Mukunda

“O Rakshasa, It might be possible for a person to live for a long time after forcibly taking away Shachi Devi, a woman of unmatched beauty and wife of the wielder of the thunderbolt [Indra]. But a person who abuses me shall not be released from death even if they were to drink amrita [nectar which grants immortality].” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 48.24)

One of Lord Krishna’s names is Mukunda, meaning one who grants liberation. The Vedas tell us that reincarnation is a fact and that the soul constantly transmigrates from one body to another until it becomes eligible for liberation, which represents the end of reincarnation. Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thus He is the only person able to grant this great reward, which is known as moksha or mukti in Sanskrit.

Lord Krishna is God but we see that followers of the Hindu faith often worship many gods. Those who are ignorant of Vedic teachings are often led to believe the false notion that Hindus don’t believe in a single god and that they are polytheistic. This is not the case, for the Vedas decisively state that Hari, one of Lord Krishna’s names, is the original form of God. There are, however, thousands of highly elevated living entities known as devatas. In English parlance, this translates to a demigod, meaning someone who is godly. What does it mean to be godly? The demigods have extraordinary strength and powers not available to the common man. This is by design, for Lord Krishna needs someone to manage the affairs of the creation. The material world is considered to be a representation of the Lord’s inferior energy. Spirit is always superior to matter because without spirit, matter would be useless. We see this fact on full display at the time of a person’s death. The only difference between a living body and a dead one is the presence of the soul. Thus we can conclude that spirit is superior to matter.

The spiritual energy is God’s superior energy, something which He directly associates with. We are also spirit by nature, but we are considered God’s separated expansions. This means that we are god-like in quality, but far inferior to Him in quantitative powers. The living entities, or jiva souls, can most certainly associate with material nature, or God’s inferior energy. The Supreme Lord is the creator of maya, or the illusory energy that pervades the material creation, but He can never be touched by it. Therefore, He deputes other advanced living entities, known as demigods, to take charge of running various departments of creation. There are demigods in charge of creation, maintenance, dissolution, providing rain, doling out wealth, and granting learning ability. The chief demigods are Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Of these three, Lord Vishnu is considered superior because He is a direct, personal expansion of Lord Krishna. Though Vishnu maintains, He still remains aloof from the affairs of the material creation. Essentially there is no difference between Vishnu and Krishna except in Their appearance.

“Narayana [Vishnu] is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him Brahma was born, from whom Shiva was born.” (Varaha Purana)

The demigods are highly advanced, but with the exception of Lord Vishnu, they too suffer through birth and death. Lord Brahma lives for billions of years; he is the first created living entity and the last one to die. Yet just because he lives a lot longer than us, it doesn’t mean that Lord Brahma is immortal. In a spiritual sense, we are all immortal because our souls never take birth, nor do they die. However, the concepts of liberation and immortality really apply to the residence of the soul. Liberation, or moksha, means the soul never has to take birth in the material world again. A liberated soul achieves the same nature as God, for the Supreme Lord never associates with His inferior energy. So in this regard, no living entity, including a demigod, can grant liberation. This can only come from Lord Krishna’s grace.

“According to some, Lord Vishvanatha [Shiva] is the great physician who cures the disease of material existence by delivering a person through the ear, which receives the vibration of the holy name of Lord Rama. Because of this, this holy place [a bathing ghat in Kashi] is called Mani-karnika.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 17.82 Purport)

A point to note here, however, is that Lord Shiva can also sometimes grant liberation. They say that if a person quits their body while in the holy city of Kashi, Lord Shiva whispers the name of Rama into their ear, thus granting them liberation. In these cases, it seems that Lord Shiva is granting moksha, but it is actually occurring through Lord Krishna’s will. Krishna is the original form of God, with Vishnu being His primary expansion. To enact pastimes on earth, Vishnu descends and appears in various guises. When God descends to earth in the form of a living entity, He is known as an avatara, or incarnation. One of Vishnu’s most famous incarnations was that of Lord Rama, a pious kshatriya prince who appeared on earth during the Treta Yuga. Lord Shiva is known as Mahadeva, meaning the greatest demigod. He is described as such not only for his extraordinary powers, but also for his great devotion to Lord Vishnu.

Of all of Vishnu’s forms, Lord Rama is Lord Shiva’s favorite. The Adhyatma Ramayana found in the Brahmanda Purana contains a narration of the events of Lord Rama’s life, as told by Lord Shiva to his wife, Parvati Devi. Lord Shiva is such a great devotee that he only likes to speak about Lord Rama. He was very excited to tell the story of Rama to his wife. In this way, we see how a marriage can be made perfect. The husband should be viewed as the foremost deity for the wife. This means that it is the duty of the husband to discuss spiritual matters with his wife, for they will both benefit from this. Devotees are always benefitted by speaking about the Lord, and the recipients of such instruction gain invaluable spiritual knowledge as a result.

“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.6)

Why would a person be granted liberation by hearing Lord Rama’s name in their ear? In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna tells us that those who think of God at the time of death never have to take birth again. This is because our consciousness at the time we quit our body determines the type of body we receive in the next life. Our consciousness at a specific point in time is not something we can necessarily control, for it is developed over the course of our lifetime. We have certain things that we think about while we go to sleep each night, and these things can change over time. The consciousness at the time of death represents the sum total of all the experiences of our current life, and even previous ones. Thus it is very hard to ensure that we’ll think about God at the time of death, so Lord Shiva kindly helps the process along.

It is also said that those who die while residing on the banks of the holy river Ganges also receive liberation. In the Vedic tradition, the Ganges River is taken to be a demigod, Mother Ganga. Again it appears that a demigod is granting liberation, but this is actually not the case. Ganga Devi is considered sacred because she flows from the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. Lord Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has declared that just as Lord Krishna is worshipable, so is His land. Essentially this means that anything directly associated with Krishna is to be worshiped in the same manner as one would worship the Supreme Lord Himself. Since Ganga Devi comes from the lotus feet of the Lord, she is non-different from Him. Therefore, anyone who quits their body while near the water coming from Vishnu’s feet increases their likelihood of attaining moksha.

Based on the authorized statements of the Vedas, we see that only God Himself can grant liberation. Hence He is known by the name of Mukunda, or one who grants mukti. The atheist class, however, don’t realize this. From the beginning of time, there has been an ongoing struggle between the demigods and the demons, who are also known as asuras. The demigods are known as suras because they are devotees by nature. An asura is the opposite of a sura, meaning they don’t believe in God. The asuras constantly clash with the suras because they think that if the godly class is defeated, worship of God will stop. Instead of believing in God, asuras view the Lord as a competitor. They would rather people worship them instead of Krishna.

During Lord Rama’s time, there was one asura in particular, known by the name of Ravana, who had risen to power. Ravana was a Rakshasa, a demon with ghastly physical attributes. Rakshasas are meat eaters who range the night while terrorizing the innocent. They have no problem eating human flesh. They are expert in illusion and not afraid to use their black magic powers when battling others. Ravana was quite powerful due to boons he received from Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva. This certainly seems a bit odd. Why would the godly class grant boons to sinful people? Unlike God, the devatas are required to give away benedictions to whoever worships them properly. This is how material nature works. Since matter is part of God’s inferior energy, the Lord has no direct interest in it. God doesn’t play favorites when it comes to material fortunes or misfortunes. Matter is dull and inferior and something we should strive to break free from, hence the Lord does not consider anything in terms of good or bad as it relates to the body and the senses.

“Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 7.23)

Nevertheless, the living entities are stuck associating with matter by default. Living entities have different desires and possess varying levels of intelligence, so there will always be people who wish to increase their material possessions and opportunities for sense gratification. These people are known as karmis, or fruitive workers. It is the duty of the demigods to facilitate the requests of the karmis. Since there is no distinction between good or bad on a material level, the devatas must grant benedictions to whoever pleases them, regardless of the motive. Ravana, being an atheist, was especially intent on increasing his fighting powers. After he got what he wanted from the demigods, he went to war against the saintly class. He even defeated his own brother, the treasurer of the demigods, Kuvera.

Ravana was extremely wealthy and ruled over a beautiful island known as Lanka. He had hundreds of wives, but one day he heard of a beautiful woman, Sita Devi, who was residing in the forest of Dandaka. Sita was Lord Rama’s wife, and she had accompanied her husband on His sojourn through the woods. Ravana set up a ruse which lured Rama and His younger brother, Lakshmana, away from their cottage, leaving Sita all by herself. Ravana approached Sita and propositioned her.

Sita was no ordinary human being. When God appears on earth, His pleasure potency expansions from the spiritual world come with Him. Sita was an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, the wife of Lord Vishnu in the spiritual world. Sita was ever devoted to Rama and never thought of another man during her entire life. She sternly rebuked Ravana. Undeterred, the demon prepared to steal her away. In the above referenced quote, Sita warns him of what will happen if he should perpetrate such an iniquitous deed.

In battles between the suras and asuras, Lord Indra is usually the leader of the demigod army. He wields the thunderbolt and is considered very powerful. Sita makes reference to the fact that one has a possibility of remaining alive should they steal Indra’s wife, Shachi. Stealing another’s wife is an act of vikarma. Karma actually refers to prescribed duty, or those actions which allow one to advance to a higher position in the next life. It is similar to the theory of evolution, but this is an evolution of the soul and not the species. Vikarma is abominable activity; those actions which lead to demotion to a lower species in the next life. Stealing another’s wife is quite a deplorable act, so one surely suffers the consequences. However, the punishment doesn’t always come about right away. Sometimes a person desires to sin even more. In these instances, the laws of nature allow the person to remain alive so that they can act out their desires. Not only can such a person remain alive, but they even have a chance at moksha, or liberation. There is always an opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.

Sita Devi accurately stipulates that this opportunity for moksha doesn’t exist for one who insults her. This is because Sita is a pure devotee of God, His most beloved of associates. The Supreme Lord is neutral when it comes to issues relating to the material world, but this isn’t the case for His devotees. The Lord doesn’t mind being insulted personally, for He even appreciates insults when they come from His intimate associates like Sita Devi or Shrimati Radharani. However, He never tolerates ill-treatment towards His devotees. Sita is informing Ravana that even if he should drink nectar which grants immortality [amrita], he still won’t escape death.

The irony is that Ravana did eventually go through with kidnapping Sita, but he still received liberation. This is a special circumstance, however, as Ravana was directly killed by Lord Rama, or God. Since Ravana was thinking of the Supreme Lord at the time of death, he was granted a specific type of liberation. Sita Devi’s comments are still noteworthy, for we should never create enmity with the devotees of God. Sita is kind and sweet, and the giver of great wealth and fortune. All the money that we possess should be considered her property, so we should use it in the right way.

