HINDUISM - THE RAMAYANA

II




Cosmic Drama




Events in this universe do not occur in isolation or individually. Incidents are inter-related and interdependent. There is a flux in the totality of events and the whole drama is played on a cosmic plane. Can a wave in the ocean claim to ride on the crest on its own or a whiff of wind blow independently of the atmosphere?

You must have watched an army of ants going about their way in a disciplined manner as busy-bodies. To be sure, if they had better brains they would feel being engaged in an enormous task, marching in a row, contacting each other while moving, constantly engaged in a great task. What do we humans feel about their work without rest? Perhaps we laugh in our sleeves at their activity. So, are busy innumerable insects, birds and beasts exciting in us no more than a passing attention.

So are millions of men, each engaged in his own task, governing a country, undertaking construction, increasing production, serving the people and their own family. Each one thinks he is engaged in a mighty endeavour. Suppose there was a better race of beings before whom we are no more than mere ants, how would they view our ponderous plans and untiring efforts in implementing them? But most men regard themselves as a class by themselves, superior to the entire creation, plants, insects, animals and beasts.

If there is a cosmic plan and we are all like waves in an ocean, there is hardly anything that we really can do on our own. In the ocean each wave impelled behind propels forward in rhythmic motion. So in the atmosphere winds rise, go to the area of low pressure, rush out again, moving in a continuous motion, urged on by the whiffs behind and whiffs forward.

We all go about our activities under the mistaken notion that we all act individually and independently taking the credit for achievements and blaming the failures on others. Nothing happens in this universe independently of other happenings. There is a continuous motion sometimes rhythmic and at others not so rhythmic. It is all a part of the cosmic plan and we are all mere waves rising and falling without any will of our own in this grand drama.

Rama knew this cosmic plan. He knew that he was merely a cog in the wheel of the great universe. Or, to view him as an incarnation of Vishnu, he was well aware of the meaning behind the play of the cosmos, of which he was the great central pivot. With this wisdom ingrained in him he was not elated when his father proposed his name as a king. Nor did he sink into the abyss of despondency when the next morning he was banished from the kingdom for 14 long years.

He accepted the command of his father gracefully and approached not only Kausalya, his own mother, but also Sumitra and, of course Kaikeyi who was the cause of all this disaster. It was, he felt, the cosmic will and he should accept its verdict cheerfully. Therefore Rama is always referred to as one of the best specimens of the human race who always respected the right cause—Maryadapurushottama Rama.

When he discarded his royal robes, put on the mendicant’s attire and prepared himself for the forest. His wife Sita, herself the daughter of a great king, bred and brought up in luxury, sought the permission of her in-laws to accompany her husband. There was a lot of argument, but she convinced all that a wife’s place is always by they side of her husband—in prosperity or in penury. Her arguments, according to Indian traditions, were incontrovertible. She was allowed to accompany Rama.

But Lakshmana, Rama’s brother, who had his young wife Urmila, did not allow the couple to go alone into the inhospitable forest infested with wild beasts and wilder tribals. A fire-brand and rather aggressive, he had his way and formed one of the trio who finally left their luxurious life and loveable surroundings for the hardships of the forest. Whereas Sita had the satisfaction of accompanying her husband and being by his side, Urmila, Lakshmana’s wife denied herself even that privilege and pleasure and stayed back to serve her in-laws.