Performance of the play My Rama Is My All
In May 1994, Victory-Banner Productions, under the direction of Ketan, presents Sri Chinmoy’s play entitled My Rama Is My All for several weeks in New York. On 12 May, Sri Chinmoy invites members of the cast to ask him questions about various aspects of the play. Stage personae of the questioners are given.
Sri Chinmoy: Most sincerely, I am extolling you all to the skies. This is absolutely by far the best performance that you have done over the years. Now, if the performers want to say anything by way of self-criticism, then I can either agree or disagree.
Questions
Sita: Some people are saying that Sita is like the ‘bad guy’ in the play. I am uncertain how to portray the moment when she orders Lakshmana to go and look for Rama. I want to be angry with Lakshmana, but perhaps Sita was more afraid and lost because Rama was gone.
Sri Chinmoy: Let me answer this by telling you a story. Once upon a time, the British ruled India. One evening, a great patriot by the name of Vidyasagar went to a theatre performance. The play was about the actions of the British. You may know by now that the British used to torture the Indians mercilessly. One particular captain was notorious. He instigated others to torture the poor Indians because the Indians were fighting for the freedom of their Motherland. Ruthlessly the British soldiers used to kick and punish the Indians.
Anyway, when it came to a certain point in the play where this captain was behaving most cruelly, the great scholar got furious. He stood up, took off his sandals and threw them at the actor. Immediately the actor picked up Vidyasagar’s sandals and put them on his head and heart saying, “Today I have reached the height of perfection in my performance. I am an Indian, but I am playing the role of a British captain. I have to become fully identified with his brutality.”
So you have to know what part you are playing. My whole Rama play is about the human and the divine. Some individuals are all divine, but in some characters you have to play the human role. Each time a spiritual Avatar descends, he comes with a new message. In Rama’s case, he was identified with society. There was no competition between his reality and society. The main qualities that he manifested in his life were promise, obedience and sacrifice. These are called human morality.
The important thing is not to judge spiritual Masters. If you judge them, you will be totally confused and your aspiration will descend. They are far, far beyond our human judgement. When Rama and Sita returned from Lanka, Rama had to ask his wife to leave him. In Krishna’s case, he asked Arjuna to kill his own relatives. If you use your moral judgement, you will disapprove of the actions of Rama and Krishna most vehemently.
But if an Avatar does not play the human role, who is going to follow him? One moment he has to play the role of an absolutely helpless human being. The next moment he has to be in his highest consciousness. Look at the Saviour Christ. When he was on the cross, he called out, “Father, why have You forsaken me?” At that moment, he was acting like a human being. Then, the next moment, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Before his disciples came to him, Sri Ramakrishna used to go up on the roof and call out, “Where are my disciples? Where are my children?” He would cry most pitifully. He was inseparably one with Mother Kali, but at the same time he was crying helplessly for his disciples to come.
When a spiritual Master is in his highest consciousness, he can go beyond and beyond. He is ever-transcending. But when he identifies with the human level, then there seems to be so much contradiction. The same Supreme asks the spiritual Master to be kicked by human ignorance.
You know the famous story about the scorpion. A scorpion has fallen into the water. A spiritual Master shows compassion to the scorpion and puts out his hand to help it back to the water’s edge. Then, naturally, the scorpion stings him. How ungrateful the scorpion is! When it is suffering and dying, the Master lifts it up, and immediately it stings him. Then, the scorpion falls back into the water. Again it is dying and again the Master tries to help it. Why does the spiritual Master do it? The very nature of the scorpion is to sting, but the spiritual Master is determined to help it. He thinks that one day he will be able to transform its nature.
When you hold the tail of a dog, it is straight. But as soon as you release it, it becomes coiled again. Human nature is exactly the same; it is coiled. Spiritual Masters try to bring the Divine into human nature in the hope that again it will become straight.
The role of Sita has to be played as a blend of the human and the divine. In an absolutely human way she scolded and insulted Lakshmana. Sita was showing the human aspect at that moment. In other scenes, when she says such high, sublime things about Rama, at that time you can bring forward her divine aspect. But at that particular point, if Sita speaks to Lakshmana with utmost compassion, then the human aspect will not be there. So you are doing the right thing by showing anger.
Rama also has to show his human aspect. If he does not show the human aspect, then why did he take human incarnation? He became one with humanity with the hope that he would be able to transform humanity. Why does he have to justify his actions to humanity when he is obeying the Supreme? Humanity is millions and millions of miles below him. Spiritual Masters must not be judged by human standards. They are obeying direct Commands from God Himself. Look at the way Lakshmana obeys his elders: he obeys his brother and he obeys Sita because he has taken Sita as his mother. Even when Sita insults him, he obeys her.
