Srimadh Bagawatham - Ramavataram Part 3

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramayanam-part-2.html?view=flipcard

King Dasaratha is called so because he can ride his chariot with control in ten direction. The ten directions refers to the ten sense organs and Dasaratha is the jeevatma who has controlled the sense organs. This is revealed by Dasaratha assisting in the Deva-Asura war. The Devas are the sense organs while the Asuras are the bad inclinations which try to pull the Sense organs. Dasaratha is assisted by his wife Kaikeyi. Queen Kaikeyi acts as his charioteer. Queen Kaikeyi esoterically signifies budhi (intellect). King Dasaratha is the jeevatma. Such a jeevatma who has controlled his senses obtains the Supreme Lord as his son. Queen Kaikeyi under the influence of Mandara makes the king send his son Rama to the forest in exile.  Mandara is the bad company i.e asat sangam. The story merely shows that by keeping bad company the jeevatma’s budhi is corrupted. As the jeevatma is always knowledgeable and pure, the king is shown to plead with Kaikeyi. But in an embodied state, because of its past karmas, the jeevatma is influenced by budhi. The jeevatma moves away from Paramatma and Paramatma as antaryami goes to reside in the very deep part of the heart of the jeevatma which is not easily accessible to the jeevatma during meditation. The son is often shown as the reincarnation of a father in mythology as revealed in the story of Vali where Angada is the re-incarnation of Vali. Thus Bharata could be seen as the jeevatma Dasaratha. King Dasaratha repents his mistake of having listened to Kaikeyi and resurfaces as Bharathan. The jeevatma controls the budhi once again which had gone wayward. This is shown by Bharathan expressing his displeasure at his mother and refusing to accept the materialistic wealth in the form of the kingdom offered by his mother. The jeevatma now goes in search of Paramatma. It is not very easy to bring Paramatma back from the deep corner of the heart. Lord Rama gives His padukai to Bharathazhwan and asks him to worship the Padukai for 14 years. Lord Rama promises to return at the end of 14 years. The Padukais are the Lord’s devotees i.e. Bagawathas. By worshiping the Padukais, the jeevatma once again cultivates Sat-Sangam which eventually makes the jeevatma obtain the Lord from the deep inaccessible corner of the heart.

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.  Maricha can also be taken as the senses luring the jeevatma with materialistic worldly items. As long as the jeevatma turns a blind eye to these illusions and desires nothing other than Perumal, it always stays close to Him. The moment the jeevatma desires the worldly items, it is distanced from Perumal. Throughout Ramayana, Sage Valmiki has described the Lord’s pangs of separation but not many slokams about the way in which Piratti felt. This is because; it is the Lord who feels sad when a jeevatma is distanced from Him. He is the one who initiates the search to bring the jeevatma back under His care and protection.

The forest of Dandakaranyam 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.

References: Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology by Narayan Aiyyangar 

Continued On:http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/12/srimadh-bagawatham-ramayanam-part-4.html