|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 128-  The legend of Lord Rama -6

Rama meets the ferryman Guha who is an ardent devotee, to cross the river Ganga.  Rama meets Maharishi Bharadhwaja, and enquiring for a suitable place to live in the woods was beautifully explains the all-pervading nature of the supreme Lord.  Rama, along with Lakshmana and Devi Sita proceeds to ‘Chithrakoota’, where Lakshman built a beautiful hermitage.   While living in the ‘Chithrakoota’, Bharatha, Shathrugna with Devi Kausalya and stepmothers approach Rama and inform the demise of his father Dhasharatha left his mortal coil at the grief of separation of his beloved son Rama.

Once Dhasharatha was on hunting expedition, mistakenly shot an arrow on the son of a saintly couple, who were helpless, blind and aged.   They were waiting for the return of their son who went to fetch water to quench thirst.   King Dhasharatha, felt miserable at the death of their only son in his hands, took water to the couple and informs the death of their son.  The blind couple cursed the Emperor that he also will have a painful death at the separation of his children.   Emperor Dhasharatha had no offspring, later the curse has become a blessing for him to obtain children.

Bharatha who returned to the Kingdom of Ayodhya at the news of the death of his father came to know the happenings in his absence.  Bharatha was extremely dejected, showers his mother with hateful words, he blames her as the reason for her husband’s death, he expresses his extreme dislike to address her as mother Kaikeyi who tried all possible ways to keep the throne of Ayodhya to her only son.  Her possessiveness put everyone into extreme agony,  Bharatha who was selfless like Rama, refused the throne at ease.  

Bharatha and Shathrugna meets Rama in Chithrakoota, and prostrate before Rama and inform the death of their father.  The ceremonial rite was performed, and Bharatha was advised to rule the Kingdom of Ayodhya for the welfare of its people as representative of Rama.  Bharatha was firm in his decision, refuses to be seated on the throne, receives the ‘Padhuka’/wooden sandals of Rama.  Thus, Bharatha rules the Kingdom of Ayodhya placing the sandals of Rama on the throne.   He refuses all the stately luxuries, leaves the palace, royal attire, and ornaments.  He embraces a saintly life, saffron robe, and resides in a village called ‘Nandagauv’ away from the Kingdom of Ayodhya.  Bharatha symbolizes ‘selflessness’ lived as a sincere servant and devotee of Lord Rama.  He was neither attached to the throne, nor kingly status, or wealth or people, his life was utterly selfless.  In the fourteen years, he ruled the Kingdom wisely,  in the absence of Rama, lived a controlled life, sacrificing even the necessities of life.

|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 127-  The legend of Lord Rama -5

Emperor Dhasharatha completely shattered at the request of two boons of Kaikeyi, fallen unconscious on the floor.  Once, he regained the consciousness, refuses to look at Kaikeyi who was once dearest wife, further he reveals hatred through harsh words.  Rama visits his father in the chamber, shocked and enquires the reason for his grief.   Kaikeyi says “ Oh! Rama, you are the reason for his troubles.  Your father has already offered two boons to me, you have to follow his order to protect his promises.”  Rama reveals his willingness to sacrifice anything for the welfare of his father and waits for her instructions.  Devi Kaikeyi speaks “ Oh! Rama, you have to sacrifice the royal attire and ornaments, and offer them to Bharatha. You have to wear saffron robes and leave for woods for fourteen years.”  Emperor Dhasharatha became inconsolable, but Rama was unwavering, he accepted all the orders of his stepmother with a smile, Rama was already earned the highest of the spiritual knowledge/selfless nature while he was in the association of Sage Vishwamithra.  Later, Rama could praise the affection of his stepmother Kaikeyi who gave the difficult task of ruling the Kingdom to Bharatha and the effortless the task of living in the woods to him.  Emperor Dhasharatha could not bear the separation of Rama, soon after left his mortal coil in utter grief.

Lakshman reacts to the whole scenario in extreme anger; he addresses his father as the most selfish, womanizer and deserved to be punished.  Rama advises Lakshman about his demeanor to father, “ Oh! Saumithre, listen to me carefully, leave your anger, I know your affection towards me, do not hurt anyone. Oh! Saumithre, learn to accept that this kingdom is not destined to me.  All these material possessions and happiness are fleeting nature, it is not permanent, and the supreme soul is eternal. The attachment to the material world, and desire to accumulate wealth is the same as a frog that was caught its two legs on the mouth of a serpent and stretching its tongue to get hold of its prey, without the knowledge that all the living beings on Earth are fastened by the ‘Time’.  The human life on Earth is like living together, sharing and caring for each other in a guest home, and leaving to their own destination after the stay.  Oh! Lakshman, all these material things are not permanent, therefore don’t get attached to it, and concentrate upon the ‘Sath’ /supreme soul which is permanent.” In this way, Rama elevated the soul of Lakshmana who was besieged with anger and sorrow. 

