Ramayana

The date is August 13th, 1981. This is the seventh lecture in a series of lectures by Roger Weir on The Great Spiritual Classics of the Orient from 2500 BC to 300 AD. Tonight's lecture is entitled Ramayanam, Valmiki, Tulsidas, and Shadow Puppets of Indonesia.

These are designed months and months ahead. It always seems like there's a veritable pattern and I must say a lot of it is purely fortuitous. But I'm very glad that it is the Ramayana that occupies the center of the stage of the entire series. The rarest treasure in the world is a great spiritual epic poet. In all the world and all the time there have only been a handful. We could count them on one hand. So they are truly treasures. And they are as the times that enjoyed their presence and the inheritors of their wisdom attest, they are the founders of civilization. They are the makers of the larger forms of life on the planet. And the Ramayana is the work of one of that handful of sages. Sage poets who are able to work in very very large forms. Ramayana as a poet is Valmiki - Valmiki. He had another name which is not worth repeating. He was in his younger days a very passionate man, sort of on the level of Christopher Marlowe, or Thomas Malory. He was a ruffian. And even though he was born a Brahmin he says by his own word that he associated with many many sudra women in his younger days. And because of all the children issuing had to take to robbing to support such a throng. And Valmiki became a real brigand operating in the forests of ancient India. And one day he had spied a traveling entourage of seven muni, seven wondrous celestial sages bedecked with gold and jewels. And Valmiki approached them, meaning to rob them of their treasures, and they like all celestials as sages ready to give up their treasures to the right person, asked Valmiki what he was doing. And he told them. He told them why he had to rob and they said we will wait here while you go back and ask your wives, and children, people if they participate in your sin. So Valmiki startled and puzzled by this address, did as the seven munis bid him. And on taking a poll found that not a single other person was willing to share in his sin of robbing and living the wild life and so forth. They did it to survive, none of them had respect for him and he was mortified and overcome and went back to the munis and asked what could be done. So they took this robber and sat him down and put a trance on him, a deep deep samadhi and left him in the forest. And he was left for so long that the little white ants of the forest built up white ant hills around him. And when he had cooked long enough in the fires of humility, Prajna, the munis came back and they called him forth. And when he stood up in the dust of the ant hills peeled off him. They said your name is Valmiki - the ant, the Mika, and the Val, the hill, from the white ant hill - you are the sage. And so Valmiki became a very very great sage.

And one day in the forest near his retreat on the Tamasa River in North India. And at that time there was a great unbroken forest named Dandaka spread all the way from the Goswami River which runs along the southern borders of Maharashtra all the way up to the Narmada River almost past Surat in that area - great unbroken forest. And the Tamasa River was up near the Ganges and the Narmada where they come together several hundred miles from New Delhi. And he was engrossed by the flow of the water and he asked for Maharaja who was his attendant and disciple to quick bring him his bark robe that something in the flow of the river something in its swift rush over the brown and white pebbles in the water attracted him. And he was very much into a continuous samadhi, and with his bark clothing waded into the river made abolitions and then came out and was wandering along through the forest greatly attenuated and he saw two herons sporting and as he was taking them into his attention a hunter unbeseen by him killed the male bird and the female bird who was in the act of enjoying the courtship advances of her mate saw this unbelievable tragedy of his feathers up in courtship and suddenly folded in death. And the sage Valmiki looking across the Tamasa River, came out of his samadhi, and cursed the hunter. The curse was that may he never find a place of rest. And then later on in meditation he realized that this intense passionate feeling had come in the form of a two part two line verse each line consisting of four parts making eight. And so he went into a deep meditation on why it was that human speech at its most passionate gut level should have a structure, and especially that particular structure. And as he meditated on it he realized that this form was the melodious, harmonic form now called the sloka - S-L-O-K-A, now called the sloka. And on this double line of four parts each was a poetic form. And as he went through the meditation of that sloka form he came across a friend of his, a fellow sage named Narmada. And Valmiki asked him the question about fortitude and excellence and whether in human life there ever was an individual who exemplified the best. And the sage Narmada related to him and said you know Valmiki when the seven munis gave you your deep experience in the forest, do you remember the mantra that you worked on?

And it was Mara. Mara. M-A-R-A. And Mara is the transposition of the syllables in the name of that great personage the great personage in history who exemplified the perfection of control of the passions and excellence in human form. And his name was Rama, Rama. And so Valmiki having had this intense series of experiences with his own conversion from being a robber, to a sage, with his experiences in discovering the sloka form, as a poetic encasement for passion and having discovered that his own mantric center was bound up in the story of Rama, he set out to discipline himself for a very long duration and to write the story of Rama in the sloka form, to create a structure, which forever after anyone participating in the reciting of it would be able to emerge from that as he had emerged from the white anthill. And to understand for themselves this form that human feeling can be put into. And so in 24,000 verses Valmiki composed the Ramayana.

Now it's quite interesting that in almost every major language in India, and there are a dozen or more, there are versions of the Ramayana. All of them date back to Valmiki and that's the one that we'll use tonight. There are versions in almost every language. There are for instance even in little children's compendia of stories from India, pictures of Valmiki and little tidbits from the Ramayana for children. Or there are, for instance, translations. This is a selection of a translation of a South Indian poet's version of the Ramayana Kamban. And in our own civilization one of the early translations of the Ramayana was included in Sir John Lubbock's hundred books actually about 100 years ago. And so the Ramayana has come down to us in many many forms, many languages, many versions. But it is actually Valmiki's Ramayana that holds the central line as Homer's original Iliad and Odyssey holds the center line in our Greek tradition.

In the Ramayana, in the 24,000 verses, divided into seven books or seven kandas - and I put the name up here - it is said that every thousand slokas that the beginnings linked together excerpted out and linked together, form a very special mantra called the Gayatri Mantra. So that embedded and entwined as if it were a golden thread linking the larger structure of all of the action together, the Gayatri Mantra occupies the center part of Valmiki's Ramayana. And I wrote the mantra out there. It begins with the salutation,

“Om. Let us contemplate the wonderful spirit of the Divine Creator, terrestrial, atmospheric, celestial worlds. Let him direct our minds.”

