Ramayana series 4 – Sita’s faithfulness – The strength of devotional acceptance

[Talk at Phoenix, USA]

Video:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Thank you for coming today morning, today afternoon. Chinte Bheda Ved.
What it is right now. So today will be the last discussion of our Ramayan series. Today evening I’ll be speaking, but I’ll be speaking on the topic of Srila Prabhupada.
It’s his disappearance day today. So here I’ll speak today on the topic of Sita and her devotion as was manifested especially when she was separated from Ram. There will be a little background we’ll need to go to.
Sita was born from the earth as the daughter of Janak Maharaj. So when she was born from the earth, Janak Maharaj had performed a lot of austerities. It’s interesting, both Ram and Sita, their parents had to endeavour a lot to get them as a child.
Ram’s father, Ashrath had to perform various yajnas to get Ram and then he got along with that three other children, sons also. Similarly, Janak Maharaj, he performed a lot of austerities and he was once farming the land and it was more a symbolic act. When the season would start, just like we have in the Jagannath Rathyatra, Maharaj Pratap Rudra would first clean the road in front of Lord Jagannath’s cart.
So that similar mood was with which Ashrath Maharaj using a ceremonial plough was ploughing the land. And that time Sita appeared. When he was ploughing, he felt something mysterious over there, something unusual.
Normally when we are pushing something or touching something, we expect a particular kind of resistance or opposition. The soil which is to be ploughed, the soil is itself not very hard. The plough goes down below.
Then we can sense whether it is experiencing a soft object or a hard object. So here it is extremely hard object. And then he stopped.
And then he opened and he found there is a box over there and in that box is a beautiful girl. And that girl was Sita. As Sita grew up, she was extremely virtuous.
And she learned not only all the skills of a woman or a queen, she was also very learned. And eventually when the time for her swayamvar came, there were times when the kings would arrange swayamvar, so the idea is the swayamvar was meant so that the bride, so that the apt bridegroom could be found. But quite often the father, and maybe in concentration with the daughter, had already decided whom they wanted to have as their in-laws.
So then they would set up the criteria such that nobody else will be able to move it. So that’s why when Draupadi swayamvar was there, the target that was set in order to hit a fish, which is behind a rotating wheel while looking downwards, nobody except Arjun could do it. So you could say that these swayamvar, some of them were like fixed matches.
So then, of course, sometimes some unexpected results would come up. So you cannot, no matter how much you try, you cannot fix everything in the material world. Things can go wrong.
So they had hoped that if Arjun is alive, Arjun would come out of exile, out of hiding. And that’s what actually happened. But Arjun came in the mood of a, in the garb of a Brahmin.
So initially they didn’t recognise. So in this case also, they arranged for, Vashvat Maharaj had a bow of Lord Shiva. And that was extremely powerful, extremely heavy and extremely powerful.
Lifting up the bow itself was very difficult. Even now if we go somewhere to say Rajasthan or somewhere, there are some museums where there are weapons used by the Rajputs. And if you look at the swords and the shields, they are themselves so heavy.
It’s not easy to even lift them, what to speak of fighting with them. So now the bow was so heavy that practically nobody could lift it. And then the Ram came and lifted it effortlessly.
And that’s how, says Ram and Sita, In the Ram Ramayana it is described that, That Sita gave her Varamala to Ram and then they got married. And when they came back to Ayodhya, it was the fulfilment of the dream of both Janak Maharaj’s parents, Janak Maharaj, because he wanted his daughter to be married well. And Vashvat Maharaj’s dream was also fulfilled.
So they were living happily. But at that time, the whole conspiracy happened by which Sita, by which Ram was exiled to the forest. So generally when we have a particular desire, our desire often narrows our vision.
If we desire something, we naturally focus only on that thing. And this narrowing of vision can sometimes lead to focus, which is required, but sometimes it can lead to desensitisation. You don’t think about other things.
So when Kaikeyi told under influence of mantra that Ram should be sent to the forest for 14 years, she didn’t really think much deeply about what all will happen because of that. So she herself did not actually expect that if Ram will go to the forest, Sita will go to the forest, Lakshman will go to the forest. She certainly didn’t expect that Dashrath Maharaj would pass away in lamentation of that.
She knew that Dashrath Maharaj would definitely not be happy because of it. But she thought that things will settle down. So when Sita insisted that I will go with you to the forest.
So in fact, if we see, when Ram comes, the way Ram analyses, Ram is very grave and Sita is eager. It’s the previous night, the early morning hours is what Ram wakes up and he goes to his father because mantra calls him and then when he comes back, he is cheerful initially, but when he comes back, he is grave. Sita immediately, what happened? Just by seeing his face, she understands something very terrible has happened.
And although Ram is calm and composed, but still we may not show our emotions, but people who know us well, they can see even the subtle changes in expression, subtle changes in face, ask what happened? And then Ram told her as gently as he could that what Kaikeyi had desired and what had happened. He said, I’ll have to go to the forest now. And Ram throughout was trying to minimise the pain that others would have to suffer.
He was not inciting everyone, you know, just see what great injustice has happened. So he said, oh Sita, I’ll go to the forest now and while you are here, please stay in the kingdom without being resentful towards my parents and without being resentful towards anyone else. Just do your duty and soon I’ll come back.
And this is an interesting instruction which Ram gives over there. He says that when Bharat becomes the king, please do not glorify me in Bharat’s presence. He says that kings are naturally egoistic, proud and they are also insecure.
They do not want anyone to be a competitor. Now he doesn’t say Bharat will be like this. He is saying kings tend to be like this.
And therefore, in his presence, don’t speak my praises at all. So when Ram is speaking like this, he doesn’t even in a sense expect her to come or that is not even a consideration that she will come with him. When Sita hears this, for her, first of all, the shock that Ram has to go to the forest that itself is very difficult to process.
But on top of that when Ram seems to assume that she is going to stay, he says, what are you talking about? I am not going to stay in this kingdom without you. I am going to come in the forest with you. And then Ram gives an elaborate description of the great difficulties of forest life.
He says that sometimes in the forest, you don’t even get any food to eat. You get some water, but even water you may not get in some places. And it may be extremely hot, extremely cold, there are snakes and hyenas and lions and there are Rakshasas.
So the whole purpose of describing that is to almost like scare Sita. Don’t come to the forest. Forest is no place for you.
Now Ram himself has lived in the forest before because he had gone with Vishwamitra Muni when he was just 40. Vishwamitra Muni had called him. The brief time, but he had gone there.
So Sita says that actually whatever austerity is there in the forest, if I am with you, it will not be an austerity for me. But without you, even if I have the greatest comfort, they will be unbearable austerity for me. And then Ram appreciates her but says that no, the forest is not a place for you to come.
And then Sita uses her last weapon. Sita is also, she is, I will talk about Sita’s character a little later. She is very strong in her own way.
Her strength can be illustrated in many different ways. I was at a university. What is this? So I was at a Hindu Religious Studies University.
I was giving a talk in one of the Ivy League universities. So there, after that, one person asked, he says, it seems the Ramayana is very well known. Not that the Ramayana is well known.
What has happened? Many academic scholars, they often read books from their perspective. And they don’t read scripture, they read into scripture. So this person, this woman, she asked a question.
She later told that she was a professor in Hinduism. She said, Sita is such a passive character. Everything that happens, she just passively accepts everything.
She is such a passive and weak character. She says, you know, Sita cannot be, her point was Sita cannot relate in, Sita will not be in any way a model for women today. Today’s model woman is wonder woman.
Somebody who fights and is aggressive. So actually strength is expressed in different ways at different times. In one of the South Indian renditions of the Ramayana, it is described that Sita was actually so strong herself physically that when Sita was just a small girl, she picked up this dhanush of Shiva.
