Yuddhakand - 1999

BY
Ms. Anandhi Ramasubramanian
Ms. Usha Satyan

After Hanuman returned to lord Rama’s camp after completing his mission of finding the whereabouts of sita, Lord Rama and Sugriva marched with their Vanara army towards the southern sea. When the Vanara army reached the Mahendra mountains they rested for a while. The spread of the Vanara army on the hill tops was a glorious sight though fiery. It appeared as if the whole earth was covered with monkeys, monkeys and more monkeys.

In Lanka, Ravana, who learnt through his spies about the Vanara army camping on the other side was very much worried. He summoned his ministers for advice. All of them praised Ravana to the sky declaring that he was unconquerable . These words comforted him and boosted his pride. Ravana also consulted his brothers Vibishana and Kumbhakarna . Vibishana advised Ravana to return Sita to Rama and make peace with him but Ravana would not listen to him. Vibishana and his 4 friends left Lanka and took refuge in Rama. However Kumbha karna agreed to fight for his brother Ravana.

Back in Rama’s camp, Sugriva, Lakshmana and Vibishana discussed the ways and means to cross the sea. Rama prayed to the Lord of the Ocean for a passage for which Samudra raja appeared before him and suggested that they build a bridge with the help of the architect Nala who was in the Vanara army. The bridge was completed in 5 days using stones and boulders. The entire Vanara army then crossed the sea and reached Lanka.

In the meantime, Ravavna thought of a devious plan to make Sita yield to him, which he hoped would make Rama go back disgraced and broken hearted. With the help of a magician Vidhudjihva, a head resembling that of Rama was produced before Sita. Ravana with all his pride now announced to Sita that he had killed Rama. Just then, due to an emergency, Ravana had to rush back to the Council Hall to meet his Generals. When he left, the illusory head of Rama also vanished leaving Sita totally perplexed. Sarama, one of the rakshasis who cared for Sita comforted her, saying that Rama was alive and safe in Lanka, and that she was now only deceived by Ravana’s magic.

The Vanara army was now getting ready to fight – only waiting for the green signal form Lord Rama. However, Lord Rama had different ideas. True to his noble character, Dharmatma Rama tried now to avert the war by sending Angada to Ravana as a messenger of peace, but Ravana did not want this peace. On the contrary he tried to kill Angada, who however managed to escape.

At this stage, Rama declares a full fledged war on Lanka. He ordered his Vanara army to attack. The Vanara’s used uprooted trees & boulders to attack the Rakshasas. Thousands were killed on either side and the battle field was soaked in blood. It appeared as if Rama’s army was gaining the upper hand. At this time, Indrajit adopted his Maya tactics and shot the Nagapasa at Rama & Lakshmana. The Serpants from the arrow hit them, and soon Rama & Lakshmana both fell to the ground, bound hand and foot. Seeing their Masters down, the Vanaras panicked. Indrajit thought that Rama & lakshmana were dead, and soon this message was conveyed to Ravana. Ravana now instructed one of the Rakshasis Trijatha to take Sita to the battle field on the Pushpaka Vimana to show her the dead bodies of Rama & Lakshmana. Though initially Sita lost her balance, she was soon consoled by the friendly Trijatha that both Rama & lakshmana were alive.

Meanwhile, the celestial eagle Garuda came into view at the battle field. At his sight, the serpants binding the two brothers fled away. Garuda now stroked the faces of Rama & Lakshmana with his wings and their wounds were healed. Both Rama & lakshmana rose refreshed as if from a long sleep. Garuda then flew away.

The joy which Rama’s army experienced on seeing their Masters fully recovered was indescribable. The sounds of their drums and bugles filled the air. They resumed their attack with greater vigour. Ravana sent many great Generals to the battle front but they were all killed. At last Ravana himself mounted his chariot and came to the battle field. A fierce battle took place. Ravana shot the powerful Brahmasthra at Lakshmana and made him unconscious. Hanuman hit Ravana with his feet, and then quickly carried away Lakshmana to Lord Rama to review him.

Now it was the turn of Rama to fight Ravana one to one. Ravana could not stand the mighty power of Lord Rama. Ravana was deeply wounded, his bow fell down from his hands, his chariot was smashed, and he stood helplessly before Rama. Lord Rama now showed once again how noble he was. He took pity on Ravana and asked him to come the next day to fight in a new chariot with fresh weapons.

Ravana was devastated. He was not only ashamed, but his pride was humbled. He ordered Kumbakarna to be woken up from his sleep and to take part in the battle. However Kumbhakarna was defeated by Rama. Similarly, the other sons of Ravana too were wiped out by the Vanara army.

On hearing the news, Ravana sat dejected in his palace. Seeing his plight, Indrajit vowed to finish off once and for all, Rama & Lakshmana at once. He used his Maya tactics and becoming invisible, he showered powerful arrows on the Vanaras. They became totally powerless against an enemy they could not see. Finally, Indrajit discharged the sacred Brahmasthra which made Rama, lakshmana and the Vanaras unconscious. Jambhavan then instructed Hanuman to go to the Sanjeevini Parvat and get the four wonderful herbs which alone could bring the dead back to life. Hanuman, on reaching the Sanjivini Parvat could not make out which were the specific herbs, and so he uprooted the entire mountain and flew back to Lanka. At the very smell of the herbs, Rama, Lakshmana & the Vanaras leapt to life with their wounds healed.

In modern times, success is measured by the skill and personality of a person, but though skill and personality are needed to achieve success, it can never guarantee happiness and fulfillment. These can come only from developing character.

I would like to conclude by saying that Ravana’s life is an ideal example of the Greek proverb “character is destiny”. Ravana, no doubt was a very great person, but inspite of being repeatedly advised by wise men to return Sita back to Rama, he refused to do so. Thus his pride, and passion for Sita overpowered him, and he was destined to destruction.

Jai Sri Ram

Ms. Usha Satyan

After the death of Kumbakarna, his sons Kumba and Nikumba accompanied by several warriors came to destroy vanaras. Sugriva with a powerful hit of his mighty fist felled Kumba to the ground and he died. Hanuman pushed Nikumba to the ground and sat on his chest. Nikumba was strangled to death and his head was wrenched off his body. Then Indrajit, son of Ravana, who is his greatest strength rose up into the sky and hiding himself behind the clouds, he began to harass the brothers. Many vanaras were killed and Rama made up his mind to kill the son of Ravana.

Lakshmana used the astra "AINDRA" which traveled like a streak of lightning and it severed the beautiful head of Indrajit from his body and it fell to the ground. Indrajit who had captured Indra and brought him to his fathers city as a captive was killed by the astra which was ironically enough, presided over by Indra. Rama was very happy and thrilled at the achievement of his beloved Lakshmana. Ravana could not believe that his Indrajit could die. Ravana was inconsolable and his grief turned into anger. Ravana attacked the vanaras with all his pent up fury and hatred. Lakshmana and Vibheeshana tried to bar Ravana's way but they were not successful. When he saw Vibheeshana, Ravana's fury doubled and he shot a blazing arrow at him but Lakshman stopped it midway. Ravana shot another blazing brand at Lakshmana who fell down unconscious. Hanuman again fetched the hill of herbs to revive Lakshmana.

Ravana is known for his wisdom as well as for his weakness for woman which may explain why he is pictured as very brainy (ten heads)

Rama confronts ten-headed Ravana. A terrible battle ensued between Rama and Ravana. The devas and gandharvas watched with beating hearts and bated breath. Rama and Ravana let go divine astras, one more potent than the other. Rama cut off one head of Ravana's after the other. As he cut off one head, another would rise to take its place and each succeeding head more efficient than the previous one. Rama was baffled. Ravana only let out his most hideous laughter as he watched Rama's growing confusion.

Indra sensed Rama's distress and sent down his own divine chariot and charioteer, Maatali to help him The battle grew more fierce. Rama and Ravana were both wounded. Rama wounded every limb of Ravana but he still fought bravely. Streams of blood flowed from his body. In his last moment he looked proud, haughty and majestic. Maatali whispered in Rama's ear to use "Agastya's astra" as Ravana's time is up. Rama took the brahmastra invoked it in the manner which had been prescribed and placed it on the string. When he did it the earth trembled with fear and all the animals and birds made frightened noises. Rama pulled the string to his ear and released the great Brahmastra. With a snake like hiss the astra darted forth and pierced the magnificent wide chest of Ravana. This was the seat of all his power and strength and is now destroyed by Rama's burning shaft. Ravana's bow slithered from his dying hands. With a crash that shook the three worlds he fell down. He face glowed in death.

The vanaras shouted and danced with joy. The remaing rakshasas were frightened and scattered like scared mice. The devas showered flowers from heaven and the Sun smiled his warm blessings. Vibheeshana was moved to tears by the pity he felt for his brother. Rama comforted him by saying " A hero who dies in the battlefield should not be mourned. He died a brave death and now shines bright as the Sun in the warriors heaven" Vibheeshana refused to perform the last rites for Ravana. Rama, the noble, the valiant tells him that,

"All enmity ends with death"

and that he should perform the funeral rites for his brother to help him to reach the loka of his pitru's - Lanka mourned and Vibheeshana was crowned the King of Lanka.

Mandodari, the queen of Ravana the mother of Indrajit came to the battle field and spoke in a pained voice - "It is not possible for a man to kill my Lord. I am sure it is Lord Narayana who has killed you. Because of the blindness of lust, you desired Sita and the death came in the shape of Sita and she became the cause of your death. You were not defeated by Rama in war but it was your own sinfulness which has killed you."

Rama sent Hanuman to fetch Sita. Sita was so happy with relief at the victory of her beloved Lord Rama and wanted to see Rama as soon as possible. Hanuman wanted to kill all the wicked rakshasis who guarded Sita but Sita says not to harm them. They are not to blame. They were only obeying their king.

One's mercy and compassion should be available to all. Such is the mark of a noble soul.

After Sita proves her purity- Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Hanuman, Sugreeva & Vibheeshana returned to Ayodhya in Pushpaka Vimana. Ayodhya was in a frenzy of ecstatic joy. Rama and Bharata met as no brothers had met before. Tears of happiness were in all eyes. The brothers prostrated to their Guru Vasishta.