And this mantra, Gayatri Mantra is not just an arrangement of words. It's not just a collection of sentiments put into an epithet or a homily. Those who get interested, one of the best rundowns of the Gayatri Mantra is in Principles of Tantra, first volume by Sir John Woodroffe also known as Arthur Avalon. These are all still available. It's a two volume set. And chapter four deals with the Gayatri Mantra and image worship. The essential point here is that the center of the linking together of the meaningful forms of the Ramayana in this essence is to show that language rather than being some kind of a frozen objective dull referential objective creation is in fact something quite distinct and quite capable of spiritual form that it is in motion and that its defined motion gives us prismatically a spectrum of light of meaning. Wherein when we participate actively, consciously, we transform the literary form into a spiritual motion within ourselves. So that, the traditional presentation of the Ramayana in a nine day ceremony is a spiritual exercise and thus the work rather than just being purely fiction, or a work of large fiction, or great literature, is actually a spiritual classic much like the other works that we've included in the series. So that the hearing of the Ramayana in total throughout the entire cycle gives to us a spiritual form.

Much like the Gayatri Mantra which when it is taken, I guess in our colloquial phrase, for real as not just a meaning posited in the words but rather a meaningfulness unfolding possibly in our perception and conception in our own regard that it flames into a spiritual insight which is a companion much like a consort would be a companion for a god or a goddess. And that this companion, this friend, is a spiritual creation. And thus the same with the characterized version in the Ramayana, Rama has his counterpart in Sita, and Rama and Sita have their counterparts with Hanuman and the worlds of the monkeys and so forth as we'll see. All the elements are arranged in ways in which the complementarity of the energy flow, creating that tension of meaning, throughout all the elements, is interpenetrated and interlinked together just as the key, the Gayatri Mantra, would be for someone meditating on it using it.

So that when we think of the Ramayana instead of having a simple view that we're just going to sit down and read a book. It's actually the beginning of the construction in literature of a ritual sacrament very much like what we have seen before in the Rig Veda. And actually very akin to the kind of forest aranyaka discourses except that nowhere in the Ramayana is there a philosophy or a specific listing of any kind of ideational progressions. All of those elements are modulated into the characters and their relationships and in this kind of a key.

I brought two editions of the Valmiki Ramayana, both of them in three volumes. The one that I prefer, it's awfully difficult to find now, Haraprasad Shastri did a translation, very distinguished eloquent scholar. And this was done in London, about 20 years ago. It took him some time to finish it. And then an even rarer set published in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, northern India in three volumes. And this edition published by the Gita Press in Gorakhpur with its brown paper bag end papers, homemade feel and aspect too. On the back you see the hut of the sage tending his garden and clouds in the distance. See that's really where, that's where the esoteric wisdom lies. Not so much among the picturesque rocks and caves and waterfalls but in that presentation of everyday life in a modulation which is what the Ramayana is about.

And in the beginning here they have a procedure for the full Valmiki Ramayana in nine days. And they, because it's a religious press, they take great care. Let's have a few sentences from it and see how they, how they seem to our secular sense.

“Devotees have been advised to undertake a full nine day reading of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana from the fifth to the thirteenth of the bright half of any of three months. Chitra marga charita of the Hindu calendar. The Valmiki Ramayana should be read at some holy spot or place of pilgrimage in a temple or at one's own residence in the presence of an image of Lord Vishnu or the sacred Salagrama stone which is regarded as a symbol of Lord Vishnu and the sacred basil plant.” Basil the herbs - yeah, it's a sacred plant. “The ground on which the Ramayana is to be read should as far as possible be purified by being cleared and swept clean and plastered with cow dung etc. These are homier times and also decorated with flags and buntings and covered with a canopy. The pavilion under which the reading is to take place should be sixteen square cubits in area and in the center of it should be raised an altar with the figure of Sarvatobhadra formed on it. There should be other altars sacrificial pits and altars of sand too under the pavilion.”

And it goes on to explain how there should be a chair for the reader. There should be a chair for the book and there should be a chair for the listener. No matter how many persons are there there is someone whose function in this ritual is to listen. So that one has… In any geometry if you have three points you have a geometry. Two points gives you a line. Three points gives you a possibility of form. So the reader, the book, and the listener. And when you have that you have the beginning. Anything may be developed from that. That is to say, given the right epic poet, given the, given the, right story in a spiritual form, and given an audience, man may create a suitable environment for any adventure in this phenomenal range. So that, the reading of this enjoined for nine days gives us a wonderful sense of the development. And here's an illustration in the Indian style from the Balakanda. And I guess we should get to the story so that we can find out just what happens.

So Valmiki is having this story related to him, and he relating it to us, begins with the idea that one should cover the original horizon, the original meaning out of which the action first springs. So he begins this way:

“The sage Valmiki,” in other words identifying himself, “the sage Valmiki, chief among the munis and the most eloquent of men, who was constantly engaged in the practice of self-control and conversant with the science of the Veda, enquired of Shri Narada, saying: ‘In this world to-day who is there endowed with excellent and heroic qualities, versed in all the duties of life, grateful, truthful, firm in his vows, an actor of many parts, benevolent to all beings, learned, eloquent, handsome, patient, slow to anger, one who is truly great, free from envy, and who, when excited to wrath, can strike terror into the hearts of Celestial Beings? O Sage, I would hear of such a man from thee, who art able to describe him to me.’”

And Narada of course begins describing Rama. And as I began tonight, he tells the basic story, and he runs through it in this countdown. He gives a complete outline of the Ramayana all the way through to the end. Then he gives a double entendre kind of a motion where he is telling Valmiki an action that Valmiki himself participated in, that after the main action of the Ramayana when Sita and the two sons born to her from Rama come to live with the sage Valmiki, so that the Ramayana right at the very beginning moves into a ploy where normal time-space is obviously suspended and we are in a realm where we're looking at a spiritual diagonal through all time-space where we may view happenings on the terrestrial scene in the present or in the past or in the future or in the celestial. In other words we're given the situation that we are now a party to, a time-space war, a diagonal which will allow us to move in any direction whatsoever. Descriptions enter in and King Dasaratha who is desirous of the son his kingdom has no error and he is childless at the moment, but he has three wives. One was allowed to have a Brahmin wife, a Kshatriya wife, and a lower caste wife. He prepares himself for a ceremony that will fructify his kingdom and his house and in asking his personal sage, Viswamitra he says, “Who around here could do this ceremony for us?” And Bispora says, “well actually our neighboring kingdom has just had a very powerful energetic young sage brought in just the right way into the family fold and I think we can work something out there.”

