How To Make Use Of The Body Machine

“The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.61)

Friend1: Do you like machines?

Friend2: What kind of question is that? You might as well ask me if I like the sun and the rain.

Friend1: Those are aspects of nature. Machines are invented by man.

Friend2: So you’re talking about technology specifically or anything created that involves mechanics?

Friend1: You have to get so technical every time.

Friend2: It’s called precision. If we’re going to answer questions, at least refine down to the essence. This way there are no doubts at the conclusion.

Friend1: Okay, let’s take a modern-day invention. Something like an automobile, plane, or train. You could even take one of those kitchen helper thingies.

Friend2: The ones that mix the dough for you?

Friend1: Yes.

Friend2: People love that machine in particular. It is expensive and a little complex to operate, but once you get the hang of it you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Friend1: You have one, I presume.

Friend2: Not only do I not have one, I have never personally witnessed it in action. The opinion is based solely on the testimony of others.

Friend1: I see. Do you like machines like that? Are they worthwhile?

Friend2: Why not? They save time.

Friend1: Okay, but they also make people lazy. If for some reason the electricity goes out, how will dinner be prepared? In some places in the world there is an abundance of food cooked, offered and distributed without a single use of electricity.

Friend2: The Jagannatha Temple in Puri is a great example. The devotees offer so much to the Lord of the universe. They don’t need to worry about power disruptions. You can transfer the setting to thousands of years ago and the same process would work.

Friend1: Right, so have machines made people less spiritual?

Friend2: I’d probably say it’s the other way around. That is the lack of spirituality has made people more interested in machines and using them.

Friend1: Then it’s a symptom rather than a cause.

Friend2: I don’t think there is anything wrong with these machines. The idea is to use the component parts for the proper purpose. You can take the body as an example.

Friend1: It is something like nature’s machine.

Friend2: For the atma, the spirit soul inside. The individual is identified through this atma, which is like the driver of the car. You have different components to the machine. The arms, the legs, the stomach.

Friend1: The brain.

Friend2: Eyes, ears and so forth. A fully functioning machine means that the individual parts are present and working properly. When everything is right, the objectives can be met. Something like the car starting properly and taking you to the desired destination.

Friend1: Is the body-machine a bad thing? Doesn’t it help someone forget God?

Friend2: That is a possibility, a result of the free will with which every person is endowed.

Friend1: The machine can be used properly, though?

Friend2: Of course. Not only does the individual benefit, but so do the individual parts. That is to say the hands take on their true meaning when the entire body is used for devotional service, bhakti-yoga. Otherwise the illusion of maya continues to have majority influence. It is like remaining asleep, staying ignorant as to your true nature and the purpose of life.

Friend1: Isn’t there another soul guiding everything, though? I’m referring to Paramatma.

Friend2: Yes. This is God’s expansion.

Friend1: If He is the true driver, why does He not interfere? Why does He not override the system and manage the operation of the machine Himself?

Friend2: Then the individual becomes helpless. They are mere pawns.

Friend1: But that is already the case. They get thrown around the clothes dryer that is the cycle of birth and death.

Friend2: When in maya there is the helpless feeling. When connected to God, when in yoga, the individual actually becomes superior to the material nature. They get full control over the car, helped along by Paramatma. Otherwise God in that feature remains neutral. He does not interfere with decisions. Yet without His sanction nothing would occur. Upon learning this the wise person chooses to have the Supreme Lord intervene on their behalf instead of trying to go it alone. They would rather the parts of the body take on the highest value instead of puttering along in fruitless endeavors.

In Closing:

The car-like body I’m driving,

Chance of failing or thriving.

But actually first the sanction to need,

Not just from fuel to feed.

Rather than on helpless path to stay,

The wise taking the spiritual way.

Where on Supreme Lord’s power leaning,

Who on their behalf intervening.