Bharata said to Rama, "Brother, take back now what always belonged to you-your crown, your people, your kingdom, your throne. I have faithfully served your sandals these past fourteen years. Now relieve me of my responsibility. Rama donned the coronation robes. Mother Sita was dressed beautifully in proper queenly style. She was more beautiful than ever now, after having endured all the hardships of the forest and suffering at Ravana's hands (lanka).

Rama and Sita were seated on the thrones. Lakshmana was near by. Bharata & Satrugna held the royal white umbrella behind Rama. Sugreeva & Vibheeshana gently waved the fans. Rama was crowned king by sage Vasishta. The dream of his Guru, of the queen mothers, of the loving and devoted brothers and of doting Ayodhyavasis was now fulfilled. Sita took a pearl necklace and placed it around Hanuman's neck. The humble and devoted Hanuman clasped the feet of his divine Lord and Lady and in hushed tones of respect he said,

"Grant that I shall live down the ages to listen to your divine story, wherever it is sung by loving and devoted people."

Rama smiled and blessed him. Goodness and virtue had regained their lost crowns. Rama rajya - "an ideal time when everyone does his or her dharma, an age of supreme contentment, joy and goodness and where fathers never have to light the funeral pyres for their sons" had taken birth.

Narayana, the Lord who is all pervading, who has his abode in the ocean of milk and who is also called Hari, who has no beginning, no middle and no end, who is the Lord of Lords, who is the Ancient "Rama" and He will bless the one who studies this Ramayana and the one who listens to the story of Rama with reverence. All his desires will be granted. It grants Long life, Wealth, Health, Children, Fame, Comradeship with brothers, Good intelligence, Glory, Peace and Contentment.

SHRII RAMA JAYAM.
...Read more!

Sundarakand - 1999

BY
Ms. Sonia Sethi

My obesciences to the Master, to the guru, and to all of you, fortunate, blessed devotees assembled here this evening.From time immemorial, the Lord has descended in various forms, to uphold dharma, and set things right. From amongst these innumerable avatars, one of the most well known, and best loved, is Rama.

Last Thursday and Saturday, we have listened to a lot about the Ramayana, today, we will listen to the Sundarakandam, which is the crest of the Ramayana, it is the ornament of the entire epic, it is a mine of spiritual inspiration. We have already been introduced to the monkey bhakta, Hanumanji, today we will listen to how he crosses the ocean, and reaches Lanka.

So the task of reaching Lanka and finding out if Sita was captured there, was finally given to our Hanumanji. He was on a mountain top, he had to leap from there, across the ocean, and reached Lanka. He looked like a wild bull, he was enormous, and all the creatures on the mountain were absolutely petrified, they shuddered under him. Hanumanji, on the mountain top, saluted to all the Gods, he turned to the east and saluted to his father Vayu, and paid obeisciences to his master, Rama, and Lakshmana, and then to the seas and rivers.

He then further enlarged in size, to the maximum, and he had made up his mind, he will get Sita by hook or crook, some how or the other, if he couldn’t find her, he would get the entire city of Lanka with him. He was so determined, because it was his master’s command that he go in the quest of Sitaji and succeed.

Praphupad, the founder acharya of ISKCON was told by his guru, only once, ‘Abhay, if you ever get money, publish books’. In his late 60s, with Rs.40 in his pocket, he decided to leave to the US and fulfill this command of the Guru. This is how it should be, the Guru’s wish should be our command.

So our hanumanji, then confidently leapt, he looked like the moon in a clouded sky, and he was flying the king of the ocean told the mountain Mainaka to grow larger, so that hanumanji could rest on him. And the mountain grew. Hanumanji first thought the mountain to be an obstacle, but then when he found out why it had risen, he said, kindly, ‘No. Thanks a lot for your affection for Ramji, but I can not rest till I have accomplished what I have undertaken.’ So he went on , and all the devas in the sky wanted to see how strong he was in his will, so they told the mother of serpents to assume the shape of a big rakshasi, and she did. She wouldn’t let Hanumanji go, and said, ‘If you want to go, you have to enter my month and be my khaanna.’ And Hanumanji said I am going on a very important mission, please could I be your food on the way back, and she refused. So our Hanumanji said alright, open your mouth wide enough to accommodate me, and he grew and grew and grew in size, and her mouth widened and widened and widened in size. Then he shrunk to the size of a thumb, entered and came out in a moment. And the mother was happy, she said, " may you succeed my child ." He faced more obstacles, but there was the grace of the guru, there was the love for the Lord, there was the determination, there was the shraddha, and who can stop such a person? So he went on covered the 100 yojanas, and reached the other shore. Hanuman had achieved that which had seemed impossible. He could see Lanka now. It was a beautiful city, lovely mansions, beautiful gardens every where, everything decorated with the most precious of jewels, but unfortunately, the city was guarded by Ravana’s demons, and now Hanumanji had to think of a plan. How could he cross them? If he tried to get into a fight, and if he lost, then his whole travel would be futile, and Ramji would have to return to Ayodhya without Sita. So he waited till it was dark.

The entire city was protected by a very high wall. He was trying to enter the city when the guardian of the city, a goddess, came to him. She asked him, ‘What do you want, haan? You seem to be a monkey! Tell me the truth, or I’m going to kill you.’ Hanumanji tried to talk humbly, ‘I’ve come to admire this lovely city’, but this Lankini, as was her name, would now come down to earth, ‘You stupid monkey’, she said. Now our Hanumanji also got angry, so he punched her hard, and she fell, but not that hard, because she was a woman.

5000 yrs back they had regard for woman, but anyone, you can’t expect traditions and values to last that long, because we are now entering the 21st century.

Now Lankini was humiliated, and she said, ‘Brahmaji had given me a boon. He said when a monkey conquers you, you must realize that the end of the Rakshasas has come. I always, wanted to meet the Lord, but I was unfotunate enough to have taken birth in the Rakshasa clan, but today, I have seen the Lord’s direct devotee, I am so immensely blessed, I need nothing more, I can now happily breathe my end.’, so she lets him enter, knowing that he had come to rescue Sita.

Gotten rid of the angel guardian of Lanka, Hanumanji jumped the high wall, and entered the city. It was beautiful, decorated with pearls and flowers, soft music playing in the background, beautiful to view, but it was amusing to watch the guards, most of them totally intoxicated, drugged asleep, with gorgeous women giving them company. Not very different from what we see nowadays. He looked at all their faces, and he said, ‘Oh God! These definitely can’t be Sitaji. She is the most beautiful of women, she must be somewhere else.’ He then enters Ravana’s palace, it seemed to be the ornament of the entire city, shining brilliance, from the precious stones and 24 carat gold that it was made out of. He was amazed at the prosperity that he saw there, there were thousands of beautiful women sleeping there, but he scanned their faces and he was sure none of them was Sita.

There is a separate tejas, a glow on a person who thinks of the Lord constantly. The person need not be beautiful, but you can say from the very glimpse of the person’s face – this person is a bhakta.

These were women all brought, or let say, won by Ravana, in many of his fights, and all of them were really light headed, so more than him, they were in love with all that he offered them, so many women, yet Ravana had to bring his end closer by capturing Sita.

Look at the height of foolishness, the more we have the more we want, but this fool had gone upto the extent of actually separating the Lord from his consort. You think of troubling a Bhakta and the Lord gets furious, here this devil had captured a Bhakta, was torturing a bhakta, so he definitely could not have a very comfortable end.

Hanumanji goes wandering around, and he finally sees an amazing cot, made of crystal, ivory, sandal and gold, unbelievably beautiful, and in it slept Ravana, looking mighty, very handsome, very healthy, arrogance and pride written and glued onto his face, clad in the best of clothing, adorned in the best of jewelry. And as he goes on, he sees another beautiful cot, separate from Ravana’s and the other womens’ and in it slept an amazing woman, so beautiful, that there was no need of jewels to enhance her beauty. Hanumanji thought he had found Sita, and he starting clapping and jumping in joy, when it struck him, that how can this be sita? That noble lady will not sleep, parted from her Lord, she will not eat, and yes, that woman was not Sita. It was Mandodari, the wife of Ravana. Now Hanumanji wonders, where can she be? I HAVE to find her! Then he saw an ashokavana nearby, and he thought he must go there and search. It was a lovely garden, favourite of the king, because it was maintained with great care. Trees, flowers, fruits, birds and delicate animals of every kind, every breed, sheltered there. Rama had once told Hanumanji that Sita was very fond of trees, so he was positive to find her there. As he went on, he suddenly saw a woman was like the thin crescent at the beginning of the brighter fortnight. She was very thin, and it was conspicuous that she had been fasting endlessly. She was amazingly gorgeous, draped in a crumpled piece of silk, yellow in color, covered by dust, no jewellery, and she looked very sad, and scarred. There were many Rakshasis around her, and she was helpless and lonely, her hair twisted into a single strand, very long like a black snake. It was Her, it was Sita.

There was suddenly a lot of commotion, there was the sound of powerful strides, and the magnificent Ravana made his way to the spot where Sita was seated. Seeing him, the delicate lady started shrinking into herself, unable to bear the piercing looks of the king, who was drenched in greed, lust and every demonic quality one could think of. And he started speaking to her, ‘see, you are so beautiful, and I love you so whole-heartedly, why don’t you marry me? Why not become mine? I love you so intensely, that I am not even forcing you to do anything, I am giving you your own time. You can rule as my queen, you don’t look good like this, absolutely mariyal, I’ll dress you in the best of clothing you have ever seen! So what are you waiting for?’ Sita is distressed, shocked to see such a person! And she tells him, ‘See, go away! Don’t think of anything so sinful. You are only giving death a VIP inviting. You are supposed to be a king, so protect the dharma handed down by your elders, I am a married woman, I can not marry you. My Lord is ever merciful, even now it is not too late, take me back to him, and he will forgive you,’

Ravana’s wild, he had to be pacified, and he charged out of there. The Rakshasis then start harassing her, and she is crying and crying and crying, not knowing what to do, and Hanumanji is seeing all this. And he is wondering, now how do I go down and talk to her, she’ll probably start screaming at my very site. Hanumanji was best known for his speech, so he decided to start reciting something love, and he began, ‘There was a great king known as Dhasharatha, who had 4 equally great sons, the eldest of whom was called Rama. Very dear to the king, the protector of dharma, on being told by his old father, Rama agreed to go to the forest, for 14 yrs. He was accompanied by his wife and brother. Then Sita, his pious wife, got kidnapped by ravana, and Ram made friends with a monkey king, who agreed to help find Sita. He sent his monkeys all over, I am one of them. An eagle guided me to this place, and I crossed the ocean, and came to Lanka. Sita who has been described to me by Rama has been seen by me.’ And she felt scarred, who is this? She looks up, and she sees the little Hamnumanji on the tree. She agrees, ‘yes, yes, you definitely must be my Lord’s messenger’, and asks him to tell her about Rama. Picture it, pls, the Lord’s consort, and the Bhakta are talking about the Lord.

