Ravana Quotes

Ravana all your wealth is wasted, what's the use of being rich if you won't spend your gold to do good for other people?

With the fire of acts, Ravana, is Heaven brilliant and Hell aflame.

I had lived as Ravana and I would die as Ravana. I did not intend to become Rama, the perfect man and God. There was no dearth of gods in my country. It only lacked men.

Yama is that way. Oh Ravana, be gone, I am Kala...I am Time....I am Time...

Existence is governed by its own law. Here, the things impermanent by nature are bound to meet their end. Hence, with the passage of time, not only Ravana's Lanka but "Krishna's" Dwarka also sinks.

journey from knowing to becoming is the journey of transformation from Ravana to Ram.

I think it was the size of the dream and the willingness to act on it. Ravana dreamt big and strove ruthlessly to achieve it.

Don't kill but conquer, the Ravana in you.

in Jain accounts, Ravana is killed by Lakshmana. In Dasharatha Jataka, Sita is Rama’s sister. In Ramayana and Purana accounts, Rama is Vishnu’s seventh avatara.

Who the hell cares who becomes the next Ravana of institutional mismanagement? God will have to sort that out. The only perfect management is in Vaikuntha anyway.

Ravan's ten heads stand for your different desires which compel you to divide your energies into different channels to fulfill those desires and run after illusions. Lord Ram stands for the clear meditating mind that strikes at the root of desire (navel) to destroy all illusions.

All wars are without reason, Sita. Men fight to satisfy their egos, to secure their property, or to simply grab what belongs to others.

It takes all types to make this world – the rich, the poor, the kind, the cruel, the indifferent,

I've rarely seen Parvati this upset... Despite being a killer, a demon princess and the heir to Ravana's throne, Parvati, you may be surprised to hear, is rather sensitive. I suppose it's her human half... She's been lonely for most of those four millennia. Lonely and homeless... She'd do anything for you, you know that, don't you?" "I didn't ask her to." "Friends shouldn't need to ask.

Rules vary with context. In the Ramayana, which takes place in Treta yuga, Vishnu is Ram, eldest son of a royal family. In the Mahabharata, which takes place in Dvapara yuga, Vishnu is Krishna, youngest son of a noble family, who is raised by cowherds but who performs as a charioteer. They are expected to behave differently. Ram is obligated to follow the rules of the family, clan and kingdom, and uphold family honour. Krishna is under no such obligation. This is why Krishna tells Arjuna to focus on dharma in his context (sva-dharma) rather than dharma in another’s context (para-dharma). Arjuna, better to do what you have been asked to do imperfectly than try to do perfectly what others have been asked to. All work has inadequacies; even fire is enveloped by smoke.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 47 and 48 (paraphrased). In the Ramayana Ram upholds rules, while Ravana breaks them. In the Mahabharata Duryodhana upholds rules, while Krishna breaks them. As eldest sons of their respective clans, Ram and Duryodhana are obliged to uphold rules. Ravana, son of a Brahmin, and Krishna, raised by cowherds, are under no such obligations. Dharma, however, is upheld only by Ram and Krishna, not Ravana and Duryodhana. Ram is constantly concerned about his city Ayodhya’s welfare, while Ravana does not care if his Lanka burns. Krishna cares for the Pandavas, who happen to be the children of his aunt, but the Kauravas do not care for the Pandavas, who happen to be the children of their uncle. Dharma thus has nothing to with rules or obligations. It has to do with intent and caring for the other, be it your kingdom or your family.

Rama watched him fall headlong from his chariot face down onto the earth, and that was the end of the great campaign. Now one noticed Ravana’s face aglow with a new quality. Rama’s arrows had burnt off the layers of dross, the anger, conceit, cruelty, lust, and egotism which had encrusted his real self, and now his personality came through in its pristine form—of one who was devout and capable of tremendous attainments. His constant meditation on Rama, although as an adversary, now seemed to bear fruit, as his face shone with serenity and peace.

