Rama’s Bridge and Duality

The picture above is an American Space Shuttle photo of the underwater “bridge,” purported by both some scientists and sages, to be the ancient Rama’s Bridge. Rama’s Bridge extends between Rameswaram in India to present-day Sri Lanka. This is the bridge Hanuman and Ram’s army of “monkeys” built for Ram’s army to cross over from India to Lanka. Ram went across the ocean into Lanka to rescue Sita from the demon Ravana. This story is recorded in the great Indian epic, the Ramayana, the epic story of Ram.

Swami Vishwananda: Once Lakshmana, the brother of Rama asked Ram a question while looking at Vashishta who was crying bitterly at the death of his son. Vashishta was considered one of the greatest Saints and was very knowledgeable about the Vedas. He also was very knowledgeable about the Consciousness, and possessed vast knowledge about everything. And this great Vashishta was crying!

Then Lakshmana said, “How is this possible?” Rama smiled and said, “My dear brother, where there is knowledge, there is also ignorance. If one is aware of knowledge, one has to be aware of all the knowledge, not only certain knowledge. It is the same thing that if you are aware of light, you have to be aware of darkness. This is the duality of things. But are we limited to this duality, or are we beyond this duality? In reality, who are we? We live life on Earth, but are we bound by this duality? In a certain way, yes, we are bound by it, because we are here, in the physical world. But if we identify ourselves with the true Self, our true Self is not bound by duality. Vashishta was not bound by duality.