DOTW:spiritual growth from Ramayan

Wow !!! fabulous topic rajnish !!!

Rajnish the whole credit of posting this topic goes to you only !! only you can think abt this wonderful topic ,superb points u hv put up for the discussion !!!!

Very well written !!

Truly appreciate your hardwork rajnish !!!!

Ok slowly I wud put my views at this thread !!!

I am typing the whole article from my news paper THE TIMES OF INDIA from the spiritual tree section !! this article is about RAMAYAN ,written by Kishore Asthana (Thursday,OCT9,2008)

Here it is----

AN Epic That Entertains Informs And Elevates

Rama is a symbol of our soul .Ramayan is Ram +Aryan.It means the journey of Rama,symbolizing the way our soul advances .Rama like our soul ,is without faults and is of divine origin,having been born as a blessing of the divine nectar given by the Gods to King Dashrath as a result of the putrakameshthi yagna performe by him .Rama is an incarnation of LORD Vishnu ,that virtual part of parmatma,the ultimate soul or power which sustains creation .Rama is blue hued as blue signifies eternity.

The soul entity does not usually take birth by itself ,it is an accompanied by other fellow souls who are also of divine origin .Rama's brother Lakshmana is one such ,he accompanies Rama into exile . Bharata & Shatrughana ,the other two elements of the soul entity ,stay behind & take care of the kingdom in Rama's name .

The soul is wedded to the body ,symbolized by SITA .SITA is considered the daughter of mother Earth ,as she was found by Janaka ,king of Mithila,in a furrow in a field & raised by him & his wife Sunaina .Our bodies too ,are made of the elements provided by the Earth .

As a step in Rama's journey through life ,he is sent into exile .Indeed ,the very birth of the soul in physical form can be considered an exile for the soul .during his exile he is accompanied by his wife ,as indeed ,the soul is accompanied by the body during our time on EARTH .

While here ,the body often desires riches and beautiful objects .The GOLDEN DEER is symbolic of these objects of desires .In pursuit of these ,Sita gets kidnapped by Ravana,the symbol of our mind.Some think that the 10 heads symbolize the five senese organs and the five motor (or cognitive) organs of the human body described in the Vedas .

Ravana's heads symbolize the tendencies of our mind .Our mind is clever and powerful like Ravan and can be demonic like him ,too.It is related to Kumbhkaran ,the embodiment of gluttony and sloth.It is related to Vibhishana too,the part of our mind which leaves behind it's demonic origin to take the side of the good .

Our mind has many "heads" and it is not possible to kill them one at a time ,for the moment one head is removed another takes it's place .We have to remove all the tendencies of the mind at one go and overcome the mind in order to regain our divine palce .

To get Sita back from Ravana ,Rama is helped by Hanuman and his vanar sena .He is helped too ,by the bear army under Jamvant .These represents the forces of nature ,which come to the aid of those who dare .Some of these forces are malevolent,too like Sugreev's brother Bali.

The divine in us helps us overcome forces of evil ,too.

When Sita goes through the test of fire-agnipareeksha---it is only symbolic of the body that is burnt once the self overcomes the mind.Rama's journey is complete and his exile is over.

With so many plots and sub-plots ,underlying themes and messages and interesting characters ,the stories of the RAMAYAN continue to engage us,with its many intepre-tations & versions ,the epic means different things to different people ,rich in content and symbolism .

Originally posted by: sita11

Wow !!! fabulous topic rajnish !!!

Rajnish the whole credit of posting this topic goes to you only !! only you can think abt this wonderful topic ,superb points u hv put up for the discussion !!!!

Very well written !!

Truly appreciate your hardwork rajnish !!!!

DON'T WORRY everyone wud reply wen they come to the forum .

Ok slowly I wud put my views at this thread !!!

I am typing the whole article from my news paper THE TIMES OF INDIA from the spiritual tree section !! this article is about RAMAYAN ,written by Kishore Asthana (Thursday,OCT9,2008)

Here it is----

AN Epic That Entertains Informs And Elevates

Rama is a symbol of our soul .Ramayan is Ram +Aryan.It means the journey of Rama,symbolizing the way our soul advances .Rama like our soul ,is without faults and is of divine origin,having been born as a blessing of the divine nectar given by the Gods to King Dashrath as a result of the putrakameshthi yagna performe by him .Rama is an incarnation of LORD Vishnu ,that virtual part of parmatma,the ultimate soul or power which sustains creation .Rama is blue hued as blue signifies eternity.

The soul entity does not usually take birth by itself ,it is an accompanied by other fellow souls who are also of divine origin .Rama's brother Lakshmana is one such ,he accompanies Rama into exile . Bharata & Shatrughana ,the other two elements of the soul entity ,stay behind & take care of the kingdom in Rama's name .

The soul is wedded to the body ,symbolized by SITA .SITA is considered the daughter of mother Earth ,as she was found by Janaka ,king of Mithila,in a furrow in a field & raised by him & his wife Sunaina .Our bodies too ,are made of the elements provided by the Earth .

As a step in Rama's journey through life ,he is sent into exile .Indeed ,the very birth of the soul in physical form can be considered an exile for the soul .during his exile he is accompanied by his wife ,as indeed ,the soul is accompanied by the body during our time on EARTH .

While here ,the body often desires riches and beautiful objects .The GOLDEN DEER is symbolic of these objects of desires .In pursuit of these ,Sita gets kidnapped by Ravana,the symbol of our mind.Some think that the 10 heads symbolize the five senese organs and the five motor (or cognitive) organs of the human body described in the Vedas .