And when she picked up that bow, Dashrath Maharaj was shocked. Sita was just doing some housework, cleaning the house, and she picked up the bow and nonchalantly cleaned the house. And then Dashrath Maharaj thought that, you know, if she is so powerful, her husband has to be at least equally powerful.
So then she chose, and he felt that husband should not only lift up the bow, but should be able to string that bow. So the gods have much more power than human beings have. See if a human being can string the bow.
Now stringing the bow is difficult. Because what happens, the bow, it is stretched apart. Normally, whenever a bow has to be shot, the power, the force with which the arrow will go depends on the tension in the bow.
Tension in the bowstring. And the greater the tension in the bowstring, the greater will be the force. So that’s why to create the tension, if the bow is like this, the bow has to be made like this, bent, and then strung.
So he felt that her husband should be able to exhibit that much strength to string the bow. That’s how that criteria was chosen. So it’s not that if you consider that Sita is the goddess of fortune, she is Lakshmidevi, she has immense power.
But in particular pastimes, each character shows strength in different ways. So Ram also had enough strength to rise in rebellion against Dashrath if he wanted to. But his strength was seen, not just his strength in fighting was seen later when he fought against Ravan.
But it also requires strength to accept life’s adversities also. Strength is required to counter difficulties when they come. But strength is also required to accept difficulties when they come in our life.
Some difficulties may just not be changeable. Like when Krishna works from absolute perspective, for him, he can change anything. But then if he just eliminates all obstacles effortlessly, especially as Ram, when he comes, the whole mood of the Ramayana is that whenever we have difficulties in life, how to respond to difficulties with dignity, with grace, with principles.
So there are all of us, there are times in our life when we can’t change things. And there are times when we can and should change things. So when we can change things, we need the strength to push, strength to counter the situation.
But there are times when we can’t change the situation. At that time we need strength to accept the situation. So that is also strength.
In general, there is the eastern thought system and the western thought system. So have I talked here last time about destiny elaborately? So in general, the eastern thought system focusses more on acceptance of situations. So whatever has happened, accept it and move on with your life.
Not that be passive, but accept and move on with life. Whereas the western thought system focusses on changing things. Now either thought system, if it is taken to an extreme, it becomes problematic.
So there is, if you remember, karma plus daiva plus kala leads to phala. So to focus only on accepting things means to give too much weight to daiva. To focus only on changing things means to give too much focus on karma.
So there are times when we have to accept destiny. This is not changeable. We accept it and move on with our life.
There are times when we have to work to change things. That’s karma. So if there is too much acceptance, then that leads to passivity, that leads to abuse, that leads to person getting victimised and that leads to abusers becoming empowered.
Abusers being allowed to abuse. So to some extent, the Indian tradition, western traditions go towards that extreme. Where no matter how many things go wrong, just accept it.
So extreme is not good. But on the other hand, thinking that everything should be changed, that there is nothing unfavourable should be accepted. That is also an extreme.
And that leads to a lot of problems. Because we, if we can’t accept situations, then anytime an unfavourable situation comes up in our life, either we want to change it or we want to quit and go to some other situation. And that leads to lack of steadiness, lack of commitment.
And that’s one reason why relationships don’t last. Relationships don’t last because people feel if any problem comes up, you know, why? Just stick to it. Just give it up.
Just move on to something else. So similarly when difficulties come up, to persevere requires certain amount of acceptance. So both extremes are bad.
Now the Sita’s character in general, each character in the epics teaches some lesson. And then that character behaves in a way that that particular lesson is taught. So if we consider Prahlad Maharaj’s pastime, then in that pastime, Prahlad Maharaj’s guru, who is that? Narad Muni.
So Narad Muni is so eager to teach. He doesn’t even wait for Prahlad to be born. Even before that he starts teaching bhakti.
And he is in Kayadu’s womb. So now when Prahlad is born and Prahlad is being persecuted by Hiranyakashipu, at that time, even Narad Muni, Prahlad is the only person who is opposing Hiranyakashipu. Even Narad Muni seems to be bowing down and offering respects to Hiranyakashipu.
So now, is Narad Muni afraid of Hiranyakashipu? No, he is not afraid. But the purpose of his whole pastime is to glorify Prahlad. And how Prahlad alone, despite being just a small 5 year old boy, stood up to Hiranyakashipu.
So to illustrate this glorious devotion of Prahlad, all the characters act in an appropriate way. They are inspired by the Lord to act in a particular way. So similarly with respect to Sita, she demonstrates through her life strength amidst acceptance.
There can be strength to counter situations. There is strength required to accept situations. Sometimes it is said that if there is a meeting going on and somebody is saying something wrong, it requires strength to stand up and speak.
But if we have done something wrong and that is being pointed out to us, generally our tendency is that if somebody criticises us, we basically use three broad strategies. One is deny. The second is pass the blame to someone else.
Or third is boomerang, you know, find faults in them only. You think I have this fault, but see what a mess you made over there. So broadly, it requires courage to sit down and hear also.
It requires courage to stand up and speak, pointing out somebody else’s mistake. But if it’s our mistake, it requires strength. It requires courage to sit down and hear also.
It creates a lot of insecurity and fear for our ego to admit that I have mistakes. So strength is of different kinds. And Sita demonstrates the strength amidst acceptance.
So the point I was talking about Sita’s strength amidst acceptance is that Sita is also quite strong. And when she says that I am going to come with you around the forest, she is insistent on it. And finally when Rama is unrelenting, what does she say? She uses her final weapon.
She says, it is my misfortune that my father handed me in marriage to a man who cannot protect me in the forest. Now, when Rama hears it, Rama does not see that as an attack on his manliness. Rama also understands the heart of Sita.
And then he tells Sita, actually I would love to have you with me in the forest. I only wanted to know whether you were coming out of obligation or you were wanting to come out of your own eagerness to come. So by speaking these words, I have convinced that you yourself want to come.
So sometimes the words are spoken, when people speak some words, the intent may be quite different from what the words are spoken. Sita’s intent was not to attack Rama at all. Sita’s intent was to just make sure that Rama takes her along.
So if we just look at people’s statements without understanding their nature, their personality, their culture, their background, then what happens? How can you speak like this? So this often happens, sometimes happens with Prabhupada, some of his statements. Prabhupada is sometimes a little strong in speaking certain things. But if we look at his overall life and his conduct and his dealings with people, we will see that he is very considerate, very merciful, very kind, very sensitive.
But when statements are taken divorced from the understanding of the person, person’s personality, person’s character, person’s nature, then they can be misunderstood. Because Rama knows Sita very well, Rama understands her. And then Sita goes with Rama to the forest.
And they wear tree bark. Because Sita says that, Kaikeyi says that if they are going to the forest to live as hermits, then they should dress also as hermits. And Sita has no idea how to wear tree bark also.
How to wear a dress made of tree bark? So we see her wear that kind of dress. Even Vashishtha Muni starts crying. He speaks strongly, he says, Oh, Kaikeyi, does your heart not break even now to see the tender body, sweet-hearted Sita dressed in tree bark? Kaikeyi just turns away from him.
Her heart has become like stone. And then Rama, Sita and Lakshman, they march to the forest. In the forest, when they are there, for Sita initially it is very difficult.
She has lived with royal comfort throughout her life. And suddenly she shifted to a situation of complete poverty. It’s poverty, we may say poverty means you move from a big house to a small house.
But here it is, you move from a big house to a state of homelessness itself. I was doing a retreat for some Western people. And they’re talking about how life has become very difficult now.
The economy is going down. So the economy is going down. And so this lady was telling me that, that actually, you know, for my child on Thanksgiving, I get 25 toys each year.
