The Ramayana– A Journey Within Diwali and the Return to Your True Self

The Ramayana Within: How an Ancient Epic Reveals Your Soul's Journey

A Diwali reflection on the timeless story happening inside you right now

What if I told you that a story from thousands of years ago is actually happening right now—inside you?

Every year during Diwali, millions of people light lamps to celebrate the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom after defeating the demon king Ravana and rescuing his beloved Sita. We call it the victory of light over darkness, good over evil. Children set off fireworks, families feast together, and homes glow with countless diyas.

But here's what most people miss: The Ramayana isn't just a historical epic or a cultural tradition. It's a precise map of your inner spiritual journey. Every character, every battle, every moment of exile and return—it's all unfolding in the landscape of your own consciousness.

Let me show you how.

Meet the Cast of Characters (They All Live in You)

Ram: Your True Self

Ram represents your soul, your highest nature, the divine spark within you. He is peaceful, loving, dharmic (righteous), and unshakeable. This is who you truly are beneath all the noise, confusion, and suffering.

Your inner Ram is always there—constant, eternal, radiant. He never wavers. He's just waiting for you to remember him.

Sita: Your Awareness

Sita represents your awareness, your attention, your capacity for devotion. She is the part of you that longs for truth, that seeks connection with the divine. She is your spiritual consciousness—the sacred feminine within that recognizes and worships what is holy.

When Sita is with Ram, you are aligned. Your awareness rests in your true nature. You are whole. You are home.

Ravana: Your Ego

Ravana, the ten-headed demon king, represents your ego—that false self constructed from desires, fears, attachments, and illusions. His ten heads symbolize different aspects of ego: lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, jealousy, selfishness, injustice, cruelty, and ego itself.

Here's the thing about Ravana: He's not evil. He's incredibly intelligent, powerful, even cultured. He's just completely unenlightened. He mistakes pleasure for happiness, power for peace, possession for love.

Your inner Ravana is that voice whispering:

• "I need MORE to be happy"

• "I must control everything"

• "I am separate from everyone else"

• "My way is the only way"

Sound familiar?

Hanuman: Your Devotion

Hanuman, the devoted monkey god, represents your spiritual practice—your unwavering faith, your courage to seek truth, your commitment to something greater than yourself.

Hanuman has superhuman strength, not because he's special, but because devotion itself is powerful. When you practice with sincerity, when you serve truth, you too can leap across oceans, move mountains, and burn down fortresses of illusion.

Your inner Hanuman shows up every time you:

• Roll out your yoga mat even when you're tired

• Sit down to meditate even when your mind is racing

• Choose kindness when anger would be easier

• Keep faith when everything feels dark

  
  

Lanka: The Golden Prison

Lanka, Ravana's magnificent golden kingdom, represents maya—the world of illusion. From the outside it looks prosperous, powerful, desirable. But it's built on false foundations. It's separation, materialism, ego-identification.

Your inner Lanka is made of:

• The stories you tell yourself about who you are

• The roles you play that aren't authentic

• The attachments that imprison you

• The beliefs that limit you

It glitters, but it's still a cage.

Act One: The Abduction (When You Forget Who You Are)

In the epic, Ravana abducts Sita and imprisons her in Lanka while Ram is away in the forest.

What's really happening:

Your awareness gets captured by ego. Your attention, which should be resting in your true nature, becomes absorbed in endless thoughts, compulsive desires, fears, and distractions.

You forget who you really are. You start identifying with your thoughts, your roles, your problems, your story. "I'm not good enough." "I'm so behind." "If only I had X, then I'd be happy."

This is the human condition. We all experience this abduction, usually multiple times a day. Our awareness is constantly being kidnapped by:

• The endless scroll of thoughts

• The next thing we think we need

• What other people think of us

• Past regrets and future anxieties

Meanwhile, Sita sits in the Ashoka grove in Lanka—sad, longing to return home, but imprisoned. This is your soul, yearning for freedom, for truth, for reunion with its source.

