Hari Om.I think you all know that Ramayan week starts today, so all of you should be reading the Ramayan. And why is it so important to read the Ramayan? In the Ramayan you'll find a situation that is very difficult for the modern householder to maintain. That situation is of the ideal wife and ideal husband. But if we read the Ramayan, we might have some reflection, or we might reflect something from the Ramayan.
On Sunday next week is Ram Naumi, and on that day we will be doing our Ramnaumi Pooja. Go home and read the Ramayan. Read how Hanuman treated his guru, Sri Ram; how Sita treated her husband; how Ram treated his wife. There's no point in us proclaiming that we are Hindus, that we practise sanatan dharma, if we don't follow our scriptures.
They tell us clearly that this ideal situation is what brings about bliss in any partnership, union and home. It's not only between Sri Ram and Devi Sita. It is also between Sri Ram and Lakshram; how two brothers from two different mothers could see a perfect reflection of each other; and yet today we cannot stand side-by-side with our brothers and sisters because we have all this commotion. But we still claim to be followers of sanatan dharma.
Everything that Sri Ram wanted to be done, Hanuman didn't even think about; he just did it. That is what we're talking about: the way we live; our way of life. And it goes further to the soldiers who listened to Sri Hanuman, without even thinking that they might not be able to do certain things. They just believed in Sri Hanuman's devotion to Sri Ram, that whatever Hanuman said, would be done because he had the power of Sri Ram. Even until this very day.
Sometimes you go round saying Sri Ram, Jay Ram, Sri Ram, Jay Ram. The only person who will respond to that is Hanuman. He will come running when he hears Ram's name. What we are doing in the ashram? As you sit here, some of you are guilty of it – you come to the ashram and you listen, talk and pick up gossip, and take the gossip. You add your own flowery language, then give it to someone else. They take it, add their frills, and it grows in to a big gossip.
When Sri Ram came to hear of some gossip from the market place about how Sita came to be in the Kingdom of Ravana when Ravana didn't do anything to her, he didn't know whether to believe it or not. He was just the ideal husband, not God incarnate - nothing like Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna was a total incarnation of God. Sri Ram was here to teach man how to live. He questioned Sita and she said she would prove that nothing happened, and she went into the fire. If we say something, we must be ready to prove it. Anything that is the truth, you should not be afraid to discuss. That is the teaching of the Ramayan.
So if you have a Ramayan at home, take it out and dust it off. Dust doesn't need spiritual elevation – open the pages and start reading. Some of you have books at home to show off that you have them: Hari Krishna books, Purana books, Bhagavad Gita. No point in having it if you didn't turn the pages. It is so important to turn the pages of the book. If we read one page every day, we'll finish a book. It's not difficult. I know some of you say you can't read because you're working or you're tired. But you can sit in front of the television and watch nonsense programmes. But to tell you to read one page ... one page of the Ramayan is nothing. How many of you don't have the Ramayan? Hands up. I don't have any to give you.
Marriage is not about love, its about how the relationship grows. It's not about love at all. Two people who are not in love can marry and have a fantastic relationship and grow that.
Hari Om
