by Daud Shawni
*****
Hanuman's Message
Aurangzeb said, "You speak boldly yet run from my questions like an ass from a lion. You speak of maya and moksha, karma and samsara. Yet you will not say how they are consistent with Islam. That God sent messengers in the past of whom we have no knowledge is not sufficient evidence that Krishna or Rama are among those messengers. Their messages have no resemblance to the messages of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Show me any resemblance and perhaps I will spare this temple."
The boy said, "Let me make things clearer for you and perhaps you will see the resemblance. Maya is the illusion veiling us from God. Karma is born from the actions we take to achieve our selfish desires, driven by illusion. Karma creates attachments to the transient world, imprisoning us in samsara. Samsara is the prison of transient appearance; it is life without knowledge. It is the world as it seems. It is a kingdom ruled by maya. Samsara is the interaction of karma and maya.
"The journey of Rama is the story of illusion and karma. It is the story of selfless action, which is not shameful, and action born of selfish desire, which is the cause of ruin. Consider that central story, that Sita desired the golden deer and, to please her, Rama gave chase. This was the original cause of their separation. Long before, when Rama decided to leave Sita behind in Ayodhya and spend fourteen years in exile in the wilderness, remember how Sita pleaded and cajoled him, saying how she could never be separated from him and that the difficulties and the austerities of the wilderness were nothing compared to separation from Rama. Sita cried out, 'How many times has our story been recited? Do you know a single one where I remain behind?' But when she saw the deer in the wilderness, gold and silver and beautiful to behold, Sita's mind was captive and she desired nothing except that Rama should acquire it for her. 'Bring it to me, O husband. We'll keep it as a pet or, if you must kill it, we'll rest together on its beautiful skin.' To please her, Rama left Sita's side to capture what Sita desired. But, in truth, desire had captured Sita. Only Rama was worth desiring, but Sita sent him away on a worthless errand, all for the price of a deer. Likewise, Ravana desired Sita, not understanding that Rama, of all creatures in the world, would overcome him and Ravana would lose Sita, his kingdom, and his life. What madness these desires, born of illusion, drive us to! Had Sita perception, she would have rejected the deer, if only to remain near Rama. Had Ravana perception, he would have put away his desire for Sita and lived on with honor.
"The world is maya, and God has created it. It exists as a means by which to conceal and as a means by which to reveal. The illusion of the world, properly understood, is a way in which to understand the world to come. It is the womb of the next world, and our development here is crucial to attain to that world fully. In this sense, maya is unquestionably good. Also, maya serves God's purpose by veiling us from truths we cannot yet bear. This too is good.
"Yet maya can decieve. If we look upon the veil and find nothing beyond it, nothing behind it, forgetting even the Creator of it, we tie ourselves to the illusion without understanding the true purpose of that illusion and deriving from it none of its benefits.
"If one lacks perception, what true difference is there between Mara and maya, between the devil and this devilish deception? Iblis is Mara personified. The prince of the separated ones is a master of illusion. Mara declares, 'By God's authority I will beguile men with the pleasures of the world. I will lie in wait for men along God's straight path. I will come upon them from the front and behind, from the right and the left.' See beyond maya and Mara cannot trouble you; otherwise you are Mara's slave.
"Consider karma. Ravana heard of Sita's remarkable beauty and sent a servant in the guise of that golden deer to Sita's home in the forest where she lived with Rama and Lakshmana. Sita demanded the wondrous deer as a pet and neither Rama nor Lakshmana remained to protect her. At that moment, Ravana abducted Sita by a ruse. He took her to his island kingdom in Lanka against her wishes.
"When Rama returned, he and Lakshmana went in search of Sita. Having gained the friendship of Sugriva, Rama sent faithful Hanuman to find Sita and to deliver his message. Hanuman reached the island and arrived secretly in Ravana's palace and spoke with Sita. She remained a prisoner zealously guarded on the island, though Ravana had promised her the freedom of his palace, his city, and his island if she would share his bed. But Sita would not submit to Ravana's lust and remained faithful to Rama, her husband.
