The Symbolism of Ravana in Spiritual Evolution

Many of us would not have heard a Puranic (mythological) story where Ravana (the Asura and Rakshasa king who abducted Devi Sita) before incarnating as Ravana, was one of the two gate keepers (named Jaya and Vijay) of Lord Vishnu. Once “Vaikunth Loka or Vishnudham” where lord Vishnu resides was visited by the four “Manas Putra” of Lord Brahma (Manas putra are children who are born by mere thought. One can visualize them as seeds of the mind). However, due to their childlike looks and age and inability of Jaya and Vijay to recognize them, they were stopped at the gate itself by Jaya and Vijaya and were not allowed to meet Lord Vishnu. Because of this, Jaya and Vijay were sentenced /cursed by the four children of Brahma to be born on earth to get rid of their excess Rajas and Tamas which had resulted in their inability to recognize the four children of Brahma. On pleading Jaya and Vijay were told by Lord Vishnu that while the curse cannot be withdrawn, they have the option to either incarnate on earth as Lord Vishnu’s devotee for seven lifetimes or be born as Lord Vishnu’s enemies (i.e. demons/evils) for just three lifetimes. Jaya and Vijay chose the second option as they wanted to come back to their abode as soon as possible and were born as different Asuras /Rakshasas /human with evil thinking in three different lives, one of which was when they were born as Ravana and his brother Kumbhakaran.

Now let us understand the deep seated meaning of different characters of this story and the story itself. Here they are:-

• To begin with let us understand that every soul is sitting at a different level of evolution depending upon what lives it has lived thereby creating different  experiences. Every soul must enter this world (the web/internet of maya/illusion) to understand this world. Every soul takes several lifetimes in different parts of the hard disc of this maya so that it gains all these experiences to attain complete knowledge and merge with God (the knower of all). However, this is also true that nothing is permanent and neither is the knowledge which keeps expanding alongwith with this Universe. Thus the souls have to keep coming to this expanding  web of maya to keep learning after taking short breaks in the higher world.
• Now let us turn to Ravana’s story. Here, Jay means praise and Vijay means victory. Both virtues also represent ego which keeps inflating as one becomes more victorious and is praised. 
• “Vishnudham” represents the highest level of evolution of the soul in a particular Yuga. While at macro level (or say Supersoul’s level), Lord Vishnu represents the administrator of the Universe, at the soul level too, we all have Vishnu inside us who keeps evolving as the Brahamande (or say Lord Brahma) expands and evolves with the help of Lord Shiva (inside us). From Ayurveda viewpoint, Vishnu is the nutritional fluid inside us that creates Vata Pitta and Kapha and administers our  body.
• The four children of Lord Brahma depict new inventions/discoveries/concepts of his four Vedas/pillars of knowledge which were stopped from meeting Lord Vishnu for further enhancement of knowledge and thus evolution of the Brahamande (Universe). The four children can also be thought of as new pearls of knowledge related to Dharma, Arth, Kaam, and Moksha as the Universe (Brahamand) evolves. They were stopped by ego (Jay and Vijay) and other vices which is why ego was sentenced to go through experience as humans to mellow down (in the same life from body’s perspective and in different lives from soul’s perspective) so that it can learn more and evolve and allow more knowledge to help Lord Vishnu to evolve further (both the soul and the Universe- the supersoul at a larger scale).
• Both the gate keepers have been shown to carry weapons similar to Lord Vishnu i.e. Sudarshan Chakra, Mace and Shankh however while Lord Vishnu’s fourth hand has Lotus, their fourth hand has sword. This signifies that while these souls had gathered power of these instruments, however they had not attained full enlightenment (or say complete understanding of the Brahamand) which is why they did not have Lotus (whose thousand petals depict fully open crown chakra and thus connection with the entire Universe) like Lord Vishnu and therefore their energies were more destructive due to incomplete understanding of the Universe. In other words, they still had ego and other vices. Thus whenever human ego inflates to such a level that it refuses to learn more, the soul is taught a lesson to mellow down her ego and accept the new learnings/lessons/knowledge. Astrologically, it is the Saturn that awakens inside the soul.
• The option of three vis-a-vis seven lifetimes depicts free will given to the soul. However when the soul becomes closer to God, it may wish to reach the God (the knower of everything) as early as possible even though it means more intense struggle in a shorter period of time. Astrologically it comes when one is high on Rahu (mental stimulation) as high Rahu i.e. high Vata Pitta in ayurvedic terms, increases the reach of the soul in the web (internet) of Maya thereby evolving her faster though the price that she has to pay is struggle in terms of sufferings (both at mental and physical level). This also indicates that struggles teach the soul quicker than otherwise which is why Ravana chose a life full of swings where ultimately his ego was tamed by Lord Rama.
• Here while Ravana depicts our ego/lust and other vices which are primarily Rajasic in nature, Kumbhakaran depicts tamas i.e. understimulation (as he slept for most of the time). Together both the energies of Rajas and Tamas (Rahu and Ketu) churn the life and create more knowledge out of it to evolve further. That is why even though Kalyuga creates very high Rajas and Tamas, the souls happily take a dip in it as it catapults their evolution. It is very important to remember that farther reach (i.e. high Rahu) subsequently creates strong Saturn (introspection) when Pitta/heat cools down thereby bringing deeper realizations and learnings for soul to segregate good from bad. Once the soul becomes slower and purer, she automatically chooses the higher realm where collective conscience is exactly in line with the realizations gained and ethics (on mental as well as physical level). Then she doesn’t need Vata/Saturn/diseases to gain more realizations because then she is already in a better collective conscience. However this is true that this journey goes on and on unless the soul reaches the pinnacle of evolution and merges with the highest (infinitely highest).
• Seven lives depict that the soul will have to spend one life in each chakra for cleaning her system before moving to the next chakra/life until it finally merges with Lord Vishnu. Whereas, three lives depict that the soul will live the life in Patal Loka as Asura, in Bhuloka as Rakshasa and in upper Chakra as a human before reaching the Sahasrar Chakra (the Vaikunth Loka). Obviously, the option of three lives is more difficult as it means reaching the top (or say covering the distance) in lesser time than the other option. This also means that a soul may sign up her future course for not just one life but for many. Of course, like humans, the soul too has the option to drop out in between however a lot will depend upon several factors like the strength, experience, maturity, devotion and stubbornness of the soul.
• Even a curse has something good hidden in it for the evolution of the soul and that is why God doesn’t interfere in it as HE can see the larger good of soul and the Universe. In fact, it’s all part of HIS plan.
• For those who understand Astrology, the process of creation of Ravana and then of victory of Lord Rama is a continuous one that happens all the time in our body and mind. So, when Pitta (Sun and Mars) goes high along with Rahu (desire to learn more), then it creates Jupiter (expansion of Knowledge), thereby creating Ravana. This knowledge/conscience through the energies of Saturn, Mercury and Ketu create higher knowledge and then experiences through Venus to realize the different between wrong and right. Finally when Sun arrives again, it has already filtered out wrongs (vices) from the knowledge/experience thereby creating higher level of conscience which is nothing but Ram. This also means that Ram and Ravana are relative energies. The level of conscience of Rama for a less evolved soul would still be Ravana for a more evolved soul whose Rama is much more evolved conscience than the less evolved soul. Am sure the Astrology enthusiasts would have noticed that the progression is exactly in line with the planetary periods (Dashas).