One of Krishna’s names is Madhava, meaning the husband of the goddess of fortune. This means that all the fortune that Lakshmi possesses is used for God’s benefit. We should use the blessings Lakshmiji gives to us for the same purpose. All of our activities should be dedicated to the Supreme Lord. Acting in this way will make us happy. Ravana tried to steal Lakshmi and use her for his own benefit, and it ultimately led to the downfall of his city and all its inhabitants. Due to the special circumstance, Ravana received the liberation of merging into the Lord’s body. For the devotees, however, God bestows the boon of His eternal association, which is a far greater reward than mukti. Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman are eternal servants of Lord Rama. If we remember and honor the Lord with our thoughts, words, and deeds, we too can receive the highest form of liberation, Krishna-prema, or love for God.

Ajita Indriyah

“O Ravana, inevitably all of the Rakshasas will be completely destroyed, for they have a person like you, who is stupid, lustful, and unable to control his senses, for their king.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 48.22)

In this passage, Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama, is chastising the Rakshasa demon Ravana for trying to kidnap her. Ravana was the king of the island city of Lanka, so Sita is referencing the fact that all of the citizens of Ravana’s city will meet with destruction due to his impious deeds. As events would play out, Sita’s words would prove to be true, but we don’t need to focus exclusively on Ravana’s actions to see this principle in action, for recent history shows us the dangers caused by impious leaders.

The 20th century was famous for its two world wars. These wars were described as such because they involved many countries joining together and fighting for a common cause. The geographic locations of the participating countries spanned the globe, thus the wars truly took on a global nature. What resulted was the death of thousands of soldiers, and also the complete destruction of many cities. The second war was more famous. Its protagonists were the leader of Germany, Adolph Hitler, and the emperor of Japan. Hitler is one of the more famous dictators in history, with his name now being synonymous with tyranny, bigotry, and an overall lack of character. Hitler was indeed stupid, harsh, and lustful in his actions, and thus his countrymen had to suffer as a result. Germany was utterly destroyed during World War II, and the country required a committed effort from the United States, through the Marshall Plan, to rebuild it. The United States still has a military presence in Germany to this day.

Germany’s main ally was Japan. World War II had already started without the United States participating. Due to its geographic location, America was isolated from the war’s hotspots of Europe and Asia. This all changed on December 7, 1941, when Japan attacked an American naval base in Pearl Harbor. This one act brought America into the war, and it would prove to be costly for Japan. The United States committed thousands of troops to the war effort, and they employed all the military weapons that were common at the time, including guns, tanks, and fighter jets. The U.S. government was primarily concerned with winning, so they knew that conventional fighting wouldn’t guarantee an immediate victory. After President Roosevelt died in office, Harry Truman took over the reins and decided to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The effects were devastating and it immediately led to Japan’s surrender.

The decision to drop the two bombs has been the subject of much controversy ever since. Many view it as an extreme decision, something outside the rules of warfare. In any military engagement, there are certain rules and regulations that the parties adhere to. Yet at the end of the day, war is war, meaning it is gruesome in nature, with men taking arms for the express purpose of killing one another. People value their own lives after all, and also those of their countrymen, so they are bound to look for ways to achieve victory more quickly and in a decisive manner. Harry Truman certainly was responsible for deciding to drop the bombs, but a greater fault lay with the government of Japan. Like Germany, Japan had a leader who was sinful, stupid, and acted against the rules of propriety. He had no justification for bombing the United States, and for this impious act, thousands of his citizens were killed in an instant. The effects of the bombs were devastating on the Japanese people, and to this day, the country is still not allowed to have any type of military.

World War II was only one example out of hundreds that show what can happen when a country has a bad leader. Most of the governments of the world today are led by atheists, or people who aren’t God conscious. They take the body to be the beginning and end of everything, so they gear their policies around satisfying the demands of the body. To this end, they gladly sanction the practices of animal slaughter, and even abortion, to meet the dietary and sexual desires of the citizens. The Vedas tell us, however, that the first duty of a king is to protect innocent life, especially those of cows.

The cow is considered to be a mother since it freely provides milk to the rest of society. Even meat eaters make use out of milk products, such as butter and cheese, so there is really no justifiable reason to kill a cow. Today’s situation is so bad that millions of cows are gathered in an organized way and sent to slaughterhouses. A government leader is responsible for stopping this practice, or at the very least, raising objections to it. Yet we see that most don’t have any problem with slaughterhouses or abortion. If innocent life is not protected, how can a society claim to be civilized?

The Vedas tell us that the other primary duty of a government leader is to imbibe God consciousness in the citizens. This makes sense because realizing God is the actual purpose of human life. Sense gratification is reserved for the lower species which aren’t intelligent enough to conceive of a creator. A fish doesn’t even know that it is wet, nor does it know when to stop eating, so it surely can’t understand that it is destined to die some day. Human beings have the ability to not only understand mortality, but to take steps to stop it. How does one stop death? Lord Krishna gives us the answer in the Bhagavad-gita.

“The wise, engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.51)

We can’t avoid dying in our present body, but we can make sure that we never take birth again. The soul is eternal, but our material bodies are not. Material bodies are compared to clothing; they are put on at some time, and then given up later on. The soul, which forms the basis of identity, remains intact. A person who thinks of Krishna, or God, at the time of death, never has to take birth again, which also means that they will never die again.

It is the responsibility of a king or government leader to make sure that their citizens are taking steps to liberate themselves from the cycle of birth and death. Protecting innocent life is the first step in the process. If we are allowed to kill the innocent, we surely will have to suffer in the afterlife. Just as a good king helps people to make spiritual advancement, a poor leader takes people further and further away from the aim of life. This was the case with Ravana, a Rakshasa demon who terrorized the people of the earth many thousands of years ago.

Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as stated in the Vedas. Essentially, Krishna is God, but the title of “Supreme Personality of Godhead” more accurately describes Him. God is someone that most of us know exists, but we’re not really too sure of anything beyond that. What does He look like? What does He teach? What are His names? The Vedas try to answer these questions by describing His names, qualities, forms, and pastimes. By stating that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Vedas tell us that Krishna is a person, the most powerful of all, and the source of all incarnations. Godhead means that God can take unlimited numbers of personal expansions. A personal expansion is equal to God in potency. For example, Lord Krishna’s primary personal expansion is that of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu then descends to earth in various forms known as avataras to perform pastimes. Though the names and activities may be different, all of these forms, technically known as vishnu-tattva, can be taken as God, .

One such incarnation of Lord Vishnu was Lord Rama, a handsome and pious kshatriya prince who appeared on earth during Ravana’s time. In fact, Rama’s appearance was the direct result of the petition of the demigods, who were cowering in fear of Ravana. The demon had procured several boons that granted him immunity in battle from celestials, animals, and all other living entities, except human beings. Lord Vishnu thus appeared in the form of a human being specifically to kill Ravana and alleviate the suffering of the world.

Rama’s wife was Sita Devi, the princess of Videha. She was extremely beautiful and pious. Her glories were further enhanced by her pure devotion to Lord Rama. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, meaning that what one person finds beautiful, another person may not. This was not the case with Sita, for she was universally appreciated. There is no woman on this earth more beautiful than one who is devoted in thought, word, and deed to God. In this way, Sita possessed both inner and outer beauty. Ravana was the king of Lanka, and had hundreds of beautiful queens. As the leader of the people, he set the example to follow. Spending all his time eating meat, drinking wine, and cavorting with his many wives, Ravana wasn’t satisfied. He became lusty after Sita, and was dead set on doing whatever it would take to have her as his wife. It was due to this lust that Sita described Ravana as ajita-indriyah, meaning one who has not conquered the senses.

Lord Rama was extremely powerful and unbeatable in battle, so there was no chance for Ravana to steal Sita away while in Rama’s presence. To accomplish his desires, the demon created a diversion whereby Rama and His younger brother, Lakshmana, were lured away from the group’s camp in the forest of Dandaka. Ravana then appeared before Sita in the guise of a brahmana, or pious mendicant. Sita received him nicely, not realizing it was Ravana. The demon tried his best to win Sita over peacefully, but she was having none of it. Finally, Ravana revealed himself and demanded that Sita come with him. Sita Devi sternly rebuked him and in the above referenced quote, she warns him that his impious act will lead to the destruction of his city.

Sure enough, her words would hold true. Ravana would kidnap Sita, forcing Rama and His army of Vanaras, led by Hanuman, to march to Lanka and battle the Rakshasas. The city of Lanka was destroyed, all the great Rakshasas killed, including Ravana, and Rama emerged victorious. The people of the city of Lanka surely were worthy of pity, for their lives were ruined due to the actions of their leader. More than anything else, Ravana made the mistake of offending God and His devotee, Sita. Leaders of society should not cause enmity with the saintly class of men. The devotees are the best welfare workers; they love God and try to spread His glories to others in a peaceful manner. The Rakshasas were addicted to their sinful way of life, thus death was a very painful experience for them. In a similar manner, death can be very painful to us if we keep an attachment to impious activities.

Sita Devi was very intelligent. She knew Rama’s greatness and His dedication to His bhaktas. She knew that Ravana didn’t stand a chance if he were to kidnap her. She tried her best to warn the demon, but he wouldn’t listen. She, being a saintly person, felt pity for Ravana’s associates since they were destined to die due to Ravana’s actions. The lesson we can learn is that it is better to associate with Lord Rama’s associates, the devotees, than to be with Ravana’s associates, the Rakshasas. The demons meet with doom, while the devotees are always protected. In this age, the only way to have true peace in society is to associate with God by regularly chanting His holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.

Dichotomy

“The difference between the son of Dasharatha and yourself is like the difference between gold and a base metal, sandalwood water and mud, and an elephant and a cat in the forest.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.46)

The material world is a place full of dichotomies. There is hot and cold, pain and pleasure, and strength and weakness. In some instances, simple dualities are insufficient in accurately describing a particular object’s potency or power. In this regard, more detailed comparisons are necessary, where certain objects or creatures are compared to others. For example, there is a common expression used to describe heavy rain. People will say “It’s pouring outside”, meaning that the rain is flowing down so steadily that it appears that someone is pouring the water out of a container. These types of comparisons better illustrate certain situations and predicaments. In a similar manner, comparisons are also used to describe both the strengths possessed by God and the limited powers possessed by human beings.

Now this may seem like a needless task. “Of course God is great. Why would we need to describe His greatness?” This seems true in theory, but in reality we see a different situation. The Vedas tell us that the current age we live in is known as Kali Yuga, or the dark age. It is characterized by the overall lack of adherence to dharma, or religiosity, in society. If we do a quick study, we’ll see that this is indeed true. How many of us spend time thinking about God during the course of the day? Among those of us who do, how much time is spent thinking about God versus time spent thinking about our daily needs arising from work, school, or family? If we answered these questions honestly, we’d see that the majority of our time is spent worrying about our necessities and our future fortunes. The rest of the time may be spent lamenting over misfortunes of the past.

This is the effect of Kali Yuga. The Vedas tell us that man was almost completely pure at the beginning of creation, during the period of time known as the Satya Yuga. Each creation is divided into four time periods, or Yugas, and dharma reduces by one quarter with each successive time period. Kali Yuga is the last Yuga before the ultimate dissolution of the earth. People today are committed to adharma instead of dharma. Dharma is religiosity or occupational duty. There are different dharmas assigned to different people based on their personal qualities and the work they perform, but all dharmas share one thing in common: their aim is to help the soul return to the spiritual world. Though many of us falsely identify with our body, the real source of our identity comes from the spiritual spark, or soul, residing within us. Dharma involves performing those duties which help the soul avoid having to assume a material body again.

