Yoga of Rāmāyana

Story Overview

Cultural Bedrock

There are more than One Billion people hailing from the Hindu culture, who know the Rāmāyana story on planet Earth, most of them clustered in the nation-state of India, also spread throughout the length & breadth of the erstwhile Bhāratiya (Indian) civilization and, thanks to Yoga, even amidst its many non-Hindu professing practitioners worldwide.

If there is one story that defines the underlying spirit of the civilizational state of Bhārat it is indeed the Rāmāyana. And equally so it is the Mahābhārata - but that's a different story.

In fact much of the Indian constitution has been illustrated with beautiful artwork from the Rāmāyana, and of course from the Vedic period too, thus attesting to the spiritual basis of this entire nation state.

Versions

The story could very well have been brought into popular lore by traveling theater groups, so detailed is the story in its descriptions of the flora, fauna, rivers, mountains and customs of Bhārat (the native name for India), and maybe they even embellished the original legend by playing out incidents suited to each stop they made.

We are not suggesting that the story may have been entirely cooked up because there are plenty of physical artefacts to attest to its original existence, but it is obvious that the character names have been embellished to drill home its key messages - as we shall soon see.

Actually, whether or not this story is factually true is irrelevant from the perspective of Yoga because its timeless messages are well worth understanding.

There is one original version written by Rishi Vālmiki, in Sanskrit. 

Then many others followed written in regional tongues across the entire breadth of the Indian civilization, not to talk of the countless commentaries on top of that.

This commentary is a blend of some of the interesting incidents from all of the above, not attempting to be an academic retelling, but more about bringing to life the Mind Sciences of Yoga that we have outlined earlier.

Key Characters

The story is about how an individual warrior prince Rāma, considered one of the Avatārs of Vishnu-deva, descends from his abode in Vaikuntha to Earth.

When born, Rāma has no special Yoga powers but does acquire them through practice under the gaze of his Gurus, then goes through a series of trials & tribulations and emerges amazingly victorious, which, to an awe-struck listener, instills knowledge of the supreme Self of Jnyāna Yoga, and ushers in ultimate prosperity in material life too.

Rāma is accompanied by his ever-faithful mate Sītā, who creates a situation where Rāma eventually has to overcome the Brhma-Rākshasa, with a lot of help of course from Gurus who teach him Yoga techniques, and other helpers.  Again, from the perspective of Yoga which demands a solid grounding in order to evolve, it is actually Sītā who is the cornerstone, the Body of the entire story on whom the tale hangs.

Rāma in his travels, and travails, has the constant companionship of his devoted brother Lakshmana, considered an Avatār of Ādisesha the multi-headed serpent under whose watchful hoods Vishnu rests in Vaikuntha, who in his incarnation on Earth is blessed with the power of ever-mindful conscious awareness glorified in Rāja Yoga, but no other mystical Yoga super powers.

The journey is tough and needs copious amounts of Prāna energy  and this is amply provided by an incarnation of Shiva the Lord of Hatha Yoga himself, in the form of Hanumān who is a forest dwelling human-like creature but certainly no ordinary monkey. 

The antagonist in the story is Rāvana, the Brhma-Rākshasa king of the fabled city of Lanka, who had usurped his fabulously wealthy brother’s throne, kidnapped many a wife for his pleasure, including Rāma’s own mate, but there is a back-story to this that makes Rāvana in fact the epitome of Bhakti Yoga. 

Highly appealing to our modern materialistic world, the culmination of the story called the Rāma Rājya, ushers in ultimate prosperity in life too.

Modeling the Characters

In any of these ancient tales it’s instructive to lay out the main five main characters in a fashion similar to how the Koshas are originally are detailed in the Taittiriya Upanishad. 

These 5 parts are laid out as those of a bird-like Human - bursting with curiosity as we peck around for nourishment and getting ready to fly high.

