Swetha Sundaram's Blog, page 14

Srimadh Bagawatham - Ramayanam Part 4

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramavataram-part-3.html
http://ritsin.com/the-ramayana-story-in-pictures-kishkindha-kand.html/
The Killing of Vali

Rama killed Vali. The name Vali means ‘one with tail’ whereas the name Sugreevan means ‘one with a good face’. Rama killing Vali denotes the Soma sacrifice. The Soma creeper is often called as the moon’s tail. Vali is the Soma creeper and Sugreevan is Agni. Rama offered soma creeper in the fire. This represents self-sacrifice. We must sacrifice ourselves and offer ourselves as oblation to the Supreme Brahman. In Ramayana, Vali is killed and Angada the son of Vali is made the crown prince. Angada can be seen as the self as well. The name Angada means ‘one who gives up his body’. Thus Angada is the liberated self who is in harmony with Paramatma because he offered himself as the oblation to Paramatma. Vali is the father and Angada is his son; it can be said that the son is an incarnation of the father i.e. both are the samejeevatma. Through the soma sacrifice, the self is not destroyed but exists in harmony with the Supreme Brahmam. Esoteric Meaning 1 of RamayanaSita Devi represents a soul (jeevatma); we are souls (Sita Devi is goddess Lakshmi; she is equal to lord Vishnu & she is not a jeevatma. This is just a representation). She is imprisoned in Sri Lanka just like we are imprisoned in our body. Sri Lanka is ruled by Ravana and he has 10 heads; our body is ruled by our mind controlled by the 10 sense organs (taste, smell, touch, hearing & sight plus there are sense organs part of the reproductory & excretory systems). The sense organs make us crave things which we should avoid. Ravana tried to entice Sita Devi by displaying his wealth & prowess but she ignored him; similarly we should ignore the stimuli from our sense organs and concentrate on God. Sri Lanka is surrounded by ocean to represent the ocean of samsara. Lord Rama is the only one who could come & rescue her; we can be rescued from our body & from samsara only by Lord Vishnu. Lord Hanuman acted as the messenger & conveyed Sita Devi’s plight to Lord Rama; he was instrumental in bringing Lord Rama to save Sita Devi. This shows that we need a good guru to convey our plight to Lord Vishnu and to convince the Lord to come and save us. Lord Rama selected Lord Hanuman as the messenger when He gave Lord Hanuman His ring to be given to Sita Piratti. Thus only the Acharyans who come in the Acharya Paramparai (lineage) selected/approved by Perumal have the capacity to save the jeevatmas.Ravana also represents Rajo Gunam, Kumbakaranan Tamo Gunam and Vibhishnazhwar Satva Gunam. Rajo and Tamo Gunam have to be destroyed in order for a jeevatma to attain Lord. Esoteric Meaning 2 of RamayanaFrom another angle, Ravana can be viewed as the soul and his ten heads as the ten sense organs. Sita Devi is Brahma Vidhya because She is the wife of Rama the Supreme Brahman. Ravana coveting Sita can be seen as him coveting the Supreme Brahman as Brahma Vidhya & Brahman always exist together. After receiving spiritual alms from Sita (Brahma Vidhya) he carries her away. He aims at the Supreme Brahman through Brahma Vidhya. He ignores the council of all others to give up Brahma Vidhya and installs Her in his heart. Hence Ravana is seen as a mumukshu, a soul seeking liberation. Killing Ravana’s son Indrajit represents the destruction of cunning and deceit arising in our mind. Killing Kumbakaranan represents destruction of Tamo Gunam i.e. lethargy and sluggishness. The destruction of Ravana’s army represent the destruction of all the jeevatmas accumulated Karma by Paramatma. In the end Ravana is freed from his body. Through Vaidehi (another name of Sita), he becomes Videha. Videha means without body and shows that he is liberated from his embodied state.Hence we must realize the Supreme Self as the soul of our selves. We should rely on the powers of Paramatma to defeat our internal enemies and to free us from samsara. This is the Vedantic meaning of Ramayana.

References: Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology by Narayan Aiyyangar  
Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramayanam-part-5.html

Srimadh Bagawatham - Ramavataram Part 3

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramayanam-part-2.html?view=flipcard
King Dasaratha is called so because he can ride his chariot with control in ten direction. The ten directions refers to the ten sense organs and Dasaratha is the jeevatma who has controlled the sense organs. This is revealed by Dasaratha assisting in the Deva-Asura war. The Devas are the sense organs while the Asuras are the bad inclinations which try to pull the Sense organs. Dasaratha is assisted by his wife Kaikeyi. Queen Kaikeyi acts as his charioteer. Queen Kaikeyi esoterically signifies budhi (intellect). King Dasaratha is the jeevatma. Such a jeevatma who has controlled his senses obtains the Supreme Lord as his son. Queen Kaikeyi under the influence of Mandara makes the king send his son Rama to the forest in exile.  Mandara is the bad company i.e asat sangam. The story merely shows that by keeping bad company the jeevatma’s budhi is corrupted. As the jeevatma is always knowledgeable and pure, the king is shown to plead with Kaikeyi. But in an embodied state, because of its past karmas, the jeevatma is influenced by budhi. The jeevatma moves away from Paramatma and Paramatma as antaryami goes to reside in the very deep part of the heart of the jeevatma which is not easily accessible to the jeevatma during meditation. The son is often shown as the reincarnation of a father in mythology as revealed in the story of Vali where Angada is the re-incarnation of Vali. Thus Bharata could be seen as the jeevatma Dasaratha. King Dasaratha repents his mistake of having listened to Kaikeyi and resurfaces as Bharathan. The jeevatma controls the budhi once again which had gone wayward. This is shown by Bharathan expressing his displeasure at his mother and refusing to accept the materialistic wealth in the form of the kingdom offered by his mother. The jeevatma now goes in search of Paramatma. It is not very easy to bring Paramatma back from the deep corner of the heart. Lord Rama gives His padukai to Bharathazhwan and asks him to worship the Padukai for 14 years. Lord Rama promises to return at the end of 14 years. The Padukais are the Lord’s devotees i.e. Bagawathas. By worshiping the Padukais, the jeevatma once again cultivates Sat-Sangam which eventually makes the jeevatma obtain the Lord from the deep inaccessible corner of the heart.Maricha the demon at Ravana’s bidding took the form of a golden deer to lure Rama away from Sita so that Ravana can kidnap Her. Maricha represents illusion of the senses. Maricha comes in the form of a deer because; the mirage is called as Mrigatrishna in Sanskrit. The illusions generated by our senses try to distance us from Paramatma.  Maricha can also be taken as the senses luring the jeevatma with materialistic worldly items. As long as the jeevatma turns a blind eye to these illusions and desires nothing other than Perumal, it always stays close to Him. The moment the jeevatma desires the worldly items, it is distanced from Perumal. Throughout Ramayana, Sage Valmiki has described the Lord’s pangs of separation but not many slokams about the way in which Piratti felt. This is because; it is the Lord who feels sad when a jeevatma is distanced from Him. He is the one who initiates the search to bring the jeevatma back under His care and protection.
The forest of Dandakaranyam is similar to our mind. The forest is home to both the Rishis & Rakshashas. Similarly our mind is home to both good & bad thoughts. The bad inclinations arising in our mind try to overpower the good thoughts. There is constant battle between good and evil within us. We do not have the power to defeat the evil but when we surrender to Paramatma he destroys our bad thoughts.
References: Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology by Narayan Aiyyangar 
Continued On:http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramayanam-part-4.html