Guest guest Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 Namaste all. Let us glorify Mother Sita Devi on Her appearance day! Enjoy reading these excerpts relating to Her divine pastimes. http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/luvkush_sm.jpg =========================== Sita - The First Single Mother in the World =========================== Thus abandoned, Sita gave birth to twin sons in the wilderness and brought them up all alone, without the protective presence of a father, hence becoming the first single parent in history. When these worthy sons entered their teens, tales of their valor spread far and wide, and it was not long before Rama realized that they were his own offspring. This knowledge prompted him to immediately call his beloved Sita and the two boys to his court. In front of the assembled subjects, tributary kings, ministers and merchants from all parts of his empire, he asked her to undertake the fire ordeal again for the benefit of these venerable gentlemen, who had missed the earlier spectacle in Lanka. Sita's reaction however was different from that earlier occasion. The emotional scar had obviously not healed. This time she did not ask her brother-in-law to prepare a funeral pyre for her. Nor did she circumambulate her husband in meek submission. Rather, with folded hands, she merely uttered the following words: " If I have remained true to Rama in mind, speech and action, may the Mother Earth embrace me in her bosom. " No sooner had she spoken than the ground beneath her feet split wide open, and before anybody had the time to react, she entered the depths. A dejected and helpless Rama was engulfed in grief. Thus did end the exemplary life of Sita, with fate pursuing her to the bitter end. In the televised version of the Ramayana, shown in serialized form on Indian television, the Earth Goddess is shown emerging from the ground seated on a bejeweled throne. Spreading out her arms she beckons Sita saying: " Come my child, this world is not worthy of you. " Sita does as she is told, leaving behind her, the lamenting assembly. It is interesting to connect the above episode with the fact that Sita was not only metaphorically (as all woman are), the daughter of the earth, but also literally so, since she had not materialized out of the human womb in the 'normal' manner, rather, she had been found by her father, king Janaka, when he was tilling the fields with a golden plough in fulfillment of a sacred ritual. This is also the reason why the people of Mithila (the place where she was so 'discovered') think of her as the daughter of the whole village because, if Janaka had not ploughed the grounds that day, someone else from the region would have definitely found her and thus she would have become that person's daughter. Sita's appeal to Mother Earth to reclaim her was not the helpless reaction of slighted woman. It was a spirited, self-effacing statement of protest, when things went beyond endurance. For those of us living in this technologically advanced modern age, Sita's message is extremely significant. As we continue to assail the earth, taking her for granted, she is bound to someday lose patience and cleave open her chest in trepidation, leading to goddess knows what calamity. =========================== Conclusion: Who is Greater? Rama or Sita? ============================ Sita sets a high standard as an ideal wife who stays unswerving in her loyalty and righteousness, no matter how undesirable her husband's response. Her refusal to perform a second agnipraiksha and her consequent reversion to mother earth is not merely an act of self-annihilation. It is a momentous and dignified rejection of Rama as a husband. Truly Rama may have deselected her as his queen in deference to social opinion, but it is Sita who rejects him in a personal sense as a husband. By this act does she emerge supremely triumphant. If the defining scale for quantifying greatness is the amount of suffering one has undergone, it is undoubtedly Sita who is the clear winner. It is her dignified tolerance (sahan-shilta) and self-effacing silence, which may even be termed as weakness by many, that turns out to be her ultimate emotional strength, far valorous than any assertive aggression. Rightly therefore does her name always precede that of Rama (as in Sita-Ram or Jai Siya-Ram). In the words of Swami Vivekananda, " There may have been several Ramas, perhaps, but only one Sita. " from: http://www.exoticindia.com/article/sita Jaya Siya Ram! This post is dedicated to Her. ete lakSmaNa jAnakI-virahitaM mAM khedayanty ambudA marmANIva ca ghattayanty alam amI krUrAM kadambAnilAH itthaM vyAhRta-pUrva-janma-caritaM yo rAdhayA vIkSitaM sseSyAn zaMkitayA sa nas sukhayatu svapnAyamAno hariH (Sri Krishna Karnamritam 2. 69, Sri Lilasuka Bilvamangala) 'O Lakshmana, in the separation of My Janaki, these cool clouds are mere distress to me. The cruel breeze scented with Kadamba flowers torments me deeply.' Lord Hari was anxiously observed by Beloved Radhika with distrust and jealousy upon hearing these words of past incarnation uttered in His dream. May that naughty Hari be the source of delight to us. Jaya Sri Radhe! 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Guest guest Posted May 5, 2009 Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 Namaste all. Sri Sita Navami ki Jai ! Enjoy watching these episodes of Sita Rama Milan and Swayamvar from Ramayan at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JIE6lc0AZs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tINVud75-I & NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oimBNtm6dh8 & feature=related Jaya Sri Radhe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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