Swami teaches... The Rama Principle forever. Part 1

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Sai Ram Light and Love Swami teaches...

The Rama Principle Forever. Part 1

The Motto:

Life is like a game of chess; not merely that, it is like a battlefield.

The Ramayana teaches the threefold Dharma (code of conduct) pertaining to the

individual, the family and the society and underlines the importance of human

values.

 

 

Describing the greatness and grandeur of Rama’s Divine power, the poet

Thyagaraja composed a beautiful song, “Oh Rama, without Your Divine power,

would a mere monkey cross the ocean? Would Lakshmana worship you! Would Lakshmi

Devi, the goddess of wealth, become Your consort? Would the intelligent Bharata

be subservient to You? Words are inadequate to describe Your Divine Power.”

Tulasidas was the great one who proclaimed that human life is redeemed when

every talent and every moment are utilized by humanity for realising the

Divine. To God all objects in the Universe are alike because they are

manifestations of the Divine.

The Ramayana shows us the way to lead an ideal life. That is why people of

all countries and all languages hold the Ramayana in high esteem. This sacred

epic has stood the test of time because of the sacred ideals it stands for.

People have been celebrating Rama’s birthday for the past thousands of years.

Celebration of any festival becomes meaningful only when there is

transformation in human's heart.

The sage Valmiki, who was pure, holy and utterly selfless, wrote the

Ramayana in hundred crores of stanzas for the redemption of mankind. But the

devas and rishis, realising the supreme greatness of the Ramayana, sought from

Valmiki a share in his great work. (Earlier Valmiki was Ratnakara, a robber, on

being advised by Narada started chanting the name of Rama incessantly, as a

result of which the radiance of Rama was seen on his countenance and he became

sage Valmiki, the composer of the holy hymns).

Responding to devas and rishis appeal, Valmiki distributed the slokas

(verses) among the denizens of the three worlds. After the distribution of the

slokas in equal shares among the three one shloka of 32 syllables remained.

After distributing in equal measure 30 of them, two syllables remained. These

syllables were the letters RA-MA, which he gave to the dwellers of the three

worlds. Whomsoever you may worship it is the one Divine who delights the heart.

 

The name "Rama" means one who is pleasing and lovable. "Ayana" means

movement or journey. "Ra" refers to Atma and "Ma" refers to mind. The Rama

Principle means merging the mind in the Atma. Rama is closest to humanity. Rama

was born as a child of Dasaratha. He was not born from the womb of Kausalya, but

actually from the fire of sacrifice. The Vedas are personified by the yajnas

(sacrifice) and Rama is the very personification of yajna. This is not related

to objects of nature. The Rama principle transcends the mind and the intellect.

Wherever they may be, to whatever land or clime they may belong, people

everywhere have to undersold the Rama Principle. "Ramayana" means suffusing the

world with the bliss of the Rama Principle. But it is not Sri Rama alone that is

involved in this process, Sita is also an epic personality. "Rama" is another

name for Sita. The Ramayana is thus a joint epic of Rama and Sita or Sita-Rama

Ramayanam.

Rarely in the world do we see married couples who are identical - man and

wife - in their physical features, their qualities, behaviour, thoughts and

capacities. But in the case of Rama and Sita the similarity was complete in

every respect.

The truth of this is evident from what Hanuman experienced. Once Hanuman

happened to look at Sita when she was alone. He got a doubt whether Rama

himself had assumed a feminine form. Looking at Sita, he thought it was Rama

himself. Hence Rama and Sita should be regarded as one identical entity and not

as separate beings.

Sita was the embodiment of Maha Maya (supreme Divine illusion). Rama

acquired Maha Maya as his mate. Sita, for her part, sought oneness with the

Atma principle represented by Rama. The marriage of Rama and Sita represents

the association of the Atma and the Maya. Or by the other words the wedding of

Rama and Sita is not a wedding of one young man and one young woman. This

wedding is a union of Prakrithi (Nature) with the Purusha (Supreme Lord).

Nature is not different from Paramatma (Supreme Self). Nature is the effect

and God is the cause. Nature is the expression of this relationship between

cause and effect.

