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 RAMAYANA - 2

 

Devas & Munis ask Mahavishnu to be Born Upon Earth to destroy Ravana

 

 The devatas and rishis  go to Maha Vishnu and pray to him to destroy the powerful Ravana.  Ravana who has received boons from Brahma cannot be defeated by the devas , Yakshas , Gadharvas or any other celestial beings.

They pray to Vishnu to save Earth from the atrocities of this Asura Ravana.  They go on to say that Ravana is preventing and troubling Rishis from doing Yagnas which are for the benefit and goodness of Man-kind.  They have heard from Brahma that Ravana can be destroyed only by a human being.

Virtuous King Dasharatha of Ayodhya is performing a penance to beget children.  His three wives  Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi are symbolic of strength , wealth and fame.  Oh ! Mahavishnu  they say, please divide yourself into four parts and be born upon earth as sons of Dasharatha .  Please be born to destroy Ravana – who is a hinderance to mankind.  There is nobody else who can save us

Seen in the picture are Mahavishnu and Lakshmi on the Adishesha ( thousand headed serpant) , sanakaadi munis, Shuka( parrot face) , Narada and Brahma ( four faces).

Do you know- Asura is that person who is bothered only about his material possessions and his body.  He will do anything to please himself at the cost of Dharma ( what is good for all) .  He does not use his qualities to realise the spirit within.  A Deva on the other hand uses both material wealth and his body to realise the atma within. A Deva works for the good of the Universe 

JUNE 2010 
 
World's first Shloka
It was a long long time ago.  More than eight thousand years ago.  The time was Treata Yuga. River Ganga was flowing in all splendour .  The forests off the banks of the river were lush and beautiful with all kinds of birds and flowers.  Sage Valmiki had come to the river along with his disciple Bharadwaja to have his bath and offer prayers to Surya Bhagavan. Sage Valmiki pointed out to Bharadwaja, that the waters were calm and beautiful like the mind of a good person.
Sage Valmiki glanced up and admired two white water birds called the Krouncha which were soaring around in the skies.  Suddenly a hunter shot an arrow at one of the birds, which fell down dead.  The other bird which was the female bird wailed in agony and flew down to the sides of its mate.  Sage Valmiki’s heart melted looking at this.   He was sad and angry at the same time.  He looked at the hunter and cursed him with the following words.
Oh you person who have killed the bird  without reason
May you die immediately as a result of the sin committed by you.
Something strange had happened here.  The words uttered were not in the form of prose.  It was in the form of poetry.  Sage Valmiki was surprised.  He looked at Bharadwaja  who was equally surprised at the flow of words. These could be played to music - to a beat.  How strange he thought.
Sage Valmiki thought about what had occurred.  He declared – “ May these words which have stemmed out of my sorrow or shoka , which have come out in a poetic manner be known as SHLOKA”.   Thus the first shloka in the world made its appearance.
Do you know Sage Valmiki later wrote the Ramayana.  The Ramayana has 24,000 shlokas.  It is one of the Mahakavyas ( EPICS) of India. It talks about the story of Shree Ramachandra the king of Ayodhya.   Isn’t it amazing that something which happened more than eight thousand years ago is still with us today.  This is so because the story of Shree Rama offers us lessons of life even today.  We will discover them one by one as the weeks pass by.