• Head: Rāma, the Avatār of the story, the Idealized Human Purusha incarnate - Jnyāna Yoga

• Right Wing: Lakshmana, the ever-mindful conscious awareness Chittha incarnate - Rāja Yoga

• Left Wing: Hanumān, the Prāna incarnate that energizes us - Hatha Yoga

• Body: Sītā, the Earth goddess of Prakruti who holds it all together - the elemental essence

• Tail: Rāvana, the Brhma-Rākshasa vilified for his Ahāmkar (ego), and deified for his Bhakti Yoga

Hell on Earth

It may seem like an unusual start to this tale, but it is almost universally true that no one transitions from the innocuous sounding quest of self-discovery to the tough journey of self-transformation unless we are beset with near-insurmountable woes.

Rāvana the Antagonist

As is customary in many of these stories we start with the back story of Rāvana, the antagonist. 

Back Story

In the Rāmāyana, Rāvana appears in the form of a Brhma-Rākshasa, the superficially anointed villain of the piece as he is forced to take on a human birth, consequent to making an error of judgment, and thus we see the Rākshasa model of rescue now play out in an actual story.

In a prior form, Rāvana makes the choice to take on a human birth as a consequence of a deal he makes with Vishnu the psychic energy that spreads Thought forms throughout creation - recall the “o” in g.o.d. 

While in Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, populated with all kinds of Devas, there are two who are specifically tasked as guards to keep watch as gatekeepers to Vishnu’s sanctum, who are called Jaya (meaning victory) & Vijaya (any specialized victory). Defeating the "other", although essential at times for survival, is not indicative of collaborative intelligence in society, an exemplary attribute of human character, so their names should indicate what’s coming.

Recall that each of these Devas is part of a portfolio, with distinct responsibilities, so that everything in the psyche is well-organized, to cultivate human intelligence to the max.

Now, Brhma as is his job, generates some perfected Thought, which he wishes to have realized in the Earthly plane - recall the “g” in g.o.d.

He despatches his four mind-created, young sons to Vishnu to get this job done. These sons are considered to be Brhma-chāri’s, which in Hindu culture has come to mean being celibate, a lifestyle encouraged in student days to keep the mind focused. The parallel between Earthly culture and cosmic Thought is fascinating because it means Brhma’s sons are not supposed to procreate, that is, they cannot get involved in the actual act of creation as that is the responsibility of Vishnu.

This partition of responsibility is useful, because once we participate in procreation we would get deeply entangled, as we all do with our own spawn, focusing on our immediate family concerns, which precludes the ability for independent thinking ro the welfare of all humanity in an impartial manner.

The 4 sons of Brhma are named (etymology needs to be more precise here):

• Sanaka - the Ancient, steeped in wisdom of the elders

• Sanandana - the ever Joyful, spreading happiness

• Sanātana - the Eternal, always looking at the big picture

• Sanatkumāra - the Youthful, ever vibrant with positive energy

But, these two gatekeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, refuse to let these four sons through to meet Vishnu as he is resting on his multi-headed snake bed, so the two get cursed by Brahma’s sons to leave this blissful Vaikuntha and descend to Earth.

Implication: In order to generate perfected Thought forms they need to based on these 4 principles.

• Ancient indicates as old as the Veda, which indicates Thought rooted in Brhman or OM.

• Ānanda indicates that any such Thought should bring the highest of joy

• Eternal indicates that such Thought and its consequences be sustainable forever 

• Youthful indicates fresh, creativity of such Thought, despite it being ancient

Fresh perfected seed Thoughts are essential to break down old Thoughts that could have become perniciously rooted as acceptable societal patterns, or even fossilized into structures of allowable behaviors.

This is how evolution and creativity flourish.

Hence the notion of Victory & Specialized Victory representing limited Thinking have to be put in their place, and the best place to resolve them is in the earthly plane where there is material impact to feed back into the knowledge base of society, for increasing knowledge is directly about increasing wealth.

For example, knowledge about mining an asteroid for gold instantly increases the value of all asteroids.

