Today's Topics: 

We reviewed the Egyptian test answers and saw the updated class averages, which now represent 72% of your semester grade. I will add Quizzes 9 and 10 by early next week, leaving only the last quiz (Quiz 11) and the final exam.

With the remaining time, we finished our look at chapter 3 and made our way through chapter 5, examining several examples of karma and dharma along the way.
 

The Ramayana, chapters 3-5

Recall the Kooni had convinced Kaikeyi to change her outlook -- from one that supported Rama (her stepson) acquiring the throne to one of fear and jealousy that her son Bharatha would be slighted by father Dasaratha and half-brother Rama. Although Kooni exaggerates considerably, Dasaratha does act slyly in one way -- he calls Rama into his room to inform his son that he has chosen Rama to be the next king, and that he will be coronated tomorrow.  Oddly, Dasaratha has sent Bharatha out of town to visit his grandfather.  Perhaps Dasaratha does not trust Bharatha's reaction to the news, or perhaps Bharatha was merely sent to bring his grandfather to the coronation.

Ultimately, Kooni does convince Kaikeyi that Rama might banish Bharatha from the city and take over power from her side of the family.  This is a lie, of course, but it works well enough.  Kaikeyi soon decides that she would rather see her own flesh and blood (Bharatha) on the throne instead of Rama, even though she earlier admitted that she considers her stepson, Rama, to be one of her own.  She forces Dasaratha to fulfill his promises (boons) to her (which he pledged after she saved his life in a much earlier episode).

The timing of Kaikeyi's demands could not have been worse, for Dasaratha is forced to fulfill Kaikeyi's demands if he wishes to attain dissolution (moksha -- that is, heaven, peace, etc.).  If Dasaratha gives into Kaikeyi's demands, then the universe will be placed into chaos because Rama will not be crowned (breaking his promise to Rama).  If he stands firm and refuses to comply, then his own karma will be out of balance because he will renege on his promises to his wife,which also means that he will have to face yet another incarnation.  He's stuck, and he knows it.  He soon dies from the heartbreak (the passion/suffering) caused by Kaikeyi's cunning.  Dasaratha faces a "lose/lose" situation when Kaikeyi forces him to banish Rama and award Bharatha the throne.  He can't win, which is probably why he dies a desperate, passionate death.

Rama's birth mother, Kausalya, initially blames Bharatha for this mischief, but is convinced otherwise by Bharatha's anger and frustration with his own mother's actions (karma).  Even so, Dasaratha blames both mother and son for this deed, and he disowns them.  Unfortunately, he died immediately after, so his word remains as unbreakable law (Rama will mention that words are "like arrows" (page 57), since they cannot be recalled after they have been launched).  This final action by the king forces Bharatha from being the one to light his father's funeral pyre.  Rama is banished, and Lakshmana is with him, so these two older brothers cannot do it.  Yet Bharatha cannot participate due to his father's commands.  It seems as if Bharatha is the greatest victim of his mother's own treachery and selfishness.  Bharatha will leave Rama's sandals on the throne to let everyone know who the real leader is.

It is important to note here that Kaikeyi is technically not the source of these problems -- Dasaratha is. True, Kaikeyi's timing is pathetic and troublesome, spurned on by Kooni's ambitious words. However, Kaikeyi has every right to ask Dasaratha to pony up on his prior promises. Remember, Kaikeyi saved his life when he lay dying on the battlefield, and Dasaratha felt compelled to say or do anything to win her hand in marriage, including promising her stubborn father that Dasaratha would make their son (Bharatha) the heir to the throne. Kaikeyi is in the right to hold Dasaratha to his word. Dasaratha should have not made promises that he could not keep or that would come back to haunt him. He admits many errors in judgment in this chapter, from falling in love with Kaikeyi's beautiful looks to shooting little boys at the river, thinking he was an elephant. Dasaratha's move to coronate Rama with Bharatha out of town merely adds to the list of his suspicious behaviors in this story.

One must ask, however, what the hunchbacked dwarf Kooni can gain from this. I asked the class this question, and the best response was that Kooni would have the elevated status of serving the queen mother (Kaikeyi) if Bharatha ascended to the throne. Otherwise, her selfish motives have caused a domino effect that has shaken the foundation of the city. Do you see how simple attachment to the material world causes problems?

Rama willingly departs, mainly due to the Hindu belief in dharma (sacred duty).  One's dharma is determined by one's social position (caste) as well as by circumstance.  Once a person understands his dharma, he must religiously pursue it until it is completed, which may last thousands of lifetimes.  As a son, Rama must obey his father's wishes, even if they are communicated through his stepmother.  Failure to pursue one's dharma will also create bad karma, tossing the world off of its axis. Notice that Rama calmly and rationally accepts his fate, casting no blame and showing no regrets or anger toward anyone.

When informed about this new change of plans just an hour before the coronation, Rama seems to understand the "bigger picture" about this situation, and so he willingly accepts his banishment without any emotional attachment.  Perhaps Rama knows that this 14-year exile will allow him to be tested further, giving him the experience necessary to achieve glory in the end.  This is very similar to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve are banished to attain a life experience and prove their wordiness.  In fact, Rama blames himself for hastily accepting the throne without thinking about the consequences.  Rama takes the "high road" and says no evil or cross words to anyone in his family.  He sees his fate as an opportunity, not a curse, revealing his detachment from the material world, unlike Kooni, Kaikeyi, Kausalya, Dasaratha, Lakshmana, Bharatha, the advisors, and the whole region filled with well-wishers.

