Quote:
Originally Posted by enthusiastix
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Hi,
Religious texts in my understanding are not story books or bed time tales. They are not meant for you to feel good but they are meant to teach us about human values. Hence they take examples of plots and sub plots to show how humans (manushas) can falter and how they need to keep themselves afloat in an ocean of emotions.
Another mistake commonly made is that we tend to view scriptures with the current rules of society. So we probably wont digest the way Sita was treated in Ramayana, because we believe in women's liberation and she certainly didnt show any of those qualities. But the mistake we make with this understanding is that we cannot mix the social rules of Dwapara Yuga with that of Kali Yuga.
Ramayana is a lesson on self restraint. It is a lesson on how great human beings executed this approach. 14 years of exile meant Rama and Sita didnt live like a typical husband and wife. Lakshmana didnt look up at Sita's face ever, he always looked at her feet. These are impossible to do in today's times. Ramayana is a lesson on how we people, humans (manusha's) have fallen in principles, into convenience.
Scriptures are meant for awakening, they are not story books. They may be initially stressful because of the poetic language used and the meaning which can be interpreted in many ways based on your current spiritual evolution. As you mature, they will make a difference to you. Go slow, go patiently, they are worth reading and very enlightening.
Regards
Kavitha Kalyan
A Spiritual Vagabond
Religious texts in my understanding are not story books or bed time tales. They are not meant for you to feel good but they are meant to teach us about human values. Hence they take examples of plots and sub plots to show how humans (manushas) can falter and how they need to keep themselves afloat in an ocean of emotions.
Another mistake commonly made is that we tend to view scriptures with the current rules of society. So we probably wont digest the way Sita was treated in Ramayana, because we believe in women's liberation and she certainly didnt show any of those qualities. But the mistake we make with this understanding is that we cannot mix the social rules of Dwapara Yuga with that of Kali Yuga.
Ramayana is a lesson on self restraint. It is a lesson on how great human beings executed this approach. 14 years of exile meant Rama and Sita didnt live like a typical husband and wife. Lakshmana didnt look up at Sita's face ever, he always looked at her feet. These are impossible to do in today's times. Ramayana is a lesson on how we people, humans (manusha's) have fallen in principles, into convenience.
Scriptures are meant for awakening, they are not story books. They may be initially stressful because of the poetic language used and the meaning which can be interpreted in many ways based on your current spiritual evolution. As you mature, they will make a difference to you. Go slow, go patiently, they are worth reading and very enlightening.
Regards
Kavitha Kalyan
A Spiritual Vagabond
How does it possible an epic relate to one yuga successfully maintain its status in another yuga? What is the periodicity of one yuga. How was it carried forward without any change?
In all probability, both Ramayana and Mahabharatha belonged to the earliest tribal civilizations. One can very explicitly see in Mahabharatha that both Polygamy and Polyandry were practiced - Krishna has many wives and Draupadi had five husbands. Whenever modification takes place at regular intervals, Polyandry seized to exist and Polygamy becomes a thing of the past, due to rational thinking and govt. intervention.
Coming to the point of scriptures are meant for awakening, the same cannot be accepted in toto, since kings are replaced by people's representatives and the people have the right to question or even replace the rulers.
As society has been changing a lot over the years, due to advancement of science, technology, medicine etc, and rational thinking., there are better case studies available for most of the problems. At the most, the two epics can be used as a tool to know the condition prevailed in the earlier civilizations for academic interest.
As, we Bs, have been talking about the two epics for centuries, we have no alternative but to maintain the status quo by giving different explanations at different times.