This time I can get only five toys. How the times have become so difficult. Well, you don’t know what difficult times are.
So it’s relative, but for them it was like complete homelessness. At least homeless people also have some shelters. But they are in the forest and they had to construct their own home and stay over there.
But Sita adjusted to it all. Not only adjusted to it, she accepted it all gracefully. Then there is a significant difference in the character between Sita and Draupadi.
Draupadi is fiery. Draupadi gets angry even with Yudhishthir. When Yudhishthir gambles and loses everything, at that time she stands by her.
She is angry with Yudhishthir, but in public she stands by her always. But later on in their forest, there are many times when she gets angry with Yudhishthir. So each person has their own nature.
And Draupadi has been born from fire. So she has that fiery nature with her. Sita is born from the earth.
The earth is often compared to, in the Bhagavatam, the 11th canto, it talks about the different gurus. So the earth is compared to a giver. Whatever we do, the earth keeps giving.
Of course, it’s not unlimited. If we exploit the earth, then the earth will stop giving. But in general, the earth is a giver.
The earth is the fulfiller of desires. So like that, Sita being born from the earth, she reflects that tireless, unending service attitude. And as they are going in the forest, the key incident which we will discuss is that through a whole conspiracy, Sita is left alone.
And Ram and Lakshman both go out. And then Ravan sneaks in and abducts Sita. So now for Sita, this is devastating.
When she, this is Ravan, she initially just rejects his advances. Doesn’t even pay any attention to him. But Ravan forcibly abducts her.
When Ravan abducts her and starts flying off, then she’s calling out for help. Help, help. She’s hoping that Ram and Lakshman might be somewhere nearby and they might hear.
But Maharaj has arranged so that he’s gone far away, sufficiently far away, so that even if there is any noise of any scuffle, any screams, they will not be able to hear it. So then when the Pandava, when Ram, Lakshman, Sita come to the forest at that time, the Dandaka one they come, at that time they meet Jatayu. And Jatayu says that I am, Dashrath Maharaj is my great friend.
So you, he says, I’m so delighted to see Dashrath Maharaj’s children. And Ram says, by coming in your presence we feel as if we have got back our father again. Jatayu says, I will protect Sita.
And Jatayu is there in nearby tree. And he immediately hears and he comes charging towards Ravan. Now Sita at that time is very alert.
She is a Kshatriya woman. She is a Kshatriya woman and she knows, she can immediately assess the strength of different warriors. Jatayu is also a formidable warrior but Jatayu is old now.
So she tells Jatayu, O Jatayu, please inform Ram that Ravan has taken me away. And then she specifically tells him, don’t try to stop Ram. Don’t try to stop Ravan.
Because Ravan is too strong. Ravan will kill you. Please don’t try to stop him, just inform Ram.
Now, even when she is being abducted, she is still concerned about Jatayu. She doesn’t want Jatayu to be unfulfilled. But Jatayu feels, how can I just stand by and watch? I have to stop.
And Jatayu actually uses all arguments. He is flying along. Ravan is flying, Jatayu is flying.
And Jatayu says, he uses various arguments with Ravan. But Ravan doesn’t listen and then Jatayu attacks. Jatayu fights fiercely.
But one of the results of old age is that sometimes competence may not be lost but energy is lost. If somebody is skilled at something, that means they are athletes, they may still be able to spin the ball. But their physical ability is not there.
So as a warrior, Jatayu is still competent. He knows exactly from where to attack Ravan and he gives a stiff fight to Ravan. And Ravan, he actually rips off Ravan’s arms, rips off Ravan’s head also.
But they all reappear again. But what has happened, although he is a skilled warrior, and he knows from where to attack and where not to attack, but because of age, his speed has slowed down. And Ravan is young.
So he swoops down and attacks Ravan. And Ravan dodges the attack. And before Jatayu can move back, he lops off his wings.
And then Sita is dragged away. So actually Sita runs to Jatayu and tries to comfort him. But Ravan catches her and moves on.
Now as Sita is going along, she is being dragged, abducted by Ravan, but still she is not just passively accepting it, nor is she passively expecting that Ravan should come in. So what does she do? She is looking vigilantly. And then she sees the Vanaras.
She sees a group of monkeys, huge monkeys. And they are looking up in the sky because she is calling out for help. And when she sees those monkeys, what does she do? Ravan doesn’t notice.
Ravan is just oftenly marching along through the sky. But she takes some of her jewels, some of her necklaces, and she just drops it. She drops it, so that is like a clue for Ram to find her.
And in that way, she is doing everything within her situation. Now Ravan knows. Ravan has been cursed because he had violated a celestial nymph Rambha earlier.
He had been cursed that if he ever took a woman by force, he would die. So now Ravan feels that although he has been protected, that he will not be killed by any devata or any other beings like that, but a devata killing is different from a devata’s curse killing. When a god gives a curse, it is not just that god’s power.
It is some higher power. So he has that benediction, but still he is apprehensive. He says, I cannot take this risk.
So because when the gods are fighting, it is their power fighting. But when say brahmanas give curses or gods give curses, even the gods give blessings, it is not just their power. It is some higher power.
So Ravan knows from the past that there are curses which can be extremely dangerous. So his plan is, even when he is going to abduct Sita, his plan is to win her over. And he feels that in the past also he is not a new thing for him.
He has abducted many many women in the past. And in fact, there is the Uttar Ramayana, the Uttarkhand of the Ramayana, which actually describes all the atrocities that Ravan has performed. So that is described at the end when Ram, Lakshman and everybody is seated.
The sages come to meet Ram. And at that time Ram wants to know the history. Ram, Lakshman, they want to know the history.
So how Indrajeet had conquered Nagendra. How Ravan had done austerity. So all this they come to know later.
Because at that time when they are just coming to fight against Ravan, they are just ready to fight. That is the main purpose. But Ravan had done this many many times in the past.
So he had abducted women. And then he said that women may initially resist. But once he said that there is just no way of escaping.
Ravan was living in Lanka which is isolated from the rest of the world. Then eventually they would succumb to her. So that is what he hopes.
But in this case, he has not anticipated the strength of character of Sita. So what happens? He tries to woo her. As soon as he enters Lanka, he takes her across his whole palace.
And in his whole palace he shows, I have got this Pushpa Kulman. I have got this. I have won this.
I have won this. And he shows off his wealth and trophies. So that he wants to win Sita over.
Sita pays no attention to any of it at all. And she refuses to stay even in the palace. And he arranges for her to stay in his gardens, Ashoka Vatika.
And while she is staying there, now he decides to use, that is, when police are interrogating some persons, they use some people, they want to interrogate some person, get some confession from some suspected criminal. They use what is a strategy called a good cop-bad cop strategy. Good cop means, there is one person, one cop who comes along and speaks very nicely.
You know, I will take care of you. Just tell something, give some information or whatever. He doesn’t listen.
Then the bad cop comes along. And the bad cop threatens, maybe the bad cop beats. And the bad cop brutalises this person.
And the bad cop goes away. And then the good cop comes along. Oh no, what happened? This is terrible.
I would have protected you from this if I had known this. But I couldn’t do this. He is actually a very strict person.
I will protect you in future. But you have to give some information. I want to help you, but you have to help me to help you.
So what happens? When this oscillating thing comes up, psychologists have found that this actually weakens the person much more. Because if it’s constant discomfort, constant pain, the human body gets used to that. You become desensitised.
Now if somebody is born blind, it’s difficult, but they get used to it. Because they never had eyes. But somebody had eyes and then they lose eyes.
Then it becomes very difficult. Difficult to function. So if we get used to a certain level of difficulty, then we just learn to live with it.
