How Rama’s apparent humanity enhances his divinity

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
As the Supreme Lord, there is no one like Him.
He is, as we know, is Maryada Purushottama. So to demonstrate the qualities of the ideal human being. But there is one challenge in this task of defining the characteristics of the ideal human being, that if Lord Ram’s divinity is emphasised too much, then the purpose of the Ramayana, that is, to demonstrate the qualities of an ideal human being is undermined.
Because if He is God, He can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants. So for God, what is difficult? For God, what is impossible? So if we see this is a human level, this is the divine level. Or this is the spiritual world, this is the material world.
Then we know that the whole principle of avatar is the Lord descends from the spiritual level to the material level. And although He is not one of us, He acts like He is one of us. So let’s look at some of the characteristics that Lord Ram demonstrates, which indicate His both distinction between His divinity and His humanity, His apparent humanity.
To consider Him a human being is, of course, not correct. To think that the Lord has descended and has become a human being, that is condemned in the Bhagavad Gita. So what are the qualities that the Lord demonstrates? Many qualities.
He sticks to His duty. Under extreme difficulties, He honours His father’s word, even when it means renouncing the entire kingdom for Him. He puts others above Himself constantly.
When He is exiled to the forest, all His thoughts are how to minimise the tension at that time. He manifests emotions at time and He restrains emotions at time. And both of these indicate His extraordinary level of self-mastery.
Now what do we mean here by putting others above oneself? I’ll just take one example of these qualities. There’s an underlying theme. The underlying theme of the whole Ramayana is the mood of selflessness, the mood of sacrifice, the mood of putting one’s duty, putting one’s loved ones above oneself.
So when Lord Ram is called by Sumantra to the palace of Dashrath Maharaj on the early morning of the day when He is going to be coronated, He goes naturally expecting that His father will personally maybe instruct Him, bless Him. And as soon as He enters, He sees that Dashrath Maharaj is looking completely shattered and Kaikeyi is looking cold. If we have a little bit social intelligence, if there are two people in the room and there is a tension in the room, we can immediately sense it.
And He senses there is a huge tension among the two of them. The two don’t even meet their eyes and then Dashrath Maharaj is not even able to speak. So then Kaikeyi tells, what has happened? The king had given me two vows and as per those two vows, you have to go to the forest for 14 years and Bharat will become the king.
And then she is prepared as any normal human being would be. If you have suddenly done some great injustice to someone, there will be a protest, there will be some aggression, there will be some retaliation, there may be some kind of vehement reaction. And Lord Ram’s response, He doesn’t even show the slightest shock at that time.
He says, you know, Kaikeyi, I always treated you like my mother and I thought that you also treated me just like your own son. Today it causes me great sorrow to understand that you never really accepted me as your son. If you had actually accepted me as your son, then for such an insignificant thing as a kingdom, you wouldn’t even have needed to go to my father.
You could have just told me and I would immediately have given up the kingdom. So, rest assured, I will start going for the forest. Start preparing to go for the forest.
Kaikeyi is stunned by this. Dasharatha Maharaj is so shaken by the whole event, the whole set of turn of events that he is not able to prepare. So, what is Lord Ram doing over here? He is trying to decrease the animosity, trying to lower the temperature in the situation.
So, I will come back to this theme, but many such qualities the Lord manifests and when He is manifesting these qualities, let’s look at this tension between God’s divinity, between now God, we are talking specifically about Ram as manifesting in Ramayana. The Vedic or the bhakti conception of God is so rich that there are so many different manifestations. Advaitam acyutam anadi manantarupam.
So, there is one, while understanding God, there is one way is we emphasise on His otherness, that God is so great that He is utterly different from us. And this is emphasised primarily in the Abrahamic religions, where in the old testament it is said that thou shalt not make any graven images, that God is so great that you can’t even depict God, that no man shall be able to see God and live. And this is expressed most aggressively in the Islamic traditions, where they say that depicting God, God is so different from us that not only depicting Him is not possible, depicting Him is actually offensive, it is sinful.
So, God is made into a completely other being. So, we have great reverence for Him, but He becomes inaccessible. He becomes inaccessible, He becomes unknowable.
He is so great that we can’t know much about Him. So, one aspect is the otherness of God, that He is different from us. Another aspect is the sameness of God.
And the sameness of the ultimate reality is, it is that yes, God is like us. Now, this is not entirely neglected in the various theistic traditions of the world. So, as below, so above, the Bible it is said.
So, there is some understanding that, yes, as the world is here, as we living beings are here, similarly, it is the world above. So, God is just like one of us. There is some sameness between us.
So, now the sameness is sometimes depicted very vividly in the Bhakti tradition, where Krishna plays with the Gopas, Krishna plays with the cows, Krishna acts like a, Krishna commits mischief with His parents, with Vishuddha and He disciplines them. So, we see this in Krishna’s case. And we see this in Ram’s case also, that His Baal Leela is not so much described in the Valmiki Ramayan.
In other later retellings of the Ramayan, there is mention of His Baal Leela also. But Lord Ram, He also manifests sameness in the sense that He has a whole set of relatives. He has siblings, He has a spouse, He has parents, He has various associates.