You know this feeling. That vague sense that something's missing. That restlessness no amount of Netflix, shopping, or achievement can quite satisfy.

Act Two: The Search (When You Begin to Wake Up)

Ram doesn't know exactly where Sita is, but he sets out to find her with unwavering determination.

What's really happening:

When the emptiness of ego-driven life becomes too painful, when you sense that something essential is missing, you begin the spiritual search.

Maybe you pick up a book on meditation. Maybe you try yoga. Maybe you start asking bigger questions: "Who am I? What's the meaning of life? Why do I suffer?"

This is Ram (your true self) searching for Sita (your awareness). You're beginning to wake up.

Act Three: Hanuman's Leap (When Practice Becomes the Bridge)

Hanuman leaps across the ocean to Lanka, finds Sita in captivity, and gives her Ram's ring—proof that Ram has not forgotten her, that he is coming for her.

What's really happening:

Your spiritual practice bridges the impossible gap between your scattered awareness and your true self.

The ocean Hanuman crosses? That's the vast sea of illusion, ignorance, and fear that seems to separate you from truth. It looks impossible to cross. But with faith and practice, you do it.

When Hanuman gives Sita the ring, it's like those breakthrough moments in practice:

• The meditation where everything suddenly goes quiet

• The yoga class where you finally let go

• The moment of insight that changes everything

• That feeling of profound peace that comes out of nowhere

These glimpses are proof. Proof that your true self is real. Proof that you're not alone. Proof that liberation is possible.

They give you the strength to continue, even when you're still imprisoned in old patterns.

Act Four: The Battle (The War That Happens in Silence)

Ram builds a bridge to Lanka and wages war against Ravana and his demon army.

What's really happening:

The real battle isn't external. It happens in the silence of your own consciousness. This is the war between:

• Awareness vs. Unconsciousness

• Truth vs. Illusion

• Peace vs. Agitation

• Love vs. Fear

• Presence vs. Distraction

Every single time you:

• Choose to breathe instead of react

• Choose presence over rumination

• Choose compassion over judgment

• Choose truth over comfortable lies

• Choose peace over being "right"

You are Ram's army, defeating Ravana's demons.

This isn't about violence. It's about discrimination—viveka—clearly seeing what is real and what is false, what serves your highest good and what perpetuates suffering.

The beautiful thing? The demons don't need to be violently destroyed. They simply dissolve in the light of awareness.

Act Five: Ravana's Defeat (When Ego Loses Its Power)

After an epic battle, Ram kills Ravana with a divine arrow.

What's really happening:

The ego must "die." Not literally—you still need a functional ego to navigate the world. But its dominance over your awareness must end.

This is the great insight: "I am not my thoughts. I am not my fears. I am not my desires. I am the awareness witnessing all of this."

When Ram's arrow—the arrow of truth, of discrimination, of higher consciousness—pierces Ravana's heart, the ten heads dissolve. The various faces of ego lose their grip.

You're still you. You just stop being exclusively identified with the small, fearful, grasping version of you.

Act Six: Coming Home (The Reunion You've Always Longed For)

After Ravana's defeat, Sita is freed. She proves her purity by walking through fire unharmed. Then Ram and Sita return together to Ayodhya, where Ram is crowned king. The citizens light millions of lamps to welcome them home.

What's really happening:

Your awareness is liberated from the prison of ego. But there's a testing period—you must prove to yourself that your transformation is real, that you can maintain presence and truth even under pressure.

When you pass through this fire—when you stay centered during life's challenges—you know the reunion is authentic.

The return to Ayodhya (which means "the invincible city") represents coming home to yourself, to your true nature. This is the kingdom of the soul, the place of peace that cannot be conquered by external circumstances.

When your awareness reunites with your true self, you experience:

• Inner peace that doesn't depend on what's happening around you

• Joy that arises from being, not from having

• Love that flows without condition

• Freedom within, regardless of what's happening without

Ram being crowned king means your true self takes its rightful place as the ruler of your inner kingdom. Not ego. Not fear. Not illusion.

