Ravana Murthi

[ShivaFan]

Namaste

... ever see a Ravana MURTHI before?

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3103/3213849933_52bf5412fe_z.jpg

Actually, Ravana was bad, very bad, but perhaps not as bad as everyone thinks.

Om Namah Sivaya

[Viraja]

No! Ravana is indeed very bad. With his ten heads, he had formerly molested a lot of women one of them being Vedavathi, the previous avatara of Sita which makes her enter the funeral pyre and she takes the oath, "I will be the reason for Ravana's death in my next life!". Due to this, Ravana is cursed that if he attempts to molest any more women, his 10th heads would burst and that is why he doesn't molest Sita. Nevertheless, he gives her death-inflicting suffering through his Rakshasis and direct threats (Sundaragandam). Sri Rama yet gracefully pardons him giving him a chance for life at the war, saying, "Go today and come back tomorrow" yet Ravana doesn't subdue to Rama and that is why Sri Rama kills him.

[wundermonk]

Ravana is quite an enigmatic figure...

He is believed to have sung extempore the Shiv Tandav Stotram (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McrjgeI-PtI). Meaning here (http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_sa/shivTAND_meaning_sa.html).

:)

[vikz22]

taken the murthi, as a murthi, its an absolutely beautiful piece of craftsmanship!!!

[philosoraptor]

If you were an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Deity with some time on His hands, and you wanted to come down and have some sport by killing a rAkshasa, would you pick a fight with a regular, human-like rAkshasa or one of the never-before-seen, ten-headed, twenty-armed types? :)

[ShivaFan]

No! Ravana is indeed very bad. With his ten heads, he had formerly molested a lot of women one of them being Vedavathi, the previous avatara of Sita which makes her enter the funeral pyre and she takes the oath, "I will be the reason for Ravana's death in my next life!". Due to this, Ravana is cursed that if he attempts to molest any more women, his 10th heads would burst and that is why he doesn't molest Sita. Nevertheless, he gives her death-inflicting suffering through his Rakshasis and direct threats (Sundaragandam). Sri Rama yet gracefully pardons him giving him a chance for life at the war, saying, "Go today and come back tomorrow" yet Ravana doesn't subdue to Rama and that is why Sri Rama kills him.

Namaste Aspirant01

Thank you for clarifying this for me, your points are of course very welcome, especially from you. In the Name of Mother Sita, let me restate my position:

Vishwa Rakshasa Dhamraj Ravana is a very, very, VERY bad one. His labyrinth is majestic, so as well the gardens, even I often find my imagination which has taken me to another place. I can see it now. Lanka is Burning. There is Hanuman, He has set all of Lanka ablaze with his tail which was set on fire.

LANKA IS BURNING

Namaste Wondermonk, thank you for sharing this gem!

Namaste Philosoraptor, great vision there! I pray to Hanuman. He speaks many languages, including Tamil. He also speaks the Language of Ravana. Frankly, and obviously, if I were before Ravana, I would be in no position to fight, or even dare say much of anything. So in that circumstance, I get on my knees and bow. Deity I am not, so only there would be hope. And hope Hanuman comes very soon. But I can smell the burning wood. Outside of the hall of Ravana, Lanka is burning.

Om Namah Sivaya

[Omkara]

I have heard that Ravana is worshipped as a bodhisattva by sri lankan buddhists.

[Viraja]

I have heard that Racana is worshipped as a bodhisattva by sri lankan buddhists.

No wonder SriLankans are killing and ill-treating Tamilians there.

[philosoraptor]

Namaste Philosoraptor, great vision there! I pray to Hanuman. He speaks many languages, including Tamil. He also speaks the Language of Ravana. Frankly, and obviously, if I were before Ravana, I would be in no position to fight, or even dare say much of anything. So in that circumstance, I get on my knees and bow. Deity I am not, so only there would be hope. And hope Hanuman comes very soon. But I can smell the burning wood. Outside of the hall of Ravana, Lanka is burning.

Om Namah Sivaya

Pranams everyone,

I could not resist this opportunity to glorify Mother Sita-devi and I thank Shivafan for providing me with the opportunity.

What would/should we do when confronted with a villain like Ravana?

I would like to think that we would emulate, or try to emulate, the spotless character of Mother Sita.

Sita did not bow before Ravana, nor did she yield to his threats nor his temptations. Although Ravana had everything material - wealth, power, fame, strength, and even religious merit in a sense, he was not her Lord nor would he ever be. Despite his power and glories, Ravana's abduction of Sita was a cowardly act, as she herself pointed out - he did not bother to confront Rama first. Instead, the coward arranged for Rama to be led astray so that he could take her unchallenged. Had Ravana first engaged Rama in battle, he would have been soundly defeated, as Rama had already proven Himself to be stronger that Vali, who himself had previously captured Ravana. Ravana may have had everything material, but he is not impressive to one whose consciousness is fixed on Raama-smaranam.

In the Ramayana of Valmiki, it is explained that when Ravana came to the Ashoka-vana to induce Sita to accept his proposals, she would repeatedly place a blade of grass between herself and the Lanka-raja. Why did she do this? According to the commentaries, this had significance on multiple levels, as I recently was informed during a public discourse by a renowned pandit.

The Gita Press translator, apparently following the commentary known as "rAmAyaNa-shiromaNi," says that according to manu-smRiti, a married woman is not to speak to another man in the absence of her husband without a veil or some other covering. Sita, being a captive and having no covering to resort to, plucked a blade of grass and placed it in front of her. Thus, the grass represented a veil, which in turn represented separation. Sita was not tempted by Ravana and never would be - the blade of grass used in this way reflects her great chastity which is without equal in the three worlds.

