lord ramachandra - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT2024-03-28T09:27:54Zhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/lord+ramachandraGlories Of Lord Ramachandra By Radhanath Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/dussehra-glories-of-lord-ramachandra-by-radhanath-swami2024-01-21T08:30:00.000Z2024-01-21T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515144349,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515144349?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="500" /></p>
<p>I wish to offer my gratitude to everyone who has so kindly assembled today on this auspicious occasion of Dussehra. Today all over the world there are millions and millions of people celebrating this day. But like most spiritual occasions not so many know why? – It is a characteristic of kali yuga that even very sacred things are perceived very superficially. Often times religious festivals of all religions are more of an opportunity for some sort of social entertainment than for genuinely cultivating Love of God – which is the purpose of every great religion and the purpose of every spiritual observance. The Srimad Bhagavatam tells “Shram eva hi kevalam” whatever occupation we perform whatever spiritual activities we do if in the end it does not awaken within us a deep attraction to hear about to chant about, to serve and to love God than we miss the point. We have wasted our time.</p>
<p>Today Lord Sri Ramchandra is being remembered for his killing of Ravana. Interesting; just a few blocks away is the house of Mahatma Gandhi were he lived. In fact when the British police were coming to arrest him he came right onto this property and hid in the LaxmiNarayan temple, And the pujari locked the door from outside. And the soldiers searched this entire building even the room we were sitting in today. But they had no idea he was in the temple which was locked, apparently the deities were sleeping and he escaped. He is well known throughout the world as a proponent of non violent revolution. Not to resort to violence and he is also well know at the time of his death when he is assassinated he chanted the name of Ram, so ultimately Ram was his shelter. And how did Rama deal with situation, he killed Ravana. Is this a contradiction? We understand this principle that when the absolute truth who is perfect performs his pastimes it is all perfect. It is ultimately far greater than non violence. In fact it is ultimate perfection of non violence.</p>
<p>Whatever the Supreme Lord does is for our benefit</p>
<p>An example, this example comes to my mind very quickly because I just had surgery one week ago and still the effects of it are upon me. If somebody has a very very serious life threatening disease and the surgeon cuts the person open with his knife, and then takes out the disease and kills it, is that violence or nonviolence? – Actually saving a life. But the difference is when the Supreme Lord, whatever He does is for everyone’s ultimate benefit. Ravana was liberated from the cycle of birth and death. Rama killed his ignorance, his illusion, his ego, and in doing so, He protected all the innocent people within the world. And also facilitated the whole world to protect their lives. So, Rama vijayotsava is the festival of Rama’s victory. His victory of love over hate, His victory of compassion over envy. A truth and light over illusion and darkness.</p>
<p>Ahankara keeps us in this world</p>
<p>Ravana was terrorizing this world. And he stole the consort of Lord Rama, Sita. But how Rama performed this wonderful act of liberating Ravana was a very very instructive, instructive in the sense that it really revealed the heart of the Lord, intimately. The Lord’s love for His devotees. Because at every step, Lord Sri Rama is giving credit to His devotees more than Himself; and even when He did something, He staged in such a way that it was due to the blessings of His devotees. This is a very important lesson, because what keeps us in this world is our very deep rooted tendency to take credit for what we do, to take credit for what we don’t do, to give blame for what we do – this is ahankar.</p>
<p>prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah</p>
<p>ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate</p>
<p>that the bewildered soul under the illusion of false ego thinks him or herself to be the doer of activities. But actually, within this material creation, everything is being done by the influence of the three modes of material nature. And beyond that Krishna, the Supreme personality of Godhead is the controller of the material nature. So, we want to take credit, we want to give blame, but when the Lord descends in this world, He is very eager to give credit to those who are pure in heart. During the battle of Sri lanka, first of all just to get Sri Lanka. I am afraid to go back to the beginning.</p>
<p>Lord empowers His devotees and takes help from them</p>
<p>When Rama was searching for Sita, He knows everything past, present and future. He is in between every atom, the paramatma within the heart of every living being, there is nothing he does not know. But yet He is asking everybody, where Sita is? When He went to Kiskinda ksethra He made allies with Sugriva, Angada, Hanuman, and Jambavan to help Him to find Sita and then to help Him to rescue Sita. Does he need our help? Factually all of these vanaras or all of these monkey soldiers, they could only see, they could only hear, they could think, they could move, they could only live because of the power of God within them. He is giving them all power and then He is coming and saying, “I need your help.” Because the Lord is Rasaraja or let us say Rasabihari, we are in Bombay. He takes joy in loving relationships.</p>
<p>Lord gives credit to His devotees and devotees give credit to the Lord</p>
<p>So while He was in the mountain waiting for four months chanting Sita’s names and meditating on her in separation on His heart and meanwhile Sita the supreme Goddess fortune is in Ashok groves; at least Her expansion is there in Sri Lanka, apparently in present by Ravana. How is it possible? Then the various monkeys were searching and searching everywhere and Rama was just waiting, waiting and waiting and ultimately when they were giving proper direction, Hanumanji with one jump, he jumped 800 miles across the Indian ocean to Sri Lanka. And then with one jump, he came back after doing his seva. He gave Sita the message. He destroyed the Ashok Grove, which was the favorite place of Ravana, and then he met Ravana face to face and gave him, what he wanted to say, good morning. Then he burned the city down, at least, a vast portion of it. Then after jumping back, he came back and met Rama. Rama with tears of love embraced him. Rama told Hanuman that I am forever endeared to you for what you have done. And from Hanumanji’s side, he was one hundred percent absolutely certain that it was only by Rama’s power and grace that I could do anything. Its love, it’s the interaction of love on the spiritual platform. The Lord is giving credit to his devotee and his devotee takes no credit for himself, he is giving all credit to the Lord.</p>
<p>Real love is in serving and pleasing one another on the spiritual platform</p>
<p>Our tendency of friendship is we like to boast of what we have done to our friends, but real love is not like that. Real love is in serving, real love is in pleasing one another on the spiritual platform.</p>
<p>So when Lord Ramachandra came to the shore of the ocean, now little later on in the next yuga He is going to reveal His Virat rupa, his universal form. Now what could Ravana do standing before that Virat rupa? And in the past he already killed Ravana in his past birth as Lord Nrsimhadeva. No problem, he already killed Ravana’s brother in his past birth as Hiranyaksha as Lord Varahadeva. So Rama could manifest those forms if he wants. What is the problem? But He is asking, “How am I going to crossover the ocean.” So Vibhishana says you should perform a little tapasya and ask the ocean. So He is sitting there for days fasting to get the blessings of the ocean and the ocean doesn’t come, personification of the ocean. So He is taking a very humble position. But He understands He is the paramatma in the heart of the presiding deity of the ocean, he was proud. So Lord Rama took one arrow and he just pulled it back and it created such heat that the entire ocean started boiling over instantly. Now for us to boil a pot of water it takes a few minutes to bring it to a boil. This is the Lord’s power, in a second he can bring the entire ocean to a boil. And the aquatics were screaming, and then the ocean personified comes out with folded palms and surrenders and says please forgive me. Whatever you want. And he says you can make a bridge over me. So Rama walked eight hundred miles on that bridge. Hanuman jumped over it in a few seconds, may be not a few seconds but quite quickly, very fast flyer. So Ramachandra walks with Laxman and Hanumanji’s one jump and when they get to Srilanka tremendous battle. One of the world’s greatest battles.</p>
<p>At one time Indrajit came out to fight. Indrajit is the eldest son of Ravana. Most powerful personality in battle. One Indrajit today could probably defeat all the armies in the world. Seriously, without a doubt. He was that mystically empowered. If Indrajit went to Kashmir, He would just say, since he was a crooked person, he would say, who is going to bribe me the best. Then that’s the end of the war. Very powerful person. So he was fighting against all this Rama’s armies and Lakshman, and he became so angry, that he chanted these mystical yogic mantras, started shooting arrows and from these arrows came serpents and the arrows completely covered Rama & Lakshman and they fell to the ground and they appeared to have lost their lives. And Hanuman and Jambavan & Angada and Sugriva, they were also covered by all these arrows. They were all just laying there, it appeared that they were dead and Indrajit was convinced that they were all dead and went back to Sri Lanka and told Ravana: “War’s finished, I have killed them, enjoy Sita. And Ravana was very happy, he told Sujata, who was, you could say, one of the caretakers of Sita. Bring her in a celestial airplane, show her how Rama & Lakshman are dead. And she did that, and Sita was weeping and crying. And Sujata said, actually they are not dead. Nobody could kill Them, it’s just a temporary thing. So meanwhile, while Jambavan and Hanuman are crying, they don’t know what to do. They are really crippled, Rama & Laksman just laying there completely covered by these mystical snake arrows. Suddenly a big wind is felt by everyone, then appears Garuda. And as soon as Garuda appears, he just flaps his wings and just gazes very angry at those arrows and immediately all those snake arrows just release Rama, release Lakshman and released everybody else and disappeared. And Garuda said to Rama & Lakshman, he said those, by his mystic power, Indrajit was able to invoke the sons of Kadru to appear: these snakes as arrows. But because they are afraid of me, just by my presence they all went away.</p>
<p>So here is an example of Rama & Lakshman, apparently completely defeated in a helpless state and Garuda saves Them. But then Garuda says to Rama and Lakshman: Thank you for accepting my service, now I am going to be in the sky watching You as You annihilate Ravana and all of his people. So he was in no illusion. Garuda is the Lord’s eternal, menial, obedient servant. Whenever the Lord calls for Garuda, Garuda is there to take the Lord anywhere and do, take any order of the Lord. But interestingly Krishna, he became like the Garuda for Arjuna, He became Ajruna’s chariot driver. Taking orders from His own devotee. So because Garuda with no ego, with pure love, simply serves. The Lord takes a position out of Love. Out of intimacy of being depending on Garuda. Krishna is hungry & He is asking Yashoda mayi for milk. Now factually Krishna is the cause of all causes. That means He is the cause of all milk. Every mother’s breast: whether it’s Human, or Cow or elephant or camel or buffalo, whatever milk, it’s only by Krishna’s divine arrangement. He is the cause of all causes. But yet, out of intimacy of love, He is, He is crying, He is depending on Yashoda mayi to nourish Him. This is Lila. Lila is the highest revelation of the Absolute Truth. Because, beyond even liberation, is the intimate, ecstatic relationships of Love between the Lord and His devotes. And this Love is completely transcendental to material conceptions. How is God crying for a mother’s milk? At one time, all of us are crying for mother’s milk. If any of us now cry for our mother’s milk, what will everyone else think of it? “Whats wrong with this person?” He is crying out Radharani’s name. He is crying for true milk of radha ranis mercy .But here is supreme personality of godhead crying for mother’s milk. And When there is lightning he is running to mother Yasoda ‘please protect me’. Our great acharyas explain how its only by the mercy of lord one can actually understand these spirtual subjects. Till some extend rationally, intellectually, philosophically we can try to comprehend it. But really only by grace that we can really connect to this truth. And because one gets the grace of someone like Srila Prabhupada, it’s so easy to understand it. we can understand it others think its mythology its not possible because its not possible by our material calculation. Or others may think that its not mythology but the all pervading impersonal absolute temporarily takes these little roles where He is within material conditioning and is crying for mothers milk ,but thats little arrangement showing and then and ultimately He is braman. We learn from acharys that Krishna is eternally like this with mother and He is the source of Brahamn. This is very beautiful. And later on that battle field, Vibhishan was the best friend of ravana.He actually loved Ravana because he was pure devotee when u are pure devotee u love every one even ur enemies. He didn’t see as enemy. Prahlad Maharaj that was opposition, this is your enemy and this is your enemy. And this how u have deal with ur friend school was teaching this is how u deal no friends no enemies. This is all relative. Everyone is brothers and sisters.Prahlad loved everyone. Prahlad loved Hiranyakashipu. .He was the only who loved Hiranyakashipu.Hiranyakash ipus other associates may have feared him , may have had affection for him on the basis of mental or sensuous , or enjoyment.But Prahlad actually loved him.Thats when Hiranyakashipu would give somebody an order,everybody even demigods would obey him,even though they knew he was wrong. But Prahlad when he would get orders he would pay obeisances to his father and very respectfully in perfect Sanskrit, he would tell his father, You are a demon and you are completely in illusion in fact you in deep dark well where there is no water and there is suffering, go to Vrindavan and surrender to Krishna. And Hiranyakashipu tried to murder Prahlad for saying those things in so many ways. And after doing all that, he asked Prahlad, “where do you get powers from?” and he says, “same place you get yours from, from Visnu”. Such love, he had no bad feelings, and then even after Lord Narasingadev liberated while he ended his life, Prahlad, he didn’t say “He is so cruel, let him burn in hell. He was praying if you want to give any benediction give my father liberation. Such love, that was Vibhishana. He was always giving Ravana with all respect and honor good advice. And when he continued to tell him to give Sita back to Rama and how he was going to be annihilated with his entire dynasty, ultimately Ravana was going to kill him. But because he was his brother he basically totally rejected Vibhishana and Vibhishana left and took shelter of Rama.and here is Ravana’s brother, there is that beautiful story where Sugriva saw Vibhishana, Now please understand he is really a giant person, he is also Kumbhakarana’s brother and Suparnakha’s brother. So when he was in the sky, he also flew over the ocean with two of his ministers, they didn’t need a bridge, they just chanted a mantra and said, “We want to see Rama and we want to surrender to Rama” and Rama asked everyone’s advice and Sugriva said, “We should kill this rascal. He is Ravana’s brother. We should reject him.” And everybody else was saying the same thing. Then Rama asked Hanuman. He said, “I saw his face. He looks very sincere. We should accept him as one of our own family.” And Rama said, “I like what you said.” And Sugriva who is the commandeering chief, he was really feeling, “what are you saying? His blood is very thick. He might be angry with his brother now. But ultimately, he is his brother. He is a rakshasa. When things get heeded and complicated in the battle, how can we possibly trust him that he is going to go against his own brother? He has to be rejected. He has to be killed.” And then Rama spoke His famous verse that, “I proclaim today. That if anyone, even one time says to Me that ‘I am Yours’, whoever they are, I promise to protect them forever. I will accept that person as My own. Even if Ravana today came to Me with those words, I would accept him. I proclaim these words for all time to come, and for all people to hear. Bring Vibhishan here.” Sugriva began to cry. He said, “Rama, You are so merciful. He is now part of our family.”</p>
