Ten Names of the Ocean: Ravana's Pride and the One Arrow of Rama
In the morning satsanga of October 25, 2026, Swami Jyotirmayananda told how each of Ravana's ten heads recites a name of the ocean, and taught that bhakti brings mukti, that ignorance turns good understanding upside down, and that one arrow of Rama shows the ego to be unreal.
After an invocation to Lord Rama, whose complexion is like a blue lotus, with Sita seated at his left and the powerful bow and arrow in his hands, and after the Hare Rama mantra, Swamiji read a short poem, "The blessed tree of Sadhana." It sets out the whole spiritual life as a single tree. Aspiration for God-realization is the seed. Satsanga is the greatest shower. A purified heart is the fertile soil, and the Guru's grace is the sun that makes the tree grow. Faith and strength form the trunk, yoga practices are its many branches, and divine virtues are its fragrant flowers. The fruit is God-realization, the fruit of immortality. Grow that tree, the poem closes, in your very heart, and realize Soham: I am that Brahman, the Absolute Self.
Bhakti Brings Mukti
Swamiji then spoke of the glory of the Rameshwara linga and of Rama's words there: no one can be blessed by him unless he is a devotee, and Rama himself is a devotee of Shiva, without whose grace success is not possible.
The subtle meaning behind it, Swamiji said, is profound. It concerns bhakti and mukti, devotion and liberation. When you have developed bhakti, liberation does not have to be chased. In the Hindi saying he quoted, mukti is the maidservant of bhakti. "Mukti will come automatically." Once devotion has developed, liberation is spontaneous.
Ten Heads, Ten Names
Turning to the story, Swamiji pointed to a very picturesque detail: the ten names of the ocean. Ravana has ten heads, and each head recites a name of the ocean, until all ten have spoken.
The point, Swamiji explained, is in what has happened to those heads. All ten become aware, as if they have been struck by Rama's movements. Before this, every head was busy expressing Ravana's pride. But now each head expresses Rama's glory. In this way, he said, Ravana is being prepared to be sublimated.
The Power of Ignorance
Swamiji then described the power of ignorance. Ignorance creates terrible misery; under its influence, even the finest situations and opportunities appear as trouble. "As long as the mind is dominated by ignorance," he said, the soul remains trapped in the cycle of birth and death.
Under ignorance, he explained, sumati, good understanding, becomes kumati, distorted understanding. But when sumati is kept, you are always in tune with Rama. Ignorance projects illusions that terrify; one who has understanding is not terrified, and with patience the terror ceases.
The Mind as a Monkey
Here Swamiji gave another subtle meaning. Every individual without spiritual knowledge, without love of satsanga, is in the condition of the monkey: the mind works as a monkey. Yet with satsanga and the Guru's grace, he said, that very condition is transformed.
The One Arrow
Coming back to Ravana's pride, Swamiji explained that those who cannot understand the power of Rama take it for ordinary power. Pride keeps the head held high and insists that nobody can have a higher head than mine.
It is the same with every seeker, Swamiji said. Your achievements can give you great pride, and you may boast of how much you have done. But once a big challenge attacks your mind, all that pride moves away. With pride, one may even utter scriptures and simply inflate the ego. Then comes the turning point. Rama's one arrow, Swamiji said, gives a sudden vision: "That ego is unreal."
He closed the story with Mandodari, Ravana's queen. Basically, he said, she is a very divine lady, but her divine aspect remains dominated by Ravana.
The Three Mothers in the Tryambakam Mantra
The satsanga ended with a prayer that grace shower over all, with the blessings of the Divine Mother, beginning with the shakti of Durga Devi. Swamiji then offered a different interpretation of the mantra Tryambakam yajamahe. Tryambakam, he said, can be read as three Ambas, three mothers, adored together: Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.
Pushti, nourishment, is given by Lakshmi Devi. You receive divine nourishment that decks you with virtuous qualities, and a strength that leads to mukti in a very easy way, because mukti becomes the servant of bhakti. Then, as the mantra says, urvarukam iva bandhanan: all your bondage falls away like the cucumber that drops away from all the entanglements of the branches, never to come back.
Terms in This Satsanga
- satsanga — the company of truth; in the opening poem, the greatest shower on the tree of sadhana.
- bhakti — devotion; once developed, liberation follows of itself.
- mukti — liberation, which Swamiji called the servant of bhakti.
- sumati / kumati — good understanding and its distortion under ignorance.
- Tryambakam — the opening word of the mantra, read here as three Ambas, the three divine mothers.
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