So what happens is that, what Ravan does is, he appoints two kinds of Rakshasis. Some Rakshasis are, they look hideous, they are deformed, they are dangerous. And they are there guarding Sita, threatening Sita.
And there are other Rakshasis. And one of them he tells is Vibhishan’s wife. Now Vibhishan is, in Lanka he is like the odd man out.
All of Lanka is under the demonic influence of Ravan. But Vibhishan does not share Ravan’s demonic mentality. Now we could say that when Vibhishan, Ravan was doing such terrible things, why did Vibhishan even stay with Ravan? Vibhishan could just have left.
Vibhishan did not depend financially on Ravan. But Vibhishan’s mood was that, that he could reign in some of the worst atrocities that Ravan would do. Because he was there inside his inner circles as an advisor.
And Vibhishan, Ravan also respected Vibhishan. He took his counsel on various occasions. So Vibhishan’s wife was also saintly, like Vibhishan.
So Ravan wanted her to be a part of the Gurukop. Go and speak sweetly and pacify her and make her submit to me. That was the plan.
But what she did was, she befriended Sita. And then both of them, she consoled Sita and Sita got strength from that. But still overall it was extremely difficult time.
Now one question comes up that, for Ram, it took a long long time actually to come to Sita. And because it was a complete island, how they were going to come to that island, that itself was a big question. So Sita could very easily have lost hope.
And on top of that, so it was actually towards the last year of their exile. In the first month of the 14th year of their exile that Sita was abducted. So a little less than the first 14 years.
So that was about one year period. After Sita was abducted, Ravan gave her one year period. And he told her, I am going to enjoy you.
If I don’t enjoy you sensually, then I will make you, I will have you cook and I will eat you as my breakfast. So he threatened her like that. And then during that one month period, it took about a month.
Ram was searching, searching, searching. He didn’t know where to go. Then he met Kabandha and Kabandha told him to go towards, go and meet Sugriva and Sugriva.
Then finally he came there. And then there was a whole plan by which Sugriva was eventually made the king. Because Vali died and Vali’s last rites had to be performed.
And although Ram was eager to find Sita, but still he was conscious of the dharma towards various activities. And then by the time everything settled in Kishkindha, the rain started. And in Acharyas, now you may say that just because of rains, would somebody, how could Ram decide that four months for this rainy season we can’t do anything? If somebody is lost, then we will search for them through rain and storm and everything.
But in this case what happened? In this case because Vali is the son of Indra. So Indra had got very angry because Vali had been killed. And so Indra arranged for especially fierce rains.
Such rains that you couldn’t even see ahead of you. And now we can go and search if we know a path at least. But they didn’t even know where to go.
So that’s why those four months they just couldn’t do anything. And then after that, it took about a week or so for the Vandaras to come. And then Sugriva gave them a period of a month.
So in one month, you have to come back. He sent them to go in four directions, told them to go. Now the group which went south, Hanuman, Angad and Jambavan were there.
They actually were already searching for six weeks. Now Ram had a special hope in that group because Sita had been seen going southwards. And that’s why this group pressed on and on and on.
They had gone for six months and still they couldn’t find anything. And they had almost given up hope till they made Sampatti. And then Hanuman flew to Nandra.
Now during all this period, Sita had absolutely no news of anything. No news of Ram at all. Whether he is searching for her, whether he is healthy, whether he is nothing at all.
Just completely alone. This is, see for all of us, we are social creatures. And we need association, we need friends, we need relationships.
And especially for Sita, she had already been more or less alone just with Ram and Lakshman for so long. Therefore she did not have, she was born in a big family, she was a queen, she had maidservants. Now she had no one.
And now she didn’t even have any family member at all. So it is very easy to lose hope or to become demoralised when there is no one doing what we are doing. I met a devotee from, a devotee who had been a very vigorous preacher in India.
He had to go for a job in the Middle East. And in the Middle East also, there are different countries. In the Middle East you have, we have Bahrain which is the showpiece of the Middle East.
So they try to, Bahrain they try to show how liberal the Middle East is. But other countries, Saudi Arabia is very very hardline, even Iraq is hardline. So this devotee, he had to go to Iraq.
And he said, he had to be there for about a year for his work. And it would be the biggest austerity for me over there. It was very difficult to get vegetarian food, very difficult to get all these things.
But the biggest austerity was, there was no one with whom I could talk about Krishna. And that was the biggest austerity. Because he had been a preacher, he was thinking about Krishna.
And now, even if you talk, it’s like the walls have ears, literally. And people themselves are very very apprehensive in these countries. Even if Hindus go there for working, they are apprehensive that we shouldn’t come off as religious.
So actually, if we are in deep love with something or someone, then even if we don’t have that person with us, at least we want to talk about that person. If we can’t do even that, then what is there to live for? We don’t die, we don’t become demoralised just because of having problems. It is, if we have a purpose in our life, that purpose gives us the strength to move on, even amidst problems.
We are not so much afraid of pain, we are afraid of purposeless pain. If you are walking along a road and suddenly a nail pricks into our foot, we will get annoyed, we will get angry. Now, we might go to a hospital and to give us an anti-tetanus dose, a doctor may put a needle in another foot, maybe the same place.
In the first case we will be angry, in the second case, the pain will be there, but we will voluntarily put our foot forward to have the injection and we will pay the doctor also. So, it’s not just the pain, it’s actually, we understand that this pain of the injection is going to serve a purpose. So, we are not afraid of pain per se, we are afraid of purposeless pain.
If pain is going to serve a purpose, then we can willingly also take a pain. So, that’s why Sita knew when she went to the forest, it was going to be difficult. But she had the purpose, she would be with Ram.
And that same Sita who had taken up the immense austerity of living in a forest for the purpose of being with Ram, now she was taken away from Ram also. She had nothing. She had absolutely nothing.
So, she had grown up with royal opulence, with many many loving family members, but she did have the royal opulence, she did not have loving family members, she did not have even Ram. Nothing at all. So, what did she have at that time? She had only her devotion to Ram.
Devotion is like fire and separation is like wind. So, there is a small candle and a wind comes along. What happens to the fire of the candle? Fire will get extinguished.
But, say there is a big forest fire. I was in California, there is a devotee who is a firefighter. And the devotee was telling that when these big fires come in the California bushes, at that time, the biggest nightmare of these firefighters is winds.
Because, if the fire is there and wind comes along, the fire is so big that the wind will not extinguish the fire. The wind will actually spread the fire. And the fire is also very unpredictable.
The fire may be here and the wind comes and suddenly the fire jumps from one to another. Where it will jump, it is very difficult. So, for us, for Sita, the separation from Ram was like the wind for the fire of her devotion.
If her devotion had been small, the devotion would have got extinguished. But, because her devotion was so strong that the fire of separation, the wind of separation increased her devotion. And while she was devoted in this way, Ravan offered her all kinds of allurements.
He told her that I will make you the chief queen over here. You will reign over all of Lanka. This is the kind of prosperity you never had in Yodhya, you will have this.
But, she did not consider any of it at all. And then, finally, as she was sitting, every morning, when you would wake up, the first thing you would think of was Sita. After doing his day’s work, he would go to Sita and try to threaten her, woo her, coax her.
And she would fail and he would go back to his palace. And then he would engage in the revelry and then he would sleep and wake up. Immediately he would think of Sita.
And he would just come her, again try to woo her, coax her, threaten her. But, eventually, as this was going on, day after day, month after month, Sita was just, she was so firm in her devotion, despite it all. And on that particular day, when Ravan came, Ravan was especially in a foul mood.
And he threatened her very badly. And Sita just remained silent. She just stopped speaking to Ravan also.
And Ravan told the Rakshasas, you know, tell her to surrender to me or I will destroy her. And Ravan was also a great trickster. In fact, later on, when the war is about to start, at that time, what Ravan does is, he has Ravan and Rajith work together.