So, among the various avatars of the Lord, we can say Krishna has the most rich array of relationships, rich and intimate array of relationships. But a close second is Ram. So, now, in that sense, just as He has a complete rich array of relationships, and not that all of them, all of them consider Him to be God.
When Vishwamitra comes to the kingdom to seek the help of Dashrath Maharaj in stopping the atrocities of the demons. So, Dashrath Maharaj says, I’ll be there. I’ll come with my entire army.
He says, no, I want Ram. He is shocked. He says, Ram is just a small boy.
He is just a teenager. He has not even fought any battles. How can he fight against demons? So, Dashrath Maharaj is not just playing a role over here.
He actually feels that because although there have been prophecies that yes, your son will be a manifestation of Vishnu, but his affection is so much that he forgets that. So, Lord Ram, in one sense, relates to everyone as if He is one among them. Now, although He is one among everyone, that is not the entire reality.
So, the Achintya Vedabheda is inconceivable oneness and difference. He is both similar to us and different from us. And this is similar and different.
We can see this, for example, when the Lord wants to cross the ocean. And at that time, Hanuman has already leapt across the ocean and gone. But what does Lord Ram do? He sits in meditation and fasts and worships Samudradev, worships the God of the ocean to seek a way.
And he performs serious austerities at that time. So, the idea is that in human society, we acknowledge that there are powers far bigger than ours and we can’t ourselves control them. So, what do we do? We appease them through worship, through austerity.
So, Lord Ram demonstrates that. In that sense, He is acting just like one among us. But when Samudradev doesn’t appear, what does the Lord do? He just glances.
And by his glance of anger, what happens? The whole ocean starts boiling forth. Now, if we get angry, our anger can’t even heat one glass of water. His glance of anger starts heating up the whole ocean.
So, then Samudradev comes to his senses and he comes and offers his obeisances and submits himself. So, the Lord acts like one among us. But suddenly when He wants, He can manifest His greatness, His position as the Supreme Lord.
So, sometimes those who are not familiar with the Bhakti tradition, they ask, if He is just like a human being, how can He be God? But that is the wrong question to ask. That actually, He is God and how or why is He acting like an ordinary human being? That is for reciprocating love. The Lord, He is omnipotent, He is omniscient, He is omnipresent.
These are His qualities. But the important thing is His qualities don’t define Him. He defines those qualities.
What does that mean? His qualities don’t define Him. He defines those qualities. Suppose somebody is very tall, say somebody is 7 feet tall.
It’s impressive that level of height and they can see far ahead and they have various advantages of being tall. But they are also stuck with their height. If they want to be inconspicuous, if they want to conceal their presence, well, their feet are more taller than everyone else.
It’s going to be very difficult to conceal themselves. So, what happens over there? That’s the problem. They are stuck with their height.
But Krishna is not stuck with His omnipotence. Krishna is not stuck with His omnipresence. Krishna can choose His omnipotence to manifest when He wants and He can choose it to unmanifest when He wants.
So, Krishna’s defining characteristic is His loving nature. And for the sake of loving reciprocations, to express His love and to get love to manifest and express in our hearts, in the hearts of those devoted to Him, those seeking to be devoted to Him, sometimes He manifests and sometimes He doesn’t manifest. And the same applies to Lord Ram also.
So, let’s look at this. As you know, He is different from us because He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. Now, how is He similar to us? He is different but He is not stuck with this difference.
He can subordinate the difference whenever He wants to. So, now, how do we understand God? Generally, we can’t understand anyone unless we have a reference point. So, if somebody behaves in a strange way or somebody behaves in a, some great disaster has happened in their lives and still they are very calm and cool, then we usually, for us, the reference point that starts from is that, okay, our own emotions and aspirations, they are the basis for understanding others’ emotions and aspirations, including God’s.
We need a reference point for understanding anything. And that’s why in the Vedic tradition, to make God relatable to human beings, especially in the Bhakti tradition, often His emotions and aspirations are contrasted with ours. So, psychologically, we can’t understand anyone unless we have some reference point for comparison.
And since we know our emotions and aspirations better than anyone else’s, so we may start, God is just like us. However, the actual point is not that God is like us, it is we are like God. So, it is, in English, the word anthropomorphic is used sometimes in a negative sense, that some people say that because you, because we are human, so we have imagined God in human form.
So, in that way, we have imagined God to be like us. But the actual reality is that it is not that God is like us. So, God is like us, that is anthropomorphic.
But the reality is that we are like God because He is the right reference point for us to function. We are like God. So, ontologically means according to the nature of reality.
The nature of reality is such that each one of us is a part of God. So, God is a starting point. And this is called as theomorphism, theomorphic or theomorphism, that our form, our nature, they are manifested as per, according to how God is.
Mammai, Aam, Sho, Ji, Vel, Ok, they are all parts of God. Man is made in the image of God. So, what does it mean? So, God’s emotions and aspirations are the basis for understanding our emotions and aspirations.
So, that is philosophical reality. Now, we may say, but are all our emotions and aspirations similar to God’s? No. We have unhealthy and unhealthy emotions.
So, to the extent we are closer to God, our emotions and aspirations are godly. To the extent we go further away from God, to that extent, our emotions and aspirations, they become ungodly. So, emotions and aspirations.