Another meaning given is that Sita is a "rAja-kanya," and as such she would know culture and dharma. Because Raavana was a king, it was obligatory on her to show him hospitality and offer a seat, even though she was in captivity and had nothing to offer. Thus, the placement of a blade of grass was symbolic of a seat, and her act reflected her incomparable culture and dignity despite being a terrified captive separated from her husband.

Yet another meaning goes like this. To Sita, who was fully devoted to Rama her Lord and husband, there was never even a hint of attraction to anyone else. Ravana accounted himself very powerful and significant, yet to Sita he was no more significant than a blade of grass. Sita was so chaste that she could simply have burned Ravana to ashes with her angry glance. But, as a prapanna who is fully surrendered to Raama, she made no such attempts at escape, instead depending entirely on His grace for her emancipation.

Yet another meaning goes like this. The placement of a blade of grass before Ravana serves to remind him that Sita's husband Rama is so powerful that He can make an insignificant blade of grass into a deadly weapon. Readers of the Bhaagavatam may recall that Balaraama employed a similar weapon to kill Romaharshana-suta when the latter had disrespected him. The text indicates that he plucked a blade of grass and, imbuing it with deadly power, finished off Romaharshana without any effort. Like that, Raama too was a master of all weapons and knew the secret of both discharging and withdrawing them.

There is a propaganda going around, mostly supported by modern, left-leaning scholars, that Raavana was actually a great soul in a way, and that he was merely misjudged by history. Some even suggest that his defeat at the hands of Raama reflects a socially acceptable way of indicating the defeat of "Dravidian" civilization by an invading "Aryan" one. Such creativity! But the only evidence we have of who Raavana was is the Raamaayana of Vaalmiiki. And that Raavana was by no means a good person. Yes it is true that Raavana was a Shiva-bhakta, and that he performed great austerities which ultimately led to his seizing power in Lanka. It is also true that he was the descendent of Pulastya-rishi and as such was classified as a brahmin. Not only was he a brahmin, but the legends indicate that he performed great yagnas and could pronounce Vedic mantras so perfectly. He had lineage, power, strength, fame, culture, and learning. But, and this is crucial - he could not control his senses. As a result, he was proud of what he had, and intoxicated by that pride, he thought he should be the rightful ruler of the three worlds. As a result, he used his great strength to seize the property of others for his own selfish ends. He even abducted other peoples' wives and held them in captivity. Not even devas like Indra could stand up to this villain.

Such a villain as Raavana made the inhabitants of the three worlds cry with fear and sadness, and Sita had every reason to fear him. But she did not bow before him or show him anything more than scripturally-ordained respect. She did not consider him great at all. This is the courage of a prapanna who has no other Lord than Naaraayana Himself.

All glories to Mother Sita-devi!

[Omkara]

Excellent post!
Just one thing to add: Ravana is referred to many times in the Valmiki Ramayana as an Arya.So even if the AIT is true, Ravana would still be an Aryan.Also, Ravana is described as tall and fair, the exact opposite of the stereotype 'Dravidan race' some people are trying to construct.

[ShivaFan]

Namaste Philosoraptor

Thank you for sharing this insightful information. JAI Mother Sita!

I have a question. Ravana could change His form, for example when He approached Sita He took the form of an elderly hermit, He did not have ten heads at that time. So not only at that opportunity, He could have taken the (false) form of Rama, even to try to deceive Sita when she was held in Lanka. Of course, Sita could never be deceived by a False Rama and so we know that such a transformation would have been an utter failure.

Yet, I do not think this is why Ravan did not try to use such a disguise. I believe there is a deeper, more profound reason that this deceit was not a consideration by Ravan.

Would you have an opinion on this? It may be very interesting from your point of learning. To me, like Yajvan may say, every single moment and event in the Ramayana history has profound subtle connections, doors and circumstances all intertwined that may not be known necessarily on the surface level. It is not symbolism, for the events are true. But it is the vortex of many great personalities, forces, fate and meaning.

Even Lord Ravana, who yes I will confess is VERY bad, was great in His badness. Omkara noted an interesting comment about Ravan and Buddhism. Certainly some nationalistic Singhalese may have had later Bhikshus try to put the robes of Hinayana on Him, but Buddha was long after Ravan. But there is an element of truth in the wise notation of Omkara for some of us such as myself. Because Ravan had many problems, from Ten Heads - which were never 10 Kingdoms as some claim - sometimes the den of iniquity of ten voices talking at the same moment would come and so He became the very Image of Confusion. Some say, Ravan's 10 Heads were symbolic of Ten Personalities. But both are True. He did have 10 possessive voices and egos and personalities but they did live and speak from 10 very real heads. He had Great powers. He was not a Buddhist, but a Hindu and devotee of Shiva. But also one head was thinking of Jain teaching and not Buddhism. Jainism teaches total non violence, and what a contradiction to this is found in Ravan. But in the very confusing powers of Ravan, I believe there is also the Jain element. But that is probably an argument for some other time. Ravana was no ordinary demon. In fact, though King of Rakhasas he can be said in one way that He was not really a Rakshasa Himself. He was, and was not both perhaps?

Om Namah Sivaya

[ShivaFan]

Namaste
Om Namah Sivaya
http://jainworld.com/photos/images/Jain%20gym.jpg

[izi]

Ravana=The Tetractys ;)

Ravana=Gatekeeper of Vaikuntha :(

Ravana=Composer of the Siva Tandav Stotram :cool1:

I have a huge oil painting of Ravana hanging in my bedroom!

[ShivaFan]

Namaste Izi

Interesting, where did you obtain the oil paintng?
Can you take a picture of it and share?
Did you paint it?

ps Ravana also plays the veena.

Om Namah Sivaya