What a site! Hanumanji tells her about how they came, how they saw her jewels, and about his leaping across the sea, and he stood, palms folded, and told her that Rama and Lakshmana are well, and gave her Rama’s ring. And then the mother looks at the ring, and tears drip from her eyes at the thought of her beloved, and she tells Hanumanji, ‘You are so great, to have the grace of my Lord, and cross the ocean. My Lord and Lakshmana are well, I am happy, but have I not suffered enough? Why has he yet not come?’ and Hanumanji says, ‘If Rama knew where you were, he would have come immediately, but he didn’t! So he sent me to find out, but now he’ll come.’ Look at the tolerance of this bhakta. Sita is thrilled, but Hanumanji can’t bear the thought of leaving her in the Ashokavana all alone, so he says, ‘I can change my size to anything suitable. Would you like me to carry you out of here, to Rama?’ And Sitaji says, ‘No, that will not be a credit to Rama. I will remain till he himself comes and rescues me.’ Hanumanji is thrilled to see the courage of the woman enduring such insufferable torture, and since he has to leave, he wants to know if she has any message for Rama.’

And the mother spoke with tears in her eyes, full of tears, she tells Hanuman to repeat just what she says to Rama. And she says, ‘Once, on the hill Chitrakuta, on the banks of the river Mandakini, a crow came in our presence, you were lying down on my lap, and the crow was bent on eating flesh and he kept piercing me with his sharp beak. I got annoyed, and you looked at my face and laughed at me. You slept on. Later, the crow came back from nowhere, and this time he started piercing me more fiercely, and there were drops of blood falling from my flesh. You got so annoyed, that you were about to kill the crow, and you were about to invoke the Brahmastra. Lord, when you could not bear a crow piercing me, how is it that you are bearing me being captured and tortured by a demon? Am I such a sinner to stay away from you for so long? Why don’t you free me from here, Lord?’ And she tells Hanumanji, ‘Convey my prostrations to Rama, my blessings to Lakshmana.’ Wiping her eyes, she then gives Hanumanji the chudamani jewel worn in her hair, which she was given during her wedding, and tells him to give it to Rama. She then tells Hanumanji to go safely, because her safety depends on him, and she is still unwilling to let him go, because his coming was source of comfort to her. She says, ‘My Lord would be so heart broken to stay away from me, how is he carrying on? Give him my jewel, it will make him feel better, remind him of the playful moments we had together. Once when my tilak was not perfectly in shape, he took the dust from the ground, and he put it on my cheek. Remind him of that, he’ll feel better.’

And then Hanumanji takes her blessings, and he is ready to leave, when he thinks, that it really is not right to leave, without even meeting Ravana, talking to him, and getting him acquainted to the power of Rama and his devotees. So he decides, ‘How can I fight with the Rakshasas?’ Then he decides to destroy the Ashokavana, slowly, slowly, since that was Ravana’s favorite garden. So he starts uprooting trees, and slowly everything is gone, and there is chaos, and Ravana is informed. He sends his entire army, they are defeated, he sends his minister’s son, he is killed, he then sends his own son, even he is killed, then he decides to send Indrajit, his favourite, and most valiant son. Indrajit is there, and the fight is really worth watching, better than any WWF match you would have ever watched, both so mighty, so powerful, none of Indrajit’s most powerful arrows also hurt the monkey, they all prove futile. Finally, he invoke the Brahmasthra, which ties up Hanumanji, and Hanumanji can do anything, but he doesn’t want to get out of it, because he wants to meet Ravana, so he is tied up tight, bound well, and taken to Ravana’s court.

Hanumanji is absolutely spell bound. He sees the Rakshasa king very a beautifully made golden crown set with gems and pearl. He was wearing ornaments made of gold, and was wearing the softest of white silks. There was sandal wood smell in the durbar, it was amazing, and Hanumanji was standing with his mouth open at this great king. He looked so good, yet, it was a pity that he had committed a sin of capturing the eternal consort of the Lord, because the Lord is definitely not going to spare him for that. Finally Ravana asks his manthri to ask Hanuman why he has come. Why has he ruined the garden? What is his purpose? And Hanumanji talks directly to the king, he says, I am Rama’s messenger, and I’ve come to talk to you, to tell you to change your ways, do not even think of making Sitaji yours, she’s like a small flame, that can rise any time and destroy your entire city. Ravana is furious, he says, ‘Kill this monkey!’ And his brother, Vibhishana, who happens to be a good and righteous, unusual Rakshasa, he tells him, ‘bhaiya, it is not right to kill a messenger. If you want, kill the princes, Rama and Lakshmana, but killing a messenger will be considered an act of cowards.’ Finally, Ravana agrees, but he says, ‘Now, I am not going to let this monkey escape so easily. He has to suffer. The dearest possession of a monkey is his tail, and I’ll set fire to his tail, and teach a lesson to all the other monkeys also.’

So, there, the rakshasas has tied a cloth around Hanumanjis tail, and they set fire to it. They then drag him all around Lanka, and Hanumanjis very glad, because even he wants to see this Lanka. And Sitaji hears of Hanumanjis fate, and she’s in tears. She invokes Agni bhagawan in her mind and tells him, ‘If I am a pure woman who has served my Lord faithfully, pls don’t let Hanumanji feel the heat’, and not doubt, though his tail was burning, Hanumanji felt a coolness, like sandal paste had been applied on it.’ Look at the power of true prayer.

Finally Hanumanji decided that he had seen enough of lanka, and he then started enlarging in size, he drove away all the Rakshasas with his enormous tail, and he went about setting fire to the whole city, and the Rakshasas are absolutely zapped. Hanumanji then reached the sea shore, and he dipped his burning tail into the water and extinguished the fire. He was positive that Sitaji was safe, unhurt, and with confidence, he went to the top of the hill Srishta, and leapt high. Again, he flew the distance, crossed the ocean, and gave a very triumphant roar as he was landing, so all the other vanaras also knew that their hero was back.

All the vanaras are jumping, they are absolutely delighted, giving Hanumanji an absolutely VVVVIP treatment. And he tells them of his entire trip, all that has happened, all that he saw, and the monkeys decide that they must definitely now go and get Sita, but they decide that they must first go to Kishkinda, and tell Rama about Hanumanjis trip, and that Sitaji has been found.

Each of them went, triumphant, to Sugriva’s court, absolutely delighted. And Rama and Lakshmana are mad with joy, on hearing that Sitaji has been found. And Hanumanji conveys Sitaji’s message, ‘Lord, only 1 month more for me to survive, pls come here and save me before that month expires!’ He sees the chudamani jewel, and he is in tears, not able to believe that he has stayed from so long without Sita. The vanaras then decide that we just have to go to Lanka, and a bridge has to be built, across the ocean, so that our entire army may reach Lanka.

Although the Sundarakandam might sound like a mere narrative, it is not! There is a lot of hidden meaning in the entire story.

* It is a reflection of the awakened spiritual seeker, in search of the divinity within him.
* Hanumanji here portrays the awakened spiritual seeker;
* The crossing of the ocean is the crossing of the ocean of samsara, that is,the cycle of birth and death;
* The obstacles that Hanumanji faced on the way, are the obstacles, that any endeavouring spiritual seaker is destined to face;
* The various mansions and sense attractions seen by Hanumanji in Lanka,and his crossing them with immense sense control, are the various koshas, or the various layers of human personality, through which we have to penetrate;
* Hanumanji's finding the mother,Sitaji, is the seeker’s success, in finding the perpetual, eternal spark of divinity within him, which will take him to a world of total joy and bliss.

The Sundarakandam is considered to be the power house of the Ramayana. Who ever reads of listens to it with total shraddha and bhakti, will soon be devoid of all physical ailments, worries, poverty, etc. It rejuvenates a person, and more than anything, take the person closer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Thus ends the Sundarakandam, the beautiful description of the obedience of a Bhakta, of his Master’s wish, his crossing the ocean of a 100 yojanas, his emotional, beautiful speech with the mother of the universe, his returning with victory, and finally, his reuniting of two eternal lovers.

HARE RAM.
SRI RAMA JAYAM.
...Read more!

Kishkindhakand - 1999

BY
Mr. Devarajan
Ms. Lakshmi Varma

Kishkinda was ruled by a monkey king Vali who was renowned for his strength and valour. Once, an asura named Mayavi challenged him for a duel. A fierce fight erupted between Mayavi and Vali in the outskirts of Kishkinda, and Vali's brother Sugriva watched them praying that his brother should win the duel. The two entered a cave and continued fighting in the cave for more than a year. Sugriva who waited all this period, returned home in sorrow assuming his brother was dead. The elders of Kishkinda appointed Sugriva as the king to succeed Vali.

After some years, Vali suddenly returned to Kishkinda, and found that his country was now being ruled by his brother Sugriva. He mistook that his brother usurped his kingdom and threw him out of the Kishkinda and captured his wife. "A wise monkey is the monkey that does not monkey with another monkey's monkey " Sugriva took refuge on a mountain named Rishyamooka as he knew that his brother could not pursue him there because of a curse on him by a sage.

One day he noticed two young men who looked like tapasvins wandering around his hiding place, searching for someone. He also noticed that they had bows, arrows and swords. He was afraid that they were hitmen employed by his brother to kill him. He sent his minister Hanuman to investigate. Hanuman disguised himself as a brahmin and approached the two men and politely enquired about their credentials. They introduced themselves as Dasarathaputras Rama and Lakshmana and that they were in search of Rama's wife Sita who was abducted by a rakshasa.

They also told Hanuman that they were on the lookout for Sugriva for help. Convinced of their good intentions, Hanuman identified himself and guided them to Sugriva. He introduced Rama and Lakshmana to Sugriva and appraised Sugriva of Rama's need for help. Sugriva was pleased about the noble stature of the brothers and greeted them. During the conversation that followed, he narrated his sorrowful story of how he is being hounded by his own brother and pleaded with Rama to put an end to his misery. Rama who always stood by Dharma promised to kill Vali and redeem his kingdom.

