Reincarnation
Version 1
After Rama conquered Ravana, returned to Ayodhya, and after all the episodes of Uttar-Ramayana (Luv-Kush etc.), it was time to go. Rama and Laxmana's work on the earth was over. However Hanuman, who had returned to Ayodhya to be with Rama was of the opinion that they were still needed. Rama thinks of a way of letting Hanuman know the real nature of time and a man's position in the wheel of time (Yugas).
Thus while speaking, Rama lets his ring slip into a hole in the ground. Ever ready to serve Lord Rama, Hanuman jumps into the hole and follows the ring. The ring keeps rolling ahead into the wormhole, which is now become a tunnel.
The rings keep rolling, with the great Hanuman in tow, and finally comes to a stop on a ground. When Hanuman reaches to pick it up, he sees that there are rings all over the ground - thousands of them. Confused and dazed, he looks around to see some of the dwellers of Patala. They are all looking at him. He asks them what this means.
The dwellers smile and tell him - Every time a Vanara (Monkey God) comes in search of a ring, they know that a Rama has come to the end of his life. There have been thousands of Hanumans before this one - with thousands of Ramas, with their Ramayanas - and all the world. And, there will be thousands of more to come.
This just goes on to explain the concept of cyclic time that is perhaps the most fundamental difference between Western and Eastern thought.
Source
https://freeglobaluniversity.blogspot.com/search/label/Poetry
Version 2
Version 3
One day, Rama was informed that it was time for him to die. He understood that those who take birth have to experience death. "Let Yama, come to me. It is time for me to return to Vaikuntha, my heavenly abode," he said. But Yama, the god of death, dared not enter Ayodhya as he was afraid of Hanuman who guarded the gates of Rama's palace.
To allow Yama's entry, it was necessary to distract Hanuman. So Rama dropped his ring into a crack in the palace floor and requested Hanuman to fetch it.
Hanuman reduced himself to the size of a beetle and entered the crack only to discover that it was no crack but the entrance to a tunnel that led to Nag Lok, the land of serpents. Hanuman met Vasuki, the king of serpents there and informed him of his mission.
Vasuki took Hanuman to the centre of Nag Lok where stood a mountain of rings! "There you will surely find Rama's ring," said Vasuki. Hanuman wondered how he would do that as it was like finding a needle in a haystack. But to his delight, the first ring that he picked up was Rama's ring. To his astonishment, even the second ring he picked up was Rama's ring. In fact all the rings that made up the mountain were identical. "What is the meaning of this?" he wondered.
Vasuki smiled and said, "This world we live in goes through cycles of life and death. Each life cycle of the world is called a kalpa. Each kalpa has four yugas or quarters. In the second quarter or Treta Yuga, Rama takes birth in Ayodhya. Then one day his ring falls into the subterranean realm of serpents through a tunnel. A monkey follows it and Rama on earth dies. So it has been for hundreds of thousands of kalpas. All these rings testify to that fact. The mountain keeps growing as more rings fall. There is enough space for the rings of future Ramas."
Hanuman realised that his entry into Nag Lok and his encounter with the mountain of rings was no accident. It was Rama's way of telling him that he could not stop death from coming. Rama would die. The world would die. But like all things, Rama would be reborn each time the world is reborn.
This cyclical view of life is the essence of Indic thought. But the period of colonial rule and later political developments led to distortions in our understanding of the Ramayana. That is why everyone wants to locate Rama in history and geography, and fight over dates and addresses - instead of looking at the larger picture.
Rama is timeless and universal and so cannot be fettered to any period or place. That is why the day of his birth is celebrated every year as spring gives way to summer. Every year he comes, every year he goes, like do the seasons. The faithful know that there will never be a time when Rama will not return. He'll be back.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/Timeless-story-of-Sri-Rama/articleshow/7945143.cms
Source
https://freeglobaluniversity.blogspot.com/search/label/Snake
Similar Incident
There is one more interesting story - a similar one - of the cyclic nature of time and multiple worlds - this one is about multiple Indras and is taken from the Puranas.