(God indulges in dramatic acts like these to demonstrate His omnipresence in

the Universe and to teach the world the greatness of Nature. Human has to

realise own divinity and look at all Nature from the Divine point of view).

 

Rama is the supreme exemplar of how people should conduct themselves in the

world, how a country should be governed, how the integrity and morality of

human beings should be protected. High-minded actions, ideal qualities and

sacred thoughts are basic foundations of character.

Rama demonstrated by his words, thoughts and actions how such a life can be

lived. The whole world seemed to rejoice at the wedding of Rama and Sita,

because it had its cosmic significance. Every being in the cosmos, whatever may

be the gender, in external form, is essentially feminine. Prakrithi (Nature) is

feminine. She represents one half of the Lord. Together, Prakrithi and Purusha

represent the concept of the Divine conceived as half-male and half female.

This union of male and female is found in every human being.

 

One word, one arrow, one wife was the rule for Rama. What is the reason? In

the body there are many organs. But all of them are animated, nourished and

sustained by the heart alone. In the same manner the wife, for the husband is

only one and the husband for the wife is only one. To demonstrate to the world

this ideal of monogamy, Rama set the example. When Sita was abducted, Rama felt

the loss as if he had lost half his body. He never thought of a second wife.

(Every husband in the world should have a similar conviction).

The Ramayana teaches the moral, social, and spiritual values in the simplest

way. The relationship that existed between the brothers of Rama is an ideal to

the rest of the humanity. All of us live on the same earth. The same sky is

above all of us. We breathe the same air and drink the same water. The Ramayana

centers on the principle of unity in diversity. What we need today is to see

unity in diversity and the divinity behind this unity.

 

Rama was an ideal son, brother, husband, friend and ideal enemy. He adhered

to the noble heroic path even in dealing with his enemies. For example, when

Rama was engaged in battle with Ravana, he could not stand up to the arrows of

Rama. Rama noticed that Ravana was tired and weaponless. There is no heroism,

in killing a weak or powerless man. Recognizing the plight of Ravana, Rama laid

down his arms and told, "O, Ravana! you are tired and without weapons. Go home,

take rest and return to battle tomorrow. We shall resume the fight tomorrow."

 

The inner significance of the Sita-Rama story will be clear when we consider

the role of the three cities in the Ramayana. Emperor Janaka was ruler of

Mithila. He was a Brahmajnani (one who possesses knowledge of identity of

individual self with the cosmic being) who had renounced everything. Having no

children of his own, he brought up with great love a foundling (Sita). There

were two powerful entities in his kingdom' Siva's bow and Sita. Once, while

engaging in play, Sita lifted the giant bow of Siva with astonishing ease.

Struck by thisfeat, Janaka decided that Sita should be given in marriage only

to one who could handle Siva's bow and be worthy of Sita's hand. With this

resolve, he invited princes for Sita's svayamvara (self selection of a husband

by the bride herself). Rama arrived and lifted Siva's bow as lightly as Sita

had done.

It is in this combined form of Atma and Maya that Rama entered Ayodhya what

means "invincible." Its ruler was Dasaratha. He represents the body, with its

ten organs. These sense organs are related to the three gunas (qualities)

Satwa, Rajas, Tamas. Dasaratha's three wives - Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi -

symbolise these three gunas. Four sons of Dasaratha were the embodiments of his

desires. Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Satrughna symbolise the four Vedas Rig,

Yajur, Sama and Atharvana.

Rama is the embodiment of Dharma (righteousness), Lakshmana is the

embodiment of Sraddha (dedication). Bharata embodies Bhakti (devotion),

Shatrughna personifies Sakti (valour).

Dharma is associated with Sraddha. The protecting cover for Bhakti is Sakti.

Hence Rama and Lakshmana were always together as a pair, and Bharata and

Satrughna as another. All the dharmas (righteous duties) are no different

from the dharmas contained in the Vedas. Dharma is frequently defined as a

two-way path. One is pravritti and the other is nivritti. All activities

relating to the external world are pravritti dharmas.

Pravritti tells you when you are hungry, “My child eat.” Nivritti tells you

on the other hand, “Child, merely because you are hungry, don’t eat everything

that you get hold of.” Nivritti tells you what, when, and how you should eat.