They have one of his conjurers, one of his magicians, make a false head which resembles Ram’s head. And they bring it and tell Sita that Ram has been killed. Sita is shocked.
But then the magician’s wife tells him, no, this is just false. And they pacify him. But in this case, Sita has also known that Ravan had already impersonated as a holy man to come.
So, she is suspicious. She is cautious, actually. And then after Ravan goes, suddenly Sita starts hearing in a very sweet voice, the glories of Ram.
And she looks around, where is this coming from? It’s a sound that is completely out of place. It’s completely out of place. I was in Las Vegas.
I did something at the devotees’ world. We have a temple there in Las Vegas also. So, we’re going for a programme.
And all these casinos are there and it’s as it is called Sin City. So, that suddenly as we were going along, it was right in the heart of the city. Just driving, driving, driving.
Suddenly we heard the Hare Krishna mantra. When I heard it first, I was shocked. Is it like I am imagining some things? And then we turned and the sound became louder and louder.
So, what happened was, the devotees had arranged for a programme right in the middle of the various hotels. So, it was like all these loud blaring music was there. All sensuality was there.
But then they had a small hall where the programme was going on. From there, kirtan was coming out. When something is very out of place, we start doubting ourselves.
Is this really? Is this real or is this something suspicious? So, like that when Sita, she heard the glories of Ram, she was like, is this for real? And she looked around, she couldn’t see anything. So, Hanuman had taken on the form of a small monkey. Because he wanted to sneak in to Lanka.
And he was still in that small form. And he was so delighted initially to see Sita. And he had been very agonised to see Ram and threatening her so much.
Then he started singing the glories of Ram. And he decided that is the best way to attract Sita’s attention. He wanted to talk with Sita.
And he did not want that if Sita raises an alarm, then the Rakshasas may come along. And if he has to fight with them, then unnecessarily a distraction. And he may not be able to communicate with Sita.
So, till this point Hanuman is not confronted anyone directly too much. So, he sings Sita’s glories. He sings Ram’s glories.
And as Sita is hearing, Hanuman pulled his hands and jumps down. And Sita’s first thought is, who is this? Because till that time in the Ramayana, there is no encounter of Vanaras. The Vanaras live in the southern part of India and they have not come till then.
So, she said, who is this monkey? And how is this monkey singing? So, might this be Ravan? Or might this be some agent of Ravan? So, then Hanuman is also very expert reader of the face. So, he realises that Sita is still suspicious. Then he starts singing the glories of Ram.
And he starts speaking specifically the pastimes of Sita with Ram. And then he starts speaking some special pastimes, special incidents that have happened only in the forest. And not even Lakshman knows about them.
So, only Ram and Sita know about it. And when he starts speaking those pastimes, then Ram becomes, Sita becomes surprised. Slowly, God starts going on.
What had happened once was that while Ram and Sita were sitting near a river, at that time a crow had come. That crow had tried to attack Sita. And then when Ram, Sita, Sita cried in alarm and then Ram had taken a blade of grass.
And he had hurled it at that crow. That crow had fled. That crow had actually been Indra, who had become attracted to Sita and had tried to come to her.
So, this was not known to anyone else. Because they had been together. So, Hanuman told about how Sita was protected by Ram from even predators who came in that form.
So, Ram will always protect Sita, even from Ravan. When she hears this, she is intrigued. And then she asks, who are you? And then he tells about himself and how he is a servant of Ram.
And he speaks about Ram’s glories with such love, with such devotion. And slowly Sita’s doubts start going away. And then Ram has given him his own signet, his ring.
And then when Sita sees that, she breaks down. She asks Hanuman, how is Ram? What is he doing? Does he remember me? Is he doing well? And he is constantly thinking about you. He just wants to know where you are.
Immediately he will come and he will rescue you. And then, as Sita hears about Ram, just hearing about Ram, speaking about Ram, she feels. In fact, this particular scene, this discussion between the devotee of Ram and the consort of Ram, Hanuman and Sita, is one of the most emotionally moving incidents in the Ramayan.
There, actually both of them are separated from Ram. But, although both of them are separated from Ram, both of them, by their devotion, are feeling the presence of Ram. mat-chitta-mad-gata-prana-bodhayan-taha-parasparam kathiyan-tasya-ma-mityun-tushyanti-charam-anti-char mat-chitta-mad-gata-prana- They both, actually Sita is imprisoned.
Hanuman is also in that situation where he doesn’t even know how he is going to get out of that situation. But there, they start discussing about Ram’s glories and they are completely transcended. He is just not at all affected.
And then finally, Sita tells about how Ram has given me 12 months and 10 months are already over by now. So, he says that if within 2 months Ram doesn’t come, he is threatening to kill me. So, then Hanuman becomes so alarmed.
Hanuman says that, oh, no, better not take any risk then. You come with me, I will take you along. Now, when Hanuman says this, what happens, sometimes people change their forms.
So, what happens, they change their form, but then they forget they have changed their form. So, like one of my friends is in espionage. So, he is telling me that in espionage, the training is such that if you have to impersonate, if you have to become a spy in China, of India, then you have not only to learn to speak Chinese, but he says that if at night you are sleeping and suddenly somebody throws water on you, you wake up, you will curse, but you should curse in Chinese, not in Hindi.
To that extent, they should be able to, that Chinese has to be internalised into you. So, in this case, Hanuman is guileless. So, he is in the small form, but he is forgotten.
He is so concerned about Sita that he says, oh, Sita, you should come with me, I will carry you. Now, for Sita, she has no knowledge about Hanuman. Hanuman is just a sweet little monkey who has come with a message.
So, Hanuman, he says, you are very sweet, but how will you carry me? He is so small. At this whole conversation, Hanuman is a small monkey, almost like a child before Sita. And he says, you will not be able to carry me.
Now, for Hanuman, he is also a Kshatriya, he says, I will not be able to carry you. So, to have his strength being questioned, he feels piqued by that. So, right in front of Sita, he starts expanding, expanding, expanding, expanding, expanding.
And he becomes taller than the tallest tree over here. And then Sita is looking down at him, Sita starts looking up at him. And then Hanuman says, is this size enough to carry you? So, then Sita says, oh Hanuman, it’s wonderful that you are so big.
But still, he says, I would not like to be carried by you. He says, let Hanuman, that Ravan abducting me has challenged Ram’s honour. So, let Ram come and restore, take me, that will restore Ram’s honour.
And he also says that, no, I don’t want to be touched by any other male. Ravan forcibly took me, but I would rather not. So, Hanuman understands the sentiments.
And Hanuman assures her that Ram will soon come. And then he departs from there. Now, when he departs from there, Sita is filled with anticipation as well as apprehension.
Because Hanuman doesn’t sneakily depart from there. Hanuman decides that, after he hears about all that, all the atrocities that Ravan has done, all that Sita has gone through, he is also angry at her. And he wants to teach Ravan a lesson.
So, what he does is, he starts creating a havoc in the Ashok Vatika. And Ravan sends his soldiers, his generals to stop it. But nobody can stop Hanuman.
So, that Ashok Vatika soon becomes Shok Vatika. Shok Vatika, you know, it becomes, that is his favourite garden and it is devastated. But when Sita comes to know that Hanuman has been arrested, and then Hanuman’s tale is going to be born.
Now, Hanuman is ready to tolerate that pain. For the sake of Ram. But then Sita, she prays to the fire god.
She prays to the fire god, she says, if I have done any piety, please don’t let, don’t burn Hanuman’s tale. So, Hanuman sees that they are all going to light his tale and they put inflammable material around his tale. They put oil and they put cloth.
