The Ramayana Family

On Ramnavami day in April 1971, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba spoke about the values and ideals that are depicted in the Ramayana [scripture] and urged that we should follow them to make our life happy and content. This year it falls on April 12.

The Ramayana is the very life‑blood of the Bharatiyas [Indians]. Until a few years ago, it was difficult to find across India, a village without a temple dedicated to Rama, a home where a picture of Rama was not adored, or a tongue on which the name of Rama did not dance. The entire country was saturated with the fragrance of Rama. Such a fortunate land has degenerated in recent times into a region contaminated with kama (lust). On the other hand, seek to be filled with Rama, and, you will be saved instead of being tainted by kama.

In the Treta Age [one of the four historical ages], the formless, attributeless principle of existence‑knowledge-bliss was so overcome with compassion that It assumed the human form as the very embodiment of dharma [righteousness]; in the process, It, demonstrated various examples of righteous conduct, re‑establishing the supremacy of dharma and its inherent might before merging into the Absolute from which It had appeared.

The Vedas [scriptures] call the Divine Madhava, ma meaning maya [illusion] and dhava meaning Lord. That is to say, He is the master of all that is born and therefore dies, changes and is therefore, false. Life and death are a part of maya (delusion), of which He is sovereign. So, all who are bound by this dual chain have to be loyal to God, and pay homage to Him, and obey His order. That is the path to happiness. But the agent of maya that is in the human, namely the mind, does not usually help him in this endeavor. Instead, the mind runs after the shadow, the reflection, and the glitter while discarding the gold. The mind tends to run through the senses into the outer world and neglects the call of reason for discriminating analysis and renunciation. Man is thus living a life far below the level that he can attain and enjoy.

Tread the path of truth

To meet a person living on the 10th floor, you have to go up nine floors. To experience the joy of being with Madhava (God), you have to rise to that level of purity, love, truth, and peace. Be compassionate; love all; serve all; do your duty sincerely and with joy; be good, do good, and thus deserve God. Rama will be pleased when you tread the path of truth for that is the path laid down by Him. A cursory reading of the Ramayana will give you only the husk; the kernel can reveal itself only when you reflect over each word and incident. Indian culture has always encouraged this reflection on the meanings of symbols, parables, and names. It is stated, “Dasaratha had four sons: Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna.” Well. Who is the Dasaratha? Which kingdom was he ruling over? If in some city called Ayodhya, there was once a ruler named Dasaratha, and he had a son called Rama, how are we related to that episode? Why should we celebrate that event at this later time and space?

Live with the three gunas

When you go deeper into the story, you will realize that Dasaratha is not the ruler of a far‑off land, that his capital city is not on the map of Northern India, and that the four brothers are not people who lived and passed away. Ayodhya refers to a city that is unconquerable, and into which the enemy cannot penetrate as it is an impregnable fortress. It represents the atma [soul], the spiritual heart where the Lord resides, and which is proof against temptations, the subtle foes of passion, emotion, impulse, and instinct. And Dasaratha? The person who has as his ratha (chariot) the 10 entities namely, the body with the five senses of action and the five senses of knowledge. He married three brides, this individual who is the symbol of all individuals.

Now, though each married man may have a wife with a physical existence of her own, he has also wedded to him, inseparable from him, till death ‘do separate,’ three attributes: satwa, rajas, and tamas, the three natures—balanced, passionate, and dull. The three queens represent these gunas [attributes]—Kaushalya [Rama’s mother], the satwic (balanced) guna; Sumitra [Rama’s step-mother], the rajas (the passionate, active); and Kaikye [His second step-mother], the tamasic (ignorant, undiscriminating).

No one can escape living with these three gunas, and experiencing the varied reactions, which that contact involves. In due course, the yearning arose in the mind that it must have a master whom it can obey and revere. The agony became so acute that the Transcendent Divine actualized itself in grace that took the form of payasam (rice pudding), brought by a messenger of God from the sacrificial fire. That gift of grace was shared by the three gunas (qualities) and four sons were born, representing dharma, artha, kama, and moksha (namely virtue, wealth, desire‑fulfilment, and liberation), the four prime ends of man. Rama, the eldest, is dharma, and the other three stand for the remaining virtues.

