The Kidnapping Of Sita

To implement the abduction of Sita, Ravana called on his warlord, Maricha. This Maricha was the same Rakshasa who had been carried 1000 miles through the air and thrown into the ocean by the wind arrow of the inexperienced 16-year-old Rama on His first military expedition. Ravana asked Maricha to take the form of a golden deer, to frisk in front of Sita. When Sita should wish to have the deer for her own, Rama and Lakshman could be induced to follow it and, at that time, Sita might be carried off.

Maricha was filled with alarm on hearing such talk from Lord Ravana. He reported to his chief that the proposal was impossible. For one thing, "as Indra is the king of the gods, so Rama Chandra is King of all." Nobody should dare to take Sita away, as she was protected by chastity and devotion. Maricha knew that Rama Chandra was death-like, and he advised Ravana to desist from his thoughts of crossing the Lord. The king of the Rakshasas, irritated that his subordinate had even attempted to dissuade him, told Maricha that he must perform this service or be killed.

Then Maricha, in the form of a wonderful deer with silver spots and the sheen of jewels, appeared before Sita in the forest. His hoofs were made of blue stones, and he had a little tail that shone like the rainbow. He walked this way and that, browsing on creepers and sometimes galloping. In so many ways, he drew the mind of Sita, who asked Rama Chandra to catch him for her. Rama Chandra was, of course, cognizant that this might be the Rakshasa magic of Maricha, but He decided to go after the deer, and if it was actually Maricha, He would kill him. Rama firmly ordered Lakshman to stay behind with Sita. Then He pursued the deer. It became elusive, and even invisible. Rama resolved to kill it. He shot one deadly shaft which entered Maricha's heart like a flaming snake.

His counterfeit guise gone, Maricha, in the hideous form of a huge Rakshasa bathed in blood now rolled upon the ground. But with his last breath, he remembered the advice of Ravana, and cried out loudly, "Alas Sita! Alas Lakshman!"

Waiting with Lakshman in their cottage, Sita heard the cries and believed it was Rama, and that He was in some danger. She told Lakshman to go at once and help Him. Lakshman dismissed the idea that Rama Chandra could be in danger. Besides, he knew his duty was to remain and protect Sita. But Sita, in great anxiety over Rama, began to speak very strangely. She told Lakshman that she knew he was not going to help Rama out of lust for her, and that in fact he had long been waiting to be separated from Rama so that he could fulfill his own desire for enjoying Sita. Lakshman could not bear to hear such unfair words, and he took his leave of Sita to seek out Rama Chandra. In that way, Ravana was able to find Sita alone, and he carried her off by force.

It may be asked, how could two invincible heroes be tricked by the magic of illusion into leaving Sita alone? How could Sita, with the purity of her chaste insight, accuse Lakshman of being lustful? And, as Rama Chandra is God Himself, how could it come to pass that Ravana carried off Sita by force in his chariot, and was able to cause bitter lamentation for Sita and Rama? These are not very easy questions, it would seem. The aggregate is: how can someone under the direct protection of the Supreme Lord come under any illusion, or fare badly?

If we take it from The Bhagavad-gita, we can know that the pure devotee is never under the power of illusion. The Lord promises that one who surrenders to Him is straightway delivered from illusion. Maya, the illusory energy, cannot act upon one who is surrendered to the Person of the Absolute Truth. This Maya is the external energy of the Lord, intended as a reformatory measure for those souls still desirous of lording it. As its source is divine, this Maya cannot be overcome by any amount of scholarship, technology, or material intelligence. But, as stated in the Seventh Chapter of The Gita, he alone who surrenders to the Lord is released.

A pure devotee is attached to service of the Supreme Person, and is therefore no longer falsely identifying his perishable body as his self, or claiming material possessions as his own. The devotee is under the internal, spiritual energy of the Lord, called Yogamaya. This means that he is being personally cared for by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, due to his constant association by word, thought and deed with the Yogamaya energy This is just like sunshine. The sunshine is there for everyone, but it cannot benefit one who stays hidden indoors. One who partakes of the sunshine experiences no darkness, because darkness cannot exist where the sun is.

