Peace and Prosperity

Sītā reunites

Now Hanumān is sent to bring Sītā back to Rāma from the Ashoka Gardens, and to be presented properly as a queen after a year in captivity she bathes and dresses up in finery before she is brought in front of Rāma. 

When she is brought in front of Rāma, she is keen to embrace him, but he hesitates. 

Rāma then asks Sītā to prove she has been chaste in her period of captivity, not for his sake, but for the sake of the citizens of Ayodhya to demonstrate that their queen is still pure, which at first makes her furious but then she accedes. 

Lakshmana lights up a fire and Sītā steps into the fire pit and comes out unscathed thus proving her purity. 

Rāma is pleased that Sītā’s purity has been proven to the world at large and accepts her back with open arms. 

All celestial beings have gathered for this grand occasion and Rāma requests Indra a boon to revive all the dead Vānaras, which Indra does, and the entire army of Vānaras comes back to life! 

Rāma then appoints Vibhīshana as the king of Lanka and flies back with Sītā, Lakshmana and the hordes of Vānaras to Ayodhya.

Yoga implication

We are not making any kind of commentary here on the social elements of those times where women had to prove themselves as being pure by jumping into a fire, as we have stated earlier Rāmāyana is not meant for social commentary as is the Mahābhārata.

From the perspective of Yoga, the energy body is considered as precious as the human body and needs to be cleansed regularly too, and in fact energy hygiene is a regular part of a full Yoga practice and this is done in different ways routinely, like lighting incense, chanting Mantras, etc.

Sometimes though a particularly intense period of exposure requires a very deep cleanse such as a Pancha Bhūta process, or the five psycho-material elements of which we are composed energetically. 

Since Sītā is from the Earth herself, and she has spent a year in captivity being constantly exposed to the Brhma-Rākshasa, it is likely that this is the process which is being referred to.

Fighting and defeating a Brhma-Rākshasa certainly takes effort and could deplete us of Prāna (in the form of Vānaras) but now the Manas (in the form of Indra) is now free of its entanglements and able to think about re-energizing the system.

Vibhīshana as the representative of Buddhi, the Intelligent Mind, is now able to rule Lanka effectively making all the right choices, his terrain lit up by the shining light of the constant awareness of Rām our Purusha not judging or making any choices about who we are but just Being there for us.

Return to Ayodhya

In the court of Ayodhya all the warriors are being distributed gifts for their valor, and for Hanumān in particular Sītā gifts him a special pearl necklace.

Hanumān examines his gift carefully and even chews upon each pearl, peering intently into each one, and then spits it out. 

The court is aghast at this bizarre behavior but, Hanumān explains, he would only want this necklace if Rāma and Sītā are inside it, which creates laughter in the audience and they sneer at this stupid monkey because the divine couple is obviously on the throne so how could they be elsewhere - and particularly inside a small pearl!

Hanumān then rips open his chest and there seated within are Rama and Sītā !

Yoga implication 

Ayodhya literally means a place of no conflict, or to the place of Silence in the Heart.

Prānāyama practice, as embodied by Hanumān, when done without the divine love of Bhakthi is purely an energizing practice, but Prānāyāma with Bhakthi is truly transformative and we can enjoy divine bliss in our hearts forever, with a perennial Avatār effect flowing through into our lives.

This is when the Rāja-Rishi, the second stage of the Rishi Protocol, is completely realized. And the original tale by Valmiki is now complete.

Rāma Rājya 

Eventually Rāma rules for a period of 11,000 years and the kingdom sees prosperity like never before, in a period of time called Rama-rajya.

A possible Yogic interpretation is that the 10,000 year period is symbolic for Rāma who rules in 4 dimensions and the additional 1,000 is symbolic for Lakshmana who rules us in 3 dimensions.

Rāma Rājya is a time when the entire kingdom is filled with prosperity & joy - the rains come on time, women are never left widowed, and sons die only after their fathers. 

The Uttara Rāmāyana

In the sweep of time however, there have been some extrapolations of the original tale.

There have been many versions of Rāmāyana as we have stated, and one particular epilogue provides a scathing end which we thought would be useful to characterize.

Sītā banished

There is a dark and stormy night in Ayodhya and a washerman’s wife is unable to come home in the evening, so she has to spend the night elsewhere. 

When the morning rises she returns home and her husband confronts her with accusations of having been unfaithful, and asks her to leave the home forever - to which the washerwoman responds that even the great king Rāma took his wife Sītā back after she spent a whole year in another man’s kingdom, so one night is really not a big deal. 

Gossip from this incident reaches Rāma’s ears and he goes into deep contemplation for the reputation of his wife has been sullied even though she had passed through a fire ritual to prove her purity. 

He has no choice but to let go of Sītā, her pregnancy notwithstanding, as her continued presence in Ayodhya would cause the population to easily justify immoral behavior.

Lakshmana is tasked with the job of taking Sītā into the forest, and very reluctantly, with grief overflowing his heart, he takes her to the Āshram of Vālmiki the original author of the Rāmāyana itself which gives Vālmiki further impetus to continue the story. 

Twins regale

Sītā then gives birth to twins Lava & Kusha who grow up as great warriors educated in the Vedas and learn the entire Rāmāyana story from Valmiki himself.

At some point during his reign, Rāma conducts a massive Yajnya to consolidate his empire, for which he sends a royal horse roaming throughout the lands to mark his territory wherever it wanders unchecked, but those who wish to resist his dominion can capture the horse the consequence of which is that they will then have to face Rāma’s army. 

It so happens the horse wanders into Valmiki’s Āshram and the two boys, Lava and Kusha, capture the horse unbeknownst of the implications of doing so. 

Rāma’s army attempts to take back the horse but they are soundly defeated by the two boys, and even Hanumān is captured and left tied to a tree so the army chief then concedes defeat and invites Lava and Kusha back to Ayodhya to meet Rāma.

When the boys get to Ayodhya they are asked to introduce themselves to the entire court to which request the two boys just recite the entire Rāmāyana to their own father who is meeting them for the first time! 

Rāma is moved beyond all description at understanding these are actually his two boys and that too no ordinary boys either.

Then Rāma invites Sītā back to Ayodhya, but when she enters he tells her that as husband he wants her back, but as king she has to again prove her purity as queen beyond all doubt. 

Avatārs Completion 

This is the final straw for Sītā, so she prays to mother Earth to swallow her and the divine powers of the Earth open up beneath her and Sītā disappears into the firm embrace of her mother.

Soon, Rāma and Lakshamana realize their time too has come up and handing the kingdom over to Lava & Kusha they bid farewell to their subjects and walk into the Sarayu river, to be forever engulfed by the waters. 

Note that since Rāma’s clan is derived from the sun their lives are extinguished by the water element.

Time is cyclical in Hindu context though so whenever the Threta Yuga shows up in the cosmic cycle of time someone somewhere has manifested the Avatār of Rāma and the Rāmāyana is happening again.

Hanumān of course continues to be forever present wherever the story of Rāmāyana is being told -  so the next time you see a monkey, look around and see if you can hear Rāma’s name being extolled.