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🌷““There was a king named Dasharatha, the protector of dharma, as unshakeable as a mountain, true to his promises, well known throughout the world, and whose son is Raghava. Raghava, who is known by the name of Rama, is a righteous soul, famous throughout the three worlds. He has long arms and wide eyes. He is my husband and worshipable deity.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.2-3)🌷

🙏All glories to the assembled devotees🙏

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Forever Rama’s Krishna’s Mercy   DEDICATION O beloved princess of Videha, who to  her vow to love Rama is always true, In full humility and affection, these  hastily prepared words I offer to you.   INTRODUCTION

With his royal opulence and strength Ravana tried, To win over Sita, but he was utterly denied. Sita still focused on Rama  though in perilous condition,  Always with Him in mind no matter the situation. Only her dear husband for  happiness does she rely upon,  To swim amidst lotus flowers  with Him, the supreme swan.

Ravana, who rummages in  garbage like the lowly crow,  That from Rama his demise  to come soon he should know. In informing king of Lanka  that Rama would the day save,  Wonderful telling of God’s qualities Sita gave. CHAPTER 1 – RAMA NAVAMI

“There was a king named Dasharatha, the protector  of dharma, as unshakeable as a mountain,   true to his promises, well known throughout  the world, and whose son is Raghava. Raghava,   who is known by the name of  Rama, is a righteous soul,  

Famous throughout the three worlds. He has  long arms and wide eyes. He is my husband   and worshipable deity.” (Sita Devi speaking to  Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.2-3) Rama Navami celebrates the appearance of Lord  Shri Ramachandra, an incarnation of God who  

Descended to earth many thousands of years ago  in Ayodhya, India. The holiday is named as such   because of the specific day in the lunar cycle  on which Lord Rama appeared. The Vedic calendar   is based on the lunar cycle, with certain days  being more auspicious than others. Lord Rama  

Appeared on the ninth day of the waxing moon  in the month of Chaitra, thus His birthday is   celebrated as Rama Navami. It is similar to the  concept of the Christmas Holiday where Christians   celebrate the birthday of Lord Jesus Christ.  Vedic holidays are a little different in that  

There are many Christmas-type celebrations  each year since God takes unlimited forms,   ananta rupam. Many of these forms appear  on earth. God, being the original person,   adi purusham, never actually takes birth, so  His birthdays are more aptly referred to as   appearances. Since the Lord descends from the  spiritual world in an eternally existing form,  

His appearances are known as avataras.  Lord Rama is one of God’s primary avataras. The circumstances surrounding His birth  were interesting. During the Treta Yuga,   the second time period of creation, there was  a great king ruling over the earth by the name  

Of Dasharatha. He only ruled over the town of  Ayodhya, but since his dominion was recognized by   all the other kings, he was often referred to as  mahipati, or the Lord of the earth. Dasharatha’s   trademark characteristic was his chivalry and  kindness. He was famous throughout the world  

As a great warrior who was dedicated to dharma.  The Vedas tell us that an ideal government is one   run by the warrior class of men, the kshatriyas.  This is because a government’s primary duty is   to provide protection to the innocent. Therefore  a king, or government leader, must exhibit great  

Fighting skills and strength in order to instill  fear in the hearts of the miscreants. If the   sinful among us understand that they will suffer  the consequences should they harass the innocent,   society will function much more peacefully.  Thus Dasharatha, through his great fighting   ability demonstrated in countless wars,  established his supremacy throughout the world.

Dasharatha pretty much had it all. He was wholly  dedicated to dharma, or his occupational duty.   Dharma actually means “that which constantly  exists with the particular object”. Thus dharma   is that which sustains one’s existence. Since  the living entity’s existence is defined by its  

Relationship with God, dharma usually refers to  religiosity or religious duty. When applied to   specific areas, such as government, it refers to  the code of conduct or righteousness. Dasharatha’s   citizens were very happy, and he personally  enjoyed life with his three wives. The Vedas  

Tell us that those in the mode of passion, the  warrior class, are allowed to marry more than once   provided that they can guarantee the complete  protection of their wives. The tongue and the   genitals are two of the hardest organs to control,  so they represent the two biggest stumbling blocks  

Towards advancing in spiritual life. All the  Vedic guidelines are put in place so as to   help the living entity achieve pure Krishna,  or God, consciousness in their lifetime. Only   with this mindset can the soul break free of the  perpetual cycle of birth and death. We shouldn’t  

Mistakenly think that the Vedas and the gurus  who follow them are unnecessarily punishing us   with their rules and regulations. The complete  set of Vedic guidelines represents a form of   tough love. Since sex desire is very difficult  to control, it is advised that one get married  

At a very young age, and then only indulge in  sex life for the purpose of having children. From this injunction, we can logically conclude  that sex life can only be allowed during one   period in every month, when the wife is fertile.  The warrior class lives mostly in the mode of  

Passion, meaning they perform work for the purpose  of receiving material gain. An outgrowth of living   in the mode of passion is that one’s sex desires  remain very high. To allow kings to indulge in sex   life but still remain committed to dharma, they  were allowed to keep more than one wife. This way  

The women of society were still protected, and  the kings could still make spiritual progress. Dasharatha had one thing that bothered him  though. He had no son to whom he could pass on   his kingdom. The Vedas tell us that each person  acquires three debts at the time of birth. One  

Of these debts is to the forefathers, also known  as the pitrs. This logically makes sense because   if it weren’t for our parents, we would not  take birth under the circumstances that we do.   The father must work very hard to maintain the  family and the mother goes through so much pain  

During labor. Thus there is a natural feeling  of obligation to repay the sacrifices made by   our parents. This debt actually ascends all the  way up the family chain since our grandparents   and forefathers also played an important  role in determining the circumstances of  

Our birth. The debt to the pitrs can be paid  by begetting a son. For Dasharatha, this debt   was increased due to the fact that he was a king  in a very famous dynasty known as the Ikshvakus. The Bible says that God created everything  in the beginning. The Vedas give a similar  

Description of the events at the time  of creation, including the names of   important personalities. The kings are known  as rajarishis in the Vedic tradition because   they are meant to act as God’s representatives  on earth. No one can protect better than God,  

So He decided that societies on earth would need  one of His representatives to provide a similar   level of protection on a micro scale. To this  end, two lines of famous kings were started at   the beginning of creation. One line took birth  from the moon-god, Soma, and the other from the  

Sun-god, Vivasvan. The Ikshvakus were part of the  solar dynasty, and they were famous throughout the   world. If Dasharatha didn’t beget a son, he would  be doing a great disservice to the family name. In order to remedy the situation, the king  was advised to hold a grand sacrifice. These  

Events took place in the Treta Yuga, or  second time period of creation. The Vedas   tell us that for each of the four ages  of creation, there is a specific method   of worship that is most effective in providing  transcendental realization. In the first age,  

The recommended method was deep meditation.  Almost everyone lived in rural areas,   thus there were few distractions. Many  yogis lived in forests known as tapo-vanas,   meaning forests suitable for the performance of  austerities. In the Treta Yuga, the recommended   method was elaborate sacrifice. Today, Vedic  sacrifices are celebrated on a small scale,  

With a small fire and some oblations of  ghee poured into it. In the Treta Yuga,   these sacrifices were very elaborate and  required highly qualified brahmanas to perform. Dasharatha performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice,  and a subsequent Putrakameshti yajna,   as was recommended to him. A great deity came  out of the sacrificial altar and handed some  

Payasam to Dasharatha. He in turn divided the  payasam up and distributed it to his three   wives. Very quickly they all became pregnant,  with Queen Kausalya eventually giving birth to   Lord Rama. Dasharatha’s two other wives, Kaikeyi  and Sumitra, gave birth to Bharata, Lakshmana,  

And Shatrughna. Thus the king was blessed  with four beautiful sons, but Rama remained   his favorite. Lord Rama was Dasharatha’s  prananatha, or the lord of his life air. Rama was the son that Dasharatha had  longed for. Like father like son,  

Rama too was extremely dedicated to dharma.  Never did He speak an ill word to Dasharatha,   for He loved His father very much. The  driving force behind Rama’s activities   was His dedication to maintaining the good  name of His father. Rama viewed Dasharatha  

As His foremost deity, setting a great  example for future generations to follow. God didn’t appear only to give Dasharatha  a son. At the time, there was a powerful   Rakshasa demon by the name of Ravana who  was terrorizing the saintly class of men  

Around the world. Ravana was very strong due  to boons he had secured from several demigods,   thus everyone was afraid to take him on  in battle. It was at the behest of the   demigods that God decided to appear as  Lord Rama. Due to the boons he received,  

Ravana was guaranteed protection in  battle against all types of creatures,   including celestials. The only species that could  defeat him were the human beings. Thus Lord Rama,   appearing in the guise of an ordinary human being,  was prophesized to be the destroyer of Ravana.

Since Ravana hadn’t directly attacked  Ayodhya, there was no way for Rama to   go after him and still remain on the  virtuous path. Being God Himself,   Rama could have easily done whatever  He wanted to, but at the same time,  

He wanted to set a good example for how a  king should behave. To secure Ravana’s demise,   the demigods set forth a plan whereby Lord Rama  would have an excuse to take him on in battle.   The first piece of this puzzle was Rama’s exile  to the forest. Dasharatha wanted Rama to succeed  

Him on the throne, but plans got changed at the  last minute due to a fit of jealousy thrown by   Kaikeyi. She requested that Bharata become king  and Rama be exiled. Dasharatha couldn’t ignore   these requests because he had granted her any  two boons of her choosing on a previous occasion.

For His part, Lord Rama didn’t want His father  to turn out to be a liar, so He gladly accepted   the exile punishment. Rama’s beautiful and chaste  wife, Sita Devi, insisted on accompanying Him, as   did Lakshmana. While they were in the forest, Sita  was kidnapped by Ravana after a diversion was set  

Up whereby both Rama and Lakshmana were drawn away  from the group’s cottage. The demigods were quite   pleased by this, for they knew that Ravana had  met his end. Lord Rama and Lakshmana eventually   marched to Lanka, with the help of a huge band  of monkeys, and defeated Ravana in battle. Sita  

Was rescued and the group triumphantly returned  to Ayodhya, where Rama was crowned as the king. The beauty of Rama Navami is that it not only  celebrates Lord Rama, but all of His devotees   as well. In pictures, Lord Rama is usually  seen standing alongside Sita and Lakshmana,  

With Hanumanji offering his obeisances in front  of them. Hanuman was part of the Vanara army,   and played an integral role in Sita’s rescue  and Ravana’s defeat. God is never alone,   for His closest associates always  remain with Him. This is the view  

Of God given to us by the Vedas. God is the  energetic and the devotees are His energy.   The two are meant to always be together,  side-by-side, enjoying eternal felicity. Lord Rama is God Himself, so it’s hard to  accurately put His qualities into words.  

Therefore we must study the qualities of  His close associates to get an idea. They   say that you can judge a person’s  character by the company they keep,   and in Lord Rama’s case, we see that He had  the best friends in the world. Sita, Hanuman,  

And Lakshmana are so exalted that it is virtually  impossible to find a person who can say anything   negative about them. Hanumanji is so great that  there is an entire book, the Sundara-kanda,   in the famous Ramayana poem dedicated to his  exploits. Sita and Lakshmana always identified  

Themselves as servants of Rama, and they never ran  out of praiseworthy things to say about the Lord. As spirit souls, part and parcel of  God, we are meant to be His energy;   we are meant to please Him in the same way that  Sita, Hanuman, and Lakshmana do. Celebrating  

Festivals like Rama Navami and Janmashtami are  great ways to get into the spiritual mindset.   Taking it one step further, we should all  try to remember God and His devotees every   single day of the year. This can easily  be accomplished by regularly chanting,  

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. CHAPTER 2 – WEIGHT OF THE WORLD “Born in the family descending from Maharaja  Ikshvaku, He [Rama] is highly effulgent and  

Possesses the shoulders of a lion. He, along with  His brother Lakshmana, will come and take away   your life. If you would have tried to forcibly  take me away while in His [Rama’s] presence,   He would have made you lie down, killing you  in the same way that He killed Khara on the  

Battlefield of Janasthana. (Sita Devi speaking  to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.4-5) Life is full of constant pressure. During  all stages of life, from youth to old age,   there are always responsibilities that demand our  attention. The pressures of day-to-day life can  

Get to be too much, so people will often look  to outlets such as intoxication and gambling.   Material life means always feeling like you have  the weight of the world on your shoulders. We   living entities aren’t conditioned to handle  such pressures, but Lord Krishna, the Supreme  

Personality of Godhead, certainly can. He has  the shoulders of a lion and can bear any burden. Upon waking up each morning, we have certain  obligations that must be met during that   particular day. In our youth, those obligations  related to school. Since they have more energy  

Than adults, young children are required to  wake up very early in order to get ready to go   to school. Once in school, they remain there for  the majority of the day. When children get home,   the real work starts. Homework, projects,  and studying for exams take up much of a  

Student’s time at home during the weekdays.  There are surely breaks every now and then,   including the weekends, but  the responsibilities never end. In America, students go through twelve rigorous  years of such schooling, after which time many  

Go off to college, which brings a whole new set  of pressures. Once they enter the real world,   the pressures take on a whole new meaning. Holding  a steady job is much harder than attending school   since the breaks are fewer and farther between.  Since vacation time is very limited, the only  

Time off comes during the weekends. On top of  that, one must support themselves, pay bills,   manage household affairs, and keep a family happy.  Family life is the essence of material life.   Keeping a spouse and children happy is not an easy  task. Adults look for ways to relax, but these  

Escapes only provide short-term relief. Even if  a person successfully meets all their obligations   in a given day, the responsibilities essentially  reset when the person wakes up the next morning. All of this can get to be too much after a while.  The retirement age in America is sixty-five,  

So a person has to go through almost  six decades of dealing with constant   pressure before they can finally relax. Even  those who are inactive, be they unemployed,   retired, or disabled, have to deal with constant  hankering and lamenting. The Vedas tell us that  

The mind causes us to always want things  that we don’t have, and lament over things   that we didn’t achieve or things that went  wrong. No one, regardless of their material   prosperity or disposition, can escape these  two predicaments caused by the human mind.

So how should we deal with such a pressure-filled  life? Not surprisingly, the Vedas tell us to rely   on God. Instead of keeping the pressure on  ourselves, we simply have to put the burden   on God’s shoulders. This is okay because the  Supreme Lord can certainly handle it. In fact,  

In one very famous incident, the Lord,  taking the form of a boar [Varaha],   held up the entire earth and saved it from  being deluged by water. So the Lord is designed   to take away our pains. One of His names is  Hari, meaning one who takes away distresses.

This seems easy enough right? Just shift the  pressure to God? The problem is that material   life only exists due to the living entity’s  desire to imitate God. Long story short, we   thought we could imitate God’s ability to create,  maintain, and destroy, so the Lord let us take  

Birth in this temporary place we call earth. Here  we get to interact with material nature, or maya,   and pretend to be the cause of the results of  our activities. We think ourselves the doers,   a mindset which results in a false sense  of proprietorship. The downside is that  

We also assume all of the pressures  that go with preserving our existence. The plight of modern day governments serves as  a great example in this regard. Government only   exists to provide protection to the innocent. Each  individual has a right to their life, liberty,  

And the pursuit of happiness. In addition, we have  a right to defend ourselves from those who try to   infringe upon our property and life. Government  therefore represents the collective right of   self-defense for a large group of people. We see  that today’s governments are mostly struggling,  

Especially in the financial department. In  America, the federal government is running massive   annual budget deficits of upwards of a trillion  dollars. The leaders have promised all sorts of   handouts through programs known as entitlements,  and they have found themselves strapped for cash  

As a result. Fearing a revolt from the people,  the government is hesitant to cut spending or   raise tax rates which are already high. The  government is thus forced to sink further   and further into debt by issuing treasury notes,  most of which are bought up by foreign countries.

Government is the representative of the people,  so its problems only reflect the realities that   many of us face. Material life is not meant to be  easy. This struggle that we endure is by design,   for it helps us understand that there is a  higher power. The sooner we realize this fact,  

The better. The real aim of human life is to  understand that God is the original proprietor   of everything, our best friend, and the supreme  object of pleasure. Those who surrender to God   can have all their burdens taken away, while  those who challenge Him will suffer greatly.  

This was the lesson taught by Sita Devi, the  wife of Lord Rama, many thousands of years ago. During the Treta Yuga, God appeared on earth as  a warrior prince named Rama. Taking His wife Sita   and younger brother Lakshmana with Him, the Lord  roamed the forests of India for fourteen years. On  

One particular occasion, Rama and Lakshmana were  lured away from their cottage in the forest, which   left Sita vulnerable to an attack by the Rakshasa  demon Ravana. He forcibly took Sita away and   brought her back to his island kingdom of Lanka.  Ravana desperately wanted Sita for his wife,  

But she detested him. In the above referenced  quote, Sita is extolling the virtues of Rama   and Lakshmana and explaining how they would have  utterly destroyed Ravana if he would have tried   taking her while in their presence. On a previous  occasion, Ravana had sent an army of Rakshasas  

To attack Rama in the forest of Janasthana.  Rama easily destroyed all 14,000 Rakshasas,   including Ravana’s half-brother, the powerful  Khara. Sita makes reference to this incident   by stating that Rama would have killed Ravana in  the same way that He had previously killed Khara.

Rama, being God Himself, had the shoulders of a  lion. He and Lakshmana were the greatest warriors   in the world, and they used their fighting  prowess to defend the innocent. Ravana,   on the other hand, acquired his powers unnaturally  through boons from the demigods. In a sense,  

His prowess was on loan from divine elements,  but sadly he didn’t realize this. He thought   that he was stronger than God. Ravana thought  he could handle ruling the entire world. This   flawed mentality led him to committing the  fatal mistake of kidnapping Sita. Rama and  

Lakshmana would eventually come through for Sita  by marching to Lanka and killing Ravana in battle. We should transfer the burden of our problems  to God. The Lord doesn’t want us to constantly   hanker and lament. He wants us to simply execute  our prescribed duties without attachment for the  

Result. At the same time, we should dedicate  all our activities to Him. Following these two   principles, which represent real surrender, we can  be protected from all sinful reactions and enjoy   a peaceful life. If we try to fight through  our day-to-day problems without God’s help,  

We will always fail in the same way that Ravana  did. As validated by Sita, Lord Rama has an   effulgence that sheds light upon darkness. We  can slowly bring our consciousness out of the   darkness and into the light of knowledge  by regularly chanting the Lord’s names,  

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. CHAPTER 3 – YOGESHVARA “Those mighty Rakshasas which you  spoke of, who have a ghastly form,   will all be rendered impotent by Raghava  [Rama], just as Suparna [Garuda] removes  

The venom from serpents.” (Sita Devi speaking  to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.6) In this passage, Sita Devi is comparing Ravana’s  Rakshasa demon associates to snakes. There are   many varieties of species in existence due to the  limitless combinations of material qualities that  

A living entity can possess. Rakshasas are not  a fictional or mythological species, but rather   a real-life ghoulish type of living entity. They  are human-like, but atheistic in nature. Unlike   the suras, or devotees of God, the Rakshasas  spend all of their time associating with the  

Mode of ignorance, essentially doing those things  which lack intelligence and passion. Snakes are   cold-blooded reptiles that attack other species  with their deadly venom. For this reason, they are   one of the most feared species. The Supreme Lord,  however, being the master of all mysticism, can  

Control anyone, regardless of how venomous they  are. Therefore one of His names is Yogeshvara. God is one, meaning there isn’t a separate  God for each religious faith. One sect may   have certain beliefs and dogmas that they adhere  to, while another group believes in other things,  

But God doesn’t divide Himself. No one  can become God; He has always been and   will always continue to be the Supreme Lord.  The Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India,   try to give us an understanding of some  of the Lord’s features, attributes,  

And pastimes. This is done so as to help the  living entities foster an attachment to God,   since that is the only way one can break free  of the repeated cycle of birth and death. God’s qualities and potencies are unlimited,  but nevertheless, the Vedas describe some  

Of His most celebrated attributes. Since God  has performed so many activities in the past,   He has been addressed by many different names,  each of which acknowledges a specific incident or   characteristic. For example, the original form of  God is Lord Krishna, whose name means one who is  

All-attractive. Krishna Himself has thousands  of other names. Govinda means one who gives   pleasure to the senses and the cows; Keshava  means the slayer of the Keshi demon, Achyuta   means infallible, and so forth. These names are  important to know because they serve as a way of  

Reminding the living entity of God’s greatness.  In our day-to-day lives, we have the tendency to   extol the virtues of those who are successful in  a material sense. Be they a famous golfer, movie   star, or politician, we like to praise others  who are capable of doing things that most of  

Us aren’t. This inherent desire to praise others  comes from our natural propensity to love God. In   this world, however, all of our natural tendencies  get misdirected towards imperfect things. By definition, anything material, meaning  something which possesses qualities of goodness,  

Passion, or ignorance, is considered imperfect,  and for two reasons. The first reason is that   material qualities are temporary and the source  of much grief and distress. Material qualities   are known as gunas in Sanskrit, and another  translation for guna is rope. Material qualities  

Are considered to be like ropes because they bind  the living entity to the cycle of birth and death.   In the spiritual world, gunas do not exist.  Every spirit soul there is free to associate   with God while remaining in a spiritual body.  The material world is a sort of flawed replica  

Of the spiritual world. Christians believe that  man was made after God, and this is indeed true,   for God also has two hands, two legs, and a body  that looks similar to ours. The only difference   is that Krishna’s body is completely spiritual,  whereas our bodies are not. For the living entity,  

There is a difference between spirit and matter,  purusha and prakriti, but God is all purusha. One of Krishna’s names which we  should take note of is Yogeshvara,   meaning the master of yoga or mysticism. Most of  us are familiar with the vernacular term of yoga,  

Which is generally associated with an exercise  discipline consisting of difficult stretching   poses and intense breathing exercises. This  is actually just a type of yoga known as hatha   or ashtanga. The word yoga itself means to  achieve union of the soul with the Supersoul.  

