THE RAMAYANA (Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, January 31, 1900)-28.

-




Part-28.


Under the direction of Valmiki, the life of Rama was sung by Lava and Kusha, who fascinated the whole assembly by their charming voice and appearance.

Poor Rama was nearly maddened, and when in the drama, the scene of Sita's exile came about, he did not know what to do.

Then the sage said to him, "Do not be grieved, for I will show you Sita."

Then Sita was brought upon the stage and Rama delighted to see his wife.





All of a sudden, the old murmur arose :

"The test! The test!"

Poor Sita was so terribly overcome by the repeated cruel slight on her reputation that it was more than she could bear.

She appealed to the gods to testify to her innocence, when the Earth opened and Sita exclaimed, "Here is the test", and vanished into the bosom of the Earth.

The people were taken aback at this tragic end.

And Rama was overwhelmed with grief.



Swami Vivekananda

To be continued  ...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

32. KAMBAN'S SURPANAKHA :

-
Image
RAMA and Lakshmana drove out Surpanakha, as one takes a stick and drives out a donkey straying into a garden. Such is the brief and simple treatment of this incident by Valmiki. Kamban, the Tamil poet, however, deals with it more elaborately and has made a number of changes in the story. Sitting on the riverbank, Rama watched a swan walking and then looked at Sita, also walking. Noting the similarity in the gait, Rama was pleased and smiled. Sita, for her part, observed an elephant returning from the river and, reminded of Rama's gait, smiled. Thus in Panchavati, beside the river Godavari, love flowed smoothly between the banks of dharma. Just then fate conspired with lust to drag Surpanakha to the presence of Rama. The Lord Vishnu had left the Ocean of Milk and taken birth as Dasaratha's son, to rid the earth of the enemies of the gods. But how was Surpanakha to know this? Beholding the beauty of his person, she wondered: "Is this...
Read more

SPOTLIGHTS ON THE RAMAYANAM : 2.Sri Swami Premananda

-
Image
14/05/2019 2. Historical Facts Our ancestors those days did a lot of research on several subjects including the mysteries of  the soul and into the nature of the One Universal Soul which pervades the entire creation, which are still preserved in the holy and marvellous Upanishads. Besides the Vedas, the Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata and some other wonderful legacies are a most valuable heritage left by the ancients to us. Time lent higher and greater lustre to the achievements of these gifted races and the age in which they flourished appeared to their descendants as the Golden Age of Bharatavarsha. Dasaratha, the king of the Kosalas, is considered as an ideal king, who laboured for the good of his subjects. His capital was Ayodhya on the bank of the river Saryu. The ruins of his fort and palaces and Hanuman Garhi are still there, approximately six miles from Faizabad, in Uttar Pradesh.The king of Videhas, Raja Janaka is accepted as a monarch and a saint of high...
Read more

Vedantic significance in Ramayanam - 3. Swami Chinmayananda

-
Image
06/01/2019 3. As Sita weeps for him, Rama also expresses sentimental emotions. Valmiki wants to communicate to us that when we cry for God, he responds. How will he go there ? He is in jungle. The only army he can have is monkeys'. We find so much of criticism in Western literature that monkeys can not make an army. But here it has to be monkeys. Human minds and thoughts are the only ally for the Lord , the spiritual Self, for I and you to reach that state. Monkeys and human minds have the same qualities of ' chanchalatwam' and ' asthiratwam ' ( lack concentration and attention ). These monkeys can never be the ally of the Lord as long as they are ruled by Vali, the incorrigible lust. As long as our minds are ruled by lust we are not ready to do Ram's work. So Vali is to be destroyed and see who comes to the throne - Sugreeva. Greeva means the reins of horses. Sugreeva - the total self control ! Under Sugreeva the monkeys are available to do Ram's w...
Read more