Something is designated as material if it possesses gunas, or the material qualities of goodness, passion, and ignorance. The world we live in is not meant to be our permanent home. It’s a sort of playground for the wayward souls who want to falsely enjoy the senses. Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and one of His names is Hrishikesha, meaning the master of the senses. Since He is the master of all the senses, real pleasure can only come from serving Him. In the conditioned state, the living entity becomes a servant to their own senses, or go-dasa. Dharma is a set of law codes and recommended activities that allows one to please the master of all the senses, thus becoming a master of their own senses in the process. The goal of human life is to go from being the slave to the master of the senses. By controlling our material sense urges, we can execute pure devotional service to the Lord. At the time of death, those who wish to associate with Krishna will get to return to His spiritual kingdom immediately, never having to take birth or assume a material body again.

“Whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.5)

When almost everyone around us is so committed to adharma, how can we go about pleasing Krishna? Well, before we can please Him we have to understand who He is. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, and therefore can never be fully understood by the human mind, which is itself a part of the material creation. The mind represents a subtle element of nature, so it’s not something we can necessarily see, but it certainly does exist. Though the mind doesn’t come with us to the spiritual world, it is still important since it can help shape our consciousness. It is this very consciousness that needs purification. Though God can never be truly understood, the Vedas try to describe some of His glories. In order to describe God in a way that people can understand, Vedic authorities use techniques such as comparison and quantification.

These techniques are helpful because we have a limited understanding of the universe. Great scholars and scientists of today are very proud of their knowledge. They believe that they are on the cusp of discovering immortality, thinking that if they do enough research, they will find a way for man to live forever. Using a little intelligence, we can understand just how foolish these thoughts are. For starters, all of us were born into ignorance. The human infant is so helpless that it can’t even feed itself. It’s not even intelligent enough to know where, when, and how to go to the bathroom. Babies are forced to wear diapers and have them changed at regular intervals by their guardians. As children get older, they take in more information through the discovery process. Gradually they become educated enough to become self-sufficient adults who can meet the demands of their bodies.

Some adults take it a step further. In every society there will be an intelligentsia, a group of people prone to cultivating knowledge. Nevertheless, knowledge can only be acquired through personal experience and learning from others. Then there are the geniuses like Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton who make great discoveries. Yet if we apply a little intelligence, we’ll quickly discover that even the greatest scientist in the world has a very paltry understanding of things. This should make sense to us. How much intelligence can a person really have if they had to acquire all their knowledge? In the grand scheme of things, human beings don’t live that long, so they don’t have the time to study each and every person and geographic area in the world.

No matter how intelligent we may think we are, no one in the world is smarter than God. He is the oldest person, so He has seen all there is to see and experienced all there is to experience. Lord Krishna is the original person, adyam purana-purusham. God is also the only person in the world who never had to be taught anything. He has always been God; He didn’t need to take any college courses, read any books, or perform any experiments. God is always God; it is not a title one can acquire.

These facts seem simple enough to understand, but we see that many people either forget God or don’t spend any time thinking about Him. Then there are those who are openly atheistic, thinking that there is no God. Once they acquire enough wealth, fame, and intelligence, they take themselves to be the supreme controller, the ruler of the world. This was precisely the case with the Rakshasa demon Ravana many thousands of years ago during the Treta Yuga. He too was a mortal living entity, born as a son of the sage Vishrava. Yet through the performance of severe austerities, Ravana was gifted with many power augmenting boons by the demigods. He then used his newly acquired powers to wreak havoc throughout the world, defeating many great kings and stealing away their wives.

Ravana’s folly was that he took himself to be invincible. Though he had to work so hard to achieve his fame and fortune, he never thought that there might be a God who was more powerful than himself. Ravana thought the demigods were the most powerful living entities, and having outsmarted them, he believed he was the head honcho of the universe. His hubris deluded him into thinking that he could have the wife of Lord Rama, Sita Devi.

At the same time that Ravana was terrorizing the innocent people of the world, Lord Krishna had appeared on earth in the guise of a human being, the warrior prince named Rama. As part of His pastimes, Lord Rama roamed the wilderness of India for fourteen years alongside His younger brother, Lakshmana, and wife, Sita Devi. Sita was an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, so naturally she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Not only was she beautiful, but she was chaste and committed to dharma as well, thus making her a worthy spouse of the prince of Ayodhya. Ravana had hundreds of wives, but after hearing of Sita’s beauty, he insisted on having her. He set up a diversion which lured Rama and Lakshmana away from their cottage in the forest, thus opening the door for him to come and approach Sita.

Ravana’s plan was simple enough. He had carried away many beautiful women before, so he didn’t think this would be that difficult. After all, Rama was only roaming the forests due to the demands of His father, Maharaja Dashratha of Ayodhya. Ravana essentially thought, “What can this man do to me? He doesn’t even have a kingdom; He lives like a homeless man. This woman is way too beautiful to be His wife. I will take her without a fight.”

“The difference between the son of Dasharatha [Rama] and yourself is like the difference between a lion and a jackal of the forest, a sea and a brook, and fine wine and Sauviraka [a sour, fermented wheat drink]. The difference between the son of Dasharatha and yourself is like the difference between gold and a base metal, sandalwood water and mud, and an elephant and a cat in the forest. The difference between the son of Dasharatha and yourself is like the difference between Garuda [son of Vinata and king of birds] and a crow, a peacock and a diver bird, and a swan and a vulture [flesh-eating bird]. Even if you steal me away, Rama, standing against you in battle with His bow and arrows, having prowess equal to that of Lord Indra, will make sure that you will not live very long, like a mosquito that has swallowed ghee.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.45-48)

Sita vehemently opposed Ravana’s advances. In the above referenced quote, she is comparing his strength to that of Rama’s. She is reminding Ravana of who God is and what He is capable of. Sita was an authority on God’s greatness, for she was a perfect devotee and servant of Lord Rama. If we want to understand the glories of the Lord, we should take instruction from someone who knows Him, i.e. the devotees.

Lord Rama is like a lion and Ravana is like a jackal. Rama is brave, courageous, and strong, whereas Ravana is a sneaky little thief. Rama is like the sea, while Ravana is a lowly brook. The brook has limited powers, especially when compared to the sea. Often times, the movements of the brook are directed by the more powerful sea. In a similar manner, Rama is God Himself, and is thus responsible for all the activities conducted by Mother Nature.

Lord Rama is like fine wine, while Ravana is like Sauviraka, a sour, fermented alcoholic drink. God is great, and everything associated with Him is beautiful and opulent. The living entities, especially the demons, are tiny and puny. The material objects that we derive enjoyment from can be thought of as cheap and tasteless when compared to God’s enjoyment. Rama is like gold, while Ravana is like iron or another inferior metal. Gold is very commonly used to describe something or someone’s greatness, thus making it an apt comparison to God.

Lord Rama is like sandal paste, while Ravana is like mud. Sandalwood scents and sandal paste are staples of Vedic rituals and traditions. The fragrance is both purifying and pleasant. Mud is just the opposite; it is considered dirty and something that needs to be removed from the body. God is completely pure and fragrant, while the living entities who associate with maya are considered contaminated. It is not until one associates with God in a loving way that they become purified.

Rama is like an elephant and Ravana is like a cat. During Vedic times, elephants played an important role, especially during military battles. An elephant is extremely strong and difficult to control, whereas a cat’s strength is miniscule. Rama is like Garuda and Ravana is like an ordinary crow. Garuda is the king of birds and the carrier of Lord Vishnu. Krishna is the original form of God, and Vishnu is His primary expansion. Rama was considered an incarnation of Vishnu, thus the comparison to Garuda was appropriate. There is no bird that is stronger or faster than Garuda, so by comparing Ravana to a crow, Sita is saying that he could never be stronger than God.

Sita also used two other bird comparisons, stating that Rama was like a peacock and a swan, while Ravana was like a diver bird and a falcon/vulture. Lord Krishna wears the peacock feather in His hair, so this automatically makes the peacock an auspicious animal. The comparison to a swan [hamsa] is also appropriate because Lord Krishna once incarnated as a swan. A swan has the ability to accept a mixture of milk and water and only drink the milk portion. This means that they can carefully extract the good things out of whatever is given to them. Similarly, exalted devotees are also referred to as great swans, paramahamsas, because they accept the essence of life, Lord Krishna. A vulture, on the other hand, is known for eating carcasses, so it was an apt comparison to Ravana, who as a Rakshasa was accustomed to eating animal flesh.

The lesson here is that there is a vast difference between the living entities and God. Our powers are both small and limited, whereas God’s are both large and unlimited. Rama would show His greatness by defeating and killing Ravana in battle after he had kidnapped Sita, thus proving her words to be true. Lord Rama is very nice, so there is no reason to have enmity with Him. There is no reason to be His competitor, for we will be much better served becoming His devotee. Sita Devi, Hanuman, and Lakshmana view Rama as their dearmost, well-wishing friend and thus they enjoy eternal happiness. We can do the same by regularly chanting the Lord’s names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.

A Worthy Partner

“Since you are one who wishes to assail the beloved wife of Rama, you must also wish to swim across the ocean while wearing a boulder around your neck, and take away the sun and the moon using just your hands. Since you wish to take away Rama’s wife, who is of the highest character, you must also wish to put out a blazing fire using just a piece of cloth. Since you are one who wishes to obtain the worthy wife of Rama [His ideal match], you must also wish to walk across iron needles.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.42-44)

In this passage, Sita Devi, the worthy wife of Lord Rama, is explaining to Ravana how ridiculous his idea of having her is. It’s deplorable for a man to covet another’s wife, let alone the wife of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Rama was an incarnation of God, and Sita was an incarnation of God’s wife in the spiritual world, Lakshmi Devi. Sita herein compares Ravana’s lusty desires to impossible feats, or those actions which are so silly that they aren’t even undertaken. She is illustrating absurdity by being absurd. Instead of simply chastising Ravana, she is trying to show the folly of his desires by comparing them to even more ridiculous acts. More than anything else, Sita reaffirms the fact that she is the worthy wife of Rama and no one else.

Sita Devi was born and raised as the daughter of the King of Mithila, Maharaja Janaka. When she was a baby, the king found her one day while plowing a field and then raised her as his own daughter. Around the same time, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, advented on earth in the form of a pious prince named Rama. Janaka held a self-choice ceremony, or svayamvara, to decide Sita’s nuptials. Lord Rama happened to attend this ceremony, and after lifting the famous bow of Lord Shiva, won the hand of Sita in marriage. The two lived happily in Rama’s kingdom of Ayodhya for twelve years when Rama was suddenly ordered to leave and not return for fourteen years. The couple then roamed the forests of India along with Rama’s younger brother, Lakshmana. They set up a cottage in the forest of Dandaka. It was there that Ravana, a Rakshasa demon, appeared before Sita and propositioned her.