Rama, preparing to leave the Kingdom was followed by  Lakshmana and Devi Sita, even though Devi Sita was discouraged to follow her husband who is extremely caring, describing the difficult life in woods, the threat from untamed animals, difficulties involved in living in the woods etc.  Devi Sita who considered the happiness of her husband as hers, instantly sacrificed all the royal comforts and happiness, she reveals her willingness to serve her husband in any circumstance, and make any sacrifice for the welfare of her husband.  This divine couple who symbolizes self-sacrifice receives the saffron robes offered by stepmother Kaikeyi.

|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 126-  The legend of Lord Rama -4

While returning to the Kingdom of Ayodhya, Rama met Bhargava Rama, who is eminent Kshathriya born to Devi Renuka and Sage Jamadhagni.  He killed numerous wicked Kshatriyas ruled the Earth, and with their blood, he performed the ancestral rite.  Bhargava Rama who is one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu transferred all his brilliance to Rama and withdrawn from the Earth.

Dhasharatha is the symbol of human intellect; it controls the functions of the body that has ten sense organs.  The human intellect gets easily attached to people who give pleasure, matters and material things,  later, it gets troubled with all those and led to unhappiness,  this is the life of ordinary humans on the Earth.  The three wives of King Dharashara, Devi Kausalya, Kaikeyi and  Sumithra, represent Icchashakthi, Gnana Shakthi and Kriyashakthi respectively.  Therefore it is necessary to have a well-balanced mindset with the three powerful tools known as Icchashakthi, Kriyashakthi, and Gnanashakthi.  The four sons of King Dhasharatha represents four attributes known as Jijjyasa/curiosity/Lakshman, ability to conquer enemies as well as one’s own weakness/Shathrugna, Bharatha/wisdom and Rama/blissful nature and spread happiness.  These four attributes are known as Ahamkara/Shathrugna, Manas/mind/Lakshman,  intellect/Chiththam/Rama,  Bharatha/wisdom can be utilized for objective knowledge /material life as well as subjective knowledge/ study of spirituality.

Emperor Dhasharatha announced the coronation ceremony of Rama as King of Ayodhya.  The decision was taken by the Emperor without discussing it with his wives.  The preparation for the ceremony was taken at a great speed.  Devi Kaikeyi came to know about it, she was immensely pleased with the decision of the Emperor, she had loved Rama and spend her time with him more than that of Devi Kausalya.  Mandhara who was the housemaid of Devi Kaikeyi creates intense trepidation about the future of her son Bharatha in Devi Kaikeyi if Rama was crowned as the King of Ayodhya, further reminds her about the promises of Emperor.  Devi Kaikeyi who was completely besieged by the influence of Mandhara, a well-prepared drama was enacted in the ‘Krodhalaya”/ private chamber.  Emperor Dhasharatha reaches to pacify his wife Kaikeyi who is in extreme grief, disheveled hair, scattered ornaments, and attire.  Devi Kaikeyi asks for two boons which were already promised by him, she asks for the performance of the coronation ceremony of her son Bharatha and exile Rama from the Kingdom of Ayodhya for fourteen years.

|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 125-  The legend of Lord Rama -3

Emperor Dhasharatha in the clan of the Surya Dynasty had no offspring.  A grand Puthrakameshti Yaga was performed on the riverbank of Sarayu, by Rishyashrunga who was the son of Maharishi Vibhandaga.  At the successful completion of Yaga, the divine porridge from the Yaga was reverentially received by the Emperor Dhasharatha.  It was divided into two parts and offered to Devi Kausalya and Kaikeyi, and Devi Sumithra got equal halves from Devi Kausalya and Kaikeyi.   In due course of time, the Queens became pregnant with their child, Devi Kausalya gave birth to Rama, Devi Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharatha and Devi Sumithra gave birth to Lakshman and Shathrugna. 