You will have to sacrifice a great deal for dharma to be born in your heart. That is why Dasaratha had to do the Puthrakaameshtiyaga (a great sacrifice for obtaining sons). The Divine is the very embodiment of dharma, and it is only by means of dharma that He can be worshipped. And dharma is a garland of the flowers of holy deeds, holy words, and holy thoughts. Earn the reputation of being good, serviceable, and efficient in doing good. Children who do not render their parents happy by such good conduct are remembered by their mothers only through the pain they gave them at birth.

Acts reflect Divine splendor

At the present time, everyone is moaning about loss of peace, security, and happiness. There is a loud clamor from all the quarters. But no one seeks to discover why this tragedy has taken place. The reason is this: what has to be done is not being done; and what has to be observed is not being observed. There is no co‑ordination between what is said and what is done. Hypocrisy is rampant in the homes, villages, offices, and council‑halls of the nation. Hypocrisy is even affecting high levels in the spiritual field. Those who turn beads with God’s name on their lips are engaged in ungodly pursuits. With the Bhagavad-Gita [scripture] in their hands, people scandalize and hatch evil plots. With rosaries on their fingers, they fume at servants, losing temper on the slightest pretext. This is not a spiritual vow, and does not reflect discipline of the spirit.

The bhakta [devotee] who poses to be sincere has to exercise constant vigilance and practise the discipline of being ever in the Divine presence. God who is now dormant in your consciousness has to be recognized and made resurgent so that every act of yours reflects the divine splendor. Vyakta means patent; and, the individual man is called vyakti in Sanskrit for he has to make patent the latent Divine.

Ramayana exemplifies ideals

When you have achieved the consciousness that God is in you, with you, and for you, that awareness must re‑shape every thought, word, and deed, and make you wish good, speak good, and do good. Men who have ostensibly dedicated themselves to the religious discipline are only play actors strutting on the stage of the world. Others wear their devotion very thin; the smallest trouble or disappointment turns them against faith in God. But real devotion has to withstand whatever misfortune may bring.

Just consider the series of ideal examples that the Ramayana provides: the family of Rama is itself an invaluable gallery of supreme dharma. When a son is as loyal as Rama, accepting even exile as his father’s will, and walking into the forest as gladly as he moved toward the throne for his coronation, he will be the ideal son, indeed. Consider how that great lady, Sita, revered her husband as her Lord and God, and herself persuaded him to take her with Him into exile in the forest, braving all the deprivations in her desire to be by his side. If all wives were so steadfast and loyal and loving as Sita, India will certainly be full of happy homes resounding with hearty joy of contentment. Every door will be green with festoons.

As for brothers, who can equal Lakshmana or Bharata? Bharata’s mother had secured the throne of the vast empire for him, but he spurned it since it rightfully belonged to the eldest of the brothers—Rama. Today, everyone is struggling to secure positions of authority by hook or crook. But, here is an example of a man who gave up what was very correctly won for him by his own mother from his own father so that the person to whom it morally belonged might return from exile to receive it and enjoy the status and power!.And, as for Lakshmana, he forsook food and sleep in order to stand guard over his brother and sister‑in‑law in the thickest jungle; he surrendered his will fully and gladly at the feet of his brother.

Examples of renunciation

How about the women? When Lakshmana went to his mother, Sumitra, to take her blessings before accompanying Rama into exile, she did not argue and say, “Why should you go? Your father has not asked you to leave. Stay on and be happy in the palace and make me and your newly-wedded bride happy.” Instead, she said, “Son! Do not imagine that you are leaving for the forest and the rest of us are in the city of Ayodhya. Without Rama, this city is the jungle; with Him, the jungle is Ayodhya.” What did Urmila, the young wife, tell her husband, Lakshmana? She did not plead for permission to accompany her husband as Sita did, and for very good reason, too. She said, “If I come, you will not be able to pay undivided attention to the service of Rama and Sita. I shall remain here awaiting your arrival after 14 years!” What a grand example of renunciation is this! If in each family we have such sons, mothers, brothers, and wives, the land will have no anxiety or sorrow. It will be resplendent with joy and peace.

Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 11