Stories That Speak of The God Above Only to Help Connect With The God Within

As a child, my mother used to read out the Ramayan to me - sometimes stopping to explain but for the most part, she assumed I was following the story, which was partly so. More importantly, she felt that my hearing the names of the lead characters, mainly the name of Sri Ram, the main protagonist worshipped in India as an incarnation of Vishnu, the Almighty God - my mother felt that even if I could just hear His name, it would do me a lot of good, that I was becoming virtuous. Her faith was strong. And it did instil religiousness in me. However, it took many more years for me to understand the deeper meaning of religion, of God, of Godliness. 

It was when many years later, I on my own picked up the Ramayan to read and learn. My Guru Ma, took pains to teach me the scripture via telephone, long distance. On rare occasions, she would manage to rope in her guru to take classes. It was during these classes that I began to understand how the scriptures were interpreted by the learned. And how these scriptures are indeed meant to be interpreted. Hinduism encourages thinking - Meditative thinking. Explorative thinking. Non restrictive thinking, yet restrict enough to force Pure thoughts. Positive thoughts.

My classes made me realise that each character was only a means to understand the Universal Truth, which although omnipresent is also most elusive to grasp. A means to connect with something beyond. The something that everyone understands, comprehends and yet cannot quite explain. Omnipresent, omniscient, omnieverything. Story telling therefore, was and is the easiest way to explain the complexities of a microcosmic element of the supreme ability, power, universe - or what may you, within us, which when ignited helps move the macro cosmic power without, to achieve the impossible. To create magic. To experience the divine.

And so, whether they are the jataka tales, or the stories woven into the characters of an epic like the Ramayan or the moral stories told during biblical studies, ultimately, these are stories only to make the deeper understanding of us as a mere spec in the vastness of the university, the philosophic reality of life and universe easily understandable and relatable. 

In all of this, and as also underlined in most philosophies, is the importance of time  - as against timing. Set against a background of time, things take on a different perspective, hence, time becomes very important to understand things. It wasn’t for nothing that the popular yesteryear’s Indian TV show, Mahabharata made Time the narrator of the show. Even the heavy baritone voice of Harsh Bhimani that was used to start each episode with “Main Samay Hoon” and thereby immortalising these words, became significant. 

To understand how time is relevant or essential, one would need to go into the rights and wrongs of narratives. To give an example, The Ramayan was set during a time when kings ruled. Kingdoms passed from father to son. Hence, getting a son was most important for kings. Having multiple wives in such a quest was understood and accepted. When king Dashrath had gone to ask for Kaikeyi’s hand, it is said that king Dashrath had told his to be father in law that he wanted Kaikeyi to beget a son, and promised to bestow the kingdom to Kaikeyi’s biological son. Such was the time that it didn’t matter that Dashrath was already married. What mattered was that he was marrying Kakaiye because he didn’t have a son yet. And the continuity of the kingdom dependant on this. This obviously cannot be applied to the present time. Polygamy is illegal by law. Besides, a parent, by law, divides his property equally among all his children. There is no kingdom today to be ruled by one supreme leader. That elected leaders may choose to believe they are kings is an example of illusionary thinking, and not a reflection of the time. What is however more important and not quite stated upfront in moralistic and scripture writings , is that there is something deeper to be understood.  That, amidst changing scenarios, there are some rules that have stood the vagaries of time. That some rules have stood tall and still stand undisturbed and that this is the underlying essence of all the stories and scriptures. The essence of love, honesty, compassion, respect and dignity of life. The essence of continuity of goodness. Of goodness being akin to godliness and spirituality. 

Take the example of the Ramayan epic itself - it brings to life characters that all of us can relate to because essentially,  humans are basically the same, regardless of the time they were born in. Each character of Ramayan could well remind us of someone we know - or something we ourselves may have done at some point of time in our lives. Good, bad, ugly. We may even begin to recognise our own ‘Ram’ moment or our own ‘Kaikeyi’ moment. When we may have ourselves done an act of supreme sacrifice for the good of another. Or we may remember someone else’s ‘Ram’ moment. It is this act of good - to see another happy - that is the ‘godliness’ that is celebrated. Ever thought that in that moment of selfless act, we could be seen as God himself by the person who benefits from such acts? God resides within - what is difficult is to be cognizant of this at all times. To believe that we are mere microcosmic representations of the macrocosmic idea of a magical universe, and as such we are the children of God - sons of God - daughters of God. 