Soul. Love. Truth.

Why We Light Lamps on Diwali

Diwali celebrates the day Ram, Sita, and Lakshman returned to Ayodhya. The citizens lit countless lamps, creating a festival of lights that illuminated the entire kingdom.

When you light a diya on Diwali, you're not just following tradition. You're celebrating your own potential for awakening. You're saying:

"I remember who I am. I welcome home my true self. I choose light over darkness, truth over illusion, love over fear."

The lamps represent:

• The light of consciousness illuminating the darkness of ignorance

• The inner light that was always there, now recognized and celebrated

• The victory of your true self over the false self

• The end of wandering and the beginning of dwelling in truth

The Radical Truth: This Is Happening RIGHT NOW

Here's what changes everything: This story isn't just something that happened long ago in ancient India. It's happening RIGHT NOW, inside you.

• Ravana abducts Sita every time your attention gets hijacked by a thought, desire, or fear

• You wander in the forest every time you feel lost, confused, or separated from peace

• Hanuman leaps the ocean every time you show up to your practice

• The battle rages every time you choose presence over reactivity

• Sita is freed every time you wake up from identification with thought

• The return to Ayodhya happens every time you come home to this moment, to your breath, to your true nature

This is not a story OUT THERE. This is YOUR story, unfolding moment by moment.

Your Practice: Five Steps to Free Sita and Return to Ayodhya

Step 1: Recognize the Abduction

Notice when your awareness has been captured by ego. Notice when you're lost in thought, driven by desire, paralyzed by fear, or identified with a story about yourself.

Simply noticing is the beginning of liberation.

Step 2: Remember Ram

Even when you can't feel it, trust that your true nature exists. Your soul is always there, searching for you, waiting for you to remember.

Set an intention: "I choose to align with my highest self."

Step 3: Activate Hanuman

Show up to your spiritual practice with devotion:

• Breathe consciously

• Meditate regularly

• Practice yoga with awareness

• Serve others selflessly

• Study wisdom teachings

• Cultivate faith

Your practice is the bridge. It will carry you across the ocean of illusion.

Step 4: Fight the Battle

When ego patterns arise—fear, attachment, reactivity—face them with:

• Awareness - Simply seeing what is

• Breath - Returning to presence

• Discrimination - Knowing what's real and what's false

• Compassion - For yourself and others

• Patience - Transformation takes time

Step 5: Come Home

Return to Ayodhya again and again. In meditation. In your heart. In this present moment.

The kingdom of peace is always here, always accessible. You just have to remember to return.

What the Ramayana Really Teaches Us

The divine never abandons you. Even when you feel lost, your true self is always present, always seeking reunion with you.

Your awareness can be freed. No matter how long you've been imprisoned by ego, liberation is always possible. Always.

Devotion is the key. Sincere practice, unwavering faith, and selfless service will carry you across any ocean.

The battle is internal. Real transformation happens in the silence of your own consciousness, not in external circumstances.

You can come home. Peace, wholeness, and truth are not destinations to reach. They are your very nature, waiting to be remembered.

This Diwali

As you light your lamps this Diwali, know that you are celebrating your own potential for awakening. You are welcoming home the light that never left, the truth that was always there, the love that you have always been.

The story of Ram and Sita is your story. The battle with Ravana is your battle. The return to Ayodhya is your return.

The journey is long. The ocean is wide. The demons are fierce.

But Hanuman is within you. Ram is within you. And Sita—your precious awareness—is longing to come home.

So light your lamp. Remember who you are. And know that every moment is an opportunity to return to the invincible city of your own soul.

Jai Siya Ram. Victory to Sita and Ram. Victory to your awareness reuniting with your soul.

Happy Diwali. May you dwell always in the light of your true nature.

If this reflection resonated with you, I invite you to sit quietly today and ask: Where is my awareness right now? Is Sita with Ram, or has she been abducted by Ravana? And what would it take to bring her home?

The answer might just light up your whole world.