The True Essence of Ramayana (Inner Meaning)

"RAMA" itself means "Sarveshu Ramante iti Ramah" - that which revels in everyone of us, the pure light of Consciousness, the Atman, the Self, the Atma Rama. The Spiritual essence in us, can come out only as a son of Dasaratha, One who has conquered all the ten indriyas - 5 gyanendriyas and 5 karmendriyas. It will be born in you and reborn only in Ayodhya (Yuddha means conflict, Ayodhya means where there is no conflict, meaning, where all conflict has ended). In that Ayodhya which is ruled only by the self-controlled man (the one given to self-indulgence and pleasures can have no peace and tranquility) Dasaratha's son Rama is born. This Rama, the pure self, cannot enter into any active participation in life unless wedded to the mind. Seeta (the mind) is ready, She is not born to Janaka by Wedlock. While ploughing the land, he finds Seeta. The mind appeared from the most inappropriate place ever. It is absurd to enquire deep into this. Later you find that the same Seeta disappears into Mother Earth. From mother Earth she came, to mother Earth she went back. From where the mind comes, and where it disappears during Samadhi nobody can tell. This is Maya. Wedded to the mind when Rama returns, he finds that he cannot live in Ayodhya. For, once the mind has come, you start expressing through it. You had to enter the forest of life, self-exiled as it were. So long as Seeta was looking up to Rama, living in Rama, for Rama, by Rama, she never found any difference between Ayodhya and a jungle. But how long can the mind remain constantly centered in the higher divine potential in us? It has to become extrovert, And this is just what happened the moment Seeta looked away from Rama. The golder deer was noticed, The finite, ephemeral, ever-changing objects, start pulling you towards them. The mind demands them. Once desire polluted, you fall. When Rama goes, he winks at Lakshmana, and they both understand that the poor deluded girl is suffering. Seeta is left in Lakshmana's Charge. Lakshmana represents Tapas (austerity). He had no reason to to the jungle. But he left of his own accord, and he lives in perfect brahmacharya, even without sleep. It is perfect Tapas. But then, one cannot live in tapas. The delusion of the other world will force you to give it up. The moment Seeta hears the sound of Rama's voice, she forgets Rama's glory and might and becomes anxious about his safety. She even urges Lakshmana to go to her husband's aid. Once desire enters your bosom, as an ordinary individual you cannot constantly live in tapas. But you can at least draw a line, thus far and no further. But once tapas has been given up, such lines are of no use. You readily step over them. And when you do this instead of Dasaratha, you are confronted by Dasamukha, the opposite character. The latter is an extrovert as the former is self-controlled. 5 Gyanendriyas and 5 Karmendriyas together constitute the Dasamukha. A totally extrovert man lives in the flesh. Such a man is a sensualist and a total extrovert. Materially he can become great as did Ravana who ruled over a prosperous land, Lanka. Compared to this land, Ayodhya was under-developed and village like. Seeta realised that she had fallen down and to prevent a further fall, she firmly said 'No' to Ravana and remainded in the garden under an Ashoka Tree. Soka means Dukha i.e sorrow, Ashoka therefore meand 'not dhuka' (devoid of sorrow). You & I will have sorrow, but we do not recognize it. This is the 'Ashoka' state. Under the tree of non-recognition of sorrows, when we want to remain steadfast in character, we will doubtless be tempted and put to a lot in strain. But in that Ashoka attitude, we should remain steadfast, constantly remembering Rama. The spiritual essence in man can kill and destroy Ravana, the ten-headed monstrocity of extrovertedness. It can do it with the army of monkeys. The monkey has 2 qualities - Asthiratwa and Chanchalatwa - Instability & Restlessness. The thoughts in the human mind have these two qualities. They cannot remain sthira - stable. The monkey cannot remain on one branch, it jumps from one branch to another and from one tree to tree. If it gets tired and sits on a tree, it will still be restless, and scratch all over. Thus, it cannot even keep quiet even for a minute. So too, our thoughts. They can never remain quiet, but keep jumping from topic to topic. The army of thoughts is to be controlled. But at this moment, Vali-who stands for lust - controls them. This has to be destroyed. And how? It can be only done from behind, and not from the front. It is like a person wanting to curb his desire for alcohol. He cannot do it by sitting before the bottle; for the moment he does this, not only is half the strength gone, but the pull of the bottle is three times as strong. Hence every time it is your lust that wins, and not you. So, if ever you want to conquer this lust, you have to shoot it from behind the tree. Vali has such great power, that any time an enemy approached him, half the strength of the enemy would drain away and Vali himself would become three times stronger. So, Rama had to kill him from behind. To whom should he then give the kingship of the monkey clan - the thoughts? To whom better than Sugreeva? 'Greeva' means reins, 'Sugreeva' means well-reined, i.er well-controlled. When the thoughts are under one's control, the army is then available to cross the frontiers and reach Lanka to kill the ten headed monster and bring Seeta back. Jai Shri Rama. -Swami Chinmayananda.

Why do hindus break Coconut in the Temple

There are many rituals among the hindus, which suggest the mode of transcending the personality layers and realising the Self within. One such ritual is offering Cocunut in a temple. The Coconut represents the Karma Phalas or the fruits of one's past actions, which are in the form of One's Vasanas. Offering of a fruit in a temple or to a Guru symbolises the surrendering of such Vasanas. A Coconut has a nice smooth skin covering a mass of twisted and knitted coir within. Beneath the coir is a hard shell, and in the inner portion of the shell is the white kernel containing the milk. Before a cocunut is offered to the Lord, the priest removes the skin along head of the coconut. The shell is then broken and the tuft is removed to expose the three eyes of the coconut. The milk inside is allowed to flow out at the feet of the Lord. This ritual has a deep significance. The outer skin represents the gross body which has an external show of beauty, but carries in its bosom an abominable cluster of desires and attachments which comprise the subtle body. Man has to renouce all his desires to the exception of one which is to realise the Truth. The retention of the tuft indicates this idea. When one approaches a Guru with this pointed desire and a spirit of surrender, the Guru breaks the hard shell of the intellect and exposes the pure Satwic Vasanas (the white kernel in the case of cocunut) to the Lord. The last lingering desire to realise the Truth is also transcended which is demonstrated by the plucking of the tuft away and exposing the three 'eyes' on the shell. The third eye refers to the 'Eye of Wisdom' known as 'Jnana Chakshu' which gives the intutive vision of the Self. The milk flowing out at the feet of the Lord reprensents the merging of the individual's self with the Infinite Self. Hari Om.