RAMAYAN JOURNEY OF THE SOUL! - Page 4

We'll come to the topic at hand in a moment, but before that, a quick note on the purpose of divine play (leela) & its interpretations, and don't worry; it's not off-topic.

Start from Veds, go through entire Vedic literature, ask any number of God-realised bhakts, the question that why Shri Bhagwan manifests himself in Maayic realm, and you'll get only one answer – to help His bhakts who wish to reach him, but are yet to, in their bhakti sadhana. That involves many things – helping in Roop Dhyan, making Navdha bhakti sadhana easy, and so on. No point discussing those here, I mean, this is so satsang, for God's sake!!

But as Shri Krishna says, any action by him will be interpreted in four ways – his bhakts will interpret its divine, & therefore correct, meaning, while others, of either sattvic or rajsi or maayic intellects, will follow their intellect & interpret it accordingly. Thus, while the sole purpose of SitaRam appearing here is to provide help & bliss to their bhakts, but go and ask a person with some knowledge of Ramayan's story as to why Lord came here, & he'll probably reply, "There was an extremely powerful demon Raavan, lording over entire world, and simply invincible. To defeat him, Shri Ram appeared in Maayic realm." This is something like; say I went to Delhi to attend my cousin's engagement, and while there, I went to see North & South block. After my trip, if someone is to tell a third person, who is clueless about the purpose of my visit to Delhi, that, "you know, Abhinav recently went to Delhi and saw North & South block." Is this a correct description of the purpose of my visit? No. Correct answers would have been, "Abhinav went to Delhi to attend his cousin's engagement, and during the visit, saw North & South block," or "Being infinitely compassionate, the Supreme Lord manifests himself in front of His bhakts so that witnessing or remembering his divine play, his bhakts achieve the result of their sadhana, and while the Lord is there, He performs an infinite number of Leelas such as vanquishing Taamsic forces or setting an example as an ideal son, and so on." This is how subtle interpretations change the entire meaning of divine play.

With that understood, let's come to the main point of discussion on this thread. For the time being, let's forget about whether the incident of King sending his Queen away, took place or not, or whether or not it's mentioned in this or that version of Ramayan. Let's just assume it took place. Now, how to interpret it?

I can interpret it the way Bhakts do. I can say that SitaRam are not two, but ONE supreme personality, so it's not possible for Sita to be separated from Ram, or for Ram to send Sita away from him. I mean, no matter how hard you try, you can separate yourself from yourself! It's a divine play, and we are the audience, so let's enjoy the show! If we do need to learn something from this incident, it's just that persons who needlessly cast aspersion on another person's character, without any proof, commit a grave mistake, one which can never be rectified later on. Also, Shri Ram is telling all his bhakts for all times to come that no matter how learned and knowledgeable you are, if you will take your decisions trying to please such ignoramus persons, you'll suffer untold miseries, and will destroy your life.

I can interpret it in a Sattvic manner that the Supreme Couple, through this incident, is telling, for all times to come, all the persons occupying highest positions of power, that the yardstick for measuring their conduct & behavior will be different compared to that of commoners. Once you are in that high position of power, you cannot be worried about your or your near & dear one's well-being. The only thing that should concern you is the honour of the position you hold, and if you face a situation where you think that to uphold that honour, you'll have to destroy your family & your life, so be it.

I can interpret it in a Rajsi manner that the Supreme Couple is telling us through this example that a husband-wife relation is the backbone of human society, in the sense that a couple forms a family unit which is the most important unit of a society, & at the same time this is the most delicate relationship. Thus, to keep the prestige of this relationship sacrosanct, no sacrifice should be considered too big.

Or finally, I can interpret it in a Taamsic manner, saying that Ram had no regards for the feelings of his innocent wife, and all he was concerned about is his glory as a great king who committed a grave injustice on his innocent wife just to prove his greatness as an ideal king.

Now comes the part that concerns YOU. Members have already written so many posts on this topic in this thread, and have given so many informative insights. But none of the members, no one for that matter, can convince YOU to accept a particular view on this incident as the final one. It will depend upon YOU, and your vivek. Depending upon the kind of person you are, you'll accept a particular way of looking at this incident as the most logical. The same holds true, not just for this incident, but for each & every incident of divine play.