With this understanding, if we were to read the stories as told by our scriptures, which is the story of people who had awakened to the God within, the story of the Godly miracles they performed doning humanly forms, of the sacrifices they performed for the happiness of others, we may begin to see that these stories not just help us awaken to the Godliness of Ram, Sita, Hanuman, Bharat etc but they also help us to look for the gods within us. For example, Lord Ram going and living in the jungles to honour his father’s words, Sita foregoing the comforts of palace to be with her husband in the jungles, Laxman leaving behind his wife to accompany his brother to the jungle - each of their act can have  a resonance with our times although in a different context. Today, a son might be sacrificing other things for the comforts of their parents, or the comforts of their spouses or their children and yet are able to do so because of the power of goodness within- the God within. So, while the times today are different, the act of selflessness and love and sacrifice may be of a different nature, but the essence - that of doing good unto the other continues. We can begin to see and hear of the Rams, Sitas and Laxmans of our age.  Haven’t we heard of people saying, “Kaliyig kay Ram” or “Kalyug kay Sita” etc. Thus, the stories as told in the epics like the Ramayan take on an immortal flavour. Similar deeds performed by different people. Set against a different time and context.

Being fortunate to have been introduced to Nichirens Budhism, I see parallels between Hinduism and Budhism. It could well be because Budhsim evolved from Hinduism or maybe Budhism helped evolve Hinduism, but the parallels are there for all to see. 

In fact, every religion extols one to become a good human being. The stories and epics are merely ways and means to explain in simple terms the profoundness of life.

For example, I see in Ram, the ultimate Budha or Vishnu - the incarnate of who He is believed to be. He being revered as the ‘Maryada Purushottam’ -  who saw good in everything around, who accepted with grace all things that happened to him - being exiled for instance is done for a reason. To become the example for people to emulate and to get to their own goodness within. Lord Ram mightnt have known that when his father had asked kaikeyis hand in marriage, he had promised Kaikeyi’s father that he would make the son born to Kaikaye the ruler of the kingodom. In fact, Dashrath had stated that he wanted kaikayis hand only so as to father a son. While Ram may not have know this or any other story associated with Dashraths early life but he knew that everything in life happens for a reason. Or perhaps, as he had already connected to the  God within, and was in an exalted state, a state that allowed him to know everything, including about his father, King Dashrath. He would have also known that King Dashrath, when he had killed the only son of two blind parents during a hunting episode in the forest, had been cursed to experience similar pain of losing a son. The minute Dashrath killed the son of the blind parents, he had sowed the seeds of Karma. Both Hinduism and Budhsim teach concepts of ‘karma’. Simply put, it is merely a way of explaining life incidents as being the result of your own karma. As you sow, so you reap. Another thing that happened was the curse that the parents put on Dashrath. Just as prayers are strong communication from the human’s microcosmic world to the macrocosmic universe, so is a curse. The power of influencing the universe through powerful words and thoughts can be either way - for good or for bad ie, it can either be a blessing or a curse. What all scriptures highlight is that the Gods from Ram to Jesus forgave them the sins, and underwent hardships inorder to spread happiness. That sets the Gods apart from the humans. Gods don’t and won’t curse. Humans can. Godliness brings forth the wisdom, the wisdom to realise the futility of curse and the beauty of love and blessings. There is  no clouding of thoughts when godliness is reached. Sri Ram was able to see things for what they were. In the Ramayan, Ram is the only one who doesn’t think ill of Kaikeyi, his stepmother, whose guile is why he had to leave for the forest.

Looping back to the concept of time, could a mother in today’s age be faulted for thinking and even using guile to protect her child’s interest. Perhaps not. It could even be considered virtuous. Infact, Dashrath with his three main wives, not to talk of hundreds of others he had, would be unacceptable today. 

Praying that each of us is able to realise that time is relevant when interpreting scriptures. Let the Gods without help us reach the gods within, help bring forth the wisdom that lie within us to be able to discern the right from the wrong, and also to be able to connect our mini universe with the larger Vishnu, Shiva or Durga or any of the other Gods who is worshipped as the Almighty. Helping us realise that humanity itself is happiness and God personified.