You see, in general, in the world, we interact in two ways. We perceive something when we see something. We experience something when on seeing it.
And then aspiration means we want to do something about it. So, emotions are what we experience and aspiration means how we want to act. So, these are two ways in which we interact with the world.
So, why is this important to understand? The right reference point is, if you want to understand philosophically, God is the starting point. So, psychologically, we will start with ourselves. Prabhupada points to this in his book, On the Way to Krishna.
He says, all knowledge comes from Krishna, but knowledge doesn’t begin with Krishna. Krishna is the source of all knowledge, but it’s not that suddenly one day we wake up and, oh, where is God? Who is God? What is He doing? No. Knowledge doesn’t begin from Krishna.
Knowledge begins from the world around us. We look at the people around us. We look at nature around us.
We may look at the sky and the stars in it and we start thinking, where did all this come from? Is there someone in control? Is there some ultimate reality? That’s how we start thinking about God. So, let’s look at this tension now from this perspective. So, I’m just laying the philosophical background over here to go into some pastimes of Lord Rama which illustrate this tension.
So now, how does our devotion grow? How do we connect with God? If we focus on His greatness, then it’s more of an official connection with God. Now, we may have a boss or we go to the head of the state or the head of the city and then we seek their help to get things done. So, we pray to Him, seeking His help.
Most people seek His help for material purposes. Some may seek His help for spiritual purposes. But overall, that is what we do at the official level.
But at a personal level, we want to relate. We don’t just see His greatness. We just don’t see His otherness.
He’s so powerful. He can do anything, hundreds of things which I can’t do. No, at a personal level, we see His sameness.
Just as we want to offer our love. And how do we offer our love? We may give various things, but the essential emotion that is given through the gifts, that is important. So, similarly, here we see Him as an object of love.
And then the relationship that is developed is a transformational relationship, not a transactional relationship. What is the difference between a transformational and transactional? Transactional relationship is, Oh God, I’m in big trouble. Please help me.
Please help me. And then if God helps, thank you. Bye bye.
Or if God doesn’t help, you don’t exist, you don’t care and I don’t care for you. Get lost. We may become materialistic, we may become atheistic.
So, that is a transactional relationship. We just go to God and when the transaction is over, it’s over. It’s like I go to a shopkeeper, we go to a doctor, we get something done from them and it’s over.
But a transformational relationship is where by every interaction with Him, we come closer to Him. Our bond with Him becomes deeper and deeper. And that’s how this evolution of the relationship from relating with the Lord at the official level, which is talked about in 7.16 in the Bhagavad Gita, to a personal level in 7.19. 7.16 Krishna says there are four categories of people who come to me.
And in Kali Yuga, there are four categories of people, those who are distressed, those who are distressed and those who are distressed. It’s distressed people. Everybody is in distress when they turn toward God, turn towards some higher reality.
But that is transactional. Please remove me from this. Please remove this distress from my life.
But then from that, they come to a personal level where Vasudeva Sarvamiti. They turn toward the Lord as the sole, as the sole object of devotion. So, this is how it manifests.
So, now let’s look at this tension between His humanity and divinity through a few pastimes. I won’t be able to go into the details of the pastimes, but I’ll just mention them. So, Ram’s ideal characteristics.
So, what does ideal characteristic mean? That he is exhibiting extraordinary, extraordinary behaviour, which exhibits his qualities in different situations. So, I already mentioned about his remarkable composure when he was exiled. You know, he focused on consoling and calming others, never on venting his shock or resentment.
And he, for example, sometimes we are deprived of something. Say, if we wanted a particular position in our office or in our community and somehow there is politics and we are driven out of there. Then while we are being driven out, we, sometimes the normal human tendency would be to fuel the fires of dissension over there.
We’ll go, but we will try to give a parting kick to those who displaced us. So, that is a normal human tendency. But Lord Ram, what does he do when the citizens are outraged at what has happened to him and they want to rebel? So, Lord Ram says, I’ll be going to the forest now.
And if all of you, so I am going entirely by my own will to honour my father’s word. And if all of you cooperate with the king, so that the administration goes on well, then I will have no anxiety when I’m in the forest. So, please help in ensuring that the administration of Ayodhya goes on smoothly.
So, otherwise, I will be in constant anxiety in the forest. So, he makes a personal appeal, don’t rebel, cooperate with the king. In this way, he pacifies everyone.
So, he is thinking about others. And this is actually one of the most effective way of dealing with difficulties. What happens is that when we face problems, so if we have to face problems with composure, so how can we face problems with composure? So, generally, the more we think about a problem, the bigger it becomes and the more miserable we become.
So, how did, why did this happen? Why did this happen? Why did this person act in this way? And when we start thinking like that, the small, the problem might be bigger, start becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. This is the thing about problems. Problems don’t have a fixed size with respect to our perception of the problems.
The more we think, the bigger we become. But the more we think about some worthy cause, bigger than the problem, the smaller the problem becomes and the calmer we can stay. So, we all face problems in life, but if we have something purposeful to do, something valuable to do, then what happens is the problem becomes more manageable because we have something to think about, something to do at that time.
So, that’s why in life, we can’t avoid having problems. That’s the nature of the world. But if we seek a problem-free life, that is never going to happen.
