Rama and Jesus (and Ravana)

If you have ever seen the 1995 version of "A Little Princess," directed by Alfonso Cuaron, you'll know a little about Rama. He's the man in blue, married to Sita, who defeats the evil Ravana.

This story is not unique to this version of A Little Princess. The story of Rama is the Ramayana, told in Hinduism. Rama is the seventh avatar of Vishnu. I studied him in college for my senior thesis, as he compares to Jesus, the Christian version of an avatar of God. An avatar is an incarnation.

I love Rama. I'm sure it springs from my love of A Little Princess (which if you've not seen, you need to come over and watch immediately, and cry), but there is a lot to love about Rama. And Christians so easily dismiss anything about other faith traditions that we often miss rich gems like the one I'm sharing at XYZ chapel today.


If you aren't familiar with the Ramayana, let me do a little background for you. Rama is born a wealthy prince, marries a beautiful princess, and is cast into exile despite his perfect way of living. The evil Ravana steals Sita and Rama must go rescue her. There is an EPIC battle. This scene is at the end, when Rama has defeated Ravana:

Rama watched him fall headlong from his chariot face down onto the earth, and that was the end of the great campaign. Now one noticed Ravana's face aglow with a new quality. Rama's arrows had burnt off the layers of dross, the anger, conceit, cruelty, lust, and egotism which had encrusted his real self, and now his personality came through in its pristine form -- of one who was devout and capable of tremendous attainments. His constant meditation on Rama, although as an adversary, now seemed to bear fruit, as his face shone with serenity and peace. ... "Honour him and cherish his memory so that his spirit may go to heaven, where he has his place." -R.K. Narayan, "The Ramayana" pg 159

I love that passage. Ravana was so focused on hating Rama, so focused on defeating him, that upon his death, his pure heart and his best self came through and he was at peace. And Rama commanded his followers to honor Ravana so he may go to heaven.

I never seem to see this kind of redemption or forgiveness in life today because, quite frankly, I'm really good at hating my enemies. I like to say that I only hate two people in this world and it took a whole lot for them to get on that short list. I'm sure in time I will forgive them, but it will take some a whole lot of time. And I've been watching the show Revenge (which rocks) but is all about punishing those who have hurt you or the ones you love. But I absolutely celebrate with her as she defeats those enemies one by one. We, as a culture, are really good at hating our enemies.

Isn't there something in the Bible about loving our enemies, feeding them and giving them water to drink....?

Why yes, yes there is. Romans 12 has it explicitly, but it's all over that book. And yet, I seem to learn it best from a blue god prince in a completely different faith tradition. This loving your enemies bit is really quite, quite difficult.