That this young energetic sage who was committed to Brahmacharya that is complete chastity and so forth living in the forest was approached by our neighboring king, Janaka, whose kingdom was suffering a drought and he learned from a very deep sacrificial divination that if he could bring this sage into his kingdom into his household into his capital city he would have rain. And so this wonderful young sage was entrapped by the most elegant courtesans that the king could find. And they she they were sent out to the forest. And he of course having been raised on fruits and herbs and never having seen anything probably refined in his life was completely captivated by these courtesans and brought into the kingdom. And of course the rain followed and the man was given the king's daughter, Shanta, as a wife and entered into the family life.

This is a key, this is a key that we are not involved in an epic where one should leave the family life like Siddhartha Gautama and head for the hills, but one should reverse the process. That is necessary now in this particular kind of a structure, this kind of a religious classic, to bring the spiritual energy out of the caves out of the mountains and put them into daily life into the family life. And so that's the situation that we have.

The reversal of that process is very interesting. If you remember, in almost every one of the spiritual classics which we've looked at, one of the recurring themes is that unlike the mind or the mental level where there is some kind of a measurement, some kind of a bar of polarity which is able to be spread out, that the realm of the spirit doubles back upon itself, and that there's always a return - in fact an eternal return, a coming back which you can symbolize by the serpent swallowing its tail in Uroboros. Or you can symbolize by the Mobius strip the infinity sign or by the Tai chi symbol of the yin-yang. There is always this return, always bringing back. So the spiritual mode, unlike the mental mode, unlike the phony religions which always posit that one should be splayed out, the good over here and the bad over there the spiritual realm is one of reality and knows that the shaping of reality includes all that it has the element of completion as well as perfection. And for the completion all must be worked back in together.

And so Valmiki in the Ramayana is living in a time where very shortly after the Buddha, probably about 450 BC 500 BC, where this element of the wise people leaving their families had reached such a point that daily life was beginning to be impoverished and the ashrams in the mountains and the forest were jammed with people and this great and unbearable polarity that all of the fine aspiration and wisdom both men and women were leaving daily life a wholesale and creating a shell a vacuum. And so in the Ramayana Valmiki sounds that great clarion call to return. And so he uses, right at the beginning of the Balakanda in the Ramayana this enticement of a young sage away from the mountains away from his asceticism not to corrupt him but to bring that influence and wisdom back into the family, the palace, the kingdom, so that life may go on. That energy must return. It must come back. Those representatives must come back and participate.

And so right at the beginning of the Ramayana is that wonderful sense that this is what's going to happen. It's going to happen for the main story; it's going to happen again and again in episodes and it will happen wherever the Ramayana is set up in its ritual ceremony to create that sacred fire around which our understanding and our daily life may participate. So it's entirely fitting and natural that there should be dozens and dozens of translations of the Ramayana into every conceivable language in India and all of South Asia. Anywhere one would go there. There are Chinese versions, Indonesian versions, whatever and they are presented in every conceivable kind of a play. Shadow puppets. Movies. Readings. Literature. Someone once estimated that there probably was not one single child, man, or woman in India - 650 million people - who didn't know the story of the Ramayana.

So that kind of penetration of a spiritual form is appropriate for the purposes which the sage Valmiki set up. That in times of great spiritual distress when the refinement of the sages leaving life has reached a fullness, then they have to return, they have to come back. And we have to have spiritual heroes in daily life. So King Dasaratha is all set to have this wonderful sacrifice and this young sage who has come back into what we would call normal life is going to officiate. And this Ashvamedha, Ashvamedha sacrifice, is the old horse sacrifice. And a year before the sacrifice is undertaken a wonderful thoroughbred horse is let loose to roam and after a year the horse is brought back. And that horse is the center of the sacrifice. And the Queens in sacrificing the horse stay with it all evening and portions of the horse are offered at certain times to the fire and out of this intensity of bhakti, or devotion, there is finally a vision and in the Ramayana the vision is brought to King Dasaratha in the form of a pitcher full of milk in rice, sweetened rice, and he is told by this divine envoy that this may be portioned out among his wives, and that sons will be born to him, and that they will be extraordinary sons because Dasaratha has kept the honor of his kingdom he's been an excellent king.

His is that wonderful frame where this return divine energy may enter him And not just produce a fine family but produce that essential, I guess we would think of it in terms of nuclear fusion, where the light of the sun can be brought into a human-sized hearth. And that his sons will have divine characteristics. So Dasharatha gives half of this pitcher to his first wife Kausalya. He gives a third of it to his second wife Kaikeyi and he gives an eighth of it to Sumitra his third wife. And then just as a sort of a little tidbit on the end he notices a little left in it so he gives the rest to her so that the three wives have four portions and there are four sons born for those portions. And the first son born is Rama, and he is born to the queen Kausalya. And his brother, the next in line, Bharata - B-H-A-R-A-T-A - the Indian name for their own country is Bharat. Take it from this Bharata. And Lakshmi or Lakshmana, and finally Satrughna. So that there are four sons and they are born and they have a sort of ascending order much like the varnas or the castes of divine components.

Rama being the greatest down to Satrughna who has just a little bit but still is beloved of the family. No one is left out because we're in an epic of spiritual completion and everything counts. Nothing may be thrown away. And this is why the wonderful forms and examples and so forth, the elements that Valmiki chooses out, is to complete life so that everything is included in the Ramayana. One could learn for instance the medicinal uses of plants from the Ramayana. One could learn the art of governing from the Ramayana. One could learn of histories from the Ramayana. Everything is here. And it's all put together in such a form that if you took any one disciplined theme - history, medicine, whatever it is - and investigated the Ramayana you would come out with an education. That's what an epic is for. It's that central organized unity of all expressed in the spiritual form which will nourish literally hundreds of generations of people, whatever they involve themselves in, whoever they are.

So the ceremony is efficacious. We have the four sons born not in the Valmiki Ramayana but in one of the versions of the Ramayana the little baby Rama who is born he has the color of the newborn lotus, slightly blue. So illustrations of Rama always show him as blue, turquoise blue. In one of the versions of the Ramayana he sees the full moon and he cries and cries for it because he wants it as a toy and no one knows why he is crying except the sage, Vishwamitra, brings in a little mirror and with the little mirror in the hands of the baby and he can see the reflection of the moon there for himself and he quiets down. Little images like that. The epic is packed with them.