<p>And through the battle Lord Ramacandra was always getting advice from Vibhishan how to deal with certain situations. When they were fighting with Ravana, Ravana, he was so angry with Vibhishan, he wanted to kill him. He started battling against Vibhishan. And Vibhishan really didn’t have a chance. So, Laxman came in between them and started fighting against Ravana. And every time Ravana threw some javelin or shot some arrows at Vibhishan, Laxman would come and intercept and destroy them. Ravana was so angry. He turned all his wrath against Laxman. And he had a deadly javelin for the worst possible battle. And with all his might, he threw that javelin towards Laxman and it penetrated his armour, pierced his chest going deep into Laxman’s body. Laxman fell to the ground. Rama ran to him and appeared he was lifeless. Lord Rama immediately started fighting against Ravana. He has Hanuman and some others – “You take care of My brother. Let Me get rid of this ten headed monster.” He fought, and ultimately Ravana had to retreat. Ramacandra placed Laxman’s head on His lap and saw this wound. It was unbearable to see. And the Lord pulled the javelin out of Laxman’s chest and broke it into two and threw it aside.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Rama is speaking to Lakshman and speaking to everybody who could hear, that even if I win the battle there will never be a life of joy again if Lakshman is dead. Ram was crying and everybody was watching him. It was a lila in which the Lord is invoking of such essence in people hearts and Susena said in the Dronachala which is a mountain range in the Himalaya, he said on that mountain a herb called sanjibani Karani.If it is brought back here before the sunrise I may be able to save his life otherwise it is not possible. Now even with today’s best technology who could do that Hanuman said I will do that, the sun won’t rise. If I don’t got back here in time, I will eat the sun, that’s not going to rise and he jumped all the way to Himalayas from Srilanka. He got to the mountain and there are so many herbs in the mountain. And he was thinking If I go back and it’s the wrong herb I am not going to have time to go back all the way searching for another one .He was so thorough with his service attitude, so completely without ego. When you have an ego you are limited to your own strengths and weakness. But because he was totally surrendered to Ram nothing was impossible for him. He had such enthusiasm. we were hearing yesterday about enthusiasm. Hanuman what enthusiasm, he uprooted the entire mountain and lifted it up.In the meanwhile Ravana was sending all kinds of demons to stop him and he was fighting them off carrying the mountain and Bharat even saw flying him over Ayodhya and tried to stop him. Not without obstacles but for Hanumanji there was no question of may be or if. He committed his heart to his service. When Prabhupada was going in ocean over Jaladuta there was no may be or it is. He was going to do it, he was going to execute the order of Lord Chaitanya and Gurudev whether he lived or died was a detail but he was going to do it. Such a service attitude. Hanuman crossed oceans, Prabhupada crossed ocean for the same purpose to rescue Sita, Sita’s devotion and with in all our hearts the Sita of devotion is in the Ashoka groves of Ravana representing lust and envy and anger and pride and illusion Maya.Prabhupada crossed oceans and took great risks to restore that devotion within our hearts ,to bring our soul back to Ram. So Hanuman brought the mountain Gandamadana Mountain and set it down and Susena came and cut the herb and Laxman woke up and stood up. At that point Rama decided this is the end of Ravana. He has done this to my brother. Now in the mean while Rama just crying helplessly, what to do about my brother and how Hanuman the one who goes and saves. Saves the situation. And again the same dynamics of relationships. Hanuman is not thinking, just see, I can do but god cannot do. (laughing). What to speak of same thinking? Just see, I am god. In one of my plenary portion as Rama Chandra, He could not do it, but can do. Hanuman was absolutely humble that my lord, in his heart whatever you make me do, I am doing. Actually in Srila Prabhupada’s prayers in Jaladuta, we are given the essence of every pure devotees heart in all of these different beautiful scriptural pastimes. Srila Prabhupada was praying to Krishna “I am your poppet. Make me dance as you want me to dance”. That was Hanuman, he just felt himself to be Rama’s poppet. Rama wanted to give him all the credit. Hanuman foot ever famous for lifting that mountain. That is Hanuman’s love for Rama and Rama’s love for Hanumanji. At that point Lord Ramachandra said that now the world know, whoever hears this either Ravana is going to dead or I am going to be dead. Today his life will end and anyone who hears this glorious narration is going to be liberated and the story of this battle and my killing or Ravana is going to be song as long as creation exists. That was a great battle. Again Lila the lords like to make things exciting. Actually He is the paramatma. What could Ravana may do, If paramatma just, you know the Sudarshan Chakra and said it, cut the everything of inside it. Lord can killed everybody in any way effortlessly. Mahavishnu he just go, in one inhalation in entire creation destroyed. Mahavishnu – to do is just go – Ravana will go finish form inside, outside and anywhere. What a battle? The reason of battle was of the nature that appeared for so many reasons. We can just get glimpse into flew of them.</p>
<p>He began to include all these devotees, who like to fight the monkeys in the battle. They were all risk in their lives. Some of them are getting killed for the shake of the Lord. Some of them are performing most unbelievable – activities in the service for the lord. Most of all they were all totally all these hundreds, thousands, and millions of soldiers where in Rama’s army, they were totally united in the service of Rama Chandra. Totally united fixed in their consciousness in giving relieve to Sita. That’s beautiful. Similarly the Lord, He has given all His devotees this mission of being united to work together, to help each other overcome illusion and to help save the world from illusion. Someone once asked Prabhupada, Lord Caitanya, He predicted, Nityananda Prabhu also: That the Holy Names will be chanted in every town and village all over the world. Why didn’t He do Himself and Bhaktivinode Thakur was such an Acharya, he was talking about it, Why didn’t He do it? And Srila Prabhupada said, they could have done it themselves, but they wanted to save the service for us. And what does that mean? In this battle against Maya, for our own purification, the fight is what purifies us and when we understand how much we need each other in this fight, then we rise above all our petty, superficial egoistic differences and we unite for the higher cause. This is the Lord’s love, to help us and the Lord takes the greatest pleasure when He sees that we are doing things that are good for us. So Yes this massive battle was going on. And Ravana appears on his magnificent chariot and Lord Rama is just standing on the ground with his bow and arrow and Indra sends his charioteer Matali, he comes down and says I am Matali, and Indra sent me, this is his chariot, this is his bow, this is his arrows. Come, let us fight together, so in this way Lord is engaging so many other people and all the other people who are helping Him, they are serving. But they are serving in a deep emotion, because they are serving with a sense of need. Hanuman’s bringing those Sanjeevani herbs, Yashoda’s giving her milk, Indra sending his chariot. Deity worship: it’s with this same type of consciousness. Krishna is the Absolute, Krishna is Supersoul, and ultimately doing everything for everyone. Atleast He is empowering everyone according to their free will. So, why we are cooking? Why we are dressing the deities? You know it’s a common thing that a person who is materialistic, comes to the temple, and they say what’s going on in the altar and they say they are dressing God, and the person will say, can’t God dress Himself? It’s typical question, I have heard it so many times. Cooking for God! God needs somebody to cook for Them. Yes, bathing God; I am not God, I can take my own bath? But yet God actually is in a position where He is in need and Radharani is in need. They are in need, because they want to exchange our devotion. Because that sense of need increases our feeling of devotion. And it’s not just an imaginary thing to increase our devotion. It’s something very real. They are actually hungry for our love, if it’s done with devotion. In Vrindavan, even very very special guests sometimes will come to the temple. Prime minister or somebody who is willing to give crores of rupees of donation – they come to the temple, they have to leave in one hour, they want to see the darshan. And the pujari says, “Krishna is sleeping.” – “When does He wake up?” – “He wakes up at 5’ o clock in the evening” “But I have to leave. Its only 1 o’ clock. I have to leave at 3. Open the doors” – “open the doors? Krishna is sleeping. I can’t open the doors.” Materially it doesn’t make so much sense. But Krishna actually is sleeping. Although Krishna never sleeps! Krishna never sleeps, but He goes to sleep. That’s why He is God. You can’t do that. He can be fully aware of everything, everywhere at all times, and at the same time He can go to sleep and not be aware of anything. Why does he do that? It’s a way of exchanging love. The pujaris in Vrindavan – that’s their love. Krishna is sleeping. And no matter what. We are not going to wake Him up until He wants us to wake Him up. So, when we perform deity worship, we understand that this is the beauty of lila.</p>
<p>In the story of Gajendra, Srila Prabhupad writes in a purport, that Lord Visnu touched Gajendra when He pulled him out of the water, when crocodile was biting into him. Because of that touch, he purified Gajendra. He completely purified him by that touch. And Prabhupad said, similarly, the Lord allows Himself to take the form of a deity in which we can touch Him. And just by touching the deity, we can be purified just like Gajendra was touched by the Lord – if it is with proper devotion, if it is with the proper service spirit. This is how kind Krishna is to us.</p>
<p>So, now, Rama is on the chariot of Matali with chariot driver and they were fighting and fighting and fighting and what a fight it was? There are pages of pages of descriptions of what they were doing to each other. They were showering each other with all kinds of mystical arrows and javelins and all kinds of other things. And sometimes, Rama’s body is covered with arrows and nobody could see Him and at other times, Ravana’s body is covered with arrows and nobody could see him; and sometimes they were crashing their chariots against each other’s chariots.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this fight went on for days and nights continuously. And can you imagine the emotions of all the devotees? Rama could have killed them in a second. But He just staged this fight that just went on for days and nights. To increase our emotions, our suspense, our love, its really amazing because we know that Rama is infallible. He is acyuta. We know He is going to win. But still, I have seen, when devotees read about this battle, they are weeping, they are crying, they are trembling, their hairs are standing on end. It is more real than anything real. This is how Bhakti works. The Lord .. certain stages in certain ways to have the maximum effect of purifying our hearts and invoking thise emotions of realizations of love and surrender.</p>
<p>Like the deity – a pujari, a real pujari worries about the deities. I remember being a pujari myself, when sometimes, the temple was being attacked, attacked by people who wanted to destroy the deities, destroy the devotees. And although we know if Hiranyakasipu can’t destroy Krishna, then what these little dacoits of kaliyuga are going to do to Krishna. If Ravana and entire rakshasas army could not harm Rama then whats you know dacoits can do to Krishna. But still because he is putting himself personally on being depended on us, we feel it and we have seen devotees risking their lives ,giving their lives to protect the diety and going back to Godhead. Because in this form Krishna is fecilitating this relationship of love. At a certain point Agastya Muni appears before Ramachandra and reminds him that I have given you an arrow and use that arrow and he gave him a mantra the AdityaHridaya mantra to chant with that arrow.Meanwhile the fight is going on and on and on and Ramachandra “Its time to end this Ravana’s life”.He took a Special razor sharp arrow it sored through the air and chopped off Ravana’s head.Now sometime Ravan on the battle field had all ten of his heads but usually he had just one. I guess its easier to fight like that. But he was mystical he can change his form ,he can become a one headed sadhu if he wants .But most of the time he had two arms and one head but sometime twenty arms and ten head.But Ram cutoff his head. And all the Hanuman, Jambaban and all the banaras “Jai Ram Jai Rama”, “glorious Ram”.Ravana’s head falls to the gound but instantly “another head” and the other head is exactly a replica of the one in the ground.soon there was a hundred heads laying on the ground.And every single head was a replica of all the other heads.They all had crowns,they all had jewels ,they all had the same eye, same complexion. And still Ravan was still fighting with the heads.He did not stop fighting as his heads were falling off.He kept fighting. Ram began to speak he said this arrows of mine they the same arrow killed Maricha killed Khara and Dusana, same arrow killed Viradha same arrow went through the seven Tal trees,same arrow made the whole ocean boil over and now I can not kill Ravana with the same arrow.Bibhishana revealed to Ram , “that within the heart of Ravana there is nectar ,celestial nectar, Brahma gave him the benediction that whatever heads and arms are cut off that are going to come back, the only way to kill him is you have to shoot an arrow into the core of his heart and that arrow has to dry up that nectar then he will not survive,anything else done that nectar will keep him alive”. And Matali reminded Ram that you have the Brahma arrow with you. Would you like to hear the history of this arrow .After Ramachandra,Sita and Lakshman left Chitrakut they were wondering through the Dandaka forest and eventually they came to the asrama of Agastya Muni.Now on the way Ram was glorifying Agastya Muni. He was telling them the story of Agastya Muni’s great power. And one of the stories he told that there were two demoniac cruel Rakshasas, they were Vatapi and Allvala story two demoniac story they Had a uniqye way ofkilling and he entered into food by his mystic power as a brahmana and he did invite other very very nice brahmanas to his home and said I want to feed you Prasad. And he fed up them Prasad but little do they knew that Vatapi was in that Prasad in very mystical little form and the brahmana were eat it. What a nice Prasad? The Illavala said Vatapi come out. And then Vatapi will grow inside and just with his claws and everything just like a ran just force himself out of it break up the perosn’s belly and stomach and tears the person apart from inside out. The brahmana’s body will be totally mutilated in dead. They did this to thousands and thousands of brahmanas. So we have to be very careful who we accept prasadam. (laughter). So one day they invited Agasti Muni for lunch and they fed him Prasad. Then Vatapi was inside his belly and then Illavala said, Vatapi, Vatapi come out. The brahmana who ate Prasad said, what he talked about? This is Vatapi. Vatapi come out, come out. Vatapi did not come out. Then Agasti muni said, by my digest juices I completely digested him. My god, such digesting. He digested Vatapi. He killed him. So the Illavala was really angry, you killed my friend. So he attacked Agasti Muni. He does not nonviolent, he just glanced at him. And for his glance Illavala became on fire and died. So Rama was telling this story. This is the power of Agasti muni. They went to his ashram and Agasti Muni greeted them and Rama, Sita, and Lakshman knowing him to be a great vaishnava devotee, they served Agasti Muni with so much loving devotion. Rama was asking Agasti muni philosophical questions. He was asking him stories from the puranas. He was asking his advice and guidance and ultimately Agasti muni understood Rama’s, he could see the dangers ahead and he gave Rama a very special arrow. He told him previously this arrow was created by Lord Brahma and was giving to Indra to fight with the ashuras. And this arrow which was infallible was entrusted in my care and I am giving you this arrow today and used it at the greatest time of need. And he also gave him the mantras to make the arrow affective. Rama Chandra in his heart of heart, he remembered Agasti Muni with gratitude, took his blessings and then pull the arrow back. That arrow it shaft was predominated by bayu, it’s feathers were donated by garuda and the tip of the arrow was presided by the sun god, Surya with Agni. When Rama pull back that arrow, the arrow became totally effulgent. The whole world began to tremble, when he released it. It made such a sound more than any rocket chip. It was a beautiful sound, tumultuous sound. It lit up all directions. Everything in the entire battle field stopped. And all the millions and millions of soldiers and all the devatas who are watching, they were fixed simply on watching this arrow sored through the air. It hit its target – right into Ravana’s chest, pierced his heart, dried up whatever nectar was there. Ravana vomited blood, he screamed a ghastly sound that shook the world and fell from the chariot to the ground, dead. Very symbolic! Lust, envy, anger, pride, greed, illusion – they are personified. Ravana is the personification of these anarthas. They are not easily killed. You could be a devotee for one year or forty years or fifty years or sixty years. And you may find that every time you somehow or other restrain your mind and senses, from giving in to these anarthas, they keep coming back. The holy name is like the arrow that can cut off the heads of Ravana. We are chanting the holy names.</p>
