How we view Rāma depends on how we view the Rāmāyaṇa. There are at least three ways the Rāmāyaṇa can be studied—as history, as literature, and as scripture. How we want to study Rāma’s story is up to us.

Before the veil of māyā stopped covering Nārada’s eyes, he had a few more lessons to learn—and as we reach the end of the story, we have our own lessons to learn from this long-running saga. The quicker we learn, the easier it will be to get off the razor’s edge.

The phrase, “the razor’s edge” (kṣurasya dhārā), in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.14), refers to the difficult and perilous path to the supreme Reality. The subtle obstacles that lie on the way are beautifully illustrated in a story of the sage Nārada.

When Śrī Rāma was exiled to the forest by his stepmother, he first went to the hermitage of Sage Vālmīki and sought his advice about a good place to stay in the forest for the next fourteen years. Vālmīki’s answer to Rāma’s question has become a luminous guide to devotees seeking to fill their hearts with God’s presence.