Vishnu’s Resolution

Vishnu is compassionate about Jaya’s & Vijaya’s plight but once a perfected Thought (be it a curse even) emerges it cannot be taken back, however it can manifest in various forms depending on the actual situation. So Vishnu gives them the choice of either taking birth as a good Human for seven births and being lauded for it, or being born as a seemingly evil Rākshasa (or Asura) for three births, after which their penance would complete and they get back close to their Lord. 

The two gatekeepers choose to take three seemingly evil births because they cannot bear to be separated from Vishnu for very long - and thus it is that in this particular story of the Rāmāyana, they descend to Earth as the most devilish Brahma-Rākshasa Rāvana and his vile brother Kumbhakarna, and cause a whole lot of aches and ailments in human society!

Deification at Play

Incidentally, that is why Rāvana is lauded as a Bhakti Yogi, for he is actually very devoted to his Lord.

Although this kind of devotion may smack of religiosity, the Yoga perspective of devotion is to instill in the psyche the ultimate Deva we can conceive of, the whole Universe as a unitary Being, an Avatār that drives our every moment toward a common evolutionary goal.

The underlying message here is that it is best to not be judgemental about any of the negative energies we encounter in this earthly plane, for we may not really know why or how they came into being, and what is their role in this divine play in which we are all playing a part. 

If we get judgemental we get entangled in their psychic energy field and it will drag us away from our path.

Essentially, perfected Thought Forms would ideally like to expand infinitely for they are seeded with so much power of clarity - unfortunately they could hit blockages from the past, hence they become limited Thought, and thus negative outcomes ensue - and that's how we get this Rākshasa story.

By clearing our blockages our freshly transformed Devas would be able to expand effortlessly.

Invoking Brhma

Being a master at the fine art of deification, and in his pursuit of Yoga powers, Rāvana first dedicates his practice to Brahma.

Rāvana is symbolically shown as a Being with ten heads indicating a hugely inflated Ahamkār (limited self).

In his pursuit of Yoga powers Rāvana dedicates his practice to Brhma, and every so often during this intense Tapas, he cuts off one of his heads and offers it to Brhma. 

Just as Rāvana is about to offer his last head to into the fire of Agni, Brhma appears and grants him back all his chopped off heads. 

Brhma stands for the source of all knowledge, so for him to grant Rāvana back all ten heads implies that Rāvana becomes a master of ten major areas of knowledge, essentially the next level of expertise. 

The interesting part is that since this boon is from Brhma-deva himself, Rāvana too can now generate perfected Thought Forms, the same capability that Brhma had which originally generated the perfected Thought Form that collided with limited thinking and caused all this mess in the first place! 

The deepest implication here is that the ultimate transformation possible for a Brhma-Rākshasa is to become a Brhma-Deva - provided of course, the lessons are learnt and we evolve.

Anyway, Rāvana is by now a master Yogi, with his Prāna so highly developed that he can even play music with his Nādis, the psychic energy channels that run through the body. Music is all about resonance and when Rāvana can play music with his Nādis it indicates that he is fully resonating with the world around him.

Invoking Shiva

So Rāvana decides to press forward and performs more Tapas, this time with full dedication to Shiva.

Shiva grants powers to anyone who does the work of Yoga, regardless of how they intend using this powerful technology. That’s just the way Shiva is. He is beyond considering Good/Bad - he is just a pure source of cosmic transformational energy. 

And this time Rāvana acquires the powers of almost unlimited immortality. Notice the linguistic parallels - in Sanskrit too the word “Mrit” means mortality or death, and Amrit means immortality or unending life. 

No one on the earthly plane can get complete immortality - there has to be some exception, which has to be listed like a legal clause. 

Thus Rāvana gets a qualified boon from Shiva that no beast, no other Rākshasa, no Deva can kill him. 

His ten big heads though, have led him to a massive amount of Ahamkār, an inflated sense of Self, so he does not include Humans in this list of Beings as he believes that humans are too puny to inflict any kind of harm on him. 

Meaning

Shravana means to listen quietly, whereas the opposite, Rāvana means to yell loudly.

It is said that when Rāvana tried to lift Mount Kailash to grab his Lord Shiva for himself alone, then Shiva pressed the mountain down on Rāvana's hand causing him to yell out.

