Ramayana in Your Heart
In the following discourse delivered in Madras on Rama’s birthday in 1961, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba reveals that the Ramayana and its characters represent an ongoing process of spiritual growth.
The vehicle of human life is drawn on the two wheels of kaala chakra and karma chakra (the wheels of time and action) by the senses, driven by buddhi (intellect), with viveka and vairagya (discrimination and detachment) as the reins. The spokes of the wheel are the rules of dharma [right action] bound by the rim of prema [love]. The self, who is the rider, will not come to harm if the axle is sathya [truth] and the goal is shanti [peace].
Rama, whose birthday—Ramanavami—you are celebrating today, was the exponent of the means to save the self in this perilous journey from birth to birthlessness. Rama is the embodiment of dharma; that is why He was able to re-establish dharma. Today is a sacred day because you get the chance to recapitulate the glory of God and His relationship with man. As a matter of fact, if you delve into the deeper meaning of the Ramayana, you will find that Rama is the universal atma [soul], the atma in every being. He did not come down to kill the rakshasa [demonic] ruler, Ravana; He is not the son of Dasaratha [Rama’s father and the king of Ayodhya] or of Kausalya [Rama’s mother]; nor is He the husband of Sita, weeping for her loss and gladdened by re-union.
On the day when Rama was crowned as the emperor of Ayodhya, every personage received a gift before leaving the city. Hanuman alone refused any material gift. He asked Rama to explain to him the mystery of His life, which he [Hanuman] had failed to understand in spite of the length and loyalty of his service. Rama then asked Sita to slake the thirst of Hanuman and reveal to him the secret of their [Rama’s and Sita’s] careers.
Sita announced that she was the moola prakriti (the primal nature), the maya shakti (the energy which agitates in all matter) which transforms and transmutes it [matter] into all this variety that binds and blinds. The Ramayana was nothing but the play she designed, she said.
Ramayana is very sweet
Rama is the eternal, unchanging purusha (spirit). The atma in every being is Rama; hence, the name Atmarama. Rama is eternal and so the Rama-mantram is said to have been taken by Shiva Himself. Rama means that which showers ananda (bliss). Now, what can give greater ananda than the atma? Rama is anandam [bliss] and He is Atmarama, the anandam in your inner consciousness. You can understand the Ramayana only if you keep this aspect in view. Orange has a form and a name; when you squeeze it and take out the juice, the form is gone and the name, orange, too is gone. The taste alone remains. Only the sweetness, flavor, and essence are experienced. It cannot be exactly described. It is beyond any vocabulary. Hanuman understood from Sita the formless, nameless, sweetness of Rama.
Rama, the purusha, accepts prakriti, Sita, and enacts the play, Ramayana. Sita is Brahma-chaitanya, (consciousness) and prakriti or maya activates the pure existence of Brahman [supreme reality]. Now, see what happens! Brahmajnana (knowledge of supreme reality) is lost and Rama wanders about in the jungle, wailing for Her. Of course, Lakshmana [Rama’s younger brother] or manas (mind) is always with Him, for manas is the instrument that helps achieve liberation. Vali [king of the monkeys] is the spirit of despair, and he has to be overcome with the help of discriminatory wisdom or viveka, viz., Sugriva [younger brother of Vali].
Ramayana is in everyone’s life
You see, it is viveka that sends emissaries to the various corners to discover where Brahmajnana is available. Hanuman is courage. Courage, won through unflinching faith, alone can penetrate the darkness and bring the good news of the dawn. Then, Rama crosses the sea of illusion; He destroys the demon of tamoguna (quality of inertia), namely, Kumbhakarna [Ravana’s brother]; the demon of rajoguna (emotional quality), namely Ravana; and He installs the satwaguna (quality of goodness), Vibhishana [another brother of Ravana], on the throne. After this, Rama meets and receives Sita, who has now become anubhava-jnana (knowledge derived from experience), and not just merely brahmajnana. This process is represented by the pattabhisheka (coronation).
The Ramayana is therefore not a story that has an end. In each one’s life, there is a Ramayana being gone through: in the gunas [qualities], the indriyas (the senses), the search, and the sadhana. Rama is the son of Dasaratha—one with the ten chariots. What do you think are these ten chariots? They are the senses, the five karmendriyas (sense organs of action) and the five jnanendriyas (organs of perception). Sathya, dharma, shanti, and prema are the four sons; of which Rama is sathya; Bharatha is dharma; Lakshmana is prema and Shatrughna is shanti.
Take as your ideals these great characters depicted in the Ramayana. You will see how your life is filled with peace and joy if you [choose to] dwell with these ideals. The Ramayana in the heart is to be experienced; not investigated as a mental phenomenon. As you go on reading and ruminating, you will realize in a flash the inner meaning when the mind is cleansed by the elevating ideas therein.
Do not exaggerate the importance of material things; they fade, even while you grasp them by the hand. Search for the sat—that which suffers no change. Search for the chit—the state of consciousness, which is pure, unaffected by gusts of passion, and free from egoism or the desire to possess. Then alone can you experience the light, and illumine the path for others. Search for ananda, the ananda that emanates from prema, love with no blemish of attachment. Be like bees hovering over the flower of the glory of the Lord, sucking the sweet nectar of grace, silently and joyfully.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 2
