“O Rama, for as long as You shall stand before me, even if it be for one hundred years, I will always remain Your servant. Therefore You should be the one to choose a beautiful and appropriate place for the cottage. After You have selected a spot, please then command me to start building.” (Lakshmana speaking to Lord Rama, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 15.7)

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परवानस्मि काकुत्स्थ त्वयि वर्षशतं स्थिते
स्वयं तु रुचिरे देशे क्रियतामिति मां वद

paravānasmi kākutstha tvayi varṣaśataṃ sthite
svayaṃ tu rucire deśe kriyatāmiti māṃ vada

1. Junk

“You know what ticks me off? Stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. To be more accurate, call it ‘junk.’ Who collects this stuff, you ask. Well, my wife, of course. Wherever you go and wherever you turn, you will find junk. You can barely see the floor in some of the rooms in the house. Why are we getting more stuff? Just throw it out already! I don’t care if you bought it on sale or if you are afraid to waste purchases. Enough is enough!”

2. Celebrations over nothing

“You know what ticks me off? Players today. Professional athletes. Take baseball, for instance. I loved the game as a kid. I wanted to be a ballplayer when I grew up. I used to keep score of the games that aired on television. I would write everything down in my notebook. Today, I can’t watch for more than five minutes. Why? These players celebrate everything. I feel like I am watching a carnival from a foreign country. Ooh, you got a single up the middle? Time to dance. Oh, you’re a pitcher and you struck someone out? Better pump your fists. You people are a joke. How about you hitters dance around after your fifth strikeout of the game, with the game on the line and the bases loaded? Huh? What about after your error that cost the team the series? Where’s your dancing now? Oh, no, never. Then you will start crying, like the giant babies that you are.”

3. Endless popups

“You know what ticks me off? These smartphones. Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of these boomers who hates anything and everything that is technology. I just know that I used to be able to make a playlist in under ten seconds. Right before I got in the car to drive to work. Nowadays, I don’t bother. The screen changes. As soon as I go to press something, whoops! I end up pressing something else. The menus moved. It is like these developers are playing games with us. I just want to make a phone call! I don’t need ten thousand popups when I am using a phone that I already paid hundreds of dollars for. What a joke! At this point, I would sign up for the rotary phone in a heartbeat.”

4. Music that makes no sense

“You know what ticks me off? The music today. Well, if that is what you want to call it, but it sounds like nonsense to me. Where is the composition? Where is the artistry? You strut around with private parts exposed to the entire world and suddenly you make millions? Some computer wrote the music for you that you lip sync to at the concerts. I probably will never go to a show again. The experience is horrendous. It used to be a lot of fun, to get out of the house, to feel the energy of a capacity crowd. No more. This new generation ruined everything.”

5. The blackout dates

“You know what ticks me off? The fine print. Blackout dates. You people practically shoved the credit card in my face. You told me to sign up. I would accrue points. I could redeem those points for free flights. Well, where are they? Every time I want to go somewhere, there are no flights available. What a waste this credit card turned out to be.”

…

Stepping back a few feet, reassessing the landscape from a distance, the pattern that plays out is strange. The sequence repeats, across the entire life experience. The fluctuation, the change from one side to the other and then back to the original side, is a constant. We cannot make up our minds. One day we want something. We move towards it. We turn our whole life upside down to pursue it. The next day, we want to give it up so badly that we will accept a loss in the process. We will pay someone to bail us out. The nightmare that is the timeshare will haunt us forever.

One positive to take away is that the experience gives meaning to the principle. There is now detail to fill in the abstract proposal. The original teaching is from the original person. He is the adi-purusha. He is also the adi-guru, or the first spiritual guide. He explains that the living beings in this world, who are considered jiva due to a specific vulnerability, struggle with two endpoints in particular. Attachment and aversion. The Sanskrit words are raga and dvesha. The word “ichchha” sometimes replaces “raga”, but the meaning is basically the same.

इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत
सर्वभूतानि संमोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप

icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata
sarvabhūtāni saṃmohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa

“O scion of Bharata [Arjuna], O conquerer of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of desire and hate.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.27)

We move towards something. We want to enjoy. The Sanskrit word is “bhoga.” Ironically, that very same thing we wanted to try we later want to renounce. A man and a woman get together. They commit to one another in a formal ceremony known as a wedding. Divorce is the subsequent separation. The raga came first. The dvesha came later.

It is like spinning on a wheel. Since there is never lasting happiness to be found, it is actually suffering the entire time. It is the samsara-chakra. Spiritual life is on the other side. It is for finding lasting happiness. Look for something which has endurance. One mark of the endurance is the immunity from the pendulum of bhoga and tyaga. You know that you have found something lasting when external conditions do not make an impact on your association.

रागद्वेषविमुक्तैस्तु विषयनिन्द्रियैश्चरन्
आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति

rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu
viṣayān indriyaiś caran
ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā
prasādam adhigacchati

“One who can control his senses by practicing the regulated principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord and thus become free from all attachment and aversion.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.64)

The ideal example in this regard is Lakshmana, the younger brother of Rama. Lakshmana is a warrior by occupation, but his real dharma is service to His elder brother. Rama is the object of that service. Rama is one way to understand God. The Supreme Lord descends to this world periodically, in His transcendental form, to give pleasure to those who wish to connect with Him, in an unbreaking vow known as dridha-vrata.

On the outside, it appears that Lakshmana accepts and rejects. One day you will find him eating in the royal palace, alongside his three brothers. Another day, you will find him offering words of wisdom. He is willing to breach protocol in lifting up a superior, who is his elder brother. You might find him plotting a coup, to overtake the throne of Ayodhya. He will do this by force, if necessary, to correct the injustice of Rama being tossed aside.

Though there is seemingly acceptance and rejection, steadiness is at the foundation. Everything relates to service to Rama. Lakshmana vows to continue in that service for one hundred years, if necessary. The conditions do not make a difference. This is the meaning of dharma. Every spirit soul has the same dharma. It is in their nature to serve, and in God they find the ideal object of service.

In Closing:

Even if every objective clears,
Continuing for one hundred years.

Whether brother satisfied or not,
An eternal companion got.

That Lakshmana wherever to reside,
Dutiful as protector to confide.

Real meaning to dharma bringing,
Fixed over pendulum swinging.

Categories: the five

Tags: dailyprompt, god, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, ramayana