As Shiva's other name is Rudra, meaning the howler, this now corroborates our plausible etymology for Rāvana's name.

Also, the significance of Ten is that we do not need to model anything in 10 dimensions unless we wish to transition to a new Yuga. which a mere Rakshasa, not even a Brhma-Rakshasa can do. Nine is enough, as in Durga's full form, to show all of creation. Note when we can have 10 avatars as in the Dashavatar of Vishnu - and that takes us to a new Yuga. All of this refers to Indian counting system where symbology dominates, such that scientists and mathematicians are encouraged to also be poets.

The King of Lanka

With his completely developed Yoga super-powers Rāvana then wrests control of Lanka from his brother and becomes the ruler of this jeweled paradise. 

Once called Seranda Deevu, from the Tamil word meaning the most excellent island, the name made its word into the English language as Serendipity as sailors magically found this beautiful island in their travels around the Indian Ocean.

Rāvana’s subjects are well taken care off and Lanka’s fame is known throughout the world for its prosperity and happiness. 

Rāvana’s wondrous women’s quarters is to be seen to be believed too, stocked as it is with the beautiful kidnapped wives of other men - a most peculiar indulgence of his, and would of course lead to his later downfall.

Indeed, this is heaven on earth, an earthly paradise unmatched.

And Now, Vishnu

The Devas in the “actual” heaven, Deva-loka, are watching with mounting concern over the developing situation, so they approach Vishnu to take down Rāvana as this alternative heaven might turn out to be a viable competitor to their heaven!

The Devas approach Vishnu and ask him to please incarnate as a human being on Earth and take care of thisā problem, because (recall) only a human being can take down Rāvana, as any Rākshasa in general is strictly a Human concern (unlike Asuras who are fair game for Devas).

In any event it was Vishnu who manifested this problem in the first place, is also a valid justification to make this request! 

Karma strikes the Cosmic Devas too.

Yoga implication

This usually happens. We march down a path of increasing material indulgences and at some point we have had enough, but there is no easy way out of the predicament we have gotten into. Divine intervention is the only answer.

One might question why does the divine send us these challenges, why should we be beset with Rākshasas in the first place, and that too, why Brhma-Rākshasas ? 

Well, the divine wants us to return into the cosmic Oneness and these Rākshasas are how we are reminded to not get too comfortable in the Duality of this earthly plane and get back home. 

As they say in the world of classic photography - you cannot develop without the negatives,  or a butterfly without the constraints of a struggling cocooned caterpillar.

But why the separation in the first place comes the next obvious question. Why should we be separated from the cosmic Oneness to begin with? 

From a storyteller perspective, the grand Cosmic story we are in is supposed to be a divine play, where divine is used in the sense of capriciousness, where the realm of the gods is not understood by mere mortals so it’s just some random event that happens, and we spin a tale of magic around it, called a Leela. The separation from Oneness is to feel the pangs of love when we are separated from the Source. As a great playwright once said, parting is such sweet sorrow.

From the perspective of Yoga, the objective of sending Rākshasas “down to earth” is so that we can “feel” the psychic viruses that would otherwise be like ephemeral ghosts in our Mind, hard to pin down and eradicate.   Hence the path of Yoga to locate and transform them, makes us frankly, much smarter in the ways of the world.

So when in Yoga class you feel stiff, or life throws you a curve ball or a googly, embrace these Rākshasas come to Earth, and set them free as part of the psychological evolutionary process, and become healthy as a side effect.

Rāvana, however, is no ordinary Rākshasa - he is considered a Brhma-Rākshasa, therefore requiring a high level of Yoga to eliminate this particular virus, the densest form of ignorance stemming from Ahamkār - and consequently the greater the rewards of such a practice - in our model it is the generation of the Brhma-Deva psychic intelligence, such that Thought forms would be able to flow fluidly without restraint, into full manifestation, without any blockages.

That seems like a worthy enough goal, to put up with this beastly manifestation. Stoicism comes to mind here, but as we have mentioned before, the underlying depth of these cultural myths have been swept away, but thankfully we know the Yoga Mind much better.