<p>Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna , Hare Hare</p>
<p>Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare</p>
<p>But yet, when we are restraining the senses and following the principles, and trying to live a moral life, but still that lust, that envy, that anger, keeps coming back. No matter how many times we fight, no matter how many times we chant, no matter how many times we pray, it just keeps coming. Because the arrow has to go to the heart. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught</p>
<p>trinad api sunicena, taror api sahishnuna</p>
<p>amanina manadena, kirtaniya sada hari</p>
<p>When you chant in that spirit, the holy name actually goes right to the heart, removing all these anarthas. If we could take shelter of the holy name, if we could chant the holy name without offenses, in a humble state of mind, really like that baby crying for its mother, then the arrow, the holy name will forever remove these anarthas from our hearts. And the path of bhakti is simply to cultivate the proper consciousness in which we could chant the holy names.</p>
<p>Ravan was dead. The nature of this we world is – one person’s happiness is another person’s sorrow. The rakshas were weeping, crying, angry. And the monkey soldiers were dancing in ecstasy. Then Vibhishan went to Ravana, got on his knees in front of Ravana’s bloody body and cried incessantly. He was speaking to his brother, “you had so many good qualities. You had so much good fortune. You are so victorious in every way. Wahy did you give in tyo lust. My whole life, I was your friend, I was your brother, I was your well wisher. Why didn’t you listen? Now look! The whole dynasty is finished, your family is destroyed.” And he cried, so disappointed! Rama told Vibhishan, “You should perform the last rights to your brother to liberate his soul”. Vibhishan had a hard time with that instruction. “He stole Sita from You. He did so many horrible things that caused so much pain to so many people. This is hard for me to do this.” Performing last rights is basically worshiping the person. Rama told him that the soul is pure. The soul is all good. It was only his body and mind that was corrupt and sinful. But now his soul is separated from that. There is nothing to fear from him. You should liberate his soul and perform the lat rights. Rama told Vibhishan to forgive his brother for everything. In fact, Rama said, because you are my intimate brother and he is your brother, he is my intimate brother too. Whatever reason we had for quarrel is finished. So, offer him your love. There is no impediment.</p>
<p>So, Vibhishan organized the last rights and offered prayers to deliver his brother’s soul. That’s how Rama taught us forgiveness. He was seeing the disease, not the diseased. He loved the person, but hated the disease. When the disease was removed, all there was is the love for the person. Mandodari and the other wives were weeping and crying. But Mandodari was so honest and so knowledgeable. In many ways, her words to Ravana are instructions to all humanity. We all have so much. We all have such opportunity. Why do we waste it all by corrupting ourselves by giving into these vices? Ravana was a Brahman son, he was wealthy, he was powerful. He had a beautiful, wife, wise, chasteful, he had everything, and more than what everyone could want. But he was envious of God. And he fell victim to his lust. And because of that, he lost everything.</p>
<p>Similarly we are all pure spirit souls. And we have all possible opportunity to attain supreme perfection in our lives and be really happy. We have unlimited spiritual wealth within us. But the down fall – is we give in to our mind and senses’ demands – lust, envy, anger, pride, greed, illusion and how they could destroy our lives. How we could loose everything we had. How we could we loose all these most precious opportunities? And as devotes we are given so much warnings just as Ravana. How important it is to take these warnings seriously. We see it all around us even in this world, of how giving into these powers of maya, can devastate a person’s entire life – materially, socially, spiritually. Mandodari is speaking to Ravana, is speaking to all of us too. Because we all have thise Ravanas within us. The good dog and bad dog. Rama is speaking, Ravana is speaking. We have the choice. And this day, Rama vijayotsava is the day we meditate and commit ourselves to following Rama. By taking shelter of Rama, by liberating ourselves from this Ravana within. And if we can just follow Srila Prabhupad and our acaryas’ guidance, it is guaranteed. In Treta yuga, the Absolute truth appeared as Ramacahdra. In Dvaparayuga, as Sri Nandanandana Krishna along with Sita and Radharani. Kali kale nama rupe Krsna avatar. In the age of kali, the Lord appears in His name. If with a proper service attitude, if with the spirit that the acaryas taught us, we can simply chant the holy names sincerely, without ulterior motives and serve sincerely without ulterior motives, hear these beautiful pastimes in that spirit, then real victory will be ours. In this spirit, we take shelter of Krishna’s holy names.</p>
<p>Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna , Hare Hare</p>
<p>Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare</p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20641">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20641</a></p></div>Lord Ramacandra’s Nrisimha-Panchamrita by Harivamsa Puranahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/lord-ramacandra-s-nrisimha-panchamrita2023-05-04T07:30:00.000Z2023-05-04T07:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://i.imgur.com/pf5Iy97.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="http://i.imgur.com/pf5Iy97.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="pf5Iy97.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="450" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">(These prayers are from the 47th chapter of the Harivamsa Purana which narrates the story of Lord Ramacandra’s visit to the holy place of Ahobalam to see the Deity of Nrisimha, where Lord Nrisimha appeared and saved His devotee Prahlada.)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">ahobalam narasimham gatva ramah pratapavan</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">namaskutya sri nrisimham astaushit kamala patim</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The glorious Rama once visited Ahobala where He saw the Deity of Lord Nrisimha. He<br /> offered His obeisances to Lord Kamalapati (husband of the Goddess of Fortune) and<br /> prayed as follows.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">1. Govinda keshava janardana vasudeva</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">vishvesha-vishva madhusudana vishvarupa</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">shri padmanabha purushottama pushkaraksha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">narayanachyuta nrisimho namo namaste</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">O Govinda, Keshava, Janardana, Vasudeva, Vishvesha (the controller of the universe),<br /> Vishva, Madhusudana, Vishvarupa, Sri Padmanabha, Purushottama, Pushkaraksha,<br /> Narayana, Achyuta. O Lord Narasimha I offer my respectful obeisances unto You again<br /> and again.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">2. Devah samastah khalu gopi mukhyaha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">gandharva vidyadhara kinnarash cha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">yat pada-mulam satatam namanti</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tam narasimham sharanam gato shmi</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">I have taken shelter of Lord Nrisimha unto whose lotus feet demigods, prominent<br /> yogis, gandharvas, vidyadharas and kinnaras are constantly offering their<br /> obeisances.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">3. Vedan samastan khalu shastragarbhan</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">vidyam balam kirtimatim cha lakshmim</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">yasya prasadat purusha labhante</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tam narasimham sharanam gato shmi</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">I have taken shelter of Lord Nrisimha by whose mercy people receive all the Vedas,<br /> the essence of all scriptures, knowledge, strength, reputation and wealth.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">4. Brahma shivas tvam purushottamash cha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">narayano ?€?shau marutam patish cha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">chandrarka vayvagni marud-ganash cha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tvam eva tam tvam shatatam nato?€?shmi</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">You are Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva and the best person Lord Narayana. You are the<br /> master of the Marutas and You are the sun, the moon, air and the fire as well as the<br /> Marut-ganas. I offer my obeisances unto You.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">5. Snapne?€?pi nitya jagatam ashesam</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">srashta cha hanta vibhura prabheyaha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">trata tvam eka strividho vibinnaha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tam tvam nrisimham satatam nato?€?smi</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">I offer my obeisances unto Lord Nrisimha who is the creator, the maintainer and the<br /> destroyer of the entire universe. Although You perform all of these three acts<br /> simultaneously, You are completely beyond these activities. You are the<br /> all-pervading, unlimited supreme spirit.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Iti stutva raghushreshthaha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">pujayamasa tam harim</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">pushpa vrishtih papatashu</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tasya devasya murdhani</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Praying this way, the best of the Raghus, Lord Ramacandra worshipped Lord Hari. At<br /> that time the demigods showered a rain of flowers on the head of Lord Nrisimhadeva.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Raghavena kutam stotram</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">panchamrita manuktamam</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">pathanti ye dvijavaraha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tesham svargastu shashvataha</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">This is the best of prayers, called pancamrita or five nectars compiled by Lord Rama<br /> Himself. One who reads this will be liberated eternally.</p>
<div style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85546">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85546</a></div></div>Sri Rama Navami by Giriraj Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/sri-rama-navami-by-giriraj-swami-12023-03-30T11:18:53.000Z2023-03-30T11:18:53.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11009836662,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="11009836662?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>Sri Rama-navami<br /> A Talk by Giriraj Swami<br /> April 6, 2001<br /> Ojai, California</p>
<p>The original Personality of Godhead is Krishna, and He manifests Himself in different forms. One such manifestation is Lord Ramachandra. When Krishna appeared in His original form He acted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whereas when He appeared as Rama He acted as the ideal king. In fact, the pastimes of Lord Rama display ideals in many ways. Lord Rama appeared as the son of King Dasaratha, and Dasaratha acted as the ideal father and king. Rama acted as the ideal son and later, after He was coronated, as the ideal ruler. Rama’s brother Laksmana acted as the ideal brother, and Rama’s wife, Sita, acted as the ideal wife. Because Lord Rama acted as the ideal human, He is called maryadha-purusottama. He followed the same types of rules and regulations that we as human beings are meant to follow, whereas Krishna, acting as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, followed no rules or regulations; at least He was not obliged to follow any rules or regulations, because He was manifesting Himself as the Supreme Enjoyer and showing us how we can enjoy pastimes with Him. Therefore Krishna is called lila-purusottama.</p>
<p>The pastimes of Lord Rama are elaborately described in books called the Ramayana. Beyond the other Ramayanas, learned scholars and authorities have determined that Srimad-Bhagavatam is the supreme evidence within the Vedic literatures. Srimad-Bhagavatam describes various incarnations of Krishna, including the incarnation of Lord Rama, and so we shall read a few words about Lord Rama as He is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam.</p>
<p>Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.”</p>
<p>TEXT 23</p>
<p>asmat-prasada-sumukhah kalaya kalesa<br /> iksvaku-vamsa avatirya guror nidese<br /> tisthan vanam sa-dayitanuja avivesa<br /> yasmin virudhya dasa-kandhara artim arcchat</p>
<p>TRANSLATION</p>
<p>Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in the family of Maharaja Iksvaku as the Lord of His internal potency, Sita. Under the order of His father, Maharaja Dasaratha, He entered the forest and lived there for several years with His wife and younger brother. Ravana, who was very materially powerful, with ten heads on his shoulders, committed a great offense against Him and was thus ultimately vanquished.</p>
<p>PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada</p>
<p>Lord Rama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His brothers, namely Bharata, Laksmana, and Satrughna, are His plenary expansions. All four brothers are visnu-tattva and were never ordinary human beings. Originally, Lord Ramacandra is the incarnation of Vasudeva, Laksmana is the incarnation of Sankarsana, Bharata is the incarnation of Pradyumna, and Satrughna is the incarnation of Aniruddha, expansions of the Personality of Godhead. Laksmiji Sita is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of Durga. Durga is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Siva.</p>
<p>As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.7), the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion. Lord Ramacandra also appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of the Lord’s internal potency, and by Laksmiji Sitadevi.</p>
<p>Lord Ramacandra was ordered by His father, Maharaja Dasaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the king of Ayodhya. One of His younger brothers, Laksmanaji, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, Sitaji. The Lord agreed to both of them, and all together they entered the Dandakaranya Forest, to live there for fourteen years. During their stay in the forest, there was some quarrel between Ramachandra and Ravana, and Ravana kidnapped the Lord’s wife, Sita. The quarrel ended in the vanquishing of the greatly powerful Ravana, along with all his kingdom and family.</p>
<p>Sita is Laksmiji, or the goddess of fortune, but she is never to be enjoyed by any living being. She is meant to be worshiped by the living being along with her husband, Sri Ramacandra. A materialistic man like Ravana does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch Sitadevi from the custody of Rama and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the Ramayana that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Lord is the policy of Ravana. Ravana was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Lanka, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord Ramacandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, Sita, Ravana was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.</p>
<p>Lord Ramacandra is a full incarnation with six opulences in full, and therefore He is mentioned in this verse as kalesah, or master of all opulence.</p>
<p>LECTURE by Giriraj Swami</p>
