The Holy Wedding Of Rama And Sita

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This is about a program that took place on the 27th of February 2004. It was a very funny program. There was no dialogue or speaking; there were only gestures and postures. The students were acting. Only by watching their signs and gestures, we were able to make out the exact theme that they wanted to convey.

Perhaps this was the first time this type of program (known as 'pantomime') was taking place in Sai Kulwant Hall. Usually such things are done in a smaller gathering. But they did this program right in front of Swami and in front of so many people.

The students enacted it in front of Swami and then later, after the enactment, they asked the crowd, "Who will tell the message of this?" Then the other students would raise their hands and one of them would tell the message of the whole scene which had been silently enacted. It was quite interesting and Swami keenly watched every episode (skit.)

In the first skit, a few boys were walking. One boy acted as if he garlanded another boy, who was quite short. Then the short boy was trying to garland the taller boy, but he could not do it because he was relatively shorter.In the meantime, a third boy came and fell at the feet of the tall fellow. The tall fellow bent over slightly to lift up the fellow who had fallen at his feet.Watching this, the short boy immediately garlanded the tall boy.

Then the question was asked, "Who will tell the message of this?"

Naturally a few raised their hands and one boy was asked to give the answer. The boy said, "This is an episode from the Ramayana - the holy wedding of Rama and Sita. Rama, as we know, was quite tall, while Sita was relatively short.In weddings, the bridegroom garlands the bride, and the bride garlands the bridegroom. That is the custom.

"Rama, being quite tall, could easily garland Sita, who was short. But Sita could not garland Rama as He was very tall. And she could not tell Him, 'Come on, bend down so I can garland You!' Rama would not bend His head before anybody. So it was a very embarrassing situation."

"Watching this, Lakshmana came from a distance and fell at the Feet of his brother, Rama, to take padanamaskar. Immediately Rama bent down, caught hold of Lakshmana's shoulders in order to lift him. Sita grabbed the opportunity and immediately garlanded Rama while He was bent over, lifting his brother. Rama would not bend otherwise. Rama bent only to lift Lakshmana. So this was quite a convenient event! Therefore, this is an episode showing that Sita is very intelligent. This incident relates to the holy wedding of Rama and Sita."

Everybody clapped and enjoyed that.