Later Sugriva told them about an incident a few days back when he saw a Rakshasa drag a beautiful princess like lady across the sky. Sugriva heard her shout the names of Rama and Lakshmana and then saw her drop her jewels tied in a piece of cloth she had torn from her mantle down to the place where Sugriva was sitting. On hearing this Rama was anxious to see the bundle. On seeing it, he immediately recognised the piece of silk yellow cloth as that of Sita's. To be doubly sure, he then asked Lakshmana to identify the jewels. Lakshmana replied that other than the anklets which he used to see every time he fell at the lotus feet of Sita for her blessings, he had no idea of what other jewels she wore. He confirmed that the anklets were that of Sita. Rama was very upset now that Sita's abduction was confirmed, but revived himself after being consoled by Sugriva.

A bond of friendship was forged, built on mutual affection.

Though Rama had promised to kill Vali, Sugriva had his doubts since he knew about Vali's valour and also since he had not yet seen Rama's skills being displayed. With great hesitation, he asked Rama to prove his mettle by successfully overcoming two challenges- one to lift the skeleton of the asura named Dhundhubi and throw it to a distance of 100 bows and the other to pierce sala tree with his arrow. Rama was unperturbed by the challenge and very soon, proved himself to better than Sugriva's expectations. Sugriva, overcome joy, requested Rama to kill Vali immediately. Accordingly, they went to the gates of Kishkindha and Sugriva let out a roar signifying his intention to challenge Vali for a bout of fight.

Vali, on hearing this, became amused rather than angry as he thought that Sugriva was no match for him. Nonetheless, as is customary to honour such challenges, he set about for a duel with Sugriva. A fierce duel ensued and the brothers fought valiantly. Sugriva was confident that very soon Rama would keep up his promise and kill Vali. But then as time ;passed by, Sugriva was slowly being overpowered by his elder brother and Rama did not keep up his promise. He retreated hastily, thoroughly confused about Rama's lack of response. When he met Rama later he expressed his disappointment at what had happened. Rama explained to him that he could not kill Vali because he looked so identical to Sugriva and there was a possibility that the wrong person would be killed. To overcome this problem, a garland was placed on Sugriva's neck.

Once again, Sugriva challenged Vali, certain that Rama would not fail this time. As the fight progressed, Rama waited for the right opportunity to kill Vali and when such a moment came by, he shot an arrow which pierced 6 sala trees and lodged itself straight into the heart of Vali. Vali fell to the ground, hurt more by the fact that he was felled by a third person who was not part of the fight than by the arrow itself. Vali accused Rama of being an adharmi who attacked him unwarrantedly. With great distress he said that Rama lacked qualities of truthfulness and valour. Vali asked "what right did you have to interfere in my personal fight with Sugriva? You are a Kshatriya and you are well versed in the nuances of Dharma but then I was deceived by your reputation. You righteousness is just a pretence. If you had challenged me and fought with me I would certainly have defeated you. But you stealthily attacked me and killed me because you wanted to please Sugriva so that he may help you finding Sita. Had you approached me first I would have released Sita from the clutches of Ravana and brought her back to you in a single day."

On hearing all these accusations Rama replied with great choice of words clarity of thought. He said, " You don't seem to know all about Dharma, Artha and Kama and yet you accuse me of having overstepped the boundaries of Dharma. This world, this forest with its mountains, its rivers and lakes, are all ruled by the Kings of Raghuvamsa and its well within their limits to punish inmates of their cities or forests. You are an adharmi since you are sinful in behaviour and lustful. You should have treated Sugriva like a son, but have wronged him by ill-treating him and capturing his wife. You have transgressed the rules of Dharma and I, as a representative of king Bharatha, have punished you for it. Moreover we rajarishis will always kill wild animals by hiding and by various traps and snares. I consider you a wild animal and hence am justified in treating you as such. I do not think I acted wrongly.

On hearing Rama's words Vali was now convinced that Rama was flawless. He said, " I abide by what you say. I am convinced that you can do no wrong. Please bless me before I leave this world. Please protect my wife and son and guide Sugriva in ruling Kishkindha from now on." He then breathed his last. His wife Tara was grieved to learn that her husband was dead. Hanuman tried to console Tara and said,

" A man reaps the fruit of his actions whether good or bad and death grants him these fruits. There is no cause for grief in this world where everything is transient. Birth & Death are inevitable and life on earth is not permanent. That is the reason why a man should try to do as many good things when he is alive. As the wife of Vali, your duty to comfort your son Angada and think of his welfare". Despite this effort from Hanuman, Tara was inconsolable.

When Sugriva saw Vali's wife weeping piteously, he was filled with a sense of remorse and guilt for having been the reason for all this unhappiness fro a mere piece of land. Sensing the mood of unhappiness all around him, Rama reminded everyone gently about the need to get on with life and perform Vali's last rites. He spoke again about the power of fate over everyone and everything. He said, " No one can circumvent fate.

In this world fate is the only cause for every happening. No man does anything on his own; nor is he free to command anyone to do anything. Fate is the sole power which rules the actions of man. No one can escape the rulings of fate.

How true ! It is my fate that I am here in front of you talking about a subject with minimal knowledge and it is your cruel fate that you should be here listening to it.

Fate is neither partial nor has it any personal gain or loss to sustain. Fate makes man suffer or enjoy pleasure and man is helpless in the hands of fate.

Raise up yourselves from this despondency and perform the last rites of Vali" With this elaboration on fate by Rama, the vanaras were convinced and proceeded to perform the last rites of Vali.

After the last rites of Vali, everyone stood silent, not knowing what to do next. Hanuman requested Rama to command them and lead them to Kishkindha but Rama refused saying he had vowed never to step into any kingdom for fourteen years. With the best wishes of Rama and Lakshmana, Sugriva was crowned as the king and Vali's son Angada the yuvaraja. Sugriva was reunited with his wife and spent many years ruling Kishkindha.

Shri RamajayaM

Ms. Lakshmi Varma

From the earlier explanation we understand how Lord Rama succeeds in returning Sugreeva his lost kingdom and glory and crowns him King of Kishkinda. As it turns out to be the beginning of the rainy season, he proceeds to the Prasravena mountains, eagerly waiting for the rainy season to get over and for sugreeva to fulfill his promise to help him find Sita Devi along with with the assistance of the mighty Hanuman and the other vanaras.

Meanwhile, Sugreeva gets so enthralled in his worldly attachments that he had to be reminded by Hanuman of his present position which was because of a favour from Lord Rama. Hanunam tells him in a very subtle but emphatic way to awaken and not to forget the promise he had made to Lord Rama. Hanuman’s sincerity and devotion towards his master Lord Rama cannot be surpassed by anyone , as he is so well aware of his responsibility and needn’t be reminded. His dedication is shown , when he takes the responsibility to remind Sugriva how essential it is for one to keep his word. On the other hand we have the short tempered Lakshmana whose life also literally rotates around Sri Rama and whose anger knows no bounds and who has to be finally pacified by Angada and Tara.

Even a noble soul like Sugreeva lapses into failure of duty while living in the midst of luxury. What we need to understand is though for a moment he had forgotten, but a good soul that he is, he corrects himself immediately. A good soul is always amenable to correction.

Sugreeva then summons all the monkeys and assigns each one different directions to pursue the search. For sometime it appeared that their search was all in vain and all were totally dejected but they do not want to face Lord Rama unsuccessful as they have seen how he missed his wife. It is there that they come across Sampati brother of Jatayu who then directs them to Lanka the abode of Ravana. The vanaras were filled with hope and started planning as to how to reach their destination and finally come to a conclusion that it is only Hanuman who is capable of completing this formidable task. Hanuman then leaps into the sky towards Lanka.

Hanuman , known for his humility, though aware of his strength, still silently waits for Jambavan to order him to go ahead. He doesn’t want to supersede anybody and this shows his respect and obedience for the authority . These days we hear something called the generation gap. We on the whole refuse to listen to what our elders have to say as we think that they are not in tune with today’s modern world and it is only when our actions fail that we realise, Oh ! How I wish I could have obeyed my elders advice.

Knowing one’sstrengths and yet learning to remain humble shows nobility of one’s character.

In these chapters we see Lord Rama sitting very patiently thinking about Sita Devi all the time hoping to see her soon and wishing for her well being. One always wonders why Lord Rama who is an incarnation of GOD himself had to go through all these travails. There is certainly a hidden reason to this.

It is a clear indication to us that every human undergoes different emotions whether it is happiness or sorrow and during our times of sorrow we have to wait patiently without losing our hope, and GOD alone will set things right at the right time. We have the misconcept that our timings of our actions are perfect as we cannot see the future and that’s where we go wrong. All of us are in a hurry to let things happen and the childlike impulse in each one of us sometimes make us commit blunders. We forget the fact that everything is ruled and controlled by the LORD and no matter how much anxiety we show we have to wait for the time, when things are destined to happen . Large number of people turn to GOD when they have lost everything and are weakest, and then find that GOD was there all along and ever waiting to fill his strength in them.

It is very human to lose our mental equipoise when our tensions are at its peak. It is at that time that our trust and faith in GOD help us regain our normal self. And a sincere heartfelt word of encouragement from someone who understands our situation helps us actually face it with more vigour.

It is by the grace of GOD that we meet the right people during our troubled times who really shower their love and support us like a strong pillar. It is like Lakshmana’s undaunted love and support towards Rama at a time when he was separated from SitaDevi.

In life we come across instances where we have been helped by strangers. We do owe them a lot for their timely help .

What we need to understand from Lord Rama’s gesture to help Sugreeva is that just as he didn’t think twice before he helped Sugreeva the king of Vanaras, we shouldn’t discriminate while offering help and should not expect anything in return.

Lord Rama had not hoped for anything when he helped Sugreeva. It is after Sugreeva gained all that he lost, that he made a promise to Lord Rama that he would help him find Sita Devi. Our help shouldn’t be business like with any ulterior motive, let us be genuine and sincere and have a selfless attitude. Sometimes we may not be able to repay the person who has helped us , but we can always willingly help out someone else who seeks our help. And being able to help someone keeping aside our own problems is total selflessness.

Man is what his mind is. Whatever he experiences in the world is according to his mind. When our mind is happy we find the whole world happy and when we are depressed we find the whole world depressing. We have to control our thought process tune our mind and try and be a better person.

