Ramakatha Rasavahini, Chapter 1 - Rama - Prince and Principle

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Chapter 1Rama - Prince and Principle

 

The name 'Rama' is the essence of the Vedas; the Story of Rama is an ocean of

Milk, pure and potent. It can be asserted that no poem of equal grandeur and

beauty has emerged from other languages or from other countries until this very

day; but it has provided inspiration to the poetic imagination of every language

and country. It is the greatest treasure inherited by his good fortune by every

Indian.

Rama is the guardian deity of the Hindus; the Name is borne by the bodies in

which they dwell and the buildings in which those bodies dwell. It can safely

be said that there is no Indian who has not imbibed the nectar of Ramakatha,

the story of Rama.

The Ramayana, the epic that deals with the story of the Rama Incarnation, is a

sacred text that is reverently recited by people with all varieties of

equipment, the scholar as well as the ignoramus, the millionaire as well as the

pauper. The Name that the Ramayana glorifies cleanses all evil; it transforms

the sinner; it reveals the Form that the Name represents, the Form that is as

charming as the Name itself.

As the sea is the source of all the waters on earth, all beings are born from

'Rama'. A sea sans [without] water is unreal; a being sans [without] 'Rama' is

without existence, now or ever. The azure Ocean and the Almighty Lord have much

in common.

The Ocean is the abode of the Almighty, as myth and legend proclaim; they

describe Him as reclining on the Ocean of Milk. This is the reason behind the

title given by Valmiki (son of Prachetas) the great poet who composed the epic,

to each canto, Kanda. Kanda means water, an expanse of water.

Sage poet Valmiki authoring the Ramayana

It also means 'the sugarcane'. However crooked a cane may be, whichever section

you chew, the sweetness is unaffected and uniform. The stream of Rama's Story

meanders through many a curve and twist; nevertheless, the sweetness of Karuna

(tenderness, pity, compassion) persists without diminution throughout the

narrative. The stream turns and flows through sadness, wonder, ridicule, awa,

terror, love, despair and dialectics, but the main undercurrent is the love of

Dharma (Righteousness, Morality) and the Karuna (Compassion) it fosters.

The nectar in the story of Rama is as the 'Sarayu river' that moves silently by

the city of Ayodhya, where Rama was born and where he ruled. The Sarayu has its

source in the Himalayan Manasa-Sarovar, as this Story is born in the

Manasa-Sarovar (the Lake of the Mind)! The Rama stream bears the sweetness of

Karuna; the stream of Lakshmana (his brother and devoted companion) has the

sweetness of Devotion, (Bhakthi); as the Sarayu river joins the Ganga (Ganges)

and the waters commingle, so too, the streams of tender compassion and devotion

(the stories of Rama and Lakshmana) commingle in the Ramayana. Karuna and Prema

make up, between them, the composite picture of the glory of Rama; that picture

fulfils the heart's dearest yearning for every Indian; to attain it is the aim

of every spiritual striving.

The effort of the individual is but half the pursuit; the other half consists in

the Grace of God. Man fulfils himself by self-effort as well as Divine

Blessings; the fulfilment takes him across the dark ocean of dualities, on to

the Immanent and Transcendent One.

The Ramayana has to be read, not as the record or a human career, but as the

narrative or the Advent and Activities of an Avatar (Incarnation of God). Man

must endeavour with determination to realise through his own experience the

ideals revealed in that narrative. God is all-knowing, all-pervasive,

all-powerful. The words that He utters while embodied in the Human form, the

acts that He deigns to indulge in during his earthly sojourn, these are

inscrutable and extra-ordinarily significant. The precious springs of His

Message ease the Path or Deliverance for mankind. Do not look upon Rama as a

scion of the Solar Dynasty, or as the sovereign of the kingdom of Ayodhya, or

as the son of Emperor Dasaratha. Those correlates are but accessory and

accidental. This error has become habitual to modern readers; they pay

attention only to the personal relationship and affiliations between the

characters of the story they read about; they do not delve into the

values they represent and demonstrate.

