Most beautiful things ever heard- II

Part 1-Glimpses of God

1. Lord Rama...

For a long time this question had been churning my mind. Should one live life for one's own sake or for the sake of others? Srimath Ramayanam gives the clear cut answer to this. If I live life for my own sake, only I am happy and it won't last long because people around me are not going to be happy and it creates conflict. If I live my life entirely for other's sake, sacrificing my small petty desires for the larger good, I start to feel a strange sense of peace, security and happiness. Lord Rama has exactly demonstrated this principle. By taking the human birth the Lord has taught us how to lead our life. It is impossible to be 100% Rama but even if we try to be 0.01% we are through. That is the greatness of the Ramayana. Reading any other story- one tends to feel bored easily. Ramayana never makes us bored. It rejuvenates, recuperates and replenishes our hearts as many times as we read or hear. 

Lord Rama has done nothing for selfish purposes. If one notices, his actions have always been for his people's sake. As a prince of Ayodhya, his top priority was to obey his father's words. As a husband his priority was to rescue Sita. As a king/ruler his priority was to protect his people and take care of all their needs. Never has his actions deviated from Dharma. 

Also in the Ramayana we find the opposite. Soorpanaka wanted to possess Rama, her nose and ears got cut. Ravana wanted to possess Sita, he could not control his desires and did not let go even though he knew she was Rama's wife. Ravana was a tapasvi, a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva, the minute he lusted for someone else's wife, his power lost and he was doomed. 

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Another symbolism is that Lord Rama represents the Ultimate, the Purusha, the Lord of the universe and Sitadevi, the goddess of wealth, the Prakriti. All wealth, the entire universe belongs to the Lord. When one tries to possess wealth have an egoistic desire and greed towards it, one meets with downfall and sorrow. So 'Sri' must always be united with her Lord 'Rama'. Rama should never be seen separated from Sita and vice versa. How much the child suffers when its parents are not happily married together or divorced. Similarly, we the children of the Lord suffer when Sri is not with Rama. Who is behind the unison? Who helped reunite Rama and Sita? Anjaneya or Lord Hanuman!! He represents Sakhi-best friend or Sathguru. 

To accomplish any task we need human effort and the grace of the Lord. But most importantly we need motivation-either internal or external. Our best motivator is our teacher. If we are successful in our life today it is because of our teacher or guru who has guided us very well. Even a good friend is our teacher in one sense. I developed an interest in Biology and Maths because my teachers were my motivating factor and kindled my interest in the subjects. 

To attain the highest ideal namely unison with the Lord-(jivathma (Self/Sitadevi) to be united with the Paramathma(universal soul/Athman/Purusha/Lord Rama) one needs the help of the Guru. And that Guru is Lord Hanuman. Lord Rama himself tells Hanuman, "I am indebted to you forever, how am i ever going to repay you for what you have done to me! Whether people worship me or not, they will certainly worship you and celebrate you for ages to come!".

Buddhir balam yaso dhairyam

Nirbhayatvam arogata

Ajaadyam vaak patuthvam cha

Hanumath smaranaath bhaveth

Meaning:

You will be blessed with Wisdom, Strength, Fame, Valor, Fearlessness, Health, Determination, articulativeness (gift of the gab) by praying to Hanuman.

Anjaneya is immortal or Chiranjeevi and meditates in the Himalayas. Whenever, wherever hymns are sung in the praise of Lord Rama in Bhakthi or the Ramayanam is read he would be present there. He undoubtedly motivated me to write this post.

Most beautiful things ever heard

Introduction

In the next few posts, I would like to briefly relate the many beautiful things I have heard so far, which made me feel so happy, which cleansed my heart and motivated me in times of failure and depression. I want to document them and I found my blog the best place to do so. I hope you too as a reader get benefited by this and may it act as a medicine to all your sorrows. The source of this information is from lectures by Sri Krishna Premi Maharaj, Smt. Vishaka Hari, Amar Chitra Katha(IBH Publications) and my wonderful father who has instilled in me an interest in spirituality.

