1124. Aham Brahmasmi...!

Maricha, the maternal uncle (Mama) of Ravana could see anxiety on the face of Ravana. There was something which was bothering the mighty Asura which was never seen or heard before. Ravana was walking anxious in his room Maricha approached him and asked, “What’s the matter something seems to be bothering you?”

Ravana looked at Maricha and said, “Sita, it is about Sita! I am not able to convince her to be my queen.”

Maricha replied. “That should not be a problem at all, tell her how powerful you are. Or force her to be your queen.”

Ravana said, “The curse of Vedavathi restricts me to touch her without her consent. Moreover one cannot win over a women heart by force.”

Maricha gave a thought to what Ravana said and suggested, “Don’t worry, you are expert in sorcery. Why don’t you use your power of disguise to cheat her to marry you? You can disguise as Rama and approach her; she will take you as Rama and will accept you as her King.”

Looking even more bothered Ravana replied, “Mama, I have tried that too, but as soon as I disguised as Rama every women appear to me as my mother or sister. I do not understand why the moment I become Rama my mind too is changed.” 

Now this is what I understand is “Aham Brahmasmi.” The moment Ravana thinks he is Shri Rama, the true character of Shri Rama gets into him. 

Is it the trait of Rama or Ravana???

The one who has intense faith be it positive or negative will attain Him. For instance both Prahlada and his father Hiranyakashyapa were constantly thinking of Sri Hari. While Prahlada was remembering Him as the Lord of the Universe, Hiranyakashyapa considered Sri Hari to be his only enemy and was always after Him. Sri Hari emerged from the pillar for both. It was purely requital for Prahlada for his immense faith that his God is omnipresent. For Hiranyakashyapa it was going back home to guard the gates of Vaikunta. Immense faith is important with no place for skepticism.  

Devanahalli Venkataramanaiah Gundappa popularly known as DVG, a Kannada writer and philosopher has written thus in His Mankutimmana Kagga, “Hiranyakashapu did not believe in Him; but Prahlada did; both got liberated, one from Kamba (Pillar) and the other by Bimba (faith on Image): You try to disbelieve in your own beliefs and wriggle like a fly caught in jelly; Mankutimma.

Sometimes I find that my friends have had an over dose of me and my philosophical thinking. As for them I am a person with philosophy more than they can handle. Sometimes I too feel that may be I am too much of a philosophical person and then the next question in my mind is, Is there anything wrong with being philosophical? It is not easy to understand whatever we see and deal with it here, so I try to look for some more insight from the philosophical dimension. 

Amazingly with the grace of Sri Hari there is always a way to that understanding.