To elaborate this error: the father of Rama had three wives; the first was such

and such, the second was of this nature, the third had these traits! Her maids

were of this ugly type ... . The wars fought by Dasaratha, the father, were

characterised by these peculiarities… those specialities … . In this manner,

fancy leads man astray into the region of the trivial and the colourful, making

him neglect the valuable kernel. People do not realise that the study of history

must enrich life and make it meaningful and worthwhile, rather than cater to the

appetite for paltry facts and petty ideas. Their validity and value lie deep

within the facts and fertilise them like subterranean water. Wear the glasses

of Bhakthi (Reverent Adoration) and Sradha (Steady Dedication); then, the eye

will endow you with the pure Wisdom that liberates you and grants eternal

Bliss.

As men squeeze juice out of the fibrous cane and drink only the sweetness, as

the bee sucks the honey in the flower, regardless of its symmetry and colour,

as the moth flies towards the brightness of the flame, ignoring the heat and

the inevitable catastrophe, the Sadhaka (Spiritual Seeker) should yearn to

imbibe the Karunarasa (the expression of the emotion of tenderness, pity and

compassion) that the Ramayana is saturated with, paying no heed to other

subjects. When a fruit is eaten, we throw away the skin, the seeds and the

fibre. It is in the very nature of Nature that fruits have these components!

Nevertheless, no one will eat these on the plea that he has paid for them! No

one can swallow the seeds and digest them. No one will chew the outer rind. So,

too, in this Rama-fruit called Ramayana, the tales of Rakshasas (demons, ogres

and the like) form the rind; the wicked deeds of these evil men are the hard

indigestible seeds;

sensory and wordly descriptions and events are the not-too-tasty fibrous stuff;

they are the sheaths for the juicy nourishment.

Those who seek the Karuna-rasa in the Rama fruit should concentrate more on the

central narrative than on supplementary details that embellish or encumber it.

Listen to the Ramayana in that mood; that is the best form of Sravana (process

of spiritual listening).

On one occasion, Emperor Parikshith fell at the feet of the Sage Suka and asked

for instruction on one point that was causing him dire doubt. "Master! One

riddle has been worrying me since long. I know that you can solve it for me and

that no one else can. I have listened to the narratives of the lives of my

forefathers, from the earliest, the great Manu, down to those of my

grandfathers and father. I have studied these stories with care. I observe that

in the history of every one of these, there is mention of Sages (Rshis) attached

to the monarch, some learned scholar-saints who are members of the court,

attending durbars and sharing the business of government! What is the real

meaning of this amazing association of scholars (who have renounced all

attachments and desires, who have realised that the world is a shadow and a

snare, and that the One is the only Reality) with kings and rulers playing

subordinate roles and counselling them when asked?

Those revered elders will not, I know, engage themselves in any activity without

sufficient and proper reasons. Their behaviour will ever be pure and unsullied.

But, this makes my doubt unsolvable. Please enlighten me".

Suka laughed at the question. He replied, "You have asked a fine question, no

doubt. Listen! The great sages and holy scholars will always be eager to share

with their fellowmen the truth they have grasped, the sanctifying experience

they have won, the elevating deed they have been priviliged to perform, and the

Divine Grace they have been chosen to receive; they seek nearness to those who

are in charge of administration, those who are adepts in ruling over peoples,

with the intention to use them as instruments for establishing and ensuring

peace and prosperity on earth; they implant high ideals in their minds, and

holy ways of fulfilling them; they prompt the performance of righteous actions,

in accordance with just laws. The monarchs too invite and welcome the sages,

seek out the scholars and plead with them to be in their courts, so that they

can learn from them the art of government and act according to their counsel.

The monarch was the master

and guardian of the people; so, they spent their days with him for the estimable

purpose of realising, through him, the yearning of their hearts:

"Lokaassamasthaah Sukhino Bhavanthu - May all the Worlds be happy". They were

eager to see happiness and peace spread over the world. Therefore, they tried

to equip the kings with all the virtues, fill them with all the moral codes of

discipline, arm them with all branches of learning, so that they may rule the

realm efficiently, wisely and with beneficial consequences to themselves and

their subjects.