Every living entity’s identity comes from the  soul residing within the body, atma. The term   atma can refer to body, mind, or soul, so a  more accurate name for our soul is jivatma,   the soul of the living entity [jiva]. God also has  a soul since He is the supreme spirit. Aside from  

His original form of Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord  expands Himself into the Paramatma, or Supersoul.   The Paramatma resides within the heart of every  living entity, so we all have God inside of us. We are all born into ignorance; a condition  which causes us to perform all types of  

Activities except yoga. This really isn’t  our fault since we’re not aware of the   presence of the Paramatma. Through the grace  of the bona fide representative of Krishna,   the spiritual master, we can learn about the  difference between matter and spirit and the  

Presence of God’s expansion residing within  us. Knowing about the Supersoul is one thing,   but that itself doesn’t really do anything for  us. We can graduate from a great university,   but until we actually apply our knowledge in  the real world, our degree is meaningless. In  

A similar manner, simply knowing that God is  great and that God exists doesn’t help us any.   We actually have to realize God’s presence, which  can only be achieved through the practice of yoga. God reveals Himself in three primary ways:  Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. Bhagavan  

Is His original form, thus it is superior to  the other two. Nevertheless, since the Lord   can be realized in different ways, there exist  different types of yoga. There is jnana-yoga,   which involves studying the difference between  matter and spirit and gradually negating all  

Activities in hopes of merging with the Lord’s  impersonal effulgence known as Brahman. Hatha   or ashtanga-yoga involves intense meditation  and bodily adjustments aimed at mitigating the   effects of the gross senses. This in turn leads  to realization of Paramatma. When people speak of  

Yogis, they are usually referring to this class  of transcendentalists who perform meditation. Since hatha-yoga helps block out the senses,  there are naturally some nice side effects   that come along. These side-effects are known as  siddhis, or perfections. These perfections allow  

A person to perform miraculous feats, similar  to those of the famous Houdini. For example,   one can escape out of their body and fly around to  different planets. A person can become extremely   small and escape out of locked rooms. A person  can also become extremely large. In India there  

Are many such yogis who perform this magic in  front of others. The Vedic literatures even tell   us of a few famous devotees who were once expert  yogis. The son of Vyasadeva, Shukadeva Gosvami,   was an expert mystic who achieved transcendental  bliss. The famous King of Mithila, Maharaja  

Janaka, was a great yogi. He also happened to be  the father of Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama. Both Janaka and Shukadeva eventually found a  higher engagement. Since they were great devotees,   they achieved real perfection in  life by taking up bhakti-yoga,  

Or devotional service. Bhakti means love or  devotion, so bhakti-yoga involves dovetailing   all of one’s activities for the service of  God, in His original form of Bhagavan. In   one sense bhakti is easy to practice because  it simply involves surrendering unto God and  

Dedicating all of one’s activities to  Him. On the other hand, the one thing   that keeps material life going is the living  entity’s flawed belief that it can imitate God. So why is it important to know that Krishna  is Yogeshvara? Meditational yogis have a hard  

Time ascending to the platform of bhakti. They  are attracted by the hope of attaining mystical   perfections, or siddhis. They think that if they  spend enough time in meditation, they will achieve   perfection in life. They will either be able  to live forever, achieve mukti [liberation],  

Or possess some great mystical power. The  Vedas tell us, however, that no matter how   great a yogi one becomes, God always remains  superior. He is the master of all mystic power. Some devotees might get offended hearing that  God is compared to a mystic or a magician,  

For magicians are really ventriloquists, i.e.  people who perform fake tricks. God is not that   type of magician. He is described as a mystic  because that is the language understood by   the followers of meditational yoga. Simply by  exhaling, Lord Narayana [Krishna’s four-armed   expansion] created this and innumerable other  universes. Simply by inhaling, these same  

Universes will be ultimately destroyed. A great  yogi may be able to move a spoon with their mind,   but Krishna creates millions of planets that all  float in the air by their own power. We don’t have  

The power to create anything that can float on its  own for even a day, let alone billions of years. All these facts may seem obvious  to many of us. “Sure God is great,   I understand that. What’s so important about  knowing His mystical powers?” These facts are  

Important because many people either choose  to ignore them or don’t believe in them. They   believe that the world was created through some  random explosion of chemicals, while some even   take themselves to be God. The famous demon  Ravana was one such atheist, belonging to the  

Latter group. He was no expert in yoga, but  he managed to acquire great material wealth   and strength by pleasing the demigods, Krishna’s  chief deputies in charge of the material creation. Ravana could defeat anyone in battle, and he was  given immunity from defeat against all celestials,  

Animals and other great beings.  There was a loophole, however,   in that he wasn’t immune against the attacks  of human beings. Taking advantage of this,   Lord Krishna appeared on earth in the guise  of a human being named Rama. Being the eldest  

Son of the king of Ayodhya, Lord Rama was an  expert kshatriya warrior, capable of defeating   anyone in battle. He was married to the beautiful  daughter of King Janaka, Sita Devi, and the two   roamed the forests of India for fourteen years  along with Rama’s younger brother, Lakshmana.

The above referenced statement was made  by Sita Devi to Ravana. While the group   was residing in the forest of Dandaka, Rama and  Lakshmana got diverted away from their cottage,   which left Sita all by herself. Ravana used this  opportunity to come and kidnap her. Taking her  

Back to his island kingdom of Lanka, Ravana  tried every which way possible to win over   Sita. He described to her the great prowess  of all the Rakshasas of his kingdom. Ravana   essentially thought that Rama was a pauper. “Her  husband is a lonely man cast into the forest by  

His father. Surely she will be attracted by my  opulence.” Sita, however, was a perfect devotee,   so she was well aware of Rama’s power. She told  Ravana that he and his Rakshasas were nothing more   than snakes, and that her husband would easily  defang them, in the same way that Suparna does.

Suparna is another name for Garuda, the  bird-carrier of Lord Vishnu. He is the   king of birds, and all snakes are afraid of him  because he regularly terrorizes them. Garuda is   the faithful servant of God, and snakes are viewed  as venomous demons. Sita Devi, ever the poet,  

Used this great metaphor to drive home  the point that Lord Rama would easily   defeat Ravana. Her words would prove  true as Rama would eventually come   to her aid and defeat and kill all the  Rakshasas of Lanka, including Ravana.

God is the master of all mysticism. He  can charm all the snakes in the world,   no matter how poisonous their venom may be. Ravana  was a snake-like person in that he went behind   Lord Rama’s back and kidnapped His wife. He didn’t  have the guts to take on Rama in battle and try  

To win Sita that way, for he knew he would have  been defeated. There are many snake-like people   around today who take the forms of atheists and  enemies of devotees. The lesson we can take away   from Sita’s statement is that we have no need  to fear any of these demons. God comes to the  

Rescue of the devotees in the same way that He  came to Sita’s aid. The Lord can easily remove   the venom from the demons of the world, so we  simply have to worry about our own activities.  

We simply have to stick to the path of devotional  service and let Yogeshvara work His magic. CHAPTER 4 – TIDAL WAVE “The arrows decorated with gold released from  His [Rama’s] bowstring will eradicate your body,   just as the waves of the River Ganga  strike against her banks.” (Sita Devi  

Speaking to Ravana, Valmiki  Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.7) Death is like an ocean current that cannot  be stopped. For one who takes birth, death is   guaranteed; there is nothing anyone can do to stop  it from happening. The human being is intelligent  

Enough to eventually realize this fact, and thus  finds different ways to deal with it. Of all the   different strategies employed, the Vedas tell us  that the best one is that used by Vishnu bhaktas,   or devotees of God. The aim of human life is to  seek out one’s best friend, the supreme object of  

Pleasure, and original proprietor of everything.  The devotees understand that God fits all of these   qualifications, thus they use everything  in their power to remain attached to Him. People usually deal with their mortality in one  of two ways. The first class chooses to ignore  

The imminent nature of death and simply goes  about their daily lives. By default, we human   beings are born into ignorance. We walk around  in diapers for the first few years of our lives,   being completely dependent on our parents  for everything. We would actually die if  

It were not for the care given to us by our  elders in the early stages of our lives. Due   to the inherent ignorance of the jiva soul,  it doesn’t realize its mortality until later   on in life. Because of this, most of  us grow up to be worshipers of matter.

The Vedas tell us that there is one God for all  of mankind. He takes many different forms, but His   original form is that of Lord Shri Krishna, who is  also known as Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality   of Godhead. Krishna, being the energetic,  takes two direct expansions, or energies.  

One of the energies is known as prakriti, or the  inferior energy. Prakriti is matter. Krishna’s   other expansion is that of purusha, or spirit.  Spirit is known as the superior energy because   it controls matter. We can see this principle  in action in our daily lives. Our hands, legs,  

Feet, etc. are all composed of gross material  elements. They are essentially useless without   the spirit soul residing within us. It is the  presence of the soul that gives something life.   The event that we know to be death is actually  the exiting of the soul from the material body.

The jiva souls are technically part of Krishna’s  marginal energy. Constitutionally we are the   same as Krishna, meaning we are spirit  souls at the core. Yet, unlike Krishna,   we have the propensity to associate with matter,  or God’s inferior energy. For Lord Krishna  

And all His personal expansions, there is no  difference between matter and spirit. For example,   Lord Krishna’s hands, legs, and arms are all  completely spiritual and non-different from   His identity. The same can’t be said for the  living entities. As spirit souls, we are meant  

To associate exclusively with the spiritual  energy, but due to our subordinate nature,   we can fall victim to association with matter,  or the inferior energy. God is the energetic   and we are His energy. When the energy and  the energetic meet, there is peace, harmony,  

And bliss. The embodiment of this union can  be seen on the planet of Krishnaloka, where   the Lord directly associates with His pleasure  potency expansions, the gopis. The greatest gopi,   and the perfect representation of God’s energy, is  Shrimati Radharani. Radha and Krishna are always  

Worshiped together because they are the symbol of  perfection in life. They symbolize what our goal   in life should be: the union of the soul with God.  At the same time, Radha and Krishna are more than   just symbols; they factually exist and constantly  enjoy with each other in the spiritual world.

The living entities have a choice as to which  energy they associate with. The jiva souls,   those of us who take birth in this material world,  had some past desire to associate with matter.   That is the reason for our birth. While our  current body is perishable, the soul is eternal,  

So this means that we have suffered or enjoyed  through many previous births. The work we   performed and the desires we accumulated from  our previous births determined the circumstances   of our current life. In this way, nothing is an  accident. Since we have a desire to associate with  

The inferior energy, it is not surprising to see  that most of us end up being worshipers of matter. What does this mean precisely? How does someone  worship matter? Sex life serves as a nice example.   Sex is considered the highest material pleasure,  thus it also serves as the greatest hindrance to  

The cultivation of spiritual knowledge. Sex  life is based on physical attraction. We see   a beautiful man or woman and we desire to  associate with them intimately. In this way,   we are essentially worshiping a person’s bodily  attributes, features which are nothing more than  

Matter. The body is composed of all sorts of  disgusting elements like blood, pus, mucus,   and urine. Yet it is precisely this body that we  find attractive. Not only is the body material,   but it is ever changing. It is subject to  old age, disease, and death. So in this way,  

We see that exclusive worship of  matter is a flawed engagement. There are other ways to worship matter,  namely the acquisition of material wealth,   strength, and fame. The news media provides  a great example of this. They chronicle the   day-to-day lives of famous celebrities, movie  stars, and athletes. These people are famous  

Because they have succeeded in some material  venture. They garner great attention from the   general public because most of us wish we  were like them. Having a high paying job,   a beautiful wife, nice children, and a  big house are seen as the goals of life.  

High schools and colleges hold reunions  every year where students who graduated   together ten or more years prior meet up with  each other and catch up. At these reunions,   we find out what our fellow classmates have  done with their lives, and then we use that as a  

Barometer for measuring our own success. The Vedas  tell us that this is a flawed mindset because   while acquiring material perfections is certainly  nice, death will eventually take everything away. There are others who deal with death in a  different way. They become angry with God  

And material nature in general. They understand  how fleeting material happiness is and how gross   matter fails to provide any happiness. As a  result, they take to the negation of activity.   Being frustrated with material life, they hope  to stop all activity through deep philosophical  

Study and meditation. They want to make everything  zero, shunyavada. This is the cornerstone of the   Buddhist and Mayavada philosophies. Buddhists  aim to cancel out the effects of the senses   and hopefully reach a state of complete void.  This type of liberation is known as nirvana,  

An end to material life but no engagement in  spiritual life. The Mayavadis are similar,   except that they believe in God, but a God who has  no form. Thus their aim is the same, the cessation   of all activity, but their hope is to merge  into Brahman, or God’s impersonal effulgence.

The Vedas tell us that both the worshipers and  haters of matter are missing the point in their   ultimate conclusion. Worshiping matter is flawed  because one is still required to take birth again   after the current life. This means that one  will have to start the whole process again.  

The haters of matter are also flawed because  it is the inherent nature of the soul to be   active. We crave individuality. Thus if we achieve  liberation through the cessation of all activity,   we lose our identities. This in essence represents  a form of spiritual suicide. Eventually, we will  

Crave our identity again, which will result in  us being thrown back into the material world. If both of these philosophies are flawed, what is  the right way to deal with death? For the answer,   we simply have to look to the example set  by the great Vaishnava saints and devotees  

Of the past. Perfection in life comes  when we achieve pure Krishna, or God,   consciousness. The discipline to achieve  this mindset is known as bhakti-yoga,   or devotional service. As mentioned before, the  soul is happiest when it is associating with God  

In a loving way; when the energy and the energetic  are combined. God resides in the spiritual world,   and He certainly can never associate with matter.  However, He appears on earth from time to time   in a spiritual body to enact pastimes and  give protection to the devotees. Not only  

Does He appear in His avatara form, but the  Lord also incarnates in other ways, such as   through His names, stories about Him detailed  in the Vedic literatures, and His deity form. It is through the mercy of the incarnations  that the spirit souls are allowed to directly  

Associate with the Lord during their current  lifetime. The secret to success comes from   using matter to our benefit. Matter is certainly  inferior, but if we use it for Krishna’s service,   it becomes spiritualized. The deity is a great  example of this. We can take something as simple  

As stone or wood and use it to construct  a statue representation of the Lord. Some   people mistakenly believe that Hindus take part in  idol worship, but there is no similarity between   an idol and a deity of an authorized form of  the Lord. Krishna’s body factually exists,  

For it is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge,  sach-chid-ananda-vigraha. The deity is known as   the archa-vigraha because it is a spiritual  body that can be worshiped by the devotees. There are many other ways to practice  this same principle of using matter for  

One’s spiritual pursuits. The tongue and  the stomach are also products of nature,   but we can spiritualize both by regularly chanting  the Lord’s name, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,   Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama  Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, and   by eating Krishna prasadam [vegetarian  food offered with love and devotion to  

The deity]. The mind is considered a subtle  material element, but we can also purify it   by regularly thinking of God. Devotees use  everything at their disposal to increase   their God consciousness. Once they develop pure  love for the Lord, they can never forget Him.

One such great devotee is Sita Devi, the wife  of Lord Rama. Sita represents the perfection   of God’s energy, for she never thinks  of anyone except Rama. For this reason,   Lord Rama is always worshiped together with His  wife as Sita-Rama. During her pastimes on earth,  

Sita was unfortunately kidnapped by the Rakshasa  demon Ravana. This was preordained since Lord   Rama needed an excuse to take on the demon  in battle. In the above referenced statement,   Sita is informing Ravana that his death is  coming very soon at the hands of Rama. Ravana  

Had just kidnapped Sita and taken her to his  island kingdom of Lanka. He tried his best to   persuade her into giving in to his amorous  desires, but she was having none of it. Ravana was a devotee of matter. He was extremely  wealthy and possessed tremendous fighting skills.  

He propitiated Lord Brahma and Shiva and was  rewarded with great material boons. Yet his   wealth and fame weren’t enough; his lust drove  him to chase after another man’s wife. Sita knew   Ravana’s nature, so she made sure to remind him  that Rama’s arrows were plated with gold. Ravana  

Thought that Rama was a pauper since the Lord  was roaming the forests as an exile from His   kingdom of Ayodhya. Ravana couldn’t understand  what Sita saw in her husband. Sita reminded   Ravana that everything associated with Rama  was brilliant, including the weapons He used.

Sita also mentions that the force of Rama’s arrows  would be just like the force of the River Ganga   hitting her banks. In the Vedic tradition, the  Ganges River is considered sacred because she is   known as the demigod Ganga Devi, who emanates  from the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is  

God’s four-handed form. By using this comparison  to Ganga Devi, Sita is reaffirming Lord Rama’s   divinity. Since Lord Rama, an incarnation  of Lord Vishnu, is the source of Ganga Devi,   it would make sense that His weapons would  have the same power as the sacred river.

Death is just like a tidal wave, sucking up  everything in its path. It plays no favorites;   it will affect all of us at some point. Though we   have no control over when the river  known as death will swallow us up,  

We do have a choice as to where it will  take us. Ganga Devi is completely spiritual,   and those who give up their bodies while on her  banks receive liberation from the repeated cycle   of birth and death. She takes the soul back  to the spiritual world wherefrom it never  

Returns. Those who are washed up by the material  ocean, however, are forced to take birth again. We should use the knowledge of our impending death  as a wakeup call to take to devotional service.   This way we can guarantee that our soul can cross  over the ocean of nescience at the time of death.  

Sita’s words would hold true as Ravana, even for  all his heinous crimes, was eventually washed up   by the sacred river, for he thought of Lord Rama,  or God, at the time of death. If we can think of  

God in a loving way at the time of quitting  our body, our reward will be even greater. CHAPTER 5 – LUCK RUNS OUT “Although, O Ravana, you may be incapable of  being slain by either the demigods or the demons,  

Since you have created a very great enmity  with Rama, He will not let you get away   alive.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.8) Sita Devi, the glorious wife of Lord Rama, is  here informing the demon Ravana that his days  

Are numbered. Whatever good fortune he had in the  past was about to end due to one despicable act.   What crime was Ravana guilty of? He kidnapped  the wife of Lord Rama and forcibly brought her   into his custody on the island of Lanka. For  this transgression, Ravana would have to pay  

Dearly. Sita’s words would certainly hold true, as  Lord Rama didn’t let Ravana escape with his life. The first portion of Sita’s statement refers to  the immunity Ravana had from attacks from demigods   and asuras. Since the beginning of time, there  has been an ongoing struggle between the demigods,  

Or suras, and the non-devotees, the asuras.  The Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India,   don’t mention anything about a devil, but they  do tell us that every living entity possesses   different material qualities. A devotee  lives primarily in the mode of goodness,   which consists of knowledge, self-control,  and peace. Asuras live primarily in the mode  

Of ignorance, which can be characterized by  any activity that goes against the injunctions   of the revealed scriptures and which also is  devoid of any intentions for fruitive gain. Essentially, the battles between the suras and  the asuras are those between the forces of good  

And evil. Suras understand that God exists and  that the purpose of life is to serve Him. Asuras   identify solely with their gross material body,  not believing in any sort of higher power or an   afterlife. They believe that the ultimate aim  is to enjoy as much as possible for the short  

Duration of their time on earth. To this end,  they will do whatever it takes to satisfy the   sense demands of their body, including taking  to sinful activity. Ravana, though born of a   brahmana father, was a Rakshasa in quality from  his birth. A Rakshasa is a specific type of asura,  

Specializing in certain activities. Rakshasas love  to eat meat, and they do not discriminate when it   comes to the type they’ll eat. For example,  they have no problem eating human flesh,   for Ravana and his associates used to regularly  terrorize the saints living in the forests.

The events of Ravana’s life took place during the  Treta Yuga, which by most calculations occurred   millions of years ago. During those times,  the religious class of society, the brahmanas,   used to migrate to the forest since it was  more conducive to performing austerities,  

Or tapasya. The forests were actually  referred to as tapo-vanas due to their   spiritually welcoming environment. Rakshasas  were expert in black magic and witchcraft.   They would perform ghoulish sacrifices  aimed to pleasing ghosts and spirits. Ravana was a crafty Rakshasa, however, and he  knew that to get anywhere in life, he needed to  

Please more than just ghosts and goblins. He took  to worshiping various demigods, or suras. This is   rather ironic, for the Rakshasas and demigods  were great enemies, so how could Ravana worship   them? As stipulated by Lord Krishna, the Supreme  Personality of Godhead, the demigods are required  

To grant benedictions to whoever pleases them  properly. The material world which we live in is   a sort of neutral playing field. On the highest  level, there is no such thing as good and evil. What do we mean by material? Material refers to  matter, which is God’s inferior energy. Matter  

Is inferior because it is controlled by spirit,  which is superior. Constitutionally speaking,   we are all spirit souls, so we are  superior to matter. At the same time,   there is a supreme spirit known as God. Since He  is the most powerful spirit, we are subordinate  

To Him. When a person has material desires, it  means they have a desire to increase something   related to matter. For example, Ravana wanted to  achieve great wealth, fame, and fighting prowess.   These are all considered material things because  they aren’t related to helping the spirit soul.

