Value Education and Spirituality 26 – Ramayana 8 – Jatayu – Fight atrocities against women

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna welcome back to the value education and spirituality series we are discussing based on the Ramayana and we will discuss about Jatayu and his courage in fighting against the atrocious kidnapping of Sita and how that applies in today’s society of fighting atrocities against women now while Lakshman went at the went towards Ram because of very strong request strong words of Sita hurting words of Sita and as soon as Lakshman departed Ravana came over there and he came in the garb of a sage of a sadhu and Sita was very courteous as it is she was a cultured and courteous lady and she saw a saintly looking person she offered hospitality please be seated my husband will soon come and he will offer you further services so then he Ravana was practically visually devouring Sita very boldly brazenly glancing at her, Sita felt embarrassed what kind of sage is this and then Ravana tried to flatter Sita in the hope of softening her heart he wanted to describe her beauty to her but he spoke very explicit words, Sita was further what is going on still she maintained a cultured demeanor with her when Ravana saw that none of this was affecting Sita then he decided that yes what a woman he was thinking Sita is just an ordinary woman he was trying to use ordinary female psychology, one is that you praise women for their beauty and then they immediately become very soft hearted and another is you parade your own wealth and power that also attracts women so he was trying to use all that normal psychology he had no idea of the chastity of the Sita and that she was not at all interested in such things, so he started bragging about his position and his power and his wealth and how he is the greatest of the Rakshasas and this and that and when Sita realized she was a Rakshasa she shrank back in fear and horror and disgust and then Ravana said you will become my chief queen, give up this beggar you know he has already become a pauper on the street and he has reduced you, you are a princess you are meant to live in royalty how he tried to allure her but none of these techniques worked and Sita said you know how dare you speak such things about me and then about my husband he said wait till my husband comes and he will destroy you so Ravana laughed and he just grabbed Sita now the later retellings of the Ramayana also describe how there was a Lakshmana Rekha and then Sita came out of the Lakshmana Rekha and that’s how Ravana was able to take her so we all have ethical boundaries in our life and those ethical boundaries are meant to protect us but when we step out of those ethical boundaries then we become much more vulnerable to temptation and tribulation resulting from the temptation so Lakshmana had put the boundary around Sita for her protection Ravana allured her to come out by saying that I cannot come in I am exhausted and he gave various protections Sita unsuspectingly came out and then she was abducted so the nature of this world is that it often tempts us with with allurements which actually make us want to step out of ethical boundaries and when we step out of those ethical boundaries so for example it may well be that there is the temptation to be within within a business to be corrupt one thing that I will make quick money by that we try to step out of ethical boundaries within marriage people step out of ethical boundaries because they think they will get more pleasure in some extramarital relationship but then by all this what is happening one is becoming more and more vulnerable once a person start being dishonest then there is so much complexity one has to hide, one has to give excuses one lie leads to a thousand lies and then the trust that is there that is the foundation of relationship that is the deficit of trust and then there is constant suspicion and then life becomes like a constant cold war relationships become like minefields where one is constantly fearing some small words, some false moves, some false alarm or it is a true alarm we don’t know just explode and then life becomes very insecure so to the extent we ethical boundaries are not for restriction they are for protection ethical boundaries are for restriction they may restrict us but their purpose is not restriction their purpose is protection they save us from being caught in a net of complexity and ultimately misery for a little pleasure so there are ethical boundaries so for example there is a principle that one should be careful in dealings, say financial dealings or whatever kind of dealings all those principles are meant for our protection they are not meant for deprivation or restriction so see the Lakshman Rekha that was constructed on Sita was for her protection but unfortunately Lakshmana somehow Sita got saluted out and then Ravana kidnapped her so we have seen so many people, big big people CEOs of companies big big sports stars they just get caught by greed and they become corrupt they take bribes, there are match fixing scandals that happen and then there are famous sometimes very famous cricketers have been disgraced because of that former South African captain he admitted to his fans that I regret to inform you about the unfortunate affection for greed that I have nursed which made me engage in match fixing, he saw all this and it’s tragic, he was a top performer, his team was performing top but he just lost everything because of some greed so keeping, sticking to ethical boundaries is for our protection it is not for deprivation and sometimes some people may say that oh there are so many people getting away by compromising ethics also, yes but there is a law of karma and the reaction even if it doesn’t come now, reaction will come later, so the reactions are sure to come and that’s why one has to better be safe than sorry so then Ramana grabbed Sita by her hair and dragged her she screamed to Ram for help but Ram was far away, he dragged Sita onto his chariot and he held her tightly on the chariot and then he ordered the chariot to move mystical chariot, so he had come on a covert operation, so he did not have a charioteer and his attendants with him he was alone over here and his chariot moved by his command, so the chariot could fly in the air also, so he was flying in the going by the airways and she screamed, Sita was screaming help, help, looking who is there to help, now the animals the deer, the rabbits the birds, they were all petrified to