But if we seek a purposeful life, then what will happen is that purpose will protect us from a problem. Seek a purposeful life, not a problem-free life. Because even if we try as much as possible, problems are going to come.
And if you think, I will stay calm and composed, then there are no problems in my life. Well, we’ll never become uncomposed. But if we have a meaningful purpose to work on, to focus on, then what will happen is we’ll stay calm.
Say, if our child suddenly falls down and has an accident, naturally there will be anxiety. But if you have to get the child to the hospital, give the child some first aid, that focus, I have to get there, that will keep us calmer. If we have to do something, when somebody, some loved one is in trouble, the most difficult thing to do is just sit and do nothing at that time.
But if we have some purpose, then what happens is we can stay calmer. So, seek a purposeful life, not a problem-free life. I was just talking with some devotees.
Now, in India, COVID has risen a lot. So, there’s a devotee very close to me. That whole family was, the devotee was afflicted, the whole family is afflicted with COVID.
So, I was asking this devotee, how are you feeling? So, they told me that I have no time to think about how I am feeling. It is not a very serious COVID infection, painful, somewhat painful, but not very serious. He says, I have to take care of my other family members.
I have no time to think about it. So, now, that reply struck me that, yes, if I have nothing to do, I’m lying in bed, I just feel sorry for myself. But what is Lord Ram’s concern? He’s not feeling sorry for himself.
He’s demonstrating how by putting others before oneself, actually, not only we do take care of others, but we take better care of ourselves also. One of the easiest way to stop feeling sorry for ourselves is to start doing something for someone else. This is also one of the easiest ways to come out of depression.
When somebody is depressed, just do something for someone else. Do something, do anything that will put a smile on someone else’s face. As soon as we start thinking about something else, we start getting out of the dark thoughts of our head.
So, Lord Ram demonstrates that. And although Ram is composed, but it’s not that he’s always composed. There are times when he breaks down.
So, for example, then Sita couldn’t be found when they came back after Maricha’s deception and they searched for Sita frantically and they couldn’t find anything anywhere. So, Lord Ram got enraged and he picked up his bow and he was calling to the trees, he was calling to the birds, the animals, he was calling even to the gods, where is Sita? In fact, in this section, if you read the Sanskrit Ramayana, if you read the later retellings of the Ramayana, this is actually very very similar to the mood of the Gopis. They are mad in separation from Krishna.
Here it’s just the opposite. Of course, Sita also manifests great separation from Ram. But Sita doesn’t go mad running around here and there.
She’s restrained in Ravana’s captivity. But here Ram manifests that. And what does he say? He says at that point that the gods, devatas, they are not responding to me.
I’m asking them where is Sita? If they don’t respond, I will use celestial weapons and I will destroy the whole universe. And he picks up those weapons and suddenly signs of ominous signs start appearing in the skies and on the earth. And at that time Lakshman comes and he says, my dear brother, oh Ram, he says, let us first try to find Sita.
And if we can’t find Sita at all, then you can give in to your anger. He says, oh worshipable one, everybody faces adversity in life. If you start abusing your power when you are facing adversity, what example will it set for society? So, please calm yourself.
When Lakshman speaks those words, Ram appreciates them, Ram calms down, says thank you Lakshman. And Lakshman out of his humility, normally Lakshman has a subordinate position and sometimes the subordinate may also give advice to a superior. But that doesn’t mean that the subordinate becomes a superior.
So immediately Lakshman says, I am simply speaking the words of wisdom that I have learned only from you. So, now why does Lord Ram do all this? He in one sense breaks down, that expresses his love, but it also shows something else, that so we may be very great, we may be very powerful, but in life we can’t go through everything alone. So, even the best of among us sometimes need to lean on others for help.
You need to lean on others. So, the ideal human being is not just a person who is like a lone ranger, I can do everything myself. Yes, we can do a lot of things ourselves and it is important to be self-reliant, to be responsible, to take up the initiative when it is required, even when it is difficult.
But it is not a sign of weakness to seek help from others. See, there is a difference between weakness and vulnerability. Vulnerability, weakness is where we just can’t do things.
But vulnerability is where we express our human side and that actually endures a person to others. And so at one level, from the human perspective, what is the Lord teaching us, that we all need to take help from others. But why is vulnerability so important? Because what happens is, in general, we try to put up a facade in front of others, you know, I know everything, I am powerful and the world is a tough place, the world is a competitive place, sometimes even a brutal place.
And if we show weakness, there are many people who will exploit us. So, we have to, in some ways, appear strong in the world. At the same time, just appearing strong will not lead to a strong connection with anyone.
Suppose somebody we know is a very powerful person, very resourceful, you know, any problem they have, any problem is brought before them, they immediately solve that problem. And then one day they call us and then they tell us that, you know, I am facing this problem. And I just don’t know, should we do this? Or should we do that? Or should we do that? What should we do? And then, initially, we may think, I thought this person knows everything.
And maybe this person is not as great as I thought he was. That might be initial reaction. But then, if we have a close relationship with that person, we will actually feel honoured, we will feel privileged that they opened their heart and shared their concern with us.
