Ravan and Ramayan: A Retake?Part 3

 Ravan and Ramayan: A Retake?

Part 3:

Ravan having sorted out in my mind, I need to talk about Ram.

So who exactly is Ram if Ravan is the raw human in us? 

It may be interesting and surprising for someone to know that the revered saint of Maharashtra from the 17th century who came to be known by the name Samarth Ram Das ( The Able Servant of Ram), whose own life story tells us how he received spiritual instruction from Ram and who spent his lifetime extolling the virtues of Ram, the same saint in his book The Das-Bodh (The Teachings from a Servant or for a Servant ) declares that everything we can perceive or think about is imagined. Even God is a figment of our mind.0

Does he not contradict himself with that statement ? It sure appears that way, doesn’t it? 

This is perhaps the most difficult part of the entire philosophy and basis of spiritual teachings to explain and be understood without creating more confusion than there already is. 

God is also an idea! What does Samarth mean by that statement?

I may appear to be digressing a little as I try to explain. In the last 2-3 years, I saw the arrival of two grand daughters, born to two of my nephews. One is now 2.5 years old and the other is barely three months old. I wasn’t thinking much when the older kids, including mine were born. But when these two babies were born I was more acutely aware of how untouched their presence was. They had barely transitioned from being non-existent one moment to existent one fine day. From unseen to seen. From formless to a form. For several weeks, they were nameless. So they went from formless and nameless to a nameless form to finally a form with a specific name. Within no time they will assume various identities based on where they grow up, what they train for, what ideas they buy into and such influences. But to begin with they had none of these specifics. All one could say was they were present. 

The final conclusion of the contemplative mediation of spiritual giants of all times is that the ultimate reality of our existence has no form and cannot be described in words. It is a subjective experience. All manifested forms are temporary projections of that invisible reality. This invisible reality is determined by those who have experienced it as being unborn and indestructible. Hence eternal and unchanging. The ever changing manifestations are mere projections upon the changeless reality. These projections can neither be said to be unreal because they can be perceived, nor concluded to be real because they disappear sooner or later. The power of projection is concluded as an inseparable part of the changeless and invisible reality. 

Those little girls I was describing, they had no names to begin with. Their parents needed some specific names to identify them. So the names were assigned. Similarly, reality and its inherent projection power have no original names. They just exist as is and should be understood as is. The names are assigned by humans. Concepts are superimposed by the human mind upon the background of this originally nameless reality. There are reproducible experiences and there are what continue as concepts. Love, truth, hate, falsehood, loyalty, service, betrayal, kindness etc are concepts that can convert to experience or experiences that convert to concepts. Reality envelopes concepts and allows for experience to happen. But concepts and experiences cannot be defined as reality. Reality is much bigger than any concept or experience. Within reality are the reproducible laws of nature that I talked about earlier. These laws are evident in the manifest forms of reality that includes humans, other living creatures and everything that falls outside of the living system. Reality and its laws are inseparable. 

Ram is the name humans have given to this universal reality. Just like the parents of those two girls had the freedom to give them a name of their choice, different people have given different names to reality as they recognized it. 

But here’s the important part. That Ram( largely invisible reality) being omnipresent and eternal is always present within each of us and around us. It is the entity that knows even that side of us that we try to hide from the world and many times succeed in hiding from the world. The Ravan in us goes on for extended periods under the delusion that nobody knows or cares what he does. He can fool himself and rest of the world. But he can’t fool Ram. 

As I have said earlier, Ram is not a person sitting there monitoring people. It is an entity with its inbuilt laws and justice system. As Swami Chinmayananda said, we are not punished for our actions. We are punished by our actions. It is an automated system. Humans may never completely understand how it works. But it works. 

To know that every particle within ourselves is modeled after that system or rather inseparable part of that system is what is known as Dnyana or Enlightenment. To know that Ravan is an integral part of the larger reality is part of this dnyana. To know that Ravana is not the complete system but Ram is, is part of the dnyana. To know that for us as a human, to recognize this Ravana within, and for Ravana to surrender to the Ram within, irrevocably and completely, is essential for the experience of peace and happiness, is part of dnyana. To be aware and take into consideration, the presence of Ravan and Ram simultaneously in every being around us, is dnyana. Unless you are Mandodari, you don’t owe your loyalty to Ravan. To know this much is dnyana. Our only loyalty is to Ram. Remember Ram is not his name. It is the name we have chosen for him. Some brethren may know him by another name ( and form). 

How can we identify Ram if he is not a person? 

He is not a person. But he is identifiable by means of his manifestations that are aligned with his laws. Truthfulness. Non violence. Justice and fairness. Love, compassion, kindness, mercy, forgiveness. Humility. Wherever you observe these signs, recognize Ram and express solidarity with it. Wherever Ravan overshadows, with arrogance, lawlessness, dishonesty, disrespect, delinquency, stealing, etc promptly take away your support from that place/person/moment.

If Ravan is an integral part of the larger reality, why not gravitate towards him? Why not worship that manifestation of reality? We are free to gravitate towards him. What needs to be understood is that only the Unmanifest reality is homogeneous. In contrast manifest reality has a polarity. One end has an advantage over the other. Everything that Ravan stands for is, by convention, at the inferior end. When conflict occurs between Ravan and Ram, invariably Ravan’s side will lose. If we understand this non-negotiable truth and still choose to be on the losing side, we are free to do so. 

Who is that “we” under these circumstances? The decision making intellect within each of us. Choosing sides is called making informed decisions. The science behind these decisions is called ethics. It usually doesn’t get categorized into “science”. Nevertheless it is a science that is governed by inherent laws, even prior to its implementation towards man made laws.

Remember things are in a flux. Thoughts, tendencies, behaviors do not remain steady for prolonged periods. Our vigilance needs to be kept up. To identify Ram and Ravan within and outside of us. The minute we slack off there will be consequences. It is an unfailing system. 

More often than not, the choices we make are without full understanding of these laws of ethics. Religion is a later concept and dispensable, ethics are more fundamental. Most of us get confused here. Religion takes priority in our mind and ethics are buried. When we learn to uphold ethics we will automatically uphold religion. But the converse is not always true. Why so? Because religion is subject to interpretation, ethics are not. Ethics are to be compared with the laws of physics. Religion is vulnerable to perversion and distortion. Minus perversion and distortion, religion is simply a symbolic form of ethics. Once this is clarified in the mind, it is easy to understand all religions of the world. 

Once you understand the concept of Ram and Ravan, you can understand human behavior. You can make informed choices in better light.