Indra (Sakra), the king of Devas (gods), is known for his arrogance. One day, he decides that he wants a grand palace to be built for him to befit his stature. So he orders Vishwakarma, the architect of gods and son of Brahma, to build a great palace for him. Vishwakarma builds a wonderful palace with all possible amnities for Indra. But Indra is not happy. He wants the grandest palace for himself. Poor Vishwakarma breaks down the first one and builds an even grander palace, one of his best creations.
Indra, however, is still not satisfied. He wants a palace like no other - like the one never built before and like the one that will never be built later. He is, after all, the ruler of the three worlds! There is no one like him. How can he have an ordinary palace? ...
He orders Vishwakarma to rebuild the palace - the third time. An exhasparated Vishwakarma goes to his father Brahma and asks for help. Brahma asks him to take Vishnu's refuge. Vishnu hears the whole story and laughts out. He tells Vishwakarma not to worry and that he will take care of it.
He goes to Indra in the form of a boy. Indra welcomes his guest and asks his purpose of visit. The boy says "to see if your palace is better than OTHER Indras"!
Indra is dumbfolded. What does the boy mean by 'Other Indras'? The boy tells him "yes, other Indras. Those who existed before you. Those who will come after you. And also those who are currently existing in parallel worlds" ...
... Can you imagine Indra's situation when he hears this? ... Countless Indras in the past, countless now, and countless in the future. Each Indra is a ruler of the sky of his world and a king of Devas.Each one wants his Vishwakarma to build a grand palace. The boy goes on to tell him how he has met with them all and seen their palaces.
Indra is humbled by this insight, knows that the boy is really Narayana (Vishnu) and stops making his place grander.
After Rama conquered Ravana, returned to Ayodhya, and after all the episodes of Uttar-Ramayana (Luv-Kush etc.), it was time to go. Rama and Laxmana's work on the earth was over. However Hanuman, who had returned to Ayodhya to be with Rama was of the opinion that they were still needed. Rama thinks of a way of letting Hanuman know the real nature of time and a man's position in the wheel of time (Yugas).
Thus while speaking, Rama lets his ring slip into a hole in the ground. Ever ready to serve Lord Rama, Hanuman jumps into the hole and follows the ring. The ring keeps rolling ahead into the wormhole, which is now become a tunnel.
The rings keep rolling, with the great Hanuman in tow, and finally comes to a stop on a ground. When Hanuman reaches to pick it up, he sees that there are rings all over the ground - thousands of them. Confused and dazed, he looks around to see some of the dwellers of Patala. They are all looking at him. He asks them what this means.
The dwellers smile and tell him - Every time a Vanara (Monkey God) comes in search of a ring, they know that a Rama has come to the end of his life. There have been thousands of Hanumans before this one - with thousands of Ramas, with their Ramayanas - and all the world. And, there will be thousands of more to come.
This just goes on to explain the concept of cyclic time that is perhaps the most fundamental difference between Western and Eastern thought.
Source
https://freeglobaluniversity.blogspot.com/search/label/Poetry
Version 2
How many Ramayanas? Three hundred? Three thousand? At the end of some Ramayanas, a question is sometimes asked: How many Ramayanas have there been? And there are stories that answer the question. Here is one.
One day when Rama was sitting on his throne, his ring fell off. When it touched the earth, it made a hole in the ground and disappeared into it. It was gone. His trusty henchman, Hanuman, was at his feet. Rama said to Hanuman, ‘Look, my ring is lost. Find it for me.’
Now, Hanuman can enter any hole, no matter how tiny. He had the power to become the smallest of the small and larger than the largest thing. So he took on a tiny form and went down the hole.
He went and went and went and suddenly fell into the netherworld. There were women down there. ‘Look, a tiny monkey! It’s fallen from above!’ Then they caught him and placed him on a platter (thali). The King of Spirits (bhut), who lives in the netherworld, likes to eat animals. So Hanuman was sent to him as part of his dinner along with his vegetables. Hanuman sat on the platter, wondering what to do.