"Sita's virtue was a fire in Ravana's heart; her beauty inflamed his desire; her purity inspired his love and, though she rejected him and would not touch him, Ravana could not release this golden bird from his cage. Illusion and desire ensnared Ravana in wrong action. After Hanuman spoke with Sita and delivered Rama's message, Sita's heart swelled with the promise of rescue. Thus, Ravana, to gain his desire, became prisoner. Though Sita was outwardly imprisoned, her mind soared freely to Rama while Ravana was weighed down with the chains of illusion and karma. Had he set free the bird of desire, Ravana would be king of Lanka even today.
"Before Hanuman returned to Rama, he allowed himself to be captured. Bound in bark and hemp and beaten viciously by Ravana's guards, Hanuman was brought before the king of Lanka. Hanuman accused Ravana of impiety and threatened him unless Ravana returned Sita to her husband. The son of Vayu, standing apparently helpless before Ravana, said to the king of Lanka, 'Though I seem now within your grasp and a slave to your power, truly you are within His grasp and a slave to His maya. Dispel your ignorance. Release Sita; return her unharmed to her husband and plead for Rama's forgiveness. He will surely grant it, for He is most forgiving. If you do not release Sita and do not placate Rama, you cannot withstand His wrath, for He is vengeful with those who oppose Him.'
"Ravana was enraged and he decided to punish Hanuman for his words. Ravana's guards tied cloth soaked with oil around Hanuman's tail and set this cloth aflame. While his tail burned, Hanuman contracted his body and the bonds holding him slipped away. He threw himself into the air, escaping the guards, and with his tail he set fire to Ravana's palace. Because of his arrogance and blindness, Ravana's every wrong action rebounded upon him. His great power, a boon from God, was in truth a curse and the cause of his destruction. His abduction of Sita presaged his own death, though he was before invincible even to devas and rakshasas. His imprisonment of Sita was a prison of action from which he could not escape. By stealing Sita from Rama, he stole away his own life. By setting Hanuman's tail on fire, he burned down his own palace. By asking from God invincibility he established the means of his own destruction at the hands of men.
"Had Ravana looked with discernment, he would have foreseen this and could have saved himself. But he imagined himself master, though he had not even mastered himself! Krishna saw illusion as a springe to catch men's souls. For men like Ravana there is no liberation, no union with God. So long as their loves attach them to this world, into all worlds they drag this karma chained to their legs and bound to their backs.
"Rama himself possessed self-mastery and his actions were the very essence of dharma and did not tie him to the illusions of this world. Action traps men in samsara only if such action is selfish. Rama's actions were pure, free from the taint of desire. His actions were not sin, but themselves a form of worship. And only through his actions could men understand the meaning of dharma, the purpose of life, and the unity of God.
"Early in their exile Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita entered the Dandaka forest. The monster Viradha appeared to them and blocked their way. He was awful to behold; his eyes were black and sunken, his mouth a bloodstained gate into hell, and his bloated crooked body was covered in the skins of men and animals. He was as large as a storm cloud and his voice, like thunder, shook the ground and the trees of the forest. His eyes fell upon Sita and lust swelled his heart. He said to Rama, 'Who are you?'
"Rama was not afraid and said, 'I am the oldest son of Dasaratha. This is my brother, Lakshmana. This is my wife, Sita.'
"Viradha interrupted Rama; he took hol
d of Sita in his monstrous hand and said to Rama, 'You and your brother may go back with your lives. This one I will keep as my own.'
"At this, Lakshmana became enraged and brandished his bow. But Viradha only laughed, saying, 'I have been granted a boon by Brahma. No earthly weapon can harm me. So put away your bow and escape with your lives. This pretty one is my pet. Are your lives so worthless that you would trade them for the price of a mere woman?'