How do we help the soul? The Vedas tell us that  the soul is happiest when it is in its natural   home, its most comfortable environment.  That home is in the spiritual world,   where Lord Krishna and His various expansions  reside. The soul is meant to be a lover of God,  

To be in constant union with the supreme spirit.  This union is achieved through the yoga process.   Yoga means acting for the benefit of the  soul, a soul which is superior to matter.   The soul represents our real identity, for the  gross body is created at some point in time,  

Performs some activities, and is then ultimately  destroyed at the time of death. The spirit soul,   however, never takes birth nor dies. It is  unbreakable, indestructible, and immutable. When it comes to our material aspirations, God  does not take an interest. Whether we want to  

Ascend to the heavenly planets or simply have  good health, the Supreme Lord always remains   aloof. This is because Krishna, or God, can  never directly associate with matter. To meet   the demands of the fruitive worker, the Lord has  deputed many highly elevated living entities known  

As demigods. It is their duty to fulfill the  desires of their devotees. Ravana, though a   Rakshasa, was equally entitled to the rewards  provided by the demigods. He performed great   austerities that were so severe that several  prominent demigods became very pleased with  

Him. Lord Brahma, the first created living entity  and demigod in charge of the mode of passion,   granted Ravana the boon that no demigod  or asura could defeat him in battle. Ravana was thrilled by this boon. He didn’t  believe in a God, so he thought that he had just  

Outsmarted his main rivals. What’s interesting is  that Ravana also asked for immunity from asuras,   or his fellow demons. The conditioned living  entity is forced to compete with his fellow   man for sense gratification. Through ignorance,  the non-devotees think that there is no God,  

So they in essence compete with each other  to become the supreme living entity on earth.   Ravana knew that his fellow asuras would compete  with him over issues of sense gratification,   so he made sure to ask for immunity  from them. This meant that Ravana  

Could take on any living entity on earth  and not have to worry about being killed. People in the mode of goodness will accurately  note that Ravana wasted all of his hard work   performing austerities. Devotees of God want  nothing to do with temporary material rewards,  

Which only provide fleeting happiness. An  abundance of possessions can drive one to   becoming a slave to the mode of passion, which  when left unchecked can lead to anger, lust,   and an overall lack of rationality. This  is precisely what happened with Ravana.  

Through his newly acquired powers, he became  the king of the island of Lanka. His kingdom   was exquisite and filled with many beautiful  gold-decked palaces, full of the most beautiful   women in the world. Ravana had many wives whom he  would cavort with regularly while drinking wine.

Yet this sinful life was not enough for him. Being  informed by his sister that a beautiful woman was   residing in the forest of Dandaka, Ravana decided  that he had to have her. This woman was Sita Devi,   the beautiful and chaste wife of Lord Rama.  The demigods, realizing that they could not  

Defeat Ravana in battle, petitioned Lord  Vishnu to come save them. Lord Krishna is   the original Personality of Godhead, and His chief  expansion is that of Lord Vishnu. The avataras,   or incarnations of God, that appear on earth  come from Lord Vishnu. Realizing that the  

Demigods were in a pickle, Vishnu decided to  appear on earth in the guise of a human for   the express purpose of killing Ravana.  In his haste to outsmart the demigods,   the silly demon forgot to ask for  immunity in battle from human beings.

Lord Vishnu came to earth as a handsome and pious  kshatriya warrior named Rama. He was married to   the daughter of King Janaka of Mithila, Sita,  and along with His younger brother, Lakshmana,   the Lord roamed the forests of India for fourteen  years. This excursion through the forest was no  

Accident, for the Lord needed an excuse to take  on Ravana in battle. Standard protocol stated   that a king could not attack another without  just cause. Ravana set up a diversion where   Rama and Lakshmana were lured away from Sita,  thus giving him an opportunity to kidnap her.

Sita’s kidnap sealed Ravana’s fate. Lord Rama had  the excuse that He needed. As Sita states above,   Lord Rama would not allow Ravana to get away  alive. Stealing God’s wife will do anyone in. This   is actually a great metaphor for how material life  works. Since God is the creator of this and every  

Other planet, we should assume that everything  belongs to Him. If we act with this knowledge   in mind, we aren’t committing any offenses. If we  live under the false impression that everything   here belongs to us, we are in a sense stealing  from God in the same way that Ravana stole Sita.

Does this mean that we are all doomed? Does  this mean that the Vedas don’t believe in   private property? We certainly do have  a claim to those things that we own,   but we should keep in mind that everything  is on loan from God. Not only do we have a  

Right to own property for the execution of our  regulative duties, but every other living entity   also has a right to their property. In this  way, we should live a peaceful life of mutual   respect and understanding for all life that  exists in this world. The best way to purify  

Ourselves is to use the property that we do own  for God’s service. This can be accomplished very   easily by performing our prescribed duties  and regularly chanting the holy names of God,   “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.

We should not raise hostilities with God, nor  should we encroach on His property. This human   form of life is a great boon because we have  the ability to understand God. We can see God   in His deity form, hear Him by chanting  His name, and taste Him by eating Krishna  

Prasadam. These experiences can be relished by  all human beings. Instead of competing with God,   we should work with Him in a loving way  and become His friend. This is the path   to perfection adopted by all the great  devotees past, present, and future. CHAPTER 6 – THE SACRIFICIAL STAKE

“The powerful Raghava [Rama] will  destroy whatever remains of your   life. Like the life of an animal tied to  the sacrificial stake, your own is incapable   of being reclaimed.” (Sita Devi speaking to  Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.9) Though devotees of Vishnu today refrain from  eating meat, there used to be a rich tradition  

Of elaborate sacrifices performed in the past  where even animals were killed as part of the   religious ceremonies. Kings and other exalted  living entities would go to great lengths to   perform these animal sacrifices, for these  rituals provided tremendous spiritual rewards  

Both for the performers and the animals that were  killed. In the Treta Yuga, the second time period   of creation, the performance of elaborate  sacrifices was the most effective method   for achieving transcendental realization.  As time went on, the practice was gradually  

Abolished as many were taking to killing  animals simply as an excuse to eat meat. Animal sacrifice, in the Vedic sense, is supposed  to be a completely religious experience. By   religion we mean that discipline pertaining to  the advancement of the soul. The spirit soul,  

Or atma, residing within our body forms the  basis of our identity. Our arms, hands, legs,   and face all go through changes, but our  identity always remains the same. This is   due to the presence of the soul. Religion, more  accurately known as sanatana-dharma, is the set  

Of guidelines and procedures that enables the  soul to eventually return to its original home,   the spiritual world. God, in His original form,  along with His various vishnu-tattva expansions,   resides in the spiritual world. There He is in  constant association with His pleasure potency  

Energy expansions. We living entities are meant to  be part of God’s superior energy, but in order to   associate with the Lord we must first break  free of our affinity for material activity. To this end, there are various processes laid down  by the scriptures which enable one to rekindle  

Their forgotten relationship with God. Sacrifice  is one of the central practices of any religious   discipline, so it is not surprising to see that  it plays a prominent role in the Vedic tradition.   Sacrifice essentially means voluntarily giving up  something enjoyable for the betterment of another  

Person or even for ourselves. Our parents, for  example, sacrifice a lot for our happiness. They   work very hard and give up their life of sense  gratification simply to provide a good upbringing   for us. We know from our own experiences that  children and young adults enjoy practicing  

A care-free lifestyle. During the 1960s in  America, there was a rebellion against the older   generation, with young adults not wanting to trust  anyone who was over thirty years old. This speaks   to the brash nature of the young; they never  want to be tied down by rules and regulations.

Yet we see that people gradually mature, and they  give up their unregulated way of life when they   have children or when they start an important  job. This is a form of sacrifice, for a person   understands that they must give up certain habits  in order to be successful in other areas such as  

Raising children and maintaining a steady job.  Religious life is similar in this regard. In   order to understand God and realize the presence  of the soul within, sacrifice is required. What is   it that we must sacrifice? Upon taking birth here,  we become enveloped in a cloud of illusion which  

Makes us think that we will be happy by meeting  the demands of the senses. “I want to eat this;   I want to eat that; I want to go here; I  want to go there, etc.” As we soon find out,  

The senses can never be truly satisfied. Aside  from pulling us in every which direction,   the demands of the senses also cause us  to drift further away from spiritual life. If we were to categorize the different  kinds of activities one could perform,  

Acts involving sense gratification would be  put on one side, while spiritual activities   would go on the opposite side. Spirituality  involves taking care of the demands of the   soul and not the senses. In order for this  to happen, we must sacrifice certain things  

That we have attachments to. In the Treta  Yuga, societal leaders relied heavily on   the animal community. In the Vedic tradition,  cows have always played a prominent role. Owning   a cow can virtually eliminate the poverty  problem. Simply by giving the cow a small  

Plot of land to live on, one can survive on  the bountiful fruits such as milk, cheese,   and yogurt, which are all freely provided by  the cow. The kings during Vedic times required   a strong military presence, with horses playing  an integral role. There were no planes, trains,  

Or automobiles, so any type of advanced  transportation required a fleet of horses. For these reasons, the Vedic scriptures often  recommended animal sacrifice as a religious   activity. In order to be considered a sacrifice,  the thing being given up must be something of  

Importance. The famous ashvamedha-yajna involved  giving up a horse. These animal sacrifices were   nothing like the killing of animals that goes  on today in slaughterhouses. The horses were   allowed to roam free for a year, travelling all  around the world. After the horse would come home,  

It would be tied to a stake, where it would  eventually be sacrificed in an official ceremony. These sacrifices were completely spiritual  in nature; the kings were giving up something   valuable to them. The animals were also  benefitted, for the soul residing within  

The animal was guaranteed to receive a human  body in the next life. The Vedas consider the   human species to be the most auspicious because  the human being has the intelligence to learn   about and love God. It is through the development  of this loving attachment to the Supreme Lord that  

A soul can finally achieve the perfection  of returning back to the spiritual world. As time went on, mankind’s adherence  to dharma, or religiosity, gradually   diminished to the point where brahmanas were  performing animal sacrifices simply to satisfy   the demands of the tongue. They wanted  to eat meat, so in the name of religion,  

They would regularly kill animals. To reform  this practice, Lord Krishna, God Himself,   personally appeared on earth as Lord Buddha.  Lord Buddha outwardly denied the authority of   the Vedas in order to give his philosophy  of non-violence credence. This is a great  

Example of God’s mercy. He knew that at the time  people could not achieve spiritual perfection by   killing animals unnecessarily. In order to help  mankind gradually reform, the Lord preached   against the Vedas. Thus the animal sacrifice  practice was stopped, eventually leading to the  

Condition today where followers of the Vedas  don’t eat any type of meat, fish, or eggs. In a properly executed Vedic animal  sacrifice, the animal is tied to a stake   and then guaranteed spiritual advancement  after it is killed. In a similar manner,  

The demon Ravana was metaphorically sacrificed  by Lord Rama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.   In the Treta Yuga, God appeared on earth to  reinstitute the principles of religion and   to annihilate the miscreants in the form  of the Rakshasa demons who were harassing  

The saintly people of the earth. Lord Rama  was born and raised in a kshatriya family,   so He was quite familiar with the concept  of an animal sacrifice. In fact, His father,   Maharaja Dasharatha, performed an Ashvamedha-yajna  that eventually led to the Lord’s appearance.

During Lord Rama’s time, the demon Ravana was  chief among the Rakshasas. He ruled over an   island kingdom known as Lanka and he was extremely  powerful. Even the demigods, or elevated living   entities, feared him. Rama couldn’t kill Ravana  outright, however. The Lord, taking birth in a  

Family of pious kings, vowed to adhere to the  established codes of conduct, or dharma. These   rules stipulated that a king should never attack  another person without due cause. In this way,   Lord Rama really couldn’t attack Ravana unless  and until Ravana did something to provoke Him.

Ravana took care of this by kidnapping Lord  Rama’s wife, Sita. Ravana brought Sita back   to his kingdom of Lanka and held her captive  in a garden. In the above referenced quote,   Sita is responding to Ravana’s advances. She  is informing him that his days are numbered  

And that Rama will destroy him very soon. Sita  compares Ravana’s fate to that of an animal tied   to a sacrificial stake. What’s ironic here  is that according to the material vision,   it was Sita who was the captive of Ravana.  Yet from her authoritative statements,  

We can understand that it was Ravana who  had the noose around his neck and not Sita. Just as a sacrificial animal is guaranteed  of spiritual elevation, Ravana was similarly   provided the same luxury. Lord Rama eventually  marched to Lanka and killed Ravana in battle.  

Fighting with God and being killed directly by  Him are not everyday occurrences. As their reward,   such fighters are granted mukti, or the  liberation of merging into the body of   the Supreme Lord. Liberation means that the soul  is released from the cycle of birth and death.  

There are five primary types of liberation,  each depending on a person’s consciousness   at the time of death. Ravana was thinking  of God as an enemy at the time of death,   so he received a specific type of mukti. If  such a reward is bestowed upon God’s enemies,  

One can only imagine what is in store for the  devotees. Lord Rama’s closest associates were   granted the boon of being forever devoted to Him.  All the people of Ayodhya, the kingdom which Lord   Rama ruled as king, returned to the spiritual  world at the same time as Lord Rama. In this way,  

They were granted the best type of liberation,  that of eternal loving association with the Lord. We don’t need to kidnap God’s wife or anger  the Lord in order to be benefitted spiritually.   We don’t even need to kill animals. In this  age, animals don’t play as prominent a role  

In our economic livelihood since advanced  technology has greatly increased our food   producing capabilities. Sacrificing animals  isn’t necessary because we aren’t really giving   up much by killing them. The only bona fide  sacrifice in this age is the sankirtana-yajna,   or the congregational chanting of the holy  names of God, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,  

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama  Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. How can chanting be a sacrifice? Chanting the name  of God requires us to engage our tongue, our ears,   and most importantly, our time. In this fast paced  world we don’t have much time to think about God.  

We are busy studying hard in school or putting  in long hours at the office. When we come home,   there are the demands of the family and the  house that must be met. If we are lucky enough  

To get free time, we just want to relax. In  this way, we see that spending time reciting   God’s name is certainly a sacrifice. Just as  with the sacrifices performed in previous ages,   the performance of sankirtana greatly  benefits the soul. Sankirtana is an  

Integral part of bhakti-yoga, or devotional  service. It is the practice of this yoga   that enables us to change our consciousness  from the material to the spiritual world. If   we think of God at the time of death, we are  guaranteed to return to His spiritual abode.

Ravana unintentionally tied himself to the  sacrificial stake by kidnapping Sita. Lord   Rama came to rescue Sita, but in the process,  also rescued Ravana’s soul. For the devotees,   there is a much more peaceful path to  salvation. We simply have to envelop   ourselves in the transcendental sound  vibrations of the holy names of God. The  

Lord will most certainly hear this sound  and come to our rescue in the same way. CHAPTER 7 – ASH TO ASH “Should Rama look at you with His  angry blazing eyes, you, O Rakshasa,   would be burned to death in an instant,  just as Manmadha [Cupid] was by Rudra  

[Shiva].” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.10) This statement is in reference to a  famous historical incident where Kamadeva,   the god of love [Cupid], was burned to  ashes by a single glance of Lord Shiva,   the greatest of all the demigods.  This one incident serves as a great  

Metaphor to explain what happens  to the enemies of devotees of God. Lord Shiva is worshiped as the one and  original God by many people around the world,   but the Vedas tell us that he is somewhere  in between a demigod and the original form  

Of Godhead. The supreme ishvara, or controller,  is Lord Shri Krishna. He then directly expands   Himself into Lord Vishnu, who then further  expands Himself into other forms. All direct   personal expansions of Krishna are referred  to as vishnu-tattva. To carry out various   functions in the material world, the Lord  personally descends from the spiritual  

World from time to time. The forms of the  Lord that descend to the material world are   referred to as avataras. The avataras can then  be further broken down into various categories. The three presiding deities of the universe,  Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesha [Shiva] are  

Technically classified as guna-avataras. Guna  means a material quality or rope. In actuality   these definitions both mean the same thing since  possessing material qualities causes one to get   bound up in the repeated cycle of birth and death.  For something to be considered material, it must  

Possess the three gunas of goodness, passion,  and ignorance to varying degrees. Lord Krishna,   or God, can never directly associate with any  guna, so He takes the form of three avataras   to manage material affairs. Lord Brahma is in  charge of creation, so he is the presiding deity  

Of the mode of passion. Lord Shiva is in charge of  destruction, so he is the presiding deity of the   mode of ignorance. Lord Vishnu is the maintainer  and thus in charge of the mode of goodness. Lord   Vishnu is a personal expansion of another form  of Vishnu who resides in the spiritual world.  

In this way, Lord Vishnu is superior and  not considered part of the material world. Lord Brahma is a living entity just like all  of us, except that his duration of life is   much longer. Nevertheless, he takes birth at  a certain time and then dies many millions  

Of years later. Since he is an elevated  living entity, he is known as a demigod,   or deva. There are thousands of demigods, but Lord  Brahma is a chief deva due to the fact that all   living entities can trace their lineage back to  him. Lord Shiva is considered to be in between a  

Demigod and the Supreme Lord. The best analogy  used to explain this is the comparison between   milk and yogurt. Yogurt and milk can be considered  the same since yogurt could not exist without   milk. Yet at the same time, yogurt is different  from milk, for the two products cannot be used  

Interchangeably. In this respect, Lord Shiva  is compared to yogurt and Lord Vishnu to milk. Even though Lord Shiva is in charge of  the mode of ignorance, he does not live   in this mode. On the contrary, he is a great  devotee of God. He loves Vishnu very much,  

And he is especially attached to Lord Vishnu’s  avatara of Lord Rama. As mentioned before,   God personally descends to earth from time to  time to enact various pastimes, including the   killing of miscreants and the protecting of the  saintly class of men. During the Treta Yuga,  

Vishnu’s appearance on earth was as a kshatriya  prince named Rama. Born as the eldest son of King   Dasharatha of Ayodhya, Rama was loved and  adored by all. He was an excellent warrior   who wielded the bow and arrow. His wife was the  most beautiful princess of Mithila, Sita Devi.

The two were happily married and enjoying life in  Ayodhya when Rama was suddenly banished from the   kingdom by His father. Taking His younger  brother, Lakshmana, and Sita with Him,   Rama roamed the forests of India for fourteen  years. While staying in the forest of Dandaka,  

Sita was kidnapped by the Rakshasa demon Ravana.  The demon had heard about a beautiful princess   staying in the forest, and he was determined  to have her as his wife. He also heard about   Rama being exiled, so he thought that  the Lord must be a pauper and incapable  

Of defending Himself. Still, many of Ravana’s  associates warned him against agitating Rama,   for they had seen His fighting ability. They  told Ravana that he would be easily defeated   in battle against the Lord. Resolved to  have Sita, Ravana devised a plan whereby  

Rama and Lakshmana would be lured away from  their cottage, leaving Sita all by herself. The plan worked, and Sita was brought back to  Ravana’s island kingdom of Lanka. Though he   tried his hardest to win her over, she wanted no  part of him. In the above referenced statement,  

Sita is sternly rebuking Ravana  and warning him of his impending   fate. She emphatically declares that  Rama will come and burn him to ashes   in the same way that Lord Shiva  killed the god of love, Kamadeva. Sita’s statement refers to a very famous incident  documented in many Vedic texts. A long time ago  

There was a demon that rose to power in the  world. This demon was somehow granted the boon   that no one could kill him in battle except for  a son of Lord Shiva. The demon was smart in this   matter because he knew that Shiva lived a very  austere lifestyle. Mahadeva [Shiva] prefers to  

Spend all his time meditating on the lotus  feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,   so the chances of him having a son were  very small. Thinking he had outsmarted   the demigods, the demon then took to  wreaking havoc throughout the world.

The demigods were at a loss. They didn’t know  what to do, so they petitioned Kamadeva to fire   up lusty desires in Lord Shiva. Cupid then one day  approached a meditating Mahadeva and shot him with   arrows of love. Lord Shiva became so enraged by  this that he immediately turned around and shot  

A fiery glance at Kamadeva using his third  eye. Immediately the god of love was burned   to ashes. The arrows shot from Cupid eventually  resulted in Kartikeya, a great general, being   born to Lord Shiva. Kartikeya ended up killing the  demon and alleviating the fears of the demigods.

Sita’s referencing of this story is important  for two reasons. The first is that Ravana was   a devotee of Lord Shiva. Ravana wasn’t a pure  devotee, but he certainly viewed Shiva with awe   and reverence. In fact, he only became a devotee  of Shiva after trying to pick a fight with him.  