Years have passed; Maharishi Vishwamithra arrived in the assembly of King Dhasharatha with a request to take Rama with him to woods to protect fire sacrifices.  King Dhasharatha tried to put off the plans of Maharishi Vishwamithra was intervened by Sage Vashishta, thus Rama and Lakshmana went to woods with Maharishi Vishwamithra, while in the woods they were taught with highly confidential hymns of ‘Bala’ and ‘Athibala’ to win over hunger and thirst.  They have also taught Asthra Shasthra Vidhya/knowledge of usage of armaments from Sage Vishwamithra.  On their way, Maharishi explains the isolated wood where the female demon ‘Thadaka’ resides and explores without any restriction, and instructed Rama to kill the demon ‘Thadaka’.  Rama who had a thorough knowledge of scriptures reveals his qualms to kill a woman.  Maharishi teaches him about the righteousness of a King, a woman is deserved to be killed if she is harmful, creates trepidation and turbulence to the society or the kingdom.  The demon Thadaka was illustrated as ‘Kamacharini’/individuals who soak in worldly pleasures, a symbol of possessiveness and attachment that causes grief and sorrows.  Rama killed the demon Thadaka. Later, it helped Rama to sacrifice Devi Sita who was fully pregnant with the child to the hermitage of Maharishi Valmiki for the welfare of the Kingdom.    King Nemi who was well capable to drive the chariot driven by ten horses in ten directions became ‘King Dhasharatha’, his over-attachment to his beautiful and intelligent wife Kaikeyi has become a reason for his sorrow.

 Rama killed Subhahu and numerous demons in the wood and protected the fire sacrifice of Maharishi Vishwamithra.  Devi Ahalya who was cursed by Sage Gautama turned into rock, was freed from the curse at the touch of the feet of Rama.     Sage Vishwamithra took Rama and Lakshman to the Kingdom of Janaka to attend the celestial wedding, where Rama skillfully tied the powerful bow of Lord Shiva and got married to Devi Sita.  Thus the four sons of King Dhasharatha were got married; Bharatha married Mandavi, Lakshman married to Urmila, and Shruthakeerthi was married to Shathrungna.

|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 124-  The legend of Lord Rama -2

Sage Valmiki cursed the hunter who wrecked the happiness of Krauncha birds that were having pleasing time.  Later, he met Maharishi Narada and clarified his doubt, who is the virtuous and flawless man on the Earth?.  Maharishi Narada advises the supreme Purusha ‘Rama’ as the virtuous on the Earth. Maharishi Valmiki, composed the epic Ramayan which was later written in many languages due to its popularity and the fundamental nature of good living. Ramayan is divided into six cantos, such as Balakandam, Ayodhyakandam, Aranyakandam, Kishkindhakandam, Sundharakandam, and Yudhdhakandam.

Maharishi Vedavyasa depicts the three ideal characters in this legend, one is Rama in the Kingdom of Ayodhya and the second one is monkey King Sugrivah in the Kishkindha and the third one is Vibheeshana in the kingdom of Lanka as the example for the goodness.   The three characters Vali,  King Dhasharatha and Ravana were under the constant influence of the lower mind, Vali who was the ruler of Kishkindha,  seized the possession of the Kingdom of  Sugrivah and took custody of Sugrivah’s wife, King Dhasharatha who  was the  Emperor of Ayodhya, deeply attached to Rama, left his mortal coil in utter grief of separation from Rama,   Ravana who was the ruler of the city of Lanka, relentlessly seeking pleasure in evil doing, had no control over senses abducted Goddess Sita, ultimately faced brutal death in the hands of Lord Rama.

There was an interesting myth on the scripture ‘Ramayan’.  Lord Bhrama composed the great epic Ramayan which comprises one hundred crores of verses,   was handed to Lord Mahadeva to distribute among the deities, demons, and humans equally. The deities, demons, and humans approached Lord Mahadeva and requested for those beautiful verses were equally distributed with thirty-three lakh of verses each.  The remaining was kept in the custodian of Lord Mahadeva.  Once again, the deities, demons, and humans approached Lord Mahadeva for the remaining one lakh verses, were distributed thirty-three thousand each.  The deities, demons, and humans were too impressed with the verses, once again approached Lord Mahadeva for the remaining thousand verses were distributed three hundred and thirty verses each.  The remaining ten verses were distributed to deities, demons, and humans three each.   Finally, Lord Mahadeva got hold of the verses of 32 Anushtup that too distributed among the deities, demons, and humans ten each.  The remaining two letters ‘Ra Ma’ has the core spirit of the one hundred crores of verses of ‘Ramayan’ remained intact with Lord Mahadeva. 

|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 123-  The legend of Lord Rama -1

