Week 14, Reading Diary D, Sita's Ramayana

Author: Samhita Arni

Artist: Moyna Chitrakar

Title: Sita's Ramayana

Year: 2011

Sita's Ramayana

pages 111-end

Ravana is dead. The war is over.

Rama gets the city and the honor of crowning a new king. 

Sita is free. Rama is of course a hero, he saved her.

For all the good that does. The cannot be together, again.

His war to save his honor has left a blood soaked trail and women and children with out fathers, brothers and husbands.

Sita in her state of innocence and purity is deeply hurt.

Sita jumps into a fire, but the god Agni leads her out because she is indeed pure.

Rama and Sita jump in their UFO and head back to the kingdom they had been exiled from.

Ayodhya.

Sita gets pregnant.

Rumors.

She gets left in the forest.

Abandoned.

The forest hears her grief.

Again, like Snow White, the nature kingdom are there as her companions.

She has a son Lava.

Bam, magically she has his twin, Kusha that a hermit, Valmiki, made for her.

Usually only a man gets to be the wise person, dweller of the forest.

Sita takes on a male role by staying in the forest.

Hanuman, Lakshmana and Rama get beat in battle by the boys.

The boys then get raised by their father as warriors

and poor Sita jumps into the earth.

Week 12, Reading Diary D, Vishnu's Secret: Detached Engagement Brings Order

Secrets of Beings: The Avatars of Vishnu
www.huffingtonpost.com

Title: Hindu Calendar Art

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

Year: 2009

Vishnu's Secret Part 1

This is nearly the most precious idea of life I have ever come across. We all want to be Lions and rule the jungle. But life forces us to be cows, to nourish our calf and also the world around us.
Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and fortune, which organizes the world, because stable and organized culture brings wealth.
I had no idea about her sister Alakshmi, who must also be honored. Jealousy and struggle come from wealth, so you have to acknowledge this aspect of abundance. Makes sense.
Vishnu is the rhythm of time, but cannot stop it. Shiva shuts his eyes, but Vishnu leaves his open and smiles because he understands the dance, and dances with her.
I really like how the attributes of the forces work in pairs and cycles.
The idea that rules are constructs made by man and cause unhappiness is where I think I am with looking at the philosophy of religious studies. I do see the irony.

Week 6, Reading Diary D, Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata, The Mongoose

www.quickanddirtytips.com

The Mongoose

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Source. The Story of the Great War by Annie Besant (1899)

This was my favorite story! It reminded me of a biblical account about strangers/guests and ironically being in the company of angels. In this case a deity, so equally awesome in my opinion. I love that the cute little mongoose is the narrator! I usually do not like stories with the whole animal thing, but this story is cute. Almost as cute as the image of the mongoose. He has such a smug look on his tiny furry face. I can picture him telling such a great tale, with his own reasons for pointing out how the kings should be giving away more of their abundance. The Brahmin in the story the mongoose told has his entire family starving in famine and sacrifice their last morsels of food to a stranger. 

Week 3, Reading Diary D,Sita and Rama

Sita and Rama

PDE Ramayana: Sita and Rama

Sita image found www.youtube.com

This!

Then Sita looked on Rama sadly, like a deer, with tear-filled eyes, and Rama, seeing her so near, but bethinking him of honour in the sight of men, was torn in twain. "I have wiped away the insult to our family and to myself," said he, "but thou art stained by dwelling with another than myself. What man of high degree receives back a wife who hath lived long in another's house? Ravan has held thee on his lap and gazed on thee with lustful eyes. I have avenged his evil deed, but I am unattached to thee. O gentle one, I am forced by a sense of honour to renounce thee, for how should Ravana have overlooked thee, so fair and dainty as thou art, when he had thee at his will? Do thou choose what home thou wilt, whether with Lakshmana, or Bharata, or Sugriva, or with Vibhishana."

The last paragraph of this chapter that I pasted above is enough to send anyone, saint or not over the edge.

Author's Note; I chose this story because it is the start of when a bad situation just got worse instead of end happily ever after for Rama and Sita. As the reader of the storyline, it's a jolt because the divine couple incarnate are reunited and the obstacles have been overcome! But not really, because as we learn here in this chapter it would be socially unacceptable for Rama to be with Sita. Rama is in no position to rock the boat that he just got into. This is probably where the therapist would like to start the focus of broken trust. The Blondie song "Heart of Glass" echoes in my mind as theme music for this episode in their marriage.

Bibliography;Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)