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Symbolism of Sita desiring the golden deer! 
Written by Jayasree Saranathan, India.
Symbolism
is in fact the message given byScriptures and Ithihasas.It starts right from the Vedas.Rig vedais full of connotationsthat can be deciphered only by enlightened minds.To an ordinary reader they wouldlook like abstract thoughts sprung from mystic minds.But that they are not so is what all the later worksstarting from Upanishads to Ithihasas have established.When the spiritual prowess of the people of vedic age started declining,there came a transition from mythical imaginationto abstract philosophy which found a place in theupanishads.Learning from a teacher or guru kula vaasam was unheard of in vedic periodwhen the son learnt from the father (one instance to substantiate this is the Brahmopadesamthat is originally done by father to son.)who in turn transferred the knowledge to the next generation.
 
But the decline continued andthe guru-sishya relationship also took a beatingresulting in further dilution (or simplification of Thought)and Ithihasas filled the bill to import the knowledge of the Vedas.We find continuous re-orientation with reference toall mystic issuesfrom Agni to Attainment of Brahman to Prapatti.Everywhere the symbolism is maintained or sought to be conveyed by meansappropriate to the conditions of time.For instance, the whole of Sundhara khandam is a symbolic representation of the Jiva’s plightin samsara and the qualities such as seshatwa etcthat have to be observed by the Jiva,waiting for the Paramatman to give the lift.This view – that the jiva is waiting and it is for Him to lift ‘whom He chooses’
 
- is to be found (back-travelling chronologically)inVedartha sangrahaand inSri Bhashyam  to the 1st sutra of theBramha sutras, inBhagavd Gita(10-10 ‘dadaami buddhi yogam’) and earlier inMundaka upanishad. (“whomever He chooses, by him alone He is reached.To him this Self reveals his own form” (Munda III-2-3)Another symbolism of Sudhara khanda isthe role of Acharya( in Hanuman)in enabling the Jiva attain Him.If we substitute ourselves in Sita’s position (when we readSundhara Khanda)and make all the pleas and prayers from our life’s point of view,we would realise how it would helpin understanding the wonderful relationshipthat has to exist between Him and us.The same feeling or import can not be hadwhen we read the respective passages from Vedas or upanishads.It is because of the limits in the level of evolution of our minds.It is for people like us,Ithihasas have come in place.If we fail to understand the symbolism,
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