So, what happens is, this is a fundamental human truth that vulnerability increases lovability. When somebody shows their vulnerability, it’s like we all put on a mask before the world. And then we take off the mask, we lower the guards.
If we feel we want to develop a closer relationship with someone, then we lower our guard. And then they may also lower their guard. Of course, this has to be done carefully, not with anyone and everyone, because some people might exploit us.
But vulnerability increases lovability. So, Lord Ram exhibits vulnerability over here. And that strengthens the bond between Lakshman and Ram.
They are already very close, but they become closer. So, vulnerability is an important, it’s not just as human beings, we are not invulnerable. And we can’t act invulnerable all the time.
But when we exhibit weakness, it’s just simply a deficiency. Vulnerability is an admission of our limitation. And then we find a way ahead from that limitation.
So, generally vulnerability is what brings intimacy, it increases lovability. So, Lord Ram demonstrates this. So, similarly, Ram also exhibits a breakdown at another time, that is, he is in agony when he is searching for Sita and he is separated from Sita.
At that time in separation from Sita, he is rolling on the ground in tears. So, at that time seeing it, Parvati asks, Shiva, is this God? What did Ram teach by this? So, he taught that even when he is, so what happens is that, so Lord Shiva says, yeah, he is actually Lord Ram itself. He is the Supreme.
Oh, really? So, she decides to test and Parvati takes on the form of Sita and Lord Ram is rolling on the ground in the forest. Where is Sita? Where is Sita? And she is right in the path where Lord Ram is rolling on the ground. And while rolling, rolling, she comes to Sita.
Lord Ram comes right near her and Lord Ram turns toward her and says, Oh, Mother Parvati, can you please tell me where is my Sita? Now, she is in the form of Sita, but Lord Ram sees through it right away. So, although he is overwhelmed by his emotions, still he is the master of cognition. He knows what is what.
So, there is a Leela. So, sometimes he manifests his humanity, sometimes he manifests his divinity. So, for Parvati, she starts thinking of him entirely as human and immediately manifests his divinity.
But then, he is also manifesting his apparent humanity in the sense that he is experiencing separation from Sita. And there is another time when Ram has a breakdown and that is when Lakshman falls. Now, there are various times.
First, in Rajit, by using devious weapons, attacking invisibly, he knocks down both Ram and Lakshman. Another time, Ravan attacks and he uses a formidable weapon that just pierces through Lakshman’s heart and creates a hole over there. And Lakshman is motionless.
Well, there seems to be no sign of life in Lakshman. And at that time, Ram, his expression of lamentation, it’s heartbreaking. He says, alas, without Lakshman, my life is not worth living.
He says, I might get a wife like Sita, but I can never get a brother like Lakshman. Sita, as his wife in some ways, was duty-bound to come with him. Although Ram told her, you don’t have to come.
She came. But we could say she was duty-bound. Lakshman was not duty-bound like that.
Lakshman had his own family. He had his wife, but he came with Ram. So, he says, he remembers all the service that Lakshman has done.
And he says, I will never get a brother like him. And immediately he starts thinking, how will I show my face to Kaushalya? She entrusted her son to my care and he died while he was… he starts lamenting. And what is he doing over there? He is appreciating the loyalty of Lakshman.
Now, fortunately, through the physicians that Ram has, through an arrangement, Lakshman is revived. But the Lord appreciates his loyalty. When somebody is held by our side always, we are not entitled to anyone’s faithfulness.
We are blessed to have that faithfulness. Sometimes what happens is, if somebody is always with us by our side, we start taking them for granted. And rather than appreciating all the right that they have done for us, we start harping on the few things that they don’t do right for us.
So, loyalty is not an entitlement. It’s an endowment. It’s a blessing.
It’s not a right. And we always think of Lakshman and Ram as together. Ram is conscious of his debt to Lakshman, that Lakshman’s loyalty.
He appreciates that very deeply. And then, I’ll conclude with this pastime, that Ram exhibits humility amid glory. That after Ravana had been killed, when the Devatas appeared in the sky, they came there and Ram wasn’t proud.
You know, you couldn’t kill Ravana, I killed him. He was humble. In one sense, we can see the cosmic hierarchy.
This is the earthly level, this is the heavenly level and this is the transcendental level. The transcendental level is where the Lord resides. It is beyond material existence itself.
So, in one sense, Lord Ram’s position is above that of the Devatas. But he has descended to the world. He is playing the role of a human being.
So, from the human perspective, the Devatas are above us. So, Lord Ram takes that role. He says, I am a human being.
And the Devatas say he is Vishnu. You are Vishnu, you have descended. He says, I don’t know.
I am simply Dashrath Nandan Ram. So, he plays a humble role over there. So, he plays according to his position and he offers his respect to the Devatas.
And the Devatas see that this is the mood that Ram is manifesting. So, they go along and they say, the darshan of the Devatas will never go in vain. So, it should never go in vain.
So, ask us for some benediction. So, what does Ram ask for? He asks, again, his selflessness is seen over here. So, when he is exhibiting his humility, humility doesn’t mean that I don’t matter.
It is not about looking down at myself. Sometimes somebody, some people are humble. Somebody would just say, you know, I am worthless.
I have no good qualities. I can’t do this. I can’t do that.
