Ravana - Previous Birth

Now, one more version.
The past birth of Ravana.
The previous birth, on earth.
We saw that Jaya and Vijaya took three series of births.
Then where did this new story come from?
Ravana in this story was a king called Bhanu Pratap in the previous birth.
Have you ever thought?
We are looking at life as a straight line.
Day after day, month after month, year after year, from birth to death.
This is the only way we are looking at life, we are used and trained to look at life.
We are conditioned to look at life only this way.
What if it is lives not life?
I am not talking about rebirths.
I am talking about right at this moment.
I am not even talking about multiple roles, you are a father, son, neighbor, and employee at the same time.
Not even that.
These are perceptions, right?
And you think that you are a single body playing multiple roles.
Do you remember that question that came up when you were in the tenth, whether to take up science or commerce?
Let’s say you decided to take up science, and now you are a software engineer
You think that since you decided to take up science and that’s why you are a software engineer, today and not a chartered accountant or literature professor.
What if, what if, all those choices also you had taken up, not just this one?
All those lives are running parallel even today.
You think that you are only a software engineer today.
What if you are also a CA, also a professor, those lives are going on parallelly?
Are you sure that it is not happening?
They are not visible to you.
They are going on.
If you are Ranjith, then parallel there is a Ranjith who is a software engineer, there is Ranjit who is a CA, there is Ranjit who is a professor, all lives running parallely, concurrently.
The only thing they don’t see each other, they don’t know each other.
Isn’t this a possibility?
At every point in life, not big choices, even choices like whether to walk on the right side of the road or the left side of the road, it would take you into two completely different lives ahead, maybe you are living those lives concurrently.
I am suggesting this as a possibility.
That way you yourself are having crores of parallel lives.
I am not even saying at the Paramatma - Jeevatma level
I am saying at Jeevatma level, one Jeevatma having crores of parallel lives.
At the level of perception.
Then why can't Ravana have two past births?
So, in this past birth as Bhanu Pratap, he was a very righteous king.
He belonged to the Kekaya vamsha, the vamsha of Kaikeyi.
His father was Satyaketu, he was also a very just and righteous king.
Bhanu Pratap had a brother, Arimardana.
When Satyaketu retired to the forests, Bhanu Pratap became the king and with the complete cooperation and support of his brother ruled the kingdom as an excellent king.
Following raja dharma in letter and spirit.
Following the Vedic principles.
Not committing any papa by himself and not giving opportunity for his subjects also to commit any papa.
He did thousands of yajnas.
As Kshatriya dharma demands, he expanded the boundaries of his kingdom subjugating all the other kingdoms.
At one point in time, Bhanu Pratap became the sole and whole ruler of the whole earth.
All the other kings became his Samanthas and paid taxes to him.
His minister was Dharamaruchi.
As his name itself said, dedicated to righteousness and very efficient.
We have heard about mother earth assuming the form of a cow went and complaining to Sri hari that she can not bear the load of evil rulers upon her.
But under Bhanu Pratap, mother earth was like Kamadhenu, fulfilling all the wishes of her children.
Bhanu Pratap had no personal ambitions and desires, he was simply observing raja dharma and dedicated whatever he did to Bhagawan.
Once he went hunting in the forest.
They do this to keep the number of beasts under control, otherwise, they can be harmful to the other species.
He found a huge wild boar, a wild pig and kept on chasing it.
The pig was very fast and evasive.
After some time Bhanu Pratap was somewhere deep inside the thick forest and separated from his people.
The pig had disappeared.
He was thirsty and went around looking for water.
He found a Muni there sitting and meditating.
He was in fact not even a Muni.
He was a king who got defeated by Bhanu Pratap when he was expanding his territory as part of his digvijaya.
This king had run away from the battlefield.
He was hiding in the forest disguised as a Muni.
The moment he saw Bhanu Pratap, he recognized him.
He wanted to take revenge.
But Bhanu Pratap did not recognize him although he was initially cautious towards him.
But the fake Muni soon won his confidence and impressed upon him that he was indeed a saint.
Raja sought his blessings, that no one should be able to kill him.
The Muni said: yes, that will come true except satwik, noble tapaswis nobody will be able to harm.
Raja asked: even that, how can I prevent?
Muni said: they won't hurt you on their own, you should never offend them.
If you want to take them on your side perpetually, then there is a technique that you will not be able to do on your own.
I will have to help you with it.
By this time Bhanu Pratap was in his trap.
You will have to invite them, a big group of tapaswis and their families for food.
I will come to your palace and prepare food in a special way.
After they take that food they will all become your fans.
They will all come under your influence.
After they go back, whoever they feed, noble people, they will also come under your influence.
In this way, in some time, all the noble people of the world will be under your influence.
They will never think ill about you.
Muni told Bhanu Pratap, now you go back to the palace.
I through my magical powers will bring your cook here and take his place to get all this done.
I will look exactly like your cook so that nobody will notice, but once I am there, I will signal you.
That wild pig was in fact a Rakshasa by the name Kalaketu.
His whole family were trouble makers.
Earlier Bhanu Pratap had killed his 10 brothers and 100 sons.
He was also vengeful towards Bhanu Pratap.
So the fraudster Muni and Kalakeu conspired and executed the plan
After the Muni reached the palace, a big group of noble tapaswis was invited.
Delicacies were cooked for them.
As they all sat down for taking food, a voice was heard, it was the mayavi Rakshasa,
The voice said: this king is trying to corrupt you, make you all impure.
There is meat including human meat mixed in the food.
The tapaswis were shocked.
They cursed that Bhanu Pratap be born as a Rakshasa.
The king rushed inside the kitchen and there was nothing there, it was empty.
It was all an illusion.
But he got the curse for real.
Bhanu Pratap was reborn as Ravana.
His brother Arimardana as Kumbhakarna and his minister as Vibhishana.
One question can come up.
Bhanu Pratap was so righteous, so dharmik, how did he get cursed?
At least three explanations:
See what happened after he took birth as Ravana, he got mukti.
Two -
As part of his digvijaya he himself had subjugated o many people.
Did himsa.
It is raja dharma, maybe, but karma is karma.
This is the price he paid.
Observing dharma does not necessarily mean that you are safe.
You have to observe dharma in spite of immediate consequences because the long-term results of observing dharma are always good. There may be short-term setbacks like the curse here.
Three -
This dharma at a personal level, at an individual level, even at the level of a ruler has a limited scope.
There is a master plan.
You take a town or a city, there is a master plan.
If you want to construct a building it has to fit into the master plan.
Your own individual plan will have to fit into the master plan,
But then the authority may come and acquire the whole area to build a road, a playground, a market.
Then your individual plan is not valid anymore.
Normally it is karma that works, in 99% of cases, it is karma that works.
But then when major events happen like the corona, then everybody is affected.
Even the most powerful people in the world have to go under house arrest.
The rules change, here an avatara was about to happen.
The Lord changed the rules and got Bhanu Pratap cursed.