In retaliation, Mahadeva started crushing Ravana’s  fingers until he cried uncle. Lord Shiva is very   powerful, and generally the demoniac envy this  power and want to imitate it. For this reason,   they take to worshiping Mahadeva in hopes  that he’ll grant them some power-augmenting  

Boons. This was precisely the case with Ravana.  Sita knew that Ravana was a worshiper of Shiva,   so she wanted to remind him that just  as Shiva had burned an enemy to ashes,   so Rama would do the same to him. Her  prediction would hold true as Rama  

Would eventually march to Lanka, take  on Ravana in battle, and destroy him. Sita’s comparison to the burning of Kamadeva is  also important because it teaches us how we can   deal with obstacles that come along in life. For  devotees of God, the path to salvation is riddled  

With thorns. This is true for many reasons, the  primary of which is the attachment to material   life. Since mankind is accustomed to meeting the  demands of the gross senses, taking to religious   life can be very difficult at first. Along with  regularly chanting “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,  

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama,  Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, devotees of Krishna abstain   from meat eating, gambling, illicit sex, and  intoxication. These things aren’t easy to give up,   so it requires strong determination. Not  only are there self-imposed obstacles,   but other living entities also throw up  roadblocks to the path to self-realization.

This was the case with Ravana. Sita was a pure  devotee, an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi who   appeared on earth to play her natural role as  consort to the Supreme Lord. Ravana wanted to   have her all for himself, so he put her through  so much difficulty by holding her captive in his  

Kingdom. Nevertheless, Sita simply kept her mind  fixed on the lotus feet of Rama, and eventually   the Lord came and slew the demon. In this way,  we can see that all unwanted things in life can   be easily removed by simply keeping our minds  fixed on the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord.

CHAPTER 8 – FROM THE MOON TO THE EARTH “He [Rama], who is capable of bringing the  moon in the sky down to earth or destroying it,   or drying up the ocean, can certainly  also rescue Sita from this place.” (Sita   Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki  Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.11)

Human beings have been enamored by the  moon since the beginning of time. A huge   circular object that remains high in the  sky and provides us beautiful light during   the nighttime, the moon is something we’ve  all wondered about. When we drive at night,  

It often appears that the moon is following us.  It controls our tides and is also linked to our   astrological fortunes, so why wouldn’t  we want to study it further? Many have   believed that if they could just figure out  the secret behind the workings of the moon,  

This knowledge might then open the door  to solving the rest of life’s problems. Long before man ever set foot on the moon, the  great French science-fiction writer Jules Verne   pondered the thought of man’s going to the moon in  his book, From the Earth to the Moon, written in  

1865. Since then, technological advancements drew  man closer and closer to space travel. After World   War II, the Cold War started between the United  States and the Soviet Union. There was essentially   a race to see who could put a man into outer  space first. Going to space wasn’t enough though,  

As there was also a competition to see which  country could first land on the moon. The U.S.   would win the battle, with Neil Armstrong being  the first man to set foot on the moon in 1969. It was important for America to reach the  moon because it showed a sign of technological  

Advancement. The Cold War was a battle of  ideologies: capitalism versus communism.   The idea was that by landing on the moon first,  Americans proved that their brand of government   was better than the Soviets. Many people  dispute that the moon landing ever occurred,  

For there are several anomalies related to the  event, but to this day it is the widely held   belief that man did indeed land on the moon.  It is generally viewed as a great triumph. The moon landing took great effort. Space  exploration is not cheap, and the effort cost  

The government hundreds of millions of dollars.  Outer space is not an environment that the human   body can survive in, so space exploration  requires expensive rocket ships, space suits,   and oxygen tanks. Though the moon landing and  space exploration in general are lauded as  

Great achievements, what did mankind really gain  from such ventures? Were they able to figure out   how the moon works? Can they control the moon?  We may understand a little bit more about the   moon’s physical features, including its climate  and atmosphere, but we don’t really understand  

How it got to be where it is and why it  functions the way that it does. In fact,   the U.S. government recently bombed the moon in  hopes of finding out if there is any water there. One person who does know about the moon and  the rest of the universe is God. This may  

Seem overly simplistic, but it’s a fact that  gets lost in the day-to-day goings on of the   world. Especially amongst followers of the  Vedas, the moon represents a beautiful part   of God’s creation that plays an important role  in everyday life. The lunar cycle is even used  

As the calendar system in the Vedic tradition.  God created the moon, and through His energies,   He manages its functions. This was a point  made by Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama. Many thousands of years ago, God incarnated on  earth as a kshatriya prince named Rama. Why would  

God appear on earth? At the time, there was a  Rakshasa demon by the name of Ravana who was   harassing the saintly people on earth. Most of  the time the Lord remains neutral when it comes   to the ups and downs of material life. On the  level of karma, or personal fruitive activity,  

There really is no good or bad. But devotees  of God, the true saints of the world,   don’t play by the rules of karma. They are engaged  in addressing the plight of their own spirit soul   and also the souls of every other living entity.  For this reason, God pays special attention to His  

Devotees and makes sure that their execution of  devotional service continues without interruption. Ravana didn’t believe in God. He was  very powerful, so he thought that he   represented the upper limit of strength,  wealth, and fame in the world. Lord Rama   roamed the forests of India for fourteen  years with Lakshmana, His younger brother,  

And Sita Devi, the Lord’s wife. Ravana one day  kidnapped Sita while Rama and Lakshmana were   away from the group’s cottage. Taking her back  to his island kingdom of Lanka, Ravana tried his   best to win Sita over, but she was having  none of it. In response to his advances,  

She reminded the demon of Rama’s greatness. In  the above referenced statement, Sita is telling   Ravana that Rama could easily bring down the moon  to the earth or even destroy it. Rama could easily   dry up the ocean, so for Him, rescuing Sita from  the clutches of Ravana would be a piece of cake.

How could a single man control the moon and  the oceans in this way? This all seems like   part of some mythology or something out of Lord  of the Rings. The events of the Ramayana actually   occurred in real life many thousands of years  ago. It is hard for us to fathom a single man  

Controlling major parts of nature in this way,  but Rama was no ordinary man. The scriptures   tell us that He was an avatara of Lord Vishnu,  who is God Himself. Ravana, too, was no ordinary   demon. He was extremely powerful, and the great  demigods of the world could not defeat him.

Sita’s words would hold true as Rama would  eventually come to Lanka, kill Ravana,   and rescue her. Rama didn’t have to struggle  at all in His battles with Ravana. When the   two first met on the battlefield, Rama defeated  Ravana so soundly that the demon was forced to  

Retreat home and take a breather. He didn’t  even return to the battlefield right away,   for he sent in reinforcements, hoping  that they could defeat Rama for him.   Unfortunately for Ravana, Rama and His  army defeated all the Rakshasas. Finally,  

The demon was forced to encounter Rama again,  and the Lord soundly defeated and killed him. It is fine to be intrigued by the wonders of  God’s creation, but we should not let this   wonder sidetrack us from the real mission  of life. The Vedas tell us that the sun,  

Moon, and all the planets are certainly very  wonderful, but that they will ultimately be   destroyed. Since they were created at some  point, they must also be dissolved at some   time in the future. That is the nature  of the material world. The same principle  

Holds true with our gross material bodies,  i.e. our lives. We take birth at some time,   perform some activity, and then eventually we  die. Knowing this, we should realize that the   body is not as important as the controller of  the body. That controller is the spirit soul,  

Or atma. Unlike our material bodies, the  soul never takes birth, nor does it ever die. The soul is eternal, but it can transmigrate  between various species. This is due to the   effects of guna [material qualities] and karma  [fruitive activity]. Intense study of the moon  

From the material point of view can result  in a person thinking that they can control   nature. For devotees of the Lord like Sita, the  creation [prakriti] is understood to be a minute   representation of God’s energy. More important  than prakriti is purusha, or the controller of  

Matter. The supreme controller is God. Human life  is meant for understanding the supreme purusha,   Krishna, and not prakriti. What could we ever  understand about nature anyway? We didn’t   create it. Even if we could understand it, it  wouldn’t give us everlasting bliss and peace.

Perfection in life can only come through  association with the Supreme Lord. Lakshmana,   Sita, and the great devotee Hanuman were  all liberated souls due to their intense   love for and devotion to Lord Rama.  We too can develop the same level of   love and respect by regularly chanting  God’s names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,  

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama  Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. CHAPTER 9 – FORTUNE FAME “Gone is the duration of your life. Gone  is your prosperity. Gone is your strength,   and gone are your senses. The city of Lanka  will become widowed due to your horrible  

Deeds.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.12) The demon Ravana is here being told  that he will soon lose all that he   had worked so hard for. A great  demon possessing immense riches,   Ravana would be forced to relinquish everything  due to his stirring the ire of Lord Rama,  

The Supreme Personality of Godhead. To make  matters worse, all of Ravana’s associates   would also be harmed in a similar matter due to  their close ties and dependence on the demon. Lord Rama is an incarnation of God who appeared  on earth many thousands of years ago. The  

Lord appeared in the guise of a human being; a  kshatriya warrior famous throughout the world for   His fighting prowess. His wife was the beautiful  Sita Devi, the daughter of the King of Mithila,   Maharaja Janaka. Sita was no ordinary woman  either; she was an incarnation of Goddess  

Lakshmi. The major religions of the world tell  us that God exists, but they don’t go into much   detail relating to His name, forms, and pastimes.  This is where the Vedas are unique. They tell us   that God has unlimited forms, ananta-rupam, but  that His primary forms are those of Lord Krishna  

And Lord Vishnu. In the spiritual sky, Lord  Vishnu resides with His wife, Goddess Lakshmi,   and His eternal support and friend, Ananta  Shesha Naga. Vishnu, also known as Narayana,   is a four-handed expansion of Krishna, thus  He is the same God that we all pray to.

The main difference between God and we  living entities is that God represents   the supreme energetic, while we are His energy.  The more perfect we become in a spiritual sense,   the better we represent this energy. In Sanskrit,  God’s pleasure giving energy is referred to as  

Hladini-shakti. Goddess Lakshmi represents  perfection in the area of giving pleasure   to the Lord. The Vedas tell us that God can be  referred to as Bhagavan, meaning one who possesses   all opulences and fortunes. One of these opulences  is fortune, or wealth. Vishnu is the wealthiest  

Because the goddess of fortune, Lakshmiji, is His  wife. This shouldn’t surprise us as God is the   original creator of everything, so it would make  sense that He owns all the wealth in the world. Ravana, a Rakshasa demon who roamed the earth  at the same time as Rama, actually had a large  

Pool with a deity of Goddess Lakshmi in his  kingdom of Lanka. In the Vedic tradition,   Lakshmi and Ganesha are regularly worshiped by  those desiring material benedictions. Lakshmi   provides good fortune to those who worship her,  and Ganesha removes all obstacles in the pursuit  

Of happiness. It is the inherent nature of man to  want to improve his living condition. “Please give   me all the wealth and fame that I can get and make  sure that there are no obstacles in my way.” This   is the general mindset of worshipers of Lakshmi  and Ganesha. This thinking isn’t necessarily bad,  

But one should realize the ultimate purpose behind  the boons bestowed by these two divine figures. Material life represents a sort of prison  house for the spirit souls. When a person   is sentenced to prison, they are forced to remain  inside the confines of a jail or a prison yard.  

They may perform different activities every  day, but essentially the time spent there is   meant to serve as a punishment. It is virtually  impossible to find true happiness in a prison. The   material world is taken to be a macro version of  a prison. We can perform different activities and  

Experience different highs and lows, but in the  end, our time here is capped, with a fixed time   allotted for when we have to give up our body.  The entire material creation is also subject   to destruction. All this may seem bleak, but  there is a silver lining. If we develop a loving  

Attachment to God during our lifetime, we are  guaranteed to never return to this prison house. There are essentially two paths that we can  take in life. One path leads to bondage,   and the other path leads to liberation. If we  remain on the material platform and act solely in  

The interests of the senses, we remain on the path  of bondage. If we act in a way that increases our   love and attachment for God, we are on the path of  liberation. In this regard, the boons bestowed by  

Lakshmi and Ganesha should be used by those on  the path of liberation. Lakshmi is God’s wife,   so she performs everything for the Lord’s benefit.  The gifts she bestows upon us in the form of money   and good fortune are intended to be used for  the execution of devotional service. The same  

Principle holds true for the boons bestowed by all  demigods. Lord Ganesha is an exalted personality,   well-respected by everyone. He is the  son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati,   who are both great devotees of Vishnu  themselves. By removing our obstacles,   Ganesha hopes that we can have an easier  time performing our religious duties.

For those who remain fixed to the path  of bondage, the boons bestowed by Lakshmi   ultimately lead to destruction. This was the  case with Ravana. He was living very happily in   his kingdom of Lanka. He had everything at his  disposal: beautiful women, exquisite palaces,  

And an army full of highly capable Rakshasas.  Yet he wasn’t satisfied with all of this. The   pervading energy of material nature is known  as maya. Her greatest power is one of illusion.   Illusion means taking something to be one thing,  when it is actually something else. Maya causes us  

To believe that material sense gratification  will make us happy, when in actuality,   it only causes us to be further bound to  the cycle of birth and death. Intoxication   is a great example of this. Many of us get  excited when it comes time to go out and drink,  

But after the high wears off, we are left to  suffer. Vomiting, headaches, hangovers, etc.,   are the after-effects of excessive drinking. Yet  with all this suffering, many of us go right back   to drinking alcohol the next day or the next  weekend. This is all due to maya’s influence.

Ravana was under the control of maya. Not  satisfied with having hundreds of beautiful wives,   he decided to kidnap Sita from the forest while  Rama was away chasing a deer. Taking her back   to his kingdom of Lanka, Ravana tried his hardest  to win her over, but she was unbreakable. A human  

Incarnation of Lakshmi, Sita could never take  her thoughts away from Rama, or God. In the above   referenced statement, she is informing Ravana of  what will happen to him for perpetrating such a   heinous crime. He will lose his auspiciousness,  strength, and his senses [indriyah]. Not only will  

He lose these things, but he will cause  pain to all the members of his kingdom. One must possess auspiciousness and strength  in order to lose it, which means that Ravana   certainly was very powerful. Sita warns him,  however, that such material boons wouldn’t  

Last forever. Though he worshiped Lord Shiva and  Lord Brahma and even kept the deity of Lakshmiji   in his kingdom, he hadn’t taken to the path of  liberation. Moreover, he directly offended the   Supreme Lord Rama and His pure devotee Sita. For  Ravana, the same senses that derived pleasure from  

His material opulences would end up being  the cause of great misery and grief to him.   All of Ravana’s wives would be widowed. They  were beautiful women, and they did nothing to   bring about their future pain. Due to Ravana’s one  horrible act, so many people would have to suffer.

Sita’s words would hold true as Rama  would eventually march to Lanka,   destroy all of Ravana’s army, and eventually  kill Ravana himself. Even before this,   Rama’s faithful servant Hanuman would come  to Lanka and set fire to the city. We should   understand what fame and fortune are for. We  shouldn’t reject or accept anything outright,  

But rather we should see how they relate to  devotional service. In this age especially,   the only dharma for mankind is the  constant chanting of the holy names of God,   “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.

Sita Devi is so kind and sweet.  Just as everyone loved Lord Rama,   everyone also had similar affection for her. This  is the nature of the pure devotee of God; they   have no enemies. Lakshmi is nice enough to bless  us with so many boons. We should make a serious  

Effort to ensure that none of her gifts are used  for the wrong purposes. Everything in this life   should be used to glorify the Supreme Lord and  distribute His causeless mercy to others. This   will purify us and grant us eternal association  with the divine couple, Sita and Rama.

CHAPTER 10 – CHEATERS NEVER WIN “Your sinful act of coming to the forest  and taking me away from the side of my   husband will not result in future happiness  for you.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,   Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.13)

We often hear the phrase, “cheaters never  win.” This is certainly true in the long run,   but in the short term, we see that cheaters  and thieves certainly do get away with   transgressing laws. Some of them rise to  great fame through underhanded methods.  

This doesn’t mean that they completely  get away with their sinful actions,   for cheaters end up paying big time  in the end. The same principle holds   true for aspiring transcendentalists.  There is no quick and easy path to God;  

We have to put in great time and effort to achieve  success. If we try to associate with God or one   of His devotees while remaining committed to  sinful life, we will surely meet with trouble. There are countless examples of people  who got away with committing crimes but  

Then later on suffered the consequences.  The famous football player, O.J. Simpson,   is an example of this. Accused of  murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend,   Simpson tried to flee the country and  escape a trial. After a high-profile,   high-speed chase with the police, Simpson  eventually turned himself into authorities and  

Faced a trial which was followed by millions  on television. To the average observer,   the evidence seemed overwhelmingly in favor of  Simpson’s conviction on the charges of murder.   Nevertheless, with the help of an all-star legal  team, Simpson was acquitted of the charges. His  

Defenders rejoiced, but many across the country  were flabbergasted, including the friends and   family of those who were killed. It seemed  that Simpson had gotten away with murder. As time went on, however, Simpson’s true colors  would show. Instead of staying out of the public  

Eye and living a peaceful life, Simpson took to  some bizarre behavior. He wrote a book titled,   If I Did It, where he pondered the question  of how he would have gone about committing the   murders had he actually been the culprit.  The book was cancelled shortly after its  

Release. Simpson couldn’t stay out of trouble,  however, as he was later arrested for breaking   into a hotel room and stealing memorabilia  which he claimed others had stolen from him.   Simpson eventually was convicted on the charges  brought against him and forced to go to jail.

“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) These situations occur all the time on a  lower scale. The forces of nature delude  

Us into thinking that just  because no one is looking,   we can get away with committing crimes. For  the serial cheaters and serious law breakers,   the consequences to their actions are sure to  bear fruit. There is another famous saying,  

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” All  of our actions have consequences. If we want to   achieve something, we have to work hard for it.  There are no short-cuts. If we try to cheat our   way to success, we will eventually suffer the  consequences. For example, students in grade  

School or high school may cheat on their exams  and even get good grades. But later on in life,   there will come a point where they won’t  have the opportunity to cheat. The things   they should have learned in school will then  be forced upon them. When this time comes,  

There will be no one around to help the cheaters.  In America, there are some who actually graduate   high school without knowing how to read. Obviously  for these situations to occur, there must be some   serious cheating that goes on, either by the  student or the administrators of the school.

The Vedas tell us that the material world  is governed by a force called maya. She is   described as an illusory force; she fools us  into thinking that we can cheat nature. We   are all susceptible to maya’s influence, and  if we don’t learn how to control our desires,  

She can lead us astray. This was the case with the  Rakshasa demon Ravana many thousands of years ago.   Ravana was born as the son of a brahmana,  but he had the qualities of a Rakshasa.   Brahmanas are the priestly class of men, so named  because they know Brahman, or the all pervading  

Impersonal energy of the Lord. Since a brahmana  is required to know Brahman, it stands to reason   that simply taking birth from a brahmana father  doesn’t automatically grant brahminical status. Though Ravana had a pious father, he himself was  deluded by maya. He was a gross materialist who  

Viewed satisfying the senses as his only business  in life. Trying to meet the demands of the senses   is not anything out of the ordinary, but there  are different ways to go about it. The Vedas   provide the system of varnashrama-dharma, where  one is allowed to live a life of regulated sense  

Gratification, all with the aim of advancing  spiritually. There is another path, however,   known as adharma, or irreligion. This was the  path taken by Ravana. He certainly performed   great austerities and worshiped the devatas,  but this worship was performed in the mode of  

Ignorance. He had no desire to improve the future  fortunes of his soul; he was only worried about   the demands of his body. He used his acquired  powers to harass the saintly class of men. Lord Krishna, or God, is the original proprietor  of everything. Since He created the universe,  

It stands to reason that He is the  rightful owner of everything. The   Lord is very kind to us though, so  He allows us to borrow His property   while we perform our activities on earth.  Those who act with this knowledge have no  

Desire to encroach on others’ property or to  harass other innocent living entities. Sadly,   Ravana lacked this knowledge. He wanted  to possess all the wealth in the world,   and he didn’t care how he got it. The ends  justified the means as far as he was concerned.

In the early stages of Ravana’s life, it appeared  that cheating was paying off. He and his Rakshasa   associates would regularly harass the peaceful  brahmanas residing in the forests. These sages   weren’t harming anyone; they had taken to forest  life since it was quiet and peaceful. By harassing  

These exalted personalities, Ravana showed just  how vile he was. He had no regard for innocent   human life. Nevertheless, the demon amassed  great wealth, and he ruled over an opulent   kingdom in Lanka. He had every material object at  his disposal. He regularly drank wine, ate meat,  

And had sex with a multitude of partners. He  was living in his own version of sin city. As mentioned before, cheaters never win, and  Ravana would find this out the hard way. Though he   had ample opportunities for sex with his hundreds  of beautiful wives, Ravana became infatuated with  

One woman in particular: Sita Devi, the wife of  Lord Rama. In today’s society, men and women are   allowed to freely intermingle. Due to the natural  psychological make-ups of the two genders, men and   women have different ways they go about seeking a  mate. They also find different qualities appealing  

And attractive. Generally speaking, if a man is  interested in a particular woman and he finds out   that she is either married or in a relationship,  he immediately runs the other way. Men tend to   prefer women who are completely devoted to  them and don’t harbor feelings for other men.

