Sri Sathya Sai On: Lessons from the Life of Shri Rama – Part 3

… Continued from Part 2

There are some who say that Rama shows man how to suffer! Well, if a king arranges a play in the palace and takes delight in enacting the role of a beggar, and acts it very realistically, do you therefore declare that he is suffering the miseries of beggary? Rama is Ananda (Bliss). Ananda is Rama. If it is not sweet, how can it be sugar? If Rama is suffering, He cannot be Rama. A ball of iron cannot burn the skin; but, make it red-hot; it does. That is but an assumed role. When the heat subsides it is as cool as ever. 

- “True Nature of Rama”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 3,

April 1, 1963, Rajahmundry

Rama is described as tenderer than the petal of a rose, but, at the same time, harder than diamond. He pined for Sita with extreme tenderness; He sent her to the forest as an exile, with a hardness of heart that shocked even Lakshmana. The nature of every Avatar is such.

- “Discover and Decide”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 5,

October 1, 1965, Prasanthi Nilayam

Karuna and Prema (love) make up, between them, the composite picture of the glory of Rama. That picture fulfills the heart’s dearest yearning for every Indian. To attain it is the aim of every spiritual striving.

- “Rama – Prince and Principle”, 
Ramakatha Rasavahini, Part 1

The day we install in our hearts the path laid down by Rama is the real birthday of Rama. Celebrating of holy days should not mean having a good feast on those days. We should seek to make the teachings, of the Avatars concerned, a part of our lives. We should follow the path laid down by them. Only then, celebration has any meaning. Our lives also get sanctified. All studies, recitations and listening to discourses are of no value if practice does not follow precept. 

- “The Rama Path”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 21,

March 26, 1988, Brindavan

The Ramayana should not be treated merely as the story of Rama. It has a life-giving message for every human being. People lead artificial lives today. When they understand the Ramayana they will know how to lead true lives. The first requisite is to know what is right. Then it has to be practised. There is no meaning in merely repeating the name, “Rama, Rama, Rama”. The Rama Principle has to be fully understood. And one has to live up to it. This is possible only if there is love. Through love, one realises the Rama Principle and is transformed into an image of Rama. All scholarship and religious observances are of no value without such a mental transformation. The mind should be Divinised. Faith in the name of the Lord is the basis for this transformation. 

- “Infinite Potency of the Rama Principle”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 29, May 20, 1996, Brindavan

The story of Rama is not the story of an individual. It is the story of the Universe! Rama is the Personification of the basic Universal in all beings. He is in all, for all time, in all space. The story deals not with a period that is past, but with the present and future without end, with beginningless eternal Time! 

- “Rama – Prince and Principle”, 
Ramakatha Rasavahini, Part 1

The Ramayana brought home to one and all this significance of Truth and Righteousness. The glorious story of Rama spread the name and fame of Bharat to all countries. In the Rama Rajya (reign of Rama) the two words, Satya and Dharma, (Truth and Righteousness) reverberated everywhere in the kingdom. Dharma prevailed everywhere and young and old, men and women, scholars and illiterates, one and all adhered to these two principles.

- “The Greatness of Rama-Rajya”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 29, May 29, 1996, Brindavan

If the inner significance of the Ramayana is properly understood, it will serve as a manual of ideal living for all mankind.

- “The Message of the Upanishads”, Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume 26, October 19, 1993, Prasanthi Nilayam

Source: Sai Vani: Avatar on Avatar Purushas, Chapter 4, Rama