthy poem perfectly with ease.
They then recite it in melodious voices to the other sages and disciples at the hermitage. Upon hearing this wonderful composition, the eyes of everyone present fill with tears of devotion and they exclaim that it is most excellent.
Rama, the King of Ayodhya:
Sri Rama, upon hearing about the composition, brings the boys to His courtroom and they sing the entire poem enthralling the entire audience of ministers and citizens.
Rama greatly enjoys hearing the poem because it is called 'Sita Charitam Mahat', the 'greatness of Sita'. In fact, He is so enchanted by it, that He asks the boys to recite the entire poem again to calm his mind and they obligingly do so.
At this stage, we discover that, strangely, Rama does not seem to know that the two boys are His own sons (and, equally oddly, nor do the boys display any recognition of Him as their father).
Furthermore, we discover that Sita, the mother of the twins, and wife of Rama, is not currently present in the life of Rama. This is also rather strange (and no explanation is offered for this at this stage in the legend) and Her absence seems to be the likely reason for Him wanting to hear of Her and for asking the boys to recite the entire poem again.
The Sita Charitam Mahat:
I was initially going to continue to write about more of the rest of the Bala Kanda in this post, but, at this stage, I would like to pause. And the reason that I would like to pause is to consider and contemplate, for a short while, the 'Sita Charitam Mahat', the greatness of Mother Sita.
Before delving into the legend of Rama and Sita, before discussing the heroes and villains of the story and the lessons they teach us, I want to begin with a tribute to Mother Sita, by writing a little in praise of Her glory in order to seek Her blessings.
It is no wonder that Sri Rama wanted to hear again and again about Mother Sita-- because She was truly an extraordinary manifestation of the Divine Mother. Just as Rama was an avatar of Vishnu/Narayana, Sita was an incarnation of His Divine Consort, Mother Lakshmi.
And, just as Rama immersed Himself fully in playing the role of a human man, Mother Sita too fully embraced the experience of life as a human woman. And what an extraordinary life it was, what a test of human endurance, what a test of faith, trust, self-belief and courage.
We will see in the coming chapters of the Ramayana or the Sita Charitam Mahat, that Sita was the embodiment of goodness, of gentleness, of kindness and of putting the needs of others ahead of Herself. In return for this, She received much pain, sorrow and was exposed to great evil. She endured it all, and ultimately triumphed-- but not before She had shed many tears and experienced much grief.
The life of Rama can sometimes be hard to read due to the pain He endures; however, the life of Sita is, in many ways, completely heartbreaking. Nonetheless, She reminds us, as we live on this Earth today, with all its complexities, pains and sorrows, that the Divine is always victorious in the end.
The Ramayana portrays the many aspects of human life, the nobility and greatness, and the baseness and wickedness that exist both within and outside of ourselves on this planet.
The life of Sita also teaches us that we must careful, that we must not be naive in this world as spiritual seekers. We may strive to do good to others, but we must be prepared to receive much evil in return and need to be ready to handle this (through clinging to the Divine come what may and remaining under His/Her protection at all times).
We will see in this divine legend, how Sita's good nature led Her to trust those who should never have been trusted, how it caused Her to believe in the goodness of those who later betrayed Her, how Her nearest and dearest themselves proved to be unable to give Her the happiness that She sought in life (Like another great manifestation of the Mother known as 'Sati', Mother Sita too provides a fitting response to all those who had treated Her unfairly at the very end of Her life on Earth).
Sita teaches us, by example, the great spiritual truth that, ultimately, we must rely upon ourselves, and specifically upon our Higher Self or God within, to find the peace and joy that we seek in life.
This is the emphatic teaching of all the Gurus, saints and mystics of all spiritual traditions since time immemorial. God alone is the refuge, they say, and the Sita Charitam Mahat shows this perfectly.
Therefore, salutations and prostrations again and again to Mother Sita, the Divine Mother who embodies the tremendous power of endurance, and of expressing great goodness in the face of great evil-- qualities that are essential for the spiritual ascent of every seeker.
May Mother Sita bless us all.
Om Sri Sitayai Namah. Om Sri Ramaya Namah
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
No comments:
Post a Comment