PART 1 Glimpses of God

1.  Lord Rama…

 King Dasharatha’s court was always filled with sages and yogis. It was no surprise. The king was always generous and hospitable to all guests, serving them the best of delicacies entertaining them with the best of dancers brought in from Indra’s court. (Indra, the Lord of the Devas was a good friend of Dasharatha. He used to ask his help to beat the Asuras). But for the sages and yogis, it seemed so immaterial and they did not crowd the king’s court for all this. They were neither interested in the affairs of the court nor the pomp and celebrations. They were only immersed in Rama nama japa. Their eyes closed, lips were always dry with the utterance of the sacred karna mantram ‘Om Jai SriRam!’

No splendour, no richness present in abundance in Dasharatha’s court would ever distract them, except for one thing. The king being extremely fond of his son Rama would often call him to sit by his side or on his lap. He would call out “Rama! Rama! my dear child please come here.” When Rama walks into the court, eyes like lotus and beautiful thick curly hair, the whole proceedings would come to a halt just to catch a glimpse of the young boy Rama along with his brother Lakshmana. The sages and yogis too would stop their utterance with their eyes fixed in admiration on Rama, their purpose of meditation now standing right in front of them.

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Sage Vishwamitra took Rama and Lakshmana to the forest to kill the Rakshasas who were spoiling his yagna and tormenting all the sages in the forest. Being an extremely tough, knowledgeable and disciplined sage himself, he knew that Rama was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He could not resist being attracted to the Lord and he felt a little sorry, that he had dragged a boy who was just “Oona Shodasha Varsham”(Rama had just completed 16 years at that time). He lay three beds of dharbha grass on the floor and asked Rama and Lakshmana to lie down and rest.

Lord Rama being extremely obedient lay down on the grass. But Sage Vishwamitra could not sleep that night. He kept on fanning the Lord and could not stop admiring His thick eyelashes, His curly hair, His face which resembled the full moon and exclaimed that only the Lord himself would see both the comforts of the palace and this terrible forest floor with equanimity. The next morning the sage woke Rama up by singing this beautiful verse

Kowsalya supraja Rama poorva sandhya pravarthathe!

Uthishta narasardoola karthavyam daivamahnikam

Sage Vishwamitra has taught the whole world how to wake up in the morning to the sound of these auspicious words or Suprabhatham.  His bhakthi and affection towards the child Rama was so intense that he wanted to make sure that Rama didn’t miss his mother Kausalya. He had taken moral responsibility for the boys and looked after them with the best possible care and concern.

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How well did Rama and Lakshmana guard the yagna performed by the sage? Should this be asked as a question? There is a beautiful comparison for this. Just like how well our eyelids guard our eyes from the dust. The upper eyelid is compared to Lord Rama and the lower eyelid- Lakshmana, the light that enters - the fire of the yagna and the dust - the Rakshas. The upper eyelid has thick eyelashes just like the curly hair of Lord Rama. It comes down and bats the lower eyelid often. Just like how Rama kept circling and often gave an encouraging pat- “Lakshmana, take care!” while Lakshmana kept a keen watch standing in the same place. This is quite true and it encourages us to repeat his name Rama as often as we would blink our eyes.

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Lord Vishnu had played his part so well as the human being Rama that even the goddess Parvati became doubtful of whether Rama was truly Lord Vishnu incarnate. Once the goddess asked her husband Lord Shiva on what he was meditating with so much concentration. Lord Shiva replied, “On who else, but the golden name of the Lord Rama of course!” The Goddess laughed, “Him! See how he roams the forest crying out for his lost wife Sita!”

The goddess wanted to keep a test. Sita was just kidnapped by Ravan and Rama screams out in pain and intense grief. He roams about just like any ordinary man and starts to ask the birds, the trees and the clouds whether they have seen Sita in deepest desperation. Just then Goddess Parvathi taking the form of Sita walks towards Lord Rama and says “My lord! I am here.” Lord Rama stops and looks at the goddess, does pranams to her and enquires about Lord Parameswara! The Goddess was taken aback and felt ashamed of having doubted her own brother Lord Vishnu.