Rama, when he is 15 years old, is taken away from the king. He and Lakshmana are taken away by a sage and this begins in small of a motion that will be repeated several times over and grow each time in significance. He is taken away at 15. He will have to leave again later on with his brother and his wife Sita and then he will have to leave with his brother a third time in search of Sita. And each time there is a repetition of the theme. And each time more and more of the meaningful universe is involved until the completion of the third movement is like everything that has ever counted is brought into play. He has taken to learn. There's a sacred hermitage. He's taken to learn certain Vedic truths and principles and essences but he is also being taken so that he can, I guess the only word that that we could think of in our colloquial use, energize. He must no longer think of himself simply as a human being but as someone who has heroic epic qualities. And so he has to be taken out of the normal court life for seasoning. And this is a pattern which any spiritual life will have. There will be a time when you are just yanked out of the situation that you are in and put into a scale of operation that at first is stagnant because there is no way that one could have a continuity with this change in proportions. The first experience of it is literally a vertigo, or a dizziness, because you are now involved in a scale that returns upon itself and so is infinite, is indefinite.

And out of this complication Rama finds himself at King Janaka's palace and there is a great bow and it is described in the Ramayana as being so large that it takes 500 men to pull the wagons that contain the box of this bow. This bow has never been pulled and anyone who pulls it, the king Janaka has consecrated himself to bestow his daughter upon someone who has that kind of prowess because it is not merely physical strength. Well this is very similar to the ritual in the Odyssey, where Odysseus to reclaim his wife and his kingdom is the only one who can string and pull the great bow in his palace. In the Ramayana version, Rama not only pulls this great bow, but breaks it. In other words, he shows that he has indefinite power. It isn't just that he's strong. He has universal power. There is no limit to it whatsoever. And Sita whose name means literally “one from the furrow,” she is said to be without a mother. That her father discovered her while plowing furrow and that she came that way to him. Well a king rarely does that sort of work. So we're involved here with a spiritual metaphor.

Sita is bestowed upon Rama and since Sita and Rama are coming together there must be a bride also for his brother and eternal companion Lakshmana and since those two are being married the other two brothers should also have companions who will be nieces of the king's so that the marriage quickly complicates and evolves to where there are four couples brought together. So eight people come together and form a unity and the two kingdoms come into play together. When this happens and Rama is the designated ruler to follow his father, Dasaratha, the second wife, Kaikeyi, begins to act her part and her role in this great unfoldment and she wants the kingdom for her son Bharata. So she remembers that one of the love pledges given to her long ago by Dasaratha was that she may have two boons which cannot be refused. And so she covetous for her son Bharata, asked that Rama be exiled from the palace for a period of 14 years, and Dasaratha cannot refuse this. This was a boon. And so Rama prepares to leave. Bharata is embarrassed and incensed that his mother should be playing these kinds of palace games, especially on his behalf, but there's nothing anyone can do. Why is that? Because Rama is the epitome of he who keeps his word and he who does his duties because only those who to the last dregs work out the duties and keep the order flowing have this divine capacity for the return, for completion to happen. Only that person who can do that may literally be Rama. And so Rama prepares to leave, and his brother Lakshmana and his wife Sita, after long complicated arguments, decide to leave with them and there's a great unbelievable lament. The capital city as Ayodhya. And after they have left there's this great entourage following them. Everyone loves Rama. There's no reason for him to leave. They can't understand his nature.

You see the essential simplicity of the cosmic order is so vast in its wholeness that it is not graspable right away by the ordinary mind, or by the common horizon of mentality, so that it seems unnecessary. But to the cosmic mind, as Rama exemplifies, there is no other way. It has to be done this way. And as they leave and are on their way they pass the night in the second Iota Cantina on the banks of the Tamasa River about the spot where Valmiki will compose the whole epic. I thought you might enjoy a paragraph from the Ramayana.

“Halting on the ravishing banks of the Tamasa River, looking at Sita, Raghava…” - they call him Raghava as well as Rama - “...Raghava said to Saumitri…” And Sumitra is the name of, Lakshmana's mother was Sumitra. So this is just a little nicety to call him by an offshoot of his mother's name. Rama says, “O son of the Queen Sumitra, this is the first night we shall pass in the forest, may happiness be thine, may our sojourn in the woods not cause thee any distress! See the deserted forest where wild beasts and birds have concealed themselves in their lairs, where their cries can be heard from every side. Doubtless in Ayodhya, at this same moment, in the royal residence of my Sire, men and women are weeping on account of our departure. Innumerable bonds hold the people to the king, to thee and to me, O Tiger among Men, as also to Shatrughna and Bharata. I am distressed on account of my father and my revered mother; qill they not become blind through weeping without intermission about us both? Assuredly Bharata, who is virtuous and mindful of his duty, will comfort my father and mother with his kind words. O Mighty-armed Warrior, reflecting on Bharata's compassion, I have no further anxiety regarding my father and mother. O Tiger among Men, thou hast done well in accompanying me, for I need assistance in protecting…” And he gives a name for Sita, Vaidehi, it's a loving name, Vaidehi. “...I shall pass this night near these waters; the place pleases me and wild fruits are plentiful.”

And so they spend the first night on the location where Valmiki ages later, or in a very weird way, at the same time will be composing this very tale. You see, in a completion cycle time-space does not matter. It has no place. And the polarized linear happenings of mental history are not a limitation. They have no place. Just as earlier in the Ramayana when this wonderful horse sacrifice is being perpetrated and Vishnu, the creator of the universe, is being alerted by this sacrifice to participate and to incarnate because it is he who must send this essence of himself to incarnate is Rama and his brothers. He is also called a council of the gods. All of the divine forces Agni Vayu all of them. And they have been told that the conditions on the planet are such that one particular dark lord named Ravana who lives in a kingdom far to the south of where Dasaratha and all these fine people live, down on the island of Lanka, has year after year and decade after decade devoted himself to tapas to penance and has built up this tremendous capacity for power and has lured even Brahma himself into a situation where Brahma cannot withdraw the power from Ravana. And that Ravana, the dark lord of these demonic armies, having finally corralled even the gods into a situation where they can do nothing to withdraw their power are now beginning to edge out to control the world. The world meaning creation or the planet or the situation.

