The Rama Story is Ours

In the following discourse, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba explains how we, the aspirants, should relate the story of Ramayana to our own lives. We should learn the lessons and use them to deal with our daily situations.

The five basic elements that compose the universe are recognized by the sense organs as sound, touch, form, taste and smell. The response of a person to these senses can be either pleasure or pain, beneficent or lack of benefit. It depends on how, and in what spirit, they are welcomed and accepted.

Man has three tools to handle the senses—body, speech and mind. Through them, he is capable of deed, word and thought. The body is essential for every act and achievement. “Man is human because of the body. It is the first requisite for moral living.” Man has been blessed with a body so that he may realize the purpose of life—revering elders, serving parents, and loving God. The body must be  sanctified through studying scriptural texts and the lives of holy people. Further, it may become pure and sacred by promoting the happiness of others and earning the affection and ap­preciation of all.

Speech is the second tool. It may be sanctified by adherence to truth and love and by avoiding violence. Speech must be free of harshness and frenzy. It must be soft, soaked in love and pleasing. Words must be so sweet that the listener wants to hear them more often. He would love to bring them back to memory in order to relive joyous moments.

Man’s ten “senses” pester him

The third tool is the mind. Persistent effort is necessary to sanctify the mind. It is named manah since it is always busy with recapitulation (manana) of the past, confronting the present, and planning for the future. It alternates between likes and dislikes, yes and no. It is carried away by fits of passion or panic. It must be curbed and cured by patient persuasion. Above all, a person needs to keep the mind from catering to the greedy senses, a practice through which one can lose health and happiness. The mind is de­scribed as the “husband” (pathi) of the senses (indriyas). Dasaratha allowed one of his three wives to lead him so far astray that he forfeited his life. Man has ten indriyas to pester him. If his mind yields to their demands, woe be to him.

The tongue demands, “Bring me tasty delicacies or I won’t speak to you.” Ear says, “Bring me pleasant music and delightful conversation or I will remain deaf.” Eye is adamant. She shouts, “Show me some fine films, video tapes or television pro­grams. Otherwise, I will no longer stay in this house.” The poor mind is tormented by every sense organ. The mind becomes feeble, faint and stunted.

Controlled mind becomes a sacred tool

The mind must be saved from becoming a slave to the senses. The master should never allow himself to be the servant of his servants. The mind has been provided with a master. But it ignores him when it chooses degrad­ing subservience to the senses. The master is intelligence (buddhi), the faculty of discrimination. When controlled and directed by this faculty, the mind becomes a sacred tool.

Today, the birth of Sri Rama is celebrated in all lands. For Rama, all deeds, words and thoughts, body, speech and mind were ever pure, totally free of blemish. In reality, one should revere the story of Rama as a profound allegory. Every act and actor in that story attracts attention and becomes im­printed on the memory because the allegory is personal to each of us.

Consider Dasaratha, the ten-chariot king. He represents the human body with five senses of percep­tion and five sense organs of action. He has three wives—the three gunas (dispositions), sathva (purity), rajas (activity) and tamas (dullness)—named Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. He has four sons who embody the four goals of human life, dharma (righteousness), artha (acquisition of wealth), kama (lust) and moksha (liberation). Rama is the very embodiment of dharma.The other three goals can be achieved only by steady adherence to dharma. We find, therefore, the brothers Lakshmana, Bharatha and Satrughna following the footsteps of Rama.

Rama mustered so much spiritual strength through his consistent observance of dharma, that he could wield and bend the mighty bow, Shivadhanus. That was proof that the jivi (individual) had overcome delusion. Janaka, the ruler of Videha, had the bow in his custody. He was on the lookout fora hero who had mastered the fatal flaw.

Supreme wisdom cannot coexist with duality

A story tells that Janaka, the Videhi (ruler of Videha, or “without body-conscious­ness”), offered his daughter Sita (the awareness of Brahman) to Rama. Marrying Sita is another way of saying “acquiring supreme wisdom.” As the story goes, Sita came “from a furrow on the Earth.” In other words, she came from prakriti (nature). This statement reveals that brahmajnana (supreme wisdom) can be won by meaningful involvement with nature.

The next stage in the career of Rama finds him in the thick jungle of life, a jungle infested with attractions and aversions. The supreme wisdom cannot coexist with duality. It insists on the renunciation of both aspects. Rama pursued the golden deer that Sita longed to possess. Brahmajnanam disappeared as a consequence of this lapse.