When obedience is needed, you have to show obedience. When promise is needed, you have to show promise. When sacrifice is needed, you have to show sacrifice. What more can Rama sacrifice than his wife, his dearer than the dearest wife? These three things — promise, sacrifice and obedience — are either on the human level or on the divine level, but everything is coming from the Highest.
You cannot say that at the foot of the tree what Rama is doing is wrong, while in the middle of the tree he is perhaps a little wrong and a little right, and at the top of the tree he is only right. No. At the top of the tree the Highest will express itself in one way. In the middle of the tree it will express itself in another way, and at the foot of the tree it is bound to express itself in a different way. If Rama is only right at the top of the tree, then how can there be a tree? If there is no foot of the tree, no trunk, only the topmost branches, what kind of tree is it? The life-tree is not like that. Again, on the life-tree there are so many flowers, leaves and fruits — each one has to play its individual role.
So, according to the receptivity of humanity, the spiritual Master has to fulfil his message of promise and obedience. At every level, God is not bound. Otherwise you will have a fixed God. From your imagination you create an image of God. Imagination is reality, true, but you cannot bind the highest Supreme with your imagination. On the one hand, He is formless. On the other hand, He is with form. When He is with form, He takes millions of forms, countless forms. Perhaps you can see only one form and that form is fixed. Then if you see something else, you may say, “It cannot be God.”
At home, a human father may wear shorts all the time. Then, when he goes to the office, he may wear a nice suit. You may not recognise him in his office clothes. You may say that he is your father only when he is wearing shorts. So God is also like that. He has millions of forms.
My Rama play is about obedience, sacrifice and promise. From these three qualities you have to understand the whole play. We cannot judge the great spiritual Masters like Sri Ramachandra and Sri Krishna. We want to see them with our human eyes, feel them with our human hearts. That is impossible.
Let us say you want to judge the operation performed by a great doctor. If you are a nurse, you may know a little, but again there will be a yawning gulf between your knowledge and that of the doctor. The knowledge that the nurse has is just a drop, whereas a doctor’s knowledge is like an ocean. How can a drop judge the ocean? Similarly, the spiritual Doctor, God, can cure us in millions of ways if He wants to. And if He wants to have an experience in and through us, how are we going to judge Him?
The higher you go, the clearer becomes the message of surrender, promise and obedience. On each level, surrender takes a different form, promise takes a different form, obedience takes a different form.
On improving the performance of My Rama Is My All
Sri Chinmoy: In all sincerity, I am more than pleased with the performance, but in a few things you have to take me seriously for your absolute perfection. And also in a few matters you are quite innocent because you have no conception of that era when Sri Ramachandra lived.
First of all, your costumes are not satisfactory. But again, you have no idea of the clothing of that time, so what are you going to do? Also, it seemed that the actors wore the same kind of costume throughout the whole play, which is not accurate. You are taking one aspect of the Ramayana, the simplicity and austerity aspect, and maintaining it throughout. But it was not like that. Before Ramachandra was exiled to the forest, the scenes in the palace should have more grandeur. At that time there should be more gorgeous things on the stage. Right from the very beginning you are showing the austere aspect. But the austere aspect comes only after Kaikeyi asks for her boon. Before that, you have to show the prosperity and glamour of the court. A few times in the very beginning there is a jubilee; everyone is very happy. There you can show more pomp and majesty. Remember, all the main characters are of the king’s family.
Previously, when I used to watch the disciples’ plays, I was in trance! This time, each and every thing, from the beginning to the end, I watched. Even sometimes when I kept my eyes closed, I was keeping my third eye open. So now I will try to remember everything in detail.
First let us take Kaikeyi. In the beginning, Kaikeyi has no idea at all what is going to happen. She does not know what that rogue Manthara is going to say. At that time you have to be in a very cheerful frame of mind. But from the start you were so serious, as if you knew what would happen in advance. You have to know that Kaikeyi receives this idea from Manthara for the first time. Only gradually, gradually, when she is hammering at the idea that you will feel miserable if Rama is crowned king, you can become serious. Kaikeyi definitely did not have the slightest idea what Manthara was going to say. Manthara ruins all Kaikeyi’s joy, but from the beginning if you are serious, then you cannot convey that idea.
The first scene starts when Queen Kaushalya comes in. Kaushalya is the main queen of King Dasharatha. She has to be most gorgeous. Such simple white garments she will not wear. For the King you have made such a beautiful, gorgeous costume, but you have made the Queen like the goddess Saraswati, absolutely simplicity incarnate! Her crown and jewellery have to be more elaborate. The acting was excellent, but her costume was very poor. How can a queen come with such simplicity? How will she bring forward her majesty, her dignity, her regal aspect, if her costume is like that? How did you come up with that costume?
