Dasharatha is fighting a battle between the Asuras and Devas from the side of the Devas bravely, and his wife Kaikeyi is with him. He is fighting the battle riding on a chariot, which is moving in all ten directions—eight directions in this plane, and also the two directions of the unconscious and cosmic plane. While fighting the battle, the bolt of one of the wheels slipped out. Then, Kaikeyi uses her thumb to steady the wheel, and Dasharatha wins the battle. Pleased by this, he grants two boons to Kaikeyi, which she reserves for the future.
Our intellect, like Dasharatha, is also fighting the battle in all ten directions in three planes. Eight directions in the plane of normal consciousness, ninth in the unconscious plane and the tenth in the cosmic plane. There are so many conflicts in the domain of the conscious mind, and when we make decisions, there is often a conflict between the self-interest and the larger interest. The self-interest tells us to accumulate for the future, while the larger interest tells us to help others. We face so many conflicts between self-interest and the larger interest almost every day. Whenever there is a traffic jam, there is a conflict in the minds of almost everybody whether to break the rules and move ahead or to follow the courtesy. As we see somebody breaking the rule, this desire inside us to break the rules and move ahead intensifies because now there is an example to follow, and we feel like being cheated waiting in the queue.
There are bigger conflicts at the level of the unconscious mind. We are not even aware of many things in this domain. Self-interest tries to overpower the intellect in disguise in this domain. The asuras take many forms. The desire for name and fame comes in the disguise of charity, and the desire to control comes in the disguise of love. The desire for intellectual superiority comes in the form of spiritual pursuit, and the fears come in the form of absolute certainty about the meaning of life. It is quite difficult to fight the battle in the ninth direction. The tenth direction is the cosmic direction. When we move ahead in the spiritual world, many metaphysical concepts and imaginations take over us. They become a hindrance in our spiritual journey. We try to draw quick conclusions about reality and get trapped in those conclusions.
In the moments of these conflicts, if our emotional mind is quite strong, we get over these conflicts. That is what Kaikeyi did. She helped Dasharatha get over these conflicts, and that’s why Dasharatha granted two boons to Kaikeyi. However, when Rama was declared to be the king of Ayodhya and his coronation was declared by Dasharatha, Manthara tells Kaikeyi to ask her boons and send Rama to the forest and make her son Bharata the king of Ayodhya. That’s what Kaikeyi does. That’s what happens to our emotional mind. Some old desire lying somewhere in our Chitta comes to the surface, and that lays the founding stone of the Ramayana. The poor intellect dies as it is not able to tolerate this shock.
The relationship between Dasharatha and Kaikeyi can be so beautiful that she supports him when he is fighting such a crucial battle. The emotional mind can be very supportive to the intellect in its spiritual journey. However, the relationship may be as bad as Kaikeyi being the reason for the death of Dasharatha. What makes such a huge difference in our relationships? It is just awareness. Kaikeyi, when she is helping Dasharatha fight against the Danavas, has truth at the centre of her life, while Kaikeyi, when she sends Rama to the forest, has ignorance-driven attachment at the centre of her life. Every relationship may be as beautiful as the first one and as bad as the second one. The same persons, the same relationship and the centre of life and awareness make all the difference. We may also help our partner win his inner battle, or may cause such a huge shock to the partner. It all depends upon our level of awareness and the centre of life.
The relationship between the intellect and emotions may be wonderful when both fight the battle against Asuras with truth at the centre of their existence. Similarly, the relationship between two persons may also be equally beautiful when both of them are guided by truth and willing to challenge their own beliefs, childhood conditioning, habit patterns, desires, and attachments. However, when we lose awareness of our true selves and get blinded by some attachment, relationships become a tool for us to seek security or satiate our greed. It’s very subtle because all these manipulations take place in the unconscious mind. Manthara feeds Kaikeyi, and we start exploiting Dasharatha. Awareness is the key. Why do we want to send Rama, our inner source of awareness, to the forest? Relationships are beautiful if truth is at the centre of both partners. That’s why the relationships of Rama-Lakshmana, Rama-Hanumana, Rama-Bharata, Rama-Sita, and Rama-Vibhishana are so beautiful. While Ravana-Vibhishana, Vali-Sugriva are the ones where one has truth at the centre of his life, the other has greed. The relationships like Ravana-Meghanatha and Ravana-Kumbhkarna are relationships where both of them are driven by attachment and greed, and ignorance. We have to decide what kind of relationships we want to form in our inner and outer world.
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