Like Gurunanak has said he who has conquered the mind has conquered the world.

Jai shree Ram.
...Read more!

Aranyakand - 1999

BY
Ms. Usha Ravichandran
Ms. Padma Paremeshwaran

This Kanda describes about Thirteen years of SriRama’s exile. In a nutshell, this Kanda starts at Chitrakoota with the departure of Bharata, describes the Satsangh of SriRama with an array of great Saints and Sages, destruction of Rakshasas like Khara,Dushana, Maricha and a consequent abduction of Sita by Ravana. The purpose of Rama Avatar was to liberate his devotees and to protect Dharma. Sri Krishna in Gita retold the same philosophy,

paritraaNaaya saadhuunaaM, vinaashaaya cha duShkRRitaam .
dharma saMsthaapanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge ..

परित्राणाय साधूनां, विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम ।
धर्म संस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥

And it in this Kanda, Lord starts his divine mission by protecting the Good against the Evil. Sharanagathy and the uncompromising fidelity to righteousness and the right way to lead a life i.e. upholding Dharma at any cost are the key messages from this Kanda.

This Kanda evolves beautifully in such a way that Rama’s each meeting with a Sage not only leads him to be in Satsangh with another Sage but also enables him to fulfill his missions.

Now to the Aranya Kanda Sri Rama is haunted by memories of Bharata and so Rama chooses to leave Chitrakoota and they arrive at the hermitage of Sage Atri and Anusuya. Anusuya is a great tapasvini who is pleased with humble Sita for her devotion to her husband and her fully contended life. Then Anusuya gifts Sita with costly ornaments, Clothes and perfumes so as to please Rama and intern Sita humbly accepts the gifts of this tapasvini.

* We should note here and learn from Sita – Never to say no, when someone gives something with love, even Karela Pickle. Though Sita was Mahalakshmi herself, yet she did not decline the devotee’s gift given with love.

* Well- like Anusuya, we should learn to detach ourselves from worldly things and also to part with our valuables. But we are all Anusuyas to the extent of parting with ice-cream boxes, Nido cans and other surplus items. We even seem to hold on to Mothercare/Sana bags.

They now proceeded towards the Dandaka forest. And as they moved deeper into the forest they noticed an unfriendly silence. They are caught by a terrible rakshaka by name Viradha who threatened to eat up Sita. Rama and Lakshmana chopped off the Rakhshasa’s hands who assumes the form of a Gandarva is liberated at the hands of Sri Rama.

Yet another mission of Rama i.e. giving moksha to Viradha is accomplished here and he in turn guides them to the ashram of Sage Sarabanga.

As they reach Sage Sarabanga’s ashram, they see the Chariot of Indra. The Sage declines to join Indra who had come to take him to come to Swargalog but instead chooses to serve Rama. When the Sage wants to gift all his Tapas, Rama gently declines it saying that each person has to earn his punya by his own conduct. The messages we carry home from this meeting,

* From Tapasvis and Sajjanas like Sarabanga and others, we can learn that even Swargalog is not so attractive or important than being in Satsangh with a noble guest like Rama. Adi Shankara also reiterates the same concept in Bhaja Govindam in the verse,

'Satsangatvae nissangatvam nissangatvae nirmohatvam
Nirmohatvae nischalatatvam nischalatatvae jeevanmuktihi’

At least after knowing its essence, let us not skip our Satsangh on Thursdays and Saturdays under any pretext!

* Secondly, spiritual uplift is something that can only be earned by Practice and it can neither be purchased nor accepted as a Gift. We fail to understand the divinity and the eternal bliss within us instead we seek the transient happiness in parties, movies, Seef Maal, Nallis etc.

After leaving Sarabanga’s place, Rama meets many others Rishis who surrender to him and plead for his protection from himsa of Rakshasas like Khara and others. Rama accepts the responsibility and offers protection for the Sages. They now proceed to the ashram of Sage Sutheekshana. Rama declines a similar offer of the results of tapas from Sage Sutheekshana. The Sage advises them to come back the ashram after visiting the all the Sages in the Dandaka forest. As they move along, Rama keeps entertaining Sita by talking to her sweetly and pleasantly so that she overcomes the tiredness of the journey. During the period spent in Dandaka forest, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana appear to enjoy the Fauna and Flora – lead a a very peaceful life - a life in perfect harmony with nature forgetting all their misfortune.

We note here that even though they were living in the forest, they were happy and contented. Though we have the best of comforts, we still curse our fate and crave for those things that we don't have. There is a saying,

‘There is enough in this world for everyone's need but there is not enough in
the entire Universe to satisfy one's greed’.

During their traverses, Sita asks the Lord on three attitudes to Adarma - What are the 3 things considered as adharma?

a) Utterance of falsehood
b) Thinking of other man's wife
c) Hurting someone whom has not offended you and seeks clarification i.e.,

She tells Rama,

"I know that
a) You have never spoken untruth nor you never will
b) You see your mother Kousalya in every woman except your wife.
(How we all wish to say the same about our Spouses?)
c) But how, you could give a word to the Rishis that you would destroy the Rakshasas when they have done you no harm?

The Lord clarifies Sita's doubt thus:

" As Kshattriya, it is my duty to protect the Good and destroy the Evil even if I am in the grab of a tapasvi. The uncompromising fidelity to righteousness is my Dharma. I will even give up my life, or You or Lakshmana- but never sway from the Truth as it is my swadharma to protect these rishis who have abandoned their homes and worldly pleasures to do tapas."

Rama’s mission was to uphold Dharma at any cost whereas, we uphold everything else at the cost of Dharma.

Thus, they spent about Ten years in the Dandaka forest moving from place to place and meeting various Saints and Sages. They reach the ashram of Sage Agasthya. During the meeting, the famed Sage gave SriRama, Vishnu’s Dhanush, two inexhaustible quivers, a sword used by Lord Narayana himself during a war in Heavens and an Armor that cannot be pierced. Also, he told that Indra’s Charioteer Matali would bring the Indra’s Chariot to him at an appropriate time.

If you recall in Bala Kanda, Sage Vishwamitra passes on all his knowledge of astras to Rama. This is yet another example of our scriptural insistence that, knowledge and achievement of life’s objectives can only be acquired either through a Guru or in a Satsangh.

In Bhaja Govindam, Adi Shankara says that if we sit in the boat of Satsangh, we can sail across the ocean of samsara to the shore of eternal bliss.

Now, the sage asks Rama to proceed to Panchavati to spend the rest of the days waiting for the Great events to come. On their way to Panchavati, they meet Jatayu, the Eagle - The son of Aruna, the Charioteer to Sun, the brother of Sampati and a close friend of their father Dasaratha. Jatayu offers to guide them to Panchavati and promises to stay close to them for safety of Sita. At Panchavati, Lakshmana builds a beautiful ashram at the site selected by Rama. (When Rama asks Lakshmana to choose a good location for the ashram, Lakshmana declines to do so. The reason he gives is that he is only a servant of Rama who takes orders and executes. At the same time, we find many instances, When Rama is in deep anguish, he does not hesitate to speak the Satya boldly and console Rama when he is in sorrow. In addition to being an excellent Devotee Lakshmana shows us how a true companion should behave.

During their stay in Panchavati, there comes accidentally, Surpanaga, an ugly woman, a Kami and the Sister of Ravana. Being a Kami, she immediately falls in love with Rama. Rama, in one of his rare lighter moments, tells her to approach Lakshmana as he is single. Immediately she goes to Lakshmana and expresses her love. Now it is Lakshmana’s turn to send her back to Rama saying that as a full time servant he has no time for woman. Frustrated by their responses, she gets upset and decides to eat up Sita. Now Rama tells Lakshmana to restrain Surpanaga from attacking Sita and he promptly maims her by chopping her ears and nose.

* Object of Lust-the word lust here symbolises our desires; keeps changing. Whereas object of Love never changes!
* We all behave like Surpanaka – our desires continuously changing & Never ending; misery being the end result!!

Humiliated Surpanaga rushes to her brother Khara for help who promptly dispatches 14 valiant men to defeat Rama. On their destruction, he himself goes to attack Rama with an army of 14,000 Rakshasas. Rama asks Lakshmana to take Sita away to safety and faces the huge army alone. SriRama stood like MahaDeva and destroyed Khara and his army to protect the Rishis of Dandakaranya.

By slaying rakshasa Khara Rama upholds his vow on protection of Dharma-by killing Khara. Now, Akampana, a Rakhshasa from Janastana escapes alive and manages to reach Ravana’s court and briefs him of the misfortune to his brothers and other Rakshasas. Ravana decides to attack Rama in retaliation. Akampana warns Ravana that Rama cannot be conquered and hence suggests stealing Sita so that Rama will die of separation. Ravana arrives at the ashram of Maricha, his uncle who is now an Ascetic and asks for his help in the abduction of Sita. Maricha is scared as he has already experienced the power of Rama’s arrows when he tried to disturb Sage Vishwamitra’s yagna in Bala Kanda. Maricha managed to convince Ravana that getting on the wrong side of Rama is not in the best interest of Ravana.

Although Ravana was not scared of ( the valour as he is yet to be poisoned by Surpanaka) Rama, he respected his uncle’s judgement and goes back to Lanka. Meanwhile Surpanaga lands up in Ravana’s court and projects herself as a victim of Rama. She claimed that her only sin was that she tried to abduct Sita, the beautiful woman in the Universe for Ravana’s sake, and in the bargain got maimed and insulted. Further, Rama has eliminated his brothers and other Rakshasas in Janastana thereby Rishi’s are freely roaming around in the Dandaka forest. Hence, she said ‘Kill Rama & Lakshmana, protect your race, possess Sita as your wife and avenge the death of Rakshasas in Janastana’. Ravana lands up in Maricha’s ashram again with a firm intention to abduct Sita and orders Maricha to accomplish his goal. Being pushed to a corner, it is a no-win situation for Maricha. He agrees to lure Sita as a Golden Deer and draw Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita so that Ravana can abduct Sita.

‘Vaisebi marne ka hai, Bhagavan ke haath se marenge na,
Ye Jungli ke haath se kai ko marne ka?’ thought Maricha.

It is better I get killed by the Lord rather than by Ravana – said Maricha. Sita falling for the Golden Deer symbolises that,

Even good people, in their bad times, fail to see the truth as they are trapped by maya.

