At a time when Hillary Clinton is the first female candidate to be nominated for the presidency by a major political party, we must remember that the Ramayana is Sita’s story too.ĭiwali, Mr. Trump trying to win over American’s Hindu audience, this may be the time to reframe the Ramayana as not just a tale of masculine courage, but also as a story that emphasizes our very contemporary need to respect a woman’s dignity.
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The Ramayana is no fairy tale that ends with a prince rescuing a princess to live happily after. We tell comfortably familiar stories-but we don’t talk about the long years of silence that Sita endured. Our deities are not always perfect, but good always triumphs over evil, just as the warm glow of the oil lamps pierce through the dark night. The stories Hindus tell our children are sprawling sagas of gods and goddesses who become mortals to fight demons-their power, their grace, their fights, their mistakes, and their mischief. In this age-old epic, it is made very clear that even the most patient of women have their limits. In the Ramayana, the parting of the ground symbolizes the cracking of Sita’s patience. In the Hindu tradition, Mother Earth is the embodiment of endurance. Sita, obedient as ever, enters the flames. They do not touch her. If she emerges unscathed, Sita will be welcome back to the palace.
DEFINE RAMAYANA TRIAL
Rama, though happy to see her, once again asks Sita to prove her virtue by passing a trial by fire. In the little-celebrated final chapters of the Ramayana, Sita is reunited with Rama after several years. Up to this point, the Ramayana’s message of obedience is cloaked in a religious story that supports those with power, not those who question hierarchies. What we so often lose in the retelling is something much more powerful. “Toe the party line or face being cast out,” Ravana essentially tells his allies and subjects, much as a modern-day Trump tells his party leaders to support him or face the consequences. Vibhishana, the lone brother who questions Ravana and refuses to fight for him, is exiled. Ravana, meanwhile, forces his allies and soldiers to follow him into battle, even though fighting over a princess has little strategic value to the kingdom and would only bring mass suffering. Even today, kids are taught about this epic so that they can learn and inherit all the good lessons in life. The tale defines the ideal models of various relationships.
DEFINE RAMAYANA CODE
The lamps symbolize the victory of good over evil, and Hindus celebrate this story every year by lighting millions of them all over the world.īut what we don’t commonly share or celebrate is the continuation of the story. Ramayana, the mythological Hindu cult that defines the code of conduct (Dharma). It is said that Ayodhya’s citizens welcomed their prince home with thousands of glowing oil lamps on a moonless night. (The Ramayana is also the cautionary tale of a leader who caused the destruction of his kingdom because he refused to accept that he was wrong-something that may also sound familiar to Republicans in America today). Rama fights for Sita courageously, defeats Ravana, and rescues his wife.ĭiwali marks the day that Prince Rama triumphantly returns to his kingdom of Ayodhya with his wife. While in exile, Rama’s wife, Sita, is kidnapped by a fearsome king named Ravana. With the help of the prana, the mind got reunited with the soul, and the ego vanished.During the Diwali celebrations, Hindus retell the Ramayana as the story of Prince Rama, the Hindu god Vishnu in human form, who obeyed his father and left his kingdom to live in exile for 14 years. Now the soul cannot reach the mind on its own, it has to take the help of the breath – the prana. When the mind was stolen by Ravana (the ego) then the soul got restless. Your soul is Rama, your mind is Sita, your breath or life-force(prana) is Hanuman, your awareness is Laxmana and your ego is Ravana. It is said that the Ramayana is happening in your own body. The Ramayana is not just a story which happened long ago it has a philosophical, spiritual significance and a deep truth in it. When there is no conflict in our mind, then the radiance can dawn. Ayodhya means ‘a place where no war can happen’.
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When the ten are used skillfully, radiance is born within. The skillful rider of the ten chariots can give birth to Ram.
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The ten chariots symbolize the five sense organs and five organs of action. That which is radiant in every particle of the being is Rama. ‘Ra’ means light, ‘Ma’ means within me, in my heart. The words ‘rays’ and ‘radiance’ come from the Sanskrit root word ‘ra’. The Ramayana is not just a story which happened long ago it has a philosophical, spiritual significance and a deep truth in it.