The highest form of discipline is my ability to hold on to certain character standards. When nothing outside of me can have an influence on what is yes to me, is yes to me and what is no to me, is no to me. And nothing outside of me can influence a character discipline in an individual. If we can get tempted, then we’ll keep falling for everything. The greatness of a human being is in his ability to have such strong willpower to say yes-is-yes to me and no is no to me. And there’s no trade-off here.

You can’t get Tiger to… the cliche is that you can’t get a tiger to eat grass, even if it’s hungry. And you cannot get an elephant to eat flesh. Even if it has been starving for days together even if it’s drought. What level of than character discipline has to be there in a human being?

In some way to demonstrate this there are two different expressions one I have always spoken to you another I’m going to speak today, one I’ve always spoken to you, which is not there in Valmiki Ramayanam, it’s only there in Kamba Ramayanam. Where the background to this entire thing is that Rama and Sita have been created as characters were even in thought they will not entertain any other form of flesh.

And Ravana had a weakness for woman, had a weakness for woman? Yes. Not because he had this character discipline and all, but he had this one curse on him that if he touches any woman without her consent, he will be burned into ash. How nice it will be know… if he actually have a … like that… then we don’t have to have so many issues at all.

So, Ravana has a social curse on him. That he cannot touch any woman without her consent, he will be burnt, but he also has a power, he can take whatever form he wants. So, Sita is not yielding and he wants Sita, so he’s going on taking different forms and going you all know this already. But I’m again and again saying… thinking maybe… one day it’ll transform you… so… try… again.

And in every form she rejects because she wouldn’t entertain any other form or flesh other than Ram. So, one minister comes and advises Ravana saying that, ‘In whatever form you go — she will not yield. You take the form of Ram and go… she will fall for it. And this is a very important moment for me in the story more than what happens later. Ravana looks at the minister and asked this – ‘If you the minister can think of this. You think I wouldn’t have thought about it?’

I want to tell this to everybody in the world because the sort of advice I keep getting… ok… from everybody, everybody… You learn from me and you’re telling me, what to do. Then I wouldn’t have thought about it!

Ravana, tells the minister, ‘If the minister could think about it I also would have thought about it. In fact I took the form of Ram once, but what can I do? The moment I took the form of Ram, I could not entertain another woman in my thoughts!’. This is Kamba Ramayanam.

Valmiki has a very different expression to the same thing. So, Ravana dies and this news that Ravana has died, reaches Ravana’s wife. She knows that he has brought another woman. She knows that her husband only has come to fight the war, but she hasn’t seen Ram yet… But all said and done, emotions blindly… right now it’s not the question of right and wrong… somebody has killed my husband. And we were having a nice life here away from everything else In Lanka’s unnecessarily this whole thing all this has happened. So, she’s furious.

So, she wants to come and curse Rama for having killed her husband. In absolute fury she leaves the palace and comes to the battleground, and she sees Ravana’s dead body and she gets even more angry. Furious to curse, she goes towards Rama. All said and done, its battle and it’s a battle of righteousness. Rama did what he had to do. But he is Rama. So, he still has this feeling that he was instrumental in killing somebody and so many people dying, so Rama’s head is bowed down, he is looking down. He’s not looking up. And Mandodhari is coming to curse Rama.

Rama sees a shadow approaching him. Because the shadow comes first the person comes later, the shadow is approaching him. And from the shadow Rama knows it’s a woman. So, the shadow of that woman is about to touch Rama and Rama moves a little to ensure that even the shadow of a woman does not touch him. Just watching that Mandodari realizes if that is the character of that man, and if that man’s wife was brought, then what he did was right and she turns and goes back without cursing Rama. Okay, this is Valmiki.

So, somewhere in different ways call it literature, call it mythology, call it real, call it by whatever name you want to call it. They’re trying to drive a point to you – a man is his qualities. You’re not your qualification, you’re not your size, you’re not your weight, you’re not your bank balance… a man is his qualities. Each one of us have to ask us this question. What sort of qualities am I made of? What are some of my character traits where independent of the circumstances I face in life, these will remain my qualities.

If I believe in honesty, I believe in honesty doesn’t matter what the circumstances it’s going to. I believe in love. And I believe in the power of love. I believe in the power of unconditional love. No matter what you do with me or don’t do for me, I will continue to love you. I believe in enthusiasm. And doesn’t matter whether you recognize my energy levels, or you will call me as a showoff… no matter what I do. I’m going to do it only enthusiastically. Happiness is fixed in my life. Everything else is a variable. Good times, bad times, challenging times, abandon times, no matter what… one thing you’re not going to find me in life, you’re not going to find me in life without happiness.

What are those qualities? What are those qualities that constitute you? What are you made of? A man is a constitution of certain qualities. Somewhere, it’s not about one man one woman or it’s not about that.

Somewhere in the entire thing they are trying to drive this point to you. What are some of your qualities? These were Ravana’s qualities, these were Sita’s qualities, these were Rama’s qualities. I’m not saying all qualities were right about Rama. Rama also had a few qualities without which probably he, Sita, children, Ayodhya would have been much more peaceful than it was. That is not for us to judge because this is the story that has happened.

But essentially what they’re trying to drive is, what are those qualities in you where no matter with whom you are, no matter where you are, no matter what the circumstance is, this is who you are, you will stand by those qualities. That is how a Jesus Christ is defined by qualities, that is how a Mahatma Gandhi is defined by his qualities. And how are you going to be defined? What are your qualities? And what are those some of those qualities where it’s going to be so steadfast in you, no matter what the circumstances are those qualities in you will still express itself through you. This is what they’re trying to drive.