see Sita being abducted like this no one dared to resist the horribly powerful king of the demons and suddenly on top of a tree, Sita saw Jatayu resting, Jatayu one Jatayu was very great he was a vulture so now he is speeding through the sky as Ravana was going Sita saw Jatayu and said, Jatayu now Jatayu had been long a friend of Dashrath and when Ram had entered into the forest of Gandhika Aranya at that time they had met Jatayu and Jatayu had considered that his responsibility was to take care of them while they were in the forest so he had a sort of paternal relationship with all of them now Jatayu actually Sita saw Jatayu, Jatayu said, Jatayu please go and tell Ram that I have been abducted by Sita Jatayu saw what was happening he immediately spread his wings and sprang up into the sky to charge after Ravana Sita realized that Jatayu because of being so old would be no match for Ravana and now she was of course agonized mortified at being abducted like this but at the same time she was a pragmatic Kshatriya lady and she was concerned not just for her own safety but also for the safety of Jatayu so she said to Jatayu Jatayu don’t try to fight with Ravana no just go and inform Ram Jatayu how can I stand by how will I live with my conscience if I let if I just watch passively while Sita is being abducted so exerting an energy the fullest spread rapidly through the air and came right by the side of Ravana and he told Ravana what are you doing oh wild one, how can you abduct another man’s wife like this stop this at once, you are like a coward, like a crow or a dog who comes and steals the sacrificial offering when the priest or the guard is not there, you are a coward taking Sita like this when her husband is not there now Jatayu at the same time wanted to give good instruction and at the same time evoke his Kshatriya pride, Ravana’s Kshatriya pride so that Ravana would stop and fight and that way he would gain time and Ram would come back so now Jatayu also knew he was also a bird, a vulture but he had been a warrior vulture so he knew that his strength would not be matched to Ravana’s but still he could not stand there passively so he tried various strategies he said now how can you do such unethical thing so normally the if you want to take, you cannot take Sita she is another man’s wife you should not be a coward wait and fight with Ram so now when Ravana did not listen, he just snickered and just kept moving onwards sneering at him so Jatayu he kept speeding by Ravana’s chariot and speeding strongly and when Ravana did not hear Jatayu decided that he had to do whatever it took to stop so now actually Jatayu Jatayu had fallen back and Ravana thought that Jatayu is just gone and Jatayu came rapidly from behind and just grabbed Ravana’s hair and he pulled and Ravana he yelled in anger and pain as his hair was dragged, his crown fell off and Jatayu as he flew up and came back again and again he attacked and this time he just, Jatayu with his beak and with his talons started attacking the mules that were carrying the chariot of Ravana and as the fight went on fiercely Jatayu hit several blows to Ravana and finally he destroyed his chariot Ravana still holding on to Sita just by his mystic powers he came down unhurt Jatayu swooped down on him and scratched him on his face and finally Jatayu using all the strength that he had caught Ravana’s arms Ravana was trying to fight with his arms he caught his arms and pulled at the arms and the arms just came out this fight was being observed by the creatures of the forest and they started to see this stupendous feat of Jatayu in ripping off the arms of Ravana but Ravana had some mystic powers and by that his arms quickly appeared again and Ravana started laughing. Jatayu came and attacked again with superhuman strength he ripped off the arms of Ravana but the arms came back again and Jatayu was fighting started faltering. He was old and he was using all the reserves of strength that he had.
Now Jatayu was charging down at Ravana and he was coming with such speed that before Ravana could attack with his sword or any of his weapons he would attack and go back attack and go back, attack and fly away but although Ravana was getting wounded he was also getting rejuvenated because of the wounds that he had whereas Jatayu was getting exhausted and once Jatayu swooped down for the attack and Ravana was waiting and he swung his sword down in a deadly arc and as Jatayu came his one wing was lopped off Jatayu screamed in pain he attacked Ravana with all the strength that he had and he turned and fled and as he was fleeing Ravana although he was wounded again by Jatayu’s attack still he swung his sword in another deadly arc and the other wing fell off and as both his wings fell off, Jatayu crashed painfully onto the ground now Sita had fled away from the arena of the fight watching in horror and agony from a distance when she saw Jatayu falling brutally mortally wounded on the ground she screamed and ran to Jatayu to embrace him, to comfort him, treat him but Ravana grabbed her by his hands and laughing sadistically to see her pain and to see Jatayu’s pain, grabbed her and went off now Jatayu watched on, dismayed he knew that his life was near the end but he remembered that Sita had requested him, please inform Ram where I am, so he decided using all his will power to hold on to his breath somehow or the other till Ram came there and Ram was searching, searching, searching and Ram and Lakshman they came back to the cottage and they found that there was no one there, they charged back and they searched and searched and searched and finally they came to the clearing where Jatayu was, when they saw the signs of blood the signs of scuffle, they thought maybe Rakshasa has actually devoured Sita and then when they saw Jatayu lying, Jatayu was in such a mutilated and disfigured form that they could not recognize him initially and Ram picked up his bow, he thought this is the Rakshasa which has devoured Sita I will kill him, but then Jatayu was speaking Ram, Ram, Ram at those times of great pain, Jatayu was gaining strength by remembering the name of Ram and Ram put down his bow and ran forward over there and said to Jatayu, what has happened and Jatayu used the last reserves of his life to explain what had happened he told that Sita has gone in the southern direction and then after completing the service that Sita had requested him to, Jatayu left his body, Ram was so grief struck, he said I am feeling as much pain as I felt when my beloved