Amazing Stories

“Those fourteen thousand Rakshasas of frightening deeds were eliminated by that one man, a foot-soldier, who was Rama.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 26.35)

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चतुर्दश सहस्राणि रक्षसां भीमकर्मणाम्
हतान्येकेन रामेण मानुषेण पदातिना

caturdaśa sahasrāṇi rakṣasāṃ bhīmakarmaṇām
hatānyekena rāmeṇa mānuṣeṇa padātinā

“Come on, man! Can you stop it with the make-believe? Can you give the fantasy stories a rest, at least for a little while? You rise to this high stature by presenting philosophical truths. You are well-versed in Vedanta. Any honest person can see that. You are acutely aware of the timeless principles of the difference between matter and spirit, the combination of purusha and prakriti to form a living being in the visible sense, the influence of time, and even the way to happiness, which is through vairagya. That means ‘renunciation’, for those of you new to the game.

“You rise to the heights of respectability, only to tarnish everything, to come crashing back down, through your insistence on believing in mythology. I know you don’t like it when people use that word, but let’s be real here for a second. A talking monkey. A monkey that wants to eat the sun. He carries a mountain in his hand.

“You have the witch who comes to poison young children in Vrindavana. The deity with the head of an elephant. The bluish complexion, shyama, which no one has ever seen on a person. At least not in our modern world, the one in which we live. Can you find someone whose skin color resembles the cloud about to pour down rain?

“It is obvious that these fairytales are meant to be understood symbolically. You are not supposed to take them literally. These sages passed on messages in a cryptic manner. They knew that people would be drawn to the stories, but at some point you have to take off the training wheels. Do you know what I mean?”

The basis for this argument is that it is too amazing to consider someone who can change their shape at will, who might have ten heads and twenty arms, and who can somehow devour an entire forest fire without issue. It is bordering on fantasy to consider that the different planets have presiding deities and that there is a king of heaven who can intentionally direct rain towards a specific area, at a specific moment in time. It must also be mythology to think that a seven year old child can lift up a massive hill and turn it into an umbrella to protect against that very wrath from the king of heaven.

वर्षतीन्द्रे व्रज: कोपाद्भग्नमानेऽतिविह्वल:
गोत्रलीलातपत्रेण त्रातो भद्रानुगृह्णता

varṣatīndre vrajaḥ kopād
bhagnamāne ’tivihvalaḥ
gotra-līlātapatreṇa
trāto bhadrānugṛhṇatā

“O sober Vidura, King Indra, his honor having been insulted, poured water incessantly on Vrindavana, and thus the inhabitants of Vraja, the land of cows, were greatly distressed. But the compassionate Lord Krishna saved them from danger with His pastime umbrella, the Govardhana Hill.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.2.33)

There is another angle of vision to consider, which gets completely overlooked in this analysis. To the wise person, none of the aforementioned events are amazing. To a certain class of individuals, hearing that a monkey-like child can rise high into the sky and inch closer to the sun is not extraordinary. This is because we already acknowledge that there is this fiery ball of energy somehow automatically suspended in outer space. It diffuses heat and light at such an unimaginable magnitude that if you didn’t see it with your own eyes, you would consider it to be a product of mythology. The sun is so fixed in its position that it is used as a point of reference in understanding the all-pervasiveness of the Absolute Truth, which is another way to identify God.

एक-देश-स्थितस्याग्नेर्
ज्योत्स्ना विस्तारिणी यथा
परस्य ब्रह्मणः शक्तिस्
तथेदम् अखिलं जगत्

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner
jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā
parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis
tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

“Everything that is manifested within this cosmic world is but the energy of the Supreme Lord. As fire emanating from one place diffuses its illumination and heat all around, so the Lord, although situated in one place in the spiritual world, manifests His different energies everywhere. Indeed, the whole cosmic creation is composed of different manifestations of His energy.” (Vishnu Purana, 1.22.52)

The wise person understands that shapes change all the time. Is it not amazing to consider that we were once small enough to fit inside of a stomach? Take a look at the ultrasound images for when a medical professional is involved in prematurely and deliberately ending a pregnancy. The tiniest of living beings still struggles. They try to thwart the attack, against which they are otherwise helpless. That same being would one day grow up to be a vibrant, energetic, and competent adult. They would become so intelligent that they could question the very reason for their existence.

As the sun is amazing, so is the configuration of the seed of a plant. Take the pit of an avocado to produce a tree that yields more avocadoes. There is no obvious indication of intelligence within that seed. It is not considered a living being. Somehow, that seed knows the precise quantity of elements to extract from nature in order to produce exactly what is expected. There is no deviation from this configuration.

Similar configuration is embedded throughout nature, and so why should a wise person be amazed at a man-eating ogre with ten heads? Why is that suddenly out of the realm of possibility? When the body is always changing, while the individual inside is always the same, why can’t prakriti shape and contort itself into a specific visual for a period of time? Why should that be considered mythology?

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

The wise person is more impressed, awestruck, and humbled by the amazing kindness and grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the source of everything. This entire universe represents but a spark of His splendor, after all. He could create millions of more amazing universes without extra effort.

यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा
तत्तदेवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोऽशसम्भवम्

yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ
śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā
tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ
mama tejo-’ṁśa-sambhavam

“Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.41)

At the same time, He is kind enough to appear in this world on occasion. As Shri Rama, He singlehandedly defends against fourteen-thousand of the fiercest warriors this world has ever known. Those warriors can appear and disappear at will. They do not fight fairly. They prefer to attack during the nighttime, when the victims are least equipped to deal with trouble.

Rama successfully defeats those attackers, who are against dharma. This one incident is so amazing that it is still celebrated to this day. The wise appreciate Rama for showing such ability, for offering protection to the saintly class, and for always wishing well to those who are devoted to Him.

In Closing:

Not amazing at all,
That king of heaven to call.

Or that sun fire producing,
Consider time our vitality reducing.

Or that in change constantly to shift,
Then of course God a hill could lift.

Most amazing that mercy to us shown,
Rama as our protector known.