The Spiritual Meaning of Dussehra (Part 1)

Many interesting and famous mythological stories of Dussehra or Vijayadashami (October 24th), that celebrates the victory of righteousness over evil, are present in the world. These stories have deep spiritual meaning and significance.

➤According to the spiritual knowledge shared at the Brahma Kumaris, the soul originally was a 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫-𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲, 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬; 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. This world is commonly called Shantidham or Muktidham, a world beyond this physical world of five elements. When this spiritually powerful soul first came onto the earth to play its role on earth, its purity was naturally seen through the physical body, in the form of divine qualities and actions filled with these qualities.

➤Slowly as it came down in the cycle of birth and rebirth, it started falsely identifying itself with its physical body and forgot its eternal identity of that of a soul. It started getting attracted to the five senses and other physical human beings and sense objects that it came across in its journey. The golden deer which had attracted Sita in the Ramayan is a symbolic representation of these attractions and the internal stage of soul-consciousness is shown in the form of the Lakshman Rekha which Sita had crossed.

➤This led to her getting kidnapped by Ravan and getting separated from Ram. The episode of kidnapping of Sita by Ravan refers to the kidnapping of the soul by the forces of Evil or the five vices namely lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. It is believed that Ravan, was also called Dashanan, which means the one who has ten heads. It is physically impossible for such a human being to exist. So, these ten heads surely have a symbolic and deep spiritual importance, which we seem to have forgotten. The ten heads symbolize the five vices in men and five vices in the women of today.

(To be continued tomorrow...)