For all its idyllic charm, and in the joy of companionship of Sita, Rama never lost sight of his main purpose in settling down in this region—he had come here to encounter and destroy the asuras, the fiends who infested this area, causing suffering and hardship to all the good souls who only wanted to be left alone to pursue their spiritual aims in peace. Rama’s whole purpose of incarnation was ultimately to destroy Ravana, the chief of the asuras, abolish fear from the hearts of men and gods, and establish peace, gentleness, and justice in the world.

It’s not a sin to feel bitter. It’s a sin to feel like a victim. I am not a victim, Sita, neither are you. We all made our choices. We chose our men, we chose our destinies and we chose our lives. Some choices went wrong, but life always gives a second chance, in fact many chances.

Now Ravana said to himself, "These are all petty weapons. I should really get down to proper business." And he invoked the one called "Maya"--a weapon which created illusions and confused the enemy. With proper incantations and worship, he sent off this weapon and it created an illusion of reviving all the armies and its leaders--Kumbakarna and Indrajit and the others--and bringing them back to the battlefield. Presently Rama found all those who, he thought, were no more, coming on with battle cries and surrounding him. Every man in the enemy's army was again up in arms.They seemed to fall on Rama with victorious cries. This was very confusing and Rama asked Matali, whom he had by now revived, "What is happening now? How are all these coming back? They were dead." Matali explained, "In your original identity you are the creator of illusions in this universe. Please know that Ravana has created phantoms to confuse you. If you make up your mind, you can dispel them immediately." Matali's explanation was a great help. Rama at once invoked a weapon called "Gnana"--which means "wisdom" or "perception." This was a very rare weapon, and he sent it forth. And all the terrifying armies who seemed to have come on in such a great mass suddenly evaporated into thin air.

I wanted to start again. I wanted to make the same mistakes, love the same people, fight the same enemies, befriend the same friends, marry the same wives and sire the same sons. I wanted to live the same life again. 13I didn’t want the seat Rama has reserved for me in his heaven. I only wanted my beautiful earth. I knew such things were not going to happen. I was sixty, not sixteen. If I lived, I would be a one-eyed, dirty, old beggar in some wayside temple, with stinking, tattered clothes. A long way from what I once was. I wanted to die now. I wanted this to end. I wanted to go away. Let the burning cities take care of themselves. Let the Asuras fight their own wars and be damned along with the Devas. I only wanted to return to my childhood and start over again, every single damn thing, again and again and again…

Who is responsible for Sita’s abduction by Ravana? Should we blame her for taking a risk and feeding a hermit? Should we blame Lakshmana who cruelly cut the nose of Ravana’s sister Surpanakha? Or should we blame Surpanakha who tried to kill Sita so that her husband, Ram, would be free to love other women? Should we blame Ram who refused to indulge Surpanakha’s desires because he wanted to be faithful to his wife? Or should we blame Sita for accompanying Ram into the forest where rules of marriage have no meaning? Should we blame Ram’s stepmother, Kaikeyi, for demanding his forest exile? Or should we blame Ram’s father, Dashratha, for giving boons to Kaikeyi that the royal family was bound to uphold? Even if we identify the cause, can we control the action and determine future consequences?

Love is about seeing: I see Ram, and Ram sees me. I want to be seen by Ram and Ram wants to be seen by me. I have shown Ram my vulnerabilities without trepidation and so has he. Ravana cannot love another because he sees no one, not even himself.

You do not judge Ravana?’ Sugriva asked. ‘No, I understand where he is coming from, just as I understood where Kaikeyi came from,’ Ram replied. ‘Ravana is capable of so much more. But he refuses to be what he can be. So he imagines me as his enemy, and refuses to see me for who I am. Like Kaikeyi, he is consumed by his own notion of what is reality.’ ‘Hearing Ram speak thus,’ said Hanuman to Sita, ‘I realized Ram was a true brahmin, he who expands his mind and of those around him, a householder with the mind of a hermit. He does not need a kingdom to be king.’ ‘He does not need control over a wife to be a husband,’ said Sita.