"Rama said, 'Whatever boon was granted, was granted in my name. I may rescind such a boon at my pleasure and I am not asked of my doings.' Rama and Lakshmana each fired two arrows at Viradha; they streaked across the sky like meteors. One pierced his swollen belly. Two more severed his crooked arms. The last struck off his head and Viradha fell dead where he stood. But before their eyes his corpse was transformed and a beautiful youth stood before them in Viradha's place. He knelt at Rama's feet and then at Lakshmana's and Sita's, pressing the dust upon his forehead. He said, 'Lord, I have been transformed, released from a curse. I have been living as a demon, evil in word, act and intention. You have lifted me from that curse by killing me. For whomsoever God punishes in this world, he is freed from punishment in the next. I am free of my sin by your grace and you have granted me forgiveness at the point of your arrows. Forgive me, Rama. I was blind before, but you have lifted the darkness from my eyes and washed the evil from my heart.'
"Rama held up his right hand and said to the youth, 'Go in peace to the world beyond. I have heard your pleas; I accept your repentance and rescind your debt.'
"See how Rama is the arbiter of right and wrong. See how Rama repays those who trespass against dharma, who act with selfish desire in the world. See how such wrong action rebounds upon itself and how the action of God redeems it entirely.
"When Krishna was still young his friends, stricken with thirst, drank from the Yamuna river, not realizing that Kaliya, the black snake with more than a hundred heads, had taken refuge there and had poisoned the waters. As the poison entered their blood, they died beside the river. Krishna, who was with them, restored them to life, but determined to purify the river and to banish Kaliya who had contaminated it. Krishna climbed a tree over the flowing waters of the Yamuna, and then dove without fear into the river, as if in sport. The disturbance in the water awoke Kaliya. The serpent opened an eye and saw a boy playing in the water above. Kaliya vomited poison in great quantities, enough to kill a thousand men. But Krishna continued to splash in the water, and Kaliya decided to be done with him. He rose up and wrapped Krishna in his black coils and pulled Krishna down into the river's depths.
"His friends, the gopis and the gopas, stood along the banks, watching with horror. Some were silent, incapable of imagining that Krishna could die. Others wept openly. Few had faith that Krishna could survive Kaliya's attack. Even Krishna's mother feared for her son. She prepared to enter the water, but Krishna's friends held her back, for in those waters she would surely die. They said, 'He has drowned. Kaliya has drowned him!' Others said, 'No, Kaliya has poisoned him!' Yet others said, 'Kaliya has bitten him!' When Balarama, Krishna's devoted brother, heard these words, he laughed. He called out to Krishna, 'Stop your playing, brother. The people are afraid. Dispel their fear.'
"Hearing this, Krishna expanded his body and broke free of Kaliya's grasp. Climbing out of the waters upon Kaliya's back, Krishna began to dance upon the snake's many heads. Again and again he pressed down upon Kaliya, and the snake became unconscious.
"Kaliya floated as if dead upon the water, blood pouring from his mouths. From the poisoned river, Kaliya's wives appeared. Though disheveled and in distress for their husband's sake, they made obeisance to Krishna. They placed their children between themselves and Krishna and, weeping, said to him, 'O Lord, your punishment of our husband is dictated by his karma. For what he has done, he deserves terrible punishment. But that you yourself punish him is a blessing, a soothing balm, and a gracious gift. Remember yourself as Rama. In hiding you struck down Vali with your arrow. He lay mortally wounded and you revealed yourself to Vali, saying to him, 'Will you cling to this earth, or go to the heavens of your merit? Choose.' Vali said, 'I want nothing more of this earth. By your arrow's grace, I give up worldly things. Their grip upon me fails. Let me go, yet not even to the heavens of merit, but to the nirvana of grace. Rama, accept me.' O Krishna, you were merciful then and granted Vali his wish, though he had wronged himself and doubted you. So too has our husband wronged himself and like Vali, he struggles against your decree and committed himself to adharma. But we believe and obey you. Grant to us our husband's life, not according to his sin nor according to our merits and pleas, but because your grace is greater than any worldly merit and your punishment washes away the stain of even darkest sins.'
