“Of what use are wealth, comforts and pleasures, home, wives, and sons if one is not able to see Shri Rama?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 48.7)

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किं नु तेषां गृहैः कार्यं किं दारै: किं धनेन वा
पुत्रैर्वा किं सुखैर्वापि ये न पश्यन्ति राघवम्

kiṃ nu teṣāṃ gṛhaiḥ kāryaṃ kiṃ dārai: kiṃ dhanena vā
putrairvā kiṃ sukhairvāpi ye na paśyanti rāghavam

1. Women are not always about jewels and clothes

Here you are, sitting on the sofa, on your one day to finally relax. You have got plenty of food, including snacks for right now and a full spread to devour at halftime. You are in the most comfortable clothes, staring at the television set you purchased recently, which is state-of-the-art. You have your favorite girl by your side, the one who means everything to you.

This is the day of the big game, and once it starts you are prepared to explain everything to her. From the stakes, to the key participants, to the strategy – you have everything covered. You cannot wait for her to become just as interested as you are. Finally, you are not alone. No more sitting through these exciting and sometimes nail-biting moments by yourself.

Except there is one problem. Your girl appears to be interested only in the uniforms. As in the color scheme. She wants to know who decides those things. She thinks the head coach has a grumpy look on his face. She wonders when the last time he worked out was, since he appears portly and disheveled. She also does not understand any of the rules. She is not paying attention when you try to explain.

She wants to know where the wives of the players are seated. She wonders how spectators can stay warm for three hours, sitting outside in the cold like that. Just what happens if people start to freeze? Are there heaters nearby? What about makeup and hair? Those will get ruined out in the elements.

While this scene is humorous, it is not atypical. Men and women are different, after all. They have different tendencies. They have different natures. They follow different interests. Is it not true that differences are what keep life interesting? But sometimes, jewels, clothing, and money are not the primary interests. In some places, it is the plight of a prince who has been wronged.

2. Spouses are not always nice

Just how could she say those things to you? All you asked was the whereabouts of the pepper shaker. She started to throw things. She brought up incidents from the past, that had long since been forgotten. Apparently not, as she appears to remember the key details, down to what you were wearing. It is like she is playing a tape recording of what you said on that occasion. Your words were apparently highly offensive.

It is the case that relationships do not always go as planned. The novels and films romanticize the union, in how the two parties come together, but rarely do they cover the gradual decline that sometimes happens. The disagreements. The brawls. The hurtful words. But sometimes, those words are coming from the right place, rooted in despair over the absence of a key individual.

3. Not everyone thinks only about themselves

At least we are safe. At least we are currently living within our means. At least we are not the target of political persecution. At least no one is forcing us to take an experimental medication; at least not yet. At least we still have our sanity, our health, and our future. But sometimes, personal safety is not enough. Seeing someone else so distraught, the victim of a horrible wrong, causes more suffering than if the same were to happen to us.

4. Sadhus are not restricted to a single image

Just who is a saintly person? How do we identify them? How will we know where to find them? We tend to think of the conditions associated with that way of life. The key Sanskrit word is vairagya. This is the lack of attachment. The saintly person should be renounced. They usually reach this decision after having already experienced the world. Thus we can expect the sadhu to be old. Frail, with little hair, and likely a white beard. They travel from town to town, barely taking anything with them. They beg for alms, but only enough to last a day. They do not stock provisions. Their renunciation is their strength. But sometimes, you might find the same spirit of renunciation within an area of opulence, from people who are supposed to be the ones satisfied by that opulence.

पुण्यो गन्ध: पृथिव्यां च तेजश्चास्मि विभावसौ
जीवनं सर्वभूतेषु तपश्चास्मि तपस्विषु

puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca
tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau
jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu
tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu

“I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.9)

5. Not everyone is quick to accept defeat

The exception to these expectations is a group of females found in the city of Ayodhya during ancient times. They are wives. They have homes. They have husbands. They have possessions. They have everything going for them, except at one time they are heard wailing in despair. Their sadness causes them to chastise their own husbands. You see, those men appeared to lack the same eagerness. They were not as sad, at least on the outside, that Shri Rama was no longer in Ayodhya. Those men appeared to value their enjoyable items more than the association of the one who is enjoyment personified.

What were dependent women to do? What means did they have to change the outcome? Rama was forced to leave, through a joint decision of the father and his youngest wife. Instead of staying in a weakened and dependent state, the women and their families picked up everything and left. They would follow Rama to the forest. They would choose the life of the sadhu, but lacking the pomp and visual identification. In other words, there was nothing personal to gain from the decision. They would renounce everything, in the spirit of the atma-nivedanam once described by a five-year old prince.

श्रीप्रह्राद उवाच
श्रवणं कीर्तनं विष्णो: स्मरणं पादसेवनम्
अर्चनं वन्दनं दास्यं सख्यमात्मनिवेदनम्

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

“Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Vishnu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) – these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service.” (Prahlada Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23)

Rama was so kind that He could not accept that degree of sacrifice. He found a way to trick the people so that they would return home. It was after returning that the wives lashed out at their husbands, in a moment of grief. They were still with Rama, though. Thinking of Him is the same as being with Him. That is the meaning to Absolute. That is the way to transcendence, especially during these times of increasing degradation.

अनन्याश् चिन्तयन्तो मां
ये जनाः पर्युपासते
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां
योग-क्षेमं वहाम्य् अहम्

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ
ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

“But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

In Closing:

How pain of separation relieving?
When absent association retrieving.

Like wives in Ayodhya to wail,
In grief after following to fail.

Since Absolute considered,
Just by sound delivered.

In remembering Rama so,
By His side to go.

Categories: the five

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