Rama (the representative jivi) had to undergo many spiri­tual austerities to regain supreme enlightenment. According to the story, he reached the Rsyamuka peak, the abode of total detachment. There he secured two allies, Sugriva (discrimination) and Hanuman (courage). The alliance was sealed by an act of service from Rama, which indicated his loyalty to dharma under all conditions. He slew Vali, the vi­cious victim of wickedness. Vali had dethroned his father, forced him to take refuge in the jungles, associated with Ravana of evil fame, and ill-treated his brother Sugriva for no reason at all. Vali fell so low because of the company he preferred to keep. His actions serve as a warning to everyone. Einstein said, “Tell me the company you keep. I will tell you what you are.”

Ramayana in real life of every aspirant

Rama installed viveka (discrimination) on the throne of Vali. With his al­lies, he entered upon the quest for the wisdom he had lost. Across his path he found a wide ocean of moha (delusion). His ally, Hanuman (courage), had a vision, unclouded by de­sire or ignorance. His only desire was fixed on the name of Rama and the form of Rama. Thus, he was able to leap safely across the ocean.

Rama reached the other shore. He slew Ravana, the em­bodiment of the rajasic (passionate, impulsive, and possessive) traits and his brother, Kumbhakarna, the embodiment of the tamasic (dull, self-destructive, and lethargic) traits. Rama recovered Sita (brahmnajnana),now confirmed by striv­ing and struggling, and more convincingly precious as a result of constant meditation. Rama returned with her to Ayodhya (the impregnable city, the source and spring of wisdom). The consummation of the soul’s journey is the coronation (maha-pattabhishekam).

This is the Ramayana which needs to be gone through during the lifetime of every aspirant. The heart is the Ayodhya. Dasaratha is the body, the gunas are the consorts, thepurusharthas (goals of life) are the sons, Sita is wisdom. Attain this realization by purifying the three tools—body, speech and mind.

Hanuman’s greatness

Hanuman is the brightest example of such a realized soul. When he first presented himself before Rama and offered his services, Rama turned to Lakshmana and said, “Brother, listen. Notice how Hanuman has mastered the Vedas. His speech is saturated with the humility and dedication which the Rig Vedaembodies, the retentiveness and reverence that the Yajur Vedapromotes and the intuitive vision that the Samna Vedagrants. Hanuman knows all the scriptural texts. He is a genuine devotee. Sugriva is fortunate to have him as his minis­ter—Hanuman, whose thoughts, words and deeds are offered to God.” When these three are in perfect harmony, the person wins the grace of God in the same way that Hanuman succeeded.

Sugriva stumbled in the sadhana (spiritual discipline). He failed to keep his word. He had not commandeered his forces, though the rainy season had ended. So Lakshmana vented his anger at his in­gratitude and inequity. “You can never cleanse yourselves of the sin of ungratefulness and breach of promise. Your conduct is so reprehensible that even vultures will desist from feeding on your corpse.” When the terrified culprit fell at the feet of Rama to seek pardon, Rama said, “Lakshmana. Safe and happy on his throne, Sugriva is blinded by pride, power and ignorance. Misery alone can open the eyes of people to the val­ues they have neglected. He has been holding onto the trivial and the temporary which intoxicate man with fleeting joys. How can such a person follow the path of dharma?” Hanuman, who heard this compassionate reaction, returned with Sugriva and advised him to repent and reaffirm his recti­tude and thankfulness. One has to recognize one’s faults and remedy their consequences by sincere self-examination and repentance.

It is often said that Rama followed dharma at all times. This is not an accurate way to describe him. He did not fol­low dharma; he was dharma. What he thought, spoke and did was dharma, and is dharma forever.

Purify speech by adhering to truth

The recitation of Ramayana verses or listening to the ex­position of the verses transforms a person into an embodiment of dharma. Every word, thought and deed must exemplify that ideal. Sraddha (steady faith) in Rama, Ramayana and oneself is essential to success. The aim is to become good and help others to unfold their good­ness. The goal is also to be totally human with every value expanded to the utmost and to promote those traits in society in order to help others.

Purify the body by means of holy activity. Purify speech by adhering to truth, love and sympathy. Purify the mind by not yielding to the clamor of the senses and the desires they breed. The tragic truth is that learned people do not accept any moral responsibility these days. Therefore, the world is en­veloped in fear because people whose thoughts, words and deeds are dominated by inhuman motives have gained control over science and technology.

The senses supply material to the mind. The mind is a by­product of the ego. The ego is a reflection of the atma (the soul). The atma is a wave of the paramatma (the universal consciousness). Everyone must trace the ego to its spiritual origins and direct his or her life along the lines of that heritage.

Source: “The Rama Story is Ours,”
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. XIX