The Ramayana shows us the significance of the Pranava Mantra. ‘A' represents Lord Narayana and ‘U' Lakshmi and ‘M' the Jivatma. Incidentally, ‘M' is the 25th among Sanskrit consonants and the Jivatma the 25th tattva, V.S. Karunakarachariar said in a discourse.
In the Ramayana, Valmiki describes the scene in which Rama, Sita and Lakshmana go to the forest. He says Rama is the One who leads the others. Sita is in the middle and Lakshmana is at the rear. Thus he gives a graphic representation of the Pranava Mantra.
Valimki ends his verse describing this scene with the exclamation ‘Ha!' Usually such exclamations are used as space fillers. But he does not use the exclamatory expression as a space filler. It is to draw the attention of the reader to the significance of the order of entry of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana into the forest and to facilitate an interpretation in terms of the Pranava Mantra.
This is the importance of the Aranya Kanda, for it indicates the meaning of the Pranava Mantra.
Lakshmana serves Rama and Sita in the forest, keeping in mind their wants and needs. Such should be the nature of the Jivatma's service to the Divine Couple. That too is indicated in the verse that describes the entry of the Lord into the Dandakaranya.
The Dandakaranya forest came into existence because of asura guru Sukracharya's curse. Dandaka had tried to misbehave with Sukracharya's daughter and the acharya curses him to become a forest. In this forest lived sages, whose ashrams Rama visited.
It is in Dandkaranya that Soorpanaka approaches Rama and is sent back by Him. Into the Dandkaranaya, home to sages and demonesses alike, Rama makes His entry. Rama is attired in bark cloth, and yet
His appearance is perfect and charms the sages, who wonder why they should not become women and embrace Him. Rama tells them that in this avatara, He is committed to Sita, and cannot contemplate life with any other woman. However, He says that when He takes the Krishna avatara, the sages could be born as Gopikas and then they could embrace Him.
