Kharma

I think overall I have pretty good kharma. Everyone makes mistakes and I know I've done things that have negatively affected my kharma but I have always tried to be a good and honest person in life. With that said, there are still many events in my life that I wish I could have a second go at. There are always going to be things that I wish I could change. If I had one day to do over again and change I would choose the day a very close friend of mine attempted to commit suicide. Even though their attempt was not succesful, I wish I could have known they were feeling that desperate. I wish I could have been there to comfort my best friend who was feeling that great of a desire to escape life. When I found out about what my friend tried to do I was more terrified then I have ever been but more than fear I wanted to be there. I blamed myself for not noticing and not doing something about it before it had gotten to this point. If I had the opportunity to be with them during that time I would give up alot for it. Even though my friend wasn't hurt at all by their attempt physically I know that the mental pain is still there. I wish that there would have been some way for me to help them avoid that truley tragic experience.

Journal Response 3

When Bharatha's mother first finds out that Rama is going to become king she is very happy for him. Kaikeyi considers Rama to be as much of her son as her blood son Bharatha. Kooni her nurse however convinces Kaikeyi that once Rama becomes king she will be usueless and ignored and will lose her purpose in life. Kooni says that Rama will view Bharatha as a threat to his throne and banish him, therefore leaving Kaikeyi completely void of status and she will become nothing more then a maid. Kooni tells Kaikeyi that she should use the two favors that Dasaratha promised her to assure that her blood son becomes king and maintain her own status. In this situation it is Dasaratha's duty to keep his promises to his wife since she once saved his life and in return he made a vow to her to do whatever she asked him for. If he denied her if would be going against his duty and his karma would greatly suffer.

Journal Entry 2

Two examples of the concept of immanence in The Ramayana chapters 1-2 are:

1) When Rama is brought before the bow of Shiva on page 18 and asked to string it. The bow is extremely huge, heavy, and long and no mortal should even be able to lift the thing let alone string it. Clearly the Gods are interfering to make sure that Rama accomplishes this task. "What they missed, because they had shut their eyes, was to note how swiftly Rama picked up the bow, tugged the string taunt, and brought the tips together. They were startled when they heard a deafening report, caused by the cracking of the bow at its arch, which could not stand the pressure of Rama's grip." (Narayan, 18)

2) Another example of immanence being displayed in The Ramayana is in chapter one on page 16 when Rama is given the task of protecting Viswamithra from the demons. When Rama shoots his bow the arrows become an umbrella that protects everyone from harm. This is also clearly the intervention of the Gods because the arrows could not become an umbrella any other way. "He shot at them, while Rama sent up his arrows and created an umbrella to shield the sacrificial fire from being defiled by the asuras' blood." (Narayan, 16)


Three examples of appearances being illusory in The Ramayana are:

1) In the story of Mahabali that Viswamithra tells to Rama, Vishnu takes on an illusory appearance and deceives Mahabali into thinking that he is a tiny man and so Mahabali let's him take any land that is the width of three times the size of his foot. This back fires on Mahabali when Vishnu takes his true form and is larger then the world.

2) In the story of Ganga, Ganga appears before Bhagiratha in the form of a little girl to save him from the fate that would have crushed the earth if she had descended in her true form.

3) Ahalya also takes on an illusory appearance. She is cursed to the form of a slab of stone by her husband for being unfaithful but when Rama brushes past her she regains her true form and is allowed to return to her husband.

Journal Response 1

When I read the first chapter of Ramayana I was amazed at the detail used to describe the events and settings of the piece. I was also intrigued by how many different stories were incorporated into the chapter. I can really see why this is the basis of the Hindu faith because it explains the history of all of the different places and important people. I was amazed at the sheer number of characters introduced in the very first chapter!

I struggled with pronunciation in the first chapter because all of the names are extremely different from anything we have here in the states. It was also hard at first to keep track of how everyone was related and I kept getting the genders of characters confused because I thought most of the names sounded feminine. Story wise however I found the text pretty easy to follow and very fun to read.

To help me understand Ramayana I find it very helpful to keep a running character chart with little notes on what gender people are and how they relate to one another. I think if I didn't do this I would probably be extremely confused already. It's also helpful to have small notes on some of the Indian terms like 'yagna' and 'asuras' since I have never even heard those words before.