Ravana

WHEN KING RAVANA DIED, INJUSTICE DIED AND WHEN LORD RAMA DIED, JUSTICE WAS NOT DEAD, LORD KRISHNA CAME

The original in Hindi is given below: Papanashini Ganga sabse badi Toh Ganga kaise badi? Woh to Prithvi par padi Prithvi sabse badi Toh Prithvi kaise badi? Woh to Sesha Naga ke sar par khadi Sesha sabse bada Toh Sesha kaise bada? Woh to Shankar gale mein pada Toh Shankar sabse bada Shankar kaise bada? Woh to Kailash shikhar par khada Toh Kailash sabse bada Kailash kaise bada? Woh to Ravana ko lad khada Toh Ravana sabse bada Ravana kaise bada? Woh to Ramabana se gira Toh Rama sabse bada Rama kaise bada? Woh to bhakta hridaye mein khada Toh bhakta sabse bada Bhakta kaise bada? Woh to Rama nama ko pada Toh nama sabse bada

Indian philosophy separates what a man is from what he possesses. We are a set of thoughts and we have a set of things. Ram derives his strength from his thoughts, what he is, while Ravana derives his strength from his possessions, what he has. Ravana has knowledge; he may be learned, but he is not wise. Through Ravana, the bards draw attention to the learned brahmin priest who spouts hymns verbatim but fails to appreciate their meaning or transform himself because of them.

Everybody is born with different shades of Ram and Ravana...and same was applicable to Ram (good) and Ravana themselves (evil).

Recipes of Sita People have to be fed during a war. And so the kitchens of Lanka were busy. Those who were going to the war had to be fed; those who were returning from the war had to be fed. Food had to inspire, comfort and stir passions. The smell of rice boiling, vegetables frying and fish roasting filled the city streets, mingling with the smell of blood, rotting flesh and burning towers. The aromas reached Sita’s grove. ‘Don’t you like that smell?’ asked Trijata noticing Sita’s expression as she inhaled the vapours. Trijata, Vibhishana’s daughter, had become a friend. ‘If I was cooking, I would change the proportion of the spices,’ Sita said. She gave her suggestions to Trijata, who promptly conveyed them to the royal kitchen. Mandodari followed these instructions and soon a different aroma wafted out of the kitchen. So enticing was the resulting aroma that other rakshasa cooks came to the Ashoka grove and asked Sita for cooking tips. Without tasting the food, just by smelling what had been prepared, like a skilled cook, Sita gave her suggestions. ‘Add more salt.’ ‘Replace mustard with pepper.’ ‘Mix ginger with tamarind.’ ‘Less cloves, more coconut milk.’ These suggestions were promptly executed, and before long Lanka was full of the most delightful aromas and flavours, so delightful that sons and brothers and husbands and fathers wanted to stay back and relish more food. They wanted to burp, then sleep, then wake up and eat again. They wanted to chew areca nuts wrapped in betel leaves and enjoy the company of their wives on swings. No war, no fighting, just conversations over food. Ravana noticed the lethargy in his men, their reluctance to fight. They were not afraid. They were not drunk. They were just too happy to go to war. Furious, he ordered the kitchens to be closed. ‘Starve the soldiers. Hungry men are angry men. In anger they will kill the monkeys. The only food they can eat is monkey flesh.

Ram and Ravana represent two ends of the human spectrum.

Within there is regard for the law of marriage; without there isn’t any. Within, Sita is Rama’s wife. Outside, she is a woman for the taking. Ravana knows that if he enters Rama’s hut and forces himself on Sita he will be judged by the rules of society. But when he forces himself on Sita outside the Lakshmana-rekha, he will be judged by the laws of the jungle. Within, he will be the villain who disregarded the laws of marriage. Outside, he will be hero, the great trickster.

Who are the Eight Immortals?’ asked Adhyapika. ‘One of them is Ashwatthama, the son of guru Drona. He was given immortality not as a boon but as a curse for his misdeeds. Then there’s Vyasa, the sage who narrated the Mahabharata. He was born in Tretayug, lived through Dwaparyug and Kalyug. Also there is the Asura King Bali whose pious deeds on earth provided him with the boon of being able to visit his subjects once a year during Onam.’ ‘That’s only three,’ said Adhyapika. ‘Well, the fourth is Vibhishana, Ravana’s brother. He was made immortal in order to maintain morality and righteousness in Lanka. Fifth, there’s Kripa, the kulguru of the Kurus. His impartiality towards all of his students was the reason for his immortality. And sixth, Parshurama, the master of astras, shastras and celestial weapons. He is waiting for Kalki, the final avatar of Vishnu, to appear so that he may train him in warfare. Seventh is Markendeya, a devotee of Shiva who was granted immortality by him when Shiva and Yama fought each other. Finally, there’s me, the eighth.’ ‘But why were all of you in Ashoka’s