But in their haste to seize power for themselves, to corral the gods themselves into little energy conundrums, they have left out two kinds of beings which were not included in the list because they were negligible. Men and apes. Ravana and all of his greed for power left out these infinitesimally weak creatures - men and apes. And even though all the gods and creation are now at a stand off. In other words Ravana is sort of a creditor to all the gods and they can do nothing to stop him. He has forgotten about men and apes. Apes meaning monkeys. And so Vishnu has said I will incarnate myself as human life if all the other gods will incarnate themselves and all of their counterparts and so forth into the realm of the apes and at some time in that time-space on that planet. In this coming sequence of completion we will join forces in a great war against this usurper Ravana and his empire.

And so all the other gods in heaven and all of their warriors and excellent persons incarnate as monkeys at the same time as Rama and his brothers are being born. So that while Rama is beginning to leave to go into the forest ostensibly to please the vow of his father to a mother who supposedly is a shrew and is doing this for selfish reasons. Actually all of this is a part of a divine plan of completion. And Vaidehi far from being villainess in this situation is a key part because she is the one who is called upon to create this consternation, create this breaking apart, and sending Rama like an arrow out into this adventure. She is the energizer for that. So as they pass along Rama finally comes upon a great sage. I guess I should read part of this. I think this is interesting. They come upon a great sage, Bharadvaja. They’re in the forest. They're looking for a place to be. They have crossed many rivers. The Tamasa River they cross in their chariot. It's shallow enough they can just go across. They finally crossed the great Ganges and while they're crossing the Ganges they have to be ferried across. There's an interesting situation here. Valmiki being a great forest sage is ever-knowing of the elemental powers of nature and that great rivers, or great trees, or great mountains are incarnations. And that one moving in the etiquette of completion, spiritual completion, must always pay homage and keep in tone the relationship that one has in one's motion in this amphitheater of nature. Just like with the Gayatri Mantra it isn't just simply words, that is not simply a tree, that is not simply a mountain, this is not just a river, but all are spiritual entities and that one must make that relationship true by the proper devotion the proper etiquette of regard to it. And so is the crossing.

Sita makes a prayer while they were going across the Ganges and her prayer, her chant, is that when they are able to all return together she will offer sacrifices, and it presages the end of the Ramayana where she must make a sacrifice of herself. And it would be somewhat tragic towards the end of the Ramayana to find out that this had to be. And yet at the beginning here even in the second kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, she already makes it clear that she is cognizant of what she is participating in. Remember she comes from the furrow, she is an earth diva for real. And her participation with Rama, a celestial incarnation of Vishnu, she's willing to participate in this bringing back to wholeness of life regardless of what the sacrifice might be. Well they crossed the Ganges and they're making their way up towards where the Yamuna and the Ganges flow together. And there's a great hermitage there of Bharadvaja.

“Having passed a peaceful night at the foot of that great tree, when the immaculate sun had risen, they set out from thence and proceeded to the path the place where the Yamuna flows into the [Ganges], where they penetrated into a deep forest. There the illustrious exiles beheld many regions and enchanting retreats that hitherto were unknown to them, and Rama, tranquilly surveying the blossoming trees, said to [Lakshmana], as the day declined: ‘[Lakshmana], see, not far from Prayaga there is a column of smoke rising, indicating a great fire; follow me, for undoubtedly some ascetic dwells in that neighborhood. We are nearing the confluence of the Yamuna and the [Ganges], for the sound of those two rivers crashing together can be heard. Here are logs that have been hewn by woodcutters, who dwell in the lonely forest and cut down trees of every kind.’ Thereupon the two warriors, bow in hand, went forward swiftly, and, as the sun was sinking, they reached the junction of the [two great rivers] and there the hermitage of the sage. Then Rama approached the Ashrama, frightening the deer and birds.”

Deer and birds used to be kept in ashrams. Ashrams were not just buildings but they were areas in the forest and the deer and the birds were free to be there. And their interplay in normal, natural daily life was a proof, basic of the religious tone of the ashram. We have the same thing in our Christian medieval tradition of Saint Francis preaching to the birds. When that relationship obtains then truth is manifest in the community. If there are no birds and are no deer there is no holiness there.

So as Rama approaches a way is made for him between the birds and the deer and he sees the sage, the great sage. You see he occupies a central portion of the geography. These are the two largest rivers in northern India. New Delhi is on the Yamuna and the Ganges of course one of the greatest rivers in the world. They carry bows and arrows because that's the symbol of their directness.

They're “followed by Sita, in their desire to behold the Sage, entered the hermitage, halting at first some distance off; then, they approached the magnanimous Rishi, who, austere, contemplative, his glance sharpened by asceticism, was surrounded by a group of disciples, and who had kindled the sacrificial fire. Then the blessed Rama, accompanied by [Lakshmi] and Sita, with joined palms, made obeisance to him, and the elder brother made himself known to the hermit, saying: ‘O Blessed One, we are the sons of Dasaratha, Rama and Lakshmana, and this is my consort, the virtuous [Sita] the irreproachable daughter of [King] Janaka, who has followed me to the lonely forest. I have been banished to the forest, and…my young and beloved brother, whom thou seest here, out of devotion has accompanied me. On my father's command, O Blessed One, we are entering the lonely forest to practice asceticism, [to live] on roots and fruit.’ Hearing the words of the virtuous prince, the magnanimous Sage offered them the Madhuparka” - which is a combination of coconut, and honey, and milk, curds, butter, all put together - a very wholesome kind of a dish. “the Madhuparka with water to wash their feet. And that holy ascetic gave them different kinds of food and drink made of roots and fruit from the woods, and prepared a retiring place for them. Surrounded by deer and birds and other Sages, the Rishi welcomed Rama, and, having paid homage, Bharadvaja spoke to him in words that were in conformity with righteousness.”