The Power Of Good Over Evil

“My dear lady, on the journey leaving from this place, none of the residents from Lanka have the power to be able to follow me.” (Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 37.26)

na hi me samprayātasya tvām ito nayato angane |
anugantum gatim śaktāḥ sarve lankā nivāsinaḥ ||

One of the risks with committing a crime is that the same can be returned to the perpetrator, like a boomerang effect. If both sides were living in peace before, the initial violation can start a chain reaction of retaliatory measures. This is especially evident in what is called a “prank war.”

There is something similar in the game of baseball. For whatever reason a certain pitcher is upset at the other team. Perhaps they made a disrespectful gesture. Maybe there was something done the previous time they played, which could have been a season ago.

The pitcher decides to take justice into their own hands. They intentionally throw a fast pitch aimed at the body of the batter. A baseball travelling at upwards of one hundred miles per hour striking an unprepared player leaves a painful mark.

The risk with travelling down this path is that the team being struck has every chance to retaliate. They have their own pitchers, due to take the mound in the subsequent inning. Those pitchers have justification to throw at the opposing team’s hitters. If the pitcher who fired the initial salvo happens to be batting, he might bear the brunt of his bold action.

A long time ago the leader of Lanka never thought that someone would have the ability to reach his island. Ravana took away a princess using questionable tactics. He did not fight fairly for her. She was wedded to the prince of Ayodhya, Shri Rama. Ravana was more than aware of Rama’s capabilities on the battlefield. There was firsthand experience of just how much damage Rama could inflict when defending Himself from enemy attackers.

Ravana struck first, though in his perverted mind he thought that Rama was the offender. Ravana’s sister had previously propositioned Rama in the forest of Dandaka. When she was declined she decided to charge after Sita. Rama’s younger brother Lakshmana defended Sita and maimed Ravana’s sister in the process. The leader in Lanka decided to use that as justification to both attack with a massive army and then subsequently employ deception to steal Rama’s wife.

As there was a flight over an ocean and an initial clandestine mission, the same was returned to Ravana. Rama’s trusted messenger Hanuman travelled to Lanka via the aerial route. He didn’t need a special vehicle. He simply jumped from a mountaintop and swiftly coursed through the sky. After reaching Lanka, Hanuman changed his form so as to remain undetected.

In the above referenced verse from the Ramayana, Hanuman is proposing to Sita that they return together to Rama’s side. Hanuman will again fly through the air, but this time carrying a passenger on his back. There is no reason to worry, since no one in Lanka has the shakti, or power, to follow him.

The side of good not only had the ability to retaliate, but they could enforce the laws of dharma in a way that even the most powerful of the bad could not mimic. Sita declined the offer, as she would wait for Rama to come and rescue her. Hanuman’s mission was only to find her anyway, so there was no insult.

On the way out of Lanka, Hanuman first set fire to the place. It would stand to reason that someone would follow the devoted messenger back. Find out from where he came. Learn of the location. Measure up his abilities. Yet no one in Lanka could do this. They were small in comparison to the strength of devotion in the monkey messenger.

That power came directly from Rama. The Supreme Lord is the ability in every person. He is the reason someone like Ravana can rise to power. In those instances there is no intervention in the exercise of ability. That is the meaning to free will.

“But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

When the ability is used for Rama’s service, for pleasing God, there is personal intervention. The neutrality ends and the Supreme Lord brings to the devotee what they lack and preserves what they have. Ravana, on the other hand, could never get the necessary protection he desired, and soon everything he owned would be destroyed.

In Closing:

Everything worked for hard and toiled,

Plan of protection by monkey foiled.

Who via the aerial route came,

In way Ravana previously the same.

Clandestinely city searching through,

For self-defense the stature grew.

All for Sita-Rama such risks taking,

Fate that sinful king forsaking.