By the time the Ramayana was written by Valmiki, patriarchy had registered its authority over women’s bodies and over their reproductive rights. Rama considers Sita his property until he loses her to Ravana. Despite Sita’s purity, Rama rejects her twice, doubting her fidelity. One cannot imagine anyone doing this to Draupadi and it is impossible to accuse Kunti of any infidelity except to her own self! Yet Sita is a silent heroine as she refuses to bear Rama any child till he secures his throne. She brings up her sons on her own as a single abandoned mother and finally returns to her mother’s womb, thus establishing the autonomy of the female.

The story of Sita lifting the Shiva dhanushya, which it takes 5000 servants to fetch for Rama to break (Bala Kanda, sarg 66), signifies the onset of puberty. Yet, if we are to take this literally, we have to ask what happened to this strong woman after marriage that she let herself be abducted by Ravana without a fight.

If you kill the Ravana in you, it's like killing the healthy cells along with cancer cells. Guru with Guitar. Happy Dussehra.

Ravana

Ram is a metaphor. So is Ravana. So is Hanuman. The Ramayana takes place in the landscape that is our mind.

Intelligence is a God-given faculty. Switching on and off this faculty is in the hands of God. No one can claim ownership for their ideas. Ravana, out of immense pride, had committed a blunder. His intelligence faculty was in switch-off mode at this point.

Ravana

Ravana,

In the macrocosm, Rama represents the Supreme Self; and Hanuman, his devotee, the individual self. Within the microcosm of the embodied self (jiva), Rama represents the embodied self, who is caught in the cycle of births and deaths (samsara). Sita represents the physical self, i.e. the mind and the body complex (kshetra). Ravana, with his ten heads, represents the ego with ten senses that have fallen into evil ways. Hanuman represents the breath. When ego and the senses carry away the mind and body and put them to wrong use, with the help of its breath, the embodied soul restrains the senses, silences the ego, regains control of the mind and body and stabilizes them in the contemplation of God.

Though Diwali celebrated light banishing darkness, Ravana was not a flat villain. And Ram was not an infallible hero.

It was later, mush later, when I witnessed the behaviour of another man towards his chosen wife, in circumstances that were much less serious, that I understood why Ravana would never be deified. He was too humane to be a god.

He concurred with Gandhi that Ramachandra was the life and soul of India but urged the audience to remember that even he could not establish Rama Rajya (his kingdom) without slaying Ravana who symbolized tyranny, aggression and injustice. If Ramachandra had merely sat on a fast, it was unlikely that his kingdom could have been established.

In the Ramayana many women are killed or mutilated on the grounds of them being demons: Tadaka is the first amongst them and Surpanakha is the most well known. But there are others such as Ayomukhi, Simhika, Surasa, Lankini and even Mandodari, the wife of Ravana, and Chandrasena, the wife of Mahiravana. It is difficult to digest that these are simply metaphors for wild, untamed nature. There is clearly an acceptance of male violence against women.

Good never has guarantee because it is victorious once a year when symbolically the evil Ravana is set on fire.

In the Ramayana Ram upholds rules, while Ravana breaks them. In the Mahabharata Duryodhana upholds rules, while Krishna breaks them. As eldest sons of their respective clans, Ram and Duryodhana are obliged to uphold rules. Ravana, son of a Brahmin, and Krishna, raised by cowherds, are under no such obligations. Dharma, however, is upheld only by Ram and Krishna, not Ravana and Duryodhana. Ram is constantly concerned about his city Ayodhya’s welfare, while Ravana does not care if his Lanka burns. Krishna cares for the Pandavas, who happen to be the children of his aunt, but the Kauravas do not care for the Pandavas, who happen to be the children of their uncle. Dharma thus has nothing to with rules or obligations. It has to do with intent and caring for the other, be it your kingdom or your family.