So, if the devotee is freed from all contamination and darkness, why was Rama Chandra banished from His kingdom? Why was Sita, who is Lakshmi the Goddess of Fortune, kidnapped by Ravana? Why was Lord Jesus Christ crucified? Why was the pure saint Thakur Haridas beaten? Why was Lord Krishna shot in the foot by a hunter? And why did Krishna's devotees, the Pandavas, have to undergo so many ordeals? These things, the devotee understands, are working according to some plan of the Lord's Will, to facilitate His mission in this world.

This example was given by Rama Chandra when He responded with even mind to His banishment: "I must obey My father in this. Who are We to try to get control for self interest over what is being sent to Us by the law of God? We must accept what is sent by God."

Surrender means that the Lord can do with us as He likes. The surrendered soul is waiting for the Lord's Will. He will go back to Godhead at the time when the Lord is pleased to take him. He knows that there must be some plan of the Lord behind what is happening and, as far as he's concerned, the devotee will never be removed from his position of unconditional loving service unto the Personality of Godhead. In this case of Rama's banishment and Sita's abduction, we can understand that these activities had to be carried out in order to fulfill the mission of Lord Rama in coming to Earth-the slaying of the demon Ravana for the relief of the faithful demigods.

Similar occurrences of a devotee in a position of mundane frustration are explained by Goswami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami as the basis for the presentation of great transcendental literatures like Srimad Bhagwatam and The Bhagavad-gita. In the case of Srimad Bhagwatam, the Emperor Parikshit, who was usually a man of irreproachable behavior, delivered an insult to a brahmin, and was sentenced to death within 7 days. This death curse brought about his revival of God consciousness, and made possible his meeting with the sage Sukadeva Goswami, who narrated the entire Srimad Bhagwatam to him, filled as it is with the Pastimes of Lord Krishna. In this way all humanity was benefited.

Again, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes, "By placing Arjuna and the Pandavas in a position of frustration through the intrigues of their cousins, the Battle of Kurukshetra was engineered by the Lord in order to incarnate the sound representative of the Lord, The Bhagavad-gita."

In short, we should understand that these unusual circumstances of the apparent distress of Rama and Sita are ordained and serve the Lord's purposes.

On a chariot pulled by asses, Ravana of ten heads and twenty arms flew through the sky with his arm around Sita. Sita was protected from gross sexual violation by her power of chastity. Also, Ravana had at one time in his career received a fell curse from the yogi father of a girl he had violated: if Ravana ever attempted to again enjoy a woman by physical force, his head would split into pieces.

By this act of abduction Ravana completely sealed his doom beyond a doubt. Not only would he die for capturing another's wife, but he would not even be able to enjoy her in the meantime, not for a moment. Goswami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami nicely explains the relationship between Sita and Ravana: "The Goddess of Fortune is called Chanchala. Chanchala means that she is not steady. Ravana took away Lakshmi, Sitaji, to his place and instead of being happy by the grace of Lakshmi, his family and his kingdom were vanquished. So Lakshmi in the house of Ravana is Chanchala, or not steady. The Ravana class of men want Lakshmi only, without her husband, Narayana [or Rama Chandra]. Therefore they become unsteady by Lakshmiji. And so materialistic persons find fault on the part of Fortune. Of course, in the spiritual sky Lakshmi is fixed in the service of the Lord, and in spite of her being the Goddess of Fortune, she cannot be happy without the grace of the Lord." From this we can also understand that Sita's essential beauty is that she is associated with the Personality of Godhead.

Unable to forcibly have his lust satisfied, Ravana gave Sita a tour of opulent Lanka. He showed her the swans and ponds, and his harem. He showed her how thousands of mighty Rakshasas awaited his word. And he described Rama Chandra as a weak outcaste who would never be able to come to Lanka. He asked Sita to rule over Lanka, and he would become her slave. Though she was weighted down with sorrow and deeply absorbed in anxious thoughts, Sita seared Ravana by telling him that for this reckless outrage he would be destroyed by Rama and Lakshman.

In the face of his lion-like ferocity, she told him, "How can the consort of a swan, one who sports with her mate amidst lotuses, favor with her glance a water crow, who is straying amongst weeds and bushes? This body is now useless to me. You may chain it or destroy it. I shall not preserve it any more, nor will I ever bear the stigma of unchastity. I am the devoted wife of Rama, and you will never be able to touch me."

Ravana could only threaten Sita that if after twelve months she did not favorably turn to him, he would cut her into pieces and have his cooks serve her to him for a feast.