The Ramayana is not merely an epic poem; it is a spiritual roadmap. Its characters are not just people; they are cosmic principles playing out a divine drama within us. We are told Ayodhya is a “city of No Conflict,” yet we see that even Lord Rama had to leave it. He gained nothing personally, sacrificing his kingdom, his people, and ultimately, his beloved Sita, making him the “everlasting embodiment of Sacrifice”. In this allegorical landscape, Sita is often interpreted as the Mind, consciousness’s companion. But perhaps this view is too simple. By elevating our understanding of Sita from the individual mind to the philosophical principle of Mahat (the Cosmic Intellect), her story, especially her final, powerful act of disappearance, reveals a more profound truth about sacrifice, illusion, and the ultimate reality of Rama.
From Desire to Separation: The Role of the Intellect
In many interpretations, Sita’s desire for the golden deer is seen as the pivotal moment the mind is lured by illusion, leading to its separation from consciousness. One perspective even suggests that in this moment, “Sita, at least for that one moment, thought of some thing to be more precious than Rama”. This was not just a fleeting wish; it was a choice where she “desired something to be worthier than Rama,” an act of the mind that preceded any physical abandonment.
When we see Sita not just as an individual mind but as Mahat, the Cosmic Intellect, this scene deepens. Mahat is the very first and finest product of Prakriti (Primordial Nature), the universal intelligence through which the world is perceived. It is the purest instrument of consciousness. The golden deer incident, then, symbolizes the moment this pristine Cosmic Intellect turns its gaze away from its source—Purusha or Pure Consciousness (Rama)—and attaches itself to a specific, glittering object of desire. This very act of desiring something “other than Rama” gives birth to ego and attachment. In this light, Sita plays the “role of Ego tainted Mind” because the intellect, once attached, creates a separate identity with its own wants, leading inevitably to a state of conflict and separation from the source.
The Sacrifice of Rama and the Higher Purpose
Many lament Rama’s decision to ask Sita to leave, seeing it as a personal failing. However, the spiritual allegory demands we ask a different question: “how Rama must have felt while asking Sita to leave Him?”. Rama’s action is not that of a husband abandoning a wife, but of Pure Consciousness detaching itself from its beloved Intellect for a “Higher Purpose”. That purpose is the establishment of a “state of no conflict,” the reclaiming of Ayodhya within. For liberation to occur, the “ego identity” must be sacrificed. Rama’s abandonment of what he loves most is the ultimate sacrifice, a cosmic necessity for Consciousness to remain untainted and return to its pure, non-dual state.
The Final Act: Sita’s Disappearance and the Two Paths of Truth
Sita’s final scene is her most powerful teaching. When asked again to prove her purity before the world, she refuses to engage further. Instead, she calls upon her mother, Bhudevi (the Earth), and disappears into her source. This act of conscious dissolution can be understood through two major philosophical lenses:
1. The Advaita Vedanta Perspective: Dissolving the Illusion
Advaita Vedanta posits that only Brahman (the Absolute, non-dual Consciousness) is real. The entire phenomenal world, including our minds and intellects, is Maya—a temporary, dependent reality, like a dream.
From this viewpoint, Sita’s disappearance is the ultimate demonstration of Maya. As Mahat, the Cosmic Intellect, she represents the finest aspect of the illusory world. Her final act is a voluntary dissolution of the instrument of perception itself. She merges back into Prakriti (the Earth), showing that the entire apparatus of mind and intellect, which creates our sense of a separate self, is impermanent. Her disappearance is a powerful statement that to realize the sole reality of Rama (Brahman), the intellect (Sita) and the ego it creates must be recognized as illusory and ultimately sacrificed.
2. The Samkhya Perspective: The Distinction of Purity
Samkhya is a dualistic philosophy that sees Purusha (Consciousness, represented by Rama) and Prakriti (Nature, Sita’s source) as two distinct, co-eternal realities. Liberation (kaivalya) is achieved when Purusha recognizes its complete separateness from Prakriti and all its products, including Mahat.
From the Samkhya perspective, Sita’s disappearance is not the dissolution of an illusion but the conscious withdrawal of the highest evolute of Nature (Prakriti) back into its unmanifest form. It is the Cosmic Intellect retreating from its engagement with Consciousness. This act allows Purusha (Rama) to stand alone, fully distinguished from the phenomenal world, in its pristine, liberated state. It is the final, beautiful, and necessary separation that restores both principles to their essential nature.
The Essence: Reclaiming Ayodhya
Ultimately, both paths of interpretation lead back to the same essence, an essence that permeates every verse of the Ramayana: the supremacy of Rama. Sita’s journey as Mahat—her emergence, her attachment to desire, and her final, magnificent dissolution—is our own. It is the story of our intellect. Her story teaches us that whether we see the mind as an illusion to be dispelled or a reality to be distinguished from, the goal is the same. We must be willing to sacrifice our deepest attachment—to our own thoughts, our ego, our identity—for the higher purpose of peace. We must learn to desire nothing other than Rama, so we may finally end all meaningless conflict and reclaim our own lost Ayodhya, the space of “No Conflict” within.
Reinvent The Self! 