"Krishna said, 'Ladies, few have understood punishment or forgiveness. Yet you understand. Few have known the meaning of my grace or my mercy. Yet you are enlightened. But I seek Kaliya's enlightenment. Understand this to understand the meaning of knowledge.'
"Kaliya at last regained his senses. He looked upon his wives and children, then upon Krishna who stood before him. At once he understood. Krishna said to him, 'Your wives have interceded for you; they have petitioned me to let you live. Do you accept their intercession?'
"Kaliya said, 'Krishna, I did not recognize you. I thought you were a harmless boy. Yet now I see that you are the hinge upon which all things turn. Your punishment is Hell, but in your presence I have found a way to Heaven.' Kaliya made obeisance and said, 'Though my wives have interceded, their intercession cannot save me. If you allow me to live, then I might imagine that they have saved me. Yet salvation can come only from you. Therefore I reject their intercession on my behalf and seek your forgiveness; if you do not grant it, then I accept your punishment to attain that forgiveness, to wash away this sin.'
"Krishna said, 'My presence in the water has purified the waters. My punishment of you has purified you. But this was not enough. Now you have renounced your nature, and this is your path to me. Leave this river at once and do not trouble men again. Go into the ocean with your wives and children.' Kaliya and his wives and children then worshipped Krishna, and Krishna blessed them. When the snake descended again into the water with his family and swam away toward the sea, the people were overjoyed. Krishna said to them, 'Only Balarama understood my nature; only the serpent's wives understood the meaning of punishment; only Kaliya understood the meaning of renunciation. Yet you are the ones rewarded with the purification of these waters and the companionship of God. Perhaps now you will understand the meaning of my grace.' Only through the illusion of maya, the workings of karma revealed these truths.
"After Ravana abducted Sita, Rama and Lakshmana were attacked by the demon Kabandha. This demon possessed enormous arms that could reach into the three worlds and with these arms he took whatever he pleased. This was a tremendous power, and Kabandha abused this power often. He stole what did not belong to him. He grasped men and animals, taking them into his mouth to sate his unyielding appetite. And he wrecked the sacrifices and austerities performed by others. Kabandha took hold of Rama and Lakshmana and told them, 'I am hungry for your flesh. If you have erred or are angry, make peace with the world; the guilty upset my appetite.'
"Rama and Lakshmana, however, were no easy prey. With their swords, they hacked off Kabandha's arms at his shoulders. The demon howled while blood poured copiously from his mutilated body, drenching the earth. Kabandha said, 'Only God could overcome me with such ease. Listen to me for a moment, O best of men. Once I was as beautiful as Lakshmi, your wife, and as strong as Indra, your servant. But because I was proud and foolish I sometimes shed my handsome form and took on this loathsome aspect. With my grotesque arms, I harassed the world until one day I angered a sage who cursed me to remain in this form, unable to transform into my original self. At first, I thought nothing of the curse, for this body allowed me to act always as I pleased and no one could stop me. But at last I grew weary of this body and even of my o
wn behavior. I had indulged my many appetites for so long, I could no longer control them; they mastered me and I became their slave. But I took solace in the sage's curse, for he had promised that I would be released from this punishment when Rama appeared and hacked off my arms and immolated my broken body. I ask then, Lord Rama, that you destroy me entirely. Build a pyre for me and cast me into the fire. To die at your hands is my sincerest wish.'
"Rama and Lakshmana fulfilled Kabandha's request and Kabandha took on his previous form and ascended into heaven. Rama's seeming punishment was, in truth, the sweetest blessing.
"In their times Krishna and Rama possessed the power, which is the grace of God, to rescind the debts of selfish action. Likewise, their own actions, though selfish or senseless to outward seeming, were in perfect agreement with God's will. Neither Rama nor Krishna sought reward, though rewards abound to the one who upholds dharma.
