Vedantic Interpretation of Ramayana

The Ramayana is not a myth. It is actual historical event but we can find many Vedantic metaphors in Ramayana. Like a ring leader who puts up a show, Paramatma enacted Ramayana. By enacting Ramayana He has made it easier for us to learn the Vedantic meanings. In this day and age it is difficult for people to study the Vedas but it is easy for anyone to study the Ramayana. 

The human body can be compared to the city of Ayodhya with the nine gates. Like Ayodhya our body has nine openings through which the soul (we) can exit. King Dasharatha may represent our mind with the ten senses. With the help of our mind and by bringing our senses under control we must install Paramatma along with Goddess Sri Devi in our heart as our emperor. In the end Lord Rama takes all His citizens to Sri Vaikuntham. Paramatma when installed as the emperor in our heart will surely take us to Sri Vaikuntham at the time when we must leave our bodies behind.

The Ashwamedha Sacrifice: This a sacrifice in which a horse is sacrificed. The Brihadaranya Upanishad states that the creator under the name of Mrityu (Death) became the horse sacrificed in the Ashwamedha ritual. It is said that in the beginning nothing existed. He as Death made up his mind to become atmanvi. He brought forth water from which sprang earth. He got Fire by toiling the Earth and from Fire Air. Hankering Death wanted a second Atman to be born. By combining his mind with speech he brought forth the entire universe. Whatever he brought forth he began to eat. Desiring his body to be fit for sacrifice, he became the horse. He let the horse loose for a year; after the completion of one year, he sacrificed the horse to Himself. This analogy is modeled on the life of warriors who give up their life to protect many. 

This sacrificial rite indicates the self-sacrifice made by the creator to become the many forms by which he starts creation. It can also be said that, “He the Self, rides on the horse which is himself, to reach Himself”. By this He is also said to conquer recurring death. Hankering Death and His desire to eat all represent his wish for us to reach him. He shows us the way through his self-sacrifice by which he rides on himself to reach him. He is the sacrificial victim, the sacrificial fire and the enjoyer of the sacrifice. This teaches us about the way to reach the Supreme Brahman. We need to sacrifice ourselves unto him wholeheartedly. We also need to ride on him to reach him. That is He is the means as well as the end. The texts also say that Vak the wife of Brahma the creator went away from him and entered the sacrificial horse representing the fact that she is one with him. In the Sri Vaishnava belief the Goddess Sri is worshiped with Lord Vishnu and both of them together are the means as well as the end. 

King Dasharatha obtained Lord Vishnu the Supreme Brahman as his son by conducting the Ashwamedha Sacrifice. The word Ashwa has many meanings. It also refers to an empire or a nation. It refers to the Sun and letting the horse loose for a year symbolizes the Sun’s yearly travel. Ashwa also refer to our senses. The sacrifice of the horse mentioned in the Vedas is actually a sacrifice of the senses. The Vedas clearly state that animals are not to be slaughtered and actually sacrificed. The Srimadh Bhagawatam also clearly states that anyone who sacrifices animals will go to a special kind of hell where the sacrificed animals will come and torment the sacrificer. Lord Vishnu prohibits animal sacrifices. Since King Dasaratha and Queen Kausalya obtained Lord Vishnu himself as their son it can be safely claimed that they did not actually sacrifice a horse. If they had slaughtered a horse, they would have gone against the Vedas in which case they wouldn’t have obtained the divine grace of Lord Vishnu. The Valmiki Ramayana states that Queen Kausalya symbolically slaughtered the horse and spent a night with the dead horse. This verse actually means that she brought her senses under control and meditated on the Supreme Brahman throughout the night. The Valmiki Ramayana also states that in the morning “the horse flew away”. If the horse referred to here is an actual dead horse, how can it sprint away? The horse flying away could refer to the Queen who is the self; the self is released from the power of the senses and finds the Supreme-Self. Only substitutions in the form of plant matter is used in the enactment of this ritual. King Dasaratha performed this sacrifice properly as per the Vedas and was blessed to obtain Lord Vishnu as his son.

The Valmiki Ramayana is said to be a condensed version of the Vedas. It teaches Vedanta philosophy and emphasizes on the way to reach God. The Valmiki Ramayana also uses many symbols just like the Vedas to help people understand the Vedantic philosophy. As the subject matter dealt with is difficult to comprehend by regular people, the rishis used allegories to explain the difficult concepts.

Hence the Vedic texts did not mean actual sacrifice of horses but when the verses were read by people who did not grasp the actual meaning, the texts were translated to mean slaughter and sacrifice the horses.

Lord Rama kills two demons during His trip with sage Vishwamitra. He kills Taraka & Subahu. With His third arrow He chases Maricha. Taraka represents Avidhya or ignorance. Subahu & Maricha are the sons of Taraka. They represent the karmas we have committed because of the presence of Avidhya. He kills Subahu to show us that when we perform prapatti (surrender) to Him, He will kill all our Sanchita Karmas. He chased Maricha away from Vishwamitra’s yagna sala with an arrow. Similarly, He will chase our Prarabhdha Karmas and prevent the accumulation of new Karmas by chasing them away from us. Karmas can be divided into two classes; Sanchita Karma & Prarabhdha Karma. Sanchita Karma is like a bank account. It contains all the papams (sin) and punyams (good deeds) we have accumulated in our previous births.