Due to her extreme beauty, Sita was abducted; due to his extreme pride, Ravana was killed; due to his extreme charity, Bali was bounded; therefore extreme in everything, should be debarred.

No wonder the women of the best Nair families never mentioned sex. It was their principal phobia. They associated it with violence and bloodshed. They had been fed on the stories of Ravana who perished due to his desire for Sita and of Kichaka, who was torn to death by Draupadi's legal husband Bhima only because he coveted her. It was customary for a Nair girl to marry when she was hardly out of her childhood and it was also customary for the much older husband to give her a rude shockby his sexual haste on the wedding night. The only heroine whose sex life seemed comparatively untumultuous was Radha who waited on the banks of Jamuna for her blue-skinned lover. But she was another's wife and so an adulteress. In the orbit of licit sex, there seemed to be only crudeness and violence.

She wasn’t scared of dogs. She had seen worse -- human beings who could bite without even the warning of a bark.

Poets are seldom wrong. They sing to the tune of money and to the rhythms of power. The imperfection is not with the King, but within us.

Every breath, every moment, it gives me a chance, it asks me to choose, and I choose beauty. The seers might say I am seeking what I don’t have, but I don’t care for them. We can never find what is not there within us. I see beauty in everything, Sita and feel wonderment every moment.

will teach him to reciprocate love with at least compassion, if not love. I will teach him to be a better man.

have nothing against you, Sita. There is nothing to forgive. I loved and lost. My brother loved and lost. Losers do not inherit the earth. They are condemned to be evil.

Granny, I want to consult you about something." "What is it?" "In the Ramayana there are Rama and Sita, in the Bhagavatha there are Krishna and Satyabhama and in the legends Shiva and Parvathi. These deities are supposed to take birth on the earth as incarnations in order to protect the weak and punish the wicked." "Yes, the Ramayana and the Bhagavatha tell us so. These things could also be the proverbial 'brinjals'. Do you know why I think so? God is supposed to be omnipresent; would it be necessary for Him to be born in order to sweep away the accumulated dust and dirt? Not exactly dust and dirt but say - wicked demons like a Ravana or a Hiranyakasipu. Why should God take the trouble of being born as an earthly being, when He could kill instantly anyone He chooses by hurling a thunderbolt? We can consider our lives also to be 'avatars' or incarnations, for that matter. Insects, birds, animals-all these are incarnations!

Why should Rama have killed Ravana? He fought Ravana and killed him in battle because Ravana had Kidnapped Sita. When he was about to regain her, what did he do? He wanted to test her purity in fire. One feels distressed at such a situation and disgusted about Rama's behaviour. But once Sita comes out unscathed from the fire, we seem to forget all else that had taken place before. We want Sita to be saved and the story writer has saved her. But how? Only after throwing her into a fire, and then declaring to the world her purity of character. What eyewash !

The incarnations don't make sense to me." "Why?" "Is it necessary that God should take human form for the destruction of evil? " Think, child. Does God need an avatar to kill an insect that He Himself created? However bad a man or demon is, he is but a tiny worm before God, even less than a worm ! To kill it, must He assume an avatar? For instance, consider Rama's avatar to kill Ravana the demon. When did Vishnu get the first report of the atrocities perpetuated by evil demons? When did Rama set out to destroy them? After he got the first news, he is born as Dasaratha's child, grows up, spends some fourteen years or so in the forests and finally manages to kill Ravana! If He learns that evil is on the increase he should rush to the spot and crush it, then and there. Would you give an evil fellow some thirty years of grace to commit all sorts of mischief? What is the fate of those fellows who solely believed in His capacity to protect them from evil? This is too much nonsense to swallow. "And child, for the sake of destroying any person why should He assume the form of a man or any other form? He could have flung a lightning at the wicked. It does not need a theatrical performance." "Then you deny all these incarnations of God? If you yourself don't believe in them....." "You see, He is one and, only one; we who perceive Him are thousands and thousands of persons with many minds. The numerous pictures are the creation of the numerous beholders. There is but one sky; a thousand seeing eyes cannot mean a thousand skies.