<p>Lord Ramachandra was the eldest son of Maharaja Dasaratha, and He was loved by all of the citizens in the state. According to the Vedic system, when one reaches a certain age he retires from worldly duties and responsibilities and devotes himself fully to God consciousness, or Krishna consciousness. Maharaja Dasaratha wanted to retire as king and install his son, Ramachandra, as his successor. But on the eve of Rama’s coronation, because of some past events, Maharaja Dasaratha was obliged to ask Him to go into the forest in exile, to fulfill a promise the king had made. And Lord Ramachandra, as the ideal son, immediately accepted His father’s order without hesitation or lamentation. Everyone in the kingdom loved Rama so much that they wanted to accompany Him into the forest, but Lord Rama told them, “No, if you all come into the forest with me, what will happen to the kingdom? You all must remain in Ayodhya.” Rama’s brother Laksmana, however, was so attached to Him that he couldn’t bear being separated from the Lord, and the Lord agreed that he could come with Him. Similarly, the Lord’s wife, Sita, wanted to follow her husband into the forest and serve Him in His difficult position, and Lord Rama agreed for her to accompany Him. Then, while they were in the forest, a very powerful demon, Ravana, kidnapped Sita and abducted her to his kingdom, Lanka.</p>
<p>When we hear such stories we may wonder, “Are these stories real or mythological? Are they stories made up to entertain people and illustrate some moral principles and then frighten people to be good according to some moral standard?” We take the events described in the Ramayana or the Bhagavatam as factual. We read that Ravana had ten heads. Someone may challenge, “How could someone have ten heads? How can anyone expect us to believe that someone had ten heads? It is obviously a myth or an allegory that has some message or meaning, but not a literal record of historical fact.” The fact is that we are very limited in our experience and in our comprehension, and we cannot judge everything by our own limited experience or by what appeals to our limited intelligence. People now are quite reduced in intelligence, physical strength, and other powers compared with people in previous ages. Thus our conception of what is possible and what is impossible is very limited, according to our experience. But in previous ages, people were more powerful and often developed mystic powers.</p>
<p>Some of us may have heard of yogis in India who have mystic powers. Such powers are relatively rare now, but in previous ages they were more common. Srila Prabhupada told us about yogis living as recently as the last century, during the British rule, who were known to the people and to the government. He mentioned one yogi who used to sit naked in meditation. The British authorities arrested him for indecent exposure and put him in jail, but by his mystic powers he reduced himself in size to become smaller than the keyhole to the jail cell, and he escaped. The next thing the authorities knew, he was sitting naked in the street again, so they arrested him again and put him in jail, and again by his mystic powers he shrunk and came out again. After three or four such incidents, the authorities gave up. They decided they couldn’t contain him, and so they left him in peace—naked.</p>
<p>When, during his conquests, Alexander the Great came to the precincts of India, the first person he saw was a yogi in meditation in the heat of the sun. The yogi was just sitting there, completely undisturbed, and Alexander was greatly impressed. He was so impressed that he said to the yogi, “I am Alexander the Great, the emperor of the world. I am ready to give you whatever you desire. You may ask of me whatever you like.” The yogi simply replied, “Can you kindly move aside? You are getting in the way of the sun.” Later, Alexander sent a message to his men: “The people here are very special. Don’t mess with them.”</p>
<p>So, at one time people had great control over their minds and senses, and they had mystic powers. Such powers were meant to be used for spiritual elevation, but sometimes it happened that persons with selfish motives acquired such powers and used them for demonic purposes. Of course, people now are generally not so pious, but we can understand in principle that a rich man should use his money for the good of others, for charitable purposes. Still, a rich man can also use his money for evil purposes. In the same way, a powerful person can use mystic powers for the good of others or at the expense of others.</p>
<p>Ravana used his powers for evil purposes, and in the end he was chastised by Lord Rama, and ultimately he and his entire dynasty were vanquished—even though they were materially so powerful. Thus, from the story of the Ramayana we can learn that however powerful we may be materially, if we use our power against the Lord, in the end we will be vanquished.</p>
<p>Of course, one may argue that in the end everyone is vanquished, everyone dies. And true, everyone in the material world does die—but there are differences. When a devotee dies, he is promoted to the spiritual realm, but when a demon dies, he is punished in hellish conditions. Also, a devotee brings all auspiciousness to his family and friends, whereas a demon can bring ruination. Here, Ravana and all of his associates—as well as their kingdom—were destroyed because of their offense against Mother Sita and Lord Rama. We should be careful not to commit offenses against the Lord or His devotees. Although indirectly Ravana offended Lord Rama, more directly he offended Sita. He kidnapped Sitadevi. And because she was dear to the Lord, the Lord was all the more aggrieved. The devotees of the Lord are actually more dear to the Lord than the Lord is to Himself, and therefore an offense to the devotee is taken more seriously by the Lord than an offense against the Lord Himself.</p>
<p>Another lesson here is that the energy of the Lord is meant to be used in the service of the Lord and that if we try to take the Lord’s energy and use it for our personal gratification or self-aggrandizement, in the end we will suffer. Of course, it is a technical science—the expansions of the Lord and of the Lord’s energy. The Lord’s energy is originally spiritual, and when it remains connected with the Lord directly, it remains spiritual. But when the Lord’s energy is separated from the Lord and instead of being connected to the Lord in service is misused by people for personal gratification, it becomes the material energy, or separated energy. Whatever we see—all the basic elements of the material world, such as solids, liquids, and gases—are actually expansions of the Lord’s energy. Thus, they are the Lord’s property and are meant to be used for the Lord’s purposes. If we try to take the Lord’s property and use it for our own purposes against the Lord’s desire, we are committing an offense against the Lord and have to suffer the consequences.</p>
<p>But we have become accustomed to stealing the Lord’s property and using it for ourselves. According to Vedic literatures, we, as spiritual parts of the supreme spirit whole, exist eternally, but we have been transmigrating from one body to another since time immemorial. During the process of transmigration within the material world, we have developed the habit of trying to exploit the material nature for our own gratification. And the result is that we are forced to continue within the material world, within the cycle of birth and death, and to suffer not only the repetition of birth and death but so many other miseries. The way to become free from the cycle of birth and death is to come into harmony with the Lord and the Lord’s nature, rather than to remain in opposition to the Lord and His nature. But because we have been conditioned in material nature since time immemorial, we have a very deep-rooted habit of wanting to exploit the material nature and enjoy her. That perverted mentality or perverse habit can be rectified by chanting, especially by chanting the holy names of God. In the present age of Kali the chanting of the holy names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra—Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare—is especially recommended.</p>
<p>Krishna consciousness is not sectarian. God has various names in different languages and cultures, and all the names of the Lord are as good as the others. Similarly, all of the forms of the Lord are as good as the others. Therefore, if someone is attached to a name of God in another scripture, he or she can chant Jesus, Jesus or Allah, Allah—or another name of the Lord. And if one is not attached to the chanting of any other name, he or she can chant Hare Krishna, and that will purify the heart of material contamination and bring out the original, pure love of Krishna. Then naturally when our pure love for God is manifest, we won’t do anything against the purpose of the Lord but will act in complete harmony with the Lord. This is one of the lessons to be learned from the story of Lord Ramachandra.</p>
<p>Hare Krishna.</p>
<p>Are there any questions or comments?</p>
<p>Devotee: Yes. I have two questions, and they might be related. First, you were talking about accepting stories as literal, but do we also accept that there is a symbolic dimension to them? And second, What is the actual internal position of Ravana? He is coming into contact with so much pure energy—Sita, who is the internal potency, and Rama—so it doesn’t seem like he would be just any old evil person.</p>
<p>Giriraj Swami: The first question is whether the histories, which we accept as factual, also have a symbolic dimension. I don’t know if “symbolic” would be the best word in most cases. One could say that Ravana “symbolizes” evil and that Rama “symbolizes” good and that the story tells us that good triumphs over evil, but to put it in these terms may minimize the reality of Rama as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or even of Ravana as a historical person. Therefore we might prefer not to say that the stories are symbolic. Rather, we would prefer to say that the stories are factual but that they illustrate certain fundamental principles and that we can benefit from reading and studying and hearing and discussing those principles.</p>
<p>For example, a child might put his or her hand into a fire and get burned. So, we can learn from that example that if you touch fire you will be burned, but we wouldn’t want to say that the fire symbolizes something or that the child symbolizes something, because they are both real. But yes, we can learn from the example of the child that if we put our hand into fire we will get burned. And in the same way, we can learn from the example of Ravana that if we come into opposition to the Lord we will be vanquished—and so many other lessons can be derived from the histories of the Lord and the devotees and demons recorded in the scriptures.</p>
<p>There is one section in Srimad-Bhagavatam that is allegorical, and that brings us to another point: the Vedic scriptures instruct us to study the Vedic knowledge under the guidance of guru. In our case, we study under Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada has told us that several chapters in the Fourth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam are allegorical but that the rest of the histories are factual. The other histories are not just symbolic or metaphorical, and to say that they are is to destroy the reality that the scriptures describe. Still, you might have another point of view.</p>
<p>Devotee: No, I was just curious because, for example, I had heard—and I don’t know how authentic this is—but I had heard that in the Bhagavatam where Krishna is killing the various demons, each demon represents a certain anartha such as lust or greed. I heard that, and that is why I wanted to ask if there’s a symbolic dimension—not in place of the literal, but in addition—thus serving two purposes at once. But I understand your answer.</p>
<p>Giriraj Swami: An advanced devotee could perceive the historical persons in the historical accounts as representative of a general type or even of a principle. Actually, I just had a talk with a friend from the Jewish tradition. She said in relation to the festival of Passover (which is to take place soon) that before Passover adherent Jews take all the grains out of their houses. They consider that sin has entered into the grains and that by taking the grains out of the house they are purifying the house of sin and bad qualities. One of the bad qualities is pride, and according to one commentary on the Bible, the Pharaoh—not that I would say that the Pharaoh did not exist as a historical person—but the Pharaoh is considered to be the symbol of pride, because when Moses came to him on behalf of the Lord, the Pharaoh said, “Who is this God that I am meant to listen to? I listen to no one. Everyone listens to me.” According to that commentary, each of the ten plagues that were sent upon the Pharaoh—again, not that they didn’t exist, if we accept the version in the Bible—represents a specific counteraction to a specific evil or ill. And I think that sincere followers in any tradition, when they reach a certain stage of spiritual consciousness, are able to see deeper meanings in things than others are able to see. Someone who is more spiritually advanced and realized can see more deeply into the words of the scriptures and the events described there and come out with meanings that may not be apparent from the descriptions but are very real. They are discovered for us by deeply realized souls who apply themselves to the scriptures.</p>
<p>Regarding the question about Ravana, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam Ravana was not just an ordinary person but was an associate of the Lord who was cursed to become such a powerful demon that the Lord Himself would come and fight with him. The Lord has all the propensities of other living beings, being their origin. So just as we like to wrestle for pleasure sometimes, the Lord also sometimes likes to fight. But who will fight with the Lord? Only some competent servitor of the Lord can do so. Thus, by the Lord’s arrangement, a great devotee came to play the part of Ravana and fight with the Lord. Still, when that devotee took birth as a demon, he actually thought and felt and acted like a demon.</p>
<p>As far as Ravana’s coming into contact with Sita, according to scripture, because the original Sitadevi is completely spiritual, she could never be touched by a demon. She could never even be seen by a demon. So what Ravana kidnapped was not the original Sita but an illusory expansion of Sita called maya-sita. When he kidnapped the maya Sita, the original Sita was kept hidden in the earth. Then, after Ravana was killed and Sita was liberated, the original Sita came back.</p>
<p>Srila Prabhupada has explained that if someone just wants to chant Hare Krishna, he or she can achieve complete perfection just by chanting, but that if one wants to study the science of Godhead, there are volumes and volumes of books. So if one wants, if one has that inquisitive type of intelligence, he or she can just go deeper and deeper into the books. It is like an ocean without limit—the information that we can get about the Lord from the Vedic literature.</p>
<p>Morther Urvasi, you are wise. Please say something to encourage and enlighten us.</p>
<p>Urvasi dasi: I can say something about chanting Hare Krishna. You mentioned that chanting Hare Krishna purifies the heart of material contamination. So, I was thinking of the example that Srila Prabhupada gave, that if we go under a tree that has blackbirds sitting in it and we clap our hands, the birds will automatically fly away. Srila Prabhupada, our teacher, gave the example that when we chant Hare Krishna, it chases away the blackbirds in the heart, and lust and greed and pride—these things peel away, like the layers of an onion. They peel away from the heart. The more we really enter into the mood of chanting as a meditation and a prayer to the Lord to purify our hearts and make us more childlike in our love and devotion to God—the more we can enter into that mood—the greater the effect it has on us. So chanting Hare Krishna, as Giriraj Swami said, is really all we need. It is a complete process. But at the same time it is also very nice to understand the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, so that we can talk to others about it as well, and teach it. But chanting Hare Krishna will bring so much joy into our lives because it will connect us with our real selves. We know that we are spiritual beings and that we are covered by these different bodies, just as our bodies are covered by the clothes that we wear, and chanting Hare Krishna will awaken the true happiness and bliss that are inherent to our true self, our spiritual nature.</p>
<p>Giriraj Swami: Wonderful.</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Hare Krishna.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85319">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85319</a></p></div>Appearance Day Of Lord Ramachandrahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/appearance-day-of-lord-ramachandra2023-03-30T11:10:18.000Z2023-03-30T11:10:18.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}11009827660,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="11009827660?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>Sri Ram Navami celebrations!</p>