Different Ways To Travel

“O Devi, do ascend my back without hesitation. O beautiful one, be thus reunited with Rama, like Rohini returned to the moon. You will be thus united like Rohini to the moon as soon as you say the words. Do ascend my back and cross the great ocean through the sky.” (Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 37.24-25)

pṛṣṭham āroha me devi mā vikānkṣasva śobhane |
yogam anviccha rāmeṇa śaśa ankena iva rohiṇī ||
kathayanti iva candreṇa sūryeṇa iva suvarcalā |
mat pṛṣṭham adhiruhya tvam tara ākāśa mahāarṇavam ||

From the ancient Vedic text known as the Ramayana, we learn that travel by the aerial route is not a modern day invention. We know that birds have accomplished this before anyone can remember. The ability accompanies their body type. The exact mixture of earth, water, fire, air and ether allows travel through the sky. Wings are important in that movement, and size is not a factor, as the tiny fly is also able to travel via the aerial route.

“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego-altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.4)

Yet from the statements of a few people of high class and authority, we see that not even human beings were restricted. That is to say a person could travel from one place to another through the air. It was considered a wonderful ability, and in some cases mistaken for spiritual achievement or advancement.

Yet to the wise this was not considered a major accomplishment. The spirit soul is amazing, after all. It gives life to the tiny ant and the large elephant. The type of soul is the same in both, though the less intelligent will speculate otherwise. They will claim that animals either have no soul or possess a different kind from human beings. The guess is made simply as an excuse to kill animals for food, for pleasing the sense demand of taste.

Otherwise, variation in ability is never mistakenly considered a disqualification for the presence of spirit. A human being who can deliver a speech from memory is not considered to be more of a soul than a person who can barely speak. The infant can hardly do anything on its own, and yet that is not used as an excuse for killing.

The soul is indeed amazing, and through the process of mystic yoga the inherent abilities begin to shine more and more. To move from one place to another via the aerial route is considered a siddhi, or perfection. The ability does not come easily, but it is always lying there, usually dormant. The gift is not provided by some outside force.

“Whether it be residence on top of a palace, traveling on airplanes, or flying through the sky (via yogic powers), in all circumstances the shade of the husband's feet is by far superior.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 27.9)

Sita Devi once referenced this ability when speaking to her husband, Shri Rama. There was an argument over how to proceed in a tricky situation. Rama was leaving home to live in the forest for fourteen years. He was moments prior a prince in Ayodhya, the heir to the throne. Sita was the queen in waiting, but now her husband was leaving to live like a homeless person. She wanted to accompany Him, but He advised against it. One of the arguments she made in her favor was that the association of her husband was more enjoyable to her than even flying in the air through mystic abilities.

In the above referenced verses from the Ramayana, another conversation involving Sita mentions the same kind of travel. Here Shri Hanuman is advocating for immediate rescue of the distressed princess. She is held in Lanka against her will, separated from Rama due to no fault of her own. Hanuman has found her and is ready to reunite her with her husband. The comparison is made to Rohini joining together with the moon. The idea is that Sita and Rama are meant for each other.

Hanuman says that the aerial route will be fast. In the time it takes to ponder the idea, Sita will be back with Rama. The two will cross over the ocean, in the same way that Hanuman had reached Lanka in the first place. Not every person exhibits this ability, but Hanuman is special. His devotion to Rama is so pure that the Supreme Lord gives to him every ability required to carry out the desired service.

In the same way, the individual who is struggling in the ocean of material existence can quickly escape through connecting in yoga to Sita and Rama, the Divine pair who are there for anyone who desires their association. By chanting their names, thinking of them always, and remembering the dedicated servants like Hanuman, the rescue is made easy and quick, in the time it takes to merely ponder the idea.

In Closing:

In time it takes to ponder,

Cross over samsara yonder.

Birth and death no more,

Sita-Rama only to adore.

The servant Shri Hanuman through,

Who stature for ocean leap grew.

Ready in same way to return,

That such travel before to learn.

