[Advaita-l] Chariot and golden deer - Are they metaphors??

[KAMESWARARAO MULA]

Dear Friends ,                         Last week TOI Speaking tree article speaks something about 
"Chariot and golden deer as powerful metaphors" by Author Sh. K.Vikram Simha Rao. Here is the Link:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/chariot-and-golden-deer-as-powerful-metaphors/


The Ramcharitmanas deals with dangers that arise when an individual soul tries to distance itself from the universal soul. There is a description of the turning point wherein Sita is seen attracted to a ‘golden deer’ in the forest and she seeks to possess it. Ram goes in search of it in the forest, leaving her behind. When Sita is alone, devoid of the company of Ram, she is abducted by Demon King Ravan. We know that after marriage of the Divine Couple and their shifting to the forest, both Ram, representing universal soul, and Sita, representing us as individual soul, were living in a state of bliss in total communion with each other. The moment Sita is enchanted by the appearance of maya, the golden deer, thus downplaying the primacy of Ram, she gets possessed by Ravan representing dreadful ego and samsara. She then realises her mistake. Her suffering and pangs of separation come to an end only on reunion with Ram, thus bringing back the individual soul in full and blissful company of the universal soul.The simple & fundamental Questions arises from this beautiful story are:1. Being the Avatarapurusha, Bhagavan Lord Rama must be aware of the fact that there will no Golden Deer at all and in reality, Everything is maya/ illusions or could Rakshasa network. How ever to keep his words with his wife, he has gone after that as a part of his duty as Idal husband.2. Chariot is nothing but the mind controlled by senses as per Mahabharatha war arjuna being the mind and Charioter being the lord Krishna. Although lord Krishna must be aware of the damage which is going to happen in Mahabharata war , how ever he pushed the time which is something going to happen in TIME without attaching anything to him. 3. All these are Gods' Play or Leela and one should lookinto the deeper aspects before you conclude something from outsider views
Examples of the chariot and golden deer can, therefore, remind spiritual seekers time and again that God realisation is possible and maya can be kept at bay only by invoking the grace of the universal soul.

Sri Guru Padaravindarpana MastuKameswara