<p>We wish you all a very auspicious filled Rama Navami 💥💥💥💥</p>
<p>Sri Rama Navami is always a bigger festival as it is just before the vyasapuja of HH Jayapataka Swami and thousands and thousands of devotees visiting Mayapur for Vyasapuja, come early to take part in Rama Navami also. In the afternoon, we will have an abhisheka to “Shaligram Shila” and arati, Pushpajali offered to Sri Ramchandra.</p>
<p>A very grand procession of Sri Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman in bullock chariot , will go around the campus for an hour accompanied by ecstatic kirtan & dancing. Then the will Lord accept bhoga offerings, lovingly offered by devotees, glancing over the beautiful colorful rangoli designs, while the chariot arrived at big pandal specially erected for the festival. Pushpa abhisheka will then be showered on the Lordships with roaring kirtan.</p>
<p>If you feel I spired to contribute to today’s pushpa abhishek and prasadam distribution on this auspicious, please click the link <a href="http://www.mayapur.com">www.mayapur.com</a> to sponsor a general donation seva and we shall offer the seva on your behalf with prayers at the Lotus Feet of Lord Ramacandra.</p>
<p>Sri Ramacandra Apperance Day Ki Jai!!!<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.mayapur.com/2023/appearance-day-of-lord-ramacandra-30th-march/">https://www.mayapur.com/2023/appearance-day-of-lord-ramacandra-30th-march/</a></p></div>Lord Ramachandra was the first deity I ever saw… by Kadamba Kanana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/lord-ramachandra-was-the-first-deity-i-ever-saw-by-kadamba-kana-12022-04-10T11:30:00.000Z2022-04-10T11:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8818276466,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8818276466?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="450" />When I first went to India, Lord Ramachandra was the first deity I ever saw because the first temple I went to was of Lord Ramachandra and that was my temple! It was a small round temple and later on, they renovated and made it into a big marble temple. Oh, I miss my small round temple; it was so nice; the deities were really close but now they are high up and far away.</p>
<p>Then, when I went to Benares, I picked up the “Sri Rama Jaya Rama” mantra from a temple. It was playing twenty-four hours a day at the temple and after a while, it gets into your head. When I was back in Europe, that mantra was still playing in my head, “Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama; Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama!”</p>
<p>Then when I mother was in her final days, I did not know what to do! What do you do!? She was dying of cancer. I was alone with her in the room and thought, “What do I do! I have to do something sacred. Let me sing that holy temple song – Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama!”And I sang it for her as she left this world.</p>
<p>So I got the mercy of Lord Ramachandra although I was covered by ignorance, and somehow or other, I was able to bless my mother with his holy name! So I am grateful and indebted to Lord Ramachandra. How can I ever forget the name of Lord Ramachandra? I was chanting the name of Lord Rama every day for four years before I started chanting Hare Krsna, “Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama; Sri Rama Jaya Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama!”</p>
<p>On this day, my attraction to Lord Ramachandra has been reawakened. But the end of the Ramayana is too much, just too much (Lord Ramachandra banishing Sita devi)! No, I will be a Krsna bhakta! I will worship Lord Krsna. Yes, kecit kevalaya bhaktya vasudeva-parayanah (SB 6.1.15), Vasudeva Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead who says that my devotee will never perish, na me bhaktah pranasyati (BG 9.31). Ultimately, the full mercy of the Lord is manifested in Krsna. It goes beyond dharma; it goes to the platform of love. When love transcends dharma, that is what we see in Krsna. Therefore we are serving Krsna as our isthadev, our worshipable deity!<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=26355">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=26355</a></p></div>Associating with the Supreme Lord Ramachandrahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/associating-with-the-supreme-lord-ramachandra2022-04-10T07:30:00.000Z2022-04-10T07:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}2515238454,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515238454,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515238454?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="450" /></a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Festival days such as Rama-navami are a prime opportunity for spiritual advancement and purification. Srila Prabhupada stated in a Rama-navami lecture in Hawaii on the 27th March, 1969:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“There is no difference between His form, His name, His pastimes, and Himself. He’s absolute. Therefore either you chant the holy name of Rama or you see the statue of Rama or you talk of His pastimes, transcendental pastimes, everything, that means you are associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we take advantage of these days when the incarnation of God appears or disappears, and we try to associate with Him. By His association we become purified. Our process is purification. Krishna consciousness means simply we are purifying our consciousness.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Thus by associating with Lord Rama on His appearance day through hearing and speaking about His pastimes, chanting His holy name, and seeing His Deity form, Vaishnavas can become purified and further develop their love for the Lord.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When the Lord appears as Krishna, He descends in His original form as the enjoyer, and through His sweet pastimes captures the hearts of His devotees. However, many of Lord Krishna’s pastimes are confusing for ordinary persons because He acts in ways that ordinary persons should not. Lord Ramachandra appears in a different mood; in this incarnation, the Lord’s activities are such that ordinary and materialistic persons cannot find fault with Him. Rama sets an example of the perfect king, husband, son, friend, and master.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Without complaint, Lord Rama obeyed His father’s command to abdicate the throne on the eve of His coronation and go to live in the forest in exile for fourteen years. He was always dutiful in every way. Once upon the throne, He acted as an ideal king and due to His good governance, everyone experienced happiness. A citizen once came to Lord Rama to complain because his son had died at a young age; this demonstrates how idyllic the kingdom was under the rule of Lord Rama – the death of a son before the death of the father was at that time so unusual that it was worthy of complaint to the king Himself.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Although Lord Rama was certainly the ideal king, Srila Prabhupada explains that we do not worship Him for this reason. Srila Prabhupada states: “Maharaja Yudhisthira was also as good as Ramachandra, and Maharaja Pariksit was as good. There were many such kings. But we are not concerned because He was a king. He is the King of all kings, paramesvara. Because He is God, therefore we are observing today.” (Rama-navami Lecture – 27 March 1969, Hawaii)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Lord Ramachandra exhibits all of the opulences of the Lord in full. He has limitless strength, wealth, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation, and all of these He demonstrated in His pastimes. He was so renounced that although He was the most beloved crown prince of Ayodhya, and the ideal future king, he renounced everything without hesitation for a life of austerity in the forest.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">However, although Lord Rama is completely renounced, another important lesson to learn from His pastimes is what happens if someone other than the Lord attempts to enjoy the energy of the Lord. Lord Rama was completely renounced, but when the demon Ravana kidnapped Rama’s wife Sitadevi, wanting to enjoy Her, Lord Rama completely destroyed him.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Srila Prabhupada explains: “Sita is Lakṣmiji, or the goddess of fortune, but she is never to be enjoyed by any living being. She is meant to be worshiped by the living being along with her husband, Sri Ramachandra. A materialistic man like Ravaṇa does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch Sitadevi from the custody of Rama and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the Ramayana that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Lord is the policy of Ravaṇa. Ravaṇa was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Lanka, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord Ramachandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, Sita, Ravaṇa was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.” (Rama-navami Lecture – 27 March 1969, Hawaii)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">However much opulence a person may possess, any attempt to exploit the Lord’s potency will result in suffering. Ravaṇa’s attempt to exploit Sitadevi is an extreme example, but this principle applies to the ever-present and more subtle desire to enjoy and exploit the Lord’s creation in all of its manifestations. Thus, the pastimes enacted by Lord Rama teach that success can only be achieved in service to the Lord and never through attempts to enjoy the Lord’s energy.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In the Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir, Rama-navami is celebrated with a morning class on the glories of Sri Rama followed by an abhishek of the Lord. In the afternoon, the Deity of Lord Rama is taken on procession around the Mayapur campus and greeted and honored by all the resident devotees. In this way, the devotees of ISKCON Mayapur celebrate Sri Rama-navami and associate with the Supreme Lord Sri Ramachandra.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>ramaya rama-bhadraya</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>ramacandraya medhaṣe</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>raghunathaya nathaya</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>sitayai pataye namah</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Ramachandra, who is all-auspicious, the Lord of the Raghu Dynasty and the husband of Sitadevi.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">— Sita-Rama-praṇama-mantra</p>
<p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515238635,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515238635?profile=original" width="350" /></p>
<div style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=60332">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=60332</a></div></div>Lord Ramacandra by Gautam Sahahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/lord-ramacandra2022-04-10T06:30:00.000Z2022-04-10T06:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/mxHpTUJ.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://i.imgur.com/mxHpTUJ.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="mxHpTUJ.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="350" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Ramachandra<br /> Appeared on this earth in the lineage of Raghukula, in Ayodhya<br /> As the son of King Dasharath and Queen Kaushalya<br /> Elder to the princes Bharat, Lakshmana and Shatrughna</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">He is ever seen in the company of Mahalaksmi as Sita<br /> His eternal servitor Hanuman, and loving brother Lakshmana<br /> Both brothers wielded a bow and arrows and other weapons<br /> As shatriyas, it was their bounden duty to protect their citizens</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Lord Ram is maryada purushottam, the most perfect among human beings<br /> In which role He traversed the earth and engaged with all earthly beings<br /> Compassionate to the weak, kind to the poor, helpful to those in penury<br /> A nemesis for all demons and miscreants, whom He dispatched vigorously</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Out of His great sense of duty, He agreed to spend fourteen years in deportation<br /> Deep in the forest, with Lakshmana and Sita, living in desolate deprivation<br /> They lived on fruits and roots, far away from the luxuries and opulence of the city<br /> They chose the life of hermits, and underwent much hardship and poverty</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Towards the end of their banvaas, the demon Ravana took a fancy for mother Sita<br /> By various devious means and subterfuge, he managed to kidnap mother Sita<br /> And imprisoned her in Lanka, where she refused to submit to the demonic desires of Ravana<br /> Eventually Hanumanji found mother Sita, and the Lord led His army towards Lanka</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Being a demon, Ravana had not listened to the saintly counsel of brother Vibheeshan<br /> He mounted a counterattack on the army of Lord Ram, but all his efforts were in vain<br /> After a lengthy battle, in which numerous warriors on both sides gave up their life<br /> The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ram, snuffed out Ravana’s life and rescued His wife</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Lord’s banvaas was at an end, and Ayodhya was His for the asking<br /> He ruled Ayodhya for many years, as a wise, much loved and magnanimous king<br /> To assuage His subjects, He sent mother Sita into exile, and They lived Their lives apart<br /> The Lord never forgot her, and till the end, mother Sita lived on in His heart</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Mother Sita had given birth to twin valiant sons, Luv and Kush, who grew up in a hermitage<br /> They ultimately found their great father and were reunited under His love and parentage<br /> The Lord lived a life of service to others, with great humility and sense of duty<br /> His life is an example for all, in Its sacrifice and values which reinforce His great divinity</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">His great affection for the poor old woman Shabri is a glowing example of love’s expression<br /> Even though of lowly birth, Lord Ram accorded to her the highest platform of pure devotion<br /> Lord Ram, Who is no different from Krishna, thus enacted His transcendental leela on this earth<br /> Ramachandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, reigns supreme in every devotee’s heart !</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=10388">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=10388</a></p></div>Only a spark of Lord Rama’s total splendour by Kadamba Kanana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/only-a-spark-of-lord-rama-s-total-splendour-by-kadamba-kanana-swa2021-04-21T11:20:00.000Z2021-04-21T11:20:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8888397271,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="8888397271?profile=RESIZE_584x" />In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Lord Rama at one point is compared to a baby elephant, however, this is not disrespectful. Rather, the comparison was made to show how young Lord Rama was at the time of Sitadevi’s swayamvara, yet he was so inconceivably powerful. While it took 300 strong men to barely lift that bow, a young Lord Rama just strings the bow effortlessly to the point that He pulled it so far back that the bow broke. So in this way, Lord Ramachandra showed with how much ease he could do such a thing. This is just like when a young Lord Krsna lifted Govardhana Hill with complete ease on the little finger of his left hand.<strong> So in this way, the Lord shows that such supernatural feats are actually not that great for Him, as He is only showing a spark of His total splendour through such pastimes. We only see a portion of His opulence, but the power of the Supreme Lord is so much greater.</strong></p>
<p>Sitadevi was the perfect match for the Supreme Lord. She was the Goddess of Fortune after all. It is said that Sitadevi is equally endowed and had all the right attributes (the right age, the right beauty, the right behaviour and all the right qualities) to be a befitting partner to Lord Ramachandra. We, on the contrary, are suffering the reactions of our sinful activities and can never be endowed with such perfect qualities; we have to go through a lifetime of frustration of not having the right attributes. Why? Because we are conditioned souls. But Sitadevi, being Lakshmidevi herself, was by no means limited by the material energy. Therefore,<strong> we cannot consider the actions of Sitadevi to be the actions of an ordinary person.</strong></p>