And they light it and he is ready to tolerate the pain. But suddenly, he doesn’t feel any pain. And looks behind, he says that they are all cheering, they are cheering and cheering him.
But he immediately understands that this is Sita’s mercy. So, even when Sita is, Hanuman has come to give a message to Sita. Sita as a Kshatriya, she is concerned about Hanuman’s protection.
And finally, Hanuman after doing great heroic devastation in Lanka, he departs from there. He departs carrying the hopes of Sita. Assuring Sita that Ram will soon come.
And actually, in this whole pastime, especially we will stop here in terms of the narrative. But Sita, when she is separated from Ram, at that time, what is her hope? That Ram will surely come. Sooner or later, he will surely come.
And she, when Hanuman goes, Hanuman carries the message of her devotion to Ram. To carry that message. So, the Ramayana is a historical book.
But along with being a historical book, it’s also an eternal book, which has eternal values. Which are demonstrated. Govinda Acharya, Sri Vaishnava Acharya, he gives an interesting metaphor, with which I’ll conclude this.
He says that Sita is like the soul. Ravana is like the mind. And Lanka is like the body.
So, Sita is with Ram. But, as soon as the soul turns away from the Lord, the mind is there to catch. Krishna bahirmukha jeeva bhoga vancha kare.
Nikatasta maya tare, japatiya tare. As soon as the soul turns away from Krishna, maya is nearby. Maya is there to pounce and catch the soul.
So, here maya comes as Ravana, who represents the mind. So, Ravana comes and as soon as she is turned away from Ram, she has Ram, but she wants a deal. And she turns away from Ram, immediately, that gives an opening for Ravana to come and catch.
And what does the mind do? The mind catches the soul, and the mind cannot actually touch the soul. In literal sense. Ravana couldn’t violate Sita.
Similarly, the mind cannot contaminate the soul, per se. The soul is always pure. Anaditya nirguna tvam paramatma yama veda.
It’s always pure. But, the mind can create desires, propositions, misconceptions, by which the soul becomes entrapped. So, the soul is trapped in bodily consciousness by the mind.
And if you see, the soul goes from one body to another to another in each lifetime. And one body and another body can be very different. Can be different species also.
So, I was giving a talk on reincarnation in Canada. So, I was telling that, I was explaining about reincarnation to the college students. So, I said that, if there is a dog, and a dog is a pet, and there is a master.
And the dog is very attached to the master, and the master is very attached to the dog. In the next life, both of them may find it opposite ends of the string. The dog may become the master, the master may become the dog.
So, we see that it can change dramatically. But, what is it that suddenly from one situation you go to another situation, what is it that actually makes the soul attached to that body and bound to that body? That is the mind. So, the mind is what traps the soul.
Lanka, it was not Sita was trapped, not just because it was physically isolated from the rest of the world, it was a round way trap. So, what did Sita do during that time? Through it all, while Sita was in Lanka, Sita did not accept any of the sinful propositions of Ravana. She lived a life of purity, even while being in Lanka, even while being threatened by Ravana.
So, similarly for us, we are right now separated from our Lord. And we want the Lord to come and rescue us, to deliver us. But to do that, we need to distance ourselves from the body and the mind.
That means, we don’t indulge in the body’s or the mind’s adharmic desires. There are dharmic desires and there are dharmic needs, there are basic needs which have to be fulfilled. But just as Sita remained faithful to Rama and she turned away from Ravana, not listening to any of his propositions, similarly, if we also learn not to listen to the mind, Ravana could never touch or violate Sita.
Similarly, the mind can only propose, it can’t impose. The mind can’t force us to do anything. The mind can propose so much, so repeatedly, so persuasively, so cunningly, that we may listen to it.
But when the mind gives an idea, come on, do this, do this, do this, do this. Actually, the mind can’t force us to do it. It is only when we give in to the mind, we agree, that’s when we succumb.
Sometimes there are some dogs which bark very loudly, but they don’t bite. The mind is a dog like that. It barks very loudly, this is like this, this is like this, this is like this, this is like this.
But the mind can’t bite us. But it’s not that it can never bite us. The mind is like a dog which has no tooth.
But as soon as we start listening to it, it develops tooth. And once we start listening to it, it will start biting us more and more. But until that time, it only barks.
And just like Ravana was using this good cop, bad cop strategy, the mind also does that. Come on, this is so nice, just enjoy it a little bit. No, this is like this, just do this.
Sometimes the mind will say, this is so nice, do it. Sometimes the mind will say, if you don’t do this, you will be in misery. Sometimes the mind may tell alcoholics, just drink a little bit.
What about one drink, it doesn’t make no difference. No, it is one drink is one drink too many. On the other hand, sometimes the mind says, if you don’t drink, you will be so tormented, you will not be able to live.
Actually, probably the alcoholic is not able to live because of drinking. But the mind distorts it. So the mind uses this good cop and bad cop strategy also.
Sometimes allures us, sometimes threatens us. But just as Sita always remained firm and faithful to Ram, similarly, if we can remain firm and faithful in our devotion, then sooner or later, the mind’s effect on us will weaken. And eventually, Ram will come, the Lord will come and liberate us from the body, liberate us from the mind and take us to His eternal abode, just as the Lord did for Sita.
So I’ll summarise. I spoke today about Sita’s diligent devotion to Ram. And I started by speaking about how Sita, she was, well, Dasyat arranged for her swayamvar through a, you could say, a fixed match to Ram.
And then Sita might seem to be a passive character, accepting whatever difficulties come in her life. But it is not passivity. It’s a different kind of strength.
Strength sometimes is required to change situations and sometimes strength is also required to accept situations. So if we define strength only in terms of changing situations, then we will not be able to commit ourselves or tolerate difficulties. If we think of strength only in terms of accepting situations, then we will not be able to, we will not take initiative to make changes when we can.
So there has to be a balance. Sometimes some things are accepted as daiva and sometimes some things are taken as we have to do the karma. So Sita especially demonstrates how to be graceful and devoted even amidst great difficulties.
So her strength of character is seen in her insistence that she will go with Ram to the forest. And when she challenges Ram’s manliness in protecting her, Ram sees it not as an attack, but he sees it what is the intent behind it. So sometimes we decontextualise people’s words from their personality.
We can misunderstand their words. So Ram doesn’t misunderstand like that. In the forest, when Sita is abducted by Ravan, she is very resourceful.
First of all in trying to caution Jatayu not to fight against Ravan. Then later on leaving clues by dropping her jewels. And then once she comes to Lanka, she is so firm and devoted.
Although Ravan uses the good cop back of her to try to wear her down. But she never falters in her devotion. And separation does to love what fire does to wind.
If the love is small, it will get extinguished. Love is big, love is firm, it will spread. So her devotion only intensifies.
And there she gets the association of Vibhishan’s wife with whom she can talk a little bit about her lord. She tolerates all that agony not knowing even whether Ram is going to come, when he is going to come. But she remains faithful.
And then when Hanuman comes, both of them, she is initially cautious. But Hanuman wins over her heart by telling Ram’s glories. And they have very sweet exchanges.
And finally even when Hanuman departs, she is still thinking of Hanuman’s well-being. And prays to Agni Deva to protect his tail from fire. Sita represents the soul who gets separated from the lord but remains faithful to the lord.
And Ravan is like the mind. Ravan could not violate Sita. So the mind cannot violate the soul.
So the mind is like a dog that can bark but can’t bite. Unless we let it bite us. So by recognising that the mind can only propose but not impose, we can stay fixed in our devotion and then gradually the mind’s influence will wane.
