Often my books begin or end with a visionary dream. I am always comforted by these experiences because 1, like so many others, have a somewhat doubtful mind. I question myself and my ability to accurately transmit what I see and hear, so these dream visions are the confirmation I need to quiet the unsure mind.
When I finished writing The Untold Story of Sita, I had a dream vision of Sri Ram, the formless expression of that powerful, all encompassing, universal love energy. Before I began writing When the Bright Moon Rises, I had a dream vision of a marriage between two deities. When I finished writing my last book To Dance with Dakinis, I had a dream vision once again of Sri Ram, but this time it was his beautiful, embodied form that I saw.
And so it happened with this book, which I never intended to write but which somehow came pouring through me.
In early 2024, I was in India for the Indian launch of The Untold Story of Sita when I felt a strong direction to write this book Sita's Yoga as a way to transmit more clearly the messages I was receiving. When I came home, the book began to flow, but doubts and questions arose, and I began to wonder why I never had a dream vision of Sita Ma when so much of my life is devoted to her. I began my pleas for a sign, an indication that she was blessing this new work.
Two months later my request was granted. First it was a dream vision of my Gurudev, who I believe had a hand in the subsequent appearance of Sita Ma herself. She appeared before my inner eye, and after basking in her powerful love, I was led to a garden where her attendant Soma, a great devi herself, was seated. It was there in that celestial garden that Soma revealed the outline for this book. There was perhaps another reason that led to Soma's appearance.
Ironically, before that 2024 trip to India, I was in the middle of writing another book Memories of a Future Life, in which I projected myself two hundred years into the future. As I was engrossed in that work, I found myself searching for Soma in that future time. Would she appear again on earth? Would I meet her in my future birth? As I scanned the landscape of a life to come, centuries from now, I didn't find her in the physical world and I began to long for her wise and guiding presence, wondering where and how I could find her again.
When I returned from India, I put aside that half-finished book to write Sita's Yoga, and it was in the writing of this book that I found my dear Soma again. It was a great joy to be once more in her presence.
For those who have read The Untold Story of Sita, this book is a continuation of that story. But it is not necessary to have read that book to understand Sita's Yoga as many aspects of Sita's life will be revealed through this narrative. For those unfamiliar with the story of the life of Sita and Ram, I have included a short synopsis at the end of this introduction.
My greatest interest in writing about Sita, an incarnation or avatar of the great devi Narayani, also known as Maha Lakshmi, is to show the effect she had on the people of her time, ordinary people whom she encountered, who were perhaps not so ordinary but who were very much like you and me, taking care of families, doing their work to sustain themselves, contributing to society, thinking about the purpose of life. How did she guide them and how did their interactions with her transform them? Afterall, the avatars take birth for you and me. They are engaged not only in the grand battles on earth but the small ones as well, the ones we are confronted with every day that teach us to transform our own negative emotions and to counter destructive energies that harm not only us but also the rest of the world. This perpetual battle existed during the time of Ram and Sita and still exists today. We can see the prevalence of anger, greed, arrogance, selfishness and indifference, as well as the fear that is generated from these negative traits. In Sita's time, these negative forces found their greatest expression in the personality of Ravana, the lord of Lanka, and his minions, who infused the collective mind with anger, arrogance and greed.
Who is Ravana but the forces that drag down human consciousness and sink us deeper into materialism and delusion? Qualities of greed, pride and deception that characterized the Ravana of Sita's time still stalk the earth today. How are we to battle the Ravanas of our time? These oppressive characteristics are in full sight and take the form of both internal and external forces. Battle them we must, but we cannot hope to conquer the outer destructive forces until we look within and transform the shadows that lurk in our own minds and hearts, the negative thoughts and emotions that lie latent within. My hope is this narrative will provide some guidance on how to achieve this.
For the first time, I am writing a story that is not my own. It is a story that has been told to me. It has not been easy to attune myself to the narrator of the story, a great soul who abides in a high astral realm, filled with the consciousness of Mata Sita, also known as Mata. The narrator is one of many who gained moksha, liberation from the karmic cycle of rebirth, during Mata's life on earth. This spiritually advanced soul knew Sita during the years when Sita retreated from palace life, after the battle in Lanka and her return with Ram to Ayodhya. It is a story of the aftermath of that great battle, which perhaps was the deadliest human society had experienced until then. It is a story of the effect Ravana had on human society and how Ram and Sita countered those destructive influences, a story with great relevance for us as we seek to overcome the harmful forces circulating throughout our world today.
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