The sweetly topsy-turvy world of Ramayana

[Ramayana series 1 at Raleigh, USA]
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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. The sword star has the most fans, not because of some unfair manipulation, but because they have the talent, the expertise.
So sometimes hierarchies can become unfair when some people without competence grab position. But in general, hierarchies give a direction for our quest for excellence. And they also help us to appreciate those who manifest that excellence.
So in bhakti, the fundamental hierarchy that we accept is that God is supreme and we are his servants. So in that sense, there is an establishment. Why should I accept this? Why can I not be my own master? Why should God be the master? But serving God is not like becoming a slave.
It is when we bow before God, he raises us up higher than what we could have risen on our own. And we discuss inversion of hierarchy throughout the Ramayana. I talk primarily about Ram’s going to the forest.
And at that time, Suteekshna, he had a darshan of Ram and he took Suteekshna to Agastya. And inverted hierarchy here is that normally the guru takes the disciple to God. But here what happened? Yeah, the disciple takes God to the guru.
And we talk about this inversion of hierarchy. Repeatedly it occurs. We talk also about Dashrath.
God is the father and protector of everyone. But Dashrath takes the role of a father and Dashrath acts as the protector. And he worries.
And Vishwamitra wants to take Ram to the forest. And that also adds the sweetness of Ram’s activities. Then I talked about, third example was Ram taking help.
He is God. We all need God’s help. God doesn’t need anyone’s help.
He is supremely independent. But the inversion of hierarchy is God says, I need help. And generally, if some very big person wants help, he thinks Dashrath will go to another big person.
But God is a supreme being. But he doesn’t go to a big person. He comes to Vanaras, monkeys.
And thus he shows that his circle of grace encompasses everyone. No one is left out. And then one more inversion of hierarchy was Gods and God.
So, although Ram has blessed the Devatas by killing Ravan, who was terrorizing them. But at the end of it, the Devatas see that Ram, he is from the transcendental realm, but he has come below the celestial to the terrestrial level. And thus, they ask him, ask a boon.
And Ram says, Please, bless my assistants. Revive them, rejuvenate them. Replenish their supplies.
Let them never have any shortage. The conscientious ruler, he knows that I have taken service for them. I have nothing to give a reward.
So, he gives a reward. He asks the Gods to give rewards. And the most defining inversion of hierarchy is between the devotee and the Lord.
The devotee worships the Lord, but the Lord imposes the devotee to do extraordinary things, with things which the devotee may not be able to do on their own. So, the Ram’s stones did not float, but the Mandara’s stones floated. Ram walked across the ocean, Hanuman flew, he leapt across the ocean.
And, that same principle applies even now. We are all souls caught in the Lanka of the material world, and a bridge is to be formed to take us to the spiritual world, to our Lord. And that bridge is what the Lord provides, Dharma Setu, as it is provided, generation after generation by great devotees.
So, Srila Prabhupada has built the Krishna Consciousness Movement. This is also like a bridge, for taking us all back. And, in this, you see that, Prabhupada had a desire to glorify Krishna, and Krishna had a desire to glorify Prabhupada.
And thus, people who didn’t even know much philosophy, they were attracted, not only they got attracted, but they attracted hundreds and thousands of people. So, they were incidental beneficiaries in the reciprocation of love between Krishna and Prabhupada. And similarly, for all of us also, if we try to serve the Lord, take a responsibility to raise our consciousness, and help others raise their consciousness, then we will discover abilities, strengths that we did not know we had.
We feel, I have so many problems, how can I do anything more? Yes, we all have problems, but often, overthinking about our problems makes them bigger than what they need to be. So, we do what is required to deal with the problem. Instead of stewing and obsessing over it, we turn our thoughts towards the Lord, towards remembering Him, towards serving Him, towards trying to connect ourselves with Him and connect others with Him.
And when we do that, then He will give us extraordinary power. And initially, we may feel, I am small, this problem is very big. But when backed by the Lord, so the problem becomes smaller, and we become bigger.
The world may have much power to hurt us, but greater than the world’s power to hurt, is God’s power to heal. Thank you very much. Shri Ramachandra Bhagwan Ki Jai! Are there any questions or comments?