Vaalmikingar Rewind - The Ramaayana

The weekend-cleaning ritual at home led to the discovery of a quaint faded paper which bore the imprint of an artistic telugu scholar. My guess proved to be right (wrt to the telugu script) and my mom mentioned in a rather matter-of-fact tone that the parchment (that's how i look at it now)was the work of a close relative, a learned sanskrit/telugu scholar/artist/name-it-you-have-it who had jotted down the deeper representation (one of the many versions as i may add) of the Srimad Ramayana. On my mother's request, the erudite relative penned down the following points in less than 5 minutes. Since my knowledge of telugu is rather limited (to say the least) & the closest that i could come to appreciating (if i may say so) his work was to marvel at the aesthetic writing; i wouldnt have ventured writing this blog without some help from err "higher" pedestals.
It is an earnest attempt at translating the late Shri Sanjiva Shastri's writing and is my tribute to this simple yet dynamic personality...

Shrimad Ramaayanamu - Antharartham (Inner meaning)

On a broad note, the epic represents a "Rajayoga Saaram" (essence of Rajayogam). The trigunas are represented by Vibeeshana (Satwa), Ravana (Rajas) and Kumbhakarna (Tamas).
Of the 10 heads of Ravana, 5 stand for the karmendriyas - Vaak, Paani, Paadha, Paayu and Upastha; the other 5 stand for the gnyanendriyas - Srothra(hearing), Chakshu (seeing), Sparsna (touch), Rasanam (taste) and Graanam (smell).

• Kumbhakarna (tamoguna) is characterised by excession in drinking, eating and sleep
• SriRamachandra is the JIVATMA
• Sitamma is the MANAS (mind - on a loose translation)
• Lanka stands for Korikalu (Desire)
• Mareecha represents gold/wealth [Marichika in sanskrit refers to a mirage]
• Anjaneya is the Sushumna naadi
• Vaali and Sugreeva are the Pingala & Ida naadis respectively (Surya and chandra naadis)
• 72000 vaanaras are the 72000 naadis [ayurveda tells us that there are 72000 naadis present in the human body]
• Amrutha kalasam (pot of nectar) in Ravana's abdomen is the kundalini shakti
• Ocean is the samsaara saagara

With the above representations as the guideline, the Ramaayana can now be understood in the context that the manas is constantly tempted and lured with wealth by the Rajoguna only to be led into the land of desires.
The Jivaatma's sole aim is to bring back the mind to where it belongs and proceeds to pursue praanaayaama (controlled, systematic breathing) as the primary means of achieving the goal. For this sake, Sri Rama takes the help of Vaayuputra (the wind-god) who is none other than Anjaneya - the Sushumna naadi. In the sukshma swaroopa, the sushumna naadi is barely about the width of a strand of a hair and is of supreme importance with respect to breathing and awakening of the Kundalini energy.
The entire army of the 72000 naadis are unified with one thought/goal under the leadership and aegis of the sushumna. The leaders of these naadis - Ida and Pingala represent pairs of opposites (Dwandana) in terms of their effect on the body. Ida naadi is related to the moon and on activation produces cooling effect and is cause for cough, cold etc. The Pingala or the Surya naadi on the other hand causes the overall body temperature to rise on activation. It is thus important for both the naadis to work in balance for which, the Sushumna naadi should be in complete control. It is for this reason that the Ramaayana depicts the two brothers - Vaali and Sugreeva as foes with Hanuman being the real leader of the Vaanara army.

Anjaneya on realising his true potential and as is expected of him, traverses the ocean encountering and overcoming the four obstacles presented before him in the form of the Mainaaka Vignam, the Chaaya Vignam, the Surasa Vignam and the Lankini Vignam. These are the four chakras - Swaadishtaana, Manipura, Anahata & Visuddha that are encountered on the travel of the prana from the Muladhaara (positioned at the groin region) to the Agna chakra (resting between the eyebrows). The prana's final destination though, is to reach the Sahasrara chakra - the lotus seat at the center of the head which represents the Nirvikalpa samaadhi state.

Thus to reach the Ajna chakra, the prana travels up the chakras, burns the desires (symbolized by the burning of Lanka by Hanuman) and eventually destroys the rajo and tamo gunas. Indrajit is Maya personified and hence meets with the same fate as that of Ravana.

It is to be kept in mind that, to place the praana (breath) shakti in the sushumna, the guidance of a guru becomes absolutely essential. Hence, we find the great Agasthya Maharishi performing "dhaanam" (am trying to be loyal to the telugu writing here & am not quite sure why it is not "upadesam") of the sacred Aditya Hrdyam to Sri Ramachandra. It is with the aid of this powerful mantra that the lord eventually defeats Ravana.

The Manas was forced to undergo several hardships as it was under the veil of "ajnyaana" allowing itself to be fooled by the golden deer. The Mother, Sita (manas) eventually reaches the ultimate spiritual goal - the Sahasrara chakra as is represented by the Agni Pravesham - as a cleansing act.
The union of the Paramaatma with the Jivaatma at the lotus head is depicted by the coming together of the Lord and the Mother in the Pushpaka vimaana, while the Pattabishekam is the ultimate goal of a human birth - MOKSHA SAAMRAJYAM!

Jai SriRamachandramoorthi ki!