Srimad Ramayana Tatthva Deepika - Ba:la Ka:nda (2)

From the Bhakti List Archives

• March 2, 2002


Jaisreemannarayana!
Sri Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Saranam

Valmiki knew about Rama-nama but did not
know about Rama. Rama is the Lord Himself.
He is the great creator(Parabrahma).
Lord decided to take the form of Rama on
this Earth to establish the conduct of a
perfect human being as per the rules laid
out in Vedas.

He wanted to teach Dharma through His practice
as explained in the Vedas and show 'practice
coupled with knowledge' (Gyana) through his
followers. Rama was born along with Sridevi
in this bhuloka. Many of His devotees were
born as His followers who came to be known as
‘manavas’ and ‘vanaras’. All of them showed
us how we should lead our lives to keep
ourselves happy while giving happiness to this
society. Rama and His people showed us how the
main goal can be attained while leading such
a life. This is what Vedas explain. That is
what the story of Lord Rama is.

In Brahmaloka it was thought that RamaÂ’s story
should be presented in Bhuloka as Srimad Ramayana.
In Brahmaloka SriRamayana is ‘sathako:ti
pravistharamÂ’,
that is, it contains one hundred crore of slokas.
For that purpose Narada came to bhuloka.

Valmiki who had attained enlightenment, was
chanting ‘rama-nama’ in his ashram. He was aware of
the power of ‘rama-nama’ but did not know the power
of ‘Rama’. He deeply intended to know about Him.

He questioned sage Narada:

Thapaswa:dhya:ya niratham tapaswi: va:gvida:m varam
|
Na:radam paripaprachcha va:lmiki rmuni pungavam ||

Valmiki who was in a depressed mood, asked
Narada, a great sage, a great scholar, a great
believer in penance and practice and who has
‘swadyaya nirathi’, about whom he wanted to know.

This is the first sloka of Sri Ramayana. The
first hundred slokas contain the story of Rama
as revealed by Narada to Valmiki.

Buddhi (commonsense) is an important instrument
that guides a manÂ’s decisions in selecting the
good and eliminating the bad. If it has to work
perfectly it should be freed from the qualities
'rajas' and 'thamas'. Valmiki attained a crystal
clear 'buddhi' because of the incessant
'rama-nama-japa'.

The two letters in the word ‘Rama’ are very
powerful. The first letter ‘Ra’, like a holy
fire, burns the ahamkara(ego) and mamakara
(attachment) and the letter ‘Ma’ would enable
one to attain the all pervasive, supreme
Happiness the ‘Lord’ Himself. Rama-nama
blessed Valmiki with a vision to experience
the Lord in himself and in every thing else
and he was able to feel the extreme happiness
(a:nanda).

What is happiness (a:nanda)?

To be continued...

Jai Srimannarayana!
Ramanujamma Mudumbai


=============
ramanuja dasi
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