This was not the case with Ravana. He became  infatuated by Sita simply from hearing of her   beauty. At the time, Lord Krishna, the Supreme  Personality of Godhead, had incarnated on earth   in human form as Lord Rama. His wife was Sita  Devi, an incarnation of the goddess of fortune,  

Lakshmi. The couple was roaming the forests  of India with Rama’s younger brother,   Lakshmana. Ravana came to the group’s camp in  Dandaka, set up a diversion, and then kidnapped   Sita. Taking her back to his island kingdom of  Lanka, Ravana tried his best to win her over,  

But Sita would not budge. She was wholly  committed to the lotus feet of Shri Rama. In the above referenced statement, Sita  is informing Ravana that his sinful act   of stealing another’s wife would never lead  to his felicity. He would be forced to suffer  

The consequences. Her words would indeed prove  true as Rama would eventually march to Lanka,   kill Ravana in battle, and rescue her.  All of Ravana’s sins caught up to him.   What turned out to be the tipping point  was his sinful desire to enjoy God’s wife.

Krishna, or God, represents the energetic  and His pure devotees are His energy. The   energy works at the pleasure of the  energetic, meaning the pure devotees   always act to please the Supreme Lord. Not  only do the devotees enjoy pleasing God,   but the Supreme Lord enjoys associating with them  through various rasas, or transcendental humors.

For us conditioned living entities, association  with God and His devotees can come about easily,   provided that we remain on the virtuous path.  Ravana tried to steal God’s wife and paid dearly   for it. By the same token, we cannot achieve  transcendental perfection through underhanded  

Methods. If we try to approach the Supreme  Lord or one of His devotees while remaining   committed to sinful life, we will never make  progress. In order to associate with God,   we have to sincerely change our desires from  all things material, to all things spiritual.

In this age, the easiest way to remain in contact  with the spiritual energy 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”. At the same time, we should  abstain from the four pillars of sinful life: meat  

Eating, gambling, illicit sex, and intoxication.  The idea is to always think about God and always   be working for His satisfaction. We don’t need  to give up all our activities; we just need to   spiritualize them. Chanting Hare Krishna wherever  we are is a great way to purify any activity.  

By using the fruits of our labor to meet our  spiritual demands, we can slowly become purified. God is not mean. If we sincerely desire His  association, He will gladly grant it to us.   Simply abiding by rules and regulations is  not enough; the goal is to foster a deep  

Attachment for the lotus feet of the Lord.  Seeing how difficult spiritual life can be,   many of us choose to put it off until later on.  “Let me earn some money now and I’ll take to   religion when I get older.” Yet if we remain  servants of maya throughout our lifetime,  

There is no guarantee that we will  think of God at the time of death.   Even if we take up a little devotional service  immediately, we can make tremendous strides. Let us take up the sublime engagement of  devotional service today. If we remain on  

The righteous path, we will surely be granted  the association of Sita and Rama very quickly.   Unlike Ravana, we won’t have to steal Sita Devi,  for she will kindly appear to the devotee of   Shri Rama. As we see from Ravana’s example, the  path to perfection does not go through cheating  

God and His wife, but rather through sincerely  serving the Supreme Lord and all His devotees. CHAPTER 11 – SURVIVAL “Certainly my husband, the highly effulgent Lord  [Rama], joined with my brother-in-law [Lakshmana],   is fearlessly residing in the empty  forest of Dandaka by taking shelter  

Of His own prowess.” (Sita Devi speaking to  Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.14) For the human being, life is full of fears.  Defending, or fearing, is one of the four   activities of animalistic life, and we human  beings inherit these tendencies of animals  

At the time of birth. It is through culture  and good education that we become civilized,   but that element of fear always remains with  us. As adults, we often try different ways to   test our strength and survival skills. Being  able to dwell in a vacant forest without any  

Fears is a true sign of manhood and  self-sufficiency. These abilities,   which aren’t found in most people, were  exhibited by Lord Rama and His younger   brother, Lakshmana, many thousands of  years ago in the forest of Dandaka. Dwelling in the forest is difficult because  most of us are dependent on our fellow human  

Being for our livelihood. In today’s world, most  everyone works for somebody; they are employees of   a larger corporation. No matter how skilled we  are at our occupation, our income is dependent   on the fate of the companies that we work for and  the customers who patronize them. In this regard,  

We aren’t very independent. Since  most of us don’t grow our own food,   we rely on the supermarket shelves to supply  us with the food that we need to survive. The   supermarkets themselves rely on an intricate chain  of food producers, suppliers, and delivery men.

“As a ripe fruit has no other fear  than to fall, so a man who is born   has no other fear than death.” (Lord Rama,  Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 105.17) Aside from relying on others for our livelihood,  we inherently understand that the world we live in  

Is a dangerous place. To make matters worse, death  is sure to come some day. There is a famous saying   from Lord Rama which states that just as a ripe  fruit has no other fear than that of falling to  

The ground, the mature human being has no other  fear than that of dying. We have an innate fear   that death can happen at any moment, especially  at the hands of other living entities. For our   protection, we rely on the brave volunteers  of society who take up arms in defense of the  

Innocent. The military and police force in America  voluntarily put their lives on the line to defend   their fellow man. If not for these brave fighters,  civilians would be left to fend for themselves. In this regard, we see that man’s dependencies  are vast and far-reaching. If it weren’t for  

Other living entities, most of us would not be  able to survive. Being completely self-sufficient   is actually an art form. It is a quality that few  people possess. For those who desire such a trait,   forest life represents the playing field  where one can practice their survival  

Skills. The modern day Boy Scouts organization  strives to teach self-sufficiency and survival   skills to its members. Young boys are  taught how to pitch tents, start fires,   and administer basic first aid, all by themselves,  without the help of any modern technology.

This idea of pure survival is also depicted in  famous movies and television shows. The hit film,   Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, dealt with the  theme of survival. The main character in the   movie, a parcel delivery man, gets stranded on  a deserted island and is forced to provide food,  

Clothing, and shelter for himself.  The television sitcom, The Office,   also had an episode where the main character in  the show, Michael Scott, asks to be left alone   in the wilderness without having any knowledge of  his whereabouts. In the episode, Michael wants to  

Prove his manhood by being able to successfully  survive in the woods and eventually find his   way back home after being dropped off in a  remote area. The Office is a comedy after all,   so obviously Michael is not able to successfully  survive by himself. He doesn’t last very long in  

The wilderness either, for he has no idea how  to even start a fire or how to find his food. Most of us would be terrified if left alone  in the forest. There are no restaurants,   no hotels, no televisions, and no soda machines.  We wouldn’t know what to do. More than anything,  

We would be pretty scared. To make matters  worse, the forest is full of wild animals   that would have no problem attacking human  beings. Essentially, we would have to sleep   with one eye open to make sure that no predators  went on the attack in the middle of the night.

In the above referenced statement, Sita Devi  is referencing the fact that her husband,   Rama, and His younger brother, Lakshmana, were  both residing in the vacant forest of Dandaka   and living fearlessly. Her statements  were made to the Rakshasa demon Ravana,  

Who had just kidnapped her and brought her back  to his island kingdom of Lanka. In the Treta Yuga,   many thousands of years ago, a handsome and  pious prince appeared in the Raghu dynasty,   a famous line of kings whose ancestry  traced back to the first king on earth,  

Maharaja Ikshvaku. This pious prince was named  Rama and He was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu,   the four-armed plenary expansion of Lord Krishna,  or God, who resides in the spiritual world. Rama had three younger brothers, with Lakshmana  being the one closest to Him in friendship. Since  

The boys took birth in a royal family, they were  trained in the military arts. During those times,   the governments were run by royal monarchies  made up of valiant warriors. This class of   men was known as kshatriyas, and they were  chivalrous, brave, and expert at providing  

Defense to the innocent. Sita Devi, an  incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, married   Lord Rama in a grand ceremony in the kingdom  of Mithila. The couple was enjoying blissful   married life when suddenly Rama was banished  from His kingdom of Ayodhya by His father.

Roaming the forests for fourteen years along  with Lakshmana, Sita was one day kidnapped by   Ravana while Rama and Lakshmana were away from  the group’s cottage. Taking her back to Lanka,   Ravana tried his best to win her over,  but Sita was having none of it. She was  

Completely devoted to Rama in thought, word, and  deed. Ravana’s lusty desires were very strong,   but he was not able to satisfy them with Sita.  She sternly rebuked him and reminded him that   she had a husband who was living fearlessly  in an empty forest along with His brother.

This is an important point because Sita is trying  to contrast the qualities of Rama with those of   Ravana. The demon lived in a very opulent  kingdom, where he was served by thousands   of Rakshasa warriors and hundreds of wives.  Ravana himself had great fighting prowess, but  

He didn’t use any of these skills in kidnapping  Sita. Rather than fight Rama directly, Ravana   set up a diversion whereby Rama and Lakshmana  were lured away from their cottage by a deer,   thus leaving Sita all alone. Sita mentions the  fact that Rama and Lakshmana are fearless and all  

By themselves, whereas Ravana, though possessing a  grand army, was himself too afraid to fight Rama. One may wonder why Rama and Lakshmana, being  completely fearless, chose to live in the   forest. Rama was God Himself, and one of the  Lord’s attributes is that of renunciation. No  

One can be more renounced than God. This fact  should make sense to us because God is the   original creator of everything. Renunciation is  only difficult for those who have attachments to   things. Attachments are formed out of insecurities  and fear. God knows that He is the greatest,  

So He has no need to fear anything, thus He  also has no attachments. The Vedas describe   God as being atmarama, meaning He is satisfied  with Himself. He is comfortable in His own skin,   as the saying goes. Rama accepted the punishment  of exile so that His father’s reputation could  

Remain intact. Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya,  had promised one of his wives any two boons of her   choosing. She asked for Rama’s exile and the king  was forced to oblige, otherwise he would be made   to be a liar. Rama accepted the punishment  to keep Dasharatha dedicated to the truth.

Rama and Lakshmana had no problem surviving in the  wilderness. In fact, many of the great sages who   had set up hermitages in the forest petitioned the  two brothers to protect them. Rama and Lakshmana   did just that by defeating thousands of attacking  Rakshasas. Simply by using their bows and arrows,  

The two brothers could allay the fears of anyone  residing in the vacant forests. Sita’s statement   is foreboding evil upon Ravana. Eventually,  both Rama and Lakshmana would march to Lanka   and kill almost all of Ravana’s Rakshasa  associates, including Ravana himself. Sita   would be rescued by her heroic husband  and His equally brave younger brother.

We should never think that we are more renounced  than God. Lord Rama is a true hero who doesn’t   speak much. He lets his actions do the talking.  For us mere mortals, we simply have to let the   great fearless one, God Himself, protect us. Being  her husband, Rama was Sita’s most effulgent Lord,  

But as spirit souls, part and parcel of God, Rama  is our Lord too. He can deliver us from danger in   the same way that He saved Sita. Whether we are  living in a vacant forest or a crammed city,  

We simply have to think about the Lord, and He  will kindly deliver us from all evils. In this   age, the same Lord Vishnu incarnates in the form  of His holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,   Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama,  Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. If we hang on to this  

Sacred mantra and take it to be our only means  of survival, we can transcend any and all fears. CHAPTER 12 – DETOX “By means of a shower of arrows released in  battle, He [Rama] will take away your prowess,  

Pride, strength, and impudence from every inch  of your body.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,   Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.15) Life is full of many experiences and events  which take their toll on our bodies. The aging   process wears down the different parts of our  body, making our skin look wrinkled and old.  

The mind also takes a beating from having to  repeatedly go through the daily grind. So it   is not surprising that many of us look for  ways to cleanse our bodies, both internally   and externally. There are many popular methods  aimed at removing impurities from the body,  

But none of these target the inner self,  the soul. The best way to cleanse the heart,   the area where the soul resides, is to  constantly associate with God. Though the   actual nature of this association can vary,  one is still guaranteed to be detoxified of  

All impurities through the establishment  of a relationship with the Supreme Lord. The spa is a nice retreat for  those needing some relaxation time,   some time to unwind and recharge the batteries.  Spas are health resorts usually located near the   seaside. Attendees are treated to various  cleansing procedures such as mud masks,  

Massages, skin treatments, and exercise  routines like yoga and tai chi. These   treatments are nice because a person can just  relax and let trained professionals take care   of their every need. This is in stark  contrast to the way we normally operate,  

Where we are required to be responsible in meeting  the demands of our employers, family, and friends. During the course of a day, our bodies accumulate  various impurities through the activities we   engage in and the places we go. This is why we  are required to take a shower every morning,  

For the body accumulates dust, sweat, and  other impurities over a twenty-four hour   period. To combat the attack of these impurities,  products such as facial cleansers, shampoos,   and fancy soaps are used, thus ensuring an  always clean body. The body is not the only  

Thing that accumulates impurities, for the mind  also attracts all sorts of bad things from the   events that are witnessed and the people  that are encountered. For mental health,   one may try to relax, watch television, talk to  close friends, etc. If we are really down in the  

Dumps, we may visit a trained professional  such as a psychiatrist or a psychologist. While these methods are certainly  capable of removing impurities,   they fail to tackle the primary issue, the  root cause of our uncleanliness. Our bodies,   including our minds, are products of material  nature which is referred to as prakriti in  

Sanskrit. Prakriti can mean matter, or it can  refer to something being female or feminine.   This points to the fact that matter is subordinate  and not in control of anything. It is dominated;   it is controlled by spirit, also known as purusha.  We are all purusha in a sense because we are all  

Spirit souls at the core. The soul is the driving  force behind our activities, the basis of our   identity. The gross material body is incapable of  performing activity in the absence of the soul.   We know this from studying the event of death.  When a person dies, the soul exits the body. As  

Soon as the soul leaves, the body becomes useless  and starts to decay. Using deductive reasoning,   we can conclude that it is the soul, or purusha,  that is important and not the body, or prakriti. The aforementioned detoxification methods all aim  to cleanse gross matter in the form of our outward  

Bodies, and subtle matter in the form of our  minds. The Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India,   tell us that the soul is eternal, while the  body is not. This means that our current life   is not the first one we’ve had. Rather, our  soul transmigrates from one body to another  

Through a series of lifetimes. Through the  course of events that occur in each lifetime,   the soul accumulates dust, which  then carries over to the next life. The soul itself is always pure,  but due to its subordinate nature,  

It has the propensity to become attached to gross  matter in the form of a body. When we take birth,   our past activities and consciousness come  with us, thus forming a material body with a   specific nature. The individual spirit soul,  or jivatma, is purusha in a small sense,  

But it is still inferior to the maha-purusha.  Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,   is the maha-purusha, or great predominator  or person. Unlike us, God can never associate   with material nature, or prakriti. On a higher  level of understanding, we living entities are  

Prakriti since we are meant for the Lord’s  enjoyment. He is the male, or predominator,   and we are female, or the predominated. This  is not meant to be taken in a negative light.   It means that we spirit souls are happiest  when we are in loving association with God.

Through the course of our many lives, dust  accumulates around the heart due to all the   sinful activities we commit. There are different  definitions for what actually constitutes a sin,   but at the basic level, any activity  which causes us to remain bound to the  

Repeated cycle of birth and death can be  classified as sin. God is extremely fair,   and He lets us live wherever we want. If we  want to stay in this temporary material world,   He more than happily obliges. The great sages have  declared that desiring to remain in the material  

World constitutes a sin because we are actually  meant for God’s enjoyment. We can think of it   in terms of a marriage. In a good marriage,  both husband and wife are completely devoted   to each other; they have no desire to intimately  associate with anyone else. Our relationship with  

God can be thought of in the same light. We are  meant to be loving servants of the Supreme Lord,   but by living in the material world,  our attention, along with our devotion,   goes elsewhere. This certainly isn’t  a nice thing, for we have no reason to  

Neglect God. Since material desires represent  willful neglect, they are considered sinful. How do we cleanse ourselves of the effects of our  sinful activities? The only way is to constantly   associate with God through the process known as  bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. Yoga means  

Linking the soul with the Supreme Soul, or God.  Bhakti means love or devotion. If we combine the   two terms, we see that the only way to achieve  perfection in life is to try to link with God in  

A loving way. How can we associate with God if we  can’t see Him? Due to Krishna’s causeless mercy,   the Lord can be realized in many ways. In this age  especially, Krishna incarnates in the form of His   holy name, which can be invoked by regularly  chanting the maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare  

Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama  Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. Devotional   service also has other processes such as hearing,  remembering, and offering prayers. There are so   many avenues available to the conditioned  soul as it relates to cleansing the heart.

The great thing about associating with God  is that He is the supreme pure. This means   that He will automatically cleanse whoever He  associates with, regardless of the nature of   the interaction. A prime example of this was  seen in the interaction between Lord Rama,  

An incarnation of Krishna, and Ravana,  a Rakshasa demon. During the Treta Yuga,   the second time period of creation, Krishna  appeared on earth in the guise of a handsome,   kind, and compassionate warrior prince named  Rama. Lord Rama was the greatest fighter,  

But He was still loved and adored by all. This  is the beauty of God’s nature. Whether He is   pleasing the devotees or punishing miscreants,  He is always full of splendor and beauty. When the Supreme Divine Being descends to  the material world, He remains completely  

Spiritual. Unlike with the living entities, there  is no difference between God’s body and His soul.   When the Lord comes to earth to fight the demons,  He brings devotees from the spiritual world to be   His sparring partners. In this regard, Ravana  can be considered a great devotee in spirit,  

Who was playing the role of an enemy. One may  ask why God would need to fight with anyone.   The answer is that Krishna possesses all qualities  and propensities. Just as we have a propensity to   wrestle and fight with others from time to time,  God too has the same tendency. His fighting is a  

Little different in that all His activities  are spiritual. When He fights with demons,   it is not only to please His desires, but  also to teach everyone a valuable lesson. Ravana’s trademark characteristic was that he was  a devout atheist. He certainly believed in the  

Existence of demigods, or elevated celestial  beings, but he thought that by gaining their   favor, he could eventually vanquish them. Why  would someone want to usurp the power of suras,   or saintly people? Ravana wanted to be worshiped  as God, and for that to happen, he had to become  

The most powerful man in the world. He thought  he was well on his way towards invincibility   by having a great kingdom, tremendous fighting  powers, great wealth, and hundreds of beautiful   wives. The demigods knew Ravana’s Achilles’  heel however. As with any devout materialist,  

Sex desire is always strong. Many a great man  has fallen down due to insatiable lusty desires,   and Ravana was no different. Though he had  hundreds of beautiful princesses for wives,   he had his heart set on the one woman he  couldn’t have: Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama.

Along with His younger brother Lakshmana,  Rama and Sita roamed the forests of India   for fourteen years as part of their pastimes.  Ravana heard of Sita’s presence in the forest   and became insistent on having her for his wife.  All of Ravana’s associates warned him not to raise  

Rama’s ire and not to take Him on directly  in battle. Partially heeding their advice,   Ravana decided to steal Sita away by setting up a  diversion whereby Rama and Lakshmana would not be   around to fight him. Successfully kidnapping  Sita and taking her back to his kingdom,  

Ravana tried his hardest to win  her love, but he was unsuccessful. In the above referenced statement, Sita Devi is  chastising Ravana for his sinful act of stealing   another man’s wife. She is also warning him of  what will happen when Rama will come to rescue  

Her. Being a pure devotee, Sita was very smart,  so she knew how to pick just the right words to   irritate Ravana. She knew that Ravana was  very proud of his strength and prowess,   so she made sure to mention that Rama would take  those attributes away by shooting His arrows.  

It appears that Sita is warning Ravana of bad  things to come, but in reality, she is blessing   the demon. She is telling him that Rama will  come to cleanse him of all his sins. “O Ravana,  

All of your bad traits will be eliminated once  you meet my husband face to face. Since Rama is   God Himself, everything associated with  Him is purifying, including His arrows.   Once those arrows enter your body, you will be  absolved of all your sins and become liberated.”

This is precisely what happened. As a reward  for their participation in battles with Him,   God grants the demons the liberation of  merging into His body. This reinforces   the fact that anyone who thinks of God  at the time of death certainly never  

Has to take birth again in the material  world. They ultimately achieve moksha,   or liberation. The demons such as Ravana are  special cases, so it is not advised that we   take to sinful life in the same way. We don’t need  to fight with God to get His mercy. In fact, those  

Who serve Krishna in a loving way are awarded an  even greater type of liberation, that of being   allowed to continue their service eternally in the  spiritual world. This is a much easier and less   complicated way of cleansing our sins. We simply  need to perform devotional service at all times,  

And we will never have to worry about the  impurities of material life contaminating us. CHAPTER 13 – THE INFLUENCE OF TIME “When the time for the destruction of living  entities arrives, people are seen to perform   activities that endanger themselves due  to the influence of that all-devouring  

Time.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.16) This is a beautiful cause-and-effect  explanation given by Sita Devi,   the wife of Lord Rama. The statement itself is  a little complicated to comprehend at first,   but if we understand the context, we can see  that it is indeed a profound explanation of  

How time works and how the living entities  behave at or around the time of death. This   statement served as a slick way of reminding  the demon Ravana that his days were numbered. If we analyze the verse, we see that there are  two parts to it. The first part says that there  

Is a set time when the living entities are bound  to be destroyed. This is the influence of time,   which is considered a divine energy created by  God. No one can check the power of time no matter  

How hard they try. It has long been man’s fantasy  to travel either back in time or into the future,   but there is actually no possible way to do it.  The second part of the statement says that when   this all-devouring time, or death, arrives,  human beings start behaving in ways that cause  

Danger to themselves. Usually, we understand this  concept in the reverse order. It is understood   that we first take harmful actions, which then  lead to death. Here, Sita Devi is saying that   it is actually the opposite, meaning that death  arrives first. Death then influences the living  

Entities to act in harmful ways so that it  appears that they are killing themselves.   The harmful activities are merely instruments of  death which the living entity has no control over. Upon first glance, this logic seems  a little strange. If a person jumps  

Off a bridge or overdoses on drugs, are they  not the cause of their own death? The Vedas,   the ancient scriptures of India, tell us  that we certainly do have a tiny amount   of independence in how our senses will  react with material nature. However,  

We have no control over the time of  our birth or the time of our death.   These are both determined by destiny, or the  influence of the divine energy known as time. If we apply these principles  to some common situations,  

We can gain a better understanding of how  time works. Drug and alcohol addicts often   act in ways that give the impression that  they are trying to kill themselves. Many   famous rock stars tried their hardest to  kick their drug and alcohol addictions,  

But they were never able to do so. Eventually,  they succumbed to death. In reality though,   death had already arrived, and their harmful  actions were merely the instruments of death. The influence of all-devouring time, or death,  can be seen in people who are terminally ill.  

