Spiritual meaning of Ramayan

Literature is said to be the mirror of the society. It is believed that authors are driven to pen whatever they evince in their surroundings. Thus surroundings by and large define and confine their writing. It is argued that even fiction is driven by the stark realities of the time. Epics like Ramayan and Mahabharat also depict the condition of the society during that period of time when they were written few hundred years ago. However, one thing which distinguishes them from other books is their spiritual message. These books are more than literary work because scriptures convey a divine message. The spiritual message which these epics convey holds true for the reader irrespective of time at which it is read. The divine knowledge of soul, the method of renunciation and transformation is which is decimated through these scriptures, holds true for any seeker of truth without hampering the boundaries of race, religion caste or creed. The divine message is given in a very subtle way as sprinkling precious jewels in the ocean, which only few of those who are really in search of the jewel alone will find it; the revelation of supreme truth is conveyed to the one who deserves to know, rest take it as a mega period drama.

Most of the epics have been written in the form of poetry. Poetry always has a mystical element to it; it can be interpreted in several ways. The poeticism of epics paves the way for conveying the divine message secretly and sacredly to only those who deserve to know because they alone could well imbibe the blissful experience of divine. None but a true seeker begins to understand this transcendental message when one reaches a certain spiritual height. Then one is able to relate the inner truths and the symbolic representation of characters of these epics. 

This article brings out some of those symbolic secrets. It discusses some of the characters of Ramayana and brings out how these characters could be seen alive in a human heart. Ramayan is a beautiful collection of stories, metaphors and parables which together narrate episodes surrounded by grief and attachment which brings out the conflict between good and evil and the victory of virtues over vices.  Ram is not merely the son of king Dashrath but the name itself has a hidden meaning. Ram denotes a state of mind, a stage of a seeker of ultimate truth. ‘Ram’ comes from Hindi word ‘rama’ which means one who is ‘completely engrossed’. So ‘Ram’ is one who is completely engrossed in everything, is an inseparable part of everything and is the soul substance. The ‘Soul’ or ‘atman’ encompasses all and is everywhere. You cannot see it but it evolves when appropriate conditions occur for its revelation.

‘Dashrath’, the father of ‘Ram’, is not merely a legendary king who lived in Ayodhya with his three queens, but every human is a ‘Dashrath’ with potential ability to give birth to a son like Ram. ‘Dashrath’ means one who rides and controls ten rathas or chariots. Our mind has the ability to ride and control these ten chariots in our body, or the ten organs, i.e. five ‘Gyanendriyas’ and five ‘Karmendriyas’. ‘Gyanendriyas’ are the organs by which knowledge is acquired. These are eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Through these one understands an object and so they are called ‘Gyanendriya’. ‘Karmendriyas’ are the organs required to perform action. These are namely, mouth to speak or eat, hands to hold, legs to move, Payu and Upastham as organs for excretion and reproduction. Mind is the leader of these ten organs therefore is the master charioteer or king Dashrath.  And if one rides ones chariot, in other words, makes use of this opportunity in his life time to utilize one’s body and mind for a higher purpose, then one can attain liberation.

In this process when a seeker’s mind is able to tame the sense organs, then as a result, three gunas, i.e. sat, raj and tam begin flowing. These three are represented as three wives of Dhasrath, namely, Kaushalya who represents satva, Sumirta as rajo guna and Kaikeyi as tamasik guna in the journey of a spiritual seeker’s life. In the story of Ramayan, childless Dashrath began worrying about his descendant or rightful heir. He then decided to perform ‘Putra Kameshthi yagya’ on the suggestion of his family priest Vashisth. This has a different spiritual connotation. With the flow of three gunas, when a seeker feels depressed about his future spiritual progress, then he intensifies his spiritual practice or yagya. King Dashrath was suggested that if you do yagya, all your desires will get fulfilled. Any true seeker of divinity would be suggested that you have to do the ‘yagya’ or effort to attain your spiritual goal. When a seeker does the yagya, four sons of Dashrath are born as the fruit of your yagya- Dharm (righteousness), Arth (wealth), Kaam (desire) and Moksha (liberation) as Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan. Ram is born out of Dashrath and queen Kaushalya who is an epitome of satvik guna and resembles nothing but purity itself.

