Question 9

QUESTIONER: IT IS SAID THAT VALMIKI WROTE THE BIOGRAPHY OF RAMA MUCH BEFORE HE HAPPENED, AND RAMA IS ALSO KNOWN AS AN INCARNATION OF THE DIVINE. SO HOW IS IT THAT THERE IS A SEQUENCE, A CHAIN-LIKE CONTINUITY IN HIS LIFE?

It is a good question that you have raised: How is it that Valmiki wrote the life of Rama even before he happened?

It is possible, it is quite possible to write the life story of Rama, because he is a man of principles, ideals. There is a joke hidden in this anecdote of Valmiki writing the Ramayana long before Rama's existence. It means that Rama is a kind of man whose life story can be foretold. He is like a character in a drama: what he will do and what he will not do can be foreseen. Rama is an idealist, he lives according to some set rules and regulations of life, so in a way his life is pre-planned and pre-determined.

It is not that Valmiki had really written his biography before he happened; it is a very profound and subtle joke which this country alone is capable of making with respect to her great men. And it is so subtle that it is difficult to get it.

It says that Rama's life is so limited and confined, so confined to set ideas and ideals, so sequential that the poet Valmiki could have easily written his story, the Ramayana, even before Rama was born It is like a drama or a movie which is enacted in strict adherence to a written script. So it can be foretold what Rama would do after his wife Sita is abducted by Ravana. It can be foretold that after her return from Ravana's city Rama would put her to some severe test like the fire-test. He will make her pass through fire before admitting her into his palace. Everything about Rama is certain, even this -- though Sita comes out from the fire-test unscathed, Rama throws her out of his house just because a washerman makes a carping remark about her character.