Director: We got books of the oldest art from Tibet, India, Nepal and all the countries that worship Rama. We took the costumes of the northern people.
Sri Chinmoy: Each country will contradict the others! Lord Buddha in one country is of one type, in Japan another and in Thailand another. We have to go to the source, which is the most pristine, and that is India. The whole Ramayana took place in India, so we should stick with the Indian aspect. Lord Buddha was born in India. Sri Ramachandra was born in India. If you base the costumes on the interpretation of other countries, then it will be a hotchpotch. I have seen Rama portrayed in Thailand and in other countries. They do it according to their realisation, according to their culture. They have adapted it to the customs, culture and circumstances of their country. If you adopt these versions, you start going far, farther, farthest from the origin. I feel it is better to stick to the origin.
In the case of Kaushalya, if you want to show her queenly aspect from the very beginning, then she must have lots of bangles and a most beautiful sari. Now her costume is not doing her justice. Also, if the audience wants to identify with the performers, they will get more joy if the costume adds something to the performer, to the way you people are expressing thoughts and ideas. Most soulfully, most eloquently, most powerfully you are expressing the ideas of the play, but the costumes could be better.
Now let us talk about the stage. A few times during the play if you can introduce a more decorative aspect, it will add to the production. Otherwise, very often, an austere aspect is coming. When Bharata returns to the kingdom, after visiting Rama in the forest, he will place Rama’s sandals on the throne, but he has to bring forward the royal family aspect. The throne itself can be simple, because there he is worshipping his brother, but the kingdom as such is very prosperous and splendid.
Then comes the subject of the deer. In your production the deer does not appear at all. You are only indicating it this side and that side. It is always offstage. But I feel you need something tangible on the stage. With a toy deer you can do something very quick to make it appear real. Otherwise, the actors are all saying that they can see the golden deer, but it is not visible to the audience. A deer has to be shown, or it will become like a circus act when a silly clown says that he is seeing somebody and nobody is there. The deer aspect has to become a little more tangible.
Bharata’s performance is excellent. Now, when he is talking to Kaushalya, when he says to her, “You are my real mother,” there I feel that he could show a little more devotion. For what his own mother has done, he is miserable, but he can show more devotion to Kaushalya. He really worships her.
The main thing is that there should be happiness in the beginning of the play. Until the King asks Rama to leave, you should not show the sad aspect of life. Happiness you have to show, and then all of a sudden the atom bomb drops. Before the atom bomb drops, if you are anticipating the explosion of the atom bomb, then the other joy you are not getting. In this case, they do not know in advance what is going to happen. Manthara is the one who started the wrong movement. Before that, Kaikeyi does not know anything. And the others also know nothing about it. So the play should start with boundless happiness.
The ending of the play was so beautiful, super-excellent. Next time you can add the Sanskrit verse:
Deshe deshe cha bandhabah
tantu desha na pashyami
yatra bratha sahodara
It means: “In all countries there are wives, in all countries there are friends, but I shall not find a brother like Lakshmana anywhere in this world.”
In the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Nolini and Amrita were like that. Amrita was like a younger brother to Nolini. If Nolini went one side, Amrita went that side. With my own eyes I saw it. Nolini was the Ashram Secretary and Amrita was the Manager. Amrita would not find any fault with Nolini. If Nolini said, “This is Heaven,” Amrita would say it was Heaven. If Nolini said, “This is hell,” Amrita would say it was hell. He did not keep any individuality whatsoever. The story of Lakshmana and Rama did not only happen ten thousand years ago. Even in this century, this Manager and Secretary proved it to be true. The Manager only followed the Secretary everywhere, everywhere. And he would never argue with Nolini. Only occasionally they would cut jokes together. I would be working inside and they would be drinking tea. Others were working there also. Sometimes I heard them cutting jokes. One day Nolini was bragging that his health was perfect. His only problem was that he could not increase his height. He was at that time 65 years old. So Amrita said to him, “It is very easy. Just stand on your toes and you will become taller instantly!”
How faithful, how obedient and how self-giving Amrita was to Nolini! If Nolini said anything, he accepted it implicitly. I have not seen and I will not see again in this incarnation any two persons who are so sincerely, sincerely surrendered and sincerely obedient to each other.
King Dasharatha: You said that the most important aspect for the King to have is more nobility. How can I get more nobility as the King?