Three Activities Where Krishna Gives The Appearance Of Being Ordinary

“Uddhava has described the transcendental qualities of Shri Krishna as follows: ‘Lord Shri Krishna, who is our master and worshipable Deity, who is the controller of Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma, the controller of the whole universe as well, accepts the controlling orders of Ugrasena, His grandfather. He is the proprietor of millions of universes, but still He begged a little land from the ocean. And although He is just like an ocean of wisdom, still He sometimes consults me. He is so great and magnanimous, yet He is engaged in His different activities just like an ordinary person.’” (The Nectar of Devotion, Ch 36)

It is the great mystery. If there is indeed a God, if the Almighty does in fact exist, when appearing before us what would He look like? After all, the spiritual science says that everything we know of is a combination of matter and spirit. The trees, the birds, the fish, the tigers, the dogs, and up to the human beings - each living being is a combination of atma and maya.

So when the purported Supreme Personality of Godhead appears before the eyes, it must be the same way. If so, then how can He be different? What makes Him special? Where is the distinction?

The idea is that God is the lone exception. Bhagavan transcends the rules precisely because He makes them. Atma and maya come from Him. He is the source of both material and spiritual worlds. Only the less intelligent believe that He accepts a material body when roaming the manifest world in a visible form.

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.11)

Nevertheless, He is still so kind to perform human-like activities. The cousin Uddhava once remarked how Krishna performed ordinary activities despite being the controlling authority over some of the most powerful forces and people known to man.

1. Accepting the controlling orders of Ugrasena

The grandfather was imprisoned, under the control of the evil son named Kamsa. It was Krishna who fixed the situation. The wicked ruler’s reign of terror came to an end with a swift blow delivered by the transcendental fist.

That should have made Krishna the ultimate ruling authority over Mathura. Still, to follow proper etiquette, to show respect to people worthy of it, Krishna would accept the controlling orders of Ugrasena.

2. Begging a little land from the ocean

Bhagavan has the right to take over any land at any time. This is because He is the proprietor of the universes. In his four-handed form of Vishnu, He lies down and creates effortlessly. Just through breathing in and out we get creation, maintenance and destruction. The most complicated and most difficult work is accomplished with little to no effort by Him.

Still, He asks for land from the ocean. He does not just run over everything and claim total ownership. There is maryada to consider. Though He can break the rules without consequence, better to show others what to follow, to strengthen the system of law and order that He instituted in the first place. The ocean kindly obliges and the wonderful city in the water gets built, Dvaraka.

3. Consulting Uddhava

Krishna is the king of Dvaraka, and like a good ruler He does not act hastily. He is the wisest person in the world, as evident by the delivery of the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. In that situation He is the guru to the disciple. He is in fact the adi-guru, the first spiritual master of the world.

In the capacity as king, Krishna sometimes consults Uddhava for advice. This is the wise way to make decisions. Take different opinions before reaching a final conclusion. You may have an idea already of which course to follow, but see from the eyes of others just in case. They have a different perspective. They may remember certain principles that you have overlooked. Their life experiences may give warnings of potential pitfalls that have yet to be encountered.

In the exercise of bhakti-yoga, the union with the Divine through love and devotion, there are many more examples of Krishna’s causeless mercy. He is the largest person in the world, and yet He appears as the deity to allow others to dress Him. He is the most complicated subject matter, fit for study by the wise adult of a sharpened intellect, and yet He can be worshiped just as well by a small child. He is far away in the spiritual world of Vaikuntha, and yet He can come close by in a matter of seconds through the chanting of the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In Closing:

Ordinary person only to the fool,

Who stuck on matter and spirit rule.

But Krishna always transcendental so,

Sometimes to earthly realm to go.

For maryada the proper way showing,

Like for advice to cousin Uddhava going.

Orders from Ugrasena tasking,

And from ocean a little land asking.

Why Should We Be Afraid Of A Dream

“One resident of Vrindavana once told Lord Krishna, ‘My dear Krishna, O pleasure of Vrindavana! Being afraid of this material existence, we have taken shelter of You, for You can completely protect us! We are well aware of Your greatness. As such, we have given up our desire for liberation and have taken complete shelter under Your lotus feet. Since we have heard about Your ever-increasing transcendental love, we have voluntarily engaged ourselves in Your transcendental service.’” (The Nectar of Devotion, Ch 36)

Friend1: I’ve heard it said that one of the issues with people struggling in spiritual life is that they are not afraid enough of maya.