In the desert, much like we saw in the Egyptian unit, evil roams free, as did Set.  Rama, his wife, and brother will now enter a new place where the demons curse and tempt them incessantly.  In chapter 4, we will see Rama tested by the demons during his exile into the forest, a wide open range of land that I like to call the "demons' playground."  Ravana, the great demon, will send his family members and henchmen to the desert to conquer Rama, but Rama will vanquish these beasts every time.  This will be the first chapter where we really start to see Rama acting as a god.  Because he is a man, however, he must also adhere to his social standing (caste), which is why he acts like a warrior -- he IS one.

We will also see the forests filled with talking animals, such as Jatayu the eagle, Jambavan the bear, and Hanuman the monkey scholar. These characters are not mere animals, but rather gods incarnated into animal forms with the dharma to assist Rama complete his mission. We will learn later in the story that many of these demons were cursed in certain ways where they would die at the hands of monkeys, etc., revealing the need for these unique incarnations.

Likewise, we will also notice that a profound difference exists between the devas (gods) and the asuras (demons). Whereas the gods, such as Rama, will be able to see the true inner nature of someone, the demons, such as Ravana, the Grand Tormentor, are only able to see the face value of each person. To the demons, the looks tell them everything about a person, but the gods see past the facade and into one's atman (soul). Likewise, the demons will use illusions and chaos to achieve their ends, but Rama (Vishnu incarnate) will use his reasoning and rational thinking to enact divine justice in profound ways.

Look at how Rama uses the logic of the caste system when he battles Soorpanka, Ravana's evil sister.  She descends to Earth in the form of a sexually desperate woman, changing her appearance and her name to Kamavalli.  She approaches Rama and makes several advances toward him.  Rama, however, knows that she is a demon, and sees through her disguise (obviously, his desert training in chapter 1 has been helpful to battle these very situations).  He first tells her that they could never marry because they come from different castes (page 68), but also tells her that they are from different forms entirely (he is a human, while Soorpanka is of the rakshasa class of demons), so it would never work out.  She persists, forcing Lakshmana to cut off various body parts, essentially making her ugly and undesirable for lesser humans.  Ironically, she is most worried about losing her nose!  All she has to do is change her physical shapes, but it appears easier to complain instead.  Lakshmana will play the role of bodyguard and advisor to Rama, and he will often do the "dirty work" for Rama.

When Soorpanka returns to the realm of demons, she informs Ravana that she was maimed by Rama, thus sending Ravana into a rage, wishing to kill Rama in an act of vengeance.  However, after Soorpanka tells her brother about the beautiful Sita, Ravana suddenly becomes smitten with the love bug, and can think only of marrying Sita. We should find it funny that he falls in love with a brief verbal description of Sita. He must have a wild imagination because he falls so hard in love with Sita that he becomes tormented by his own desires.  In his confusion, he changes the weather (page 82), although he is not satisfied with any weather at all.  What Ravana is doing here is creating chaos, pure chaos, since he is the demon force of chaos and confusion.  In fact, he is so confused that he will curse the moon for being unpredictable and fickle, yet his personality embodies the exact same mutability as is demonstrated by the moon.  Ravana is playing a feminine role here, being wavering and undecided about himself and about which actions to take.  One by one, his demon family members will try to counsel him about his foolish behavior, but he is so ignorant that he is blind to his own ignorance to the point where he can never "see the light." This type of chaos and confusion is called maya, and it is the way that the demons operate. Watch for this term to appear later in the story.

Ravana forces Mareecha (his uncle, an evil demon who is attempting to become good) to assume the form of a jeweled deer, which tempts Sita to the point where she begs Rama to fetch it for her.  Although Lakshmana counsels against this, Rama willingly (and foolishly) attempts to capture the deer.  Further trickery lures Lakshmana away from the cottage, leaving Sita all alone to be kidnapped by Ravana.  When Ravana arrives (in the form of a hermit beggar), Sita is unaware of his demon nature, and she allows herself to be kidnapped to the far away island of Sri Lanka.

We'll go over this scene and several other important ones next Monday as we continue our adventure through the story.

If you have fallen behind in your reading, you have one final week of class to catch up. Enjoy this middle part of the story, since it is filled with lots of action, misadventures, and drunken monkeys. Especially watch the scene in chapter 6 where Rama battles Vali, Sugreeva's angry brother. We will learn a great deal about Rama's character and Hindu standards of conduct through these episodes.

Announcements:

I will be providing a final exam study guide by Friday, so look for it soon on the Class Info page.

Quiz 11, posted below, is the final quiz of the semester. I will return it on the final exam day before we start the exam.

Also, I will be posting an extended office hours schedule for the next several days. The open times will be available for everyone to use, no appointment necessary. Keep in mind that many students will request my time leading into the exams, so don't wait until the last minute to see me if you have a pressing concern or need to get some things straight, especially about the Eastern unit. I am here to assist you.

Due Next Time:

The Ramayana, chapters 7-11(Narayan, 115-149) / READING GUIDE (527-531)

Quiz 11 (Due Wednesday 4/26)

COLOR CODES:
		-= Required		-= Supplemental