Sita was worthy of Rama and Rama was worthy of Sita. The purity went both ways. On the highest level of understanding, there is no difference between the two because one person is the energy and the other is the energetic. In fact, this is how the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, view a marriage. Through the religious institution of marriage, the husband and wife assume one identity, sharing a common fate in the afterlife. This relationship is an outgrowth of the pure loving relationship that exists in the spiritual world between God and His pleasure potency expansions. God is the original person, adi-purusha, from whom everything emanates. God is the supreme enjoyer after all, so to facilitate His desire for enjoyment, He expands Himself into pleasure potency forms, which are known as hladini-shakti. Krishna is the original form of God, and Shrimati Radharani is the original pleasure potency. From Radharani come all the goddesses of fortune, or Lakshmijis. So in essence, there is no difference between Radha-Krishna, and Sita-Rama.

As God’s most intimate associate in conjugal love, Sita possesses the highest qualities of devotion. During her time on earth, she never thought of anyone except Rama. She executed the processes of devotional service to perfection. Thus she was the only worthy spouse for Lord Rama. In a similar manner, Rama was the only worthy husband for Sita due to her pious and chaste nature. The relationship between God and His pure devotees operates in a manner similar to that of a good marriage. In a marriage, a husband will love and protect his wife provided that she is completely devoted to him. The husband will excuse all nagging and pestering or anything else he finds to be annoying from the wife, provided that she has no interest other than to serve him. This is the definition of chastity. In a similar manner, Lord Krishna relieves us of all sinful reactions provided that our only interest is to serve Him. It’s not that He gets angry if we forget Him, but He will pay more attention to us if we shift our interests in His direction.

Sita was both a chaste wife and a devotee, so she was doubly worthy of Rama’s protection. In performing her pastimes, Sita always associated with the spiritual energy. The Vedas tell us that God creates two energies: material and spiritual. Material nature is a temporary place which is full of miseries. It can be thought of as a prison house designed to act as a playground for the wayward souls who desire to imitate God. The spiritual energy is a direct expansion of God, so it inherits all of His pure qualities. God is so kind that even while living in the material world, one can associate with the spiritual energy. We can do this by engaging in bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. There is no difference between God and His names, forms, and pastimes. Sita Devi associated directly with the spiritual energy by dedicating all her thoughts, words, and deeds to God’s personal form of Lord Rama. She also regularly recited His name, thought of Him, offered Him prayers, and assisted Him in pastimes. In this way, we see that Sita herself was completely spiritual. Though assuming a human body, she never directly associated with material nature, which is also known as maya.

Ravana, on the other hand, was completely engrossed in material life. This immediately disqualified him from ever having Sita’s association. The spiritually enlightened can never be coaxed into mixing with the gross materialists. By the same token, the non-devotees can never touch God or His associates. Ravana was a Rakshasa, so he inherited all bad qualities from the time of his birth. On a previous occasion, Ravana’s mother was cursed by the great sage Vishrava. She wanted to bear a child with the sage, and since she disturbed him while he was meditating, the sage agreed to her desire but also cursed her to have a Rakshasa son. Hence Ravana was born.

Ravana regularly indulged in intoxication, illicit sex, and meat eating. He would even eat human flesh, for he and his associates would regularly kill sages and then feast on their flesh. There was no way Ravana could ever win over a person as exalted as Sita. Instead of explaining these finer points to Ravana, Sita tried to convey the message through metaphors, illustrating absurdity by being absurd.

In the first comparison, Sita states that Ravana surely wishes to swim across an ocean with a rock tied around his neck. Obviously if a person tried this, they would sink. An ocean is hard enough to cross without having a huge weight pulling you down beneath the surface of the water. Sita warned Ravana that if he tried to forcibly win her over, he would surely drown.

In the next comparison, Sita states that Ravana surely had a wish to acquire the sun and the moon using his hands. In the modern age, scientists have developed a way to get to the moon, but only after much endeavor. After spending millions of dollars, all they have done is land there in costly spacesuits. They haven’t learned anything, nor have they advanced their material condition, which is what they were after in the first place. Hence, the moon still eludes them since they haven’t found any use for it. The sun is a completely different story. Even today’s scientists aren’t silly enough to try to go to the sun. One will surely be burned to death before they could even get close to the sun’s surface. In this way, Sita warned Ravana that he would also die if he tried to forcibly win her over.

In the third comparison, Sita states that Ravana surely wishes to bind a flaming fire with a piece of cloth. A small fire is not very hard to put out or contain. Taking a simple rag and swatting at the fire can usually put it out. Even a fire extinguisher can do the trick. If the fire gets any bigger, it really becomes a problem. It seems like every year there is at least one wild forest fire that rages across the state of California which officials can’t control. They do their best to try to thin the forests of dry brush, but Mother Nature always seems to thwart their efforts. Once the fire gets big enough, it takes on a life of its own. In a similar manner, Lord Rama’s power was like that of a blazing fire. Ravana was a tiny rag compared to Rama, thus by trying to steal away the Lord’s wife, he would surely be burned to death by the blazing fire represented by Rama’s arrows.

In fact, this is pretty much what happened, except it wasn’t Rama’s arrows, but the burning tail of a monkey. Lord Rama was God Himself, so naturally He had many devotees who were willing to step up and serve Him. Lord Hanuman, a Vanara [monkey-like human], was one such devotee. After Ravana kidnapped Sita, Hanuman successfully infiltrated the city of Lanka and made his way to Ravana. The demon had Hanuman bound and then lit his tail on fire. Through his devotional service, Hanuman had attained all the yogic siddhis, or perfections. He could make himself infinitely small or large at any time. After his tail was set on fire, Hanuman easily broke free of the bonds of the rope by becoming small, and then immediately assumed a large shape. He then dragged his burning tail all around the city of Lanka, shearing it of its beauty.

In the last comparison of these verses, Sita says that Ravana surely wishes to walk on iron spikes. This metaphor not only references Ravana’s sinful desire to steal away Lord Rama’s wife, but also material life in general. Whether one is seeking bhukti [material enjoyment], mukti [liberation from material activities], or siddhi [perfection in yogic performance], their path is riddled with pain and suffering throughout. This is actually God’s mercy because He doesn’t want us to associate with material life. Shri Krishna is described as having an eternal body, full of bliss and knowledge, sach-chid-ananda. In a similar manner, our souls are also eternally blissful, but through contact with material nature, we are forced into misery. Human life is meant for reconnecting with the spiritual energy, which will allow us to once again assume our blissful spiritual body. One does not have to wait until the time of death to reassume this nature, for the eternally liberated devotees are referred to as jivan-mukta, meaning they are already free of material miseries.

Ravana certainly wasn’t eligible to have Sita as his wife. Since devotees are pious, does it mean that they are eligible to have Sita as their life partner? Pure devotees know that Sita is only meant for Rama. They are happiest when they see the divine couple together. This is how Lakshmana, Rama’s younger brother, felt. He left his own wife at home in favor of serving Rama and Sita. Lakshmana derived great pleasure from protecting both Sita and Rama while they slept during the night. This is how devotees think.

Ravana wanted to take Sita and enjoy her for himself. Devotees know that Krishna is the original proprietor of everything. Whatever comes their way, devotees use towards God’s service. They are only happy when in God’s association and they have no desire to enjoy things that belong to Him. God is pro-choice, in that He allows us to choose which direction we want to go in. As Sita Devi states, one who follows Ravana’s sinful path is destined for destruction. Therefore we should choose to be with God instead of against Him.

Death Wish

“Do you wish to uproot the teeth from the mouth of a hungry lion, who is the enemy of the swift deer, or from the mouth of a venomous serpent? Do you wish to take away the best of mountains, Mandara, using just your hands? Do you wish to drink deadly poison and come away alive? Since you wish to take away the beloved wife of Raghava [Rama], you must want to rub your eyes with pins and lick a razorblade with your tongue.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.39-41)

Religious leaders warn us of the punishment of eternal damnation for those who don’t accept the supremacy of God. In actuality, just taking birth in this material world is itself a form of misery, for we are constantly struggling with the dualities of happiness and sadness, heat and cold, success and defeat. There is a more severe form of punishment, however, reserved for the enemies of God and His devotees. There are many ways to describe what exactly happens to those who cross the Supreme Lord, but sometimes we require the use of analogy and alliteration to help convey the message. God is not always visible before us, especially if our eyes are materially conditioned, thus it is difficult to comprehend what will happen should we make Him angry or offend His devotees. In this regard, Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama, provides a few comparisons and analogies to help us better understand.

“How can we offend someone that we can’t see?” This is an understandable question, for how do we even know that God exists? The Vedas tell us that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Shri Krishna, can be realized in three distinct features: Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. Brahman is the all-encompassing energy; the sum and substance of everything; all matter and spirit. In the varnashrama-dharma system, the brahmanas are considered the highest societal division because they know Brahman. One who knows Brahman understands that everything, including every person and every living entity, makes up the complete whole, or Brahman. Hence there is really no difference between any of us. Our material bodies may be different due to the influences of karma [fruitive activity] and guna [material qualities], but at the core, every living entity is equal.

A higher realization than Brahman is Paramatma, or the Supersoul that resides within the heart of every living entity. Our identity comes from the atma, or the individual soul that resides within the heart. Technically this soul is referred to as the jivatma, since it belongs to the living entity. There is another soul that resides side-by-side with the jivatma. This is known as the Paramatma, or Supersoul, and it is a direct expansion of God. The jivatma forms the basis of our ordinary consciousness while the Paramatma represents the Supreme Consciousness. It is referred to as supreme because the Paramatma acts as a sort of neutral witness. Since it is a personal expansion of God, it has knowledge of all the events of our current life, and it also remembers everything from our previous lives. The same can’t be said for the jivatma. The Paramatma is also conscious of the experiences and thoughts of every living entity, whereas we are only conscious of the events of our own life. Since the Supersoul is superior to jivatma, the “param” prefix is added to the word “atma”, forming Paramatma. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, “ishvarah sarva-bhutanam hrideshe’rjuna tishthati”, which means the supreme controller, Ishvara, resides within the heart of every living entity.

“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.61)

Paramatma is an expansion of God; a fact which implies that it has a source. That source is Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In common parlance, the term “God” essentially refers to Bhagavan. God is a person just like us, except that He is much greater in power. There is no difference in quality between Paramatma and jivatma, but the quantitative powers cannot be compared. Since Bhagavan is the source of both atmas, He always remains supreme.

So how can we see God? Since He is both Brahman and Paramatma, the Lord can actually be seen everywhere. The spirit spark, represented by the activities of the living entities, shows us that God exists everywhere. Moreover, Bhagavan takes other forms such as shastra and guru. Shastras are law codes, or religious scriptures. The Vedas, the scriptures emanating from the dawn of time, were passed down by Lord Krishna. Veda means knowledge, thus the Vedas are a collection of the highest truths of life. Krishna also incarnated as Vyasadeva, who authored a tremendous amount of Vedic literature, all of which essentially describes the same teachings of the original Vedas through different mediums such as historical accounts, hymns, and carefully thought out aphorisms.

