Reading Notes Week 5: Stories of Indian Gods and Heroes: Rama and Sita, Part B

Sita's honesty is tested
Image Source: Dr. Laura Gibbs

Section 4 continued

p. 79

10 years later

• Ravana's sister tries to kill Sita, his siblings try to avenge there sister 

• Maricha warns Ravana about Rama 

• Sita is kidnapped
• She taunted Lakshman when she heard "Rama's" voice.

Sita is a little full of herself before she gets kidnapped. 

Section 4 - Example of Husband/King's Dharma

⭐The Tale of Pururavas and Urvasi⭐

Urvasi was powerful but was exiled to earth by some of the gods as a punishment for entering a land forbidden to women . Some conditions were made for the exile:

• Urvasi takes two Rams wither

• Pururavas will not separate from her 

• Urvasi stays queen 

p - 76

This section is a perfect example of how dharma can be fulfilled as a king AND a husband. Despite the exile, Pururavas still stayed with Urvasi after she returned. He also fulfilled the people's wish of exiling her for her crime. He trusted her and ensured that they would not be separated and even had 6 sons. 

Rama should have laid out similar conditions before becoming king or even after becoming king or better yet, let the people know that they have no right to interfere in their marriage. 

Rama blames Lakshman for Sita's kidnapping and accuses Jatayu of eating her.

Rama is quick to judge without assessing the situation.

p. 84

Sugriva's older brother Bali got into a fight with a demon over a woman.

• Fought in a cave while Sugriva stood guard outside for a year

• Sugriva closed the cave thinking his brother died

• Bali misinterpreted this

• As Bali is dying he apologizes to his brother and his wife,Tara, (who was originally Sugriva's) mourns his death 

• Tara is still queen when Sugriva becomes king.

Bali's wife mourning is an example of dharma. After Sugriva becomes king he neglects his duties as a king. Despite Bali's relationship with his brother, he performed his dharma as a king, husband, and father.

Ravana and his counselors discuss what should happen to Sita:

• Ravana's brother Vibhishana tries to persuade him to give Sita back for the safety of the kingdom

• Other counselors agree with him

• Ravana threatens to kill his brother 

• His brother flees with four men and helps Rama

Section 6 

Ravana sends his spies to spy on Rama but they are caught. Rama treats them with kindness and let's them go. 

Ravana tricks Sita into thinking Rama is dead with a spell but one of the rakshasi's tells her its a trick. 

Not all the demons were bad.

Garuda (Vishnu) heals both of the brothers after Indrajit (Ravana's son) defeats them and kills Lakshman. 

Lakshman kills Indrajit.

Ravana kills Lakshman (who died AGAIN) for saving Vibhishana but is saved by Hanuman AGAIN. 

After Ravana's death Vibhishana doesn't want to perform his brother's final rites because he was evil. Rama convinced him and told him that there shouldn't be any hate for the dead. Vibhishana becomes king of Lanka.

Rama rejects Sita

• Reveals that he saved her not because he loved her but to protect his honor.

• The gods get mad at him for making his wife suffer.

• It's also revealed that this is just a test to the kingdom that Sita is innocent.

This version of the story doesn't talk about Sita's exile but it did give a little more detailed version of the Ramayana

Reading Notes Week 5: Stories of Indian Gods and Heroes: Rama and Sita, Part A

Section 2 - This section has a lot of Karma 

The Tale of Viswamitra

Viswamitra wanted to become a Brahmin but was not born into that caste and challenges the caste system and succeeds.

He sees a magic cow and gives several offers to buy her from Vasishtha, a well-known sage. The sage refuses so Viswamitra tries to take it away by force. 

He gets defeated and goes to the Himalayas to ask for a wish from Shiva and then attempts to attack Vasishtha again.

Vasishtha

• powerful sage
• Brahman priest
• He abuses his power and curses people

Viswamitra goes to live the life of a Brahmin to purify himself.

King Trisanku goes to the priest and his sons to ask for help to go to heaven as a human and they refuse and curse him so he goes to Viswamitra for help.

It sounds like the priests are full of themselves because they are the highest caste and don't care for anyone below them. It's ironic because priests are accepting of others. 

⭐Karma: Vasishtha abuses his power and curses a man which backfires because his son, Saktri, ends up getting killed.

• Cursed him to become cannibal and the first person eaten is Saktri 

• Vasishtha tries to die because he is so grief stricken by his son's death 
• He can't die

12 years later

• Vasishtha removes the spell from the man in order to save his reputation 

• He asks for death but the gods ignore him 

Viswamitra becomes a Brahmin with Vaishtha's help and gains powers which he uses for good.

Viswamitra and Harischandra

A king is willing to sell his wife and boy off for money so that he can pay Viswamitra back. 

