--- In [email protected], off_world_beings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'd be surprised if MANY aspects of Vedic practices survive. For > example, Rama went after Ravana in the Mahabharata, to get his wife > Sita back from the kidnapper Ravena. He suceeded, but as I > understand it then disowned Sita becuase she had been raped by > Ravenna. > If this is the story, (and please correct me anyone if I am wrong > about this) then I say to Rama, "What a sleezebag you are, you have > no place in a future race of Love." [If it is the wrong story then > I'll probably be struck down by lightening today...burnt to a crisp.] > @@@@@@@@ SSSSSSSSZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAP! Sorry, but you asked for that. The Ramayana is like those DVDs with "alternate endings"; Rama's treatment of Sita was so unpopular that many story tellers refused to include it and altered the ending for their audiences. However, even in the original it was not claimed that Sita was raped by Ravanna (may I be struck by lightening�). The problem, according to Rama, was that his subjects would THINK that she had been since she had spent a night there without her husband, and she would be as dishonored in their eyes as if she ACTUALLY had been. Therefore, he had to send her away so that his people would believe he had done the right thing. However, I think that also qualifies as "sleezebag" behavior. There are many passages in the Vedic literature which must either be understood has having an esoteric meaning (which only the initiated can grok) or otherwise regarded as immoral behavior (according to human standards). This persistent conundrum has created a great deal of confusion�not so much for scholars, I would guess, as for believers. L B S To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