There were other reasons, too. Listen! Knowing that the Granter of Joy to

humanity, the Mentor of human morals, the Leader of the Solar line, the Dweller

in the Heaven of Eternal Bliss, will take birth in a royal line, Sages who had

the foresight to anticipate events, gained entry into the durbars of rulers so

that they may experience the bliss of contact with the Incarnation, when It

happens. They feared they may not get such access later, that they may miss the

Bliss they could well garner. So, they profited by their vision of the future

and established themselves in the royal capital, in the thick of the community,

longing for the Advent.

"To this venerable group belonged Vasistha, Vismamitra, Garga, Agasthya and

other sages (rishis). They had no wants; they were monarchs of renunciation;

they sought nothing from any one. They were ever content. They appeared in the

audience halls of the emperors of those days, not for polemics and the pomp of

punditry or for collecting the costly gifts offered to such disputants and

guests, or for decorating themselves with the burdensome title those patrons

confer on the persons they prefer. They craved rather for the Darsan (Bliss of

the Vision) of the Lord and for a chance to uphold Dharma (Righteousness) in

human affairs; they had no other objective".

"The kings too in those days were immersed in thoughts divine! Theu approached

the hermits and sages in their retreats in order to discover from them the

means of making their subjects happy and content; often they invited them to

their palaces and consulted them about ways and means of good government. Those

were days when there were sages with no attachment to self, and scholars with no

craving for power; such were the men who tendered advice to the kings. As a

consequence, there was no lack of food and clothing, of housing or good health,

for the people of the realm. All days were festival days; all doors were

decorated with green festoons. The ruler felt that his most sacred duty was the

fostering of his people's welfare. The subjects too felt that the ruler was the

heart of the body politic. They had full faith that he was as precious as their

own hearts; they valued him as such; they revered him and paid him the homage of

gratitude".

Suka explained the role of the sages in the royal courts in this clear downright

manner before the large gathering that was sitting around him.

Have you noticed this? Whatever is done by the great, whichever company they

choose, they will ever be on the path of righteousness, on the path of the

Divine; their acts will promote the welfare of the entire world! So, when the

Ramayana or other narratives of the Divine are recited or read, attention must

be fixed on the majesty and mystery of God, on the Truth and

Straightforwardness that are inherent in them, and on the practice of those

qualities in daily life. No importance should be attached to extraneous

matters; the means and manner of the execution of one's duty is the paramount

lesson to be learnt.

God, when appearing with Form for the sake of upholding Dharma, behaves in a

human way. He needs must! For, He has to hold forth the ideal life before man

and confer the experience of joy and peace on men. His movements and activities

(Leelas) might appear ordinary and commonplace to some eyes. But, each of these

will be an expression of beauty, truth, goodness, joy and exaltation. It will

captivate the world with its charm, it will purify the heart that contemplates

it. It will overcome and overwhelm all the agitations of the mind. It will tear

the veil of Illusion (Maya). It will fill the consciousness with Sweetness.

There can be no 'ordinary' and 'commonplace' in the careers of Avathars.

Whatever is seen and taken as of that nature is really 'super-human',

'super-natural', deserving high reverence!

The story of Rama is not the story of an individual; it is the story of the

Universe! Rama is the Personification of the basic Universal in all beings. He

is in all, for all time, in all space. The story deals not with a period that

is past, but with the present and future without end, with beginningless

eternal Time!

No ant can bite, without Rama's Will! No leaf can drop from its branch, without

Rama's prompting! Sky, wind, fire, water and earth - the Five Elements that

compose the Universe - behave as they do for fear of Him, and in tune with His

Orders! Rama is the Principle which attracts - and endears through that

attraction - the disparate elements in Nature. The attraction that one exerts

over another is what makes the Universe exist and function.

That is the Rama principle, without which the cosmos will become chaos. Hence,

the axiom: If there be no Rama, there will be no Panorama (Universe).

Bhajan: Rama Krishna Prabhu Tu Jaya Ram Jaya Ram

Ramakatha RasavahiniOriginal in Telegu written by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

BabaRendered into English by Professor N. Kasturi

Source: http://www.vahini.org/ramakatha/chapter1.htmlVahini.org: 'Vahini' Books

written by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

 

 

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