Adhyatma Ramayana

Adhyatma Ramayana (Devanāgarī: अध्यात्म रामायण, literally "Spiritual Ramayana") is a medieval Sanskrit text extolling the spiritualism in the story of Ramayana. It is embedded in the latter portion of Brahmānda Purana. The text philosophically attempts to reconcile Bhakti in god Rama and Shaktism with Advaita Vedanta, over 65 chapters and 4,500 verses.

Taking the form of a dialogue between Shiva and Parvati, Adhyatama Ramayana contains the ideal characteristics of Lord Rama and the precepts related to devotion, knowledge, dispassion, adoration and good conduct. It is supposed to have inspired several later versions of the Ramayana story in languages like Awadhi (Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas), Oriya, Bengali and Malayalam.

The word Adhyatma (Sanskrit: अध्यात्म) means "transcendental, relating to Atman (self, soul)".

Adhyatma Ramayana represents the story of Rama in a spiritual context. The text constitutes over 35% of the chapters of Brahmanda Purana, often circulated as an independent text in the Vaishnavism tradition, and is an Advaita Vedanta treatise of over 65 chapters and 4,500 verses.

The text represents Rama as the Brahman (metaphysical reality), mapping all saguna (attributes) of Rama to the nirguna nature (ultimate unchanging attributeless virtues and ideals). Adhyatma Ramayana raises every mundane activity of Rama to a spiritual or transcendent level, the story into symbolism, thus instructing the seeker to view his or her own life through the symbolic vision for his soul, where the external life is but a metaphor for the eternal journey of the soul in Advaita terminology.

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