<p>When Sita and Rama were banished to the forest, an outstanding quality of the Lord strikes out – how transcendentally He takes all the circumstances of His life. His father was on his death bed, the whole kingdom was crying and everyone was destroyed when they found out that Rama was banished to the forest the day before His coronation. But amidst all this, Rama was happy to follow His father’s instructions, and that is something really extraordinary, how the Lord takes up such a task despite it being so unfavourable and unjust to Him. This is because He was completely detached!<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.kksblog.com/2021/04/only-a-spark-of-lord-ramas-total-splendour/">https://www.kksblog.com/2021/04/only-a-spark-of-lord-ramas-total-splendour/</a></p></div>108 Names of Lord Sri Ramahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/108-names-of-lord-sri-rama-12020-04-02T08:30:00.000Z2020-04-02T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}2515180840,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515180840,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="300" alt="2515180840?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p>OM SHRI RAMAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Giver of happiness</p>
<p>OM RAMABHADRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Auspicious One</p>
<p>OM RAMACHANDRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, who is as lustrous as the moon</p>
<p>OM SHASHVATAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, to the ever-lasting one</p>
<p>OM RAJIVALOCHANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lotus-eyed</p>
<p>OM SHRIMATE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Abode of Lakshmi</p>
<p>OM RAJENDRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the King of kings</p>
<p>OM RAGHUPUNGAVAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Most Exalted of the Raghu dynasty</p>
<p>OM JANAKI VALLABHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Beloved of Janaki</p>
<p>OM JAITRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Triumphant</p>
<p>OM JITAMITRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Conqueror of His enemies</p>
<p>OM JANARDHANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Refuge of the people</p>
<p>OM VISHVAMITRA PRIYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Beloved of Sage Vishvamitra</p>
<p>OM DANTAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the well-controlled One</p>
<p>OM SHARANATRANA TATPARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who is keen to protect those who take refuge in Him</p>
<p>OM BALI PRAMATHANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Vanquisher of Bali</p>
<p>OM VAGMINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Eloquent</p>
<p>OM SATYAVACHE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One of truthful speech</p>
<p>OM SATYAVIKRAMAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who is valiant in defending Truth</p>
<p>OM SATYAVRATAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One of truthful vows</p>
<p>OM VRATADHARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who faithfully keeps His vows</p>
<p>OM SADA HANUMADASHRITAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who is always served by Hanuman</p>
<p>OM KAUSALEYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Son of Kausalya</p>
<p>OM KHARADHVAMSINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Annihilator of the demon Khara</p>
<p>OM VIRADHA VANAPANDITAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Expert in destroying the demon Viradha</p>
<p>OM VIBHISHANA PARITRATRE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Protector of Vibhishan</p>
<p>OM KODANDA KHANDANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who broke the mighty bow</p>
<p>OM SAPTATALA PRABHEDRE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who permeates the seven planes of existence</p>
<p>OM DASHAGRIVA SHIROHARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who cut off Ravana’s heads</p>
<p>OM JAMADAGNYA MAHADARPPA DALANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who shattered the pride of Parasurama</p>
<p>OM TATAKANTAKAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Slayer of Tataka</p>
<p>OM VEDANTA SARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Essence of Vedanta</p>
<p>OM VEDATMANE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Self of the Vedas</p>
<p>OM BHAVAROGASYA BHESHAJAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Healer of the disease of Becoming</p>
<p>OM DUSHANATRI SHIROHANTRE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who cut off the head of Dushana</p>
<p>OM TRIMURTAYE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Embodiment of the Three Gods</p>
<p>OM TRIGUNATMAKAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Source of the three gunas</p>
<p>OM TRIVIKRAMAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord as Vamana</p>
<p>OM TRILOKATMANE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the source of the three planetary systems</p>
<p>OM PUNYACHARITRA KIRTANAYA NAMAH</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One whose story is a source of merit to those who sing it</p>
<p>OM TRILOKA RAKSHAKAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Protector of the three world systems</p>
<p>OM DHANVINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the wielder of the bow</p>
<p>OM DANDAKARANYA KARTANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Dweller in the Dandaka forest</p>
<p>OM AHALYA SHAPASHAMANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Remover of Ahalya’s curse</p>
<p>OM PITRU BHAKTAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Worshipper of His father Dasaratha</p>
<p>OM VARA PRADAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the giver of boons</p>
<p>OM JITENDRIYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, THE Conqueror of the senses</p>
<p>OM JITAKRODHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Conqueror of anger</p>
<p>OM JITAMITRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who wins over friends</p>
<p>OM JAGAD GURAVE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Guru of the world</p>
<p>OM RIKSHA VANARA SANGHATINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who organized the hordes of monkeys</p>
<p>OM CHITRAKUTA SAMASHRAYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who took refuge at Chitrakuta Hill</p>
<p>OM JAYANTA TRANA VARADAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who blessed Jayanta</p>
<p>OM SUMITRA PUTRA SEVITAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who is served by Sumitra’s son (Lakshmana)</p>
<p>OM SARVA DEVADHI DEVAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord of all the gods</p>
<p>OM MRITAVANARA JIVANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who revived the dead monkeys (after the war)</p>
<p>OM MAYAMARICHA HANTRE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Destroyer of the demon Maricha who practiced illusion</p>
<p>OM MAHADEVAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Great Lord</p>
<p>OM MAHABHUJAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord of mighty arms</p>
<p>OM SARVADEVA STUTAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who is praised by all the gods</p>
<p>OM SAUMYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Calm One</p>
<p>OM BRAHMANYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Absolute Reality</p>
<p>OM MUNI SAMSTUTAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who is praised by sages</p>
<p>OM MAHAYOGINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Great Yogin</p>
<p>OM MAHADARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Noble One</p>
<p>OM SUGRIVEPSITA RAJYADAYE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who returned the kingdom to Sugriva</p>
<p>OM SARVA PUNYADHI KAPHALAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Giver of fruits of pious work, good karmas</p>
<p>OM SMRITA SARVAGHA NASHANAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Remover of all afflictions</p>
<p>OM ADIPURUSHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Primal Being</p>
<p>OM PARAMAPURUSHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Being</p>
<p>OM MAHAPURUSHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Great Being</p>
<p>OM PUNYODAYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Source of all blessings</p>
<p>OM DAYASARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Embodiment of compassion</p>
<p>OM PURANA PURUSHOTTAMAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Most Ancient Person</p>
<p>OM SMITA VAKTRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who smiling speaks</p>
<p>OM MITA BHASHINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One of moderate speech</p>
<p>OM PURVA BHASHINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the One who rarely speaks</p>
<p>OM RAGHAVAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the scion of the Raghu dynasty</p>
<p>OM ANANTA GUNAGAMBHIRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord of infinite majestic qualities</p>
<p>OM DHIRODATTA GUNOTTAMAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord of Valorous qualities</p>
<p>OM MAYA MANUSHA CHARITRAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who incarnated as a man through His maya</p>
<p>OM MAHADEVADI PUJITAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who is worshiped by Lord Shiva</p>
<p>OM SETUKRITE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, The builder of the bridge (at Setubandha to Sri Lanka)</p>
<p>OM JITA VARASHAYE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Conqueror of desires</p>
<p>OM SARVA TIRTHAMAYAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who is the sum of all holy places</p>
<p>OM HARAYE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Destroyer</p>
<p>OM SHYAMANGAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Dark-complexioned One</p>
<p>OM SUNDARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Beautiful One</p>
<p>OM SURAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord</p>
<p>OM PITAVASASE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord clad in yellow raiment</p>
<p>OM DHANURDHARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Bearer of the bow</p>
<p>OM SARVA YAJNADHIPAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord of sacrifice</p>
<p>OM YAJVINE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Sacrificer</p>
<p>OM JARAMARANA VARJITAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Conqueror of birth and death</p>
<p>OM VIBHISHANA PRATISHTHATRE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who established Vibhishana on the throne</p>
<p>OM SARVABHARANA VARJITAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who relinquished all adornment</p>
<p>OM PARAMATMANE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Self</p>
<p>OM PARABRAHMANE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Absolute</p>
<p>OM SACHIDANANDA VIGRAHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Embodiment of Existence, Awareness and Bliss</p>
<p>OM PARASMAI JYOTISHE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Light</p>
<p>OM PARASMAI DHAMNE NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Abode</p>
<p>OM PARAKASHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Space</p>
<p>OM PARATPARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme beyond the highest</p>
<p>OM PARESHAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Lord</p>
<p>OM PARAKAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who takes His devotees across (the ocean of<br /> samsara–birth and death)</p>
<p>OM PARAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Being</p>
<p>OM SARVA DEVATMAKAYA NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Lord who is the Source of all gods</p>
<p>OM PARASMAI NAMAHA</p>
<p>Obeisances to Sri Rama, the Supreme Lord</p>
<p>[These prayers are available at <a href="http://www.stephen-knapp.com">www.stephen-knapp.com</a>]</p>
<p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=3134">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=3134</a></p></div>The Pastimes Of Ramachandra by Gautam Sahahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-pastimes-of-ramachandra2020-04-02T08:00:00.000Z2020-04-02T08:00:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" style="height:594px;width:400px;" src="http://dandavats.com/wp-content/uploads5/2017-04-07_18-45-11.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">The avatara came as Ramachandra<br /> Scion to the dynasty of Raghukula<br /> He is ever seen with Laxmi as Sita,<br /> Laxman and Hanuman, His servitor</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Maryada purushottam, the best of humans<br /> Engaging with citizens, rsis and demons<br /> Treated the needy and poor mercifully<br /> Despatched rogues and demons swiftly</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Rama spent fourteen years in desolation<br /> With Laxman and Sita, in deportation<br /> Separated from the luxuries of the city<br /> Stoically enduring poverty and paucity</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">The demon Ravana fancied mother Sita<br /> Kidnapped the one steeped in pativrata<br /> While Sita repelled advances of Ravana<br /> Hanuman found her, and Ram beset Lanka</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Ravana spurned counsel for Sita’s return<br /> Fought back, but his tactics were in vain<br /> Many warriors on both sides lost their life<br /> Ram slew Ravana and saved His dear wife</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Exile over, Ram ruled Ayodhya kingdom<br /> Reigning with grace, justice and wisdom<br /> His life is a paragon of sacrifice and duty<br /> His beatific pastimes validate His divinity</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Often in this event filled historical narration<br /> Rama seems unable to overcome His situation<br /> The Lord appeared to be fallible, almost mortal<br /> Though Krsna or Visnu is eternally immortal !</p></div>Ramayana Sites in Sri Lanka by Sri Nandanandana dasahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/ramayana-sites-in-sri-lanka-12020-04-01T12:20:00.000Z2020-04-01T12:20:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><center>
<p><a href="http://i.imgur.com/ijWyVZy.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="http://i.imgur.com/ijWyVZy.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="350" alt="ijWyVZy.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
</center>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Though some people do not believe that the present Sri Lanka is the one mentioned in the Ramayana, when we investigate the area, there is still much convincing tradition therein and many sites identified with the Ramayana. A rich legacy of locations and temples can be found in the country where the most significant events of this epic are supposed to have taken place. In fact, you can go on what is called the Ramayana tour and visit so many of these places, many of which we will describe herein.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Sri Lanka is the proud custodian of more than 50 Ramayana sites from the place of Sita Devi’s captivity to the battlefields where vast armies clashed, to the groves of exotic herbs dropped by Hanuman, to the ultimate theater of war where Lord Rama slew Ravana, the ten-headed demon-king.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">People living in the areas where great events took place remember to this day the connection of their soil to the great epic. An oath taken at the spot where Sita Devi undertook “Agni Pariksha” is still considered valid in village courts or grama sabhas. The color of the soil of the ancient battlefield is still red today, and is still surrounded by lighter colored earth. One of the airports of Ravana, torched by Hanuman when he came looking for Sita Devi, still has a scorched-earth look. A patch of darker soil surrounded by brown earth. Exotic alpine Himalayan species are found suddenly amidst tropical Sri Lankan vegetation, the legacy of Hanuman’s heroic voyage carrying a mountain with life-restoring herbs.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Incredibly, the names of places have come down to modern times unchanged. Though great social, cultural and religious changes have taken place in Sri Lanka since.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Sri Lanka shares a special bond with India geographically, historically, culturally and spiritually. The Ramayana begins with Ayodhya in India and climaxes at Lankapura.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">People in Sri Lanka through generations believed that king Ravana ruled this country. There are many sites in Sri Lanka which are connected to the Ramayana. Below is a list of places which have been identified as connected to the Ramayana and listed in sequential order.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Kidnapping of Sita by Ravana</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Ravana was the king of Lanka and another 9 kingdoms. He was known as Dasis (or Dasa Shirsha) meaning 10 heads, because he had ten crowns, one each for his ten kingdoms.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">His sister Surpanakha went to Jambudweepa for some business. Surpanakha chanced upon Rama at his hermitage and became enamored with the handsome prince. Rama being faithful to his wife, Sita, did not respond and asked Surpanakha to approach Lakshmana who was unmarried. Surpanakha, who felt humiliated by this, tried to attack Sita in anger saying Sita was the cause of the men’s contempt for her. Lakshmana then intervened and cut off Surpanakha’s nose.