Section 3 - This section has a lot of examples of Dharma

The Tale of Rama and Sita

The gods devised a plan to defeat Ravana which is where Rama (Vishnu) came into the picture.

Viswamitra threatened King Dasaratha if he broke his promise.

• Requests Rama and Lakshmana fight a demon (Rama is 12 years old)
• battles Maricha

The king keeping his promise is an example of Dharma.

Rama marries Sita and his brothers marry her sisters

• Lakshmana & Satrughna
• Bharat & Urmila

Manthura was ill-minded and manipulated Kaikeyi by crying talking about Rama.

• Manthura planned Rama's exile

It looks like all the drama started because of Manthura. Dasaratha is a a humble but weak king. He wore his heart on his sleeve which is different since most kings did not. 

• Constantly being threatened by everyone and gives in to their threats

• Fulfilled dharma as a king but neglected his dharma as a father. 

Rama's mother (Kausalya) is full of grief and says she'll go with him in the forest or fast herself to death. Rama responds with:

"A woman's happiness stands and falls with her husband's welfare."  

•  wife's dharma

A wife is faithful and helps her husband to ensure his happiness. 

Dharma is a tricky concept and Dasaratha is a perfect example of that. Rama is too. He technically neglect his dharma as future king by going into exile but fulfills his duties as a son. 

The story reveals that Dasaratha was cursed by the boy's (whom he killed by accident) father. 

• die from grief for his won

Bharat had foreboding dreams about his father's death. When Bharat returns and find out what happened, Manthara taunts him. 

• He got the kingdom because of his mother.

• She wears expensive jewelry and clothes to the King's funeral 

10 years later

• Ravana's sister tries to kill Sita, his siblings try to avenge there sister 

• Maricha warns Ravana about Rama 

• Sita is kidnapped
• She taunted Lakshman when she heard "Rama's" voice.

Sita is a little full of herself before she gets kidnapped. 

Section 4 - Example of Husband/King's Dharma

⭐The Tale of Pururavas and Urvasi⭐

Urvasi was powerful but was exiled to earth by some of the gods as a punishment for entering a land forbidden to women . Some conditions were made for the exile:

• Urvasi takes two Rams wither

• Pururavas will not separate from her 

• Urvasi stays queen 

p - 76

This section is a perfect example of how dharma can be fulfilled as a king AND a husband. Despite the exile, Pururavas still stayed with Urvasi after she returned. He also fulfilled the people's wish of exiling her for her crime. He trusted her and ensured that they would not be separated and even had 6 sons. 

Rama should have laid out similar conditions before becoming king or even after becoming king or better yet, let the people know that they have no right to interfere in their marriage. 

Rama blames Lakshman for Sita's kidnapping and accuses Jatayu of eating her.

Rama is quick to judge without assessing the situation.

p. 84

Sugriva's older brother Bali got into a fight with a demon over a woman.

• Fought in a cave while Sugriva stood guard outside for a year

• Sugriva closed the cave thinking his brother died

• Bali misinterpreted this

• As Bali is dying he apologizes to his brother and his wife,Tara, (who was originally Sugriva's) mourns his death 

• Tara is still queen when Sugriva becomes king.

Bali's wife mourning is an example of dharma. After Sugriva becomes king he neglects his duties as a king. Despite Bali's relationship with his brother, he performed his dharma as a king, husband, and father.

Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mounting
Image Source: Wikipedia

Week 5 Story: Rama the Mafia Boss

My brother Lakshmana and I were sitting in our cabin smoking cigars while we discussed how we were going to get Sita back. One of the enemy gangs leader, Ravana,  kidnapped her and is holding her for ransom but what he doesn't realize is that he messed with the wrong gang.

While we were discussing our plans to ambush Ravana and bring Sita back, and man walks in. We looked at him ready to pull out our guns in case he was one of Ravana's men but he put his hands up saying he was here for our help. Lakshmana and I exchanged looks before looking back at him. He said his name is Hanuman and that he was from the Monkey Gang. His leader, Sugriva sent him here to ask us for help and told us that Sugriva wanted to speak with us and the Hanuman would take us to him. This guy seemed pretty genuine so we accepted and got into our black Royce Phantom and followed him to the destination. 

We ended up at this Italian restaurant where a man was just casually by the bar sipping his drink. "Sugriva, I did what you asked. Don Rama and his brother Lakshmana are here." Sugriva looked over at us and told us to have a seat. "Thanks for coming." he said. "I called you here because my brother Bali has throw me out of my territory and claimed it for himself. From my understanding, I hear your wife's been kidnapped and being held ransom so I thought I'd make you a deal. How about you help me get my territory and I send some of my people to help you get your wife back. " 

I thought about this a for a few minutes. I could use some help to get my beloved wife Sita back so why not? "Fine. I'll help but if you don't hold your end of the deal, let's just say my dear brother here will be paying you a visit and not just for drinks." With that, we shook hands and discussed our plan to ambush his brother Bali and his gang. 