The guru, or spiritual master, is the pure devotee of Krishna, so his words are directly coming from God. If we studied the teachings of all the great Vaishnava saints of the past, we will find that none of them take credit for their philosophies, ideas, or teachings. They all give credit to their own guru, and to God. The guru is the most knowledgeable person because He knows that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth, and that anything that praises Him or accurately describes His glories is also perfect. Thus when we hear the instructions of the guru, we are directly connecting with God.

Lord Krishna also appears in two other important forms: the deity and the holy name. The deity appears to be made of wood or stone, but since it is crafted by a devotee, it is a direct incarnation of God. In the impersonalist community, the terms “nirguna” [without attributes] and “saguna” [with attributes] are thrown around quite often as descriptions for the Absolute Truth, or Krishna. The deity is referred to as the saguna form since it represents a form of the Lord which has hands, legs, eyes, etc. God certainly has unlimited forms [ananta-rupam], for He can transform and expand Himself into anything. Yet He always remains a person, even through His incarnation as the deity. The Lord understands that we don’t have the eyes to see Him, so He kindly appears in a form that allows us to get around this defect.

In this age especially, God incarnates in the form of His holy name. Those who regularly chant, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, can be in direct contact with God. Hearing is actually more important than seeing because knowledge is best acquired through the hearing process.

Now that we have information about how to see God, what should we do with this knowledge? The Vedas tell us that our most important occupation is bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. Most of our time is spent satisfying our own needs or those of our friends, family, co-workers, nation, etc. Meeting these needs is a requirement for having a calm and peaceful material life, but the real mission in life is to please the soul and not just the body. The soul can only be satisfied by connecting it with God. This process is known as yoga. There are different types of yoga, but the highest is the one that allows us to connect with God through love. This is precisely what devotional service aims to do. Hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping the Lotus feet, and surrendering everything unto the Lord are some of the primary processes of devotional service. Those who take up this discipline are known as bhaktas, or devotees, and they become very dear to the Supreme Lord.

“I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 9.29)

By default, God is neutral towards every living entity. Since He wants us to spend our time performing yoga, the Lord makes no distinctions between people who take to karmic activity. With fruitive activity, sometimes we may succeed, while at other times we fail . This success or failure is all of the material variety, meaning that God has no direct association with it. The Lord makes an exception to His rule of neutrality for the bhaktas. The devotees have decided that the purpose of human life is to perform yoga, thus the Lord helps them along in their practice. The flip side of this equation is that the Lord directly intercedes when the devotional service of the bhaktas is disturbed. This is precisely what happened many thousands of years ago during the Treta Yuga.

A Rakshasa demon by the name of Ravana was wreaking havoc throughout the world. Not just an ordinary karmi, Ravana was an asura, an enemy of the devotees. Asuras want the entire world to worship them, thus they view God as their chief competitor. Though God never forces anyone to worship Him, the asuras don’t play by the same rules. They take to aggressive measures to thwart the devotional activities of others. To help protect the devotees, the Lord personally comes to protect them when the situation gets out of hand. To help protect the sages from the attacks of Ravana and his Rakshasa associates, Krishna incarnated on earth as a kshatriya prince named Rama.

Lord Rama roamed the forests of India for fourteen years with His wife, Sita Devi, and His younger brother, Lakshmana. On one occasion, Ravana approached the group’s cottage in the forest of Dandaka while Rama and Lakshmana were momentarily away. Wanting to kidnap Sita, Ravana first approached her in the guise of a mendicant. Sita kindly welcomed him, and Ravana replied with subtle advances. Sita kindly rebuked him, informing him of who she was, where she came from, and who her husband was. Ravana heard enough and finally revealed his true nature. In response, Sita Devi strongly chastised him. In the above referenced statement, Sita is comparing Ravana’s desire to have her to that of several stupid and dangerous activities.

By stating that Ravana wished to remove the teeth of a lion, Sita is informing him that Rama was the lion and that Ravana would be eaten up should he try something so stupid. Sita was Rama’s beloved wife, so anyone who would cross her would have to deal with the wrath and punishment inflicted by Lord Rama, who was God Himself. Trying to steal God’s wife was also akin to trying to walk away alive after drinking poison, trying to rub one’s eye with pins, or trying to lick a razor with one’s tongue. These are all ridiculous acts that no one with any intelligence would ever think of trying. Sadly, Ravana didn’t comprehend. He would forcibly kidnap Sita after hearing these words.

The result was much worse than what Sita described. Ravana was a great king who had amassed a great fortune. His island kingdom of Lanka was a sinner’s paradise. He had hundreds of beautiful palaces bedecked with gold, filled with the most beautiful queens in the world. Yet by crossing Lord Rama, he would go on to lose everything. Rama’s faithful servant, Hanuman, would lay waste to the city of Lanka, and then Rama would finish the job by defeating and killing Ravana in battle. Ravana worked so hard to acquire material powers, and they disappeared in an instant after he crossed God.

When one crosses the Supreme Lord or one of His devotees, they must suffer the consequences. Regardless of whether we believe in God or not, the negative reactions that come through offending His devotees will still come to us. Knowing this, we are better off becoming devotees ourselves. Actually, there is no reason to fear Lord Krishna or His devotees. The Lord kindly requests us to become His devotees, but He never forces us, for there is no love in coercion. Those who associated with Sita and Rama in a loving way – such as Hanuman, Vibhishana, and countless others – achieved eternal bliss and happiness. The same can happen for us.

The Forest From The Trees

“O ill-fated Rakshasa, since you wish to take away the beloved wife of Raghava [Rama], surely all these trees must appear to you as made of gold.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.38)

Ravana, the Rakshasa demon king, was so taken away by passion, that he desired to steal away the beautiful wife of Lord Rama, Sita Devi. Sita was the epitome of virtue, as was Rama. Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears on earth from time to time to annihilate the miscreants and give protection to the devotees. Lord Rama was one such incarnation, and He enjoyed many great pastimes with Sita and His younger brother, Lakshmana. On one occasion, the group’s hermitage in the forest of Dandaka was visited by Ravana. Rama and Lakshmana were away from the cottage at the time, so Ravana used the opportunity to proposition Sita. In the above referenced statement, Sita is sternly rebuking the Rakshasa, telling him that he must be deluded in thinking that he could ever have God’s wife. He must also be mistaking normal trees to be made of gold, which also means that death was surely approaching him, for only a dying person would start to see everything around him as made of gold.

These words uttered by Sita certainly were true. Kama, or sense gratification, is certainly a part of regulated material life, for there is even a famous book known as the Kama Sutra, which details the act of satisfying the senses through sex life. Nevertheless, if kama is left unchecked, it can lead to delusion, madness, and a general straying from the principles of dharma. This was precisely the case with Ravana, a ten-headed demon who terrorized the world during the Treta Yuga, the second time period of creation. Rakshasas are a human-like species which live off meat eating, illicit sex, and drinking wine. Ravana was still religious nonetheless, so he performed many great austerities to please the demigods. His style of worship was performed in the mode of ignorance, however. The mode of darkness, or ignorance, is characterized by any activity which lacks intelligence, knowledge, or fruitive activity. In essence, the mode of darkness brings one further and further away from God, often times resulting in demotion to a lower species in the next life.

Ravana certainly performed great austerities involving self-control and the self-infliction of pain. As a result, Lord Brahma granted him any boons of his choosing. Ravana, being deluded by his ignorance, used these boons to increase his material strength and fame. He was given invincibility in battle against any celestial and animal. Normally, such a boon would be a great thing for a king, because it would mean that they could adequately provide protection to their citizens. Ravana, however, used his strength to terrorize other demigods, essentially Lord Brahma’s associates and friends. Ravana defeated his own brother in battle, Kuvera. There was no reason for this fighting except for the fact that Ravana wanted to be God. By definition, God is the most powerful, wise, famous, and beautiful. Ravana didn’t believe in a higher power, for he thought the demigods represented the upper limit of opulence. By defeating them in battle, Ravana thought himself to be God.

Aside from terrorizing the innocent, Ravana engaged in all sorts of other sinful activity. The Rakshasas of his kingdom were always drinking wine. Through his various conquests of other kingdoms, Ravana had amassed a great collection of beautiful wives. He would always engage in sexual activity with them, with Mandodari being his chief wife. These women were all very beautiful, and anyone would kill to have them as a spouse. Nevertheless, Ravana wasn’t satisfied. This is the danger of kama. Life on earth is meant for realizing God and not for simply satisfying the senses. For this reason the Vedas recommend that we regulate kama as much as possible.

Lord Rama, as part of His pastimes, travelled the forests of India at the same time that Ravana was ruling over his kingdom of Lanka. The demigods had actually petitioned Lord Vishnu, God Himself, to come to earth in human form to kill Ravana and alleviate their suffering. In his haste, Ravana forgot to ask Lord Brahma for immunity from human beings. Ravana never thought that a mere mortal could ever defeat him in battle. Using this loophole, God came to earth as a human in Rama. The Lord was living in the forest of Dandaka with Sita and Lakshmana when the group was attacked by Ravana’s band of Rakshasas. Rama was an expert kshatriya warrior, so He easily defeated all 14,000 of Ravana’s Rakshasa associates.

Angered by this, Ravana decided to kidnap Sita as retaliation. More than just getting revenge on Rama, Ravana heard of Sita’s beauty and decided that he must have her. This shows the seductiveness of kama. Simply by hearing of another’s beauty, Ravana was taken off the righteous path. Even by today’s standards, forcibly stealing another’s wife is considered a deplorable act. Athletes and famous celebrities who get caught in extramarital affairs are scorned by the public. By the standard of material life, Ravana should have been happy and content. Even in today’s world, we see that illicit sex, meat eating, gambling, and intoxication are very common. Abortion is allowed in America, as is cow slaughter. It is a sinner’s paradise, so the atheists should be happy. But we see that is not the case. More than any other group, the atheists are the most miserable among us.

Again, this is because human life is meant for the cultivation of knowledge. Not just any knowledge; raja-vidya, the king of education dealing with the soul and its relationship with God. The material body that we currently occupy is subject to creation and destruction. However opulent we may be or however much we may satisfy our senses, our experiences here are only temporary. The spirit soul which resides within the body, the atma, is eternal. Since the soul never takes birth and never dies, it must have a natural home. The Vedas tell us that this home is in the spiritual world alongside the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Shri Krishna. Ishvara parama krishna, the Supreme Controller is Lord Krishna. Perfection in life is achieved when the spirit soul returns to one of Krishna’s spiritual planets in Krishnaloka or Vaikunthaloka.

