“How can a
wife who has lived with another man be true to her husband?” whispered the
fisherman about Sita when she returned. Doubts are like the swarming pests upon
a plant. If allowed to thrive, they cluster, unite and kill it, no matter how
strong the plant is. Upon Sita was laid one such indictment, which if was not resolved,
would have made Ramayana end with uncertainty and probably, ignominy. The
episode of Rama’s greatness has always overshadowed the resilience, forbearance
and strength of Sita. While Rama gained greater fanfare in his attempt to save
Sita, she sat in Lanka as the prime reason behind all of Rama’s glorious
chapters of fighting evil and restoring dharma.
Once again
the all-suffering Sita was dragged to the fore and was used by destiny to prove
a point, then by the king, Ravana and now by a fisherman. Rama, even today, for
many, has to justify why He, who is worshipped as God, watched silently, as if
in approval, Sita’s heart-wrenching test of fidelity. Didn’t Hanuman once
inform Rama that when he saw Sita at Lanka, he could only find the body there,
empty of soul? That the constant thought of Rama had Sita’s soul detached from
the body? But He had a reason and we shall see what the reason was.
Besides, if you
accept the adoration as God, you will have to prove yourself to be one. If your
worth is high, so are the stakes especially if you are sitting on jewels. The
higher the organism, stiffer are the challenges. Therefore, people were and are
right in questioning his humaneness in abandoning Sita. While many
ponder over Rama’s righteousness, Rama and Sita have already succeeded in
fulfilling the purpose of their advent, that is, to be worshipped by humans as
the ideal of God head. Imperceptibly, they accomplished the great feat of
restoring in human beings, faith in God and in being symbols of the ultimate
female principle-prakriti and the ultimate male principle-purusha. They assured
beings of liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
How did
they manage to do this in spite of all the jarring episodes?
While we
answer that, a little bit about Rama. Rama knew quite well that he was born to
re-establish religion and that he would be followed by thousands; and his path would
be trodden by millions in the future.
Otherwise, how could a person take so much honor, exude so much charisma
upon his people and stand like a spear against any impending calamity as the
savior of the world; drinking quite lustily with serene eyes into that
privilege? No man but he who is commissioned by God can take that position and
emerge victorious. An ordinary man would be reduced to ashes in that very flame
of fame.
Now coming
back to the question; we will try to build up the answer. The foundations of
society are intact when men and women are chaste, when men develop the moral
strength to remain chaste and women, to safe guard their purity. Rama on his
part did stand tall against all such allurements, biting the snares of passion
from all women, preserving all his blushes for his Sita. It was quite
understandable that women, good and evil, wanted to possess this
personification of all beauty and strength. Sita too had to live by that great
demand but she didn’t have to prove that to Rama. Her Lord knew her best. But He knew
those insidious, howling cries of doubt, born of sense weakness, would rent the air sometime.
Did Rama, for all his love for and trust in Sita, have to bother? He did,
because Sita and he were born to be the guiding lights for humanity. The impersonal Rama allowed the Agni-Pariksha for the good of the world. It
seems He already knew the nature of weak minds and the resistance they
would put up against the need for purity. Weak humans will always find a
way out to belittle the need for purity.
We just
can’t imagine a Ramayana without a solution being arrived to this problem. At the same time, the solution to this
problem was not as simple as Rama standing by Sita and proclaiming his faith in
her. Rama did realize and so did Sita that, such accusations at their very first
pronouncement would threaten to be an eternal stigma on their great lives since
there would be no way to prove it otherwise. How can it be proved that she was pure?
Can one imagine the kind of agony Rama must have gone through when such an
accusation was hurled at his beloved Sita for whom he braved death and all? The
same shock what his father had felt when he was about to leave Ayodhya revisited
Rama when he realized the impossibility, through all logic, of setting this
lethal claim square. A boulder being dropped on a supine Rama’s chest would
have been less painful.
But they
had to square off and defend themselves because they came to set ideals for the
ever erring animal creatures to enable them to attain God head. I feel, Rama
knew quite well that such claims would be made in the future and if not sorted out now, centuries later, the
same empathizers of Sita, would have with the same tongue asked, “was Sita
really pure?”, just like how even after the Agni-pariksha doubts were raised. The barrel of a gun, the arrow of suspicion, is always waiting to
be shot. The difference is only in the direction it is held. Besides, the doubt
if not doused then, the rumor if not demolished, would have gradually become a
reality. We know the law that when rumors such as this are not invalidated,
they become a fact.
That fisher
man was us, our minds, the faithless, the doubting, the weak, us! Through
continuum of assertions, the wicked, intelligent minds would have made it an
established fact that Sita was impure and was thus not worthy as a symbol of
purity and chastity. They would have said, “Sita lost her purity and the king
Rama held his head down in remorse”. The
disease of doubt is innate and only fire can burn it. The fire of knowledge is called
‘aparoksha anubhuti’, direct experience. Sita entered into such a fire to prove
the purity of Her life and the doubt died for ever clearing the air of impurity.
The fisher man's claim was rendered useless with regards to raising doubts about Sita's purity. Through Mother Sita, purity and truth once more claimed victory as not just the
highest prerequisites for liberation but for righteous life as well. Truth and
purity cannot be burnt by fire. The same minds which questioned Rama’s prudence
would have questioned Sita’s character had the Agni- pariksha not been taken.
On Rama’s part, I guess, Rama thought it was better for him to face
ignominy for allowing this act than to allow the very pure Sita to be tainted
with this calumny for life. This act had immortalized Sita. She became greater
than Rama. The act also ensured that any such claims like that made by
the fisherman would be nipped in the bud. We want to write a eulogy to
this great Mother and thank her for her
life. But it was best done by her son, Swami Vivekananda, who in deepest
emotion born of meditation on her, burst out saying, “Sita is unique; that
character was depicted once and for all. There may have been several Ramas,
perhaps, but never more than one Sita! She is the very type of the true Indian
woman, for all the Indian ideals of a perfected woman have grown out of that
one life of Sita; and here she stands these thousands of years, commanding the
worship of every man, woman, and child throughout the length and breadth of the
land of Aryavarta. There she will always be, this glorious. Sita, purer than
purity itself, all patience, and all suffering. She who suffered that life of
suffering without a murmur, she the ever - chaste and ever - pure wife, she the
ideal of the people, the ideal of the gods, the great Sita, our national God
she must always remain. And every one of us knows her too well to require much
delineation. All our mythology may vanish, even our Vedas may depart, and our
Sanskrit language may vanish for ever, but so long as there will be five Hindus
living here, even if only speaking the most vulgar patois, there will be the
story of Sita present. Mark my words: Sita has gone into the very vitals of our
race. She is there in the blood of every Hindu man and woman; we are all
children of Sita.”