Pravritti confuses the mind. Nivritti purifies the heart. That which pertains

to external objects is Pravritti; that which concerns internal needs is

Nivritti. All the things that Rama taught such a path of Nivritti.From other

words there are two kinds of study: inward looking and outward looking. The

stuff that you learn by rote and disgorge into your answer paper is the outward

looking study. Taking your studies into your heart, feeling its fullness and

experiencing its bliss is the inward looking study. These have been

differentiated by the terms education and educare.

 

Spiritual practices of various kinds, including japa, yoga and the like,

will not lead to God realisation at any case. However, at the beginning of

path the devotional activities are better than many other useless pastimes.

But, if you want to get near to God and to experience God, you have to

transform the heart. If you break the branch of a tree and plant it in the

sand, will it grow into a tree? It must be planted in soil where it can strike

roots. Similarly, the feeling must arise in the heart and get deeply rooted in

it. Then the fruits will appear in the external world.

 

Human is not a mere creature of flesh and blood but the embodiment of the

Atma. Concentrating all the time on the physical body as the only reality, time

is wasted on external observances. The scriptures have declared: "In the temple

of the human body dwells the individual Self which is the eternal Self." In

this context, it may be noted that even scholars and intelligent persons tend

to get confused over this matter. People who go to endless trouble to acquire

positions, power or reputation do not care to devote even a small fraction of

that effort to earn God's grace. The lesson taught by the story of Rama is

different and serve as example for all humanity.

 

Some people say that they are too weak to scale spiritual heights. But you

have the strength to commit sins and do wrong actions. The strength required

for good or bad actions is the same. In fact, it is more difficult to commit

sin than to be good and meritorious. To utter an untruth is difficult. To speak

the truth is easy. Speaking the truth calls for no effort. But to declare what

is not true as true calls for considerable ingenuity. Uttering an untruth is

therefore more difficult. Equally, cheating is more arduous than being honest.

 

 

All these truths were taught to the people in the reign of Bharatha and

Rama. The whole world needs the advent of Rama Rajya. This means is that the

rulers should have three qualities. They are: Sathpravarthana (righteous

conduct), Sadhaalochana (good counsel), Sadhguna (good qualities). There should

be a combination of all the three. (There should be no place for the wicked who

think one thing, speak another thing and act in a different way).

 

Fill your minds with the ideals of Shri Rama and try to put them into

practice as much as possible. This will cost you nothing. You do not have to

perform any asanas or go to the forest for practice. Staying in your homes,

attending to your duties, purify your hearts. You even do not need to undertake

any spiritual practices. Experience the innate Divinity in everyone by following

the path of love. Spend your life in selfless service. This is the teaching of

Rama.

 

There, as a rule, purity prevails amidst impurity and impurity exists in

the midst of purity. Out of unrest peace ensues; from peace results

illumination; that illumination reveals the supreme effulgence of the Divine;

in that effulgence is Divinity. Thus santhi (peace) exists within asanthi

(restlessness). But it is said that no one who lacks peace cannot have

happiness. This is not quite correct. Instead of bemoaning the state of

peacelessness one should strive for real peace with courage and faith. This is

the difference between the optimist and the pessimist. Looking at a glass

half full of water, the pessimist says, "the glass is half-empty." The

optimistsays, "it is half-full". The pessimist sees only the thorn in the rose

stalk, while the optimist enjoysthe beauty of the rose.

Keep your goal in mind and be the recipients of Divine Grace. Chant the

Name of Rama wholeheartedly. Rama is present in every heart in the form of the

Atma. That is why, He is known as Atma Rama. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya

Sai Speaks,Vol. 20. "The play of the Divine," Chapter 7; Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol. 27. "Shri Raama : the ideal for humanity," Chapter 12; Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol. 28. "Install Raama Raajya in your hearts," Chapter 8; Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol. 32. "Relevance of Ramayana to modern life," Chapter 8; Sathya Sai Speaks.

Vol. 33. "Ramayana – The Essence Of The Vedas," Chapter 6).

Namaste - Reet