Ravana's heads symbolize the tendencies of our mind .Our mind is clever and powerful like Ravan and can be demonic like him ,too.It is related to Kumbhkaran ,the embodiment of gluttony and sloth.It is related to Vibhishana too,the part of our mind which leaves behind it's demonic origin to take the side of the good .

Our mind has many "heads" and it is not possible to kill them one at a time ,for the moment one head is removed another takes it's place .We have to remove all the tendencies of the mind at one go and overcome the mind in order to regain our divine palce .

To get Sita back from Ravana ,Rama is helped by Hanuman and his vanar sena .He is helped too ,by the bear army under Jamvant .These represents the forces of nature ,which come to the aid of those who dare .Some of these forces are malevolent,too like Sugreev's brother Bali.

The divine in us helps us overcome forces of evil ,too.

When Sita goes through the test of fire-agnipareeksha---it is only symbolic of the body that is burnt once the self overcomes the mind.Rama's journey is complete and his exile is over.

With so many plots and sub-plots ,underlying themes and messages and interesting characters ,the stories of the RAMAYAN continue to engage us,with its many intepre-tations & versions ,the epic means different things to different people ,rich in content and symbolism .

Originally posted by: sita11

Wow !!! fabulous topic rajnish !!!

Rajnish the whole credit of posting this topic goes to you only !! only you can think abt this wonderful topic ,superb points u hv put up for the discussion !!!!

Very well written !!

Truly appreciate your hardwork rajnish !!!!

DON'T WORRY everyone wud reply wen they come to the forum .

Ok slowly I wud put my views at this thread !!!

I am typing the whole article from my news paper THE TIMES OF INDIA from the spiritual tree section !! this article is about RAMAYAN ,written by Kishore Asthana (Thursday,OCT9,2008)

Here it is----

AN Epic That Entertains Informs And Elevates

Rama is a symbol of our soul .Ramayan is Ram +Aryan.It means the journey of Rama,symbolizing the way our soul advances .Rama like our soul ,is without faults and is of divine origin,having been born as a blessing of the divine nectar given by the Gods to King Dashrath as a result of the putrakameshthi yagna performe by him .Rama is an incarnation of LORD Vishnu ,that virtual part of parmatma,the ultimate soul or power which sustains creation .Rama is blue hued as blue signifies eternity.

The soul entity does not usually take birth by itself ,it is an accompanied by other fellow souls who are also of divine origin .Rama's brother Lakshmana is one such ,he accompanies Rama into exile . Bharata & Shatrughana ,the other two elements of the soul entity ,stay behind & take care of the kingdom in Rama's name .

The soul is wedded to the body ,symbolized by SITA .SITA is considered the daughter of mother Earth ,as she was found by Janaka ,king of Mithila,in a furrow in a field & raised by him & his wife Sunaina .Our bodies too ,are made of the elements provided by the Earth .

As a step in Rama's journey through life ,he is sent into exile .Indeed ,the very birth of the soul in physical form can be considered an exile for the soul .during his exile he is accompanied by his wife ,as indeed ,the soul is accompanied by the body during our time on EARTH .

While here ,the body often desires riches and beautiful objects .The GOLDEN DEER is symbolic of these objects of desires .In pursuit of these ,Sita gets kidnapped by Ravana,the symbol of our mind.Some think that the 10 heads symbolize the five senese organs and the five motor (or cognitive) organs of the human body described in the Vedas .

Ravana's heads symbolize the tendencies of our mind .Our mind is clever and powerful like Ravan and can be demonic like him ,too.It is related to Kumbhkaran ,the embodiment of gluttony and sloth.It is related to Vibhishana too,the part of our mind which leaves behind it's demonic origin to take the side of the good .

Our mind has many "heads" and it is not possible to kill them one at a time ,for the moment one head is removed another takes it's place .We have to remove all the tendencies of the mind at one go and overcome the mind in order to regain our divine palce .

To get Sita back from Ravana ,Rama is helped by Hanuman and his vanar sena .He is helped too ,by the bear army under Jamvant .These represents the forces of nature ,which come to the aid of those who dare .Some of these forces are malevolent,too like Sugreev's brother Bali.

The divine in us helps us overcome forces of evil ,too.

When Sita goes through the test of fire-agnipareeksha---it is only symbolic of the body that is burnt once the self overcomes the mind.Rama's journey is complete and his exile is over.

With so many plots and sub-plots ,underlying themes and messages and interesting characters ,the stories of the RAMAYAN continue to engage us,with its many intepre-tations & versions ,the epic means different things to different people ,rich in content and symbolism .

Originally posted by: coolpurvi

I m attempting to anwser ur questions in brown

1. We need them to have the better understanding of the world around us. They help us to grow intellectually. None of us r perfect. They help us to be optimistic n active. They r like teachers n parents. For example Geeta teaches us not to run away from our reponsibilites. Being a sanyasi is not the only way to realise God. We shud try to make ourself good, honest n helpful n shud constantly dilute our ego in His devotion. They teach us to be practical, active, good n they give us a meantal bliss-- that's the practical use of epics

I m law student. I read that religion n epics r also sources of law (especialy personal law). Because in earlier times law n religion were same. This is one more practical use of epics. Many modern jurisprudential concepts had their foundation in our ancient scriptures

2. There is so much to learn fom every character. I'll post abt it later in detail.Most imp thing they teach is giving more importance to duties than rights. Lord Ram teaches to control our anger using Buddhi (intellect) n vivek (right judgment).