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Surpanakha, terrified and in pain, flew at once to Lanka to seek the protection of Ravana. When Ravana asked his sister for the cause, Surpanakha said that she had seen Sita, a lady of incomparable beauty, and wanted to bring her for Ravana. Ravana resolved to take revenge for the insult his sister had suffered, as well as to get lovely Sita for him self, and set out to abduct Sita and bring her to Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Ravana, using a golden deer as a decoy, visited Sita when she was alone. In the guise of an old sage, he abducted and brought her to Weragantota in Lanka in his plane, the Pushpaka vimana.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Weragantota means the “place of aircraft landing” in Sinhala. This is the first place Sita Devi was brought to Lankapura (capita city of king Ravana). These jungles are the place where the city of Lankapura once stood. The city had a beautiful palace for Queen Mandothari surrounded by waterfalls, streams and varieties of flora and fauna. Sita Devi was kept at Queen Mandothari’s palace at Lankapura. The place Sita was held captive is called Sita Kotuwa, which means “Sita’s Fort” in Sinhala. It is believed Ravana had an aircraft repair center at Gurulupotha close to Sita Kotuwa. Sita devi was kept in queen Mandothari’s palace until she was moved to Sita Kotuwa and then on to Ashoka Vatika. The remains that are found here are the remnants of later civilizations. In Valmiki’s depiction, King Ravana’s vimana resembled a huge peacock. The vimana in Sinhala language means “Dhandu Monara” which is known as “flying peacock,” and hence the name Gurulupotha, which means “parts of birds” in Sinhala. This is also called Gavagala.<br /> Sita Taken from Sita Kotuwa to Ashok Vatika (also known as Ashoka / Asoka Vanam)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Ravana moved Sita from Sita Kotuwa to Ashok Vatika the salubrious garden in the mountains. The route too was said to be spectacularly beautiful, as Ravana wanted to show Sita the beauty of his kingdom. The barren land atop the mountain range is believed to be the route in which King Ravana took Sita devi from his capital city Lankapura to Ashoka Vatika, which was a paradise on earth. The Chariot Path atop the mountain range is still visible. Till date no vegetation grows on this passage except grass. King Ravana is believed to have taken this passage on top of these hills to show Sita devi the beauty of his kingdom.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Ashok Vatika<br /> is the garden where Ravana held Sita captive. This is in the area of Sita Eliya, close to the city of Nuwara Eliya. The stream that runs from the hill catered to the needs of Sita devi during her stay at Ashok Vatika. She is said to have bathed in this stream. The Hakgala Gardens located at the base of the Hakgala Rock forms part of the famed Ashok Vatika. The Sita Pokuna is a barren area atop the Hakgala Rock Jungle where Sita was kept captive. The Sita Amman Temple is located at this spot. It is interesting to note that foot prints akin to Hanuman’s are found by this river and some are of small size and some are of large size, which tells us of the immense powers of Hanuman transforming himself into any size.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">About a century ago three images were discovered in the stream, one of which was that of Sita. It is believed that the deities have been worshipped at this spot for centuries. Now there is temple for Lord Rama, Sitadevi, Lakshmana, and Hanuman by the side of this stream.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The summit of the mountain next to the mountain range overlooking Frotoft Estate in Pussallawa is the place where Hanuman first set his foot on mainland Lanka. This mountain known as Pawala Malai is visible from this mountain range. These hills stand tall in-between King Ravana’s capital city and Ashoka Vatika.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Sita tear pond is found en route by the chariot route, and is believed to have been formed by the tears of Sita devi. It has not dried up since, even during severe droughts when the adjoining rivers dry up. Visitors could also see the famed Sita Flowers which are endemic to this area. In this area there are many large trees whose bright red blooms add color to the scenery. These flowers are called Sita flowers. The peculiarity of these flowers is the configuration of the petal’s, stamen and pistils, which resemble a human figure carrying a bow, and is said to represent Lord Rama. These flowers are unique only to this area in the whole of Sri Lanka.<br /> Search for Sita</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Sugriva, ruler of the Vanara or special monkey kingdom, ordered his monkey armies to search for Sita in all four corners of the earth. Hanuman, Angada, Jambavan and other heroes traveled southwards. Hanuman was the only one strong enough to cross the ocean to reach Lanka. Whilst crossing the ocean, Hanuman was tested by Surasa Devi, the Naga maiden en-route to Lanka. This place is now called Nagadipa.<br /> Hanuman meets Sita at Ashok Vatika and is Captured by Ravana</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hanuman after meeting Sita at Ashok Vatika, decided to test the strength of King Ravana and his army of Rakshasas. He invited battle by uprooting trees and destroying the garden. Upon being captured by the Rakshasa guards, Hanuman was brought in the presence of Ravana. As a punishment, Hanuman’s tail was set on fire. Hanuman in turn set fire to the houses in the city. Ussangoda is one such torched area.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">On the way back to India Hanuman rested at Mani Kattuthar. The hilltop where Hanuman is believed to have rested after meeting Sita devi is known as Mani Kattuthar. This is a rock in the Labookelle estate. Hanuman met Sita devi and on his way to announce this happy information to Lord Rama, rested on this hilltop. Today an open temple with statues of Lord Rama, Sita devi, Lakshmana, and Hanuman stands on top of it. Locals visit the temple often.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Near by is the village of Kondagala, known as Kondakalai in Tamil, where Sita is said to have deranged her hair whilst passing the place. Kondakalai (Kondagala), like many other cities and villages in Sri Lanka, also derives its name from the Ramayana. When King Ravana took Sita devi in a chariot to Ashoka Vatika, her hairs got deranged because of the speed of the chariot. “Konda kalai” in Tamil means “deranging of hair.” Till date the villagers live with the legacy of this event.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The village also contains Sita Gooli which are rice balls offered by Ravana to Sita; which she refused and threw away. When King Ravana carried Sita devi on his chariot to Ashoka Vatika, he provided her with vitaminized rice balls for refreshment. But Sita devi who did not want to consume anything provided by King Ravana, scattered the rice balls all over the place during her journey, and they are found till date along the chariot track. The local people call these rice balls Sita Gooli and they prescribe them for their children as a cure for stomach disorders and headaches. The farmers too keep them in their cash boxes or grain pots for prosperity. It is claimed that carbon dated testing has been done in Tokyo and Delhi on these rice balls and ascertained them to be more than five thousand years old.<br /> Sita is Hidden after the visit of Hanuman<br /> Upon hearing Hanuman’s threat and seeing his capabilities, King Ravana decided to hide Sita at various secret locations as a precautionary measure. Ravanagoda, which means Ravana’s place in the Kotmale area, is one such complex of tunnels and caves.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Istripura is another ingenious network of paths which are interconnected with all major areas of king Ravana’s city. Istripura means “Area of Women” in Sinhala. This refers to the retinue of ladies Ravana made available to look after Sita.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Konda Kattu Gala<br /> refers to the many intruding tunnels and caves in this area. This seems to be a part of a great ingenious network of paths, which is interconnected to all the major areas of King Ravana’s city. Sita devi took bath in this very stream and had dried her hair sitting on a rock and put clips to her hair, hence this rock is known as Konda Kattu Gala. This is situated in the Welimada Area.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Tunnel Network</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">This tunnel network proves beyond doubt the architectural brilliance of King Ravana. These tunnels served as a quick means of transport through the hills and also as a secret passage and networked all the important cities, airports and dairy farms. A close look at these tunnels indicates that they are man-made and not natural formations. The Buddhist shrine at Kalutara was once where King Ravana’s palace and a tunnel existed. Additional existing tunnel mouths are situated at Welimada, Ravana cave at Bandarawela, Senapitiya at Halagala, Ramboda, Labookelle, Wariyapola/Matale, and Sitakotuwa/Hasalaka, along with many more tunnels. Some have also said that Ravana had a tunnel that went all the way to South America, in which he had stored much of his gold and treasury.<br /> Preparing for Battle</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Gayathri Peedum<br /> is believed to be the place from where King Ravana’s son Meghanath propitiated Lord Shiva with penance and pujas, and in turn was granted super natural powers by Lord Shiva prior to the battle. Neelawari is located in the North of the country in the Jaffna peninsula and is where Lord Rama shot an arrow to the ground to obtain water for his army upon arriving at Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Dondra, Seenigama & Hikkaduwa are places in the South of Lanka where Sugriva (king of Vanaras, the special species of monkeys) prepared for his onslaught on King Ravana’s forces from the Southern flank.<br /> War Breaks Out</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">During the height of the battle Indrajit, elder son of Ravana beheaded a lookalike of Sita Devi in front of Hanuman to break his spirit. This place is known as Sitawaka in the Avissawella area.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Yudhaganawa, meaning battlefield in Sinhala, is a place in Wasgamuwa where the major battles took place.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Upon being hit by Indrajit’s Brahmastra, both Rama, Lakshmana and the monkey army lay unconscious on the battle field. To cure them, Jambavan the veteran monkey instructed Hanuman to go to Sanjeevani Parvatha, the hill of herbs between Rishhaba and Kilasa peaks in the Himalayas and bring the necessary medicinal herbs. As he could not identify which herbs to select, Hanuman uprooted the entire peak with all the herbs growing there from the mountain and returned to Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Parts of the hill fell on five places in Sri Lanka; namely Rumassala in Galle, Dolukanda in Hiripitiya, Ritigala close to Habarana on the Habarana Anuradhapura road, Talladi in Mannar, and Katchchathivu in the north.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Lord Karthikaya Subramaniyam was requested to go to battle by Lord Indra to protect Lord Rama from king Ravana’s Brahmastra. This was at Kataragama, which is now a very popular place for worship among Sri Lankans.<br /> The Fall of Ravana</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Dunuvila lake is a place from which Lord Rama fired the Brahmastra arrow at king Ravana who was directing the war from Laggala. It is here that King Ravana was killed by Lord Rama’s brahmastharam. The top of Laggala is flat and is believed to have been affected by the power of the brahmastharam. “Dhunu” means “arrow” and “Vila” means “Lake,” so it gets its name from this pastime.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The name Laggala is derived from the Sinhala term “Elakke Gala”, which means Target Rock. Laggala served as a sentry point to observe Lord Rama’s army. The cartels behind the Dunuvila lake are called Laggala. It was from this rock the first glimpse of Lord Rama’s army was sighted and informed to King Ravana. This hill is geographically the highest part of the northern region of King Ravana’s city and on a clear day the north east side that is Thiru Koneshwaran and north west side that is Talai Mannar can be seen even today. King Ravana is believed to have done meditation on this rock and prayed to Lord Shiva at Thiru Koneshwaran from this point.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">After Ravana’s death, his body was kept at Yahangala, meaning “Bed Rock” in Sinhala. This is situated along the Mahiyanganaya – Wasgamuwa road. King Ravana’s body was kept upon this rock so his countrymen could pay their last respects to their dear departed king. Geographically this rock is visible from miles away on its 3 sides.<br /> After the War</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Sita met Rama after the war, and Divurumpola is the place she under went the “Agni” test of fire where she proved her innocence and purity to Rama. Divurumpola means the “Place of Oath” in Sinhala. She came out unscathed and proved her innocence and purity.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The message of Rama’s victory over Ravana was sent to Sita. After a bath and adorned with jewels she was taken on a palanquin before Rama. Meeting her husband after such a long time she was overcome with emotion, but Rama seemed lost in thought. At length he spoke, “I have killed my enemy. I have done my duty as a true king. But you have lived for a year in the enemy’s abode. It is not proper I take you back now.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Sita was shocked. “You have broken my heart” she said, “only the uncultured speak like this. Have you forgotten the noble family I come from? Is it my fault Ravana carried me off by force? All the time, my mind, my heart, and soul were fixed on you alone, my lord!”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">She turned to Lakshmana and said with tears streaming from her eyes, “prepare for me a fire. That is the only remedy for this sorrow of mine.” Lakshmana, in suppressed anger, looked at Rama’s face, but there was no softening, he lighted a big fire. Sita reverently went round her husband and approached the blazing fire. Joining her palms in salutation, she said, “if I am pure, O fire, protect me.” With these words she jumped into the flames. Then arose from out of the flames, Agni the fire-god, whom she had invoked. He lifted Sita from the flames unharmed, and presented her to Rama. “Don’t I know that she is spotless and pure at heart?” cried Rama, standing up to receive her. “It’s for the sake of the world that I made her go through this ordeal of fire, so that the truth may be known to all.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The spot was initially fenced and walled to protect it from the surrounding wilderness. Then a sapling of the Anuradhapura bodhi tree (one of the 30 original saplings) was planted as a mark of respect for the place. A small pagoda was built subsequently under the Bodhi tree. The temple depicts paintings of the Ramayana epic.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Today the temple is revered for the oath taken by Sita devi and even the legal system permits and accepts the swearing done at this temple while settling disputes between parties.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Vantharamulai is a place that Lord Rama, Sita Devi, Lakshmana, and Hanuman rested after the turmoil of the war. Amaranthakali is believed to be the place where they had the first meal after the war.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When returning to India in one of King Ravana’s vimanas, Rama felt he was followed by a Brahmahasti Dhosham, a malevolent black shadow or dark cloud capable of taking His life, as He had killed Ravana, a Brahmin. When the vimana was passing over Munneswaram, He felt the vimana vibrating, and at Muneswaram realized the “Brahmaasthi Dosham” was not following him at this particular point. So Rama felt safe from the “Brahmahasti Dhosham” at Munneswaram. So Lord Rama stopped the vimana at this juncture and asked Lord Shiva for a remedy. This is the place where Lord Rama prayed to Lord Shiva and where Shiva blessed Lord Rama and advised installing and praying to four lingams to get rid of the Dhosham. The first Lingam was installed at Manavari about 5 Km from here, near the banks of Deduru Oya. This was followed by the lingams at Thiru Koheneshwaram, Thiru Ketheshwaram, and Rameshwaram in India.