Sinful life is harmful because it takes us off the straightened path. All activities should be performed with the aim of returning to God’s spiritual kingdom. Any activity which keeps us bound to the cycle of birth and death is considered sinful. The height of sinful life is illicit sex, a byproduct of uncontrolled kama. We see that Ravana’s sinful life led him to falsely believing he could have Rama’s wife, i.e. taking ordinary trees to be made of gold. This is the definition of maya, taking something to be what it is not. For the devotees, the opposite situation occurs. They end up seeing the trees, and everything else in the creation, as being God’s property. This is the proper way to view things. The Vedanta-sutras tell us that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the original source of everything. All things that we see in this life, matter and spirit, sprouted from the breathing of Lord Narayana at the beginning of time.

The best occupation for the living entity is devotional service, or bhakti-yoga. Kama involves satisfying our own senses, but bhakti-yoga aims to please God. This isn’t an artificial engagement either. The spirit soul is naturally inclined to performing devotional service. This was the path taken by Sita Devi, Rama’s wife. She performed all nine processes of devotional service perfectly. Sita always recited Rama’s name, offered Him prayers, remembered Him at all times, served His lotus feet, became His friend, and surrendered everything unto Him. As a result of her service, she viewed all living entities equally. When Ravana first approached her, he was in the guise of a brahmana, or mendicant. Sita immediately welcomed him and openly declared that everything she had in her possession was intended for the brahmana’s benefit. Her husband was away from the cottage at the time, so she was a little distressed, but she didn’t let that stand in the way of welcoming a guest.

The lesson here is that we should follow the path of Sita Devi and not that of Ravana. Unrestricted kama will lead to our downfall. Unfortunately, Ravana would not heed the advice given to him by Sita. He would forcibly kidnap Sita, an act which ultimately led to his death. Not only was he never able to bring Sita under his control, but Ravana would lose everything when Rama and His army arrived at his kingdom of Lanka. Rama would defeat and kill Ravana, and install Ravana’s brother, Vibhishana, as the new king. Those who follow the path of devotional service will never have to worry about delusion. By regularly chanting God’s names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, we can see the forest from the trees and see that everlasting happiness can only come through association with the Supreme Lord.

True Colors

“Why would you, being a jackal, desire to be with me, who am a lioness and very difficult to obtain in this life? Just as a person can see the sunshine but never touch it, you will never be able to have me.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.37)

God can only be pleased by the good; those with a spotless character. The demons and atheists can never come close to touching God or any of His pure devotees. The Lord and His faithful servants don’t associate with cheaters, liars, and thieves. The deceitful might be able to get away with fooling the common man, but God can never be fooled through false flattery and insincere kind words.

It’s not uncommon for people to think that their society is advanced both materially and socially. For example, today men and women are free to intermingle. This is seen as a positive cultural evolution. Sex life is free and open, with contraceptives used quite often. The practice of abortion is also sanctioned throughout the world. As a result of these advancements, women especially have become more vulnerable to the advances of lusty men. Men generally have a much stronger sex desire than women. Much stereotypical male-female humor revolves around the idea of the man always wanting to have sex and the woman always rejecting him. This theory has some validity to it, for adult aged men do think about sex quite often. Today, for younger men the aim is to try to score with as many chicks as possible.

Seducing a woman is not an easy thing, for it takes alacrity and great skill. The typical playboy has honed his skills through much trial and error. Those who are expert in wooing women are usually also expert in lying and cheating. The two things go hand-in-hand because seducing women is cheating in a sense. The Vedas tell us that women and children should always be protected by the other members of society. For children, protection involves providing for their food, shelter, and clothing. It is also important to keep them away from things that will harm them. These rules apply to women as well. The Vedas tell us that the best way to protect an adult aged woman is to find her a husband. Not only does a husband provide security and a stable family life, but he also protects the woman from being preyed upon by other men for sex. When women aren’t married, they are left unprotected and thus become susceptible to cheating men. Having a one night stand with a woman is really a form of cheating because the man essentially uses the woman for one night and then discards her.

“The strong man’s strength should be applied to protect the weak, not for personal aggression. Similarly, sex life, according to religious principles (dharma), should be for the propagation of children, not otherwise. The responsibility of parents is then to make their offspring Krishna conscious.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 7.11 Purport)

For the conditioned souls, it is important to try to always act in the mode of goodness, and this applies to sex life as well. Sex is allowed, but it should be regulated; it should only be used to beget offspring with one’s spouse. Any other type of sex is considered illicit and sinful because it binds one to the repeated cycle of birth and death. One night stands and wooing women simply for sex pleasure are both considered sinful acts, for the women are exploited.

Cheaters do win sometimes, however, and the after-effects aren’t pretty. The men that secure relationships through lying often have trouble once things get more serious. A person’s true colors will eventually show. Relationships can quickly crumble once the other party realizes that they are with a reprobate. This principle holds true not only of amorous relationships, but also with politicians. Since democracy is the popular style of government today, elections are based on who can garner the most votes. A politician gets votes by making promises to various groups of voters. After getting elected, however, it is often seen that the politician will go back on their promises. Running for office and actually governing are two completely different things. More times than not, voters end up regretting their vote once they see the true colors of the candidate they previously supported.

Liars and cheaters hurt themselves and the people they deceive. People invest so much time and emotion supporting their friends, paramours, and political leaders, only to be burned in the end by many of them. Thus we see that even though lying and cheating can provide short term gains, in the long run, they don’t pay. This principle holds true with God and His devotees as well.

Many thousands of years ago, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, advented on earth as a handsome and pious prince named Rama. Krishna has many incarnations, or avataras, and each one serves a specific purpose. Lord Rama’s defining characteristic was His adherence to dharma. Dharma is religiosity, or occupational duty. We can also think of dharma as virtue and piety. Rama paid special attention to dharma because He was a prince born into a very pious family, the Ikshvakus. During those times, the governments were monarchies run by members of the warrior class. There were no votes, for the leaders were all expert fighters who could defeat any enemy in battle. Aside from being expert fighters, the kings were all very pious because they had to administer justice. It is quite common to see police officers violate traffic laws and politicians bend and shape the law in their favor, but the Vedas tell us that this is not ideal behavior. A king must administer justice by punishing criminals. If they themselves break the law, how can they be taken seriously when punishing the guilty? Citizens follow the behavior of their leaders, and if they believe that their king is a cheater and a fraud, they will have less of a reason to obey the laws of the land.

Lord Rama was committed to not only maintaining His own reputation, but also that of His family. On one particular occasion, Rama’s father, King Dasharatha of Ayodhya, made the mistake of granting two boons to his youngest wife, Kaikeyi. When cashing in her boons, Kaikeyi requested that her son Bharata be installed as king, and that Rama be sent to live in the forest for fourteen years. Dasharatha was in a pickle. As a pious king, he could not go back on his word, but at the same time, he would die without Rama, who was His eldest and most beloved son. Lord Rama took the decision out of Dasharatha’s hands by insisting on obeying Kaikeyi’s requests. He left for the forest along with His wife, Sita Devi, and His younger brother, Lakshmana.

While living in the forest, one day the group’s cottage was visited by the Rakshasa demon, Ravana. Actually this was no coincidence, for Ravana had set up a diversion which lured both Rama and Lakshmana away from the cottage. Ravana had heard that Sita was the most beautiful woman in the world, thus he insisted on having her for himself. He initially approached Sita while he was in the guise of a mendicant, but he soon revealed his true identity. He tried to woo Sita by telling her that he was a powerful king and that he would make her his chief wife. Ravana had many wives whom he cavorted with regularly, yet all that sex wasn’t enough for him, for he could not live without having Sita.

Sita was repulsed by Ravana’s advances. She responded by openly declaring that she was Rama’s devotee. She also described Rama’s glories and informed Ravana of His strength. In the above referenced statement, she is chastising Ravana for even thinking he could be with her. Sita described Rama as being a lion among men, for He was the most powerful person in the world. Being the wife of the lion among men, Sita compares herself to a lioness and Ravana to a jackal. Sita Devi, being a pure devotee of God, was very clever. She knew how to choose just the right words which would both praise Rama and insult Ravana. A jackal is not considered a virtuous animal by any means, while a lioness is considered great and powerful. She essentially told Ravana that the two of them were incompatible. Being a great devotee, Sita would never associate with an enemy of God.

Sita also told Ravana that he could never touch her, just as how one can never touch the rays of the sun. We may see the sunlight or sunshine, but we can never actually touch it. In a similar manner, a devotee of God can never be tainted by the demons. Ravana wouldn’t heed Sita’s advice; instead he would forcibly kidnap her and bring her to his island kingdom of Lanka. Nevertheless, even after months of trying, he was never able to win Sita over. Rama eventually would kill him in battle, thus proving Sita right.

“Sitadevi, the dearmost wife of the Supreme Lord Ramachandra, certainly has a spiritual form full of bliss. No one can see her with material eyes, for no materialist has such power.” (Lord Chaitanya, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 9.191)

The lesson here is that no one can touch Sita Devi except Rama, or God. Sita is the goddess of fortune, Lakshmiji, who is the wife of Lord Narayana, or Vishnu. Narayana, Vishnu, and Krishna are interchangeable names for God since they all represent the original Personality of Godhead. Sita’s only interest is to serve Rama, and she is also very kind to Rama’s devotees. She grants wealth and good fortune to those whose only business is devotional service to God. If we use our wealth for other purposes, we are essentially stealing Lakshmi in the same way that Ravana did. We all saw what happened to him, so it’s not a good idea to go down that path.

To capture God’s attention, and the attention of His devotees like Sita, we simply have to regularly chant the Lord’s names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. We can be honest with God, for He already knows what’s in our heart. There is no reason to lie to Him or to His devotees. Hanuman, the great devotee of Rama, humbly approached the Lord and served Him honestly and sincerely. As a result, Hanumanji is worshiped to this day by millions, and his name is synonymous with love and devotion to God. He achieved fame and opulence a million times that of what Ravana had while he was alive. We would be better served to be more like Hanuman and less like Ravana.

Jitendriya

“I am faithfully engaged in the service of Rama, who is a hero and prince of wide renown, who has full control over His senses and mind [jitendriyam], who is mighty-armed, and whose face resembles a full moon.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.36)

Passion can be a very tricky thing. It serves as an impetus for work, but at the same time, if it is left uncontrolled, it can lead to our downfall. Therefore, in the Vedic tradition, those who can keep their passions, which are driven by the senses and mind, under control are considered praiseworthy. This especially holds true with passions relating to sex life.

In the modern culture, men and women freely intermingle, thus relationships are formed based off of free will. A boy is attracted to a girl and vice versa, and the two eventually decide to form relationships. The religious institution of marriage is now mostly based on romantic attraction between men and women. The love that results from this attraction can be quite passionate. Since relationships are determined by free will, the art of seduction holds more importance in society. Men who can seduce or attract a lot of women are considered powerful and strong, whereas those who are awkward around beautiful women are considered weak and unintelligent. Many Hollywood films are based around this concept. A young teenager will be deemed a loser or a geek at the start of the movie, and he’ll slowly work his way towards being able to speak to the girl of his dreams and hopefully have a relationship with her.