"With this, now you might understand what Rama meant when he arrived in Lanka and called Ravana out to fight, 'I have come to punish you, to put you to death. Show me the courage for which you are famous. I have heard rumors of it, but all I know of it is that you deceived me and carried off my wife to satisfy your lusts. Come out, warrior. My arrows will purify you. With the blows of my arms and with the edge of my sword I will make your blood holy that you may perform your final ablutions in it. Do not be afraid. Death at my hands is inevitable for all creatures for I have already defeated all these warriors.' Ravana trembled but answered, 'My life is not yet in your hands.' But Rama said, 'From the moment you were born, your life has belonged to me. But you have chosen how I will take it. When you abducted my unwilling wife, you decided. Already I have devoured your life, Ravana, and the lives of all men. Some I have punished, others I have forgiven, still others I have blessed. Come out, king of Lanka, and face me. If I am Brahma and Vishnu, I am also Shiva and I deprive the world of life.'
"With the tip of his arrow, Rama set the world aright. He pursued right action and was untroubled by illusion. Rama saw all of this according to dharma and was himself at peace, even as Kaikeyi rejected him and sent him into the wilderness. Rama obeyed and never spoke harshly to her, never faulted her or humiliated her and forgave her readily when she sought his forgiveness. See, Aurangzeb, in the examples of Viradha and Kabandha how Rama acted and in the example of Kaliya how Krishna acted. They sought nothing from the fruit of their actions, except to maintain dharma. Because Kaliya understood who Krishna was he sought Krishna's forgiveness. Because Viradha and Kabandha understood who Rama was, they died seeking his blessing, even as they died at his hands. At first, Vali could not understand, but when understanding swept over him, he likewise blessed Rama, though Rama's actions, to others, seemed shameful. Vali realized that Rama's actions were the road to moksha. Surpanakha, however, found no relief. Though her mutilation revealed her, she still saw nothing of her true self and lived on in willing blindness. Likewise Ravana was proud and arrogant even as he confronted Rama's power. Ravana thought he could overcome dharma and thus he died again and again even to this day. Through this, you might understand the meaning of samsara."
The boy paused. Aurangzeb remained quiet; even his soldiers did not stir. Lifting his head a little, the boy said, "Men allow themselves to continue on this road that does not end but circles upon itself. For these, there is nothing but the wheel of samsara. The world of appearance is a burden upon their backs. Feel it. Samsara is your home. Even now the illusion weighs you down; it exhausts you; your eyes grow weary of the world and the world is weary of you."
Aurangzeb leaned forward a little in his seat, pressing a yellow pillow beneath his right hand. "Tell me, then, how may a man be delivered from this illusion?"
The boy said, "Moksha is liberation from both maya and karma by breaking the wheel of samsara and entering into the Nirvana of Brahman, which is eternal union with God.
"To break the wheel of samsara is to escape forever. It is not enough simply to ignore the illusion. To break the wheel of samsara, you must be rid of all attachments. These attachments are twofold: attachment to things of this world and attachment to ourselves. There is the illusion of the world around us; there is the illusion of ourselves. Those who seclude themselves from the first, who shut the doors of perception against the lure of appearance, who by disappearance imagine themselves free of all attachment, have not broken the wheel. They are like frightened children who think that by closing their eyes the world outside has vanished. Even if the world holds no more temptation for them and they are safe from its lures, still they have clung to the illusion of themselves and cannot achieve that realization of the atman.
"The one who is fixed on worldly things, transient pain and pleasure, ephemeral love and hatred, bonds of friendship, tribe and family, has built his house with walls of sand.
"The two paths of liberation are holy work, which is work done for the sake of God, and renunciation, which is work done without desire. Yet he cannot find liberation if, in renunciation, he does no work for the sake of God. And he cannot find liberation if, in holy work, he does not renounce his desire for reward. The world may die to us, but until we die to ourselves, we are not free from samsara."
Aurangzeb was puzzled and said, "What you are saying, I am lost in it. I cannot keep my head above the waters of these words, nor can I fathom their depths."
The boy said, "To teach you, you must submit, as Moses submitted to Khidr. You must put aside your expectations of truth to learn Truth.