Well, that constant I-centredness is not humility. Humility means service attitude. Humility means that others matter more than me and I am not going to be self-uncentered.
So, Lord Ram exhibits this humility. He has already done something which the Devatas can’t do. But still, he seeks blessings from the Devatas.
He seeks for two blessings. So, the one who is the ultimate blesser of everyone, the one who is Deva Deva, what blessing can he ask? He asks for two blessings. He asks that the monkeys, they were all my army and a king is supposed to reward his army after victory.
But I am in exile. I don’t have anything right now. So, please let the monkeys have abundant fulfilment for their needs.
Now, according to some Acharyas, Lord Ram is not satisfied simply by having the Devatas arrange for the monkeys. That’s why in Krishna Leela, when the monkeys come there to Vrindavan, he personally feeds those monkeys. He says, you did so much for me.
Let me do something for you. Then also, so now he says those monkeys who are revivable, that means that those who are, those who are not, those bodies are not completely damaged, those are revivable, may they be restored to life, health and strength. So, in contrast, if we know what does Ravan do, all the monkeys that have been, all the demons that have been killed, Ravan says, at night, he tells his demons, go and toss their bodies deep into the ocean.
So, the next morning, when the monkeys see that there are no casualties, there are no dead bodies on the Rakshasa side, there are no dead bodies of the Rakshasas, they will think, oh yesterday’s war was useless. We didn’t have any impact on the opposite side. But what does Ram do? He stays awake throughout the night, nearly throughout the night, personally performing the last rites for the deceased monkeys.
So, Ram is selfless. He is placing the monkeys who have served him above himself. And then, at that time, Lord Ram sees that Dashrath is also there along with the Devatas and Dashrath Maharaj descends and he embraces Ram and he blesses Ram profusely.
And at that time, seeing this, Ram doesn’t say, you know, honouring your word for that I had to go through 14 years of forest exile and then my wife was lost and why did you have to give a word like that? He could have vented that it is just for one, but he doesn’t do it at all. He says, Dashrath when Ram is going to the forest and Dashrath says to Ram, please stay for one day more. So, Kaikeyi puts her foot down and she says, no, you must go to the forest immediately.
And Dashrath is incensed and he says, oh wicked woman, you by your selfishness and greed have ripped my family apart. I am bound by my promise. So, I have to live to see this day when Ram goes to the forest.
But now, once my two promises to you are honoured, I am done with you since I reject you as my wife. And at that time, she is so infatuated with the idea of getting the kingdom for Dashrath, she just dismisses those words. But later on, especially after Dashrath departs, that keeps burning in her heart.
Sometimes when we have disputes with someone and if there is a very bitter dispute and suddenly that person passes away, then we don’t have the opportunity to apologise. We don’t have that opportunity for emotional closure and that can be very painful. So, Ram, what does he do? He prays to Dashrath that if you want to give me any benediction, please forgive Kaikeyi and please accept her.
And Dashrath Maharaj says, yes, all is forgiven. And when Ram goes back to the kingdom, it is his moment of glory when he is returning victorious after the 14 years. But when he reunites his family members, the first thing that he tells Kaikeyi is, I saw Dashrath Maharaj and he forgave you, he accepted you.
It’s a big burden off her head. So, in this way, what the Lord demonstrates is when he is required, he manifests his divinity. But his divinity doesn’t mean that he just magically solves all problems.
He goes through many of the difficulties that we ordinary human beings have to go through. But the way he goes through those difficulties shows his greatness and that can be an inspiration and example for us, how we also can act with virtue. Life is difficult for everyone.
One of the things that Lakshman says to Ram at that time is, and this is the same thing that Krishna tells Arjuna when Abhimanyu has departed from the world. He says that distress comes upon everyone in this world, whether we are good people or whether we are bad people. Distress comes upon everyone.
The goodness of a person is seen not in the absence of distress in their life, but the goodness of a person, the character of a person is seen that when distress comes, they act in a way to minimise the distress, not to increase the distress. Everybody is struck by grief. Don’t act in a way that will increase others’ grief.
Act in a way that can decrease others’ grief. This one lesson we can take from Lord Ram’s, this divinity and humanity. The Lord descends to this world ultimately to deliver us from this world.
And that is the ultimate freedom from distress. When we become attracted to him, we become devoted to him and we attain him. But that takes time, purification.
But during the time, if this one lesson we can learn, distress will come upon everyone. But if we try to act in a mode of service, of contribution, how can I minimise the distress in this situation? Then we can not only make our own life better, we can also contribute to making the world around us better. And that was the mission of Lord Ram.
We can pray at Ram Navami is coming that the Lord descend in our life, in our hearts and we become more and more attracted to him, attracted to his pastimes and attracted to his example by which we all can become enriched in this world and in the world beyond. So I’ll summarise. I spoke about the theme of how Lord Ram’s apparent humanity enhances his divinity.
So I spoke broadly three points. First, I started talking about philosophically God’s otherness and God’s sameness. So God’s otherness is about how he’s so great that he’s completely different from us.
His sameness brings about greater relatability with him. So we talked about the purpose of the Ramayan is to demonstrate how Ram is an ideal human being. And for that purpose, what is required is not just to demonstrate that how he omnipotently does everything, but how he acts like a human being and goes through human like difficulties.