Alzheimer’s patients slowly lose their brain  power as time goes by. They become so out of   it that they soon fail to recognize their own  friends and family. This is all due to time’s   influence. Death is usually not a welcomed  event, so it is not surprising to see sick  

People act in strange ways when they are just  about to die. Death means that the soul is   preparing to exit the body, a body which it  has become attached to during its lifetime.   Extracting the soul from the body can be a  very painful experience, and as we all know,  

When we are in pain, we lose rationality  and our grasp of the proper code of conduct. Sita Devi directed these words to the Rakshasa  demon Ravana, so as to inform him that death   was on the horizon. Sita Devi was the wife of Lord  Rama, an incarnation of God who appeared on earth  

Many thousands of years ago. Lord Rama is one  of Krishna’s primary incarnations, the complete   list of which is provided in the celebrated  Vedic texts such as the Shrimad Bhagavatam,   Mahabharata, and Puranas. Rama appeared on earth  to give Maharaja Dasharatha of Ayodhya a son,  

To give protection to His devotees, and  to kill Ravana. The demon race known as   the Rakshasas was steadily ascending to power  in the world at the time. Their leader was the   ten-headed Ravana who lived with his fellow  Rakshasas on the island kingdom of Lanka.

There is a detailed history of the origin  of the Rakshasa race given in the Ramayana,   but what is most important to know about them  is that they are sinful by nature. They may   outwardly appear to be religious since they  engage in many sacrifices and austerities,  

But their motives are all nefarious. They  adhere to religion as a tit-for-tat system,   where they perform certain activities for the  express purpose of receiving some material reward.   On the surface this isn’t a bad thing since we all  possess material desires to some degree. However,  

These Rakshasas didn’t just want ordinary material  boons; they wanted extraordinary powers so they   could rule the world. A hostile takeover of the  world requires the terrorizing of the innocent,   something which Ravana had no problem doing.  He and his associates would regularly harass  

The harmless sages living in the  forests of India at the time. Lord Rama was a great warrior prince. Being  God Himself, He could easily defeat anyone in   battle simply by using His bow and arrows.  His excellent fighting prowess was on full   display during one occasion when He  defeated 14,000 members of Ravana’s  

Rakshasa army in the forest of Janasthana.  In retaliation, Ravana devised a plan which   allowed him to kidnap Sita while Rama was  not by her side. Taking her back to Lanka,   Ravana thought he could win Sita over by showing  her his grand opulence. He even tried to flatter  

Her by saying that she would become his chief  queen. Ravana had hundreds of beautiful wives,   so by saying that Sita was superior to them in  beauty, Ravana was paying her a high compliment. Sita was having none of this though. Being a  pure devotee of God, her mind never once swayed  

From the lotus feet of her husband and supreme  deity of the world, Shri Rama. Sita was also very   intelligent, for that is a byproduct of performing  devotional service to God. Mundane scholarship   has its limits, but possessing knowledge of God  enables one to become the smartest person in the  

World. Sita informed Ravana that his days were  numbered. She knew that Rama would come for her   and that when He did, Ravana would be easily  defeated. In the above referenced statement,   Sita is essentially telling Ravana,  “Death surely must be coming for you,  

For why else would you have done something as  stupid as kidnapping me? Due to the influence   of impending death, people act in ways that  cause harm to themselves. This is why you   have kidnapped me, for death is coming to you very  soon through the arrows released by my husband.”

Sita’s words would hold true as Rama  would eventually come to rescue her.   Ravana was soundly defeated in battle,  dying as a result of the wounds inflicted   by Rama. Once death approaches, we have  no control over our actions. Therefore  

It is important that we take the necessary  steps to make our lives perfect right now,   while we still have our wits about us. And  how do we achieve perfection in life? The   Vedas tell us that the meaning of life is  to think about Krishna, or God, at the time  

Of death. Those who do so will be liberated  from the repeated cycle of birth and death. This point may seem contradictory to Sita’s  statement. If we have no control over our   actions at the time of death, how can we  guarantee that we’ll think of Krishna? The  

Answer is that it is our consciousness at the  time of death which determines our next body.   Consciousness is something that is developed  over this lifetime and previous ones as well.   It is similar to the concept of a person’s life  flashing before their very eyes when they have  

A near-death experience. All the activities  of this life are a preparation for the next. Knowing this, we should act in such a way  that our consciousness is fixed on God at all   times. This will increase the likelihood that our  consciousness will be pure at the time of death.  

To achieve this aim, we simply need to regularly  chant the holy names of God, “Hare Krishna Hare   Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama  Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. Chanting is   one of the exercises that makes up bhakti-yoga,  or devotional service. All the great devotees of  

The past, such as Sita Devi, Lakshmana, and  Hanuman were expert performers of devotional   service. They never feared death, for they  knew that their minds were always fixed on God. Chanting is not the only method of devotional  service. We can hear about Krishna,  

Read books about Him, talk about  Him with others, worship His deity,   etc. There are so many avenues available  to us. We don’t know when death will come,   but we do know that we have every opportunity  to perform devotional service right now. If  

We achieve perfection in this process,  time’s influence over us can be negated. CHAPTER 14 – A BLESSING IN DISGUISE “Eternal time in the form of death having  arrived, you, O lowest of the Rakshasas,   forcibly took me away from my husband.  Now that very same death will kill you,  

Your Rakshasa associates, and all those  dwelling in your palaces.” (Sita Devi   speaking to Ravana, Valmiki  Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.17) Having a fear of death is quite natural  because death is the time when our current   life’s activities come to an end. Since we have  attachments to our current way of life, it makes  

Sense that we would fear losing everything. The  afterlife also represents the great unknown,   so there will be some trepidation as it relates to  treading unchartered waters. Most of us don’t know   when death will come, for the forces of nature  act on their own; we have no control over them.  

For the fortunate among us, death announces its  arrival through signs such as illness and disease.   Knowing that death is imminent, the wise take the  necessary steps to prepare for their next life. What if we were told we had two weeks to live,  or maybe a month? What would we do? What if we  

Knew the world was going to end very soon? How  would we act? These questions have been pondered   by man for centuries. Many books have been written  on the subject and many movies made as well. The   answers given to these questions are often the  same. “I will spend as much time with my family  

As possible. I will quit my job and just have  fun all day. I will stop worrying and live a   carefree life. I will try to enjoy as much sex as  possible.” So we see that the natural instinct is  

To turn to sense gratification when there is a  fear of it being taken away. That is all we know   after all; sense gratification is how we have  fun right now, so if we knew our life was going  

To end, it would make sense that we would try  to engage in activities that we already enjoy. The Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India,  tell us that this sort of mindset is adopted   when one lacks knowledge of the soul and its  constitutional position. The soul is eternal,  

So it never takes birth nor does it ever die.  The material body is temporary and subject to   birth and death. The spirit soul can be  considered the actor or the driving force   behind activities. The material body, along with  the entire material creation, can be thought of  

As the playing field where those activities are  carried out. God created this material world,   so it is due to His sanction that living  entities are given the opportunity to act   out their desires. On this playing field, we  are allowed to do whatever we want. This means  

That if we want to continue playing on this  field, God will not take us away. Since our   bodies become old and decrepit, the Lord gives  us fresh new bodies to play in. This changing   of bodies is known as reincarnation, or  the repeated cycle of birth and death.

This all seems well and good, but the Vedas refer  to repeated births and deaths as samsara, which   means material entanglement. Say that we were  trapped in a room with a series of games that we  

Could play. The rules of the room stipulate that  we can play these games for as long as we want to,   but in order to play, we must remain in the room.  If we want to leave the room, we have to stop  

Playing. It makes sense that eventually we’ll  want to leave the room, for if we continued to   play games without stopping, the fun would quickly  wear off. Something that appeared to be enjoyable   in the beginning would soon turn into a miserable  experience. The material world can be thought of  

As a big room where we are allowed to play without  stopping. If we continue to hanker after sense   gratification, we are forced to remain in the  room. This is how karma and reincarnation work. The wise use the knowledge of  imminent death to their advantage,  

Taking it as a great opportunity. Instead of  engaging in temporary sense gratification,   something which we have ample opportunity to  perform already, wouldn’t our remaining days   be better spent trying to figure out why we take  birth and why we die? Instead of racing against  

Time, trying to have as much fun before we die,  wouldn’t it be wiser to figure out how to stop   death? This was the path taken by the great  King Parikshit some five thousand years ago. Parikshit was a pious king, born in a very  famous family. He was a descendant of the  

Pandava brothers, close associates of Lord  Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.   On one particular occasion, Parikshit was cursed  by a brahmana boy and was told that he had less   than a week to live. Rather than get angry over  the situation and lament his ill-fortune, the  

King used it as an opportunity to break free of  his attachments. Instead of trying to gratify his   senses by performing activities that he already  engaged in, Parikshit decided that he wanted to   use his remaining time on earth to hear about  Krishna, or God. The famous Bhagavata Purana,  

Or Shrimad Bhagavatam, describes the information  that Parikshit heard from Shukadeva Goswami,   the son of Vyasadeva. Due to its content, the  Bhagavatam is considered the greatest Vedic work,   but its glory is enhanced even further since the  words contained within were spoken to a dying man.  

Parikshit wanted to learn about the Absolute Truth  before he died, and he was successfully able to   do so by hearing from his spiritual master. In  this regard, Parikshit set the example for how   a dying person should behave. Surrendering unto  God is the real business of the human being,  

Whether they are in the prime of their  life or on the precipice of death. Many thousands of years before King Parikshit,  another powerful king had the good fortune of   knowing that death was imminent, but he sadly did  not take the proper course of action. The Rakshasa  

King Ravana, the ten-headed demon of Lanka, was  made aware of his impending death by Sita Devi,   the wife of Lord Rama. Krishna is the Supreme  Personality of Godhead, but He appears on earth   from time to time in various forms to enact  pastimes and to teach others how to make the  

Most of their time on earth. Lord Rama was a  pious kshatriya warrior who was dedicated to   dharma and the welfare of the saintly class of  men. Since He was a defender of the innocent, it   was His job to punish the miscreants such as the  Rakshasas who were roaming the earth at the time.

Lord Rama had a beautiful wife named Sita who  was the daughter of King Janaka of Mithila.   Sita was highly sought after as a bride,  but only Rama was able to win her hand   in marriage by successfully lifting a famous  bow of Lord Shiva’s during Sita’s svayamvara,  

Or self-choice ceremony. As part of His pastimes,  Rama roamed the forests of India with Sita and   His younger brother, Lakshmana. In Lanka, Ravana  had many beautiful palaces, all full of beautiful   women with whom he regularly cavorted. Yet  Ravana’s sexual urges weren’t satisfied,  

And after hearing of the beauty of Rama’s wife, he  was determined on having her for himself. Ravana   devised a plan which allowed him to successfully  kidnap Sita in Rama and Lakshmana’s absence. Ravana brought Sita back to his palace and  tried to win her over with sweet words.  

He couldn’t have her by force since he was  cursed on a previous occasion. This curse,   which was imprecated on Ravana after he had forced  himself upon a woman, stated that should he again   choose to cavort with a woman against her will,  he would immediately be destroyed. Sita had no  

Interest in Ravana. She was an incarnation of  Goddess Lakshmi, so her only business was serving   the lotus feet of Shri Rama, an incarnation of  God. In this regard, Sita was the perfect devotee. In the above referenced statement, Sita  is letting Ravana know that eternal time,  

In the form of death, had arrived to kill him.  It’s one thing to tell somebody that they are   about to die, but getting them to believe it  is a different story. To back up her claim,   Sita made reference to Ravana’s forceful kidnap  of her, the point being that only those who are  

About to die would act in such a way as to bring  about their own death. She is essentially telling   Ravana, “Death is coming to get you, for why  else would you have done something as stupid   as taking me away from Rama? You certainly  must have a death wish. This all-devouring  

Death will now come to kill you and all your  associates.” Death was coming for Ravana,   and the instrument of that death would be Lord  Rama and the arrows shot from His illustrious bow. Sita is letting Ravana know that he shouldn’t  waste his time trying to satisfy his sexual  

Desires. There was no point in trying to win her  over since she was already committed to another   man. Death was coming for him, so his time would  be better suited taking to devotional service.   Actually many associates advised Ravana to  surrender unto Rama and have all his sins  

Forgiven. Sadly, Ravana wouldn’t heed this advice,  and his entire kingdom would soon be ruined by   Rama and His army. Sita’s words would hold true as  Ravana would eventually die at the hands of Rama. Most of us don’t know when death is coming.  Keeping this in mind, we should take to devotional  

Service right away. Devotional service is known as  bhakti-yoga, which means linking the soul with the   Supreme Soul, or God. Executing devotional service  is essentially waving the white flag of surrender,   informing God that we no longer wish to associate  with material nature. Spirit is always superior to  

Matter, and since God is the origin and controller  of spirit, His realm is superior to this material   world. Those who go to Krishna’s spiritual planets  never take birth again; they transcend samsara. Executing devotional service is not difficult  either. The simplest way is to constantly chant  

God’s names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna  Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama   Rama, Hare Hare”. We should simply “chant chant  chant” until we “can’t can’t can’t” anymore. CHAPTER 15 – CAN’T TOUCH THIS “It is not possible for a  chandala to tread heavily on  

An altar which is beautifully decorated  and situated amongst a sacrificial fire,   pots, and ladles, and sanctified by the  mantras of the brahmanas. Similarly, I,   being the religiously wedded wife of one who is  Himself ever committed to dharma, am firm in my  

Vows and thus, O lowest of the Rakshasas, it is  not possible for me to ever be touched by you,   who are a sinner.” (Sita Devi speaking to  Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.18-19) This is a beautiful analogy used by Sita Devi,  the wife of Lord Rama, to describe how Ravana  

Was unqualified and incapable of touching her.  This may seem strange to hear because Ravana,   a Rakshasa demon, had just kidnapped Sita  from the forest of Dandaka and forcibly   brought her to his kingdom of Lanka.  Yet as all the great acharyas confirm,   Sita Devi could never be touched by  Ravana because she always remains  

Completely spiritual. She is God’s wife  in the spiritual world, meaning that she   is not tainted by any material qualities. Only  those elevated personalities, those whose minds   have been purified through proper training, can  understand and see Sita’s true spiritual form. The Indian caste system is famous  throughout the world. It is usually  

Understood to be a sort of social pecking  order, where certain classes of people   are deemed more worthy than others.  Aside from the four primary castes,   there are also those considered untouchable. When  learning about Hindu culture in American schools,   the issue of the untouchables is almost always  broached. The actual Vedic system, however, has  

Nothing to do with social statuses or ostracizing  people based on their birth. The caste system,   more accurately known as varnashrama-dharma, is a  natural ordering of society based on the inherent   qualities that people possess and the work they  perform. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna,  

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, says that  He created this system based on guna and karma.   He never mentions anywhere that one’s varna,  or caste, is inherited at the time of birth. The reason for the divisions is that every  person will have different tendencies. The  

Modern day movements aimed at providing social  justice and the equal distribution of wealth are   certainly idealistic, but not practical since  everyone has different desires and qualities.   Not every person has the same work ethic,  nor does everyone want to be rich. In fact,  

If you conducted a poll to find out at what annual  salary a person would consider themselves rich,   you’d get a wide variety of answers. To  some people, earning $100,000 a year is   considered great wealth, while others would  require multiple millions of dollars before  

They felt comfortable. These differences  in desires and qualities are natural,   and they are acquired over the course of many  many lifetimes. Vedic teachings tell us that our   consciousness at the time of death determines  the type of body we inherit in our next birth.

The four varnas of the famous caste system  are the brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and   shudras. Then there are those who are considered  so uncivilized that they don’t even fall into any   of these categories. These “untouchables” are  the mlecchas, yavanas, and chandalas. For the  

Purpose of this discussion, we will focus  on the two extreme ends of the spectrum:   the brahmanas and the chandalas. The meaning of  brahmana is someone who knows Brahman. Most of   us understand that there is a personal God who is  in control of everything. He is the person we go  

To when we want things, and He is also in charge  of making the impossible seem possible. The Vedas   give us further details into God’s nature. He  who most of us know as God is actually Bhagavan,   or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhagavan,  whose original form is that of Shri Krishna,  

Then takes two primary expansions. The Lord is  kind enough to live within our body as a minute   spirit soul. We also have our own spirit soul that  forms the basis of our identity, but God’s soul is   there alongside ours. Our soul is known as the  jivatma, or just regular atma. Since God’s soul  

Is much more powerful, it is known as Paramatma,  or the great soul. The Paramatma can be realized   through yoga. Yoga itself means the linking of  our soul with God’s expansion residing within   our heart. There is a less granular expansion, or  classification, of God known as Brahman. Brahman  

Is an all-encompassing energy. Everything,  including matter and spirit, is Brahman. Those who know Brahman understand that all living  entities are an equal part of the creation. There   is no difference in quality or quantity between  one jivatma and another. To know Brahman and  

Truly understand it, one must possess certain  qualities. Such a person must be peaceful, humble,   tolerant, wise, etc. These are the qualities, or  gunas, of a brahmana. Along with these qualities,   brahmanas must perform certain types  of work. Their prescribed duties,   or karma, include reading the Vedas, teaching  others Vedic wisdom, performing sacrifices,  

Teaching others how to perform sacrifices,  taking charity, and giving charity. To be considered a qualified brahmana, one  must be properly trained. There are many   caste brahmanas in India who inherited  their status from their forefathers.   Essentially any caste brahmana can trace  their family lineage all the way back to  

A famous sage of the past. Having this  sort of ancestry is certainly very nice,   and it presents a wonderful opportunity. However,  as mentioned before, one’s varna is determined by   qualities and work. If we are born in a brahmana  family but don’t exude any of the qualities of a  

Brahmana or perform any of their activities,  we can’t be considered a bona fide brahmana. To know Brahman means to know that we  are not our bodies. The spirit soul,   or atma, represents our identity. Those  who live on the bodily conception of life,   considering themselves to be Indian,  American, black, white, etc.,  

Certainly don’t know Brahman. A person born in a  brahmana family who doesn’t have respect for all   forms of life certainly cannot be considered a  qualified teacher of the Vedas. To know Brahman,   one must be trained by a qualified  brahmana, someone who knows the Truth.

