Discussing Sita in the times of Ram Mandir

Sita is acknowledged for her courage, purity, dedication, loyalty, and sacrifice. She is the silent figure of strength. She is the epitome of devotion as a wife, daughter, and a mother. She led a life full of trials and tribulations with strength and courage. She has a strong sense of individuality around her

Even as the nation is still under the spell of Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha held in Ayodhya on last January 22, discussing Sita is quite appropriate. Sita is a goddess born from the Mother Earth in the epic Ramayana. She is also the incarnation of Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity, wealth, and beauty in Hinduism. Sita is portrayed as the ideal wife and woman, while her husband Rama, avatar of the god Vishnu, is the hero of Ramayana and the ideal husband and man.

Well, all these facts are very well-known. However, the pleasant surprise is that an American author Dena Merriam has written a book on Sita. ‘The Untold story of Sita’ is published by noted publisher Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House.

Dene Merriam book replaces the traditional narrative of Sita’s life as told in the Ramayana with Sita as she truly is –an incarnation of the great Devi Narayani. Sita comes to Earth to join Sri Ram in setting the foundation for a new civilization at a time when humans are becoming separate from the natural world. She seeks to emit a great love for the forests and rivers, plant and animal life in the hearts and minds of the people, and to share the high spiritual accomplishments of the great women rishis and sages, many of whom you meet along Sita’s journey. This is a story of a woman’s wisdom, courage and strength. So step into Sita’s time and see what life was like during a spiritually more advanced age, when there was an understanding of Dharma, not just as duty but as an alignment with the higher forces of love that make possible the preservation of our world.

Dene Merriam has dedicated her outstanding book ‘To Mata Sita and Shri Ram at whose feet I eternally reside and to their devotees everywhere who bring their love into the world’. Her devodation for Sita is truly inspiring.

‘The Untold story of Sita’ is a story of a woman's wisdom, courage and strength, and her selfless sacrifices for the welfare of all. So step into Sita's time and see what life was like during a more spiritually more advanced age, when there was an understanding of Dharma, not just as duty but as an alignment with the higher forces of love that make possible the preservation of our world.

Sita is acknowledged for her courage, purity, dedication, loyalty, and sacrifice. She is the silent figure of strength. She is the epitome of devotion as a wife, daughter, and a mother. She led a life full of trials and tribulations with strength and courage. She has a strong sense of individuality around her.

In this 378 page book, Dena Merriam has devoted chapters on Sita’s Marriage, Departure from Mithila, Adjusting to Ayodhya, Rebirth in Ancient Ayodhya, Sita’s Teaching to Mandodari, The Return to Ayodhya, Retreat to the Forest, Life in the Forest, The Education of Love and Kush and several other aspects of her life.

For some people the episode of Rama exiling Sita to the forest, while she was five months’ pregnant, is one of the most disturbing and incomprehensible event in the Ramayana. It seriously tests their faith; and in some cases actually breaks it, leading some to even offend Lord Rama. They forget it is a divine lila and that the Lord has His own reasons for doing what He does, and that they are not always within the purview of our understanding.

In order to write a book on Sita, whom India worships greatly, Dena Merriam has travelled to so many places of Hindu pilgrimages in India such as Rishikesh, Ayodhya and Vaishno Devi.

Dena Merriam began working in the inter-faith movement in the late 1990s when she served as Vice Chair of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held at the United Nations in New York in the year 2000. For over 40 years, Dena Merriam has been a student of Paramahansa Yogananda and a practitioner of Kriya Yoga meditation. She is also a longtime student of the great texts of the Vedic tradition.

Meanwhile, Dena Merriam is visiting India soon and speak about Sita and her journey to write a epic like ‘The Untold story of Sita’ in New Delhi and may be in some other parts of the country. It is high time when discerning readers and scholars meet her to understand as to why she is so deeply connected with India and Hinduism.

Lastly, she has also authored another important book ‘Rukmini and the Turning of Time’. It is told through the voice of a dancer in ancient Dwarka, a city on the western coast of India. But even though this book recounts events in her life and follows her through three incarnations, this story is not truly about her but about Rukmini--the one who was working behind the scenes as Rukmini and Shri Krishna set the framework for the era that was beginning to unfold.

This deeply insightful and enlightening work shows how Rukmini Mata enabled those around her to fulfill samskaras from past births--the karma one has accrued in the cycle of life, death, and rebirth--bringing closure to unfinished relationships and desires. It includes many stories told by women to other women, recounted by those living in Dwarka in close association with Rukmini, in the hope of showing how an incarnation of the Universal Mother comes to guide an evolving humanity. This book is also published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House (MLBD).

(The author is Delhi-based senior journalist and writer. He is author of Gandhi's Delhi which has brought to the forth many hidden facts about Mahatma Gandhi)