The month of Chaitra (March-April) is the first month in Panchanga (Indian calendar) with a change in the moon's orbit. During this month many festivities observing the birth of great spiritual luminaries iare observed by different regions in India (Ramnavami, Hanuman, Mahavir, Swaminarayan Jayantis).
The month starts with Ugadi/ Yugadi/ Gudi Padwa or Gudhi Padwa which marks the first day of the new calendar ... (yuga "age" and ādi "beginning": the beginning of an age).
Ramnavami celebrates the birth of Ram and falls on the ninth day of the bright fortnight. Ram was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya of Ayodhya. The festival lasts nine days and is marked by recitals, Akhand Paath, of Ramacharitamanas (the ancient epic story of Ram), with bhajans, kirtans and feasting.
As I reflect, I see Ram and Sita, more than any other characters, are an integral part of the Indian psyche. Ramayan along with Mahabharata, the two great epics written thousands of years ago, have shaped and continue to shape and reshape the thinking of an entire culture. Ramayan has tremendous contemporary relevance as I documented in my earlier essay Sitayanam .
Ramayana pervades the moral and cultural consciousness of Hindus around the world. It has, for generations, served as a bedtime story for Indian and Hindu children, while at the same time engaging the interest of philosophers and theologians.
Valmiki opens his conversation with the sage Narada by expressing his eagerness to know who among his contemporaries was considered the embodiment of all virtues. The list of qualities was exhaustive, including valor, truthfulness, self-control, firm adherence to vows and a desire to secure the welfare of all creatures. In reply, Narada gives him an account of Ram. Valmiki with his yogic powers sees the life of Ram, Lakshman, Sita and others unfold before him.
The Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. Exiled for fourteen years because of his stepmother's fit of jealousy on the eve of his coronation, Rama enters the forests of Dandaka with his beautiful wife Sita and devoted brother Lakshmana. Sita is abducted from the forest by Ravana who takes her to his isolated kingdom on the far side of the southern ocean. The two brothers set out to rescue her and, along the way, make an alliance with a dispossessed monkey, king Sugriva. At the end of a bloody war Ravana is killed and Sita, reunited with her husband, and victorious Rama returns to Ayodhya to claim the throne that is rightfully his.
The Ramayana is an idealized heroic tale ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil. It is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love, loss and separation (divorce?), duty and honor, of palatial intrigue, petty jealousies and destructive ambitions. All this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, devas and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons.
The epic is to be read with a view to benefit ourselves. It is an ideal! Throughout the story, Valmiki himself represents Ram as an avatar, a purushottam atma, an "Ideal Man" and Sita as the "Ideal Woman". The purpose of this epic is to provide insights on how to live, how to prepare our role in life. The main characters played their parts like human beings, in circumstances that assail and confront human beings at every turn. And, from an advaitic point of view, we are all seen as avatars trying to realize our true nature of Sat-Chit-Anand (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss)!
In reading Ramayan closely, we see Ram, as the primary hero, being educated by Vishwamitra, as a grown man who struggled, who was tempted, who suffered and had human emotions. His greatness was in overcoming and surpassing them. Ram's character portrayed the passion for righteousness, high honor (Maryada) and dharma. And, Sita is a central figure in the drama as the war is fought to rescue her. As I have explained in Sitayanam, she was a loved wife of Ram who went through hoops to rescue her. In the interest of maintaining democracy in which even the lowliest voice was heard, she was separated from him. She, an educated princess, understood the actions of the King and gracefully lived her life raising her children as a single mother. When Ram and Sita met again, she, an empowered woman, chose to not go back.
If Valmiki, an ascetic devoted to tapas (austerity) and swadhyaya (study of the self/Vedas), created this epic to help mankind understand human characteristics he must have used the Vedic philosophy as the basis. A close study of Ramayan reveals the advaitic message.