The sacrifice is an essential part of religious  life in the Vedic tradition. Sacrifice involves   voluntarily giving up something that is  valuable to you. In the ancient times,   kings would perform grand sacrifices where they  would offer a horse or some other valuable animal  

To God. These sacrifices were very intricate and  complex, and they required the perfect recitation   of specific Vedic hymns and mantras. A qualified  brahmana was required to perform these sacrifices,   otherwise the desired result would never be  achieved. In a properly executed sacrifice,  

The soul residing within the animal would  immediately be promoted to the human species   in the next life, and the king would reap  tremendous material rewards as a result. Since the sacrifices required meticulous  attention to detail, only trained sages could  

Perform them. By the same token, those who were  unclean and not trained in any Vedic discipline   were strictly forbidden from taking part in  such sacrifices. In the varnashrama system,   the shudras are considered the fourth and  lowest division. They are laborers by trade,  

And they receive no formal training in any  Vedic discipline. The chandalas, or dog-eaters,   are considered even lower. Even in today’s society  where meat-eating is quite common, if someone   were to start eating dog flesh, they would be  considered uncivilized and an odd-ball. In ancient  

Times, these people were not allowed anywhere near  a sacrifice, for their presence would taint the   whole proceeding. Such a person could surely  tread across any normal area of land, but as   soon as that same land became sanctified with the  paraphernalia of a Vedic sacrifice along with the  

Recitation of mantras by qualified brahmanas, such  a person was restricted from setting foot on it. Now this restriction may seem a little harsh  to the lay-person. To properly understand   the context, let’s take the example of flying  an airplane. A plane is an enormous vehicle,  

Requiring expert pilots to operate it. A pilot  must go through hours and hours of training before   they are allowed into the cockpit to personally  steer a plane from takeoff to landing. We would   never think of taking any odd person off  the street and asking them to fly a plane,  

For the results would be disastrous. The plane  probably would never even make it off the ground,   and if it did, it most certainly would  crash. The Vedic sacrifice can be thought   of in the same light. Though we may not see  its results directly, a yajna, or sacrifice,  

Is performed for the benefit of Lord Vishnu. In  fact, the word yajna itself means Vishnu, or the   four-handed expansion form of Lord Krishna. All  yajnas are meant for the satisfaction of Vishnu,   which means that if a non-devotee, or person  lacking knowledge of Vishnu, performs a sacrifice,  

There will be no tangible result. More than  just nullifying the effects of the sacrifice,   a chandala can do great harm by causing  animals to be needlessly killed or causing   the ingredients of the sacrifice to be wasted.  This is precisely what occurred over time as  

Unqualified brahmanas started taking to  animal sacrifice simply as an excuse to   eat meat. For this reason, the practice of  animal sacrifice was eventually abolished. This analogy to a chandala being restricted  from a yajna was appropriately used by Sita   Devi when talking to Ravana. During the Treta  Yuga, the second time period of creation,  

Lord Krishna descended to earth in His  all-blissful, all-knowing form of Lord Rama,   the handsome prince of Ayodhya. Rama’s wife was  Sita Devi, an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. The   couple was residing in the forest of Dandaka  along with Rama’s younger brother, Lakshmana,  

When one day Sita was kidnapped by Ravana. The  Rakshasa race was quite strong at the time,   and their leader was the ten-headed son  of Vishrava, Ravana. Though Ravana was   quite capable in battle, he knew he didn’t  stand a chance against Rama and Lakshmana,  

So he devised a plan where he could kidnap Sita  in Their absence. Successfully taking Sita to his   kingdom of Lanka, Ravana tried every which way  to win her heart over, but he failed every time. In the above referenced statement, Sita is  letting Ravana know that he can never touch  

Her. She compared him to a chandala, or the lowest  class of man. This analogy is important because   Ravana certainly viewed himself as high class. He  lived in the finest palaces, drank the best wine,   and had hundreds of beautiful wives. He even  thought that he was a religious person, for  

He used to regularly perform worship of various  demigods. Nevertheless, he lived completely in   the bodily conception of life. He didn’t believe  in a Supreme God, for he was trying to be God   himself through the conquering of enemies and  the acquisition of material wealth, strength, and  

Fame. As a Rakshasa, he was accustomed to eating  meat. The irony of Ravana’s haughtiness was that   he was actually lower than a chandala. A chandala  is so low that they eat dog flesh, but Ravana   actually ate human flesh on a regular basis.  He and his Rakshasa associates would harass the  

Great sages living in the forests, attack their  sacrifices, kill them, and then eat their flesh. Sita was dead-on in her characterization of  Ravana. The demon certainly did touch her,   but just as a chandala can never properly  execute a sacrifice, Ravana was never able  

To actually touch Sita’s spiritual form. He  only associated with a material form of Sita,   a sort of fake covering. Only devotees can  see God and His associates as they are. If we see God and His pure devotees as being  products of material nature, we can never get  

The true benefit of their association. The  impersonalist philosophers, the Mayavadis,   encounter this very problem when they try to  execute bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. The   Mayavadis believe that Brahman is the ultimate  feature of God, meaning they don’t believe in a  

Paramatma or Bhagavan. Because of this, they  try to worship some imaginary form of God,   or worse, they take God’s authorized forms such  as Rama, Krishna, etc. to be products of maya,   or material nature. For these reasons their  performance of bhakti-yoga is useless. Their  

Viewpoint is no different than how Ravana  viewed Sita, Rama, and Lakshmana. In the end,   Sita’s words would hold true as Ravana was never  able to win her over. Lord Rama eventually came   to Lanka and killed the demon and all his  soldiers after a series of fierce battles.

If we want to truly get the benefit of  association with God, we must be properly   trained from a devotee. The devotees of  Lord Vishnu, Vaishnavas, are actually   above brahmanas in stature because they understand  Bhagavan. Since Bhagavan is the source of Brahman,  

Vaishnavas automatically acquire all the qualities  of a brahmana. In this age, we can all become   Vaishnavas, regardless of our ancestry, simply by  regularly chanting God’s names in a loving way,   “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.  

This chanting is known as the sankirtana-yajna,  and unlike sacrifices of the past, there are no   restrictions on its performance. Any person can  chant and receive all the glorious benefits. This   is Krishna’s mercy for the people of this age, and  we should most certainly take advantage of it.

CHAPTER 16 – A HIGHER TASTE “How can that female swan who is accustomed  to sporting with the king of swans amidst   lotus flowers ever cast her eyes on a  water-crow that stays amidst bunches of   grass?” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.20)

Those who are unfamiliar with Vedic customs  find it hard to believe that someone can live   without eating meat or drinking alcohol. What’s  even more surprising is that people who grow   up in America and other countries around the  world which don’t have a steeped tradition of  

Vedic culture can also give up these bad habits.  The secret to this renunciation is attachment,   the development of a higher taste. Vishnu  devotees have found something that gives   them thrills and highs that far surpass the  temporary feelings of happiness derived from   engagement in sinful activities such as  drinking and taking drugs. This ananda,  

Or bliss, can only be achieved through  association with the Supreme Lord. Devotees of Lord Vishnu are known as Vaishnavas.  There is only one God, regardless of what anyone   else may claim. God cannot be the exclusive  property of any one group of people; He exists,  

And His dominion is over all of mankind. The  Vedas, the oldest scriptures in existence,   are unique in that they go beyond just telling  us that there is a God; they give us details   about what He looks like, what activities He  performs, and what His names are. The Vedas  

Tell us that the original form of God is that of  Lord Shri Krishna. He is also known as Bhagavan,   meaning the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  Godhead is a more accurate description for   God because it speaks to the fact that God can  take many forms. Krishna is the fountainhead  

Of all these forms, thus He is known as the  Supreme Godhead. Krishna’s immediate expansion   is that of Lord Vishnu, who has four hands  and lives in the Vaikuntha spiritual planets. Since there is essentially no  difference between Vishnu and Krishna,  

Devotees of either or both are referred to  as Vaishnavas. A key distinction between an   untrained theist and a Vaishnava is that a  devotee of Vishnu voluntarily gives up what   are known as the four pillars of sinful  life: meat eating, gambling, illicit sex,  

And intoxication. One may wonder what these  activities have to do with God. After all,   isn’t it enough to just believe in God? The  reason these activities are deemed sinful is   that they cause one to be bound up in the  illusion of this material world. Illusion  

Means taking something to be one thing when, in  reality, it is something else. The world we live   in is deemed to be illusory because it makes us  think that we will be happy associating with it. Material happiness is an illusion because matter  itself is constantly changing, being subject to  

Creation, maintenance, and dissolution. Sex  life which is against religious principles   serves as a great example in illustrating this  point. When men and women reach a mature age,   they seek out each other’s company. Men look for  certain traits in a woman, and women have their  

Own set of qualities they look for in a man,  but a commonality exists in that both groups   look for beauty. They say that beauty is in the  eye of the beholder, but there is no denying that   beauty is often related to a person’s outward  features. These features consist of matter,  

For that is what the gross body is comprised of.  The body is constantly changing: from boyhood   to youth, from youth to adult, from adult to  old age. Though the body constantly changes,   the identity of the owner of the body  doesn’t. This is because the spirit soul  

Residing within the body is what determines  a person’s identity; it forms the essence   of existence. The outward covering is simply a  dress, something which gets worn out over time. As the body gets older, it becomes less  attractive to the opposite sex. The same woman we  

Were attracted to in our youth, now becomes less  attractive in old age. So the driving force behind   sex life, material beauty, can be considered an  illusion, for it is ever changing. This is one   small example of how material happiness works, and  the same principles can be applied to gambling,  

Intoxication, and meat eating. This is all by  design, though, for the material world is not   meant to be our permanent home. Since spirit is  superior to matter, there is another world where   spirit reigns supreme. That place is known as  the spiritual world, where God and His eternal  

Associates dwell. Unlike the material world,  everything in Krishna’s realm is blissful,   permanent, and full of knowledge. What we  see is what we get, so there is no illusion. Returning to the spiritual world is actually  quite easy. We simply have to have a sincere  

Desire to associate with God. If this  desire remains with us at the time of death,   in our next life we receive a spiritual  body. If we assume a spiritual body,   naturally we will live in the spiritual  world. Krishna’s promise to us is that  

Once we assume a spiritual body, we will never  be subject to the forces of the material world   again. This means that our days of being  tricked by material nature will be over. So this seems simple enough; just desire to be  with God. Here’s the catch though. In our current  

Conditioned state, we have a tight attachment to  sinful activity. This attachment is not very easy   to give up. Even if we want to be with God, if we  still have an addiction to any sinful activity,   we will be forced to accept another material  body at the time of death. To help us remain  

On the virtuous path, the great Vaishnava saints  recommend that we kick our addiction to the above   mentioned pillars of sinful life. No meat eating,  no gambling, no intoxication, and no illicit sex. For people growing up in Western countries, even  giving up one of these activities is difficult.  

There is a well-known historical incident  involving of one Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta   Sarasvati’s preachers going to England and  trying to convert famous dignitaries into   devotees of Krishna. A high ranking government  official in England asked the preacher how he   could go about becoming a brahmana, or high  class priest. “Can you make me a brahmana?”  

The person asked. The preacher replied that  it would be very simple, that the person would   only need to give up the four primary sinful  activities. Immediately this dignitary replied   that it was impossible. “Give up drinking?  Give up meat-eating? No way; I can’t do it.”

This sentiment is echoed by many  people who live in countries which   have a rooted tradition of meat eating and  intoxication. “If we give up these activities,   what will we do for fun? What will we  eat?” These are certainly valid concerns,  

Which luckily have been addressed by the great  devotees of Krishna. The acharyas tell us that   more than simply giving up activities, we need  to take up a full-time engagement which will make   us automatically give up all bad habits.  This engagement is known as bhakti-yoga,  

Or devotional service. The primary component of  devotional service is chanting. If we regularly   recite God’s names, “Hare Krishna Hare  Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,   Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”,  we will slowly develop an attachment to God.

How do we develop an attachment to somebody  we can’t even see? The secret lies in the fact   that God and His names are identical. This  is a little tricky to understand at first,   but it is undoubtedly true. Being the Supreme  Absolute Truth, there is no difference between  

Krishna and any of His primary expansions.  This means that Krishna’s original form,   His arms, legs, names, and books  that describe Him are all equal,   for that is the very definition of Absolute.  Chanting is the recommended process of devotional  

Service for this age because it is the easiest  and most effective method of connecting with   God. Along with performing other activities such  as hearing, remembering, and offering prayers,   a person can spend twenty-four hours  a day engaged in Krishna’s service.

Associating with Krishna by these methods is  in some ways better than offering service to   Him face-to-face. This is because if we  hear about Krishna or chant His name,   many of our inhibitions are removed.  Our love for Him is free to grow,  

And it doesn’t get checked by any social  conventions or self-consciousness. We are   free to love the Lord unconditionally,  without any expectation of reciprocation. As a result of associating with God, one  automatically loses tastes for other subordinate   activities. If a person regularly engages in  devotional service, they no longer desire to  

Associate with illusory matter, something which  provides no lasting pleasure. This essentially   describes the life of a sannyasi, or one in the  renounced order. Sannyasis renounce material life,   dedicating their whole lives to serving  Krishna. Usually the idea of sannyasa   is equated with shaving one’s head, carrying  around a stick, and travelling from place to  

Place. These things certainly do help one remain  renounced, but sannyasa is more a state of mind   than anything else. By dedicating their lives to  Krishna, sincere devotees find a higher taste,   something which gives them a million times  more pleasure than anything they ever did  

Before. In this way, we see that sannyasa is  more about pleasure than it is renunciation. Due to His causeless mercy upon the fallen  conditioned living entities, Krishna descends   to earth in a spiritual form from time to time.  He enacts pastimes, punishes the miscreants,  

And gives pleasure and protection to the  Vaishnavas. One such appearance took place   many thousands of years ago in the Treta Yuga,  the second time period of creation. Appearing on   earth as Lord Rama, the handsome and pious prince  of Ayodhya, God’s mission was to kill the Rakshasa  

Demon Ravana. In order to facilitate Ravana’s  destruction, Rama needed an excuse to take him on   in battle. This excuse came through the kidnapping  of Sita Devi, Lord Rama’s wife, by Ravana. Taking Sita back to his island kingdom of Lanka,  Ravana tried his best to win her over, but he was  

Unsuccessful. In response to his advances,  Sita scornfully rebuked him and let him know   just what was in store for him as a result of his  horrible act. In the above referenced statement,   Sita is asking Ravana a rhetorical question  relating to her love for Rama. She compares  

Rama to the greatest swan [raja-hamsena]  that lives with its consort amongst lotus   flowers and Ravana to an ordinary diver-bird  who rustles around in reeds and grass. This   beautiful analogy also describes the difference  between spiritual life and material life. Sita is saying that she has already tasted  pure bliss through association with God.  

She was more than just an associate; she  was God’s wife, His eternal consort. Sita   and Rama can never be separated at any  time. Even though Ravana kidnapped her,   he was only able to touch and see a material  version of Sita. The sinful and the materially  

Conditioned can never see God and His pure  devotees for who they truly are. This flawed   mindset leads them to view the deities in  temples as ordinary wood or stone statues. Ravana was a gross materialist who took  the satisfaction of the senses to be his  

Topmost priority. He lived in beautiful  palaces, had a tremendous fighting army of   Rakshasas at his disposal, and was married  to hundreds of beautiful princesses. Yet   all this was not enough; lust drove him to  forcibly take another man’s wife. Actually,  

Material life is never enough for any person,  not just Ravana. This is why religion exists;   it is our way out of this ocean of nescience. Due  to Ravana’s sinful nature, Sita wanted nothing   to do with him. More than just not wanting to  be with him, there was simply no way for Sita  

To ever associate with Ravana. In thought, word,  and deed, Sita was wholly dedicated to Lord Rama. Having found a higher taste, Sita could not  tolerate the mundane enjoyment provided by matter.   Her statement also shows that she had completely  renounced material life, something which is  

Not common for women. The sannyasa-ashrama, as  well as the entire varnashrama- dharma system,   is intended primarily for men. A woman’s dharma  is that she should be dedicated to her husband,   and thereby share in the results of his  pious activities. Sita, being a pure devotee,  

Transcended all these rules and regulations. This  proves that any person, regardless of their race,   gender, or ethnicity, can take to devotional  service and achieve perfection in life. Being   madly in love with God is the true sign of one  in the renounced order. We can easily renounce  

All sinful activity simply by accepting  a higher taste, the sweet transcendental   mellow of pure loving association with  the Supreme Personality of Godhead. CHAPTER 17 – PADMINI “How can that female swan who is accustomed  to sporting with the king of swans amidst  

Lotus flowers ever cast her eyes on a  water-crow that stays amidst bunches of   grass?” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.20) Expensive chocolates, the finest wines, the  most succulent of meats…these things are all   considered part of finer living. This  lifestyle isn’t enjoyed by most people,  

So one who can indulge in such enjoyments is  considered blessed and part of the upper tier of   society. More than just an issue of affordability,  indulging in the finer things in life requires   sacrifice and commitment. One must really derive  great enjoyment from these amenities in order to  

Make the necessary investment of money. As  a result of this higher level of enjoyment,   one grows accustomed to having only the  best things in life. A resulting side   effect is that one can never go back to  their old way of life. Cheap cars, foods,  

And drinks become intolerable. Along the same  lines, devotees of God experience the highest   taste by constantly associating with the Supreme  Lord. When asked to indulge in material life,   a return to the miserable and temporary  existence of the conditioned, devotees  

Utterly reject such a notion, being incapable  of adapting to a substandard way of life. An   example of this was seen with the wife of Lord  Rama, Sita Devi, many thousands of years ago. Why are there different classes of meat? Why  doesn’t everybody just eat the same kinds of  

Food and live in the same types of houses?  Things would be a lot easier that way. There   would be no fuss or jealousy, and everyone  could be more at ease. The problem is that   every individual is born with different  qualities and desires. The concept of  

Individuality implies that there is a desire to  stand out, a need to be different. A person loses   their individuality if they act the same way as  everybody else, performing the same activities,   and enjoying the same pastimes. Not  only is there a desire to be different,  

But this is actually the natural course of things.  For example, not every person goes into the same   field of work when they turn into adults. Medical  schools and business schools certainly recruit   their fair share of candidates in the hopes of  churning out bright, new doctors and businessmen,  

But there is no fear from the public that every  single person will become a doctor or a business.   Carpenters aren’t worried that there won’t  be any new carpenters around, and policemen   aren’t worried that there won’t be anyone to  defend the innocent public in the near future.

These worries relating to the choices of  occupation are absent because it is seen that   people naturally take to different activities.  The Vedas, the scriptures emanating from India,   tell us that each individual is the  same in quality but that their material  

Bodies are composed of different modes. The  individual gets their identity from the soul,   or atma, which is the same in quality for every  person. This atma is pure and uncontaminated,   for it inherits its qualities from God. The  Supreme Lord, whose original form is Krishna,  

Can be thought of as a giant fire and the souls  of the living entities as minute sparks from that   fire. Though these sparks are pure and full of  bliss, when they come to the material world they   assume a body composed of the modes of nature.  These modes are goodness, passion, and ignorance,  

And they are referred to as gunas in Sanskrit.  Guna means a material quality or rope,   and it is defined as such because a material  quality causes the soul to be bound to the   laws of nature. As a spiritual spark, the  soul is not bound to anything, completely  

Autonomous in its wanderings. However, in order  to appear in the material world, the soul must   agree to be bound up by gunas. This binding is  voluntary and not instigated by the Supreme Lord. When the soul gets covered up by gunas,  the resulting life form, the living entity,  

Takes to different activities. Since gunas can  be mixed up in so many different proportions,   there are no two conditioned living entities that  are exactly the same. This is good in a sense   because individuality is maintained, and thus  differences are seen in activities and natures.  

Since there is no equality in the material sense,  we see that some people take to enjoying the finer   things in life, while others do not. For example,  a rich person may require a private airplane,   fully stocked with adult beverages and lavish  furniture, while a middle class person may prefer  

Travelling on a commercial airplane or simply  driving their cars from place to place. Some   people insist on eating high class foods, while  others are fine with just simple grains, milk,   and fruits. In fact, many yogis in India go their  whole lives surviving simply off fruits and milk.

Since the material world is full of dualities,  what is palatable for one person may not be so   for another. To many, the renounced lifestyle  of a yogi seems torturous. These differences in   viewpoints speak to the notion of dualities,  the fact that everything is relative. People  

Grow accustomed to their way of life, especially  if they enjoy fine living, so what they often view   as painful really isn’t. For example, in today’s  age, most everyone is accustomed to watching   television, talking on cellular telephones,  and using computers. Just twenty years ago,  

Cell phones were hardly used and computers weren’t  even owned by most people. In today’s world,   it may seem impossible to get by without the  internet, but people lived for so long without   it and had no problem. If our cable or satellite  television goes out for just a short period of  

Time, we panic or get angry, but in previous  times there was no need for such things. This   shows that one who enjoys the finer things in  life, the “good life”, has no desire to return   to what they deem as ordinary or substandard  life. Once a person grows accustomed to using  

Their iPods to listen to music, going back to  using walkmans and CD players is not an option. Usually when discussing this phenomenon in  terms of its significance in spiritual life,   the issue is portrayed in a negative light. One  of the central components of spiritual life in  

The Vedic tradition is tapasya, or penance. The  more a person becomes attached to objects of   sense gratification, the harder it becomes  to perform penance. Penance isn’t simply a   tool of punishment, but rather a way to curb the  influence of the senses and acquire detachment.  

This detachment is extremely helpful in fostering  one’s attachment to God, which is the ultimate   objective for every person in life. Though  others may be unaware of this objective, it is   undoubtedly the highest engagement for the soul  to reconnect with its source, the Supreme Lord.  

Awareness of this objective can take many many  lifetimes to acquire, but that doesn’t diminish   the superior nature of the sublime engagement  of devotional service to God, or bhakti-yoga. Though becoming attached to the finer things  in life can certainly be a hindrance towards  

Spiritual advancement, the phenomenon actually can  teach us a lot about the benefits of performing   bhakti-yoga and some of the side-effects that  come from associating with God. Sita Devi   illustrates this point quite clearly in the above  referenced statement. Many thousands of years ago,  

The Supreme Absolute Truth, the original fire  from which all sparks in the universe emanate,   God Himself, appeared on earth in the guise  of a human being. The activities of this human   being have been chronicled in the famous poem  composed by Maharishi Valmiki called the Ramayana.

