Your Ashwamedha yagya

The Ramayana is not just a story which happened some time. It has a philosophical, spiritual significance and a deep truth in it.

King Dasharatha had three wives. Dasharatha means one who can run ten chariots at a time. Your body is Dasharatha, the ten chariots, which include the five organs of senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin) and the five organs of actions (hands, feet, rectum, genitals, and mouth). These take the mind into ten different directions.

The three names of Dasharatha’s queens are also very interesting.

The first wife is Kaushalya, which means skill.

The second wife is Sumitra, which means good friend.

There could be many friends, but not all are good friends.

Many times, friends drag you in the wrong direction.

Sumitra is one who takes you in the right direction. The third wife is Kaikeyi, one who stands by your side, although she appears differently; but deep within, she does benevolence.

It is like a doctor who gives you a bitter medicine, or a vaccination. As soon as the children see him, they start yelling and crying, but the vaccination does good to them.

Similarly, Kaikeyi who apparently, is not pleasant, but inwardly, does that which is good for you.

Dasharatha and Kaushalya, did a yagya called Ashwamedha, after which they got four sons. Medha means purification.

Shwa means yesterday or tomorrow, ashwa means today, - not yesterday, nor tomorrow. It means it is eternal and the present moment. Medha also means intellect.

Ashwamedha means bringing the intellect in the present moment. Another meaning for ashwamedha is purifying by being in the present moment, purifying the spirit, the senses, the body-mind complex; going deep in the spirit.

When Dasharatha and Kaushalya  did the Ashwamedha yagya, which means purifying the present moment, Rama was born. This is the spiritual significance of Sri Rama’s birth.

The words - rays, radiance, all these come from the Sanskrit root Ra, which means to shine, radiance, brilliance and light.

Ma means within me, in my heart. Rama means ‘the light in my heart’. When the mind in this body, with some skill gets into the present moment, it purifies the mind and the heart, and then Rama, the light in our heart, shines.

Four things come out of you when Ashwamedha is done. When your senses are purified, then what comes up is the Divine light in your heart (Rama), and awareness (Lakshmana). Then, you have no enemies (Shatrugnan), and all the talents (Bharat) come to you.

When medha, your intellect is deep in the present moment, nothing can shake it. What can shake your intellect is only the past or future.

If you can snap yourself out of the past and future every moment, you are free, that is liberation.