Furthermore, look at this doha from Ramayan-

“Bhaye pragat kripala, deendayala, Kaushalya hitkari

Harshit mahtari, muniman hari, adbhut roop bichari”

This doha or verse means God evolves for the benefit of queen Kaushalya, the first wife of Dashrath, mother of Ram. Why has Tulsidas only considered Kaushalya, did forget mentioning the other two queens? If not, then why did he only talk about Kaushalya? ‘Kaushalya’ here refers to one who is ‘kushal’ or adept, the true seeker of truth who has acquired the skill and ability to know his soul; for such a devotee, ‘Deendayala’ or the compassionate God Himself evolves to help in order to show the path of truth to His devotee. God evolves for the sake of one who is efficient, who has ‘kaushal’ the efficiency to know his soul.

Ramayan glorifies ‘Ramrajya’ where people live happily, without any suffering, in complete harmony and peace. This is also a symbolic concept. And the golden reign called ‘Ramrajya’ begins to spread out within one’s body when as a true seeker begins to listen to one’s soul. Here ‘Ramrajya’ also has a spiritual connotation. ‘Ramrajya’ is not merely a historical metaphor, but every human has a potential to let the Ramrajya happen in his/her own body. This ‘Ramrajya’ can be attained when one is able to win over his/her own nature or prakriti. When a seeker is able to free oneself from the bondage of nature, then the seeker also gains the ability to remain untouched by three kinds of afflictions, namely, dahik, davik and bhautik. Dahik affliction refers to the pain which our ‘deh’ or body and mind gives us, daivik tap or pain refers to afflictions by Deva or nature's fury like floods, storms, drought etc and bhautik tap is the pain given by bhoothas or the other beings or creatures like other fellow beings, insects and animals etc.

The negative characters like Ravan, Supnakha and Kumbhkaran also could be seen in our body itself. Ravan’s ten heads do not refer to his ten physical heads but to human nature of pretence. A liar always will have several faces, his speech and action may not have a balance. He might say something but might do just the opposite. Thus a vice or a cunning person has several faces as he keeps changing his loyalties. Therefore a cheat person like Ravana is also in our heart as sometimes we do consciously or unconsciously bring out our own dual nature. Ravana’s sister Soopnakha was infatuated by Ram. Her attraction for Ram was immediately brought to a halt by her nose and ears being slashed. This slashing of ears and nose suggests that a seeker of Ram has to control his/her senses. Ramayan also describes some animated characters like a brother of Ravan named Kumbhkaran who is known for his prolonged slumber, but whenever he wakes up, his roar is unimaginable, his hunger is insatiable and he makes the entire earth tremble with fear. This character also somewhere can be seen in human nature. Our anger lies dormant in our mind but when is challenged by some external factors then the demon like nature of our inner Kumbhkaran becomes alive. Vibhishan, amongst all his disconcerting siblings stands alone. Vibhishan is the atma or soul. It lives among all opposing tendencies and struggles to attain its pure form.

The final culmination of Ramayan has always been questioned by common mass. Overtly judgmental human nature compels us to question the action of perfect human being Rama who, despite his adherence to dharma, on the suggestion of others, asked Sita to go through a test of purity in the fire. And despite passing the agni pariksha successfully Sita has to vanish in the core of the earth. This episode also has a spiritual explanation. Human being is seen as being who can control and drive these ten chariots by riding on them. If one consciously, actively and intentionally witnesses these ten senses he would become adept in knowing the soul. It is said that Sita and Ram are symbolic representation of soul and the supreme soul respectively. And when the battle between one’s inner positive and negative forces is over, and when the disillusioned soul or Sita realizes its true nature, the fact that she is simply a part of supreme soul, the very separate existence of Sita or jiva’s soul vanishes. It rather merges with its supreme soul Ram and attains moksha.