One of the nice things about God  appearing on earth is that it lets   others see how those who have achieved  the ultimate objective in life behave.   Since the goal of human life is to associate  with God and to always be thinking of Him,  

It makes sense that God’s associates who are  present during His time on earth would be   perfect candidates to study. One such associate  was Sita Devi, Rama’s beloved wife. She exuded   all the qualities of the perfect woman, mother,  daughter, and wife. In many respects she was  

Greater than Lord Rama, for she taught others  how to practice devotion through her example. Sita’s execution of bhakti-yoga wasn’t without  obstacles. We can look back now and see that   everything ended well for her, but her life  was full of pain and suffering. In this way,  

She showed us how to remain firmly committed to  the righteous path, regardless of what setbacks   we may have to suffer through. Probably  the most terrifying period of her life was   when she was kidnapped by the Rakshasa demon  Ravana. Rama, His younger brother Lakshmana,  

And Sita were residing in the forest of Dandaka  when one day Ravana came and set up a diversion to   lure the two brothers away from Sita. Successfully  taking her back to his island kingdom of Lanka,   Ravana tried every which way to get Sita to  turn her eye towards him. This, of course,  

Was impossible, for Sita never  turns her thoughts away from God. While rebuking Ravana, in order to get her point  across about how she would never give in to him,   Sita offered up a series of metaphors, each  one beautifully illustrating her desire to  

Be with Rama and her utter repulsion towards  Ravana. In the above referenced statement,   we see that Sita compares Rama to the king of  swans, or the greatest swan, and Ravana to an   ordinary diver bird, or water fowl. She is saying  that as the wife of the king of swans, she has  

Grown accustomed to sporting with her mate amidst  bunches of lotus flowers. Flowers are a symbol of   the good life, for they have a pleasing fragrance  and an outward appearance which is appealing to   the eye. In the Vedic tradition, flowers play  an integral role in beautification. They are  

Used to make garlands which are offered to the  spiritual master and to the deity residing within   the temple. The lotus flower is also the symbol of  Lord Vishnu, Krishna’s primary expansion residing   within the spiritual world. One of Vishnu’s names  is Padmanabha because He has a navel which looks  

Like a lotus-flower. Vishnu’s wife, Lakshmi Devi,  is known as Padmini because she sits on a lotus   flower while residing in the spiritual world with  her husband. This is a relevant point because   Sita and Rama were technically incarnations  of Lakshmi and Vishnu. From her statement,  

Sita is secretly hinting at her divinity and how  she and her husband are always with lotus flowers. Ravana, on the other hand, is compared  to a low-class bird who simply hangs   around bunches of reeds and grass.  In this way, he is viewed as living  

A low-class life. Sita is saying that since she  has experienced the higher taste of fine living,   it would be impossible for her to associate with  the low-class life that Ravana was accustomed to.   What does this mean for us? Aside from helping  us achieve the ultimate objective in life,  

Bhakti-yoga is deemed to be fine living in the  grand scheme of things. This may seem strange   at first because we usually associate a  yogi with someone who has a shaved head,   simple clothing, and no possessions. In fact,  the most elevated status in spiritual life is  

Sannyasa, which is the renounced order. By  fine living, we are referring to spiritual   living. Bhakti-yoga is considered the high life  because it involves direct association with God. Though Sita got to travel the world alongside  Rama, it doesn’t mean that we are bereft of  

This association today. In this day and age,  we can directly connect with God through the   transcendental sound vibration of His names. By  regularly chanting, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,   Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama,  Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, we can experience the high  

Life. Fine living wouldn’t be complete without  nice food, music, and clothing. These things   certainly do exist in the life of a bhakti-yogi,  but they are meant for the enjoyment of the   Supreme Lord instead of the individual. Devotees  offer up the tastiest food to the deity of the  

Lord, dressing Him in the nicest clothing,  all the while playing the sweetest music. Bhakti-yoga represents the sublime life. If we  get accustomed to this transcendental lifestyle,   we can one day have the same fortitude and  determination that Sita did. She never gave  

In to Ravana because she didn’t find him or his  lifestyle appealing in the least bit. By the same   token, if we become attached to the wonderful food  known as Krishna prasadam, and the beautiful music   known as harinama-sankirtana, we can surely reject  all the unnecessary and unwanted things in life.

CHAPTER 18 – REASONS FOR LIVING “Bind or destroy this body of mine,  which is deprived of feelings [due   to separation from Rama]. O Rakshasa,  I will not protect this body or even my   life.” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana,  Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.21)

The central teaching of the Vedas is that we  are not our bodies. The spirit soul residing   within represents both our true identity and the  basis of our life. The Vedas also tell us that   this soul is similar in quality to God, for it is  meant to always be blissful and full of knowledge.  

Knowing this, one may wonder what the purpose to  life is. Why are we forced to remain inside of a   body which is destined for destruction? If we all  die eventually, why do we even take birth? Why do  

We have arms, hands, legs, and a brain? Moreover,  why should we work so hard to maintain the body,   which is essentially just a shell that  gets burned or buried at the end of life? To answer these questions, let’s first  analyze how most conditioned living entities  

View the body. By default, we are all born into  ignorance. This is true for every living entity,   and it is evidenced by the fact that an infant  cannot do anything for itself except cry. At one   time we were all babies who were completely  dependent on our parents for everything. All  

The knowledge that we possess today had  to be acquired over many years of trials,   tribulations, and schooling. Through knowledge  and intelligence we slowly but surely rose   above the natural animalistic tendencies  that we inherited at the time of birth.

As we grow older, most of us are taught to become  self-sufficient individuals. Do well in school,   get a good job, be responsible, and raise  a family. This is the ideal existence,   for if we are able to maintain ourselves and our  families, a lot of our worries get eliminated.  

In a spiritual sense, however, this sort  of life is still considered conditioned,   meaning it has no influence on the soul. A living  entity can be considered conditioned if it has no   knowledge about the soul and its relationship to  God. The quintessential trait of a conditioned  

Person is that they identify solely with  their body. This identification then leads   them to think that the aim of life is to meet the  sense demands of the body to the fullest degree. What are sense demands? They can be thought  of as anything relating to the four primary  

Activities of animals: eating, sleeping,  mating, and defending. We all want to feel   pleasure by performing activities that make us  happy. Eat nice food, have a beautiful spouse,   travel to nice places, hang out with our friends,  etc. This sort of life certainly provides some  

Level of sense pleasure, but it is very difficult  to maintain. For those who have, there is always   anxiety in maintaining their possessions. In  today’s world, the economic condition is an   ever-changing one, with new industries forming  and dissolving every day. One hundred years ago,  

Almost half of the population of America engaged  in agriculture as their main business. That number   is now drastically diminished, yet the food  production is as high as it has ever been.   All those farmers didn’t become homeless, but  rather, they found new ways to earn money.  

In a similar manner, the IT boom of the last  twenty years has created a whole new industry   of jobs. People now are becoming computer  specialists instead of joining other fields. All this change means that sustaining a quiet  and peaceful family life is not as easy as it  

Used to be. Simply to meet the basic demands of  the senses, we must go through so much trouble.   The Vedas tell us that there is certainly nothing  wrong with working hard to maintain our lives,   but at the same time, we should realize that  the pleasure derived from this way of life is  

Temporary and fleeting in nature. In reality  we don’t have to work that hard to gratify our   senses. To illustrate this example, we need  only look to the animal community. An animal,   such as a dog or a cat, certainly eats,  sleeps, mates, and defends just like humans do,  

Except that they don’t hanker or lament. They  don’t worry about a mortgage payment, or how   they will maintain their wife and children. This  is because animals don’t have the intelligence   to understand those things. They simply act to  satisfy their senses, and they don’t necessarily  

Worry about the quality of their enjoyment. Human  beings may sleep on comfortable mattresses, while   dogs sleep on the floor, but the enjoyment derived  isn’t much different. Sleep is sleep in the end. Human beings have a higher level of intelligence  for a reason. We are not meant to imitate the  

Animal kingdom. Our arms, legs, and brain are  supposed to be used for a higher purpose. To   understand what that purpose is, we must first  understand what defines our existence. What is   that one thing that sustains us? The Vedas tell us  that it is dharma. Dharma is sometimes translated  

To mean religion, religiosity, or virtue, but  in reality, it is something that truly defines   one’s existence, an occupational duty that  never changes. Religion means a kind of faith,   something we change at the drop of a  hat. One person believes in Christianity,  

While another believes in Hinduism, while  another jumps from one to the other. Dharma   is not like that. It is something that is  always in existence. For this reason the   Vedas refer to religion as sanatana-dharma,  meaning the eternal occupational duty of man. So dharma defines us, but what does  that actually mean? Our occupational  

Duties are always in existence, but what  do these duties entail? In a nutshell,   our dharma is to always remain connected with God,  for that is our original constitutional position.   The body is merely a temporary covering for the  spirit soul that resides within. The soul has  

Transcendental qualities, the foremost of which is  attachment for the Supreme Personality of Godhead,   Lord Krishna. Krishna is God, the same God that  everyone looks up to and sometimes chastises.   We are minute spirit souls, but God is the  complete soul, the most superior person,  

Or purusha. Our eternal occupational duty  is to always serve Him in a loving way. If our eternal duty is to serve God, why are we  placed in a world where we are allowed to forget   Him? Why do we take on the characteristics of  animals at the time of birth? This material  

World is a type of prison house, a place for  wayward spirit souls to go to try to act out   their desires to imitate God. The Lord is very  kind after all, so anyone that doesn’t want to  

Abide by dharma is not forced to. The Lord is  so kind to the deviant souls that He created   this phantasmagoria known as the material  universe to allow them to come and play. The soul can be thought of as the actor, the  body as the machine or set of instruments,  

And the creation as the playing field. We  have total freedom in how we choose to act,   though we have limited abilities to actually  affect the outcomes of our actions. This is   because every other living entity has an  equal right to perform their own fruitive  

Activities. As a result there are bound to be  collisions. This complicated system of reward   and punishment is all managed by God through His  agents known as the demigods. So in this regard,   we really have no control over our  material fortunes and misfortunes.

The only way out of this temporary prison house  is dharma. Abiding by dharma is very easy;   we simply have to dovetail all our activities  with God’s service. Dharma means pleasing God.   How do we go about doing this? There is a term  that more accurately describes the nature of  

Our occupational duties: bhagavata-dharma.  Bhagavata-dharma means devotional service,   or those duties which are aimed at pleasing  Bhagavan, or Bhagavata. Krishna, or God,   is known as Bhagavan because He  possesses all fortunes. Anything   directly associated with Bhagavan is known  as Bhagavata. Bhagavata can refer to books  

About God or to devotees who serve  Him. In this way, bhagavata-dharma,   or being always engaged in God’s service, can  be thought of as the highest duty in life. As outlined by the great  bhakta, Prahlada Maharaja,   devotional service consists of nine distinct  activities: hearing, chanting, remembering,  

Worshiping, serving the lotus feet of  the Lord, offering prayers, becoming   His servant, becoming friends with the Lord, and  surrendering everything unto Him. As we can see,   this affords us many avenues which we can go  down as it relates to serving God. Those who  

Engage in bhagavata-dharma are making the  most out of their lives. Instead of seeing   the body as a source of distress and misery,  devotees take full advantage of their hands,   legs, mouth, and brain to glorify God, chant  His name, and talk about Him with others.

A great example of a person who perfected all nine  of these processes was Sita Devi, the wife of Lord   Rama. Though Krishna is the fountainhead of all  forms of God, He kindly takes many different   direct expansions for the enactment of various  pastimes. One such expansion appeared on earth  

Many thousands of years ago. Known by the name of  Rama, Krishna played the role of a pious prince,   wholly dedicated to the welfare of the pious.  Naturally, Rama’s wife was equally as pious,   for God can never associate with non-liberated  souls. Matter is inferior to spirit, so much  

So that God can never directly associate  with matter. When He appears on earth,   His body is completely spiritual, and so are all  the people He becomes friends with or marries. Sita Devi based her identity on her devotion to  Rama. In this way she showed the proper way for a  

Wife to behave towards her husband. The Vedas tell  us that a marriage is a fifty-fifty partnership,   with each person assigned separate tasks  which they must perform with dedication.   The husband is assigned with the task of providing  protection and the wife with the duty of serving  

The husband at all times. These duties were  heightened in Sita and Rama’s relationship,   for Rama was God Himself, and Sita was a pure  devotee. The devotees take it upon themselves to   always act in God’s interests, and the Supreme  Lord takes charge of protecting them. In this  

Way we see how the loving relationship  between God and His devotees operates. Lord Rama’s duties required Him to  take on a famous demon of the time,   the ten-headed Ravana. The demigods were living  in fear of Ravana because he had acquired   great fighting ability. Being a committed  atheist, Ravana wanted to rule the world,  

And he thought he could do so by doing away  with the devatas. Lord Rama, being God Himself,   easily could have just gone to Ravana’s kingdom  of Lanka and killed Him, but the Lord wanted to   abide by the proper code of conduct assigned  to the kshatriya, or warrior, division. This  

Protocol stipulated that Rama couldn’t take Ravana  on in battle unless He was provoked. Lord Rama got   the excuse He needed when, while residing in the  forest of Dandaka, Sita was kidnapped by Ravana. Hearing of Sita’s beauty, Ravana’s heart  became set on having her. Sadly for him,  

Sita’s heart belonged to Rama. She was incapable  of even thinking of another man. In the above   referenced statement, Sita is telling Ravana  to go ahead and do what he wants with her body,   for she is ready to renounce it. Being  held captive in Ravana’s kingdom,  

Sita was unable to perform devotional  service, so she deemed her body to be   useless. This is the sign of the highest  level of intelligence. Sita had no desire to   use her body to satisfy animal instincts. If she  couldn’t serve Rama, she had no desire to live.

We should take the necessary actions to ensure  that we can always perform devotional service.   Our lifestyle should be adjusted in such a  way to eliminate as many hindrances to our   devotional activities. The four biggest obstacles  towards advancing in spiritual life are the   sinful activities of meat eating, gambling,  illicit sex, and intoxication. Eliminating  

These activities and simultaneously taking up  the regular chanting of the holy names of God,   “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare  Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”,   is the formula for success. We don’t need to  reject everything as being material. Rather,  

We should judge every activity through the  prism of devotional service. “Will such and   such activity help me in my devotional life, or  will it hurt me?” Thinking along these lines,   we can make the most of this wonderful  opportunity of human life. If we fail  

To act according to dharma, none of our  activities can be considered worthwhile. CHAPTER 19 – REPUTATION “…but in this world, I will not bring  about disgrace on myself.” (Sita Devi   speaking to Ravana, Valmiki  Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.22)

One of the nice perks of becoming a pure devotee  of God is that you are able to transcend all rules   and regulations. Mundane morality is nice, but  it only exists for a specific purpose. Simply   treading the virtuous path is not enough, for if  we fail to develop a loving attachment to God,  

All our pious activities are essentially  a waste of time. The paramahamsas,   the truly liberated souls, don’t need to follow  any social conventions or prescribed regulations,   but they still do so anyway. Even the  greatest souls take care to maintain   a good reputation for themselves. There  are legitimate reasons for this concern.

The set of law codes that mankind is to abide  by is known as dharma in the Vedic tradition.   Dharma translates to an occupational  duty or that which defines the essence of   something. The living entity is an individual  spirit spark emanating from Lord Krishna,  

The Supreme Personality of Godhead. As a part of  God, the soul’s inherent duty is to serve Him.   Nevertheless, the material world is considered  to be an ocean of nescience where we living   entities forget about God as soon as we take  birth. In the beginning stages of our lives,  

It’s not very easy to reawaken the dormant loving  propensities that we have for the Supreme Lord.   For this reason, Krishna passed down a set  of ruling principles, rules and regulations   to guide mankind’s conduct. This collective  set of rules can be thought of as dharma.

Dharma is intended to help us break free of  our attachment to matter, and to allow us   to instead focus our concern on the spirit that  resides within. This spirit is what defines us,   and its presence is the basis for our life.  It is one thing to learn about the nature of  

The spirit soul, but it is another to actually  realize that we are not our bodies. To help us   gain a practical understanding of the  difference between matter and spirit,   dharma sets forth a set of recommended  guidelines that we living entities can   follow. Some of these regulations are pretty  simple and straightforward. “Don’t steal,  

Don’t lie, don’t murder, don’t unnecessarily  burden others, etc.” These are common laws   that are adopted by most societies. There are  other more advanced rules and regulations such   as fasting on certain days, not eating meat,  and not engaging in sex before marriage.

Virtue exists so that we can one day develop a  love for God, who is the original friend. Those   who tread the virtuous path naturally acquire  auspicious qualities such as peacefulness,   honesty, equanimity, and love for all beings. A  truly virtuous person does not pick favorites.  

They don’t like one group of people and hate  another, as is common today for many governmental   leaders. Most political campaigns are run on the  basis of pitting groups against one another: rich   versus poor, black versus white, Christian versus  Jew, etc. People who think along these lines  

Cannot be considered virtuous due to the fact  that every living entity is an equal part of this   creation. We are all spirit souls who are under  the care of our Supreme Father, Lord Krishna. The advanced devotees actually go one step  beyond virtue. They certainly do acquire all  

The beneficial traits associated with saintly  people, but they take it to another level by   dovetailing all of their activities with God’s  service. A virtuous person does everything   according to the rules of regulations  of written guidelines, or scriptures,  

But a devotee does everything for the benefit  of Krishna, who is the author and all rules   and regulations. In the Vedic tradition, one of  the primary methods of worship is sacrifice. In   Sanskrit, the word “yajna” means sacrifice. Yajna  also means Vishnu, who is Krishna’s four-handed  

Expansion. This small detail provides great  insight into the real meaning behind religion   and religious principles. Dharma exists  for only one reason: to connect with God. Devotees dedicate all their activities  to Krishna as a form of sacrifice. This   behavior is called bhakti, or loving devotion.  The great acharya, Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura,  

States that bhakti is simply the purification  of karma, or regulative work. By default, we all   engage in karma, which is activity on the material  platform. We perform some work so that we can be   benefitted in some material sense at some point in  the future. When we change the nature of our work  

By dedicating activities for pleasing the supreme  person, Krishna, these works can be classified   as bhakti. Those who engage in bhakti-yoga,  or devotional service, are known as bhaktas. Since the work performed by bhaktas is  completely pure and uncontaminated by any   material impurities, the devotees themselves  transcend all rules and regulations. This  

Means that the advanced devotees don’t  need to abide by mundane morality,   for they have already achieved the true  purpose of life. Even though this is the case,   we often see that devotees take even greater care  to abide by the rules and regulations enjoined  

In the shastras. They have a strong desire to  maintain their reputations as virtuous people. One such example was Sita Devi, the wife  of Lord Rama. During the Treta Yuga,   the kind and merciful Supreme Lord descended to  earth in the guise of a human being named Rama.  

Born as the eldest son of King Dasharatha  of Ayodhya, Lord Rama was groomed to be the   successor to the throne. Since God possesses all  opulences and fortunes, when He appears on earth   to play a particular role, He is naturally the  best person at whatever He does. As Lord Rama,  

God appeared as kshatriya prince, wholly dedicated  to dharma and the welfare of the saintly class.   Lord Rama was the king of kings, and the greatest  of all fighters who used the bow and arrow. Being beautiful and all-powerful, the Lord was  married to Sita Devi, the daughter of King Janaka  

Of Mithila. We can only imagine how exalted  Sita was, for she had the tremendous honor of   being Rama’s partner in the performance of His  religious duties. Her execution of devotional   service was so perfect that Lord Rama, on many  occasions, praised her for her dedication. He  

Referred to her as a sadharma-charini since  she was dedicated to helping Rama perform His   prescribed duties. Sita’s reputation as a chaste  and virtuous wife was famous throughout the world. Unfortunately, on one occasion, Sita was kidnapped  by the demon Ravana. These events were all  

Preordained because Lord Rama needed an excuse to  take on Ravana in battle. The demon brought Sita   back to his kingdom of Lanka and propositioned  her. He showed off his wonderful palace, and even   bragged of all the beautiful wives that he had.  Ravana promised to make Sita his chief queen,  

And openly declared that he would become  her servant. Sita, being a pure devotee,   could only think of Rama at all times.  She had no desire to even look at Ravana. In the above referenced statement, Sita is  wrapping up her stern rebuke of Ravana. She  

Hurled carefully crafted insults at him to let  him know that Rama would surely come to kill him   and that she would never waver from the virtuous  path. In this final statement, Sita mentions how   it is impossible for her to ruin her good name.  She knows that she has deeply insulted Ravana,  

But she wants to state for the record that  she is not sorry for saying such things. In   order to maintain her reputation, she  had to speak the truth to the demon. Sita had no desire to be famous and  well-known throughout the world as a pious  

Wife. Devotees are above any need for that kind of  self-aggrandizement. A bhakta is someone who acts   only to please God, meaning they don’t even mind  going to hell or being ridiculed by every person   in the world, provided that the Supreme Lord  remains pleased. So why was Sita concerned about  

Her reputation? The answer is that she was more  concerned about Rama and her father, King Janaka.   Lord Rama was well-respected throughout the world,  even by His enemies. If it should turn out that   His wife and devotee, Sita, was able to be won  over by a demon, it would cause Him tremendous  

Grief and make Him the recipient of scorn from  others. The same would hold true for King Janaka,   for the daughter’s behavior is a direct reflection  of the parentage she received growing up. In this regard, we see just how great  Sita was. She went against her quiet,  

Shy, and peaceful nature in order to maintain  the good name of her husband and her father. No   matter how advanced we become in the execution  of devotional service, we should always try to   remain on the virtuous path. We certainly don’t  require a good reputation, but our good behavior  

Will reflect well on the Supreme Lord. If God  is great, then surely His devotees must be great   as well. If devotees take to sinful life out of  carelessness, others will take note and use such   transgressions as ammunition to fuel their attacks  against Krishna. Since God is so nice to us, we  

Should be equally as nice to Him and try to show  others that He has instilled good values in us. ### Thank you for reading. All  content authored by Sonal Pathak