I am currently reading an amazing book. It is called, “Sita’s Yoga: The Yoga of Awakening” written by Dena Merriam and published earlier this year by Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House, Delhi. Based on decades of study of the spiritual scriptures of different religions, the author delves into the lives of the iconic characters of epics, namely the Ramayana, and in this context, Sita Devi herself.
The virtuous but long suffering wife of Lord Ram, considered the greatest, most just king of the Treta Yug, who is the divine incarnation of God Vishnu, the story of Sita Devi or Sita Ma (Mother Sita) as she is referred to, has been, essentially and inexorably connected to her illustrious husband’s. In this book, the writer gets inside the thoughts of Sita Ma and propounds an entire philosophy of HER own, complete with the teachings of a way of life as though expounded by HER herself.
At a time, when egregious ego clashes of people desperate for political power; when the pursuit of wealth is the driving force of living; when endless disconnections between individuals and nations erupt in conflict and war; and when an almost unbelievable depravity of humans, supposedly the highest and most rational in all of Creation consumes the times, this book comes as an uplifting, elevating read.
I am fascinated by the descriptions of mindsets at different junctures of what are known as the four ‘yug’s or cycles of time. This is delineated through the use of logical, scientific dialectic, combined with unapologetic discourse about the divine. Dena Merriam’s book, “Sita’s Yoga: The Yoga of Awakening” is one of those tomes which, to quote the sixteenth and seventeenth century English philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon, “is to be chewed and digested” rather than just tasted and swallowed. A full review is on for next week.
The writer is Editor, Features