Geetika Kohli
Temple bells tinkled fervently and the resplendence of the Sita-Ram bhajan touched the cold contours of the room where my father and I sat watching the epic Ramayan on television. Lord Ram, the prince, emerged in a saffron drape, followed by Sita and Lakshman, at the threshold of his palace in Ayodhya. Having sought his father’s reluctant permission and his step-mother Keikeyi’s perfunctory blessings, he was all set to leave the glory of his kingdom and to accept the predestined exile. Arya Sumant, the chief minister, and a trusted friend of king Dashrath’s, had been ordained to accompany the trio. As he readied the chariot for their departure, a crowd of village men appeared on the scene. They began to revolt against the callous imposition and declared they would accept none but Ram as their king. When the latter, the epitome of virtue that he had been, affirmed he would abide by the decision already taken, and urged the subjects to cooperate with King Dashrath, the throng of men only responded by expressing their resolve to follow him to the jungle, and follow they did.
Later, as the chariot halted at a clearing in a forest in twilight, the men who had been following Ram, prepared to rest. Riddled with fatigue, they slept through the wee hours when Ram, having instructed Sumant to drive the chariot away, leaving no trace of his return, left the place, continuing the onward journey with Sita and Lakshman on foot. He explained that true dharma for the men would mean returning to their families and fostering respect for the new king within their communities, as they kept his ideals alive in their minds and in practice.
I looked at my father, who, of course, was tearing up. He did not pretend to conceal his wet eyes. On the contrary, he smiled to me, as if, he knew that an echo of understanding had taken birth within me. When a man is exiled and he resolves to seek from the voyage, spiritual intelligence, he cannot take anyone along with him. He knows that the sacrifice would, in essence, be only a milestone in the journey, a journey more inward than outward. And in turn, his people who remain behind would have to carry the burden of his absence, fulfilling all their duties, holding the conviction that while he is away they too may cross spiritual milestones and upon his return they may continue to be led by his live example.
Exile, by its very definition, refers to a forced separation from one’s home (land). Encountering it perchance in life cannot be compared with a liberating feeling of detachment that an individual may experience as he/she evolves. As such, exile may be ineffably painful, if not acutely traumatising for the person it is compelled upon. When one, though emotionally resilient, finds oneself buried under the debris of layers and layers of loss, including often, the deeply perceived loss of identity, one is shaken. It’s not merely the ownership of what had stood concrete in the past that had anchored the person to his home, but also the language through which he had been able to conceive, perceive and express his rights. Now, after even having lost the tool to communicate, and the people who understood his words, he, in this utter alienation, has to endure suffering, and alone.
But when one resolves to sustain oneself in spite of all the impediments to survival and, until one attains a perspective that empowers and not handicaps one during this arduous inner trek, one finds that envisioning a new reality, is not wholly impossible. In the complete absence of light, you must learn to bank on the light of the vows you make to yourself and little by little, cultivate a plane that enables the flowering of a new self, one that embraces the knowledge and spirit of detachment, one that is marked by an aura of spiritual intelligence.
It is upon this plane that you may now choose to not grow wants that had previously masqueraded as ‘needs’ within you. This may even include the need for love and security. You may choose to write yourself anew in the script of the language you’re now acquiring – as one who demands less and less and, from fewer and fewer. When seen through the aperture of inner wisdom, this may not be an act of self-negation but of a higher acceptance of the truth about oneself – who am I when all the labels and bandages are stripped off my core?
The new reality that one creates both with meticulous endeavour and mindful surrender may offer one the opportunity to release oneself from the earlier survival mode that one had been in for a long time. It is because one is no longer chasing after security and / or impressing upon expectations, that one rids oneself of the psychology that had been dominating one in the past. This new mind-set inspires you to embrace the limitations of your destiny and to accept whatever comes your way with grace. Moreover, the absolute conviction that spiritual evolution is the purpose of life enables a person to love unconditionally, give freely, and not be shrunk in capacity. Such learning is one beyond transactional mathematics and opens one’s eyes to the ‘economics of abundance’ as against the idea of there being a scarcity of resources.
There have been a plethora of narratives about Lord Ram’s fourteen years in exile but you seldom find an account wherein his inner transcendence is discussed. The morals of resilience, propriety, duty and sacrifice that we draw from the story have not been explored beyond the point of Lord Ram’s leadership and connection with his family, spouse and subjects. How does he strengthen his values in his onward journey, that is during the exile phase of his life, is a theme that has not been touched upon though it may bear both intellectual and spiritual rewards for us, and realign the epic of Ramayana, as a concrete basis for our spiritual comprehension of Indian Knowledge Systems.
Such a dimension of thought may lead some to argue that it is his innate perfection and infallibility that is being called to question or is being reduced to a mere assumption of his devotees, for he indeed is god, a divine reincarnation. Yet I would like to highlight that at the very root of Hindu scriptures is the idea that the act of becoming ‘god’ (and/or merging with god, at last) is an evolutionary journey that encompasses severe trials and tribulations, often across lifetimes, leading one to redeeming knowledge.
Myself having experienced the metaphorical exile many times during different stages in life, I have had to revisit this story every now and then. This has led me to multifarious perspectives and profound questions such as though lord Ram had been bequeathed divine purity (as is a child when he / she is born), what contamination did he confront as a human and did he, through those cumbersome fourteen years, experience an evolution or reclamation of both his innocence and intelligence? How may we read his story so that it may lead us to gradually discover our inherent spirituality as we tackle our loss of identity, our recurrent exiles through life?
As I now see it, separation and the sacrifice it entails, is indispensable to the awakening of one’s spiritual intelligence. Though the contexts may be disparate, such as a woman’s life post marriage, or a soldier quitting his home to serve at volatile borders, or a person facing orphanhood, we all come to a point in life where we give up self, setting and security to advance to an unknown zone. Whether we accept it as an exile at the onset or see it emerge as one at a later stage, we must acknowledge both its inevitability and importance in succouring us as we evolve to attain spiritual intelligence. I believe that it is through our highest endeavour being a seeker, that we may touch the essence of Ram, enlightening others along the way.
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