Indian and Hindu classical literature is full of symbolism. One view is that Sita portrayed as an 'Ideal Woman' reflects how jiva (individual soul) should pursue its spiritual path to realize the Supreme Truth. Ram means the one who revels in all beings and things, the atman, the Self of all. Ram is wedded to Sita, the Mind. Ram is born in the bosom where there is self-control and no conflict (Ayodhya). When Ram, the Self, is wedded to Sita, the Mind, there is expression of life and its activities. We do not know from where Sita (Mind) appears. From Mother Earth Sita came and into Mother Earth she disappeared. From where the Mind came and where it disappeared in samadhi, nobody can say. As long as Sita, the Mind, remains in perfect attunement with Ram, the Self (the higher nature) there is only joy and happiness, whether in Ayodhya or in exile in the forest.
It is unfortunate that certain aspects of a character have been understood or misunderstood to manage relationships and the political and societal norms of the day. Ramayan is a beautiful epic which needs to be studied in its entirety as it bring heroic characters to life through the many stories!
Also during this month of Chaitra, Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated to mark the birth of Hanuman. Hanuman, an ardent devotee of Rama, is recognized and honored for his total surrender to Ram. Hanuman is the symbol of strength and energy.
Mahavir Jayanti celebrates the birth of Mahavir, the last Tirthankara of the Jains on the 13th day of the bright fortnight of the Chaitra month. Mahavir was born around 600 B.C. Mahavir preached non-violence and prohibited any kind of killing. On his birth anniversary, every Jain resolves to follow his teachings.
Swaminarayan Jayanti is celebrated to mark the birth of Swaminarayan(1781-1830) in Chhapaiya, near Ayodhya. He travelled extensively and eventually settled in Gujarat. He was known as a social and moral reformer. At the age of 21, he founded the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. He promised to remain ever-present with his followers through an unbroken succession of enlightened gurus. He is worshipped by his followers.
In this spirit of devotion exemplified by the festivities to honor the luminaries born this month, many (like us at HASC) participate in community service. UtsavSeva (Festivals of Seva) is community service which augments the spirit of Hindu festivals through seva events organized during this time and connecting them with the cultural heritage. HASC's theme for April is BhaktiSeva which celebrates service to all. Details of "How to" of the seva are explained in this YouTube video.
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Indian New Year's days - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hindu New Year: Ugadi, Gudi Padwa, Nava Varsha, Navreh
Hindu Holidays Calendar 2011 Festivals New Year
Also thank you posters for your comments. They too are highly informative.
Namaste
What can we learn from this flawed portrayal? I think we can learn 2 things:
(1) It is not easy to live in this world if even an Avatara can make mistakes. Any descent even of God will not be 100 % Sattva Guna but will be mixed with Rajasa and Tamasa; and
(2) We Hindus are not to fear God and should follow our reason in these matters. If we feel that our God has made a mistake then we should freely say so.
"In every Yuga I have to repair the causeway of Righteousness, entering into diverse kinds of wombs from desire of doing good to my creatures. When I live in the order of the deities, I then verily act in every respect as a deity. When I live in the order of the Gandharvas, I then, act in every respect as a Gandharva. When I live in the order of the Nagas, I then act as a Naga, and when I live in the order of Yakshas or that of Rakshasas, I act after the manner of that order. Born now in the order of humanity, I must act as a human being."
Krishna's point here about the abilities and limitations of Avatara are incredibly important to understand and I think has bene ignored by most religious people. Krishna and Rama are human beings for all purposes, there are moments they exhibit divinity but are humans. Krishna says basically if i walk like a man, talk like a man and act like a man, I am a man which is what Rama also echoes. Hindu thought isn't concerned so much with edicts from on high but rather how can human's using their intellect, principles and reason to try and understand the world and morality and in order to do this, all people including those deemed Gods should be questioned.
