Rama understands the reality of the world and develops Vairagya. He becomes disinterested in life. Then his father Dashratha calls Vashistha and Viswamitra to have a conversation with Rama. They have a discussion with Rama and their dialogue is known as Yoga Vashistha. Rama asks a number of questions and each of the questions is very patiently answered by Vashistha and Vishwamitra. After that dialogue, Rama understands how to live life and with that understanding, he lives a life where he goes to the forest for 14 years to honor the words of his father, lives there with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, gets jnana from so many saints, helps Sugriva even when he is himself struggling to find the whereabouts of his wife who has been kidnapped by Ravana, helps Vibhishana become the king of Lanka, and kills Ravana, the most powerful on the Earth that time, on his own land without having even the chariot. That speaks so loudly about the possibilities of an enlightened life.
Siddhartha was a prince. He had a very sensitive heart and his father tried to keep him away from the problems of the world. However, as truth reveals itself, Siddhartha could notice old age, diseases, and death. He understood that the world is so painful. All the pleasures in this world are temporary and we can enjoy these temporary pleasures only if we close our eyes towards the truth. The moment, we get to see the reality, we can't remain oblivious to the fact that this world is full of pain and pain is just the other side of the pleasure. Today's pleasure will definitely result in the pain tomorrow. He made it a mission of his life to know the truth and get to know the truth (which we call enlightenment). After that he did not say goodbye to the world, rather he tried to help everybody to understand the truth so that there is less and less suffering in this world.
We have made Rama and Buddha God. We pray to them but do not follow their footsteps in our lives, It appears as if we just want to run away from the truth. We are convinced that Rama was a God and he could leave all the comforts but we are human beings, we can't. Probably that was the very reason for God to come to this earth as a human being to demonstrate that the path he followed can very well be followed by all human beings. That was the reason that Buddha, even after enlightenment, came back to the world to help everybody move on that path. However, we are so fixated on the pleasures that even the thought of equanimity looks too dull to us. We have made every occasion of prayer and worship full of sensual pleasures. We want to dance to the tunes of the DJ on most occasions to pray the divinity, we have Melas where all the items to please our senses are sold, we have tasty "Prasadam" for sale in most religious places, the ashrams of babas are full of tempting bracelets and other items.
The mad unquestioned pursuit of pleasure is taking us nowhere. The more is the fixation to these pleasures, and more will be stress, anxiety, and depression in this world. Unless we realize that pleasure and pain are just two sides of the same coin, we are not moving an inch toward the spiritual direction. Was Rama sad when he lived in the forest? That must have been the most beautiful part of his life. Rama would explore the possibilities in every situation, be it in the forest, in Ayodhya, or while fighting the battle against Ravana. On the other hand, a person fixated on pleasures, would be restricted to only one possibility of seeking pleasure at home, in the office, at a shop, or in the hospital. His mind is fixated on some sensation that he experienced some time back and categorized that as pleasure, and he wants to repeat the same experience by tasting different food, watching movies, having comforts, feeling powerful, being praised by society, company of the person he likes, and boasting his bank balance. His world is confined and keeps getting more and more confined as he grows older. On the other hand, for Rama and Buddha, each moment is a new exploration. I really do not know how we human beings can be stupid to waste the precious gift of God on seeking the same repeated sensations. Why don't we explore the wide range of explorations in this world which is full of possibilities?
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