While this was going on in the netherworld, Rama sat on his throne on the earth above. The sage Vasistha and the god Brahma came to see him. They said to Rama, ‘We want to talk privately with you. We don’t want anyone to hear what we say or interrupt it. Do we agree?’
‘All right,’ said Rama, ‘we’ll talk.’
Then they said, ‘Lay down a rule. If anyone comes in as we are talking, his head should be cut off.’
‘It will be done,’ said Rama.
Who would be the most trustworthy person to guard the door? Hanuman had gone down to fetch the ring. Rama trusted no one more than Laksmana so he asked Laksmana to stand by the door. ‘Don’t allow anyone to enter,’ he ordered.
Laksmana was standing at the door when the sage Visvamitra appeared and said, ‘I need to see Rama at once. It’s urgent. Tell me, where is Rama?’
Laksmana said, ‘Don’t go in now. He is talking to some people. It’s important.’
‘What is there that Rama would hide from me?’ said Visvamitra. ‘I must go in, right now.’
Laksmana said, ‘I’ll have to ask his permission before I can let you in.’
‘Go in and ask then.’
‘I can’t go in till Rama comes out. You’ll have to wait.’
‘If you don’t go in and announce my presence, I’ll burn the entire kingdom of Ayodhya with a curse,’ said Visvamitra.
Laksmana thought, ‘If I go in now, I’ll die. But if I don’t go, this hot-headed man will burn down the kingdom. All the subjects, all things living in it, will die. It’s better that I alone should die.’
So he went right in.
Rama asked him, ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Visvamitra is here.’
‘Send him in.’
So Visvamitra went in. The private talk had already come to an end. Brahma and Vasistha had come to see Rama and say to him, ‘Your work in the world of human beings is over. Your incarnation as Rama must now be given up. Leave this body, come up and rejoin the gods.’ That’s all they wanted to say.
Laksmana said to Rama, ‘Brother, you should cut off my head.’
Rama said, ‘Why? We had nothing more to say. Nothing was left. So why should I cut off your head?’
Laksmana said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t let me off because I’m your brother. There’ll be a blot on Rama’s name. You didn’t spare your wife. You sent her to the jungle. I must be punished. I will leave.’
Laksmana was an avatar of Sesa, the serpent on whom Visnu sleeps. His time was up too. He went directly to the river Sarayu and disappeared in the flowing waters.
When Laksmana relinquished his body, Rama summoned all his followers, Vibhisana, Sugriva and others, and arranged for the coronation of his twin sons, Lava and Kusa. Then Rama too entered the river Sarayu.
All this while, Hanuman was in the netherworld. When he was finally taken to the King of Spirits, he kept repeating the name of Rama. ‘Rama Rama Rama…’
Then the King of Spirits asked, ‘Who are you?’
‘Hanuman.’
‘Hanuman? Why have you come here?’
‘Rama’s ring fell into a hole. I’ve come to fetch it.’
The king looked around and showed him a platter. On it were thousands of rings. They were all Rama’s rings. The king brought the platter to Hanuman, set it down and said, ‘Pick out your Rama’s ring and take it.’
They were all exactly the same. ‘I don’t know which one it is,’ said Hanuman, shaking his head.
The King of Spirits said, ‘There have been as many Ramas as there are rings on this platter. When you return to earth, you will not find Rama. This incarnation of Rama is now over. Whenever an incarnation of Rama is about to be over, his ring falls down. I collect them and keep them. Now you can go.’
Version 3
One day, Rama was informed that it was time for him to die. He understood that those who take birth have to experience death. "Let Yama, come to me. It is time for me to return to Vaikuntha, my heavenly abode," he said. But Yama, the god of death, dared not enter Ayodhya as he was afraid of Hanuman who guarded the gates of Rama's palace.
To allow Yama's entry, it was necessary to distract Hanuman. So Rama dropped his ring into a crack in the palace floor and requested Hanuman to fetch it.
