You pose some of the very essential questions that I myself have
questioned and I think I have found the answers to these questions, or at
least good enough answers to satisfy myself.
Ok, you read right in the version that your read that Ravana was killed
using the "Brahma weapon." It is called Brahmastra and it is supposed to
be the most potent of all the weapons, blessed by Lord Brahma himself.
Rama had to use this weapon to kill Ravana because Ravana was immune to
the rest of them. The weapon manages to kill no god. It only killed
Ravana, who is not a god, but an evil demon, as you had stated. This is
a powerful weapon in Hindu mythology used only on occasion when it is
absolutely needed. And yes, Sage Agatsya did give Rama this weapon
because he predicted during Rama's long exile that Rama will have need of
this weapon in the future.
I have never heard or read a version where Rama takes Ravana to a
mountain such that he figures out his own reality, but I feel it is a
metaphor. When Rama kills Ravana, one version says (I don't know which),
Ravana's soul merges into Rama and hence he goes back to the good. The
metaphor about Rama taking Ravana to a mountain is the time when Ravana
merges back into Rama and he himself realizes his own reality and
cruelty. The mountain represents a place (typically one migrates to the
mountains for self realization) where one has the potential of self
realization. The mountains are said to be pure and undisturbed. Such is
the soul of Rama also, where Ravana went after being slain, and
therefore, he came to the realization of his own cruelty. In any event,
Ravana does die for sure in the story because it is part of the three
human lives that he is cursed with.
His story begins like this. Ravana was originally a dweller of swarga
(heaven) and did some karma for which Vishnu gave him two options.
Vishnu told him he could either have seven lives as a devotee of Vishnu
on earth or three lives as an oppressor of Vishnu. Either way, Vishnu
would eventually releive him of his lives on earth. As both choices
involved human lives, Ravana chose three lives as an oppressor. In his
first life, he was born as Hiranyakashipu, the father of Prahlada (this
is part of the Narashima avatara). In his second, he is born as Ravana and
his third he is born as Kamsa (this story is part of the Krishna
avatara). In all three lives, he is said to be slain by Vishnu and
merges into Vishnu every time. After three cruel lives he becomes once
again, a dweller of swarga. This bring me back to that point, where I
said he realizes his cruelty when he is on the mountain. As he has no
control over his actions during his lifetime, he can only realize his
actions only when he is once again pious. Vishnu let him realize his
nature as a human to show him how much one has to suffer being Vishnu's
oppressor. Vishnu had originally told him that an evil birth was not to
be chosen over a pious birth and it is better to be born as a good person
seven times than to be born three times as evil. Rama, then, I believe
is showing him just that.
Yes, one's role in life is to follow one's dharma, you are correct in
doing this. However, Ravana was not following his dharma. Ravana,
according to the Ramayana was initially a good person, alike his brother
Vibhishana, but gaining powers and boons from the gods, Ravana became
powerful. Eventually, he turned into evil. Ravana was not essentially
following his dharma then. He was exploiting everything. It is no one's
dharma, not even a demon's, to exploit society. It is morally wrong to
kill another for personal reasons, but for the good of the society, this
is not wrong. It is said that such untimely events as Ravana's coming to
power were chaotic enough to put the whole of human population in danger
and at such times, it is definitely not wrong to kill a demon for the
good of all. Rama was the epitomy of dharma because he followed his
dharma as a father, son, husband, brother, ksatriya and a king. Ravana
did not follow his own dharma. Think about this one. Rama's and
Ravana's dharmas are the same. A demon's dharma is not to destroy, but
to be good just like anyone else. If you think of demons in Hindu
mythology just as a different kind of people, then it helps.
As to taking of his wife, this is also a deep metaphor. Ravana is said
to be living in Lanka, now known as Sri Lanka. Sita is a symbol of
land. Sita literally means furrow and she was born of the earth. When
Ravana (the dravidian) took over Rama's Sita (aryan land) they got into a
battle. The story can also be seen as a conflict between the north
Indians aryan (represented by Rama) and south Indian dravidians
(represented by Ravana). Another explination of this is that although
Rama was Vishnu himself who descended down to earth to save it, he was
lost in maya or an illusion that comes with human birth. Even gods are
not immune from maya. Rama forgot his reason for being on earth due to
maya and had to be reminded by some disruption in that maya namely Sita's
abduction. Still, Rama did not want to fight with Ravana, he was forced
to fight. He didn't do it just to get Sita back, but to rid society of
evil as well, so it is not viewed as personal gain. That is what he was
primarily concerned with.
In regards to your next question, sure you can think that the world was
unbalanced when Sita was abducted. There is no set way of ananlyzing any
myth, in my opinion. You could relate this to the balances also. Ravana
would represent, in this case, the factor that creates an unbalance
sometimes. Something that shifts this harmony, an untimely event, which
causes this shift, that has to be counteracted in order to restore
harmony.
Sorry that I wrote so much Claire, but I just couldn't write it any more
concisely. I hope that helps and if I haven't made anything clear,
please e-mail me. Hope that helps in your research.
Gautham.
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