And the lord will come and purify and liberate us. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Comments? Swamiji, once I was hearing His Holiness Bhaktivedanta and he mentioned that in the Brahmaloka Ramayana is written in, I forgot, I think he mentioned the hundred crore or one crore something. So is it that there are more incidents in that or is it that the more detail of the same incident, like more emotional, you know, detail of the same story is mentioned there? It could be both ways.
In general, when we talk about the epics, we need to understand that these are not monolithic epics. That means, is it in the epics, is it that there is greater description, in detail or more incidents? If we consider, let’s compare the Ramayana with the Mahabharata to understand this. In the Mahabharata also it is said that the Mahabharata in the heavenly planets is much much bigger than what it is here.
In general, the Puranas and the Itihasas, they are dynamic texts. So in fact, Bhaktivedanta Tagore gives the example, because some academic scholars argue that the Vedas are very ancient books, the Puranas are recent books. Because they say the Puranas are written in recent Sanskrit, whereas the Vedas are written in ancient Sanskrit.
So he gives the example that of a soul who reincarnates in different bodies. And he says if a soul is going to be born in a body in a cold country, the soul will get a body adapted to that. Soul is born in a warm country, the soul will get a body adapted to that.
Similarly, he says the essential wisdom of the epics remains the same. But based on time, place, circumstance, that is manifested in a particular way. So the way of the manifestation is like the dress of the soul.
So he says the language is important, but more important than language is the message. So because the Puranas and Itihasas are written for, especially for less intelligent people, as compared to the Upanishads, so therefore the language in Sanskrit is naturally simpler. It’s not that the two are disconnected or unconnected books.
They are part of the same machine. So now, if we consider the Devatas, ultimately what is the purpose of the manifestation of these epics? Prabhupada writes that these are meant so that we can have satisfying objects for discussion and enrichment thereby. So from that perspective, if we consider the purpose of, because the Devatas live for so long, so they need that much substance to discuss.
So how would it be, my mind is saying three ways. One is that the same incidents can be described in much, much more details. It’s like we have the Ramayana, but there are so many Acharyas who have written commentaries, in which they have gone more and more in detail.
The same incidents can be described more also. Along with that, there are backstories that are described. This character who was in a previous life, or what had happened to this character in this situation, that situation.
So that’s called backstory. There’s a main story and a backstory. Another thing that could be also there, if you see the Mahabharata, it’s huge.
And the length of the Mahabharata is because there is a lot of discussion within the Mahabharata. And that discussion has many other stories. For example, there’s a story of Nala Damayanti, which is told when the Pandavas are in the forest.
And that story goes on for dozens and dozens and dozens of pages in the Mahabharata. So, a book called the Ancillary Stories from the Mahabharata. Ancillary stories means there’s a main storyline of the Pandavas, but while the Pandavas are discussing with the sages, there are so many other stories that the sages tell.
So this ancillary story itself is like a 1500 page book. There are so many stories like that. So there could also be discussions.
We don’t really have a detailed record of when Ram was in the forest, he heard from the sages. In the Valmiki Ramayana, that instruction is described very briefly. So it could be that also.
It could be discussions within the Ramayana, it could be backstories, or it could be further details of the stories themselves. All that can be there. The purpose is ultimately to have an abundant subject for discussion.
It isn’t that long a life span the devatas have. There is a discussion about Chhaya Sita. Yeah.
How could we perceive that? So, where does the understanding of Chhaya Sita or Maya Sita as it is said, where does it fit in? There are two ways of looking at this. First is in the Valmiki Ramayana itself, there is no mention. Of Maya Sita.
The idea is that Sita is abducted, Sita is recovered by Ram. So there is, so we could say that this is, whenever the pastime is told, there can be a later revelation of further details also. It’s not that one pastime, one book can contain everything about a particular pastime.
So we could say this is a later detail, which is told in later books. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu mentions this. I think it’s mentioned in the Matsya Purana.
In some of the Puranas also it’s mentioned, about the reference about Maya Sita. So the idea is, some people may ask, how can Sita or the Goddess of Fortune be even touched by anyone? So, now it is possible that Lord can, that Ravan may touch Sita and still Sita may not be contaminated. Because she is so pure.
But if somebody raises that question, then her purity is not compromised because she never touched her. So this is basically a later revelation, which reveals how within that pastime itself, there is no loss of virtue of Sita. In any way at all.
At the same time, this does not mean that the Sita that is Vedavati, Vedavati is a great devotee, a very saintly lady, who wants Vishnu as her husband. She is performing austerities. And the story is that when she is performing austerities in the Himalayas, Ravan sees her and Ravan gets attracted to her.
When Ravan comes and tries to molest her, he tries to drag her by the hair. And then she uses her hand like a knife and cuts off her hair. And she says that, because my body has been touched by you, therefore I want to give this body.
He says, I will come back again and I will not only unite with Ravishnu, but because you have interrupted my austerities, I will become the cause of your destruction. So then she immolates herself by mystic fire which comes from her body. And then later on, just before Ravan comes to abduct Sita, at that time, the whole idea that Lakshman Rekha is there, there are different narratives of how exactly it happens.
But one narrative is that the Lakshman Rekha, if anybody crosses it over, they will get burnt. That is the narrative I described. So even when Sita crosses it over, at that time the fire comes.
And when Vedavati, she creates that fire, she doesn’t die actually. She is taken by Agnideva and kept with her. And when Sita is about to cross over the Lakshman Rekha, at that time the same fire appears again.
And then that fire takes in Sita and brings Vedavati over there. Now Vedavati is also a great devotee of Vishnu, of Ram. And therefore, all the agony of separation that she goes through and eventual rescue that Ram does, it is not seen to, if it is by Sita, then that doesn’t mean all this war is pointless.
It’s all the emotions of devotion are real. But it’s just that if somebody raises that question about her purity, then that is an explanation that is also available. Yes, Ram.
Ram was standing carrying many monkeys and how come Hanuman didn’t grow super big? Carry all the monkeys to Lanka and they would have wasted time building the bridge. And then they also would have surprised the demons. So they would have much easily won without having so many monkeys dying.
Okay, good question. So Hanuman had so much power. Why couldn’t he carry all the monkeys across? And then they could have had the element of surprise also in attacking and killing the demons, Rakshasas.
Yes, there are different activities which are done to serve different purposes. So, as I mentioned yesterday also that both Ram as well as Hanuman wanted to avoid the war as much as possible. So deterrence.
Deterrence means creating fear in the opponent by showing one’s prowess. That is also important. So one reason why Ravan thought that my kingdom is impregnable is because it is surrounded by ocean.
Nobody can attack. So when Ram created a bridge, that itself was a further evidence of Ram’s extraordinary power. And if Ravan had even a little intelligence, then that could have registered within him.
So he had already seen Hanuman’s power. But the excuse that he gave when Vibhishan told him that one lone monkey came and devastated half of our kingdom, how do you think he will fight against Ram’s army? So the reasoning he gave at that time was that actually he caught us by surprise. He caught us by surprise.
We were not prepared. But again if he comes, we will be prepared and we will overpower them. So that excuse which he was using, Ram did not want to have that excuse.
He built a bridge. Ravan knew what was happening. Ravan thought that he would not be able to build a bridge only.
But he actually built a bridge. Not only that, he also gave an abundant time to prepare. He was fully prepared and then Ram sent a message also.
So that deterrence, the power of Ram’s army, that was demonstrated. Ram’s mystic power, Ram’s army’s mystic power, that was demonstrated through his building the bridge. Another point was that Hanuman of course is glorious.
In many ways, Hanuman’s glory is demonstrated that he flew across the ocean not just once but thrice to get the mystical herbs also later. But it is primarily Ram’s war to fight. And if Hanuman had done all the heroics, then Ram’s glory would not have been seen.