That’s why as Rama is drawn away from Sita and as Maricha falls to the arrows of Lord and shouts for Sita and Lakshmana in a fake RAMA'S voice – it is Sita who again makes the mistake of insisting that Lakshmana leave immediately.

Lakshmana represents the ‘Viveka” the alert “Adisesha”- he alerted Rama that Golden Deer is a Mayavi. Lakshmana alerts Sita that the “SOS” heard are also from a Mayavi. But, fate has it that Viveka has to leave the scene to be replaced by kama, Lakshmana the viveki exits and Ravana the kami enters-all as per the master plane of the Lord.

Sita abuses Lakshmana, questioning his integrity and warns to kill herself if he doesn’t rush to Rama’s help. Lakshmana leaves the ashram unwillingly at the behest of Sita and Ravana abducts Sita in the disguise of a Sanyasi. When she was being carried away, Jatayu heard her cry for help and fought valiantly with Ravana until he was fatally injured in the unequal combat.

Look at the culture of Vulture. It’s time we checked our falling values. How many times, we have seen Adarma and quality turned our eyes away?

While Sita was being carried away, she saw five monkeys sitting on a hillock. She bundled her jewels and threw at them as an indication of the direction of her travel.
MahaLakhmi throwing a bundle of jewels at Sugreeva is a sign of ensuing prosperity for him as he is going to meet the Lord very soon.

Finally Ravana lands in Lanka, carrying his own death warrant in Sita and gives her !2 months to consent to marry him. Back in Panchavati, Rama questions Lakshmana the wisdom of leaving Sita alone. Rama starts lamenting about the safety of Sita. When Rama finds Sita missing, he becomes inconsolable in grief and Lakshmana assumes the role of Counselor and brings him back to senses. They come across the dying Jatayu who brief’s them on Ravana’s abduction of Sita.

- Lord does last rites of Jatayu with his own hands and gives him Moksha This shows how he had compassion for even the birds & beasts.
- We often heard elders in the family say you can miss a wedding but never miss to comfort or do seva for family that has lost a near or dear one. Never miss to do Seva in a family where there is a death.
- Never hesitate when contributions are asked for performing ‘Antim Samskara ‘ for Helpless labourers or orphans.

Back to Aranya Kanda, Rama tells Lakshmana that death and sacrifice of Jatayu has driven the sorrow out of his mind. As they proceeded in southern direction, Kabandha, a Gandarva in the form of Rakhshasa by curse, captured them. Rama gave moksha to Kabandha and he guided them to Rishyamukh Parvath and the ashram of Sabari. They arrive in Mathangavana and meet Sabari. Sabari, as a child gave up marriage, when her mother told that all her pet birds would become feasts for guests. She symbolizes the word ‘Prateeksha – patience in waiting’ – Her Guru told her that her Lord ‘Rama will come, wait for Him’. She waited for that day and he did turn up. She served Rama and attained Brahmaloka.

The funny thing is we only want to wait for Trains and Buses for tickets in queues for cinema halls and cricket matches. But we don't wait for Lord. So how will he ever come, unless we genuinely wait for Him?

This unique quality of Sabari made Rama feel that meeting her was more important to him than meeting Sugreeva in the quest of Sita. They start their journey towards Rishyamukha to meet the monkey King Sugreeva that would bring in the great Rama Bakta - Shri Hanumanji who is a complete person full of Wisdom, Valor, Viveka, Vinayam, Devotion, Courage and Seva into Ramayana.

SRI RAMA JAYAM
...Read more!

Ayodhyakand - 1999

BY
Ms. Jayshree Vaitheeswaran
Mr. Suresh


The "Ayodhya Kanda" which I will be talking about is a very important chapter as its the turning point or the knot of the Ramayana Epic.

Everything is going fine. All four sons are very well educated, thanks to the two great rishis. Dasaratha, having a great feeling of pride and happiness in seeing that all his four sons are like four arms and he was more happy because all these children were born to him when he was no longer young. Among all the four sons the eldest son Rama was his favorite.

Rama, the great Rama, Oh! Can we describe his qualities in words, and that too within this ten minutes. Ramachandra moorthi - Aajanu Baahum, Aravinda dalayata aksham…long and beautiful arms, handsome, very pleasing, with the face of the charming moon. " Raakaa chandra samanana Ram" Sri Rama has learnt from their Kula Guru Vashishta and Viswamitra all the arts like archery, using weapons etc., In addition, they taught him all the Vedas and Dharmas. Not only that…Both the Brahma Rishis taught him the Brahma Vidya - so Sri Ramachandra moorthi is a realized person - a Brahma vith. He is the one who talks the first - Talk softly - With a pleasing voice and having never felt the pride of a successful warrior - would never tell a lie- Help any one who is in need - never felt jealous - never selfish. Spend his time with learned people and wise elders . Plays Veena - "Akanitha gunaghana bhooshitha Ram" IN SHORT - A PERSON OF ALL GOOD QUALITIES AND ONLY GOOD OF EVERYTHING… A character who is welcomed everywhere.

King Dasaratha, who knows all these qualities (kalyana guna ganangal) thought that Sri Rama is the best fit to rule the kingdom which was unanimously decided by all his fellow country men and wise men. Dasaratha thought about an auspicious day, and the very next day was Pushya. He calls Rama & tells him,” Bharata is away to KaiKeya and this is the right time for your coronation. I know he loves you & is dedicated to you but

"Even the minds of those who follow no other path but that of Dharma, who have been taught all the rules of conduct; even they, I say, are very rarely happy at the sight of the good fortune which has befallen to others. The mind of the man is unsteady and so I have decided to hold the coronation tomorrow".

Rama spoke no words, but, stood still. He prostrated once again to his father and left the court. All are happy and there are joys in every ones heart in Ayodya… Every ONE … No! Except ONE.. and that is the maid Manthara. Being a truthful servant of Kaikeyie She says that only Kaikeye 's son Bharatha is to be crowned as yuvaraja and to keep complications away Rama has to be exiled to forest. She poisons the mind of Kaikeye & Kaikeye acts exactly as told by manthara.

Kaikeyee reminded Dasaratha of the two boons - which she has earned for doing the service to Dasaratha - when he fought against Sambara asura - on the request of Indra.

Dasaratha becomes helpless and bounded by his promise. Rama, who does "pithurvakya paripalana says" I have made up my mind to obey my father, since, to me, it is the ultimate Dharma".

Unperturbed as he always by pleasure or pain, happiness or sorrow, by the sway of the opposites, Rama stood calm. There was not even a trace of disappointment or anger in his face. Infact, Kambar in his Ramayana describe the face of sri Rama as "andralanrnda Thamraiyai Vendrathamma", meaning that Sri Rama's face was beautiful, much beautiful than a fresh lotus flower which was blossomed on that day.

It was decided after great debate, Lakshmana and Sita devi would accompany him to the forest. It was Sita who convinced Rama that she should accompany him. "A Pativratha, if she is separated from her husband, is not fit to be alive".

In the case of Lakshmana Mentally Rama had already decided to take Lakshmana with him as both of them were inseperable from childhood.

In this important Kanda, we learn many things.

Firstly the picture of a perfect person

Sri Rama, having born as a human being, has lived an example life by demonstrating the way to live - as it was mentioned in Sri Bagwad Gita, where God says " that " Naran" who treats the honor and dishonour, cold and heat, pleasure and pain and who is free from attachments, is very dearer to me" (tulya ninda stutor mouni, santhushto yena kena chit!! Aniketha Siramathi Bhaktimanyo Prio Naraha!!).
In the present world we only come across JACK OF ALL TRADES BUT …,

Secondly moha is the cause of all grief

King Dasaratha, loved his youngest queen Kaikeyee, until the time she was doing things which were pleasing to him. But, once she mentioned something against him, then, he started hating her totally. This mind of Dasaratha reflects that even though he has learnt Dharma and others, he is not able to practice, when it comes to his own actions. Love - Too much love on everything-causes great grief --. (Aasaithaan Azivirku Kaaranam.....?)

Thirdly about Prarabhda.

Prarabdha meaning - the fruits of the actions of the past. King Dasratha had a curse that he has to suffer the separation of his son, since, he by mistake killed the one & only son of an aged and disabled parents. So, it is evident that the past actions will have some effect in the current birth, and one must have to undergo the results of the past actions.

Fourthly the lesson from Sumithra , Lakshmana's mother.

Sumithra blesses Lakshmana and asks him to always serve his elder brother. This reminds us of the ancient rule: Serving those who are elders is the surest path to heaven.

Fifthly the lesson of Universal brotherhood and acceptability of individual human

Rama always considered all his four brothers to be equal. He had a very broad minded outlook that gained him very good friends. No. More than friends.. Good brothers… When he met Guhan who helps him crossing the Ganga river Kambar mentions that "Guganodu Aivaranoom" meaning, with the introduction of Guha, the four brothers became five brothers. This is a good example of how successful a person can become if he accepts his brothers and united they be, unlike Mahabaratha where king Duriodana loses all his brothers since he fought against his own cousin brothers.

Finally we learn that never a person should never act against his or her true nature.

If only Kaikeye never got influenced by the wrong preaching of manthara, if she had acted as per her inner self she would have never become a sinner.

I end my speech here and suresh will tell us about the other chapters of Ayodhya kanta.

Sri Rama Jayam

Mr.Suresh

Rama is extremely grieved at the calamities that have struck in short period of time. “I feel that Kama is more powerful than Dharma, Artha and Moksha. Otherwise how could the king have banished me to the forest. Rama expresses fear that the king who has sacrificed his Dharma and Artha because of his Kama may leave them soon. Rama expresses that it may be due to the karma of Kausalya in her previous births that she is suffering separation from his son at her old age. Rama was shedding tears at the thought of his father and mother and the happenings in Ayodhya. He also suggests Lakshmana that he should return back to Ayodhya and take care of the mothers and the king from any more evil that may be caused by kaikeyi. Lakshmana declares that he cannot live without Rama for a single amount and says he doesn’t even wish that heaven which doesn’t have Rama there. Rama is pleased and he says that Lakshmana I need you by my side in the same way as you need me. Thus they spend the night.

