Ayodhya Kand
Analysis
Let’s do a brief recap of the story. When Rama, with Lakshmana and Sita, left Chitrakuta and moved ahead, they reached the hermitage of Atri and Anasuya. Rama bowed to Sage Atri. Atri spoke to Rama about his wife Anasuya’s powers and eminence, hinted at her glory, and immediately said that Anasuya should embrace Sita to her heart—and that Sita should go to Anasuya, sit with her, greet her, and honor her. Accordingly, Anasuya held Sita to her heart, and Sita sat near Anasuya. The two began talking. Then Anasuya said to Sita that the special thing she wanted to say was this: a woman should always follow the man—even if the man is of any kind, the woman should follow him. Sita said that this is exactly what she had been taught at home, that Kausalya had also given her the same counsel as she set out, and that she was following it. Anasuya was very pleased and told Sita to ask for a boon; but Sita said that meeting her had made her so happy that she wanted nothing. Then Anasuya, delighted, of her own accord offered Sita a loving gift—divine garments, some ornaments, unguents and fragrances—and told Sita to wear them. Sita put them on. Night fell. Sita went to Rama, and Rama was very pleased to see what Sita was wearing. In this way the episode ends. The next morning, Rama, with Lakshmana and Sita, left Atri’s hermitage and proceeded toward Dandakaranya.
First we must understand what it means that Rama comes to Atri’s hermitage.
On the historical level, we picture it like this: Rama entered the forest; first he met Nishad-raj Guh; then moving on he reached the hermitage of Sage Bharadwaja; from Bharadwaja, through Chitrakuta, he came to Sage Atri. So a picture naturally forms within us: in the forest there are hermitages of sages; Rama went there and met the rishis. But at the spiritual level there is a deeper meaning, and we have to grasp it.
As we discussed earlier when reading, we asked: what does it mean that Rama went to Nishad-raj? We understood that Rama’s going to Nishad-raj signifies Rama looking at his own mind. Who is Rama? He is the person established in the knowledge of the Self—that “I am the conscious power, the soul; this body is an instrument in my hands to be rightly used.” The one who runs his life established in this knowledge—this is called, at the spiritual level, Self-knowledge; in the story, he is called Rama. Rama means Self-knowledge: knowing oneself as the conscious soul and seeing the body as an instrument.
So what happens to the mind of a person established in Self-knowledge?
Look: there are two positions. One is people like us who are not established in Self-knowledge; we live in body-identity, taking ourselves to be the body. The other is when we become established as the soul—in Self-knowledge. When we live in body-identity, the mind that thinks, imagines, resolves has a certain quality; when we are established in Self-knowledge, the mind’s quality becomes different.
These three episodes—Nishad-raj Guh, Bharadwaja, and Atri—exist to show that the mind of a person established in Self-knowledge becomes of a higher order. In body-identity, our mind stays ordinary; established in Self-knowledge, it becomes an elevated mind. There are two kinds of mind: the ordinary mind and the higher mind. When we are established in body-identity, our mind is ordinary; when we are established as the Self—which the story calls “Rama”—that mind is the higher mind.
Different scriptures use different terms for this higher mind. In the Bhagavata Purana, when you read the detailed account of Svayambhu Manu, Bhagavata gives the higher mind the name Svayambhu Manu. Here, in the Valmiki Ramayana, the higher mind is indicated through three episodes. First, it shows that the mind of the Self-knower—Rama—becomes servant-like and obedient; this is pointed out through the story of Nishad-raj. Next, in the story of Bharadwaja, it is shown that the Self-knower’s mind does not remain at mere saying or thinking; what it thinks and says, it does. While reading Bharadwaja’s episode we said: Bharadwaja means a conduct-oriented mind—the mind now acts; it doesn’t just speak or think. That was the second trait of the higher mind.
Now comes the third episode—the story of Atri. Through Atri’s episode they indicate that when a person is established in Self-knowledge, then his mind—what it thinks, what it understands, what it does, and the fruit arising from it—these three settle into oneness. Let me say this again, since it’s a bit subtle. Rama has come to Atri’s hermitage. Atri expresses a characteristic of the higher mind. Look at the word Atri: it forms from a + tri. Tri means “three.” Which three? Knowledge, action, feeling—that is, we abide in knowledge, we descend into action, and we come into love/devotion. The higher mind synthesizes these three—knowledge (jñāna), action (karma), and devotion (bhakti). It brings them into unity.
Our present mind is not in that unity; our ordinary mind keeps knowledge, action, and devotion separate. We all have this experience. We easily label: “Oh, he’s a ‘knowledge’ person,” “she’s all about ‘karma’,” or “I’m a ‘bhakti’ person; I don’t bother with knowledge or action.” We keep them apart. But the higher mind—which Atri signifies—unifies knowledge, action, and devotion. Mind has two modes: analysis (breaking into parts) and synthesis (joining the parts). Atri represents synthesis. The Self-knower’s higher mind no longer holds knowledge, action, and devotion apart; it establishes their oneness and harmony within.
So the indication given by Rama arriving at Atri’s hermitage is this: the mind of one established in Self-knowledge bears many excellences. The first indication came through Nishad-raj; the second through Bharadwaja; the third through Atri. The entire Ramayana glorifies Rama—we know that. We can take Rama as an individual person and praise him; or, spiritually, take Rama to mean Self-knowledge, living in one’s true nature. Such a Self-knower has distinguishing traits; one trait is the integration of knowledge, action, and devotion. The puranic term for that integration is Atri—a-tri: “where the three are not separate,” where the three stand as one.