The human intellect and mind are completely under the constant influence of evilness and goodness as well.  The sacred scripture ‘Adhyathma Ramayan’ is considered as the highest management tool in the modern world. The glorious legend of Lord Rama is the victory of goodness over the evil; Ravana represents evilness that causes utter grief and agony.   Every individual mind has the ability to become Rama as well as Ravana, it is absolutely the personal choice of individuals.   Srimad Ramayan is also known as ‘Adikavya’, it was the first scripture composed by Maharishi Valmiki/Moola Ramayan who was a hunter Rathnakara, seizing wealth and money from the travelers in the woods, constantly engaged in creating troubles to others.  He met Saptha Rishis in the wood; it was an eye-opener for him, thus he had learned the highest of the truth that every action has an equivalent and opposite reaction.  Rathnakara who was committing various sins with the hope that the punishment for the sins can be shared with the family for whom he was earning, but in reality, they refused to take up the punishment for the sin, thus he understood none of the punishments for the sin can be shared with others.  He realized his foolishness and fallen at the feet of the SapthaRishis, seeking a way for keeping himself free from miseries and sorrows of his sin.   In this way, he has changed his mind from misdeed to contemplating the supreme Lord Rama.  He was advised to meditate upon supreme Lord with the utterance of ‘Ma Ra’, and the Rishis left the place cautioning him to continue the meditation until their return.  Rathnakara continued recitation for several years, in this way he elevated soul, when the Rishis returned, saw a huge anthill in place of him.  The Rishis broken the mold and took Rathnakara out of it was the beginning of ‘Ramayan’.  Rathnakara who was taken out of the anthill/Valmeeka was named ‘Valmiki’.

Once, Valmiki with his disciple Bharathdhwaja went to have a bath in the river Ganga.  He witnessed two birds were having pleasing time together, they were completely wrapped up in their world of enjoyment, did not take notice of the hunter who was aiming an arrow at the female bird.  Immediately the female bird fell down with a thud.  Valmiki who was witnessing the whole scenario felt extremely sad and uttered for the first time ‘Ma Nishadha’/No hunter. It was one of the greatest messages to humans “do not live like a hunter who takes pleasure in killing and consuming the meat of animals.”  

|| Om Namo Bhagavathey Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 122- The legend of Surya dynasty -6

The celestial bird Garuda/Eagle is the representation of Bhakti/devotion, Gnana/wisdom and Vairagya/dispassion, its two wings and the tail is the symbol of Bhakti, Gnana, and Vairagya, it has attained the status 0f the celestial vehicle of Lord Vishnu with its immense power.  These are the prime tools for the attainment of the serenity of mind, even the bird Garuda has achieved the highest state of spirituality, and therefore it is indisputable that the human intellect also has the skill to achieve the same with the practice of devotion, wisdom and dispassion.  Unfortunately, the human intellect get soaked in the material world, it easily gets attached to the worldly bondage and matters eventually lose its serenity, it causes repetitions of cycles of births and deaths.  The contemplation upon  the absolute Bhramam is possible through the sounds and appearance, thus the ‘idol worship’ has come in to existence, the worship of the ‘formless’ one with the ‘form’ followed by the recitation of sacred texts which represents ‘sounds’ has come into existence.  The friction of the two objects produce ‘sounds’ and ‘ light’,  like the  lightning and thunder causes  while the clouds rubbing each other, thus it produces sound as well as the light.  In this way, the human mind and intellect undergoes various thought processes and emotions in the presence of the supreme soul.

Shuka Bhramam speaks “ Oh! Rajan, the Bhramam is subtle in nature, it is the highest philosophy that cannot be seen, it can be experienced with the constant contemplation upon the supreme Lord.  It is beyond comparison or description, it has an all-pervading nature.   It has no birth or death, it is eternal.  It has neither beginning nor end, it has no specific form.  This highest philosophy is addressed as ‘Vasudeva’ by the intellectuals.”

Shuka Bhramam describes the legend of the supreme Lord Rama that was described as Maharishi Vedavyasa in ‘Adhyathma Ramayan’ in which Maharishi Vedavyasa narrates Lord Rama as the absolute Bramham/not as the son of King Dhasharatha, Lakshmana as ‘Jeevathma’/souls, and Goddess Sita  as ‘Maya’/illusion/mind and intellect/ who is the female force of the supreme Lord engages in various amusements between the Jeevathma/soul and  Paramathma/supreme soul.  Upanishads repeatedly affirms the Paramathma Thaththva of supreme Lord.  The evil character ‘Ravana’ was depicted as the demon with ten heads, his real name was Dhashanan/Dhashamukha who had a wide perspective, had the awareness of happenings in ten directions, and was completely soaked in worldly matters from all directions.  Once, he prepared to lift the Mount Kailash, his hands got trampled at the weight of Mount Kailash, with the slightest force of the thumb applied by Lord Mahadeva, his two hands crushed under the feet of Mahadeva.   He produced a loud shriek followed with continuous cries, thus he was called ‘Ravana’ by Lord Mahadeva.  ‘Ravana’ represents utter selfishness, and immature seeks pleasure in worldly matters.  Maharishi Vedavyasa beautifully depicts the conflict between the unruly mind/Ravana with the serene mind/Rama as the battle between ‘Rama and Ravana’.  Ultimately, Rama wins the battle against Ravana and regains Sita/pure intellect and mind.