Sri Chinmoy: Nobility comes from the expression of divinity. The higher you go, the more you become conscious of your divinity, the easier it becomes to express nobility. In your case, you are showing the majesty of the King, but your divinity is missing. Rama is showing his divinity by making his solemn promise to go into exile, and then Lakshmana is showing his divinity by following his elder brother. The third son is also behaving in a divine way. Now, all the sons saw divinity in their father Dasharatha. They are your sons. So your divinity has to be expressed along with your majesty. Through your own concentration you can bring forward nobility.
Yamaraj: Do you have any comments about Yamaraj?
Sri Chinmoy: One thing I could not understand. Yamaraj was looking at Lakshmana and addressing Rama at the same time. How could it be?
Director: To me, Rama is God. He knows when he is going to die. So the only reason I could see for Yamaraj coming was to test Lakshmana's surrender.
Sri Chinmoy: No, no! Just before Yamaraj tells Rama that nobody should intrude during their interview, he says, “I wish to have a private interview with you.” Will he look at somebody else and ask for a private interview?
Director: The way I interpreted it, the real reason Yamaraj came was for Lakshmana’s death, to see if Lakshmana would sacrifice his life for Rama.
Sri Chinmoy: That is right. Rama knows that, but when Yamaraj is performing, he will behave as though he is sharing a supreme secret. Sometimes, when you tell me something, you have to pretend that I know nothing about the matter. That is why you are telling me. And even if I know, I have to pretend that I do not know anything. A child comes and tells his father all about something which his father knows infinitely better than he does. It is a game. Similarly, when Yamaraj is talking to Rama, Rama has to pretend that he knows nothing about when he is going to die.
You are seeing the divine aspect of Rama there, but he is not dealing with it in that way. Yamaraj is coming to give the information. Rama does not say, “I know everything. I know my past, present and future.” At this moment Rama has to behave like an ordinary human being. A messenger is coming to give him the message that he is going to die; his play is over. At that time if Rama does not look at the messenger, then it will not be right.
In Yamaraj’s case, he is putting Rama and Lakshmana on the same footing, although Rama is a little higher. But if Yamaraj realised that Rama knew everything, then there would be no play. Each time Yamaraj addresses Rama, he has to make himself feel that he knows everything and Rama knows nothing. In Yamaraj’s heart he knows that Rama is the Lord and, as such, Rama knows everything. But here in the play, Yamaraj has to make Rama feel that the supreme secret Rama is getting from him.
Director: What about when Yamaraj is saying that whoever enters the room will die? At that time I have him pointing to Lakshmana.
Sri Chinmoy: At that moment, for a few seconds, he can look at Lakshmana while the conversation is going on.
Director: Can he also keep looking at Rama and just point at Lakshmana?
Sri Chinmoy: That also he can do because that kind of thing ordinary human beings do.
Rama: When did Rama actually realise that he was an incarnation of God?
Sri Chinmoy: After seventeen or eighteen years he knew it, but he had to pretend that he did not know. Otherwise, he would not have been able to do the work that he had to do. He knew it long before the Ramayana took place, but if he did not act in a human way, then there would have been no game.
I realised God in a previous incarnation. In this incarnation, at the age of twelve and a half I fully knew who I was. Now I am sixty-three years old and sometimes I still make people feel that I am not realised. If I do not act in a human way, then I cannot exist. If I remain in my highest, in my trance, then nobody will come near me.
Again, Rama did everything according to the Will of the Supreme. At one moment we see that Rama is human, utterly helpless. The next moment, when his divine aspect comes forward, he knows that he is beyond, far beyond earthly suffering. As a human being, Rama deals with morality because the ordinary human aspect deals with morality. But at the same time, he is beyond morality. At God’s Command, he had to do certain things.
Some spiritual figures, not spiritual Masters of the highest order, saw Rama’s human aspect more than his divine aspect. But we have to know that in his case he was only listening to his own Highest. When he listened to the Highest, then he was misunderstood to the extreme. To be misunderstood, you do not have to become Rama. Is there anybody who will not say that he is misunderstood? No matter how good you are or how great you are, you are bound to be misunderstood, not only by others, but by your own self. When your lowest part judges your highest part, immediately the lowest part misunderstands the highest part.
Only Rama can be the judge of his actions because he had to obey the Will of the Supreme. If the Supreme said to do a particular thing on the human or moral level, Rama had to do it. Again, if the Supreme said to do something totally contradictory, something that was beyond morality, that also he had to do. As a human being, he could have been totally lost between those diametrically opposite Commands, but as a divine being, he was not lost at all because he knew he was only obeying his Inner Pilot.
Published in Sri Chinmoy Answers, part 31