Friend2: The illusory energy, sourced in the Divine.

Friend1: Well, yeah, everything is sourced in the Divine. From Him come both the material and spiritual worlds:

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.8)

Friend2: What is the issue here? You think people have sufficient respect for the changes to the body, the cycle of birth and death, the infallible delivery of just and proper rewards through the system of karma, and the common misidentification of the individual?

Friend1: Maya is illusion. The root meaning is “that which is not.” Accepting something as it seems, when in fact it is something else. Like a mirage in a desert. Like a hologram created by a machine.

Friend2: Like something from a dream.

Friend1: I am glad you mentioned that. It is a commonly invoked comparison. The material world is a dreamlike existence. We wouldn’t be that excited from winning a million dollars in a dream. Similarly, we shouldn’t be afraid of the nightmare we had last night.

Friend2: Precisely.

Friend1: Okay, then why should we be afraid of maya? Why should we have fear of something that doesn’t exist?

Friend2: It’s the experience. You have to be afraid of falling into illusion. In theory, you are correct. But you have to admit that people who watch a horror film do get frightened.

Friend1: For sure. That is the reason they go to see the picture.

Friend2: Which they acknowledge to be a scripted performance. In other words, the movie is fake. It does not depict factual events.

Friend1: There is a resemblance. That is where the connection comes in.

Friend2: Whatever the draw, there is illusion. You shouldn’t be afraid for days to come after seeing a movie.

Friend1: Okay, I agree. Then why should we be afraid of maya?

Friend2: Of falling under her influence. The idea is that by taking to genuine spiritual life I finally understand my true identity as atma, which is imperishable and indestructible. Atma is different from the gross and subtle material elements. It has consciousness. It is identity.

Friend1: I take to spiritual life and I realize the benefits from it.

Friend2: At that point there should still be a healthy respect for maya. A person should not think that they are above the effects, that they cannot fall back into the pit. Take the example of a recovered alcoholic. They kicked their drinking habit after considerable effort. They still respect addiction, though. They have a fear of intoxicants. They don’t think that they can indulge again without consequences.

Friend1: I see. Still seems weird to me, to be afraid of a dream.

Friend2: Because that dream is so powerful it keeps you asleep for a long time; perhaps many lifetimes. Those who are really afraid of maya cling to the lotus feet of the person who controls her. He is the Divine light, to dissipate the darkness borne of ignorance. He is all-attractive and the definition of reality. Being attached to Him means getting protection from illusion, whether it is feared or not.

In Closing:

Maya like reality to seem,

Compared to experience of dream.

Where possibly from fear to shake,

But not lasting after to awake.

So why with illusory energy so?

Since now of reality to know.

Idea that susceptible to come under sway,

So better with Supreme Lord to stay.

Why Not Tell People That Bhakti Makes You Rich

“O best among the Bharatas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.16)

Friend1: I’ve got a Ravana angle for you today.

Friend2: Okay. Ran into someone with ten heads and twenty arms?

Friend1: Very funny. This one is about following advice.

Friend2: Oh, like people set in their ways have a difficult time being convinced of contravening paths? Ravana is the classic case of that, as the younger brother Vibhishana tried his best.

Friend1: The obvious lesson to extract is that Ravana should have listened to Vibhishana. Return Sita to Rama. Correct the horrible wrong before reaping the consequences.

Friend2: Something like returning stolen property to the store that you took it from.

Friend1: In those cases you still stole. You will get some punishment; most likely. In the case of Ravana there would have been total forgiveness.

Friend2: For sure. People have been sinning for such a long time. If Rama were an angry God, there would be plenty to be upset over. Sin at the root level is forgetting Him. That’s what leads to doing things the wrong way. Remember God and you are back on the pious path.

Friend1: Remember Him properly. Not remember Him while blowing up a building or killing innocent people.

