? The Essence of Ramayana ?

"RAMA" itself means "Sarveshu Ramante iti Ramah" - that which revels in everyone
of us, the pure light of Consciousness, the Atman, the Self, the Atma Rama. The
Spiritual essence in us, can come out only as a son of Dasaratha, One who has c
onquered all the ten indriyas - 5 gyanendriyas and 5 karmendriyas. It will be bo
rn in you and reborn only in Ayodhya (Yuddha means conflict, Ayodhya means where
there is no conflict, meaning, where all conflict has ended). In that Ayodhya w
hich is ruled only by the self-controlled man (the one given to self-indulgence
and pleasures can have no peace and tranquility) Dasaratha's son Rama is born. T
his Rama, the pure self, cannot enter into any active participation in life unle
ss wedded to the mind.
Seeta (the mind) is ready, She is not born to Janaka by Wedlock. While ploughing
the land, he finds Seeta. The mind appeared from the most inappropriate place e
ver. It is absurd to enquire deep into this. Later you find that the same Seeta
disappears into Mother Earth. From mother Earth she came, to mother Earth she we
nt back. From where the mind comes, and where it disappears during Samadhi nobod
y can tell. This is Maya. Wedded to the mind when Rama returns, he finds that he
cannot live in Ayodhya. For, once the mind has come, you start expressing throu
gh it. You had to enter the forest of life, self-exiled as it were. So long as S
eeta was looking up to Rama, living in Rama, for Rama, by Rama, she never found
any difference between Ayodhya and a jungle. But how long can the mind remain co
nstantly centered in the higher divine potential in us? It has to become extrove
rt, And this is just what happened the moment Seeta looked away from Rama. The g
older deer was noticed, The finite, ephemeral, ever-changing objects, start pull
ing you towards them. The mind demands them. Once desire polluted, you fall. Whe
n Rama goes, he winks at Lakshmana, and they both understand that the poor delud
ed girl is suffering. Seeta is left in Lakshmana's Charge.
Lakshmana represents Tapas (austerity). He had no reason to to the jungle. But h
e left of his own accord, and he lives in perfect brahmacharya, even without sle
ep. It is perfect Tapas. But then, one cannot live in tapas. The delusion of the
other world will force you to give it up. The moment Seeta hears the sound of R
ama's voice, she forgets Rama's glory and might and becomes anxious about his sa
fety. She even urges Lakshmana to go to her husband's aid. Once desire enters yo
ur bosom, as an ordinary individual you cannot constantly live in tapas. But you
can at least draw a line, thus far and no further. But once tapas has been give
n up, such lines are of no use. You readily step over them. And when you do this
instead of Dasaratha, you are confronted by Dasamukha, the opposite character.
The latter is an extrovert as the former is self-controlled. 5 Gyanendriyas and
5 Karmendriyas together constitute the Dasamukha. A totally extrovert man lives
in the flesh. Such a man is a sensualist and a total extrovert. Materially he ca
n become great as did Ravana who ruled over a prosperous land, Lanka. Compared t
o this land, Ayodhya was under-developed and village like. Seeta realised that s
he had fallen down and to prevent a further fall, she firmly said 'No' to Ravana
and remainded in the garden under an Ashoka Tree. Soka means Dukha i.e sorrow,
Ashoka therefore meand 'not dhuka' (devoid of sorrow). You & I will have sorrow,
but we do not recognize it. This is the 'Ashoka' state. Under the tree of non-r
ecognition of sorrows, when we want to remain steadfast in character, we will do
ubtless be tempted and put to a lot in strain. But in that Ashoka attitude, we s
hould remain steadfast, constantly remembering Rama. The spiritual essence in ma
n can kill and destroy Ravana, the ten-headed monstrocity of extrovertedness. It
can do it with the army of monkeys. The monkey has 2 qualities - Asthiratwa and
Chanchalatwa - Instability & Restlessness. The thoughts in the human mind have
these two qualities. They cannot remain sthira - stable. The monkey cannot remai
n on one branch, it jumps from one branch to another and from one tree to tree.
If it gets tired and sits on a tree, it will still be restless, and scratch all
over. Thus, it cannot even keep quiet even for a minute. So too, our thoughts. T
hey can never remain quiet, but keep jumping from topic to topic. The army of th
oughts is to be controlled. But at this moment, Vali-who stands for lust - contr
ols them. This has to be destroyed. And how? It can be only done from behind, an
d not from the front. It is like a person wanting to curb his desire for alcohol

. He cannot do it by sitting before the bottle; for the moment he does this, not
only is half the strength gone, but the pull of the bottle is three times as st
rong. Hence every time it is your lust that wins, and not you. So, if ever you w
ant to conquer this lust, you have to shoot it from behind the tree. Vali has su
ch great power, that any time an enemy approached him, half the strength of the
enemy would drain away and Vali himself would become three times stronger. So, R
ama had to kill him from behind. To whom should he then give the kingship of the
monkey clan - the thoughts? To whom better than Sugreeva? 'Greeva' means reins,
'Sugreeva' means well-reined, i.er well-controlled. When the thoughts are under
one's control, the army is then available to cross the frontiers and reach Lank
a to kill the ten headed monster and bring Seeta back. Jai Shri Rama
-Swami Chinmayananda