But he goes through human like difficulties with great grace, with great dignity, with great responsibility. So he sticks to his duty and we discussed two things, the ornamentation when he restrains his emotions and when he manifests his emotions. So his restraining his emotions is when he’s personally threatened, that he’s personally attacked and his life, his freedom is stripped away from him, he maintains composure.
He puts others above himself and the principle we learn over there is that when we face problems, if we have a cause, a purpose bigger than that problem, then the problem will not be so big. Otherwise, the more we think about a problem, the problem will become bigger and bigger. So Ram when he’s being exiled, he manifests that composure by placing others above himself.
But sometimes he breaks down. Is that a lack of composure? No, that breaking down is not a lack of composure. That is actually he’s placing others above himself and that’s why when others are in threatened, he breaks down and that also manifests his sweet, his sweetness in his Naralila.
So we’re talking about two situations and he breaks down when Sita is abducted and she can’t be detected. So at that time Lakshman calms him down and what does the Lord demonstrate over here that actually even the best of us can may need to depend on others, need the help of others. That’s at a human level and also lovability is increased by vulnerability.
You want to come closer to someone, then lower our guards, remove our mask and reveal who we authentically are and they may reciprocate. That’s how we can come closer. So then he also breaks down when he is broken down and Parvati says, is this really God? And he demonstrates how he is, even when he is overwhelmed by emotion, he is still God.
He is the master of cognition. And his breakdown even when Lakshman has apparently departed, that demonstrates that he is aware of the great sacrifice that Lakshman has done. So the loyalty of others is not an entitlement.
It’s not a right. It’s a blessing. It’s an endowment and we need to appreciate and recognise that.
And then again he has manifested his divinity by killing Rahu and a demon whom even the Devatas couldn’t kill. But then in front of the Devatas again he manifests his humanity. And when he asks the Devatas for blessing, what does he ask? Again, not for himself, but for the Vanaras.
And that shows his selflessness. That shows again as a human being, he is acting like a human being and caring for others. Similarly, he cares for Kaikeyi and seeks to repair the tie between her and the Shuddha Maharaj.
So in this way, from Lord Ram’s example, we can learn that when distress comes upon our life, how to act in a way that we can minimise the distress, not unwittingly maximise it. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Thank you so much. It was an amazing class from you as usual.
Before I go to the next section, I just want to ask you, would you have time for a question or two? Because I think since we ran over time or do you need to rush? From my side, I have time, but I don’t want to extend you because all of you also been busy. So all of you already had a long class. It was supposed to be, I believe from, it was supposed to be one hour, but it’s already one and a half hours.
So I’m okay. I don’t want to extend too much from your side. Can we just take one question in that case? Just to make sure.
Okay. If anyone has one question, we’ll just be taking one question. So you can either raise your hands.
I think we have Amrita Gaurangi Mataji who’s unmuted herself. Mataji, please go ahead. Hare Krishna Prabhu.
Dandavat Tanaham. So Prabhu, you’re talking about extending service to others. So we forget our own, so that we don’t focus on ourselves.
Correct. So in Krishna consciousness, we are taught that the best service is to give knowledge of Bhagavad Gita and philosophical intelligence to others. But it’s not always possible to do that with everyone or every need that we see around.
So how do we, because even if you want to give some material help to somebody, we are reminded of this and we’re also not sure if the material benefit that we’re giving to others is going to the right cause. So at that point, it becomes confusion. So how to handle that scenario? Okay.
So when we should put others above ourselves, then, but should we always be giving only spiritual help in terms of giving spiritual knowledge? What about giving material help? In general, when we help someone, we can’t really fragment the person and say, I care only for your soul. I don’t care for your body. We can’t do like that.
The person is a whole being right now. There’s body, mind and soul together. So we care for the whole person.
So that’s why as devotees, if we say, I will only provide spiritual knowledge, then, or I will only offer spiritual help, nothing material, we will come off as very hard-hearted. Not only will we come off as hard-hearted, we will also become hard-hearted over a period of time. When Bhakti Sanju Thakur would take his pilgrimages, his yatras to Vrindavan, there is a famous talk that he gave, where he saw that his disciples and their beggars outside the temples, the beggar devotees were not giving any, his disciples were not giving any charity.
And he said that, that we think that we will not give any charity, we will use the service of Hari, but then we end up using it simply to fit our own belly, to fill only our own belly. He says, if we don’t give charity, we will become hard-hearted. That’s one theme which he speaks over here.
Now that doesn’t mean that we indiscriminately give material charity to everyone. The principle that he’s talking about over here is that we don’t use devotion as an excuse for not exhibiting human compassion. Our devotion should expand our compassion, not restrict our compassion.
That means our devotion should, yes I want to help, but I don’t want to help only the body because bodily help is temporary. I want to help the complete person, body, mind and soul. That doesn’t mean I don’t care for the body at all.
So what does this mean practically? But the principle is devotion should expand our compassion, not constrict or restrict our compassion. That means that Prabhupada did not want the Krishna Consciousness Movement to become just a mundane philanthropic movement. A philanthropy can also be an act of service and it can indicate Satma Guna.