Prarabhdha Karma is like the money we withdraw from a bank account. At each birth, Paramatma assigns us a portion of karmas from the Sanchita Karma account so that we can spend it. We enjoy both the good and bad fruits yielded by the prarabhdha karma. We extinguish a portion of our total accumulated karmas in the form of Prarabhdha karmas at every birth. According to this eventually the sanchita and prarabhdha karma accounts should come to zero and we should be liberated from Samsara. But this is not the case. As we are undergoing the effects of Prarabhdha karma, our actions also cause us to accumulate new karmas. Paramatma saves us from this never ending cycle when we surrender to Him. He burns our accumulated karma and He drives away any new karmas. This is indicated when He kills Subahu but drives away Maricha. The importance of an Acharya is also shown here as it is sage Vishwamitra who requests Lord Rama to destroy Taraka, Subahu & Maricha. The blessings of a good Acharya is required to perform prapatti to Sriman Narayana so that the Lord can destroy our ignorance as well as karmas.

Maricha the demon at Ravana’s bidding, took the form of a golden deer to lure Rama away from Sita so that Ravana can kidnap Her. Maricha represents illusion of the senses. Maricha comes in the form of a deer because, the mirage is called as Mrigatrishna in Sanskrit. The illusions generated by our senses try to distance us from Paramatma.

The forest of Dandakaranya is similar to our mind. The forest is home to both the Rishis & Rakshashas. Similarly our mind is home to both good & bad thoughts. The bad inclinations arising in our mind try to overpower the good thoughts. There is constant battle between good and evil within us. We do not have the power to defeat the evil but when we surrender to Paramatma he destroys our bad thoughts.

Rama killed Vali. The name Vali means ‘one with tail’ whereas the name Sugriva means ‘one with a good face’. Rama killing Vali denotes the Soma sacrifice. The Soma creeper is often called as the moon’s tail. Vali is the Soma creeper and Sugriva is Agni. Rama offer soma creeper in the fire. This represents self-sacrifice. We must sacrifice ourselves and offer ourselves as oblation to the Supreme Brahman. In Ramayana, Vali is killed and Angada the son of Vali is made the crown prince. Angada can be seen as the self as well. The name Angada means ‘one who gives up his body’. Thus Angada is the liberated self who is in harmony with Paramatma because he offered himself as the oblation to Paramatma. Vali is the father and Angada is his son; it can be said that the son is an incarnation of the father i.e both are the same self. Through the soma sacrifice, the self is not destroyed but exists in harmony with the Supreme Brahmam.

Sita Devi represents a soul (jeeva atma); we are souls (Sita Devi is goddess Lakshmi; she is equal to lord Vishnu & she is not a jeeva atma. This is just a representation). She is imprisoned in Sri Lanka just like we are imprisoned in our body. Sri Lanka is ruled by Ravana and he has 10 heads; our body is ruled by our mind controlled by the 10 sense organs ( taste, smell, touch, hearing & sight plus there are sense organs part of the reproductory & excretory systems) The sense organs make us crave things which we should avoid. Ravana tries to entice Sita Devi by displaying his wealth & prowess but she ignores him; similarly we should ignore the stimuli from our sense organs and concentrate on God. Lord Rama is the only one who could come & rescue her; we can be rescued from our body & from samsara only by Lord Vishnu. Hanuman acted as the messenger & conveyed Sita Devi’s plight to Lord Rama; he was instrumental in bringing Lord Rama to save Sita Devi. This shows that we need a good guru to convey our plight to Lord Vishnu and to convince the Lord to come and save us.

From another angle, Ravana can be viewed as the soul and his ten heads as the ten sense organs. Sita Devi is Brahma Vidhya because She is the wife of Rama the Supreme Brahman. Ravana coveting Sita can be seen as him coveting the Supreme Brahman as Brahma Vidhya & Brahman always exist together. After receiving spiritual alms from Sita (Brahma Vidhya) he carries her away. He aims at the Supreme Brahman through Brahma Vidhya. He ignores the council of all others to give up Brahma Vidhya and installs Her in his heart. Hence Ravana is seen as a mumukshu, a soul seeking liberation. Killing Ravana’s son Indrajit represents the destruction of cunning and deceit arising in our mind. Killing Kumbhakarna represents ending lethargy and sluggishness. The destruction of Ravana’s army represent the destruction of all the jeeva atmas accumulated Karma by Paramatma. In the end Ravana is freed from his body. Through Vaidehi (another name of Sita), he becomes Videha. Videha means without body and shows that he is liberated from his embodied state.

Hence we must realize the Supreme Self as the soul of our selves. We should rely on the powers of Paramatma to defeat our internal enemies and to free us from samsara. This is the Vedantic meaning of Ramayana.

Reference:

Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology by Narayan Aiyangar