Lessons from the Ramayana
Raghava Krishna is an alumnus of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute
of Higher Learning in Prasanthi Nilayam.
The great Indian epic Ramayana has been divided into Kandas or parts. Each Kanda has a great specialty, but of these Sundara Kanda has been given much importance. This Kanda describes how Hanuman was successful in finding Mother Sita. This incident holds the basis for a very important analogy on the spiritual path. Before Hanuman leaves in search of Sita, he realizes the depth of Rama’s grief. Rama was facing grief due to separation from Sita. He knows Hanuman’s capabilities. So before Hanuman leaves in search of mother Sita, Sri Rama pours out all His grief. He not only wants Hanuman to find Sita but also asks him to tell Sita that He would come and rescue.
When Hanuman reaches Lanka, he assures the same to Sita. Sita, too, pours out her grief and says, “Lanka has been definitely built of gold. It has all the pleasures of the three worlds; still there is no happiness. I am surrounded by rakshashis [female demons]. There is no clue as to when they will attack me. I can’t stay here any longer. S, please tell Sri Rama to come and save me as soon as possible.”
The important analogy is that the relationship between Sri Rama, Hanuman, and Sita is similar to that of a relationship between the almighty God, a teacher, and the student.
God Himself has created the world but is not happy at being separated from the student. So He sends the guru to the pupil to assure protection. The student is in the world filled with pleasures and is a prey to the rakshasas(demons in the form of evil temptations). So He asks the guru to inform the Lord of his grief and save him from the world. The guru in turn comes to the Lord and prays to Him on behalf of the pupil for protection. The Lord as promised saves the pupil.
In the Ramayana, for Sita, Hanuman acted as the guru—to understand, to share, to guide, and to assure. For us we have the Lord Himself as the guru. We must therefore realize our good fortune. If we pray with sincerity and love, the Lord will save us. It is high time we speed up our journey toward the Lord with sincerity and love. Why to speed up? Every one of us realizes that once we lose an opportunity it cannot be regained easily.
An incident from the Yuddha Kanda of Ramayana will prove my point. Sri Rama says to Lakshmana, “O Lakshmana, let us go and meet Ravana. He is on his deathbed.” Lakshmana and the others are taken aback. Where is the need for Sri Rama to meet Ravana? Sri Rama explains to Lakshmana, “Ravana is a great scholar and had immense valor. Today he is suffering on his deathbed. Let us know what mistake has brought him to this condition.”
Lakshmana thought that Sri Rama was joking. Sita’s abduction brought Ravana to his deathbed. When Sri Rama put the same question to Ravana, he, too, was surprised, but, thought a while and replied, “O Rama! I have committed two great mistakes in my life. First one was postponing the good deed and the second one is performing in advance a bad one. I always wanted to build a path to heaven from Lanka so that all who die in Lanka may go to heaven. I postponed it and today I am dying, and I will not be able to go to heaven. I knew wholeheartedly that abducting Sita was wrong, still I did it in haste. I did not pay heed to Vibhishana’s words. Today it has brought about my end.”
We must note the two mistakes so that we need not suffer afterwards. Let us not postpone doing good things. We say, “I will be good from tomorrow.” No, let us be good from now. Let us not make the mistake of losing this opportunity. I will now share a small experience of mine.
Once in Brindavan, Swami was asking a particular question every day to the brothers working in the hospital. The question was: “How many operations have been completed?” There was no reply. One day, I said to myself, “If Swami asks me this question, what reply will I give?” I did not know the answer. Swami came and said, “It is not important to perform an operation, we have to perform an operation on ourselves, so that the bad in us is removed and the good increases.” He walked a few steps and asked, “How many did you do?” I did not answer. I pray to Swami that the next time when Swami asks the same question I have an answer.
Source: Sai Nandana 2005 (80th Birthday Offering)
