Sri Sathya Sai Tells Us: How was the Personality of Lord Rama? What were His Qualities?


Rama wore a leaf-green gown and had a yellow cloth round His waist. He had on a golden diadem; but He walked along with His eyes on the ground, as if He was ashamed to look up. The scene melted the hearts of all who saw. No one caught Him in the act of casting His look on others. He had always the inner, not the outer, vision. Whenever anyone offered anything to Him, He did not accept it entirely. He used to break off a bit or take out just a portion, in order to please them. Or, He just touched the offering with His fingers and gave it back to the person who brought it. 
- “Rama Avatara”, Bhagavatha Vahini

Rama was supremely gentle. However harsh others might speak, He used to reply soft and sweet. Though others might do Him harm, He never remembered it against them. He only sought to be good and be of service to them. Whenever He found time He used to discuss with aged monks, revered Brahmins and learned scholars, codes of good conduct and rules of morality. He analysed the mysteries of Vedantic thought in simple words and like an ordinary enquirer posed problems before Pandits for elucidation. The sages and scholars who had mastered the science of Vedanta and philosophical enquiry were elated at the elaborations given by Rama of the knotty points He himself raised. They praised in a thousand different ways His intelligence and scholarship.
 - “Preparations for the Coronation”, Ramakatha Rasavahini, Part 1

He moved with His father-in-law and mother-in-law, not as a son-in-law, but as a son. He seldom opened His mouth to speak to His sisters-in-law or their maids. He never lifted His face and cast His eyes on them. All women older than Himself, He revered as He revered His mother, Kaushalya. He considered all who were younger than Him as His younger sisters. All of His own age, He treated as if they were His step-mothers. His very appearance cast a charm on all who saw Him. Love, beauty and virtue emanated from Him and spread to all around Him. He treated the Vanaras (monkey-tribals) with as much affection as He had towards His brothers, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna.
- “Rama Avatara”, Bhagavatha Vahini

Rama appeared as Maya-Manusha-Rupa (illusory human form); He stuck to Dharma in daily practice, even from His infancy. He is the personification of Dharma. There is no trace of Adharma (vice) in Him. His Divine Nature is revealed in Shanta Guna (calm temperament) and Karuna Rasa (feeling of love and affection); meditate on Him and you are filled with Prema for all beings; dwell on His story and you find all the agitations of your minds quietening in perfect calm. When Thataki, the female demon, had to be killed, He argued, hesitated and desisted, until Sage Vishwamitra convinced Him that she had to be liberated from a curse by His own arrow. That is a sign of His Karuna Rasa. 
- “True Nature of Rama”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 03,
April 01, 1963, Rajahmundry

In the Ramayana, Rama is depicted as one who, like other ordinary human beings, experienced the pangs of separation from Sita. For what reason did Rama exhibit such feelings? Rama behaved in this manner to serve as an example to the common people how individuals should behave in similar circumstances. 
- “Ideals of the Rama Avatar”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 24, March 24, 1991, Prasanthi Nilayam

Rama had full control of his senses and maintained perfect equipoise in all circumstances, whether in joy or grief. When He had to leave for the forest at the very moment that had been fixed for His coronation, He left for the forest with serene equanimity. He was unaffected by gains or losses, pleasure or pain. 
- “Love the Motherland: Serve the World”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 25, May 21, 1992, Brindavan

It is often said that Rama followed Dharma at all times. This is not the correct way of describing Him. He did not follow Dharma; He was Dharma. What He thought, spoke and did was Dharma, is Dharma forever.
- “The Rama Story is Ours”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 19,
April 18, 1986, Prasanthi Nilayam

No ant can bite, without Rama’s Will! No leaf can drop from its branch, without Rama’s prompting! Sky, wind, fire, water and earth – the Five Elements that compose the Universe – behave as they do for fear of Him, and in tune with His Orders! Rama is the Principle which attracts – and endears through that attraction – the disparate elements in Nature. The attraction that one exerts over another is what makes the Universe exist and function. That is the Rama principle, without which the cosmos will become chaos. Hence, the axiom: “If there is no Rama, there will be no Panorama (Universe)”. 
- “Rama – Prince and Principle”, Ramakatha Rasavahini, Part 1



In the sacred epic of Ramayana many profound secrets and truths are embedded. But Rama did not impart these secrets to anyone at any time. What is the reason? A ripe fruit is bound to fall. Rama felt that people will realise the truth spontaneously when their hearts ripen in due course. Because Rama faced all the ordeals, troubles and difficulties of life with great fortitude, He was hailed as Ramachandramurti. Rama taught the world how to remain unruffled in the presence of difficulties or joys, in pain or pleasure. He responded with a smile to any criticism. He did not exult over praise. Thus He displayed total equanimity in weal or woe, success or defeat, gain or loss. This is the attitude which everyone should cultivate.
- “The Perennial Message of the Rama Story”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 30, April 16, 1997, Brindavan

In the story of Rama, especially in His younger days, the manner in which He used to respect the elders, the manner in which He used to show affection and obedience to His mothers, and the manner in which He treated others around Him must be taken as an important lesson and as an example to all of us. These are things which young students should know very well. In Rama, we see a great amount of humility. There were many Rishis in the forest, and Rama used to go and pay respects to them, but the Rishis were all the time proclaiming, apparently only as a facade for the world, that they were very wise people, and that Rama was only the son of a king. The truth is that behind this facade, in their minds, they had the greatest devotion and respect for the Divinity in Rama. It is not as if there was no good reason for these Rishis to refrain from proclaiming the powers and the strength and the Divinity of Rama. The Rakshasas of those days exceeded all limits of decent human behaviour. They were terrorising people; and the Rishis thought that if they proclaimed the Divinity in Rama immediately, the destruction of the Rakshasas, which was to take place at the hands of Rama, would not take place. It is in this context that throughout the story of the entire Ramayana, from the time of the birth of Rama till the time when Ravana was destroyed, Valmiki was describing Rama only as an ideal human form. 
-  “God is beyond Description through Words”, 
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1977, Brindavan

Source: Sai Vani: Avatar on Avatar Purushas

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