Friend2: That goes without saying. There must be some authority to the spiritual practice. That is why the spiritual master is so important. He is a vital piece to the puzzle. Without him you’re trying to fit these different pieces together, but they won’t go.

Friend1: And jamming them together, sawing one of the oblong shapes to transform it, won’t work.

Friend2: Nope.

Friend1: The thing that people might forget with Ravana is that he did actually listen to someone once. It was when he wanted to implement the plan for stealing in the first place.

Friend2: Maricha.

Friend1: The trusted advisor, he warned the king of Lanka not to take on Rama in battle directly. I think he was opposed to the plan altogether, but when Ravana insisted and appeared to be threatening lethal punishment, Maricha decided to come up with something different.

Friend2: Use trickery. Approach the group’s hermitage in disguise. Lure Rama and His younger brother Lakshmana away with a ruse, which was Maricha in the false form of a deer.

Friend1: That got me to thinking. It is difficult for people to take up bhakti-yoga. There are many reasons, but at the root is the desire to cling to material life. Better to chase after fame, name, power, money, etc. than surrender unto the Almighty in earnest.

Friend2: That is maya at work. The illusion that I will somehow be happy without the association of the Divine.

Friend1: Just as Ravana wouldn’t listen to wise counsel, people remain obstinate. But when it came to satisfying his senses, to indulging the kama, or lust, for another woman, Ravana was all ears.

Friend2: All twenty of them.

Friend1: Why not use the same approach when teaching people about the science of self-realization?

Friend2: What do you mean?

Friend1: Just lie. Tell them that by chanting the holy names you will become rich. Tell them that every desire will be satisfied through following the four regulative principles and attending a worship ceremony in the temple on a regular basis.

Friend2: I mean there are hints at what you are saying in teachings from the saints, but the meaning is different.

“Subsisting on fruits and milk, chant Shri Rama’s holy name for six months. Tulsidas says that by following this formula all auspiciousness and every perfection will arrive in the palm of your hand.” (Dohavali, 5)

It’s not lying though. I’m surprised you would even come up with such a plan, one of blatant dishonesty.

Friend1: You know it’s a good idea, so you’re thinking of how to appropriately compliment me.

Friend2: For starters, people can see through the lie rather quickly. They just have to examine the lives of a small sample size of Krishna devotees. They will figure out pretty soon that they are not rich. They didn’t become immensely wealthy as a result of bhakti-yoga.

Friend1: No problem. Just say that the time has yet to arrive. Pretty soon they will be swimming in it.

Friend2: Secondly, desiring wealth is one of the reasons people approach God anyway. The group is listed among four in a verse from the Bhagavad-gita.

Friend1: That is people approaching on their own. They are still making the approach. Just see, there is some benefit. Why not help people along? Why not give them the initial push by telling them that Bhagavan will make them wealthy?

Friend2: There is already demigod worship for that. It is already a kind of lie.

Friend1: What do you mean?

Friend2: There is the promise of good fortune by worshiping this deva or that, but there is fine print. You will get rich, for the time being. The end will be death, and the money won’t follow you to the next life. It is a temporary solution.

Friend1: I know, but with Krishna it is permanent. If they go to Him there is some benefit.

Friend2: I’m telling you, people will see through the ruse. They know deep down that Vishnu is someone different. He is not your standard order supplier. He can give anything to anyone, but He applies discrimination. No reason to sully the reputation of His representatives by making false promises. Better to enter and end with the truth, that you will get something way more valuable than wealth, that the benefits of His association alone will bring happiness for lifetime after lifetime. Every perfection will come, and you won’t want to use them for sense gratification, ever.

In Closing:

Since important bhakti to try,

Why not at first a little lie?

Such as promise money to bring,

When holy names to sing.

Then a large crowd to gather,

Better than boring lecture rather.

But truth best from start to end,

That devotion into much higher life to send.