But the birth of Rama, the entire life of Rama is expressing something else for all of us.

One, even if you are an incarnation of God, you cannot escape your Karma. Nobody escapes their Karma.

Repeatedly I tell people, if at all, you ever go through a challenge in life, if at all, you ever go through a tough time in life, please don’t have a negative association with you have a positive association with you? How can I have a positive association to a challenge that I’ve gone through and come out of it Mahatria?  By recognizing maybe one bad karma is done and dusted, it’s over? Some karma, I don’t know what it is, has put me through this experience. And having gone through that experience come out that side, one bad karma of mine is knocked off.

Because in a simple business sense, if I’ve deposited money, and I don’t withdraw it for long, then the value of the money goes up. If I have borrowed money, and I don’t repay the loan for long, then the cost of the money goes up. So, anything that I have borrowed from the world, the sooner I can give back, I want to give back, otherwise, the cost of the money becomes very, very expensive. Any money that I have given to the world, let it slowly come, any money that I had let it slowly come because the accumulated returns are much better. So, let the rewards of all my good karma even if it gets a little delayed and get delayed, more rewards will come. But if I have to face the consequence of any bad karma, let it get done as early as possible. Because otherwise the cost is.

So, every time you’re going through a challenge in life and coming out of it everytime, you’ve gone through, some bad karma in yours, is getting done and dusted and you’re getting liberated from it. And might as well let it get liberated from you. Nobody escapes. Even if you’re a reincarnation of God, the loss of life are greater than you and nobody escapes it.

You can be Jesus Christ that can revive somebody to life. But when you face the crucifixion, you face the crucifixion – that which begins will end. Ramayana tells you that nobody escapes karma.

But Ramayana also teaches you. Even if he the Rama has to go through his karma, that doesn’t change the fact – Faith creates miracles. Because it doesn’t matter on what you have faith. What does not create miracles. Faith creates miracles.

So, even if you have a Rama in your life, but if you are only seeing that as a relationship as a father in Dasaratha, or even if you’re only seeing that as a spouse in your life, like a Sita saw Rama, or a brother, you still don’t derive… certain expectations in that relationship will be fulfilled. But the miraculous possibilities that unfold through faith the way a Hanuman was able to experience nobody else was able to experience. So, when you have a Rama in life, do you want that to be a relationship in your life? Or do you want that to be a source of faith in your life? It’s a decision you have to because it does not depend on Rama, because Rama is not capable of creating miracles in your life. Your faith is capable of creating miracles in your life.

Who is Rama is immaterial? What is happening in Rama’s life is immaterial. But if you’re a Hanuman whose faith towards Rama is total, you will still experience miracles in your life. Faith creates miracle on whom and what does not matter.

And the legacy of people who have experienced miraculous possibilities by having faith in Rama continues. From Thyagaiah to Mahatma Gandhi, everybody had unflinching faith.

Ramayana is establishing this to you. It’s not about who Rama is. It’s about what is Rama to you? Is it a story? It’s a story. It’s an altar of worship, then it’s an altar of worship. If it’s a source of faith, then your faith will create miracles in your life. You can replace Rama with anything.

Ramayan, is telling you, you don’t have to be the king of all the kings, Dasaratha. You don’t have to be the Rishi of all the Rishi’s, Vasishtha. You don’t have to be the Raja rishi in Vishvamitra. You don’t have to be any of this.

You were a Shiv Bhakt and Shiva was everything to you till you were blinded by the lust of that women, Ravana. Everything went right for Ravana, everything went right in Lanka everything, they were flourishing, they were happy, everything was dance and celebration there. Because for him, it was all his faith in Shiva till he got distracted by the lust of that one woman. And then he didn’t have time to do Shiva Pooja, then he didn’t have time for Shiva, everything… So, Ramayana is asking you – are these materialistic distractions in life taking you away from your faith? Or this faith complementing all this materialistic distractions in your life, or you’re so distracted by what is happening?

So, there’s time for everything in life, no time for meditation, there’s time for everything in life, no time for my spiritual practice. Why? Because all moments… that’s the same mistake which Ravana did. When he had time for spiritual practices, everything went right. He got distracted by one woman and had did not — time for and everything began to go wrong. For not only him for whatever he represented.

And somewhere Ramayana is trying to tell you, you don’t have to be any of this. You can be one un-evolved, ordinary monkey. But the power of that system, existential system is so much that if your faith is total, even a monkey will be worshipped in the world for generations to come by the power of your faith. Is your faith complete. And somewhere in many of these cases, what begins as a faith… Are you getting distracted by ego and expectations and turning that into a relationship or faith remains a source of faith for you.

To that daring extent Valmiki goes to tell you when Rama when Hanuman explains to Rama saying that ‘My faith in you makes me more powerful than your Rama’. And in the next words, Valmiki writes – the poverty of Rama is, he didn’t find anybody on whom he could have complete faith and the richness of Hanuman is he found Rama on whom he could have complete faith. So, according to Valmiki, the richest are those who have found faith in life and the poorest are those where no matter what you have in life, you haven’t still found your faith in life. The poorest of poor. He calls Rama poor because Rama did not experience the miracles of faith in his life and he calls Hanuman, a servant, the servant of all servants, the richest in Ramayana, because he was able to find his faith.

So, if there is anything we need to understand from Ramayana it is this, on whom, it does not matter, on what it does not matter, but if your faith is complete, irrespective of all other attributes in your life, you will continue to experience miracles in your life because the system of faith is such – that it will deliver miracles in your life. So, the question is not, who is your God? The question is not how powerful is your God? There’s only one question – how total is your faith in whatever, in whoever?