“The month of Chaitra (March-April) is the first month in Panchanga (Indian calendar) with a change in the moon's orbit. During this month many festivities observing the birth of great spiritual luminaries are observed by different regions in India (Ramnavami, Hanuman, Mahavir, Swaminarayan Jayantis).” (Anju Bhargava)
As a festival of nature, Pesah (the Jewish festival of Passover) is a springtime holiday that has its parallel in the calendar of India as well as other peoples. In the written Torah the month of Aviv was the considered the first month on Israel’s lunar calendar. Since it is a spring holiday, when nature reawakens and the fields bring forth their first fruit again, man is impelled to celebrate and rejoice The theme of birth is reflected in the liberation of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage andand the beginning of Israel’s national existence.
Moses “our teacher” is considered the greatest of Israel’s spiritual luminaries (prophets). Moses served as God agent in Israel’s liberation and birth as a nation dedicated to the service of the ethical and moral, a nation of priests.
Kabbalist (Israel’s mystics) have understood freedom or liberation as the emancipation from the power of evil. This means moral responsibility as against subjugation to passion, impulse, and instinct.
(partially paraphrased Issaac Klein)
Thank you for your post.
todah rabah
Shalom 'u' Vracha
(Peace and Blessings)
Many thanks for your work here. It is very sweet. For myself I was given that Sita as a spiritual name and it has made me very happy. I did have my own period of exile at one time but I cannot say that I maintained my chastity or that I was ever anyone's prisoner, no prisoner of patriarchy or honor, times being as they are.
That which is in plain sight, Sati, is also the unfathomable mystery termed as Shiva... the two cannot be separated. No matter how skillful one's thoughts and theories, one cannot capture Sati and banish Shiva. Upon hearing of his wife Sati's self-immolation, Shiva as a whirlwind upset the intricate ritual devices used by Daksha... all his formulas having come to naught because the essential ingredient in a ritual action, or action in general was missing... a humility in the face of the other, of the world, Nature. Daksha had over-reached, thought Sati as his daughter, when she was also prior to him.
The poem continues and Sati's ashes fall onto the Earth in 108 different locations. These all become sites of pilgrimage, to pay homage to Sati, and to recall the myth and its many meanings. Great portions of the landscape in India have thus been sacralized, and still the most popular sort of travel undertaken is a pilgrimage to the countless places sacralized in the poems, the poets trying to have the people not forget the essential.
". Anyways, Lord Rama verbally abuses & discards Sita in Yuddhakanda, the sixth book of the Ramayana, though he eventually accepts her and they dwell in the palace of Ayodhya. The story doesn't end yet though; in Uttarakanda, the seventh & last book of the Ramayana, he later dumps Sita again — and this time he trashes her permanently, and not only that, but while she has become plump & pregnant with twin sons. Lord Rama, the sat-purusa (ideal man) & simultaneously the ideal husband every Hindu woman should hope to have, had to look out for his reputation; therefore, Lord Rama, the great upholder of dharma, had to exile his wife Sita into the forest permanently even though he was sure she could easily perish.:"
sita's masochism is hardly an example to hold forth to women.
From: http://adaniel.tripod.com/ramayana.htm
In the original version of the Ramayana, after Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya, the capital of Kosala the rumors about Sita's adultery in Ravan's captivity continue and therefore the people disrespect her. So Rama, who is now the king, decides to banish Sita from his kingdom. In the forests she meets a sage named Valmiki, who later on wrote the Ramayana. In Valmiki's ashram Sita gives birth to two twins of Rama, Lav and Kush. These two children learn from Valmiki to sing the Ramayana as a poem and they go everywhere and start telling everyone the Ramayana, meaning Rama's story. They even arrive into Rama's court and tell him his story and so Rama recognizes his sons. He brings back his wife Sita who decides to prove her loyalty to Rama by asking Mother Earth to swallow her if she was loyal to Rama and so Mother Earth to testify her loyalty, opens up and swallows her and Sita disappears into earth. Later on Rama himself jumped in the river to end his life, followed by many.
Another way I like to look at the Ramayana is as a story about summoning what is best in us (like Rama) and doing something about freeing Nature (Sita) from those who would selfishly treat as they see fit, towards their own desires, uses and abuses.