Four Dire Techniques Employed By The King Of Lanka

“How can that female swan who is accustomed to sporting with the king of swans amidst lotus flowers ever cast her eyes on a water-crow that stays amidst bunches of grass?” (Sita Devi speaking to Ravana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 56.20)

“Our country doesn’t believe in torture. The news reports are disturbing. How could this go on? Who authorized this? What kind of example does this set for the rest of the world? Just because others behave barbarically doesn’t mean that our nation should.”

In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that people take notice of the example set by a great leader.

“Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.21)

In warfare things get ugly, so whatever rules are laid down aren’t necessarily followed. The easy way after the fact is to destroy evidence. Depending on the political will to prosecute further, the violators will likely get away. A little leeway here and there to extract critical information from the enemy.

In Lanka a long time ago the leader had no problem using torture. He wasn’t after national secrets. He didn’t want to prevent a future attack against his nation. Rather, he was simply driven by the senses. The strongest gravitating force, kama, caused him to steal another man’s wife in secret.

Though successful in that operation, there was still work to be done. This wasn’t stealing an inanimate object. For the lust to be satisfied, he needed intimate and willing contact with the participant. To that end the heinous Ravana used dire techniques. He tried to make the impossible possible, but the power of devotion is too strong to overcome.

1. Threat of punishment

This is the easiest method. You don’t have to be particularly smart or clever. Just threaten the other side. “You better listen or else.” If perchance there is clarification requested, the threat-giver provides details about the “or else.”

In the case of Sita Devi, she would be killed and eaten. This was the way of the Rakshasas in Lanka. They were man-eating ogres. Killing was not an issue for Ravana. The ten-headed one had a voracious appetite for wine and flesh. If the prisoner would not agree, he would kill her.

2. Grim picture of the future

Sita was a beautiful princess, happily married to the prince of Ayodhya, Shri Rama. She was so attractive that Ravana completely forgot about his many other queens already living in Lanka. He had plenty of opportunity to satisfy his senses, but lust is such a powerful force that it never leaves a person alone. More indulgence only increases the intensity; something like pouring more fuel into a fire.

The king of Lanka tried to scare Sita into submission by painting a grim picture of the future. She was beautiful now, but wouldn’t always remain so. If enough time passed, she would no longer be attractive to the world. Then who would court her? Who would seek her company? Better to give in now and enjoy with someone. This was Ravana’s presentation, rooted in ignorance of her true nature.

3. Peer pressure

There were other people in the scene. They surrounded Sita in the grove of Ashoka trees. They tried to pressure her into giving in to Ravana.

“Everyone else agrees with this wicked ruler, so what is wrong with you? Why do you want to be different? Don’t you see the way the queens already enjoy right now? You will be made the chief among them. What fool wouldn’t accept such a wonderful offer?”

4. Constant harassment

Of course none of the techniques worked. Pure devotion has that over kama. In fact, connection to the Supreme Lord, true yoga, is the only way to defeat the all-devouring enemy known as lust, which quickly turns into wrath.

“The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.37)

Ravana finally gave up. He instituted a time limit for Sita to change her mind. Once passed, she would be killed. In the meantime, attendants to the king would surround and harass her day and night. These were ghoulish-looking creatures, ready to eat her if given the chance. For the wife of Rama, it was like living a nightmare twenty-four hours a day.

The just reward for this torture would arrive soon enough. The swift-coursing arrows released from Rama would lop off Ravana’s heads and end his very life. The reign of terror would literally and symbolically come crashing to the ground.

Rama’s representative Hanuman witnessed some of the torture. When the day of victory arrived he was eager for payback. He wanted to kill the people who had harassed Sita day and night. She declined the offer, as there was no lasting enmity. The devotee is both strong and tough in their determination and kind and compassionate towards the fallen.

In Closing:

Wanting desperately to enjoy,

Different kinds of torture to employ.

So that princess to change her mind,

And new post of chief queen to find.

With punishment threatening death,

Fear of time’s change with passing breath.

Harassment from every side to surround,

Ineffective since to Rama’s heart bound.