Apr 21, 2002, 12.46am IST
S RAGI SIMHAN.
Sri rama is an avatar of maha vishnu. he is the adi purush — the ancient one — who, out of compassion for humankind, descends to earth in human form, taking upon himself the trials and tribulations of human existence, willingly suffering ordeals to protect the virtuous and annihilate the wicked. indeed, the ramavatara is one of the most splendid of maha vishnu’s manifestations in order to redeem his pledge to “appear in bodily forms whenever virtue decays and evil causes misery to the good and the virtuous, and the earth itself”. (sant tulsidas). maha vishnu’s innumerable qualities defy description and his energy pervades the whole cosmos. whether sporting with prakriti, primordial matter, or playfully performing his numerous lilas, he as the lord of the past, present and future, assumes the form of the trinity — brahma, vishnu and shiva — to create, sustain and dissolve creation, that emanates from him and merges into him. from his consciousness emerges knowledge of the vedas, yoga, sankhya, sciences, architecture, the 64 human perfections, scriptures and the ultimate wisdom of seeking one’s true self. sages of yore, from revelations that came through intense meditation, gathered a thousand namas or names for maha vishnu, each as sri ramanujacharya explained, containing a hundred meanings expounding the quintessence of the supreme being. these are called the sri vishnu sahasranama. in the mahabharata, bhishma, awaiting death on a bed of arrows, revealed the esoterics of the namas to yudhishtira. part of the revelation was that meditating on the essence of each nama frees one from fear and sins and leads to the lord’s perennial grace. parvati once asked lord shiva the way to attain maha vishnu, who was beyond comprehension. shiva, with delightful simplicity, answered that by meditating on the sweet name of sri rama, one attained blissful union with the ‘immaculate one’ as the persona of sri rama embodied the vishnu sahasranama. according to tulsidas, the two syllables of sri rama’s name, ‘ra’ and ‘ma’ are like the sound of a clap that drives away birds of doubt, leading to unclouded faith in the redeeming nature of the divine. one realises the truth of this when reading, hearing, singing or seeing an enactment of the ramayana. the emotions it invokes within one range from excruciating sorrow to the sublime, from the ennobling to the enlightening, ending in a truly humbling experience. faith in sri rama, who was an embodiment of dharma, thus translates into peace, happiness and true wisdom. the ramayana first and foremost expounds dharma, the universal law, which for every individual, translates into conquering the enemies of lust, anger and greed. in the sundar kand, a brahmastra-bound hanuman advises ravana to return sita or face ruin at the hands of sri rama. he tells ravana that although the power to do good or evil equally stem from dharma, he who commits evil strikes at the root of his own freedom of choice, inviting upon himself sure death — the truth which ravana realises only too late. the ramayana is as much a guide to right living for the commoner as it is for the rulers. the epic emphasises rajdharma, that rulers can never be above the law but must forever sacrifice their personal interests, their paramount consideration being only the welfare of the state and all its citizens. secondly, the ramayana tells the story of god taking the form of a human being who has full control over his senses and leads a life as ordained by the scriptures, teachings of seers and in keeping with his own conscience. one among vishnu’s thousand names is samukhaya nama — the one with the beautiful face. illustrating the vedic injunction that one must lead a life of detachment with serenity, neither overreacting to the pleasant nor bemoaning pain, kamban, the great tamil poet taking a cue from this nama, describes sri rama upon hearing kaikeyi’s harsh words: “that beautiful face which, both when asked by his father to accept the imperial crown as well as when commanded by his mother to leave all and live in a forest, like the pictorial lotus, was ever the same”. (v v s aiyar’s kamba ramayana). indeed sri rama is an exemplar, the maryada purushottam and his thoughts, acts and deeds are a guide to human beings effectively realising the four purusharths — dharma, artha, kama and moksha (true faith, economic well-being, sensual enjoyment and spiritual salvation).
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