Rama or Ravana ?

Just recently a politician started the debate about Rama, again (many have done this even before and will do it later too). Now, many people just to prove that Rama is great try comparing him with “demon” king Ravana.

This an age-old debacle. And even some sadhus who belong to the northern belt have this bias, and use illogical logic with the southern people.

Rama is no doubt Great, that does not and need not be at the cost of Ravana.

One should understand that Ravana is a great bhakta of Lord Shiva, who had visiting rights everyday J in Kailas. If you start condemning him, the whole bhakti cult, even of Rama, will prove to be useless. Because even after God realization the wickedness , desire, hatred seems not to get destroyed. (And, his Jata kata from shiva thandava stotra is sung at the end of every feast (bandara) offered to Sadhus J)

One should not throw stones from a glass house. Ravana was a great ruler and a very loving and affectionate person; this can be seen even in the version of Ramayana which speaks great about Rama. And, only for the love for the sister he abducted Ramas wife. If that is  adharma, than, even what Rama did cannot be termed as dharma, killing of Vali from hidden place, Sending Sita to forest etc.

The discussion of Dharma and Adharma is a very complicated thing. So, what is the truth or how should we understand this?

It is said in skanda purana that, Ravana went to Kailas to ask Shiva to remove this burden of Body which is what seperates him from the Shiva. For which shiva says, his punya is so much (very great) that it is possible for even him to destroy him. Hurt by these words, Ravana asks for a means to destroy the body (mind suicide is not accepted to be a proper way). For which shiva says, Vishnu will take an avatar of Rama to destroy the demons, and Ravana can help in doing it. But, helping an avatar will only be a action of Punya, therefore, he instructs him to kidnap Ramas wife, which is a greater sin. And thereby achieve his desired exit from the body.

Even Adyatma Ramayana explains, the story from the standpoint, that ravana knew the result of his every action.

Ironically, people from south, who are dubbed as the people from Ravana land, have not built any temple for ravana, though there are many figures of ravana pulling the car (ther) or in the palanquin. But, in the heartland of Rama, near Kanpur, there is a temple for Ravana.

What is Navratri?

In the sanatana dharma (hindu system), it is accepted, whatever is in macrocosm is in microcosm or vice-versa. And whatever exists either in duality or in trinity.

If we accept good then evil is inevitable. If we accept the big-bang and the light etc. then destruction and darkness is inevitable. 

This way every year is split into good and bad, shukla, the white and krshna, the black period. In the same way, we have white and dark periods of the month (the waxing and waning) though, there is no specific mentions of this, even a week, day, hour, minute can be split into these two periods. This way we see the world as duality, of good and bad. Pure good cannot exist. If we accept bad to be absence of good, it can be argued the good as the absence of bad (good – God and bad – Satan).  But, then, there cannot be any difference in the worship of Good or bad, if be said, good begets good results and bad begets only bad results, it cannot change its nature. And all desire for good only.

If we split the time period into three. According to the three gunas (quality), namely, sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva is the quality of illumination or knowledge. Rajas is the quality producing the activity. And the tamas is the quality of laziness. Each year can be split into these three. Though, according to the climatic conditions, the order may vary. Each fortnight, week, hour and minutes can be split into this way.

To show this we have the nine days of navratri. Each divided into for three days. Each triad day is for one guna.  First three for the Kali, next for Laksmi and the last three for Saraswati. In terms of gunas, the first for rajas and the second for the rajas combined with tamas and tamas combined with sattva and the third with sattva. Kali is also reffered to as sakthi – goddess of power, lakshmi – goddess of wealth and saraswati – goddess of knowledge.

In the temple of Mookambika in kollur, mangalore, Karnataka. This system is followed and the deity is worshipped in all the three forms in a single day. (think, in Madurai meenakshi templs, tamilnadu too this system is followed).

The second is not accepted totally as tamas, because nobody is interested in gaining the dull / inert / lazy state. And wealth if used in improper way leads to further birth, the quality of rajas endowed tamas. And if used in a proper way leads to moksha, sattva endowed tamas.

So, if these three divinities be remembered everyday, in a proper way, each day / minute becomes navratri.

Chaturmasya nirnaya

I am in Mumbai, there was a discussion on the chaturmasya vrata mainly the Sannyasins do, during the rainy season. It is normally done for 2 months though the word chatur means four. They don’t cross a village / stream and stay put in one place teaching or discussing the scriptures.

How come a four months penance is reduced to two months. There is a Adhikarana (nyaya / topic) in poorvamimamsa where for a yaga which is to be performed for 120 years or so. Since it is impossible for a person to live for that long. And even if we argue for the sake, still one should spend atleast the first 20 years to gain the eligibility to perform the yaga, like being initiated in the sacred thread at an appropriate time, studying the Vedas, getting married and getting a male progeny. So after this if one starts the yaga, he will not be able to finish it. And if the sankalpa (determination) is done for a particular yaga it should be performed well, for the complete result. And, if not done properly or is given-up half way through, may yield wrong results. So, the final verdict will be, one cannot perform it in his life time. And, it cannot be passed on to the son etc., nor can one accept the statement by the veda to be redundant. If it is accepted redundant / useless in one place, the other portions also loose its pramanatva (the means of right knowledge-ness).

So, what is the way. Here the discussion spans in accepting the year to be a month, paksha (fortnight), week, day, hour etc. it can be performed in 120 months, therefore the other states, like, the fortnight, week etc, can be dismissed. And accepting this, the famous stamen, “samvatasaro vai masa:” – Year is a month, is made.

What is the relation of chaturmasya and this ? accepting this logic, it is accepted, we can deduce “maso vai paksha” – Month is a fortnight. Therefore, 4 months means 4 fortnights. Now, what is the pramana, and if it has no pramana, then why not reduce it to 4 weeks or days or even hours or minutes. Because the veda declares “chaturmasya yajinasya akshayam sukrtam bhavati” – the performer of chaturmasya will gain incomparable wellbeing / goodness. Now, anyone will say, just wait for five minutes, let me perform the chaturmasya yaga J. And one can perform more chaturamasya and gain greater greatness “adikasya adikam phalam” – greater the effort greater the result.

So,  without a pramana nothing is accepted and here too what is the pramana, for accepting it to be 4 fortnights. Some say narada to be a pramana, he it seems performed the chaturmasya in 4 fortnights. This is not tenable, for Narada is a devarishi we ordinary mortals cannot compare ourselves with him. And, most importantly, if narada performed it for 2 months (even if accepted), his 1 day is ~ 1000 – 4000 days (I am very weak in these calculations, anyway, why should we be bothered about their time scale) , and it is not a general rainy season in all the place in the universe J. So, cutting short using this logic is not reasonable.

All  said, according to the smritikaras (people who wrote the smritis), if there is a tradition then it should be accepted.