This type of thinking is based on the idea that material sense gratification is the ultimate goal of life. There is no higher sense pleasure than sex, so those who can enjoy it to the fullest are considered successful, whereas those who aren’t are considered failures. Money, wealth, fame, etc. are all based around sex life. Even exercise regimens such as weightlifting and playing sports have sex desire at their core, for the more attractive a man’s body, the more likely he will be to score with attractive women.

“Material nature consists of the three modes-goodness, passion and ignorance. When the living entity comes in contact with nature, he becomes conditioned by these modes.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 14.5)

Sex life is usually part of the mode of passion, which along with goodness and ignorance make up the three modes of material nature. The Vedas tell us that the mode of passion involves fruitive activity that, when left unchecked, can lead to lust, anger, greed, etc. This then leads to bewilderment and a forgetfulness of the rules of propriety. A classic example of this scenario was seen with superstar golfer Tiger Woods. Extremely successful at the sport he played, Tiger enjoyed universal acclaim and adoration. One of the richest athletes on the planet, Tiger could score with almost any girl he chose to. Though he was married with children at home, it was recently revealed that Tiger engaged in many extramarital affairs. The number of mistresses was so high that Woods is now seeking rehab for sex addiction.

“I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O Lord of the Bharatas [Arjuna].” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 7.11)

The Vedas tell us that sex life can be very dangerous, and thus should be kept in check as much as possible. This doesn’t mean that all sex is bad, but that the act should only be performed when one intends to beget progeny. On a material level, we all accumulate debts at the time of birth, with one of them being to the pitrs, or the forefathers. We would never take birth were it not for sex life, thus we have a responsibility to our forefathers to beget sons as a way of paying them back. Every person is born with different qualities, with some people being more passionate than others. For those in rajo-guna, the mode of passion, gambling and playing sports are allowed. This is because passionate people need an outlet, and competition is one way of acting out one’s passions. The modern day sports athlete is an example of a person in the mode of passion. In previous times, the kshatriya kings were also considered to be in the mode of passion, thus they were allowed to marry more than one woman. Sex desire is very strong in passionate people, so in order to avoid illicit sex, kings were allowed to marry more than one wife provided that they could guarantee the protection and happiness of each and every wife. So when we see today’s athletes engaging in illicit sex life, it is not surprising considering that they are in the mode of passion.

Regardless of what our predicament is, the Vedas tell us that we should control our passions rather than letting our passions control us. Those who can keep their desires in check are virtuous and praiseworthy, while those who are slaves to their senses are not. This was the point stressed by Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama, an incarnation of God. Many thousands of years ago, Sita was living in the forest of Dandaka when her hermitage was visited by the Rakshasa demon Ravana. Rama and His younger brother Lakshmana were away from the cottage at the time, so Ravana took it as an opportunity to try to seduce Sita. He first appeared in the guise of a brahmana and offered kind advances towards Sita. After she rejected him, Ravana revealed his true Rakshasa form and insisted that Sita become his wife.

In response, Sita openly declared that she was a devotee of Lord Rama, and that she would never be devoted to anyone else. In addition, she provided details into Rama’s characteristics and personal attributes. In the above referenced statement, we see that Sita is listing Rama’s control over His mind and senses [jitendriyam] as a character trait. This statement is very important, for it serves two purposes. First, it stresses the point that God is the all-powerful and the most renounced. Sex life in the material world is a perverted reflection of the pure form of love that exists in the spiritual world between God and His pleasure potencies, hladini-shakti. By declaring that Rama had His passions under control, Sita also took a direct jab at Ravana and his character.

Rakshasas are demons by nature, meaning they take to adharma, or irreligion, as a way of life. Ravana was very powerful and materially opulent. He had hundreds of beautiful wives. Having multiple wives was surely allowed for a king, but Ravana still engaged in illicit sex. He and his queens were always drunk, eating meat, and enjoying sex life. He was very proud of his playboy lifestyle. Yet we see that Ravana’s passions were anything but under control. Simply upon hearing of Sita’s beauty and bodily features, Ravana was drawn to her. Like a moth to a flame, Ravana sealed his demise by approaching Sita and forcibly kidnapping her. Lord Rama was God Himself in human form, and He would avenge Sita’s kidnapping by marching to Ravana’s city of Lanka and killing him in battle.

Sita also made mention of the fact that Rama had a beautiful, moon-like face, and that His fame was spread throughout the world. Again, these statements served the same purposes of both praising Rama and insulting Ravana. God is known as Bhagavan, meaning one who possesses all opulences. When one sees pictures of Lord Rama or takes darshana of His deity in the temple, they will see a handsome prince who is always smiling. That is the Lord’s nature, for He gives pleasure to others. Rama is unbelievably famous; even Lord Krishna and His childhood friends in Vrindavana used to talk about Lord Rama, Hanuman, Lakshmana, Sita and others when they were playing. The Ramayana, a book which details the life and pastimes of Lord Rama, is probably the oldest book in history and it is still read and revered to this day. God is always God, meaning that not only was Lord Rama famous during His time, but that His fame never diminishes. He is just as famous today as He was in the past.

Ravana thought of himself as beautiful and famous, but his opulences paled in comparison to Rama’s. Ravana performed austerities that secured him ten heads; something he viewed as a benefit. Sita Devi, the most beautiful woman to have ever graced the earth, didn’t find Ravana attractive at all. Ravana was proud of his beauty, but Sita directly insulted him by extolling the beauty of her husband, Lord Rama. Ravana also thought he was very famous, for he had defeated many great fighters in battle. In fact, God only appeared on earth as Lord Rama at the request of the demigods, who were all afraid of Ravana. Sita, of course, wasn’t impressed by Ravana’s fame. She was married to God, so she knew who was the more famous of the two.

The lesson here is that we shouldn’t be led astray by the popular dogma which states that uncontrolled passion and excessive women hunting are virtuous activities. On the contrary, such activities are very dangerous because they bind one to the cycle of repeated birth and death. If a person is addicted to sex life, why would God want to take them away from their passion? On the contrary, the Lord allows such a person to repeatedly take birth, sometimes in a lower species such as a monkey or a dog, where they can enjoy sex life even more. If we can control our mind and senses, we become praiseworthy. A person who has control over their senses is considered sober, or dhira. Self-control is considered a virtue because it increases the likelihood that one will take to spiritual life, which is the ultimate aim of life anyway.

No one was more committed to dharma than Lord Rama. We too should commit ourselves to dharma by controlling our passions and devoting ourselves to God’s service. In this age, the easiest way to honor Sita and Rama is to constantly chant the holy names of God, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. God is beautiful, praiseworthy, and famous throughout the world, and so are His devotees.

A Lion Among Men

“I am faithfully engaged in the service of Rama, who is a lion among men [nrisimham], has a broad chest and powerful arms, who treads the earth like a lion and who is like a lion in prowess.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.35)

Lord Rama is God Himself, and one of His most distinguishing characteristics is His kindness. Rama means one who gives pleasure to others, and by taking one glance at His beautiful face, one can see that He is worthy of this name. But there are two sides to the Supreme Lord. He gives bliss and happiness to the devotees, but to the demons He brings pain and suffering. Actually, the demons bring it upon themselves through their actions committed against the suras, or devotees. The Lord is merely the instrument of their punishment. Sita Devi, Lord Rama’s wife, correctly described Rama as being a lion among men; someone who the demons can never escape from. Rama is all-powerful, and He uses His dexterity and fighting abilities to mercilessly attack the demons. For the miscreants of the world, there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the attacks of the Supreme Lord.

Sometimes we commit sins while other people aren’t looking. We may be walking through a shopping mall and see that someone drops some money on the floor. No one else sees the money, so the choice is ours as to what we should do. Some of us will keep walking, while others will let the person know that their money has fallen. And there are still others who will quickly grab the money and walk out of the mall as fast as they can. They think to themselves, “No one saw me take the money; therefore I will not suffer any negative consequences. You snooze, you lose.” This mindset seems justified on the surface, but the Vedas tell us that the laws of karma will eventually take hold. Karma is fruitive activity, or those actions performed which have both intended and unintended consequences. For example, we may work hard during the day at our jobs so that we can have enough money to support our families. The intended consequence of such work is that our bank balances will increase. The unintended consequences may be that our family life will suffer since we are at the office all the time. Our stress levels may also increase.

This is a crude example, but the principles can be applied to almost any action we take. There is a God, and He most certainly witnesses all of our actions. This very point was pondered by the great warrior, Arjuna, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra some five thousand years ago. Taking part in a conversation with Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna was baffled when He heard Krishna tell him that both of them had lived before. Not only had they endured many previous lives, but Krishna could remember all of them, while Arjuna could not. The reason for this is that God expands Himself as the Supersoul, or Paramatma, and resides within the heart of every living entity, acting as a neutral witness. He is neutral because the jivatma, or soul of the living entity, causes the body to act through the gross and subtle senses. God plays no direct role in our activities, but He certainly keeps track of what we do, both good and bad.

“Just as a tree starts to blossom during the proper season, so the doer of sinful deeds inevitably reaps the horrible fruit of their actions at the appropriate time.” (Lord Rama speaking to Khara, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 29.8)

Aside from the Supersoul witnessing everything, the god of justice, Yamaraja, also takes note of all our actions. For every karmic activity we perform, we accumulate merits and demerits. The reactions to our work are known as karma-phalam. This karma-phalam can manifest itself in the afterlife, through ascension to heaven or demotion to hell, or it can manifest immediately through negative and positive consequences. Some people bemoan this fact. “Why does God wait to punish those who commit sins such as rape and murder?” The answer again is that God has no interest in a person’s karmic activities. The laws of nature, as administered by the demigods, including Yamaraja, dole out punishments and rewards. A person, who steals money while no one else is looking might have more sinful desires they need to act out. The Lord doesn’t want to get in the way of our free will. At the same time, there are others who are slated to have bad things happen to them due to past misdeeds. These bad events don’t necessarily occur in the afterlife, for another person’s sinful actions can be the instrument of punishment. For example, a person that gets murdered in this life may have committed the same activity in a previous life. Instead of God punishing the person directly, He allows the laws of nature to take control and dole out the punishment through the activities of new murderers, and so forth.

If God is neutral towards those acting on the platform of karma, who does He take an interest in? The Vedas tell us that God’s ultimate feature is that of Bhagavan, or one who possesses all opulences. Bhagavan is the richest, wisest, smartest, etc. Lord Krishna is the original Bhagavan, and His direct expansions, of which Lord Rama is one, are also considered to be Bhagavan. Those who are in direct association with Bhagavan are known as bhagavata. There are two kinds of bhagavata; the book, Shrimad Bhagavatam, and the devotees. Simply put, God protects the bhagavatas. The difference between a devotee and a karmi is that a devotee abandons all fruitive activity. This doesn’t mean that they don’t perform activities, but rather all their actions are meant as a sacrifice to God. What does this mean? It means that everything is done for the Lord’s benefit. This includes eating, sleeping, working, talking, walking, etc. Every activity can be spiritualized if it is done in accordance with the will of the Supreme Lord, or one of His authorized representatives such as the spiritual master.

