ABL Gupta
THE Ramayana and Mahabharata are more than a mere collection of stories; they carry profound messages,
The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are Puranik stories. These appear to have been written about 3,000 thousand years before with the object of simplifying the deeper knowledge contained in Vedas and to help create an universal code of conduct, that would stand true for all three periods of time and to educate and guide masses about their religious duties in as simple a way as possible ( Shreemad Bhagwat Mahapuran—Part I—1/4/29&24).
To further simplify Vedas for an average person, Vyasas converted Adwaita’s Nirgun ideology i.e. Jyan Marg to Dwait, the Sagun ideology i.e. Bhakti Marg through Moorti Puja.Thus founded “Sanatan Dharma”and paved the path to attain Vaikunth Dham. The ideology of Sanatan Dharma is based on “faith”, hence the devotees must accept birth of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna as true events. The object was to keep the masses tagged to Almighty through devotion (Bhakti) of Lord and minimise crime (Sin).Since no such written record of this transformation is available, hence lot of confusion is prevailing in society. It is the prime duty of the “media”to erase this confusion as soon as possible by explaining the “truth” to the masses. In the age of computers, it is easy for any sane person to appreciate the high value of symbols and icons, which form the computer and colourful icons on the screen hiding behind them the literature of thousands of pages.
In Tao of Physics, Dr. Frtjof Capra writes, ”Indian mysticism and Hinduism in particular, clothes statements in the form of myths, using metaphors and symbols; the rich Indian imagination has created vast number of gods and goddesses whose incarnations and exploits are subjects of fantastic tales, collected in epics of huge dimensions……….that they were not merely created to make the stories more attractive, but are essential vehicles to convey the doctrines of philosophy rooted in mystical experience.”
Similar was the case with Valmiki, the author of Ramayana. Both epics have been written as stories in the form of dialogue. Crores are spent every year. Nowadays they serve as entertainment. People enjoy them, but without learning any religious duty. To invoke shraddha of the masses, the characters are chosen as gods/goddesses and demons. Also that these stories were got laid on ground through rulers of that time, which now a days are serving as shrines to the masses. A huge network of temples housing icons of various gods was created throughout the country. This helped Vedic dharma to survive from wiping away by the invaders. Other religions e.g. Buddhism and Jainism also followed alike and constructed stupas, mathas, caves and temples and wrote Jatak/Bodh Kathas. Ram Setu mentioned in Valmiki’s Ramayana is naturally built, but is the magnificent symbol of shraddha of billions of people, hence must be protected by all means.
In terms of rishi Ved Vyas, masses belong to three category:- 1.Emotional class ( Literary people, who accept dharma on the basis of faith). 2 Labour class, who have the tendency of hard work and accept dharma on the basis of staunch faith. 3.Heen buddhi (who worship Bhoot praits and tantrikas).The ‘Kanwarias’ belong to second category .To cater people of labour tendencies, sex material has also been added. The scientific part of Vedas has been subdued in “symbols”. People, who can decode symbols belong to the class having Divyadrishti (Scientific eye) and are rare.
Literal reading of Puranas lead to absurdities, e.g.Ravan had ten heads and twenty arms. It is a symbol. There are many more such and these absurdities can not be explained without decoding symbols.
“Ravan”, obviously a biological absurdity, has been portrayed as villain in Ramayana, but carries a profound message. Ten heads of Ravan symbolise ten negative qualities, that every human being has to encounter in life. These are:- 1.Kaam(All worldly desires specially earning enormous wealth and fame plus strong urge for sex) 2. Krodh. 3. Lobh, 4.Moh (attachment to all worldly things), 5. Mad (Ego), 6. Matsar (Laziness), 7. Ghrina (Hatred), 8. Irshya (Jealousy), 9. Dwesh (competitive spirit) and 10. Bhaya (Fear).
By simple mathematics (10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1), the number of diseases from ten negativity work out to 36,28,800. These include modern diseases e.g. diabetes, heart failure, paralysis, TB, cancer and Aids.
Since no human being born so far could resist allurement of Indriya Sukh(Maya), specially the tasty food and strong urge for sex, therefore under divine “Law of Karma”, beings are first lead to death and then they fall prey to sufferings through infinite cycle of 84 lakhs of yonis. So Vedas say, that they lose golden chance, because during human form alone, they could earn Jyan and could get rid of infinite sufferings of birth and death once for all. After repeated persuasions, rishis failed and got desperate, hence to guide the masses and out of compassion and pity and s a last resort, they incarnated Lord Vishnu as Lord Rama and Lord Krishna and voiced their message through these two Bhagwans. These epics teach us, as and when sex rackets/rape cases and untruthfulness/dishonesty cross the limits, there occurs global devastation (Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta-4/7-8 yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati Bharat).Wars of Mahabharata and Rama-Ravan are mythical examples. Draupadi cheer haran and Sita haran are symbolic as in modern times women are being victimised. Scams/dishonesty are similar to dishonesty by Shakuni and Duryodhan. Two epics have been accepted as history, which stand true for all three periods of time.
A section of Hindus failing to understand the objective behind such writing strongly criticised Puranas and are still doing so.
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