Hanuman reduced himself to the size of a beetle and entered the crack only to discover that it was no crack but the entrance to a tunnel that led to Nag Lok, the land of serpents. Hanuman met Vasuki, the king of serpents there and informed him of his mission.
Vasuki took Hanuman to the centre of Nag Lok where stood a mountain of rings! "There you will surely find Rama's ring," said Vasuki. Hanuman wondered how he would do that as it was like finding a needle in a haystack. But to his delight, the first ring that he picked up was Rama's ring. To his astonishment, even the second ring he picked up was Rama's ring. In fact all the rings that made up the mountain were identical. "What is the meaning of this?" he wondered.
Vasuki smiled and said, "This world we live in goes through cycles of life and death. Each life cycle of the world is called a kalpa. Each kalpa has four yugas or quarters. In the second quarter or Treta Yuga, Rama takes birth in Ayodhya. Then one day his ring falls into the subterranean realm of serpents through a tunnel. A monkey follows it and Rama on earth dies. So it has been for hundreds of thousands of kalpas. All these rings testify to that fact. The mountain keeps growing as more rings fall. There is enough space for the rings of future Ramas."
Hanuman realised that his entry into Nag Lok and his encounter with the mountain of rings was no accident. It was Rama's way of telling him that he could not stop death from coming. Rama would die. The world would die. But like all things, Rama would be reborn each time the world is reborn.
This cyclical view of life is the essence of Indic thought. But the period of colonial rule and later political developments led to distortions in our understanding of the Ramayana. That is why everyone wants to locate Rama in history and geography, and fight over dates and addresses - instead of looking at the larger picture.
Rama is timeless and universal and so cannot be fettered to any period or place. That is why the day of his birth is celebrated every year as spring gives way to summer. Every year he comes, every year he goes, like do the seasons. The faithful know that there will never be a time when Rama will not return. He'll be back.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/Timeless-story-of-Sri-Rama/articleshow/7945143.cms
Source
https://freeglobaluniversity.blogspot.com/search/label/Snake
Similar Incident
There is one more interesting story - a similar one - of the cyclic nature of time and multiple worlds - this one is about multiple Indras and is taken from the Puranas.
Indra (Sakra), the king of Devas (gods), is known for his arrogance. One day, he decides that he wants a grand palace to be built for him to befit his stature. So he orders Vishwakarma, the architect of gods and son of Brahma, to build a great palace for him. Vishwakarma builds a wonderful palace with all possible amnities for Indra. But Indra is not happy. He wants the grandest palace for himself. Poor Vishwakarma breaks down the first one and builds an even grander palace, one of his best creations.
Indra, however, is still not satisfied. He wants a palace like no other - like the one never built before and like the one that will never be built later. He is, after all, the ruler of the three worlds! There is no one like him. How can he have an ordinary palace? ...
He orders Vishwakarma to rebuild the palace - the third time. An exhasparated Vishwakarma goes to his father Brahma and asks for help. Brahma asks him to take Vishnu's refuge. Vishnu hears the whole story and laughts out. He tells Vishwakarma not to worry and that he will take care of it.
He goes to Indra in the form of a boy. Indra welcomes his guest and asks his purpose of visit. The boy says "to see if your palace is better than OTHER Indras"!
Indra is dumbfolded. What does the boy mean by 'Other Indras'? The boy tells him "yes, other Indras. Those who existed before you. Those who will come after you. And also those who are currently existing in parallel worlds" ...
... Can you imagine Indra's situation when he hears this? ... Countless Indras in the past, countless now, and countless in the future. Each Indra is a ruler of the sky of his world and a king of Devas.Each one wants his Vishwakarma to build a grand palace. The boy goes on to tell him how he has met with them all and seen their palaces.
Indra is humbled by this insight, knows that the boy is really Narayana (Vishnu) and stops making his place grander.
Multiple Hanumans,
Multiple Indras,
Multiple Me Compiling this
Multiple you reading it ...
Cycle
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