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">It is believed that Munneswaram predates the Ramayana and a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva was located here. Munneswaram means the first temple for Shiva (Munnu + Easwaran). A Shiva Lingam was already here when lord Rama visited the place.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">After King Ravana’s death, Ravana’s brother Vibhishana was coroneted as a king of Lanka by Lakshmana at Kelaniya. Kelaniya is the closest site to Colombo connected to the Ramayana.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">There exists a Buddhist temple, the Kelaniya Buddhist Temple and shrine for King Vibishana. There are murals enshrined outside the Buddhist temple depicting the crowning of Vibishana. Vibishana is considered one of the four guardian deities of Sri Lanka, and temples for Vibishana are found throughout Sri Lanka. A painting of King Vibishana also adorns the new Parliament of Sri Lanka. In fact, there are no temples dedicated for Ravana, but many exist for Vibishana; this goes to prove that his stand towards Vedic Dharma & justice made people to revere him as a god in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Kelani River is mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana and Vibishana’s palace was said to be on the banks of this river. The reason Lakshmana crowned Vibishana was because Lord Rama had to return to India to continue his self-exile of 14 years to honor the commitment to His father, King Dasarath of Ayodhya. King Vibishana was considered a fair king, as he supported Rama against his own brother’s injustice. Many devotees that visit King Vibishana’s shrine pray to him asking his intervention to a fair recourse to their problems.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Other Places of Interests Connected to the Ramayana in Sri Lanka</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">1. Kanniya<br /> – The place where King Ravana carried out the last rites for his mother.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">2. Gavagala or Ghoushala<br /> – King Ravana’s dairy farm.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">3. Airports of King Ravana:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Thotupolakanda (means “Mountain Port” in Sinhala) at Horton plains</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Weragantota (means “Place of Aircraft” landing in Sinhala) in Mahiyangana</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Ussangoda (means “Area of Lift” in Sinhala) in the Southern coast</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Wariapola (means “Aircraft Port” in Sinhala) in Matale and Kurunagala.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">4. Neelawari<br /> — A place where Lord Rama aimed an arrow to obtain water.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">5. Panchamukha Anjanaya Temple, Kalubowila<br /> – This is the first Anjaneyar Temple in Sri Lanka and also the only Panchamukha (five faced) Anjaneyar Temple in Sri Lanka. It is the only temple in the world to have a chariot for Ajanyar. The chariot festival is held annually at end of December to the beginning of January. Hanuman’s mother is Anjan. Hanuman is known as Anjan + Aiyar = Anjaneyar in South India (Hamuman in North India).</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">6. Rama Temple at Rattota<br /> — One of the few Rama’s temple in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">7. Maha Ravanagoda / Kuda Ravanagoda<br /> — Ravana’s places in the south.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">8. Veedurupola<br /> – Buddhist temple dedicated to research on Ramayana.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">9. Sri Baktha Hanuman Temple —<br /> on the hills of Ramboda is a place where Hanuman was searching for Sita Devi. The name is also associated with Rama’s army. Rampadai means Rama’s force in Tamil. The Chinmaya mission of Sri Lanka built a temple with Hanuman as the presiding deity. On every full moon day special pujas are conducted and witnessed by thousands of devotees.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">10. Manavari Temple is the first lingam installed and prayed to Lord Rama and till date this lingam is called as Ramalinga Shivan. Rameshwaram is the only other lingam in the world named after Lord Rama.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">11. Rama Temple – Rattota. There are a few Rama temples in Sri Lanka, this is one of them. This is the only Rama temple in this area. This is a privately managed temple. This is one of the most scenic routes to travel from Matale to visit Laggala (on the northern side of Knuckles).</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">12. Kataragama Temple – This is the temple of Lord Karthikeya Subramaniam at Kataragama. Lord Karthikeya was requested to go to the battlefield by Lord Indra on the last day of war. This was done to protect Lord Rama from the wrath of the Brahmastra aimed by King Ravana which otherwise would have weakened Lord Rama. The benefit was that the most powerful brahmasthra weapon aimed at Lord Rama for the second time was rendered useless by the presence of Lord Karthikeya.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">13. Ussangoda – According to the Ramayana, after meeting Sita devi, Hanuman dedicated to test the strength of the mighty King Ravana and his army of Rakshasas. In the events that unfolded, Hanuman’s tail was set on fire by the Rakshasas, who in turn went on to torch some parts of King Ravana’s empire. Ussangoda is one of the torched areas, which is said to have been an airport used by King Ravana.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">14. Vishnu Devala, Dondra – These are the places from where King Sugriva of the Vanara’s started his onslaught on King Ravana’s force.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">15. Ravana Goda – This is a place where Sita devi stayed during her transit. This area is also linked with tunnels and caves, which runs through to other parts of King Ravana’s kingdom. This is situated in the Kotmala area opposite to Ramboda rock. The main cave entrance was closed by an earth-slip in 1947. Locals believe this part of the complex was used as a prison by Ravana. The cave complex has not been fully explored.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">16. Ravana’s mummy – An additional site connected to local belief, but yet to be discovered is the place where locals believe Ravana’s mummified body is hidden within the mountain range of Harasbatha, Ragala and Walapane.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">References include:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.sltda.gov.lk/ramayana">http://www.sltda.gov.lk/ramayana</a> and</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.tourslanka.com/ramayana-sri-lanka/tours/ramayana-site-tours-excursions.php">http://www.tourslanka.com/ramayana-sri-lanka/tours/ramayana-site-tours-excursions.php</a></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Also found at: <a href="http://www.stephen-knapp.com">www.stephen-knapp.com</a></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=26410">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=26410</a></p></div>The Floating Stones by Gauranga Darshan Dashttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-floating-stones2020-04-01T07:40:00.000Z2020-04-01T07:40:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/thmIbNj.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://i.imgur.com/thmIbNj.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" alt="thmIbNj.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Nothing Is Impossible for the Omnipotent! “</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">How can stones float on water!? But they did…once upon a time! In treta-yuga, God appeared as a human being, and engaged some monkeys to throw stones in water. By the power of His name, the stones floated and thus a bridge was constructed across the ocean. Crossing this bridge, God rescued His wife, who was kidnapped by a demon.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">This is a popular pastime of Lord Sri Rama. But a common man doesn’t believe in such ‘stories’ calling them ‘mythology.’ Nevertheless, they are not myth but factual incidents recorded in our timeless scriptures. It takes a little intelligence, some deliberation and faith to understand them.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Why can’t this happen?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">It is not difficult or illogical to agree that the world we perceive is functioning based on specific laws. We see orderliness and predictability in the characteristics of the sun and the moon, day and night, seasons and so on. By whose power and organization is the nature functioning in such a systematic manner? Any rational person would agree that there is some creator, controller and maintainer for this universe! And, He is ‘God.’</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">God exercises His omnipotence in exhibiting many names, forms and activities. He resides in a spiritual abode of eternal variegatedness, and at times kindly descends into this created world in His various forms like Rama, Krsna, Nrsimha, Varaha and so on. There are multiple purposes for His descent, namely to protect the righteous, punish the mischievous and establish the right conduct.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The literary masterpiece Srimad Bhagavatam describes that the material universe was formed with the basic ingredients like earth, water, air, fire, ether and so on, that emanated from the body of Lord Maha Visnu, who lies in the causal ocean (karana samudra). After the formation of the universe, Maha Visnu entered it in the form of Garbhodakasayi Visnu, from whose navel manifested a universal lotus, that gave rise to the fourteen planetary systems.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The modern science confirms that this universe consists of several planets in the outer space. It is only by the inconceivable power and will of the Supreme Lord that innumerable planets float like cotton swabs in the space, suspended perfectly in their orbits. If this is possible for the Lord, why can’t He, in the form of Ramacandra, make some stones float in water? After all, can the creator be limited by the laws of His own creation?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Why should this happen?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Another natural question in this context! If Lord Rama had the power to make stones float on water, didn’t He have the power to walk on water and make the other monkeys do it as well? Why did He have to construct a bridge then?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Yes, certainly Rama and His party could have crossed the ocean even without a bridge. Yes, certainly Rama and His party could have crossed the ocean even without a bridge. However, the Supreme Lord is independent. He can do anything by His sweet will. If He wants to do something in a certain way, no one has the power to question Him. Still, there are a few reasons in this regard that the scriptures reveal.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Knowing that His wife Sitadevi was in Lanka on the other side of the ocean, Lord Rama reached the ocean. Accompanying Him was a huge army of monkey soldiers headed by Sugriva, Hanuman, Jambavan and others. Lord Rama, the Supreme Being, fasted for three days, awaiting the response of the ocean personified. When the ocean-god did not come, Lord Rama exhibited anger and simply by His glance, all the aquatics within the ocean were struck by fear.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The ocean-god then hastily approached Lord Rama, fell at His feet and prayed, “O all-pervading Supreme Person, we are dull-minded and did not understand that You are the master of the entire universe. Although my water doesn’t impede You to go to Lanka, please construct a bridge over it to spread Your transcendental fame. Upon seeing this wonderfully uncommon deed of Your Lordship, all the great heroes and kings in the future will glorify You.” (SB 9.10.14-15)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The ocean-god’s initial inability to recognize Lord Rama’s identity, represents the rebellious mentality of the mortal beings that doesn’t allow them to submit to God. But beyond this illusion lies a sublime realization of an eternal blissful life, aligned with the sweet will of the Lord.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In loving devotion, a devotee always wants to glorify the Supreme Lord for eternity just as the ocean-god desired after realizing his mistakes. He desired to see the future generations glorify Rama for doing something that no human being had done before or could do later. Thus the Supreme Lord Rama, by enacting this magnificent pastime, created a subject matter for our discussion, absorption and purification and to increase our love for Him.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">What does this indicate?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Lord Ramacandra’s superhuman deed of making stones float on water declares His omnipotence and proves that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and not an ordinary human being. He is capable of doing anything and no material conventions can obstruct His will. He was not merely advertised as Godhead or elected by popular vote.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">An ordinary human being cannot change the properties of material elements, but thinks oneself so great or sometimes even God! Srila Prabhupada writes, “Nowadays it has become fashionable to create some artificial God who performs no uncommon activities; a little magic will bewilder a foolish person into selecting an artificial God because he does not understand how powerful God is. Lord Ramacandra, however, constructed a bridge over the water with stone by making the stone float. This is proof of God’s uncommonly wonderful power. Why should someone be accepted as God without displaying extraordinary potency by doing something never to be done by any common man? We accept Lord Ramacandra as the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He constructed this bridge, and we accept Lord Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He lifted Govardhana Hill when He was only seven years old.” (SB 9.10.15 Purport)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Many people blindly believe some ordinary mortal to be God just by seeing his few magical feats. But what is their significance in comparison to the unsurpassable natural wonders that the Supreme Godhead manifests in this creation!? Srila Prabhupada says that people pay lot of money to see and appreciate a magician barking like a dog, but they don’t appreciate God who created millions of dogs in this world. People believe a so-called saint who ‘creates’ little gold, but they don’t put faith on God who created millions of planets each consisting of thousands of gold mines.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Allured by the tiny wonders created by mortals, foolish people ignore the great wonders created by God. People who adore fictitious heroes in comics and movies, do not admire the real heroic acts of Rama and Krsna, but consider them myth. All the superhuman acts of the Supreme Lord in His various incarnations indicate His Godhood and omnipotence. If only we trust the words of the scriptures and relish such wondrous pastimes of Godhead, we can make tremendous progress in our spiritual journey.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Lord Krsna therefore says in the Bhagavad-gita, “One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” (BG 4.9)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">What’s difficult for the Omnipotent?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The natural elements like earth and water have their inherent properties. The earth element in the form of stone doesn’t float in water. When put in water, it sinks. But who has given them such qualities? God! If God can invest the elements with certain characteristics, He can change them as well, for a specific purpose because the material nature, indeed, is controlled by the omnipotent Lord.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">hetunanena kaunteya jagad viparivartate</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.” (BG 9.10)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The deep mysteries of the miraculous pastimes of Godhead are inconceivable to a common man, but for one who has faith in His unlimited potency such pastimes becomes a source of relish and nourishment.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Gauranga Darshan Das is dean of the Bhaktivedanta Vidyapitha (<a href="http://www.vidyapitha.in/">www.vidyapitha.in</a>) at ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village (GEV). He teaches scriptural courses at several places in India. He has written study guides including Bhagavata Subodhini, Caitanya Subodhini and Gita Subodhini, and compiled vital scriptural verses in the form of the Ratnamala and Tattvamala series. He runs a free monthly e-magzine called Bhagavata Pradipika.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=73759">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=73759</a></p></div>