There is also a shastric vocabulary. In the language of the scriptures, this higher mind is called the Vijñānamaya Kośa. The lower, ordinary mind—the one we operate from in body-identity—is called the Manomaya Kośa. These are just different ways of speaking. In puranic language we say “Atri’s hermitage”; in shastric language “Vijñānamaya Kośa”; in simple language “the higher mind.” Through Atri’s episode, the text points to a trait of the higher mind: it abides in the integration of knowledge, action, and devotion.
Thus Rama, established in the higher mind, is observing the quality of his own mind. In the Nishad-raj episode he saw: “My mind is no longer the master; it has become a servant—obedient, aligned with knowledge.” In Bharadwaja’s episode he saw: “My mind no longer stops at thinking and saying; it translates into conduct.” Now, in this third episode, he sees: “My mind is established in the unity of knowledge, action, and devotion.”
I’ve tried, in different ways, to explain what Rama’s arrival at Atri’s hermitage signifies. From a historical angle, it’s a visit to a sage’s hermitage. From the spiritual angle, it means: a person established in Self-knowledge beholds his higher mind.
Let’s move on. In this episode, Atri’s wife is Anasuya. In puranic literature, wherever the word wife appears, it signifies Shakti (power). Not just one or two tales—every tale uses wife as the symbol of Shakti. So Anasuya, Atri’s wife, is Shakti. But which Shakti? There are many divine powers. To know which, we must attend to the word Anasuya.
Consider the derivation in two ways. First: an-asūyā — an (“not”) + asūyā (jealousy/envy; impurities like attachment/aversion). Where there is no asūyā—no attachment-aversion—that is An-asuya: purity. So Anasuya is the power of purity.
Second derivation: relate it to a-sūrya (from Vedic usage): sūrya is light; a-sūrya is ignorance (absence of light). Add the prefix an (“not”): an-a-sūrya—“not in ignorance,” i.e., in knowledge. So Anasuya also means the power of knowledge. Thus Anasuya—Atri’s wife (Shakti of the higher mind)—is Purity and Knowledge.
When these two—knowledge-power and purity-power—reside in the higher mind, what do they want? The story expresses it. They want prakriti—our body, senses, mind, and intellect—to follow purusha, the soul. Prakriti is inert; it does not know direction. The soul gives direction. Think of a car and a driver: I, the soul, am the driver; the car is my mind-intellect-senses. The car goes where I direct it. So our prakriti does not move rightly on its own; it needs the soul’s guidance. Therefore Anasuya—the power of knowledge and purity—wants prakriti (the body-mind) to follow the soul.
Later the story says Anasuya gave Sita divine garments and ornaments. What does that mean?
We must explain this carefully because spiritual knowledge can be hard at first. Anasuya gave divine garments, a garland, unguents, fragrances. If we look at it as history: would a forest-dwelling ascetic woman keep divine clothes and jewels? No. That’s why the text adds the word divine—to signal spirituality. Vastra (garment) means a covering. A soldier protects himself by wearing armor—kavacha. In our case, we wear a different armor: the armor of purity. Anasuya is the power of purity. So she is saying: wear the armor of purity; wear the armor of knowledge. Garments = the garments of knowledge, the garments of purity. We must wear the ornaments of knowledge and the ornaments of purity.
Women wear earrings, necklaces, bangles, rings. I wear them too. My brother once told me: “These ornaments are needed only until you wear the ornaments of knowledge. Once you do, these material ornaments are no longer necessary. Wear the ornaments of purity and knowledge; leave the material ones.” I always remember this. In the story, when Anasuya tells Sita to wear divine garments and ornaments, she is bidding her to wear the ornaments of knowledge and purity.
But Sita herself means purity—our pure thinking. Sita is Rama’s wife—wife meaning Shakti. So Sita is not a separate woman here; Sita is Rama’s pure thinking. The story says: in a person established in Self-knowledge (Rama), the thinking is already pure—but now add a divine covering over that purity. Make purity intense and well-armored, so that in any adverse situation that purity is protected.
Often our thinking is pure, but in a difficult situation it collapses. The Self-knower’s purity doesn’t fall; even so, without the divine armor, diminishment can occur in trials. Hence the episode signals: in the higher mind, the powers of knowledge and purity clothe our purity with a divine armor. With that armor, one does not deviate from purity in any situation; that armor magnifies purity—gives it radiance, dignity, and majesty.
So when Sita wears those garments and goes to Rama, she becomes very attractive; Rama praises how she looks. This means: purity, wearing the divine garment, becomes most pure. Thus, when the story says Anasuya gave Sita divine garments and unguents, it means: the power of purity dwelling in the higher mind ennobles our ordinary purity—making it more dignified and radiant—and the power of knowledge, also called Anasuya, adorns us with the ornaments of knowledge.
Therefore, the meeting of Sita and Anasuya is a signal that a person’s thinking should be pure, and that this purity must be further refined and fortified. Who does that refining? If we abide in the higher mind—that is, in the integration of knowledge, action, and devotion—then the powers dwelling there, knowledge and purity (Anasuya), will grant our purity greater dignity and attractive force.
So these are the indications given through the Atri–Anasuya episode. It feels hard because our mind is not yet the higher mind. Ordinary things relate easily to an ordinary mind. But the statements about the higher mind don’t easily relate until our mind is elevated. As we keep making effort, as we rise from lower to higher, our capacity develops; we gradually become more able to understand these symbols and this knowledge. The spiritual purport of the episode is what I have placed before you—exactly what the story conveys.