Sai Inspires - 2nd April 2006 from Prasanthi Nilayam

[Guest guest]

EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;

mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">SOME GLIMPSES OF THE RAMAYANA, AS

REVEALED BY SWAMI

0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam.

In a few days from now, we here, as many elsewhere, would be celebrating the

festival of Sri Rama Navami, the anniversary of the advent of the Rama Avatar.

The Rama Avatar is the first of the Great Avatars, in which God in human form

spent a considerable amount of time on earth, teaching invaluable lessons to us

humans. The epic story of Rama or the Ramayana as it is called, was first

recorded by Sage Valmiki. Since then, several versions of the Ramayana have

appeared in many languages. In that sense, much is already supposed to be known

about Rama, His life and His Message. Nevertheless, in His own inimitable way,

Swami has added wonderful nuances to the

traditional story of Rama, that give us insight never before available. In this

letter, we would like to recall three examples of such enlightenment. Our

first recall is courtesy late Prof. Sampath, who spent many years at Swami’s

Lotus Feet, part of it as the Third Vice Chancellor of Swami’s Institute. Once

during that period, Swami took Prof Sampath with Him to Kodaikanal. As

sometimes happens, that year, the festival of Rama Navami occurred during

Swami’s stay in Kodai. Typically on that morning, Swami not only recalls

aspects of Rama’s life but also materialises some object that featured in

Rama’s life. One year it was the amazingly big ring of Rama, another year it

was the huge diamond that Sita gave to Hanuman as proof of his meeting with

Sita, and

so on. This particular year, after Swami had spoken to the students, Prof

Sampath recalled a famous Tamil song that describes how when the young princes,

Rama and Lakshmana were walking on the streets of Mithila along with Sage

Viswamitra, Sita who was standing in a balcony in the palace, saw Rama and

wondered: “Who is this person, and what is His name?” The moment Prof Sampath

made a reference to this famous song, Swami sternly admonished Prof Sampath

saying, “Don’ talk rubbish. Nothing like that happened.” “No Swami, there is a

version of the Ramayana which describes such a scene and there is this song

there. It is actually a famous song and many leading musicians have in fact

recorded this song.” Swami then said, “All that is nonsense. Was this poet in

Mithila when Rama and Lakshmana walked the streets? How does he know? Take it

from Me, nothing like that happened. Lord Rama was the very Embodiment of

Supreme Consciousness while Mother Sita was the very Embodiment of Divine

Energy. They took human forms to enact a sacred drama in order to teach special

lessons to humanity. Such unwanted poetic and romantic fiction tends to give

wrong ideas to people, and this sort of thing must certainly not be said before

My students!” That message was certainly loud and clear. On a later occasion, in

a different context, Swami told late Mr. V. K. Narasimhan (for many years the

editor of Sanathana Sarathi) that poets and writers often inject their own

romantic aberrations while describing the story of the Lord, thereby both

distorting as well as polluting it. Our next recall is from a Discourse that

Swami once gave to students during a Summer Course. Now Ravana the principal

villain of Ramayana is normally portrayed as an evil man who coveted another

man’s wife. In factual terms, this is certainly correct. But Swami told

students that the inner significance of this so-called abduction was something

much deeper. Ravana’s abduction of Sita is symbolic of man imagining that

Nature is there for his benefit and is available for him to exploit as he

pleases. In this respect, Ravana personified modern man who thinks that Nature

belong to him and exists for him to exploit. Ravana failed to see Nature as his

Divine Mother and paid the price for it. Modern man too would pay a heavy price

one day, if he keeps on going the way he is doing at present. Swami added,

“Mother Nature is very kind and generous, and She will give you anything you

want, provided

you pray to Her for that. If instead She is ill treated, She would be patient up

to a point but beyond that, She would be aroused; and when that happens, be

warned that hell would break loose!” The warning is there loud and clear, but

is anyone listening? On now to the third example of the way Swami makes us

read between the lines. One day in Trayee, Swami said to students, “You all

know the scene where Sugriva brings the bundle of jewels that fell from the sky

and places it before Rama. Rama looks at the jewels and, turning to His brother

asks, ‘Lakshmana, can you identify these jewels? Do they belong to Sita?’”

Swami then continued, “Now why did Rama ask Lakshmana to do identify the

jewels? After all, Sita was His wife and if anything, Rama should have

known more about Stia’s jewels rather than Lakshmana. Why then did Rama ask

Lakshmana that question?” This is the sort of question that readers of

Ramayana or the people who listen to discourses on the Ramayana seldom ask. So

when Swami put this question, everyone blinked – no surprise in that. After a

while, Swami said: “Everything that God does has a meaning. When God

incarnates, He always does so with a Complete Master Plan. This question asked

by Rama was a part of that Master Plan. At the time when Sita was abducted,

Rama, Lakshmana and Sita were all of the same physical age – in their late

twenties. They were all young and they lived alone in the forest. Often Rama

would go into the forest, leaving Lakshmana behind to guard Sita. So pure was

Lakshmana that he regarded Sita not as a young woman, not as his sister-in-law

but verily as his mother. Thus, when Rama asked the question about the jewels,

Lakshmana gave the famous reply: ‘Brother, I do not know what jewels mother

wore. I have never looked her in the face; so I do not know. But having always

worshipped her feet, I can recognise this item which is the toe ring she wore

on one of the fingers in her foot.’” Swami continued: “Rama knew how bad

things would be in the Kali Age. Hence, two Yugas earlier, He made Lakshmana,

give a reply that would set an ideal for the young men of today. This is the

way the Lord operates. What Lakshmana was saying was really a piece of advice

for today’s young men, and

that includes you students!” As we celebrate Rama Navami, let us carefully

recall the various incidents in the life of Rama Avatar and try to understand,

appreciate and assimilate their deeper meaning. This, we submit, would be the

best way of celebrating the festival. If we look carefully, we would find that

Rama as the individual set a benchmark concerning the manner in which all

individuals must adhere to Sathya and Dharma. In addition, Rama as the Ruler

gave mankind its first taste of an Ideal Society or Utopia, traditionally

referred to as Rama Rajya. Swami says that the individual and Society are

tightly interlinked; if the individual is the microcosm, then Society is the

macrocosm. If all individuals adhere to Dharma, then Society as a whole would

be Dharmic; in turn, the individual would enjoy all the security that he is now

desperate for, but is not able to get. Ramayana is all about Dharma. If the

individual pays “tax” by leading a Dharmic life, then he will get the “social

benefit” of Rama Rajya. No tax, no security!

0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"> That is what we think. Do you agree? Why don’t you

write and tell us what you feel? With Love and

Regards,"Heart2Heart"RadioSai's e-Journal Team,In Sai Service. To see

the complete schedule of today's RadioSai programmes, Visit us at

www.radiosai.org to know more about RadioSai and our e-Journal "Heart 2 Heart".

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[Guest guest]

about His earlier incarnation as Lord Sri Rama ,was that which He

practised at that time &,which He wants us to follow . do you all

remember His school days' drama Cheppinaatu Chesthaaraa , do you do

what you say . So when we celebrate Sri Ramanavami on 6th april

THURSDAY, our Lord's day , let us dedicate ourselves to try to follow

Him to please Beloved Saimaa . JaiSairam. S.Ramachandran