Rama as archetype for a global civilization

Rama as archetype for a global civilization

Every civilisation needs a meta hero, one who embodies all virtues as the beacon light for realising the potential of the human spirit. This requires two key elements in the meta hero  – that he be very human who goes through intense suffering, a fundamental truth of creation and therefore relatable to everyone, and that he transcends that suffering through grace and courage and radiates the divine.

This archetypal meta hero is at the foundation of any civilisation to aspire and reach heights that make living sublime. For instance, the archetype for Western civilisation has been Jesus Christ who came to live a normal human existence, took great suffering upon his own body for the sake of fellow humans and transcended it by giving his own life while forgiving his oppressors, and ascended with grace.

Christ’s story has been a large part of the reason for the rise of Western civilisation. And the present degeneration in the West is also largely due to a great disconnect with this archetype in the collective consciousness of the West, caused both by the conservative orthodoxy who interpret his life and teachings of tremendous depth through a narrow prism of sectarianism and the postmodern liberals who deny all link to tradition and past due to the fog of moral relativism.

Presently, we are a global civilisation due largely to advances in science and technology. And a global civilisation needs a global meta hero. The Ramayana is a universally relatable story and Rama, a suitable global meta hero.

Sita represents the soul that is one with the divine that is Rama in the paradise of Ayodhya – a place of no yuddha, conflict. But the divine descends into the jungle of suffering that is creation, with the soul, and equipped with an intellect (Lakshmana) to discern. There the ten senses – five for perception:  sight, sound, taste, smell and touch and five for action:  speech, hold, movement, procreation and excretion – in the form of the ten-headed Ravana who embodies passionate desire. He lures the soul through the golden deer of material pleasure. And the soul succumbs due to ignoring the line of discernment drawn by the intellect. What results is imprisonment in the hellish existence at Lanka.

The soul deeply repents and pines for union as the divine sets forth to reclaim the soul back from the clutches of evil. And the key instrument of the divine in this sacred journey is the monkey mind that is totally surrendered and therefore of unbelievable potential to remove all obstacles, represented by Hanuman. The hellish existence of the world that is Lanka has as its reigning quality rajas, passionate desire, but also two other brothers, tamas, sloth, as Kumbakarna which aids desire reluctantly and sattva, goodness as Vibhishana which gives up desire to become another instrument of the divine.

Once Hanuman sets fire to Lanka, that is, the totally surrendered mind burns desire, the final battle is only a formality and hence the supremacy of Sundar Kandam. And the coronation of Rama with Sita back in Ayodhya is the ascent of the soul to the throne of the divine.

What we also see is the perfect embodiment of the healthy masculine integrated with a secure feminine in the character of Rama. Rama faces adversity with courage, is always ready to help others, shoulders responsibility with seriousness and tries to avoid confrontations, but never shies away from duty when necessary.