In the morning they continue their journey into the Dandaka Forest and reach the Ashrama of sage Bharadwaja. Sage Bharadwaja is able to recognise with his inner eye who Rama actually is. Rama briefly narrates to the sage about the incidents that had happened and the need for his Vanavasa. The sage is pleased with Rama’s visit. He offers to Rama to spend his Vanavasa in the Sages Ashrama itself. Rama humbly denies stating that since the Ashrama is very near to the city lot of people from the city may come to see them which would disturb the serenity and peace of the Ashrama. Bharadwaja realises this and directs Rama to a hill called Chitrakuta to spend his Vanavasa.

Rama starts on his trip to Chitrakuta. The forest is extremely beautiful with variety of flowers, the fragrances generated by them, pleasant sounds from the running of the river and the noises made by various birds and animals. They reach Chitrakuta and Rama locates a place in the hill for them to build their hermitage. Lakshmana builds a beautiful hut for them and Rama performs the Vastu Shanti rites for entering into a new house by offering the flesh of deer to the god of Fire. The place had abundant food, the river Malyavati was flowing near their Ashrama the natural beauty wad heart rending and they were enjoying their time in the forest not even a trace of sorrow in them of sacrificing the pleasures in the city. Such was the beauty of Chitrakuta.

Sumantra returns back to Ayodhya to see the city in a sorrow struck state. He rushes to see the King who is waiting for Sumantra to return. Sumantra explains to the King in detail about the incidents till he left Rama. Dasarata faints in between and asks Sumantra various questions about How Rama walked on the hard ground , What did he tell me before he left and a series of questions. He asks to Sumantra to talk about Rama which could only bring a semblance of peace to him. The King is broken and his queen Kausalya tries to console him. There is no enemy worse than sorrow since it has the power to completely destroy all the good qualities in a man. When your enemies hurt you can show your valour by fighting back with them. But when the gods will that certain events should take place one cannot alter the course of fate. Saying thus Kausalya tries to console the King.

The king now tells the queen of an incident where by he unknowingly killed an young ascetic boy whose parents were blind. Then the parents curse the king that his death would come as a result of separation from his son. That night Dasaratha dies in his sleep. The king lived for five nights after Rama left and when he learnt that Rama would now return only after a long span of fourteen years his heart cracked and unknowingly he died.

The ministers and the Guru Vasishta decide upon the next course of action, which is to bring Bharata and Shatrughna from their vacation to their Grandfather’s home in the country Kekaya. Vashishta advises the messengers that they should not utter anything regarding the happenings in the country, since the death of the King was not officially declared then. Hence they go along with the routine gifts that are take to greet a king by another. The messengers go and submit to Bharata about the summon from the Guru Vashishta. Bharata who is scared of the bad dreams that he had , enquires about the welfare of each and every one of his kins in Ayodhya to which the messengers tactfully answer without disclosing anything. Bharata starts to Ayodhya and is deeply concerned of the bad omens that he comes across during his trip.

As soon as he reaches Ayodhya he runs to the Kings palace to meet his father. The king is absent in his palace. He immediately thinks that the king must be in the palace of Kaikeyi. Such was the love the king had for Kaikeyi. Without a second thought he rushes to Kaikeyis palace. He is even more concerned there by noticing his mothers palace which is without its usual decorations. He enquires his mother about the whereabouts of his father. Kaikeyi declares to Bharata that the king has attained that state which all living beings should attain one day. Bharata is shocked by the suddenness with which it was told and he recovers after a while and starts grieving about his misfortune to have missed his father during his end. He says Rama is the most fortunate one who must have stayed near the king at the time of his death. Now he asks what did my father spoke before he died what was he thinking. Kaiakeyi replies that the king spoke three names Rama Lakshmana and Sita. He uttered only one sentence. Fortunate will be the people who will see Rama that Handsome son of mine with Sita and Lakshmana returning to Ayodhya. Bharata is surprised to see that Rama was not there when the king died. Also he feels strange about the absence of Sita even if Lakshmana had gone along with Rama. He is asking Kaikeyi about this, when Kaikeyi without realising the misfortune that had fallen on her explains to him in detail about what happened in his absence that lead to the death of the King.

Bharata is not able to grasp the what Kaikeyi had told him. He is not able to withstand the shock and faints. It is said here that the Nature which is ever kind allowed him a respite of few moments by letting him faint. When he recovers he is so angry and the hatred he has towards Kaikeyi is explained by the way he addresses her. He addresses her as woman instead of calling her mother. I will willingly kill you myself and the reason why I am not doing it is because then Rama will not look at me and would attribute to me the sin of killing ones mother. He asks Kaikeyi what wrong did I do to you for you to have brought such an infamy to you. How could you do this to Rama who loved you so much Mother Kausalya was treating you as her loving sister. How could you do this to her. How could you think even for a moment that I would accept the kingdom, with my father dead and brother banished to forest did you think I would dare to sit on the throne that was graced by my father. I would rather die than contemplate such s sinful act. Your father is such a noble man. Flawless is your ancestry ? How could such a daughter be born to that Great man. I will this very moment go to the forest and bring back my beloved brother and make him the king and serve him for my rest of the life.

Bharata then goes to see the ministers and the queens explains and pleads them of his innocence. He declares to them his intentions of going into the forest to bring back Rama and asks the necessary arrangements to be made. He performs the last rites for his father and he broke down while performing the rituals. Guru Vasishta now explains to Bharata about the nature of this life. Three pairs visit every man they are hunger and thirst, sorrow and delusion, birth and death. A man cannot escape unless he realises that these are transient and inevitable. If a man is prepared for them and tackle them properly then they will fail to take firm hold of his power of thinking. Man should realise that the world is characteristic of these and similar opposites and life is an eternal warfare between these and intelligence which should be prepared to subdue whenever they threaten to gain ascendancy. A man who is born has to die and that is the law of nature. It is true that the king died under tragic circumstances but no one can alter the course of fate. Then Bharata performs the last rites for the father.

Bharata and Shatrughna come across Manthra and she is pointed out to the princes as the root cause of all the calamities. Shatrughna decides to treat her royally. However Bharata intervenes and saves Mantara by saying that we should what Rama would have done now.

Now all the ministers gather and they explain to Bharata the dangers for a kingdom without the King and since Bharata is the heir apparent now he has to take up the kingdom. Bharata firmly refuses I do not approve of this sinful act of my mother and states his decision to go into the forest and try to bring Rama if possible otherwise I will replace Rama in the forest instead and Rama will comeback to rule the country. Vashishta admires his young pupil who seemed as great as if not greater than Rama in adhering to Dharma.

Bharata with all his mothers and the entire army proceed to the forest. They meet Guha on the Way. Guha is concerned about the intentions of Bharata only to know the greatness of Bharata and helps him to cross the river Ganges. Bharata now reaches the Ashrama of Bharadwaja. The sage is delighted by the Dharma these noble men are following. He the directs Bharata to Chitrakuta as he did for Rama.

Rama and his team is having a pleasant stay in Chitrakuta. Suddenly they are amused by the panic created among the animals and the shock felt in the ground. Rama thinks that some prince is coming into the forest for hunting. He asks Lakshmana to find out what is happening. Lakshmana is angry at seeing the army that is coming under the flag of Ayodhya. He thinks that Bharata is coming to destroy them. Hearing this Rama becomes extremely happy and explains Lakshmana about the greatness of Bharata.

Bharata finally reaches the residence of Rama in Chitrakuta. He is not able to express his feelings and falls in the feet of Rama. Rama is also taken aback by the sight of Bharata dressed in treebark with matted hair and had grown thin beyond recognition. Bharata tells Rama about the happenings after he left. Rama is sorrow struck knowing the death of Dasaratha. Rama performs the final rituals for the deceased king.

Bharata appeals to Rama to come back to the country. You have always granted the wishes of every one. It is up to you keep up your reputation. Rama says fathers have every right to command their sons to act according to their wish and this applies to their wives also. Bharatha now recasts his words and ofofers the kingdom at the feet of Rama and pleads him to take it. Rama is unmoved and he has no intentions of returning back. Barata reminds of the duty of Kshatriya to protect his subjects.

He gives a lenghty talk to Bharata about the impermanence of life limitied by space and time.

Man delights at the sight of sun rise and again when the sun sets Seldom he realises that it has eaten away a day of his life. There are various seasons in a year, which frequently change. Each season has its own speciality. Whilst these seasons are enjoyable in a variety of ways one has to realise that these take away large slices of one's life. The night which passes will never come back.

Men become old, their skin gets wrinkled and they lose their power of thinking and death claims them. Death walks with us in the longest journey of life which we undertake. Your life and mine are eaten away by time. So do not waste your time by contemplating on anothers life. Think of the Lord. Our father has shed his old and serene body and is now in the Brahmaloka. It is not correct for us to grieve over his death. It is our duty to fulfill his last words and save him from not becoming an Adharmi. Saying thus Rama tries to console Bharata and also firmly reiterates his stand that he will not return before the end of his vanavasa.

The ministers and the Guru try to persuade Rama and they all realise that it is impossible to do that. They also convince Bharata. Bharata then says " you have commandned me. You are my father now and I should do what you ask me to do. But one thing is certain I will not accept the kingdom for myself. Then Bharata takes Rama's Sandals and says, "These sandals will take the burden of ruling the world. They will rule the kingdom as your symbols and I will by your representative. Till you come back I will live thus wearing tree bark and deer skin living outside Ayodhya eating fruits and roots. Then after the vanavasa is over if I don't see you then I will ennter the fire and end my life"

Then they all return back to Ayodhya and Bharata starts residing in a place outside Ayodhya called Nandhigrama and starts ruling as a representative of Rama.

Here ends Ayodhya Kanda.

JAI SHRI RAM
...Read more!

Balakand - 1999

BY
Ms. Vidya Ganesh
Ms. Priya Setu

In the kingdom of Kosala ruled King Dasaratha of Ishwaku dynasty. Ayodhya was its capital. Under the able stewardship of the ruler the kingdom flourished and prospered. The proof of the pudding is that he managed to have three wives Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra and keep them all happy too !

In administering the country, he was ably assisted by a council of 8 Ministers (too small by today's Indian Standards). Sage Vasishta and Sage Vamadeva were there to guide the King and his Ministers.

The people of Ayodhya were very happy and contended and there were no hassles of inflation/taxes/savings/loan burdens/subsidies, etc.

Do you mean to say that the king and his subjects were leading an utopian life?