father venerable father Dashrath departed and personally performed the last rites for Jatayu blessing Jatayu to attain the realm of everlasting bliss so here Jatayu of course knew Jatayu protected Sita even if it was the cost of her life so today in today’s society also there are many people who are Ravana like actually speaking the the Ravana like mentality is glamorized often in the movies and people people want to abuse and it’s not that it’s in Bollywood people like to imagine in movies people want to imagine that I am a hero and I come and rescue a damsel in distress but in real life many times people are passive this does not mean that we have to get into street fights but there has to be a culture of respect and there can be sometimes small things also make a difference people pass obscene remarks we don’t have to have some fanciful idea of heroism where we think that being a hero means that I go and fight and die or get wounded or die or kill for some woman those are extreme acts and actually what is required for the strengthening of the social fabric is not such extreme acts of extreme acts of imagined heroism if they are required that’s a different issue at different times but what will make a sustained difference is not such occasional extreme acts but a sustained culture of speaking out of according respect properly where it is due Vedic culture was always very respectful to women, women were treated very respectfully often like mothers and the idea was that you know the men are meant to protect five classes of society there are the learned teachers of society the Brahmanas, the cows the elderly, the children and the women, they are all meant to be protected and it is a social responsibility so there has to be a culture of speaking out actually we have to see that small things lead to big things so when when some people become abusive towards women, it’s not that suddenly, it’s not that those people have come from some other planet they are lust filled aliens who are out to abuse women actually there is a steady downward graph when people it all starts with dehumanizing others dehumanizing women, objectifying women and seeing them as nothing more than things for our pleasure so that thing can start with rebelled jokes where women are objectified and obscene jokes are made and from that the culture of insensitivity starts and then that goes down down down down so we have to not just stop the gross acts of crime, that’s very important to stop that no doubt and for that we need stronger policing and we need various practical measures for that but that all starts with having a proper cultured attitude of respect so when there is depiction of obscenity then that itself is an objectification of women when there are obscene jokes made that’s an objectification of women so actually this sort of exploitation of women comes from their objectification objectification means we don’t treat the other as a person Ravana did not treat Sita as a person with her own free will for Ravana Sita was just object to fulfill his lust and actually the more there is objectification eventually there will be exploitation so if you want to stop exploitation we have to counter objectification and what objectifies women the most is lust so when we counter this objectification speak against this there are when we are in a friend circle and people start making obscene jokes at that time, you should take a stand you know when somebody makes a snide remark about a passing woman or tries to in a small way make inappropriate advances towards a woman these are times when we should nip things in the bud somehow when somebody does a violence against women we tend to otherify that person otherify means who is this person how rude is this person but as I said that person is not an alien coming from somewhere that person is a natural which is a natural outgrowth of the same culture that we are all a part of so by demonizing those who abuse women we don’t necessarily solve the problem we have to recognize the culture that is engendering this and counter that culture so objectification of women which is largely caused by lust that has to stop and we need to take a stand against it and we should you know cultural changes don’t have to happen by just big dramatic events yes so when the very brutal rape of Nirbhay happened in Delhi that brought about a groundswell of protest and opposition and that is very good that is desirable abuses and violence are barbaric and they have to be stopped but along with that there has to be an ethos of opposition to such abuses and thus that ethos has to come in small small actions it’s easy to do something dramatic where it gets noticed and we get appreciated and felicitated for that but that is fine actually what is required for that is good if one does that but what is required for a more sustainable and tangible transformation in society is changes at a small micro level, macro level changes come from the micro level, micro level changes means we minimize the objectification of women and we oppose that objectification of women and that way there can be culture of protection that comes up so it is the responsibility of society to protect women and that protection comes in many forms, there is police protection against violent crimes there is cultural protection against objectification and according to our capacity according to our level we can bring about a culture of change so at one level Jatayu’s attempt seemed futile, Ravana still kidnapped but it was not futile at one level actually it is said that Jatayu still gave the direction to Ram and that’s how Ram was able to eventually find Sita and not only that Jatayu was also able to behold Ram and when he laid down his life in a gallant cause he attained a destination, an eternal destination by that so good work never goes in vain but good work also has to be done intelligently so that the point is not just to seem to be a hero or a martyr, the point is to try to make sure that correction in the wrong happens so Jatayu did his best he even laid down his life but he did not just self congratulatory martyr, he actually may held on to his life and informed Ram so that Ram would go forward and correct the wrong that had been done so in this way according to our level, according to our capacity we can intelligently but proactively take up the responsibility of countering this increasingly prevalent evil in society of molestation and exploitation of women which stems from their objectification thank you Hare Krishna