The Hidden Ramayana: Kali’s Play of Maya and Matih

In the stillness of Panchavati during the years of vanvaasa, Maa Sita once saw a radiant golden deer gliding through the forest, its form shimmering with unearthly brilliance. Unknown to her, the deer was the demon Maricha in disguise, sent as part of a larger design. Entranced by its extraordinary beauty, Maa Sita asked Lord Rama to capture it for her. Rama, moved by love and trust, agreed to pursue it. In that seemingly simple moment, destiny shifted. What appeared as a harmless desire became the catalyst for separation, abduction, and ultimately the great war of Lanka.

Yet the Ramayana is not only an outer epic of kings and battles. It is an inward scripture, unfolding within the subtle landscape of the human head.

Rama represents the Atma, the luminous Jiva, steady, pure, and anchored in truth.

Sita represents Matih, the Buddhi, the discriminative intelligence that guides perception and choice. Both Sita and Matih are names of Kali, revealing that the mind itself is an expression of the primordial Shakti. She is not merely a passive faculty but the dynamic power that moves consciousness towards experience.

The golden deer symbolises desire, the glittering projection of Maya that captivates the mind. It is beautiful, rare, and irresistibly attractive, yet fundamentally illusory.

When the Buddhi turns outwards in fascination, even briefly, it loosens its alignment with the Atma. In that subtle disconnection arises vulnerability.

Ravana then emerges as Ahamkar, the ego principle that thrives when discrimination is clouded. Ego does not overpower the mind by force alone, it gains entry when desire is pursued without awareness.

The abduction of Sita thus represents the captivity of the Buddhi under ego’s dominance. The soul experiences this as inner fragmentation, a sense of separation from clarity and peace. The ensuing war is a spiritual struggle within every sadhaka, the battle between higher awareness and self centred identity. When the Atma confronts and transcends Ahamkar, the Buddhi is restored to its rightful harmony. The inner Ramayana concludes not with mere reunion, but with the reestablishment of conscious alignment.

As my Guru Shri Praveen Radhakrishnan says — “A Shakta is the one who looks at the Ramayana through the eyes of Maa Sita.“

From a Shakta perspective, Sita stands at the centre of this event. As Kali, as Maha Maya, she is both the veil and the revealer. It is her play of illusion that initiates the journey, and her power that ultimately leads consciousness back to its source.

Kali is Maya, the shimmering fabric that enchants and entangles. She is also Maha Maya, the greater wisdom that uses illusion as a means of awakening.

As Matih, she functions within us as discernment itself, shaping how we interpret, choose, and act. Every leela, whether it appears as joy or upheaval, is moved by her energy. She veils the Self so that the play may begin, and she unveils it when the sadhaka is ready to see. Thus the daily Ramayana within the human consciousness is none other than her dance, guiding one through fascination, fragmentation, and finally towards luminous recognition of its own eternal source.

Ramayana becomes the story of how Kali tests, separates, and finally reunites the soul with its own awakened awareness.

Ramayana is Kali.

Through Me, as She wills.

Shri Gurubhyo Namah

Jai Khyapa Parampara

Jai Bhairav Baba

Jai Maa Adya MahaKali

-BhairavaShishya Sujay