Eventually Bali gave up and gave the territory back to his brother. All I had to do was look at him and he looked like he was about to pee his pants. I'm still waiting for Sugriva to return the favor but he hasn't been answering my calls. It looks like someone forgot about our little deal. 

"Lakshman, what do you say we go pay our friend Sugriva a visit. He still hasn't held his end of the deal. We should go remind him.", I slid over the gun to him which he took and put in his pockets.

"Yes Boss." and with that he left the den. A few hours later he returned with Sugriva and threw him in front of me. I took a puff of my cigar before speaking. "Sugriva, long time no see. Did you forgot your friend already?" I asked him in a mocking tone. "I'm sorry I-I forgot  he replied with a shaky voice. "Fine I'll forgive you just this once but we still have a deal. Either you get your men here now or it's lights out for you." I cooly replied. "Sure anything for you Rama." he replied and quickly pulled out his phone. Within a few minutes his men were at my den ready to help. I smirked. 

Let the games begin. 

(pxhere)

Author's Note: So I decided to retell part of the story where Rama meets Hanuman and Sugriva who promises to help Rama defeat Ravana if he helps him fight Bali. Sugriva never fulfilled his promise so Lakshmana had gone to confront him and threatened to kill him if he didn't help them. 

I thought it would be kind of fun to make the characters be part of a mafia since they basically threatened to kill Sugriva if he didn't do what he promised. I wanted to make the story a little cynical to add some suspense to it and thought the turning them into mafia gangs would make it exciting. 

The story is based on Stories of God & Heroes: Rama and Sita by W.D. Monroe

Learning Challenge: Follow your Dreams and Be Creative

Health

Data Reveals How Some College Students Sleep 

One thing I knew already was that sleep affects the mood. The article confirmed my thoughts on how light can also affect the mood. I did not really think about how it may be a warning sign of depression however, when I hear people talk about how they did not get any sleep a lot of the times they say it's because they stayed up late working on homework and studying. If they're my friends, I'll sometimes wonder if that's really the case or if there is something else going on and will show my concern for them just in case. I think it's really interesting how light gives the same effect as an antidepressant. It's really interesting how light affects your body and sleep schedule.This article gave me my answer as to why I am always up late working on homework or something (like now) even though I try to sleep early sometimes. I do not plan to actually try this any time soon but I would like to do more research on this and see what I can find.

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Empathy

What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?

This video is very relatable just because I've always enjoyed working for the most part. I enjoy it because it makes me feel like I have a purpose. I never really cared about the monetary value as much as I cared about the environment and internal value I can get. I feel like I get learn a lot through working than I do in a classroom and can connect with others better. It is more hands-on and there are more consequences whereas in a classroom the only consequence is your grade. At work, you also get a chance to correct your mistake and learn from it.

The speaker mentions how people get internal joy from doing what they enjoy which explains why I like to work. It's like people who value what they buy with their own money. It means more as opposed to someone else buying it for you. 

Part of the reason I chose my major was because I like to see the result of my hard work. It also very challenging and like a puzzle. Seeing everything fall into place in the end after all the hard work is satisfying in my opinion. I have always liked doing puzzles and knowing that I'll be able to do what I enjoy as a career doesn't even feel like work at all. I will be getting paid to live my dreams.

(9GAG)

Attention

Being Busy Is Killing Our Ability to Think Creatively

I did not know that being busy can affect the ability to think creatively. It does make sense though. A lot of people I know that say they are busy aren't exactly the most creative thinkers. However some of the people I know that make time to relax or just connect with nature really are creative. 

I agree when the article talks about how fear of missing out can increase anxiety since I've had some of those moments as a college student. However, anytime someone wants to play games or be outside I will almost never pass up the opportunity. 

(pq)

Reading

Bibliotherapy: Can You Read Yourself Happy?

I never knew that reading is a therapy or a prescription for that matter. As a person who reads a lot of ebooks I think that reading can make people happy. I know that when I feel down I would read and forget about my problems. I also like paperback novels but sadly I can't read that in the dark before going to bed.  Although you can read yourself happy you can also read yourself into other emotions as well depending on what you read but like everything, reading has its good and bad. 

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Time

Reviewing My Schedule

I feel like my schedule has been working great for me. I am focused and have energy when I work on my stories and readings and am able to squeeze in some extra credit and learn something new. For the most part, I find myself getting a little ahead because this class is so much fun. I have some wiggle room which allows me to fall behind a little bit but still turn things in on time. 

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