Since the devotees engage in devotional service, they become immune to karma-phalam, or the reactions of karma. They are immune to karma because they associate with the spiritual energy, which is superior. Spirit is superior to matter because matter is useless without a driving force. A car is just a hunk of metal without a driver. It is not until a living entity, or spiritual spark, gets behind the wheel of a car that the vehicle takes shape and become useful. In a similar manner, material activities, or karma, are considered useless because they simply aim to please the body, which is nothing more than matter. Thus material nature is considered inferior, and those who associate with it are considered less intelligent. The spiritual energy is superior because it is God’s direct energy. Those who associate with the spiritual, or divine, energy enjoy the protections offered by God. In a sense, it can be thought of as God protecting His own.

“O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.13)

Devotees can’t always carry out their activities without opposition. Aside from the karmis, there are others who openly detest God and His devotees. These people are known as asuras, and they take any opportunity they can to thwart devotional activities. It is these people that God goes after. For devotees, death is not feared because theirs souls are in the process of returning to Krishna’s spiritual abode. For the demons, death is a painful experience which is dreaded. For the best of demons, God personally makes an appearance as all-devouring death. When God comes to attack an enemy of the devotees, there is nowhere to hide and nowhere to run.

“O Sudarshana, you have a very auspicious hub, and therefore you are the upholder of all religion. You are just like an inauspicious comet for the irreligious demons. Indeed, you are the maintainer of the three worlds, you are full of transcendental effulgence, you are as quick as the mind, and you are able to work wonders. I can simply utter the word namah, offering all obeisances unto you.” (Maharaja Ambarisha offering prayers to the Sudarshana chakra, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 9.5.6)

A famous example of this occurred with Durvasa Muni. Durvasa was by no means an asura, but he once made the mistake of insulting the great Maharaja Ambarisha. To punish Durvasa, Lord Krishna unleashed His Sudarshana chakra, a disc and weapon of choice of the Lord. The disc followed Durvasa all through the three worlds, and the muni was unable to escape it, even after seeking Lord Shiva’s shelter. Finally Durvasa begged forgiveness from Ambarisha himself and was eventually saved.

A famous demon who wasn’t saved was Ravana, the ten-headed Rakshasa king of Lanka. During the Treta Yuga, Lord Krishna appeared on earth as Lord Rama, a handsome and pious prince. The Lord travelled through the forests of India for fourteen years along with Sita Devi, who was His wife, and Lakshmana, His younger brother. On one occasion while Rama and Lakshmana were off chasing a deer for Sita, Ravana approached the group’s hermitage while in the guise of a mendicant. He propositioned Sita, who was all alone, but she sternly rebuked him. Finally revealing his true Rakshasa form, Ravana directly insisted that Sita become his wife. In reply, Sita Devi gave a series of descriptions of Lord Rama, of which the above referenced statement was one. She boldly declared herself to be a dependent of Rama, and also described some of His virtues.

Sita told Ravana that Rama was a lion among men and that He was very powerful. In fact, she used the word nrisimham, meaning a lion-like man. This is also a subtle hint at Rama’s divinity. Lord Rama was an incarnation of Vishnu, or Krishna. One of Vishnu’s other primary incarnations was that of Narasimhadeva [also spelled Nrisimhadeva], the half-man/half-lion form who protected Prahlada Maharaja. Sita was not only speaking the truth, but also trying to get Ravana to desist from his sinful desires. Sadly, the demon would not listen. He couldn’t understand how Rama could be so powerful, for He was roaming the forests like a homeless man. Ravana forcibly kidnapped Sita and took her to his island kingdom of Lanka. Lanka was very far away from any mainland, so it was no accident that Ravana set up shop there. He wanted to be insulated from any attacks. He knew he lived a sinful life, for he used to regularly kill sages living in the forests and then eat their flesh. Ravana thought that if he lived far enough away, nobody would be able to mount any serious attack against him.

He thought wrong. God can do anything. As Lord Rama, God appeared in the dress of a human being, but His powers were still unlimited. When God comes to earth, He performs extraordinary feats but He also empowers His devotees to perform great activities in His service. To rescue Sita, Rama enlisted the help of Vanaras, a race of monkeys residing in the forest of Kishkindha. Their greatest warrior was Hanuman, who was so powerful that he leapt his way to Lanka, where he found Sita and then set fire to the whole town. Upon returning to Rama, Hanuman helped the Vanara army construct a bridge to Lanka. In this way, Rama and His group were able to storm Ravana’s city, kill the demon, and rescue Sita.

Lord Rama hunted down Ravana like a lion hunting down its prey, and He showed him no mercy. Ravana’s entire kingdom was destroyed and, to add insult to injury, Rama installed Ravana’s younger brother, Vibhishana, as the new king. Vibhishana had given up Ravana’s company and surrendered himself to Lord Rama. Lord Rama was a lion among men, but He still remained magnanimous to the end. He didn’t take any of Ravana’s wealth or opulence, for His only purpose in killing the demon was to rescue His wife and grant protection to the devotees. The lesson here is that we should follow Sita’s example. If we associate with the spiritual energy and commit ourselves to performing devotional service, we can hopefully one day confidently assert that we too are faithfully engaged in the service of that lion among men, Shri Ramachandra Bhagavan.

Auspicious Measurements

“I am faithfully engaged in the service of Rama, who is greatly fortunate, fixed in truthfulness, gifted with all auspicious marks, and has the bodily measurements of a banyan tree [nyagrodha-parimandala].” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 47.34)

God is great. The Vedas, the original scriptures for mankind, try to put this greatness into words. The Lord also helps us by appearing from time to time in this world to enact pastimes and protect His devotees. The total number of incarnations is too large to count, but the Vedas give us an idea of the more important ones. Aside from telling us when and where the Lord appears, the Vedas inform us that God’s incarnations can be identified by the presence of auspicious marks on the body.

“This baby has all the symptoms of Lord Narayana on His palms and soles. He will be able to deliver all the three worlds.” (Nilambara Chakravarti remarking on baby Chaitanya’s features, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 14.16)

When God incarnates, His auspicious marks appear on the soles of His feet and also in other areas. Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His primary expansion is that of Lord Vishnu. When appearing on earth, these expansions are referred to as Vishnu incarnations. The beautiful auspicious marks of Lord Vishnu also appear on the bodies of His various incarnations such as Matsya, Kurma, Narasimha, Rama, etc. The Lord’s most recent appearance on earth as a human being was as Lord Chaitanya, who also possessed these auspicious marks on His body. Though Lord Chaitanya is not included in the list of major incarnations of Lord Vishnu, His appearance is hinted at in both the Shrimad Bhagavatam and Mahabharata. In addition to having auspicious marks, Lord Chaitanya also had unique bodily dimensions. His arms and His chest had the same measurements, thus He was referred to as nyagrodha-parimandala.  When translated, this term means that His body had measurements like those of a banyan tree. This same description, nyagrodha-parimandala, also applied to God’s incarnation as Lord Rama, who appeared on earth during the Treta Yuga.

Why would God need to have auspicious marks and unique measurements for His body? When the Lord appears on earth, He doesn’t openly disclose His divinity. Human beings have free will, in that they are not forced to do anything, including love. We have experience of this in our own lives. We may love another person very much, but it isn’t guaranteed that the love will be returned. It works the same way between the living entities and the Supreme Lord. God is the original reservoir of pleasure, but the material world poses an obstacle to the living entities. Here, we are given all sorts of avenues to seek pleasure. We can seek out sense gratification through many different activities, but they all lack a relation to God. The Lord wants to reclaim His lost sons and daughters, but there is no way He can force us to love Him. If there is coercion involved, the relationship can’t be defined as a loving one.

“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.8)

The Supreme Lord comes to earth to annihilate miscreants and to give pleasure and protection to the devotees. God is always God, however, thus when He appears in the body of a human being, He will naturally possess extraordinary qualities. These include auspicious marks on His body and unique measurements for His limbs and other body parts. These unique dimensions remind people that He is no ordinary human being, for we tend to be drawn to people who have extraordinary abilities. The Olympic runner, Usain Bolt, was a great example of this. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bolt shattered the world record in the 100m dash. The uniqueness of his body is what really intrigued people. It has always been assumed that tall people wouldn’t make good runners because their height would require too much effort from their long legs. Bolt debunked this theory by not only winning gold medals, but by easily defeating the competition. His unique running style and bodily dimensions made him an athlete of interest around the world.

In a similar manner, God breaks the mold when it comes to all areas of opulence. As Bhagavan, He possesses the qualities of renunciation, beauty, wealth, fame, knowledge, and strength to the fullest degree. When the Lord appears on earth, His body is not material, meaning it is not subject to creation and destruction in the same way that ours are. However, in order to fit in with the rest of society, the Lord’s body appears to be material. This, again, is to keep His divinity under wraps as best as possible. The devotees, however, can tell that He is God based on distinguishing features.

In His incarnation as Lord Rama, God took birth as a pious prince, expert at warfare and dedicated to the welfare of the pious. His wife, Sita Devi, and younger brother, Lakshmana, accompanied Him on a fourteen year sojourn through the forests of India. On one occasion, the group was visited by the Rakshasa demon Ravana, who appeared in front of their cottage in the guise of a mendicant. Ravana was a committed atheist who had intentions of kidnapping Sita and making her his wife. He created a diversion whereby Rama and Lakshmana were led away from the cottage, leaving Sita all by herself. At first, Ravana approached Sita in a humble manner, but then eventually the demon revealed his true form.

Sita sternly rebuked Ravana. In the above referenced statement, she is describing the glories of her husband to the demon. This was done for two reasons. Sita inherently loved Rama and depended on Him for everything. This is the dharma of pure devotees; they don’t surrender to anyone else except God and His representatives. Sita’s description also served to inform Ravana that Rama was no ordinary man. Ravana had ascended to power by propitiating various demigods with sacrifices and austerities. They rewarded him with many boons, and Ravana in turn used those boons to defeat many great demigods. For this reason, he thought that he was invincible.

Ravana wasn’t threatened by Rama. “This poor prince is living in the forest like a homeless man. How powerful can He be? I’m richer than He is, and I rule over a large kingdom. How did this man get such a beautiful wife? I will take her for myself.” From Sita’s description, we see that Rama not only possessed auspicious marks, but that He was greatly fortunate [maha-bhagam] and dedicated to the truth. This stood in stark contrast to Ravana’s features. Sita was letting Ravana know that her husband was nothing like him, and that she had no desire to be with such a demon.

In the end, Ravana would not heed Sita’s warnings, and would kidnap her anyway. Rama, with the help of Lakshmana, Hanuman, and the Vanara army, would march to Lanka, defeat and kill Ravana, and rescue Sita. Everything relating to God is beautiful and auspicious. If we make Him the object of our worship and become His dependent, we will always feel as if we are in the presence of greatness. May the all-auspicious Lord Rama grant us the benediction of having His beautiful darshana, day-after-day.