|| om tat sat ||

A Brief outline of the mystic significance of "Sundara Kandam" of Valmiki Ramayanam:
( extracts from the "Introduction - Sundara Kandam of Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam"
By Swami Tapasyananda, Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras. A must read book for lovers of Sundarakanda.)

The Sundara Kanda as also the whole of Valmiki Ramayana, has got the following 3 aspects:
1. The Narrative (Historical) Aspect
2. The Literary (Poetic) Aspect
3. The Spiritual Aspect
…. Though the Sundara Kanda looks apparently like a narrative of a section of the Rama saga, philosopher-devotees have found a hidden allegoric meaning in the whole narrative. It is represented as the quest of the awakened spiritual aspirant to cross over the ocean of Samsara and seek the Divine Spirit within through an analysis of the various layers of human personality.

Hanuman is the awakened soul or intelligence endowed with Sattva quality.

Jambavan is the enlightened spiritual teacher who offers him the advice necessary for awakening the spiritual potentialities.

The vast ocean is the ocean of Samsara which the aspirant wants to cross.

Surasa, Simhika, Malayvan, Lanka Lakshmi, etc. who come in his way, are the obstacles that beset the path of the spiritual enquirer.

Hanuman's search for Sita all through the night is illustrative of the Gita dictum:
'That which is night for all people, in that the self-controlled sage is awake.

Gita Chapter 2, Verse 69:
या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी।
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः।।2.69।।

Lanka with all its fortifications and gardens and palaces through which Hanuman makes his search represents the various layers or Kosas in man's mental make-up, through which the enquirer has to penetrate for attaining the goal.

The search is arduous and often disappointing, as it was in the case of Hanuman, but the aspirant is to go on with his search undaunted and vigilant, with faith in the Supreme Spirit.

Then the search at last will end in the discovery of the Divinity in himself, which is
represented by Sita.

||Om tat sat||

Reference:
Introduction - Sundara Kandam of Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam
By Swami Tapasyananda, Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras

||om tat sat||

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||om tat sat||