There's always an attentiveness in Homer as we'll see next time in our Greek series. In Valmiki there's always attentiveness that there is a correct way to speak, not just simply that the diction should be clear, but there is an etiquette because what is being constructed here painstakingly is an ultimate reality form and thus every part of the speech has its place. Just as every four syllables of a sloka line is formed and every four more a complement to that making a verse all the way through so that the fabric of reality at the end will be complete so that there is not just this etiquette of good speech but in conformity with righteousness. And so Bharadvaja, this great sage, says:

“‘For a long time…I have foreseen thy arrival; I have heard of [your] unjust banishment. This solitary place, at the confluence of the two great rivers, is pure and pleasant; stay here [and] be happy!’ Thus did Bharadvaja speak, and [Rama], devoted to the good of all…” Devoted to the good of all. All with a capital A. “...made this reply: ‘O Blessed One, my country is in this neighborhood and my subjects, learning that we can easily be seen, will, I deem, visit [you] and me here; for this reason, is not fitting for me to remain in this place. O Blessed One, do thou inform me of an auspicious retreat which will give pleasure to [Sita], the daughter of Janaka, who is worthy of happiness!’ Hearing these pregnant words of [Rama], Bharadvaja, that illustrious Muni, answered in words full of understanding, saying: ‘O Dear Son, ten miles from here, there is a mountain which is frequented only by great Rishis, it is sacred and beautiful, there [you can] dwell. Monkeys and bears wander about there; it is the Chitrakuta Mountain…” - C-H-I-T-R-A-K-U-T-A - “...Chitrakuta Mountain which resembles Gandhamadana. Those who behold the peaks of Chitrakuta obtain felicity and the mind is free from illusion there. Innumerable ascetics, having lived for a hundred years, have ascended to heaven in an embodied state of virtue for their penances. O Rama, I deem that spot to be a fit dwelling place for thee, else remain here in the forest with me!’

And so this great sage Bharadvaja gives Rama the place where he can stay. And he has foreseen him coming because in his deep samadhis he has seen this cycle of completion necessary. He has seen the earmarks. There are always earmarks when all of these incarnations are coming back again. When that kind of a juncture it shakes the universe. And there are telltale signs all over for generations ahead. And he sees now that the drama is in full swing. And here coming to his ashram at the confluence of the two great rivers is the chief protagonist in this return which the fortunes of all of them are wrapped up and he sends him to this retreat - Chitrakuta - which is exactly the place where he will have the great contact with the empire of the monkeys, of the apes. So this is the place where finally Bharata comes to visit him to ask Rama. Please come back and take the kingdom. And Rama, after refusing, gives him his shoes and says this is the seal of authority. Go and rule in my place. When the time is up I will come for the kingdom. Bharata goes back and he comes back to Ayodhya and he finds that the capital city is deserted. There is no gaiety and no people there. The shops are closed. The place looks like a depression. Sagebrush rolling in the streets. And so he sets up a capital in a nearby place and he realizes that something has happened. That the old form of continuity has cracked and something new is coming in, and that Rama is participating in this. And so the Ayodhya Kanda ends here. And I think we better take a break here and give you a chance to get some tea and coffee. Let's take a break there.

I love the camaraderie and actually those of you who've been coming for a long time know my sentiments on these things. And I think that the forms of instruction are to simply make some kind of a shaping wherein you people can have your interchanges and I would just assume all my forms dissolve away and leave you to yourselves. Those are my sentiments. But apparently we're needing to move on. Somebody reminded me that the good parts are yet to come and I'm sorry that we're going to have to truncate many many juicy parts. Except that, as you know, we have lots of time to go back and find these things. And there will be times, hopefully, when we can actually have a nine day recitation of the Ramayana. I don't see why not. We're slowly getting back to civilization and we might as well have it.

There’s a part in the Ramayana that always gets me when Bharata goes to visit Rama because it's through all this dense forest and wilderness and unknown terrain. He creates a great road and the descriptions of this beautiful road with red spots and plantings and clumps of trees and adorned with birds. And I see the military freeways that pass for roads in our society. And I think we've got an awful long way to go to even have just the basic humanity offerings that traveling should be an adventure filled with etiquette and care and not just these transportation alleyways that pass for roads. Valmiki like all real great writers has the capacity to move very freely up and down the scales of presentation of value. He can be so homey. Showing you the cooking utensils and the ingredients of a stew. And enjoy that. He can move quickly to action scenes of great battles and incredible happenings. He can move into forest retreats and present the exquisiteness of highly energetic sages. He just can… Descriptions of natural beauty. Anything.

The third book, the Aranya Kanda, begins with this wonderful serene kind of grandeur which Valmiki, from time to time engenders the translations run something like this:

“Entering the vast Dandaka Forest, the invincible Rama, master of his senses, saw a circle of huts belonging to the ascetics, strewn with bark and kusha grass, blazing with spiritual effulgence scarce to be borne by mortal eye, as the noonday sun is a source of torment to men. This retreat, a haven to all beings, the ground of which was carefully tended, was frequented by many deer and multitudes of birds and rendered gay by the dancing troops of apsaras.” These celestial beings. “Beautiful with its spacious huts, where the sacred fire burnt, surrounded by ladles and other articles of worship such as skins, kusha grass, [mats,] fuel, jars of water, fruit and roots; encircled by great and sacred forest trees, bowed with the weight of ripe and delectable fruits, the whole hermitage was hallowed by sacrificial offerings and libations and re-echoed to the recitation of Vedic hymns. Carpeted with flowers of every kind, possessing pools covered with lotuses, it had been the retreat of former hermits, who subsisted on fruit and roots and who, wearing robes of black antelope skins, [and bark] their senses fully controlled, resembled the sun or fire. Now great and pious sages, practicing every austerity, added to its luster. Resembling the abode of Brahma, that hermitage resounded with the chanting of Vedic hymns, and brahmins, versed in the Veda, adorned it with their presence. Beholding that sacred place, the illustrious [Rama], unstringing his bow…” out of courtesy you see “...unstringing his bow, entered, and the august sages, possessed of spiritual knowledge, highly gratified, advanced to meet him. Seeing that virtuous one, resembling the rising moon, with Lakshmana and [Sita] of dazzling beauty, those ascetics of rigid vows received them with words of welcome and the dwellers in the wood were astonished at Rama's handsome mien, his youthful appearance, majesty and graceful attire and, struck with wonder, gazed unwinking on [the three] as on a great marvel. Then, those blessed sages, engaged in the welfare of all beings, conducted Rama to a leaf-thatched hut, where, offering him the traditional hospitality, those fortunate and pious men, resembling fire itself, brought water that he might wash his hands and feet.”