So Ram demonstrates his glory by having that mystical bridge built. So what happens is that Ravan, when he hears that Ram’s stones are floating, so Ravan decides how can stones float like this? So at night he also sneaks out and he takes a snow stone and he also drops the stone. The stone just drops.
He says, what happened? How are the stones floating? And then he has heard from his spies that actually they are writing the name of Ram on it. So this is happening on this coast. On that coast something else is happening.
Ram is also surprised. How are the stones floating? Ram says these monkeys are very special. So what happens? Ram also goes and Ram also drops the stone.
On this side Ravan drops the stone. On that side Ram drops the stone. And both the stones go into the water.
Both sink. So at that time, Ravan decides to experiment further. And Ravan, he says, let me see what happens.
He puts Ram and writes Ram on the stone and drops the stone and the stone floats. So on the other hand, when Ram drops the stone, the stone drowns. Ram becomes embarrassed.
He looks around. Sometimes if you do something and it doesn’t work, you don’t want anyone to see it. So Ram looks around and he sees Hanuman is behind smiling.
And then Hanuman says, for you to make stones float is no big deal. You make all the planets float in the sky. But he says, you are teaching us that if someone takes shelter of your name, then even a stone like heart will float.
The stones will float. But if you let go of someone, then there is no hope for that person. So if you let go of a stone, that will drown.
So the mystic power in getting the stones to float, that is also meant to convince Ravan about the power of Ram and to deter him from fighting. Thank you. You had a question? Sir, you said in the forest she wore a dress made up of tree bark.
I heard that she got a set of sari from Vishwamitra. Sari won’t get dirty throughout the spirit in the forest. Vishwamitra’s wife? Or maybe some other… Vashishtha.
Yeah, Vashishtha. That’s interesting. And also along with the jewellery.
I have heard of this version, but this is probably the Ramayan television version. But I just wanted to make sure that… It’s possible. At least this is not mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana.
So she had to wear tree bark, that is what is mentioned. Now what happens is that these epics are eternal. And there are some epics in which sometimes the epics manifest in somewhat different ways.
The Lord’s pastime may happen in a somewhat different way at different times. So in some narratives it is said that Ram shot an arrow at Ravan’s heart. And that’s how he was killed.
Some narratives say that he shot an arrow in Ravan’s navel. And that’s where his life was. Cutting off his head didn’t work.
But where he shot to kill. So in different versions of Ramayana, sometimes things are described differently. So as long as the overall storyline and the overall rasa is maintained, there can be different variants also of the broad story.
Because these are epics which happen again and again throughout the universe’s history. So it could be that in the Ramayana which has been told to us by Valmiki, there is tree bark. But in another Ramayana, which refers to something that happened another time, there could be what you said.
She is given a cloth that will not get dirtied. She is given some jewellery. I remember, just a comment.
I remember that very beautiful Shubhai. Hari ananta, hari katha ananta. Gaha hi, subha hi, bahu vidhi sab santa.
The different vidhis, different santa, different sages speak differently with different vidhis. And that’s why we have this variation. But Hari and his katha, both are ananta, eternal ananta.
Yeah, beautiful. Thank you. Yes, last question.
So in the last two lectures you talked about how the art of speech is important. Like Laga, you spoke really well. Lord Hanuman is an excellent speaker too.
So practically all of us, we are not taught how to speak. It’s just something we pick up in our life. So how do you develop this art of speech? So how do we develop the art of speaking? We say Hanuman or Ram, they are so elegant.
It’s something which everyone has to learn. You have to put in effort for that. Like Chanakya Pandit says that if someone wants to conquer the world, if a king wants to conquer the world, the first skill he has to learn is expertise in words.
He doesn’t say expertise in weapons. Expertise in weapons is required. But a king is not just meant to be a good fighter.
A king has to be a good motivator also. And good motivator means he has to be an expert in speaking. So we could say that with respect to speaking, especially speaking in public, there are three aspects.
One is the fluency of the speech, which can just be developed by practise more and more. Second is the sensitivity of speech in terms of how we speak without hurting people. And third is the appropriateness of the speech.
Sensitivity means you have to give the right answer at the right time. Speak the right point at the right place. So fluency is a skill.
Some people have it, some people don’t have it. And to the extent we develop it with practise, we can develop it more and more. But we could say that among these three aspects, this is the most material attribute.
It’s the most bodily related attribute. Some people’s speech is, their voice itself is very sweet. Some people’s voice may not be that sweet.
It doesn’t matter eventually. It might just, the fluency will matter as a first impression. But after we get to know a person, whether they are fluent or not, that doesn’t matter as much as the other aspects.
So to develop sensitivity, it is very important to know that our purpose is not just to speak the truth. Our purpose is to speak the truth in a way that attracts people to the truth. So we have to see what point can I say at this place by which I can help this person to come closer to Krishna.
So that sensitivity in terms of people’s emotional issues, their blind spots, their attachments, their vulnerable areas, that we have to be aware of. And that requires getting to know people, maybe learning about them, hearing from them also, to know where they are coming from. And as far as the appropriateness is concerned, what we speak where, that we require to, that we need to ourselves hear from the perspective of a speaker.
That means, we normally, we may hear a lot of classes. But hearing from the perspective of a speaker means, okay, our mind often deludes us when we are hearing by the I know syndrome. When we are hearing a class, I know this point also, I know this point also, I know this point also.
Tell me something new. Now what happens is, we may hear some new points also, and it’s good as speakers if we are to speak as much new content as possible. But the important thing is, it’s not just what we know.
It’s just how we bring it all together. So if you consider music, music there are only seven ragas. But there are so many beautiful varieties of music that come up because of how the sounds are combined together.
But similarly, when we hear some classes, especially if we hear classes from speakers who are well organised in their presentations, then even if we feel I know this point, we try to see, okay, how does this point fit here? How does this point fit here? And we can also try to think that, okay, if I had to do this exam, instead of this point, what example would I have given? What story would I have told? How would I have explained this? And then, okay, but this is also there, this is also there. Why was this used? So try to shift yourself to the role of a potential speaker. By that, we will learn a lot more from the classes that we hear.
And ultimately, it is Krishna’s mercy that comes as a potency, which will change people’s hearts. But we cannot know when Krishna’s potency will come. What we can do at our level is make sure that we have, we are doing our part well.
It’s something which we have to put in effort at. Nowadays, now there is a proposal that our Bhakti Shastri exams, which are there, there should be no written tests, no spoken tests. Because how many devotees are actually going to write? How many of us communicate about our philosophy through writing? How many of us communicate through speaking? I was consulted also, I actively supported their idea that the devotees do their exams, after they give their exams, they answer the essay questions orally.
And their video will be recorded. And that will be sent to the examiners. And that can give them… Time for cheating.
Yeah, okay. Everything has pluses and minuses. But that way, devotees will get some training in speaking also by that.
So, there are efforts. There are a few devotees who are also public speaking professional teachers. We are trying to create a network where they can offer some courses for devotees about how to do public speaking.
It’s a very important skill. And because it’s a skill, it also needs to be learned. Once a Brahmanandra asked Prabhupada, Prabhupada, how did you learn to speak so effectively? Prabhupada said, I practised.
There are many times when Prabhupada would come back and after a class he would hear his own recordings. And then, I think again it was one disciple of Prabhupada, he asked Prabhupada, after we give a class, how should we feel? So Prabhupada said, you should feel. I had forgot to speak at that point.
I could have given this example. I could have answered this question this way. So Prabhupada has always been in the mood of self-improvement.
So, even when we give a class, we can think, could I have given a better example for this? Could I have done this in a better way? So if you have that mood of self-improvement, then Krishna will guide us in the appropriate ways. Thank you very much. Thank you everyone for coming.
And let’s loudly say three times Haribol for Chetan Chantabuji.