1. Introduction

2. Background 

3. Sita's Character

4. Ramayan Analysis

 

5. Advaitic

Story 

If Valmiki, an ascetic devoted to tapas (austerity) and swadhyaya (study of the self/Vedas), created this epic to help mankind understand human characteristics he must have used the Vedic philosophy as the basis. A close study of Ramayan reveals the advaitic message.

 

Indian mythology is full of symbolism. One view is that Sita portrayed as an 'Ideal Woman' reflects how jiva should pursue its spiritual path to realize the Supreme Truth, the Godhead. Ram means the one who revels in all beings and things, the atman, the Self of all. Ram is wedded to Sita, the Mind. Ram is born in the bosom where there is self-control and no conflict (Ayodhya). When Ram, the Self, is wedded to Sita, the Mind, there is expression of life and its activities. We do not know from where Sita (Mind) appears. From Mother Earth Sita came and into Mother Earth she disappeared. From where the Mind came and where it disappeared in samadhi, nobody can say. As long as Sita, the Mind, remains in perfect attunement with Ram, the Self (the higher nature) there is only joy and happiness, whether in Ayodhya or in exile in the forest.

 

The moment Sita desires the golden deer, the Mind identifying with the lower nature becomes extrovert and desires the sense objects. The fall of the individual starts. Sita forgets the might of Ram and forces Lakshman (tapas) to go to Ram's help. Sita becomes an easy victim of Dasamukha Ravan (the ten sense organs) and is carried away to Lanka, the Material World, away from the Land of Dharma and Spirituality.

 

Sita is penitent; she regrets her action and prays with single-minded devotion to be saved. Ram (Self) destroys Vali (Lust) and organizes monkeys (thoughts) to cross the ocean and reach Lanka. The ocean to be breached is the delusory attachments and fascinations in a deluded Mind. The forces (rakshasas) that fight against Ram are the negative tendencies.

 

So when Sita (Mind) is turned towards Ram (Self), continuously and constantly, such a mind is no mind at all. Ram, the 'man of perfection', allows the Mind to remain in him but is not affected by it.

Finally, the inner personality is purified and rehabilitated and the Mind disappears to become One with the Self. Ram, thereafter the 'Man of Realization', rules over the Kingdom of Life. Sita, the Mind, is banished, but having lived with her for some time something must emerge. It did in the form of Luv and Kush -- perfect Masters of Wisdom in the form of Books singing the Glory of the Lord.

 

Next 6. Closing Remarks   

 

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sitayanam... A Woman's Journey... of Strength

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Sita's Character
4. Ramayan Analysis
5. Advaitic Story
6. Closing Remarks         

Comments: APBhargava@aol.com                                                                                           About Anju Bhargava   

 

  Copyright - Anju Bhargava, 2000, All rights reserved