When a child is young, we protect them from outside influences. The child is vulnerable. Our brain also protects us from outside dangers, just as we protect children. It creates a firewall of beliefs and fears that prevents us from getting into a dangerous area. When we see a dark, lonely street, we naturally avoid that street. When we see a few people ganging up and engaging in unnatural activities, we maintain our distance. We learn to notice red flags in relationships and avoid them. That is how we try to sail through this ocean of life.
These red flags, precautions, prevention measures, and beliefs help us in worldly matters. However, when a person undertakes the spiritual journey into the world of the unknown, none of these seems to work. There comes the real test. In the world of the unknown, influences will come from both the higher and lower worlds. Sometimes Ravan will come in the form of a Saadhu. Sometimes, God will come in the disguise of a normal human being. How do we recognise?
When Mata Sita was in the forest with Ram and Lakshmana, Ravan conspired to kidnap her. The first fault of Sita was to be tempted by the golden deer and to send Rama to chase it and get it for her. I think that's the first mistake most spiritual seekers commit. Chasing the golden deer. What is this golden deer? This golden deer represents an old ambition that now takes a golden form to tempt the spiritual seeker. Some deep desire to get recognition, be powerful, or make a large-scale impact. The old ambition has ego at its centre. The ego that wants to become larger than life. It takes a golden form post spiritual journey. When we choose such targets, we send Ram to chase the golden deer, thereby making ourselves vulnerable.
The second mistake Sita made was sending Lakshmana to find Rama. Once our consciousness starts chasing the golden deer, we feel vulnerable from the inside. It is because we have now become devoid of the awareness that can guide and protect us. In that state of inner hollowness, we become desperate to regain that awareness. We try different techniques, methods, and practices to gain that awareness. We fail to realise that we have focused our attention on the search for the golden deer, and therefore, whatever methods and techniques we try, it will be almost impossible to regain that awareness until we let go of the greed for that golden deer.
The third mistake Sita made was crossing the Lakshmana Rekha. When we let go of the awareness of chasing the golden deer and deploy the intelligence and knowledge to search for that awareness, we are left with no option but self-restraint. If we lose self-restraint in this stage, that's going to be fatal. That's exactly what happened to Sita. That's why the message from the story is so relevant. Awareness and attention are the keys. So long as we are in the company of Ram and Laksmana, we are safe and free to explore the beauty of the forest. Attention should not be wasted on the golden deer, and intelligence need not be wasted in pursuit of different methods and techniques. Then there is no need for Lakshmana Rekha. When Dropadi is being insulted by Dushasana by trying to take her saree off, and neither her husbands nor Bhishma, Dhritarashtra, Vidura, nor the elders present there are able to help her, she remembers Krishna. With her complete attention on Krishna, Krishna increased the length of her saree so much that Dushasana got tired.
This seems quite symbolic because if Krishna were supposed to help directly, he would have intervened rather than doing something as dramatic as lengthening her saree. I feel that it symbolises our shift of complete attention to God, and that He broadens our perspective. Draupadi would have been insulted, and post-insult, she would have developed personal animosity against the Kauravas. However, Krishna broadened her perspective and made her realise that it was not her personal battle but a battle of Dharma, which is why Draupadi played such an important role in the Mahabharata by always making very sharp comments about her husbands. Otherwise, how will the Pandavas, who accepted her insult without doing anything, fight the battle of Kurukshetra against their own elders and such a mighty army? That's how awareness and complete attention to the truth help us find life's purpose.
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