No not really. The king had everything except off springs. This worry increased as his age and it reached a flash point. The king sought the advice of Sage Vasishta and his council of Ministers and decided to perform the Aswamedha yaga. Meanwhile the Devas had a problem.

Even Devas!!

Yes, Yes. Devas historically have been running into problems with rakshasas who are bestowed with boons from one of the Trimurhtys and when they cannot handle on their own they escalate their problems to the Trimurthys. It is also funny in a way as it is one of the Trimurthys who give away boons to the rakshasas and enable them to harass the Devas.

Coming to the problem on hand, Ravana ten headed demon (imagine just a one headed human being is tough to handle) was troubling the Devas. He had a boon from Brahma that he cannot be harmed or killed by the Devas.

So the Devas went to Brahma and told him that his boon to Ravana has turned out to be a nightmare for them and cried for his help. Brahma told them not to worry. God always thinks of the future when he acts. When he granted the boon to Ravana, Brahma would have known of the repercussions and the thought of the solution too. You see that is what we lesser mortals do not understand and think that we are smart. In fact every one who asks a boon thinks that he/she is smart. But God always wins.

Let me narrate an anecdote here.

A mosquito went on a penance and God pleased with the penance appeared before the mosquito and offered a boon. Mosquito thinking big of itself wanted to ask the Lord that if it bites anyone they should die. But what it asked the God was "SHOULD DIE WHEN I BITE" and the Lord said "thathasthu" The mosquito meant that the target should die but failed to bring out clearly and Lord's boon was that the mosquito would die whenever it bites anyone!!!! A boomerang. Now you know what happens to mosquitos when they bite.

Likewise, Ravana too had left some gaps in his request. He did not include human beings (Ha!!! You see those days how harmless our forefathers were!) and monkeys and bears as his enemies. So Brahma suggested that they all would request Lord Vishnu to assume the form of human being and do the needful. According to their request, Lord Vishnu launched " Operation Destroy Ravana " and all the plans were clearly chalked out and phase 1 of the operation is the Balakanda which is the birth of Rama and his brothers.

Back in Ayodhya king Dasaratha performed the Aswamedha yaga followed by the Putra kameshti yaga. A divine form appepared and offered an urn containing payasam and requested Dasaratha to give it to his wives upon which they would conceive. It so happened that Kausalya and Kaikeyi each had one portion while Sumitra had two portions. The king was happy and waited patiently for the birth of children.

12 months had passed since the queens had taken payasa. According to Hindu Dharma before a child dwells 3 months in the father and 9 months in the mother's womb. On the month of Chaitra during Shuklapaksha and Navami thithi the 3 planets were in a very auspicious position and the Lagna was Karkata. The planet Guru was raising with the moon and the star was Punarvasu. At this auspicious time the Lord was born to Kaushalya. The Lord had taken on the form of a human to put an end to all evil and benefit mankind. When the next star Pushya rose, Kaikeyi gave birth to a son and when the next star Ashlesha appeared Sumitra gave birth to twins. King Dasaratha was overjoyed at the birth of his 4 sons, the people of Ayodhya rejoiced at the birth of the princess and the Devas in Heaven rained flowers (probably the laser shows and fire works of those days) At last the person who would relieve them from the rakshasas had taken birth. The 4 sons of Dasharatha were all the Lord of His amshas. Kaushalya's son RAMA was the Narayana Himself, Kaikeyi's son BHARATH was the shanka of the Lord, Sumitra's son SHATRUGHNA was the Chakra and the other son of Sumitra LAKSHMANA was Adhisesha.

RAMA was the embodiment of all virtues and was like the ocean calm and serene on the outside and deeply rich in knowledge inside. Lakshmana was like the bubble on the water ever ready to burst; but he was Rama's second self who lived his whole life for Rama. Even as infants , Rama and Lakshmana were inseparable. It was as if there were 1 life in 2 bodies.

BHARATHA was like a candle selfless, sacrificing in nature and always obedient.

SATRUGHNA was a very learned and a compassionate person (Like the ones you see today wearing specs and carrying books in hand where ever they go)

The children grew up right royally and were learning all the tricks of the trade ( of the right kind) They were all adept and skillful in archery, etc. If they were to be today they might have won some medals for India in archery, fencing etc. in the Asiad and Olympics !!!

As years passed by one fine day Sage Viswamitra came down to Ayodhya to visit Dasaratha. Dasaratha with all humility welcomed the Sage to his court, inquired about his work and gave his word that he will do anything to please the Sage. (This is where the difference between a human and the God's word comes in) Dasaratha realised this on more than one occasion as you will see in a short while.

Sage Viswamitra said that he was performing a yaga at his ashram and the demons were frustrating him by disturbing the yaga. So he requested Dasaratha to let him take Rama and Lakshmana with him to guard the yagna and kill the demons so that the yaga could be completed successfully. Dasaratha was shocked. This was like a bolt from the blue. He told the Sage that Rama and Lakshmana were too young to do such a work and he offered his own services and that of his huge army.

He tried to convince the Sage but Sage Viswamitra would not let up. The sage was losing his patience and told Dasaratha that he was going back on his word. Dasaratha was in really confused state ( the difference we were talking about a few minutes ago) Dasaratha had never been away from his children and if Rama and Lakshmana were to go with Sage Vishwamitra and that too to kill the demons in the forest he cannot even talk to them (if it were to be this age he might have given them a mobile to carry with them!) He was not sure how long the separation would be.

Sage Vasishta who knew too well about Vishwamitra's hidden agenda asked Dasaratha to let the boys go along with the great sage. Sage Vishwamitra, to start with, was a king and attained the status of Brahma Rishi after going through trials and tribulations. He is credited with creating Trishanku heaven and so on. The sage had the power to awaken the Lord. He could see the past, present and the future. He initiated the Lord in his mission to fight the evil and restore dharma. Even today in most of the temples in India, the Lord is awakened through sage Vishwamitra's hymn - Kaushalya Rama Poorva Sandhya Pravarchathe ............

The king realised the underlying truth apologized to the sage and accepted to send Rama and Lakshmana with him. After seeking the blessings of all elders the 2 brothers set out along with sage Vishwamitra to the rishi's ashram. On their way to the ashram, the sage narrated stories of valour to Rama and Lakshmana. It was at this time that the rishi taught them the powerful mantras Bala and Atibala, the daughters of Brahma which would help them fight hunger, thirst and fatigue in their long journey as well as when they would fight the demons. The journey took them past many ashrams and the 2 princes took the blessings of all the rishis.

As they crossed river SARAYU, they entered a forest and Rama's first encounter with a demoness occurred. A huge E.T. sized Tataka appeared on the scene and tried to harm the 3 of them. Under Vishwamitra's instructions Rama fired an arrow at the demonness and killed her. No sooner had Rama done this, the devas rained blessings on him. Pleased with this success of Rama Sage Vishwamitra promised Rama that he would give even greater weapons to defeat any enemy as the rishi knew that Rama's work was far from complete and was still to deal with the powerful Ravana and his demons (obviously there were no restrictions on transfer of military technology or arms control)

The 3 of them reached Siddhasharma --the place where Lord Narayana had taken the Vamana Avatar. Since the yaga Vishwamitra was performing was for the good of mankind, he chose this ashram as it was a place where everyone's wishes were fulfilled. Sage Vishwamitra commenced the yaga. After 5 days of quiet, suddenly on 6th day demons Maricha, Subhahu and their cronies appeared and attempted to disrupt the proceedings. Rama used the Manav astra against Maricha which carried him to a distance of 100 yojanas and threw him into the sea. But it did not kill him. Then with the Ageney astra and the Vayav astra Rama put an end to the other rakshasa Subhau and his battalion.

The yaga was completed successfully and there was great joy in the hearts of all the rishis. Sage Vishwamitra praised Rama for his display of courage in killing the rakshasas who had always tried to interrupt this yaga. The 3 finally left the forest and headed for Mithila. On the way they passed the Gautama ashram, which was once occupied by the great rishi Gautama and his beautiful wife Ahalya. Ahalya had once sinned and so Rishi Gautama had cursed her to remain a stone unseen by anyone till Rama set foot in the ashram. the ashram would then be sanctified and Ahalya would be cleansed of her sin and then regain her form. Thus when Rama and Lakshmana entered the ashram, Ahalya was released from her curse.

Soon they reached Mithila where the King Janaka was performing a yaga. He was pleased to see the rishi and welcomed him with great honour. The king was curious to know who the 2 young men with were. The sage introduced Rama and Lakshmana as the sons of King Dasaratha. The king stated that he had a daughter Sita gifted to him by Bhoomadevi and he was on the lookout for an alliance. To win her, all one had to do was to lift the bow of Mahadeva and string it (how things have changed! These days men dictate in the marriage market) The king also mentioned that no man had shown the strength even to lift this bow. Everyone right from devas, asuras, yakshas, gandharvas, kinnaras and even rakshasas were unable to lift the bow. Sage Vishwamitra asked Rama to attempt to string the bow. Rama sought the blessings of the rishi and all elders and with no effort whatsoever, hoisted the bow from its casing and started to string it. As he did so the bow snapped into 2 and fell down. First,there was disbelief, then everyone stood and praised Rama. King Janaka, overwhelmed at this sight, sought the permission of the rishi and sent messengers to Ayodhya to inform the monarch about Rama's deeds and as to how he had won the hand of his daughter Sita.

Dasaratha was happy beyond words and wasted no time and made arrangements to leave for the wedding. On reaching Mithila, the kings- Dasaratha and Janaka also decided the wedding of Lakshmana to Urmila the 2nd daughter of Janaka; Bharatha and Shatrughna were to be married to Mandavi and Srutakiti--the 2 daughters of Janaka's brothers. The weddings took place on the Uttara Phalguni nakshatra.

SITA KALYANAM VAI BHOGAME ; RAMA KALAYANAM VAI BHOGAME

SITA KALYANAM is a LOKHA KALYANAM and it is sacred to every one's heart. It is said that whoever reads or even hears Balakanda with devotion and sincerity will be benefited. Unmarried girls will find no obstacles in their marriage, childless people will be blessed with children and attain heaven on mortality.

In conclusion let us repeat the name of Rama thrice--with our minds filled with joy and love. By repeating His name, all our sins are destroyed and miseries are terminated. The single name of Rama dries up the whole ocean of the world process.

JAI SHRI RAM
...Read more!