Having done the back-story, we now look at the original storyteller Rishi Vālmiki and how he comes upon this entire script.

The Bandit

Rishi Vālmiki is considered as the first composer of the Rāmāyana.

Before Vālmiki becomes a Rishi and composes the Rāmāyana, he is living the life of a bandit, robbing unwary passers by in the forest. He takes the loot from his raids back home to his family who eagerly await his return every day to enjoy the fruits of his efforts.

One day the bandit attempts his nefarious deeds on the great Rishi Nārada who stops him in his tracks by posing him a very profound question.

Karma of a Bandit

Nārada asks the bandit whether his family that shares all his loot will also share his Karma.

The bandit is taken aback by this piercing question and decides to go back home empty handed for once. The bandit enquires from his family whether they will share in his Karma, but they refuse saying that it is his Dharma as provider of the family to take care of them, but they certainly will not share in his Karma.

The bandit is devastated by this revelation and returns to the Rishi Nārada asking for his advice, as he is now completely disillusioned with this life.

The Transformation

The bandit seeks the very opposite of his personality so he asks Nārada who is the most perfect Human on Earth - and he gives him a list of amazing qualities, to which Nārada of course details Rāma. This is what we mean by an Avatār - a perfected descent of divinity in Human form. The glories of this being so capture the bandit that he goes into deep meditation.

Nārada asks the bandit to sit and meditate on the Mantra “Ma Rā”. You may have heard that a Guru usually gives a personalized Mantra to their students, specifically tuned to their particular nature. In this case the sounds “Ma Rā” means “He is Dead”, which is a very appropriate mantra for the psychology of a hardened bandit. The bandit sits so immersed in meditation on this mantra, “Ma Rā, Ma Rā, Ma Rā, Ma Rā”.

In either case the bandit is so deep into meditation for so long that an anthill grows around him - and hence his name Vālmiki

The Rishi Vālmiki  

The name Vālmiki means one who is from the anthill (Valmiki in Sanskrit).

At the psychological level, the old bandit dies, in the sense that he loses his previous identity, and deep within him the mantra also resonates with the sound “Rā Ma, Rā Ma, Rā Ma”.

You can infer from these two simultaneous effects what must have been his transformation! He completely drops his bandit identity and the new Vālmiki now totally resonates with Rāma.

The power of Vālmiki’s Mantra meditation results in Moksha, in the sense of freedom from his old life, and the story of the Rāmāyana springs forth from within him in beautiful poetic verse.

And now we take a dive into what must have been the Yoga practice of Vālmiki.

Yoga of Vālmiki

The anthill that surrounds Vālmiki is symbolic of having our ear tuned into the Earth element - note how the anthill is shaped like a cone through which one can listen deeply.

Fundamentally Vālmiki goes through a process of deep psychic cleansing called Bhūtha Shuddhi through each of his Chakra energy centers.

Bhūtha Shuddhi, meaning purification of the Five Elements (Bhūtha) that make up the material universe.

This can be done through a meditation practice combining Prānāyāma, Bīja Mantras, and visualization.

The Bīja Mantras are focused on the first 5 Chakras in the Tāntric system, because the subsequent two are considered in the transcendental realm.

• The Bīja Mantras found in the Rāmāyana also have parallels to the physical geography of the story and trace the chronological outline of story too. When we trace the map to start from Lanka, then to the waters separating Lanka, then on to the bridge that connects to the mainland, then we are in Ayodhya where the princes are born in a Yagna ceremony, and come back all the way to Vālmiki’s Āshram where the story is written - this is a very evocative way to describe the Bīja Mantras that we can tap into for our own practice.

In that sense, the five elements that make up the physical universe could be viewed as:

Ākāsh, with the Bīja Mantra Hum

• • The space in which the story starts is of course the original Yagnya in which the Mantras emerge from chanting in the throat. 

  • The Chakra in the throat region is called Vishuddhi, literally the purifier of all energies in the space.