"The wheel is broken by finding the atman, which is the divine spark with you, by acknowledging the unity of God and of His messengers, and by following the teachings of the messengers of God, which is the highest dharma.
"Krishna taught that one may achieve the atman through great effort, but not without God's grace. During the lives of Rama, and Krishna, and the Buddha, God's grace was effulgent and fell everywhere upon the Earth at all times.
"Realization of the atman is independent of all human learning and achievement. No teaching can grant it, no ritual can summon it, no faith can demand it. Yet seek it anyway, through teaching and ritual and faith. This way you may purify your heart, subdue your mind and perhaps, by His grace, He will reveal the atman to you. Selfish wickedness can be subdued by meditating upon the names, lives, and teachings of the messengers of God. This is the road you must take. If you are upon this road at the end He may lift the fog of maya and show you the door to His mansion.
"Detachment is not the throwing away of wealth, but mindfulness of God above all things. So long as you cling to the things of this world, you are deprived.
"When you think of reincarnation, consider the three paths you may take. You may cling to the baubles and trinkets of this world, and you remain bound to the world. You may cling to your pride, your arrogance, and your expectations, and you remain bound to the world. Or you may cling to the coat of the messengers of God and achieve that higher world. Yet know that, in the end, we all return to Him.
"What then is the atman? What use has the lantern without the flame within it? What use has the eye without the mind to perceive? What use has the mind without the atman to find and the soul to tend?
"In every man is the sign of Him, which is the spark of the divine, just as in every lighted lamp is a flame. If the lamp is unlit, what use does it have? You may take a thousand steps or take but one toward the atman. If He smiles upon you, you may discover it. If you have taken a thousand steps, His grace is the thousand and first and you will have reached it. If you have taken a single step, His grace is the second and you will have reached it. It is worth immeasurably more than a thousand steps. Thus the thousand steps and the single step are rewarded more than a thousandfold times by His grace.
"Look upon living men and see how they are weighted down with the burdens of life. They are dead. Look upon men who have achieved the atman, who are dead to themselves. They are the only ones living. See that samsara is, in truth, the perpetuity of death, not life. See that nirvana is
, in truth, the fullness of life, not the emptiness of death.
"Turn then to Rama and Krishna and the Buddha to achieve the fullness of life, even as you die to yourself. Through God alone is this possible. In their days, Rama, Krishna, and the Buddha were the doorways to His presence. Only by passing through them was it possible to acquire knowledge and wisdom that is not mere wind and vanity.
"The road to life is to die to yourself. To die to yourself is to be detached from all things except God. The gopis, in Krishna's presence, forgot all things, their husbands, their children, their parents, their duties and they were alive only by nearness to Him and were dead only in separation from Him. Consider yourself whether you are alive or dead. So long as you cling to this world, you are deprived of the life of the spirit and even as you walk the Earth you are accounted dead. Smash the chains you have made that tie you to the things of the world and you will ascend alive, while those you leave behind, who bury your body, are the dead. Break the wheel of samsara. Your life will not end; only then can your life be said truly to begin.
"Samsara is the transient world. It is a prison, even if gilded, even if the prisoner is distracted with pleasure and baubles. A man is sensible who seeks to escape the wheel of samsara if his life is difficult, if he is starving, cold, and without friends. Yet he does not hope to escape samsara; he seeks instead food and warmth and pleasing companionship. If he gains these things, he is fortunate, but he is not free. Reflect upon this, O king of the age.
"All things come from God and to God all things revert. From this there is no escape. At that moment, you will arrive at the mirror of the Absolute and you will be revealed to yourself completely. Your mystery is complex, difficult to perceive as a diamond is difficult to pierce. Then consider how difficult it is to fathom His mystery. Your wisdom is not found by unraveling the mystery of Him, but in recognition that you are incapable of unraveling it. Your knowledge is achieved not by learning the arts and sciences current among men, but through His servants who will lead you to the atman, to moksha, to liberation and union with God."
