The Love of Rama and Journey with Guru
I was blessed enough to be in the ashram during Navdurga Sadhana 2022. We celebrated Ram Navami with Swamiji, and it melted my heart to see him talk about Bhagwan Sri Ram with so much tenderness and intimacy. After that moment, I longed to dip my toes into Bhagwan Sri Rama’s bhakti. This desire intensified over the past few months, and I listened to various talks about Bhagwan Sri Rama’s life. Finally, I ordered a couple of books and recently completed The Complete Life of Rama by Vanamali. It’s a beautiful book soaked in devotion, and I really enjoyed it.
One line written by sage Valmiki sums up the book. “From shoka comes sloka.” “From sadness originate the couplets of Ramayana.” Devi Vanamali starts by comparing Bhagwan Sri Krishna’s life and Bhagwan Rama’s. Sri Krishna’s story is the story of God. He is a master of every situation and never a victim. However, in Sri Rama’s case, we see him as a god in human form, going through every imaginable difficulty possible and yet always following his dharma as a son, husband, and king.
At its heart, Ramayana is the most poignant and beautiful love story ever written. The passages where he collapses on the ground and weeps after Ravana abducts her will melt a heart made of stone. He barely eats and sleeps when he is parted from her, and yet why does he ask her to go through a trial of fire? Why does he banish her to the forest? These questions have haunted me for a long time. I never found answers when I read the Ramayana as a story.
When I read the Ramayana as a bhakta, my answer was revealed to me. I say my answers because each person may find a different answer. Lord Rama made such choices because he knew the convoluted and polluted minds of people would never be able to accept that she could remain chaste in the house of the demon king. They would have a thousand questions. That’s why he got the entire army together and made them witness the scene. When she returns from the fire trial and meets him, he tells her how much he loves her, and all this is to stop people from talking ill about her.
Why does he ask her to go to the jungle? He did go around the kingdom spreading stories. The chatter of idle and small-minded people forced him to choose his dharma over his own happiness. He was forced into making that choice and made the choice that would benefit the whole nation at a grave cost to himself.
Yet did we stop asking questions? It’s incredible how we choose to accept the questions Maharishi Valmiki asks but refuse to accept the answers shared in the text. Somewhere, we feel we would make better choices than Bhagwan Sri Rama.
As I read the book and felt the agony of his choices in my heart, I had a sinking realization. The Divine manifests in our lives purely due to their compassion. We have done nothing to deserve it in our life. Bhagwan Sri Rama was the epitome of dharma, yet I have had many questions about his decisions for decades. At 39, I am barely beginning to understand how to worship him.
We think this is a story of our past, but let’s look at our present life. I have done nothing in my life to merit the presence of a guru of Om Swamiji’s stature. Even after he manifested in my life, I am still learning to be a devotee. It’s so much more challenging than I expected and so much more beautiful than I imagined. We expect him to give personal meetings, guide us, answer the same question a hundred times, and be available. We question his decisions about 1–1 or group initiations and other stuff without realizing who was manifested in our lives.
Just like the world did not deserve Sri Rama, I don’t deserve my guru. Yet the fact that he chooses to manifest for me, initiate me, and accept me despite all my shortcomings reminded me of Sri Rama’s love for all the people of Ayodhya.
I wanted to share a snippet from a beautiful poem about Bhagwan Sri Rama with you.
सारा जग है प्रेरणा
प्रभाव सिर्फ राम है
भाव सूचियाँ बहुत हैं
भाव सिर्फ राम हैं
कामनाएं त्याग
पूण्य काम की तलाश में
राजपाठ त्याग
पूण्य काम की तलाश में
तीर्थ खुद भटक रहे थे
धाम की तलाश में
Look at these beautiful lines that are highlighted in bold. It means god himself is wandering the forests in search of his destination. Please think of the reward all the sages got for their penance. Lord Vishnu is human from moved among them. That’s the opportunity we have with Swamiji amongst us. The divine wears billowing robes and loves, scolds, and cuddles us.