  • The Bīja Mantra Hum denotes the purification power of the Homa - ritual offerings to the Devas - conducted by Dasharatha the earthly father of Rāma and his brothers. 

  • The Hum mantra is known to shatter the veil of ignorance that envelops us when as a baby we exit the womb. 

  • Mastery over this Chakra gives us powers to transform the world as the sound of inspiring speech is the most powerful energy we can invoke. 

  • This is why Shiva too, the ultimate energy transformer is known as the blue-throated Neela-kantha who purifies all the poisons that arise in existence.

Vāyu, with the Bīja Mantra Yum

• • the good wind which blows in Ayodhya, literally a place of no war, epitomized when Hanumān opens up his heart in the palace and shows Rāma and Sītā residing within him. 

  • The Bīja Mantra Yum denotes the feel of love, like a “yummy” feeling!

  • The Chakra in the heart region is called Anāhata, literally the unstruck sound, meaning the place for creating Intention without the need to articulate it.

  • Mastering this chakra gives us power over relationships, and the ability to understand and correctly discriminate the energies of beings around us.

Agni, with the Bīja Mantra Rum

• • the fire of devotion by which is baked all the bricks that span the bridge taking the armies into Lanka. 

  • The Chakra in the navel region is called Manipuraka.

  • The Bīja Mantra Rum is inspired by our protagonist Rāma who is, correspondingly, descended from the Solar dynasty of Sūrya, so when his armies are building a bridge of bricks and stones from the mainland to Lanka, each brick is engraved with the sound Rāma, and fired with Agni. 

  • Mastering this Chakra gives us all the energy we need to accomplish our earthly purpose without fail.

Jala, with the Bīja Mantra Vum

• • the waters lorded over by Varuna which need to be crossed by the armies. 

  • The Chakra in the abdominal region is called Svādishthāna, literally the Self-dwelling place.

  • The Bīja Mantra Vum denotes Varuna the deity who presides over the body of water that separates Lanka from the mainland. Splashing around in waters are the most sensual of beings called Apsaras, derived from Āpaha another name for water, responsible for distracting many a Rishi from their spiritual journey. 

  • Mastering this Chakra lets us not get swayed by the fluid elements of all our sense-abilities.

Prithvi, with the Bīja Mantra Lum

• • the earth element which is epitomized by the sensual paradise of Lanka itself in which Sītā finds herself enmeshed. 

  • The Chakra in the base of the spine is called Mūlādhāra, literally the root support.

  • The Bīja Mantra Lum denotes Lanka itself, where having lost the love of her life, Sītā indulges in only the bare minimum to eat and sleep, in order to just keep functioning until she is rescued by Rāma, despite that the famed island of Lanka was known for its beauty, where all its citizens enjoyed unlimited sensual pleasures

  • Mastering this chakra lets us stay grounded in base pleasures like food and sleep, that nothing shakes us. 

Beyond the Elements

Of course, we always include Om and a period of Silence as part of any meditation.

The Āgyna Chakra in the forehead region is called and is beyond material elements like earth, water, fire, wind, space. 

The Bīja Mantra for this is Om, the most fundamental sound. 

Om symbolizes the sound of creation, of this whole story. 

The Rishis chant Om and thus they become aware of past and future, the cause and effect of happenings in our world. 

Vālmiki the author of the story opens up his Āgyna Chakra, like all Rishis, and becomes fully aware of the story in order to write it while sitting in his Āshram. 

We too upon meditating on this Chakra can become aware of the cause and effect of actions in our lives, and gain control over their seemingly incessant motion. 

We understand that the cause of Rākshasas lies within us and our actions can create an effect on them too.

When we gain mastery over all these Chakras we too become a Rishi, and write our own life story, thus fulfilling the purpose of our Self on Earth.

We don’t need to personally write an entire new Rāmāyana in order to become a Rishi - we just need to understand existing versions and map it to fit our life, which is one reason why there are so many later versions of the Rāmāyana, although Rishi Vālmiki’s is considered to be the original authentic story.

Also note another way of meditating on the layers, or the Koshas of the story.