I don't know if you can catch the interplay of images here, but there's all kinds of complementaries. Beings that are fire and water. The penetration of man and nature. They all of this contrast with this. The meeting of Ravana with the demon Maricha. Rama has rung Ravana's bell. Power is always like a web. And any part of the empire that has shook firmly. That echoing reverberation goes back to the center. And those who control power can tell by that vibration that this isn't merely some powerful adversary trapped in their web. This is someone who can shake the net free and loose. And so rovner begins already plotting that he must kill Rama. There's nothing else. He must efface him erase him because there is no room in his web for someone like Rama. Maricha is a horrible demon who has the power to transform himself into various shapes. And you see all these demons are not just bad guys. They're not just on the other end of the scale. Rovner Maricha. They've practiced austerities for years for ages. They're very powerful. They know many things. It is just that their vector their direction is not spiritual but they have all of this going for them. Contrast. Now Rama entering in the great primeval forest of Dandaka and all the sages and the Rishis welcoming them because they understand that this is the.

This is a universal movement. I remember once when I was first studying Gandhi and I saw the effect that Gandhi had when he did the salt march to the sea. He marched from his ashram near Ahmedabad to Dundee on the Surat coast about 130 miles and just simply walking 130 miles to reach into the sea and let seawater dry up and make salt. The British had put a tax on salt and Gandhi wanted to show that this that some things in nature are free. You can't tax it. You can't tax salt. And what it was was not just a picayune thing to make a few cents worth of salt but to show that man was free. Man is a spiritual being. He is free. Just so these webs are just cobwebs. All this illusion swept away. And Gandhi just by going to Dundee. And as he went and walked all along the way the homes echoing great sages coming out of their retreats and joining and going along because it was the thing to do because there is a time for retreat and there is a time for coming together. So too like that for Rama meeting all these Rishis here the other motion here the dark side here. Ravana going to see Maricha because he wants Rama. She's been told of. Ramon hearing the words of Shurpanakha caused his hair to stand on end.

Ravana dismissed his ministers and began to reflect on what should or should not be done exploring the true significance of the undertaking and weighing the desirability and the undesirability of the matter. He came to the conclusion this should be done thus should I act and fixed in his resolve went secretly to the splendid pavilion where his chariots were held in readiness commanding his driver to bring out his car. Pushpaka his car. It's an aerial chariot. It's wonderful. Maybe only one. At his order the zealous charioteer in an instant prepared that superb and marvellous chariot. And Ravana ascended the golden car set with gems that coursed wheresoever he desired to which mules and golden trappings bearing the heads of goblins were harnessed. If you like Tolkien you'll love Valmiki. He's got it all here. This. This is much better than Lord of the rings. It's filled with incredible happiness. So these mules with heads of goblins are harnessed to this gold bejeweled chariot and Ravana stepping into it his cape. And he always is shown with concentric wrinkles on his face because he's like he's the essence of organized evil mounted on that chariot. The wheels which made a sound like thunder. The younger brother of Danda the god of wealth proceeded beside the lord of rivers and streams along the seashore seated under a pure white canopy with his white canvas his ten heads the color of lapis wearing ornaments of pure gold with ten necks and 20 arms.

The younger brother of Dhanada the enemy of the gods. The slayer of the foremost among the ascetics possessed of huge heads like unto the Indra of mountains with its ten crests appeared beautiful standing in his chariot coursing at will like a mass of cloud crowned with lightning and accompanied by a flock of cranes. That great one endowed with prowess beheld the shores of the sea with its rocks and countless trees laden with fruit and flowers of every kind bordered by lakes of limpid water filled with lotuses and spacious hermitages with their altars and groves of plantain trees lending brilliance to the scene which was enhanced by blossoming coconut and tamala trees. So all this gorgeousness you see the trappings of power. It's kind of a false grandeur. You see Ravana surveyed countless forests and this is his you see and this is why it's wrong. And he sees on the shores of the ocean and he is approaching to this passing over to the further side of that Lord of the waters the ocean. He goes from Sri Lanka to India down along the Madras coast. Ravana saw a solitary hermitage an ancient and holy retreat in the middle of a forest. There he found the demon Maricha clad in a black antelope skin wearing matted locks and given up to the practice of asceticism. Ravana having approached him Maricha according to tradition entertained him in many ways not known to man.

Placing pure food and water before his sovereign. He humbly addressed him saying is all well with Lanka O chief of the Titans. With what purpose hast thou come hither again so speedily? And hearing this inquiry the mighty and eloquent Ravana answered in this way. Marisha listen to me as I relate everything to you my child. I am deeply afflicted and you alone can temper my distress. You know Jonathan it was there that my brother Karl the long arm Dushana my sister Shun Panaka and the powerful Tiresias and other flesh eating Titans Prowlers of the night had at my command taken up their residence in order to harass the sages in that vast forest who were engaged in their austerities. You see power is jealous infinitely jealous. No one else must be able to have it. No one else must be able to practice austerities. So it had this whole dandaka forest penetrated with daemons. And of course Rama was made to oppose them and dead and killed them one by one by one by one. And finally this 14,000 titans of terrible deeds full of courage supremely skilled dwelling under the leadership of Cara. And you see they're all dead. All of them. So Ravana is here with Maricha and he has a plan. And so Maricha who is able to transform himself into another shape is to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from the hermitage as a deer golden and beautiful deer and as they chase him Ravana himself with his great powerful charm.

He himself will abduct Sita and take away the core of the man's power. You see the thinking I will steal his power. He does not understand unities does not understand that he merely brings himself into the whirlpool of the interplay of this universal movement towards completion. It can't be chopped up. It can't be unplugged. It can't be dismembered. It's a kind of a unity pattern that anything that comes into its purview is included in the pack because it is a totality a unity a completion of the entire universe. And no matter how grand powerful expansive ravenous empire is it's not even the dirt under the fingernail of a creature on a distant speck in that amphitheater. Because what the amplitude here simply out proportions the wildest imagination of empire that a demon like Ravana would ever have. So he is terrifying in a room and he's Is insignificant in the forest. That sort of thing. So SATA is carried away. All this happens. Great complications. And while this has happened Rama slowly moves into proximity with the monkeys and the monkey who is the leader. Sugreeva has a competitor named Bali and Bali is has to be eliminated. But it is Hanuman who is the faithful monkey companion who really steals the show and not Sugreeva.

