Sai message for the day

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How should we view the Epics and puranas in our spiritual path and

spiritual life?

 

Our epics and puranas teach us many aspects of life. They speak of

human values, refer to the divinity within you, and teach you the way

to lead an ideal life, show you the purpose and goal of life and

explain in clear terms through many anecdotes the culture of Bharat.

They also clearly indicate the fall of man if he doesn't follow

dharma or the basic human values. They emphasise the need to follow

and uphold dharma for both the individual good and the social. They

explain vividly your true nature, which is atma itself. But today, we

have people who wrongly interpret them, give distorted versions and

not their real inner significance. So, none of you is taking

advantage of the teachings of our epics and puranas.

 

In fact the epics are the records of our, history and culture. They

are the lights of wisdom and spiritual awakening. They connect the

jiva, individual with the deva, divine. Each text is a bridge for

travelling from the shore of this world to the other shore of God.

Each text shows how God incarnated in human form and demonstrated to

the entire mankind how life could be led in an ideal way, Himself

being the director and playing the roles perfectly.

 

For example, in Maharshi Valmiki's epic, the Ramayana, Lord Rama knew

full well that he was God. Sages like Vasishtha, and Bharadvaja knew

that Lord Rama was the incarnation of God Vishnu. But he behaved all

through the Ramayana like a human being. He cried for Sita because he

could not bear separation from her. The Ramayana teaches how man

should behave as a son; a brother, a husband and a ruler. Its

teachings also include certain norms regarding friendship and teacher-

student relationship. Truth, dharma, obeying father's command and the

principle of monogamy are the lessons of the Ramayana. This is the

very objective of the Ramayana and the secret behind God's

incarnation as Rama. The text teaches some of the fundamental and

timeless human values to the entire race of mankind. The Ramayana

shows how a person like Ravana with all his excellence in scholarship

and penance, with his absolute command over his people and the

splendour of his wealth ruined himself as he fell a prey to kama.

This is the lesson of his life.

 

Then the Bhagavata show's distinctly how anger ruins atma. A person

loses his self-respect and wealth and spoils all his tasks on hand

because of his hot temper. He becomes physically weak and mentally

agitated due to anger. Characters like Kamsa, Sisupala, Jarasandha,

and Dantavaktra lost their value, name and life due to anger. They

developed hatred towards God and being overpowered by their own ego,

they lost their mental balance and consequently faced miserable death.

 

The other epic composed by Vyasa, is the Mahabharata. The Kauravas

were hundred in number. They had physical prowess, large manpower,

kingdom and whole divisions of army and intelligence. But what

happened to them at the end? Not even one of the hundred survived the

battle of Kurukshetra. They left behind their bereaved and bewailing

parents. There was none left to perform their funeral rites. What a

pitiable state of things it is! Why! At the root, it was greed that

was responsible for such a great misfortune. The Kauravas refused to

give even half the kingdom that by right belonged to the Pandavas.

Later on,they refused to give even five villages to the five

brothers. This was the height of their greed. The Kauravas made

repeated attempt to kill the Pandavas. That was the intensity of

their greed.

 

While the Ramayana teaches how dangerous kama, desire and anger are,

the Mahabharata shows how total destruction is the result of greed.

One may have umpteen virtues and merits, yet just one evil like

desire or anger or greed is enough to bring about one's fall as has

been narrated in our epics. You have to draw lessons out of the

episodes narrated in the epics and puranas or the itihasas of our

land.