Maniratnam, Raavanan and Ramayana
Last week the movie Ravanan got released in multiple languages – Hindi, tamil, telugu. Its a ManiRatnam magnum opus scripted around the character of Ravana – the ten headed villain in Hindu epic Ramayana. Its about exploring the ten different characters in the same person and how they interact, conflict each other. Is it like a multiple personality disorder? I don’t know – haven’t seen the movie. There is a recent spate of movies based on our holy epics. If Rajneeti by Prakash Jha was a take on Mahabharatha, Mani’s version is inspired by Ramayana. In fact this is a first take on Ramayan being used as base for modern day story telling. Mani has to be credited for his creativity and for going in the direction of unexplored waters. What are these epics? Are they just stories, fables or reality? What makes them holy?
Is it ok to transform the theme to a modern day setting? This article is to explore these questions from a spiritual standpoint
There are many people who relish enhanced bliss everytime they go thru the Ramayan. Infact each incident reheard and retold put the devotees of Lord Rama into pools of ecstasy. How come this literature violates the law of marginal utility? In contrast 3 idiots can be seen and relished may be 3 0r 4 or 5 times but later one will be stressed out and go mad. Or take the Chetan Bhagat novel ‘5 point something’. How many times can one profess to relish rereading it? But i know of dedicated spiritualists who can get consumed in Krishna caritra or Ramayana for days together forgetting the basic necessities of the body. We need to explore the differences between these holy epics and the worldly mundane literatures. Holy epics are the recordings of the heroic activities of the Supreme being when he enters into creation every millennium. Why he comes and when he comes is described in detail in the Gita. His arrival and stay in this temporary world is for the welfare and benefit of all the living beings not only of the generation which lived during that time but also for the succeeding generations. Why is this? Because according to Srimad Bhagavatham, the foremost of the vedic literature – Hearing, remembering, reciting the glorious activities of the supreme being is very auspicious. It has the potency to elevate our consciousness from the mode of tamas to Sattva and beyond. Just by giving aural reception to the wonderful activities of the supreme being, we can elevate our consciousness. However there has to be faith on the part of the listener and the speaker should be of pure intention who recites out of love. As we progress to sattva, the differentiation between body the matter and spirit becomes very clear and one starts his journey towards eternity.
One can never tire speaking about the object of ones love. Just put your ear into a conversation between 2 mothers. It will all be about the glorification of trivial activities of their sons/daughters. Such is the nature of love. Love for the origin is a very rooted feeling. We all have gratitude for our parents which is very natural due to the fact that the bodies have come from them. The origin of the soul is the supreme being and hence our most primal bond is with him. This primal bond with our creator is forgotten and archived for time immemorial. Due to some fortune when we come across a lover of the supreme person (a yogi) and get faith in associating with him, this dormant love for our creator is retriggered. The narrations of the activities of the supreme being recorded in Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Srimad Bhagavatham, heard from the lotus mouth of the lovers of godhead changes the course of our lives and we start going to the stage of ‘never tiring’ to hear the messages of vasudeva. A taste for the narrations of the supreme being develops in us and that is the symptom of spiritual love.
The modern day film makers, story tellers unfortunately convert these immensely auspicious spiritual literatures into a mundane topic with relationship between man-woman being the central theme. As long we are absorbed in the relationship based on man-woman attraction and glorify it, our journey to eternity never commences. The central crux is the relationship between living being and supreme being. This is timeless reality whereas all other bodily relationship end with time and drag us towards lower modes. Ramayana explores the relationship between Rama-Sita, Rama-Hanuman, Rama-Sugriva, Rama-Bharatha and a faithful reader is able to taste this love while reading the narration. They revel in the heroic victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. Instead of casting these beautiful narrations into the modern setting, film makers should take shelter of the Guru parampara and make movies without diluting the original and glorify using modern technology. Then instead of dragging people into lower modes, they will be doing yeoman service to humanity by elevating the soul.
Is it ok to transform the theme to a modern day setting? This article is to explore these questions from a spiritual standpoint
There are many people who relish enhanced bliss everytime they go thru the Ramayan. Infact each incident reheard and retold put the devotees of Lord Rama into pools of ecstasy. How come this literature violates the law of marginal utility? In contrast 3 idiots can be seen and relished may be 3 0r 4 or 5 times but later one will be stressed out and go mad. Or take the Chetan Bhagat novel ‘5 point something’. How many times can one profess to relish rereading it? But i know of dedicated spiritualists who can get consumed in Krishna caritra or Ramayana for days together forgetting the basic necessities of the body. We need to explore the differences between these holy epics and the worldly mundane literatures. Holy epics are the recordings of the heroic activities of the Supreme being when he enters into creation every millennium. Why he comes and when he comes is described in detail in the Gita. His arrival and stay in this temporary world is for the welfare and benefit of all the living beings not only of the generation which lived during that time but also for the succeeding generations. Why is this? Because according to Srimad Bhagavatham, the foremost of the vedic literature – Hearing, remembering, reciting the glorious activities of the supreme being is very auspicious. It has the potency to elevate our consciousness from the mode of tamas to Sattva and beyond. Just by giving aural reception to the wonderful activities of the supreme being, we can elevate our consciousness. However there has to be faith on the part of the listener and the speaker should be of pure intention who recites out of love. As we progress to sattva, the differentiation between body the matter and spirit becomes very clear and one starts his journey towards eternity.
One can never tire speaking about the object of ones love. Just put your ear into a conversation between 2 mothers. It will all be about the glorification of trivial activities of their sons/daughters. Such is the nature of love. Love for the origin is a very rooted feeling. We all have gratitude for our parents which is very natural due to the fact that the bodies have come from them. The origin of the soul is the supreme being and hence our most primal bond is with him. This primal bond with our creator is forgotten and archived for time immemorial. Due to some fortune when we come across a lover of the supreme person (a yogi) and get faith in associating with him, this dormant love for our creator is retriggered. The narrations of the activities of the supreme being recorded in Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Srimad Bhagavatham, heard from the lotus mouth of the lovers of godhead changes the course of our lives and we start going to the stage of ‘never tiring’ to hear the messages of vasudeva. A taste for the narrations of the supreme being develops in us and that is the symptom of spiritual love.
The modern day film makers, story tellers unfortunately convert these immensely auspicious spiritual literatures into a mundane topic with relationship between man-woman being the central theme. As long we are absorbed in the relationship based on man-woman attraction and glorify it, our journey to eternity never commences. The central crux is the relationship between living being and supreme being. This is timeless reality whereas all other bodily relationship end with time and drag us towards lower modes. Ramayana explores the relationship between Rama-Sita, Rama-Hanuman, Rama-Sugriva, Rama-Bharatha and a faithful reader is able to taste this love while reading the narration. They revel in the heroic victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. Instead of casting these beautiful narrations into the modern setting, film makers should take shelter of the Guru parampara and make movies without diluting the original and glorify using modern technology. Then instead of dragging people into lower modes, they will be doing yeoman service to humanity by elevating the soul.
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