But Prabhupada said there are many organisations doing that. We don’t have to duplicate what they are doing. Having said that, it’s not that Prabhupada was in principle against philanthropy.
He was against that being the defining identity of our movement. So the idea was we can care for the body, mind and soul holistically. So that’s why if we give charity of food, we don’t just give charity of food, we give charity of prasad and we try to do it in a spiritual environment as much as possible so that people can get spiritual benefit also.
So I would talk about three situations and I’ll conclude this, answer that. If we are already related with someone, say if it is a devotee or if it is a family member or a relative and if they are facing some difficulty, then that is the time if you already are related with them in a reasonably close way, then we actually, when they are in some difficulty, helping them in whatever way is appropriate is a way of exhibiting service. Suppose a devotee is sick and then they need prasad, they need some practical help and then we may go around and do whatever is required.
In fact, it is in times of sickness that the fact that we are a part of a spiritual community and everybody comes to help. Now somebody is sick and others come to help. Is that material help? Is that spiritual help? Well, no, it’s help.
We are a part of a community. We are here for each other and when we help each other, that’s what actually brings the community together significantly. And similarly, when somebody is in need and we help them at that time and they say, okay, you know, you are not just into your bhakti-bhakti business, you are actually there to help me when I need them.
See, we don’t want to increase our mundane interactions with others. But sometimes we use spiritual and material as two categories. But this is a very, material is a very broad category.
Sometimes in America, people may say, oh, this person is from Asian background. Well, Asian is a very, very big background. In Asia, there is Chinese, there are Japanese, there are Indian, there are people from the Middle East.
So this is very big. So like that, material is a very big category. So within the material, we don’t want to interact with people at the rajasic or the tamasic level.
But we do want to connect with people at a human level. So at a human level, if somebody is in trouble and we can help them, that will actually be very positive for their Krishna consciousness, even if they are not Krishna conscious. Because you’ll start seeing that, okay, because of your Krishna consciousness or this person is a devotee and they are so helpful.
So if you already have a relationship with someone, then don’t, what should we say, especially when they’re in trouble, then don’t segregate the relationship. Just do whatever help is required for someone. That is one extreme.
The other is someone whom we don’t know at all and they ask us for help and they are approaching us simply for material purposes. Then maybe that’s not what we are supposed to do, especially if our focus is on sharing Krishna Bhakti and they have no interest in Krishna Bhakti at all. Then what happens is that if we start trying to help them, we may not be able to help them spiritually at all, because their interest is completely material.
When I had given GRE, the exam for going to America for higher studies, I was the top in Maharashtra at that time. So many students in India, when they hear about it, their dream is to go to America. So they come to me and after my classes, they ask questions, how do you learn words? Your vocabulary is good.
How do you improve your vocabulary? Now, I’m not here to teach them how to improve vocabulary primarily. But then I tell them, I read books, I write articles, I have a website, Gita Daily, I write articles, I try to use rich vocabulary over there. So I encourage them to read books, but not just books, I encourage them to read devotional books.
But if somebody is coming only for improving the vocabulary, then I may not be spending my time teaching them how to improve vocabulary. Now, of course, vocabulary is a very simple example. But principle is, this third category, when somebody is coming only for material help, and they have no interest in spirituality, then maybe we don’t have to offer help to them.
But when somebody is the intermediate, then it’s ye tha maam prapadyante, we follow Krishna’s principle of reciprocity. That we offer some help and we see, are they also spiritually receptive? And if they are, we can offer more help. Because in general, the number of people who are going to be interested in direct spirituality are going to be relatively few.
It is, you know, there is, we can say, philosophical spirituality, and there is pragmatic or utilitarian spirituality. Philosophical spirituality means, okay, who is God? What is the soul? Is there a soul? What is the nature of ultimate reality? For most people to be interested in philosophical spirituality is very real, is very rare. But pragmatic spirituality means, how does your spirituality make a difference in your life? Or how can your spirituality make a difference in my life? When people see that it can make a difference, that’s when they say, okay, I want to be a part of the spirituality.
So we shouldn’t, that’s why how we behave is very important. When Prabhupada was asked, how do we know your followers? Prabhupada said that they are perfect gentlemen and ladies. Now Prabhupada didn’t say that they wake up early in the morning and they do follow the four aggregate principles, they chant 16 rounds.
All that is true. But what does the world care about that? The world cares about how we behave. So one aspect of behaving properly is helpfulness.
Now if we can be of help to others, so helpfulness can simply be polite with others, greet people with a smile, be kind. And sometimes you can extend the kindness in various ways. How much we extend kindness in practical terms that can vary.
But being a gentleman means we can’t be hard-hearted with others. So how our spirituality makes a difference in our life, not just in transcendental terms, but in practical terms, that is what people are going to see. And that’s why if we use, if somehow our devotion becomes an excuse for constricting our compassion, then we will alienate a lot of people.
So that would be my answer. Broadly speaking, our devotion should enhance expand our compassion, not constrict our compassion. Does it answer your question? Yes, Prabhu.
Thank you very much. It gives me a very nice perspective of how to go about this, because it’s always confusing or contradicting. I feel like that, but now I definitely I have some pointers.
Thank you so much, Prabhu. Thank you very much.