Hanuman is ever that companion from the animal world. For that heroic quest that we undertake we all have a Rama within ourselves. Hanuman and the Kishkindha Kanda. Sugreeva having spoken Hanuman that foremost of monkeys answered according to his understanding saying it is in no way surprising O chief of the monkey tribes that thou art unable to forget the significant and unexpected service rendered to thee by Rama. Assuredly that hero for thy well-being fearlessly slew Bali equal to Indra in power. Undoubtedly Rama's feelings have been wounded because you will not help him now you say which is evidenced by his sending his brother Lakshmana the increaser of his happiness as his deputy to thee O thou the most skilled and discerning the seasons. Autumn is here and all her glory all the trees being in full flower. But thou given up to pleasure do not perceive it. The sky free from cloud is filled with brilliant stars and planets and then all the regions lakes and rivers. Calm prevails. The time has come to inaugurate the search for Sita of which thou art conversant. O bull among monkeys. And so Hanuman goes on and he becomes the advocate. He becomes the great counselor who brings the animal kingdom who are incarnations of all the real gods all the powers. They're not animals. They are that other motion. And they bring together Hanuman who? Finally all the monkeys go out to search for Sita.

And they ask of various creatures if they have seen her. And she is found. And Hanuman himself goes to Lanka and and finds Sita. And I think I would like to give you a taste of this Homespun edition of the Ramayana. This is. This is when Hanuman finds Sita and Sri Lanka in the garden. The Ashoka garden. And he wants to assure her that they are coming to her rescue. Hearing the piteous appeal uttered by Sita with tears in her eyes Hanuman leader of many monkey hordes endowed with extraordinary energy forthwith replied I swear to you by truth O godlike lady that Sri Rama has grown averse to everything else through grief caused by your absence and Lakshmana's two suffers agony due to Rama being overwhelmed with sorrow. Somehow you have now been discovered by me. This is not the time for grieving from this very hour. You will see the end of your woes drawing near. Oh charming lady. Both the aforesaid princes who are tigers among men and are endowed with extraordinary might and who are determined to see you will reduce all of these ogres to ashes. And he goes on in this way and he assures Sita that they are coming. And while they are. While they are there a great war ensues. Many things transpire which will charm you if you get a chance to read them. And I haven't time to go into all these action packed scenes.

We skip to the Uttara Kanda where Sita is brought back to Rama. And this is not just a meeting. This is an interpenetration. This is the kind of emotion that complementary energies always take. And later on in fact when we see Homer in the Odyssey that Odysseus shrugs at immortality. Living forever is not the point at all but returning home regaining his kingdom being the king for his wife his true mate. That is it. That is everything. And so to Sita and Rama they belong together no matter what has happened. They belong together. Hearing those excellent words uttered. Who bore Sita in his. The grandsire who bore Sita in his lap having extinguished the pyre rose up. And that bearer of sacrificial offerings assuming a corporeal form stood up and took hold of the daughter of Janaka. Then that beautiful woman beautiful as the dawn wearing ornaments of refined gold attired in a red robe having dark and curly hair wearing fresh garlands the irreproachable Sita was restored to Rama by the God of fire. Thereafter the witness of the whole world addressed Rama saying Here is Sita o Rama. There is no sin in her neither by word feeling glance as thy lovely consort shown herself to be unworthy of your noble qualities separated from thee. That unfortunate one was borne away against her will in the lonely forest by Ravana who had grown proud on account of his power.

Though imprisoned and closely guarded by Titan women in the inner apartments she was ever the focus. You were ever the focus of her thoughts and her supreme hope Surrounded by hideous and sinister women. Tempted and threatened she never gave place in her heart to a single thought for that Titan and was solely absorbed. And they she was pure without taint and you will perceive it. And here is my command that she should not suffer reproach in any way. These words filled Rama's heart with delight literally the Anahata chakra. And he the most eloquent of men that loyal soul reflected an instant within himself his glance full of joy. They always use the term glance here and sometimes I colloquially will use the term regard. And it's not a look as if to look objectively and see what it is those books or this chair or that. But the glance here is out of the corner of the eye so to speak and it's from the attentiveness kinesthetically of one spirit. One notes that that is so not to see it as it is but to note its universal quality. It's thus so his glance and his joy because she occurs to him as a bell rung he can hear her. There is no crack in the sound. And just to make the story complete because we're dealing with a complete epic after all of these battles and the deaths of many Hanuman who this great companion of compassion comes up to Rama and says how about all these wonderful friends of ours that died and everything? Why don't you bring them back to life? And so Valmiki being this wonderful great epic poet includes this.

Your sight of us O Rama a jewel among human beings must not go in vain. We are pleased with you. Therefore speak out what is sought after your mind. How they gratified at heart when told thus by the mighty and high souled Indra who was pleased with them. Sri Rama joyfully submitted as follows. If goodwill towards me has arisen in you O ruler of gods I shall speak out my mind to you. Pray grant my prayer O Jewel among the eloquent gaining a fresh lease of life. May all those monkeys who having exhibited their prowess in my cause have reached the abode of death duly rise again. I desire to see all those monkeys delighted at heart who have been torn for good from their sons and wife. For my sake O bestower of honor and all others. Nay they were all valiant and heroic too and held death of no account. Utmost exertion was put forth by them to regain my honour. Yet they fell dead on the battlefield. Pray bring them back to life. O destroyer of said devils. By your grace may these monkeys who were fond of doing kindly acts to me and counted death as nothing get reunited with their near and dear ones.

I seek this boon of you and of course this boon which has been sought by you O Jewel among the Rajas is indeed hard to grant. No other offer has however been revised by me in the past. Hence this will come to be. Let all those monkeys as well as bears along with long tailed monkeys who have been killed in combat by the ogres and whose heads and arms have been severed duly rise again. The monkeys will duly rise whole and healed of their wounds. Their strength and energy fully restored as if just fallen asleep. Full of excessive joy all will undoubtedly get reunited with their friends and relatives kinsfolk and all those who are their own. And so as if all of this had been somewhat of a dream like illusion. The universal order is brought into being and the dead risen and time put back is able to move forward again. And the Ramayana ends. And we have the logos the esoteric marriage the reuniting together. And I guess we'll just forego. I have about ten slides but perhaps we'll forget this. Should we leave them? Shall we see a few of them? All right. I hate to upstage me. Some of these you've seen before. And I'm sorry. All of my nasty Rogers lines are gone. I looked all over for them. Just to reacquaint you. This is the old symbol of the Mohenjo Daro Harappan civilization. This is a dancing girl from that era. Statue. Bronze. Bronze. Yeah. And? This and the classic Rishi. The matted locks. No. Compared.