English
20 January 2024
Glories of Sri Ram
Speaker: HG Haridas Thakur prabhu
I am very pleased to be here amongst all you devotees. These days we are hearing a buzz word/song “Rama Aayenge Rama Aayenge “. Unknowingly we keep reciting this song. I received a call from HG Bansidhar prabhu that Guru Maharaj is on the way to Ayodhya and is now at our Home!So actually Maharaj’s coming to our home is like Lord Rama coming to our Jhopadi / small hut. Guru Maharaj’s name by birth is Sri Raghunath and so for us Maharaj is like Lord Rama!
śrī-śuka uvāca
khaṭvāṅgād dīrghabāhuś ca
raghus tasmāt pṛthu-śravāḥ
ajas tato mahā-rājas
tasmād daśaratho ’bhavat (ŚB 9.10.1)
Translation:
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The son of Mahārāja Khaṭvāṅga was Dīrghabāhu, and his son was the celebrated Mahārāja Raghu. From Mahārāja Raghu came Aja, and from Aja was born the great personality Mahārāja Daśaratha.
tasyāpi bhagavān eṣa
sākṣād brahmamayo hariḥ
aṁśāṁśena caturdhāgāt
putratvaṁ prārthitaḥ suraiḥ
rāma-lakṣmaṇa-bharata-
śatrughnā iti saṁjñayā (ŚB 9.10.2)
Translation:
Being prayed for by the demigods, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth Himself, directly appeared with His expansion and expansions of the expansion. Their holy names were Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, Bharata and Śatrughna. These celebrated incarnations thus appeared in four forms as the sons of Mahārāja Daśaratha.
For the word Rama, it is said,
ramante yogino ’nante
satyānande cid-ātmani
iti rāma-padenāsau
paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate (CC Madhya 9.29)
Translation:
The Supreme Absolute Truth is called Rāma because the transcendentalists take pleasure in the unlimited true pleasure of spiritual existence.
The Supreme Absolute truth is Krsna but he has a name which is Rama. When Krsna appears to give bliss to the devotees, he appears as Lord Rama. The word Rama is used for Lord Balaram , Parshuram and Sri Sri Radha Raman also. All thesefour are Vishnu Tattva’s- Sankarshan , Aniruddha, Pradyumna and Vasudev.
When Lord Rama appeared , they were very young and Vishvamitra went to Maharaj Dashratha and asked him to take Lord Rama and Laxman to kill the demons. But King Dashratha was reluctant as they were very young. Vishvamitra assured that they will be able to kill the demons. So Lord Rama killed Tarika just like Lord Krsna killed Putana. Then Lord Rama was married to mother Sita. And King Dashratha was planning to renounce the kingdom.
We are aware that Manthara, mis-directed Queen Kaikeyi to ask King Dashratha to coronate Bharata as the King and to send Lord Rama to exile. Bharata and Shatrughna were not present at that time and were in their maternal Grand parents house. Theywere called immediately and saw many bad omens on the way back. In separation from Lord Rama , King Dashratha left his body chanting the holy nameof the Lord that is Rama - Rama.
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ (Bg. 8.5)
Translation:
And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
Nanda Maharaj says that I should have left my body just like King Dashratha left his body when Lord Rama left Ayodhya. This was said when Krsna left Vrindavan!In Kamat Giri mountain,Laxman would always guard Lord Rama and Sita Maiya. When we visited there, our mind was immediately transported to Treta yuga. This is the glory of hearing the past times of Lord Rama.
Similarly one can reach Dwapar Yuga while hearing Lord Krsna’s past times. So when we visit Chitrakut we become Rama conscious!Next we go to Chitrakut, where Surpankha came to meet Lord Rama and extended a marriage proposal to Lord Rama. But He directed her to Laxman. Laxman also denied for the marriage. Then she tried to kill Sita Maiya and immediately her nose was cut by Laxman and hence the name of this place is Nasik.
Then Lord Rama meets Marichi. After that, he meets Sugriva. Then Bali is killed. Hanuman Ji finds about the place where Mother Sita was abducted. Then the entire vanar sena was made ready to attack Lanka. Eventually Ravana was killed by Lord Rama. So this appearance of Lord Rama is very auspicious for the entire country. When one hears the past times of Ramayan where all the characters are exemplary, he is purified.
Ramayan shows us, how should be the relationship between a father and son, between brothers and between husband and wife. One can learn from Dashrath Maharaj being an ideal father, all the 4 Brothers being ideal brothers and Sita Maiya being a chaste wife. Sita Maiya could have stayed back in the palace but she accompanied Lord Rama while the exile. Urmila Maiya also was an ideal wife. Sugriva was an ideal friend.
Lord Rama behaved perfectly with his enemy Ravana also. In the kingdom of Lord Rama there were no miseries. The three miseries were not present. They had the boon of leaving their bodies on their own wish just like Bhishma pitamah.
nādhi-vyādhi-jarā-glāni-
duḥkha-śoka-bhaya-klamāḥ
mṛtyuś cānicchatāṁ nāsīd
rāme rājany adhokṣaje (SB 9.10.53)
Translation:
When Lord Rāmacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. There was even no death for those who did not want it.
The Grihamedhis were taught how to lead an ideal Grhastha life by Lord Rama’s example. That’s why Lord Rama is known as Maryada Purushottam.
eka-patnī-vrata-dharo
rājarṣi-caritaḥ śuciḥ
sva-dharmaṁ gṛha-medhīyaṁ
śikṣayan svayam ācarat (SB 9.10.54)
Translation:
Lord Rāmacandra took a vow to accept only one wife and have no connection with any other women. He was a saintly king, and everything in His character was good, untinged by qualities like anger. He taught good behavior for everyone, especially for householders, in terms of varṇāśrama-dharma. Thus He taught the general public by His personal activities.
That’s why his Godly features were not revealed. Just like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never revealed his true identity. But to the devotees, Mahaprabhu revealed his true identity. Lord Krsna tells Uddhav also that just by reciting His holy names, there is purification of one’s heart.
bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ
śraddhayātmā priyaḥ sataṁ
bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣṭhā
śva-pākān api sambhavāt (Cc Madhya 20.138)
Translation:
Being very dear to the devotees and sādhus, I am attained through unflinching faith and devotional service. This bhakti-yoga system, which gradually increases attachment for Me, purifies even a human being born among dog-eaters. That is to say, everyone can be elevated to the spiritual platform by the process of bhakti-yoga.
With this, one can see the soul and the Supersoul. So it purifies the most fallen souls. Shabari had nothing to qualify as a devotee. But she had unflinching love for lord Rama. The mantra given by ones Guru is the only way to help us cross over this ocean of nescience. So one must chant with conviction.
Without being Guru conscious, one cannot be Krsna conscious.
This goes hand in hand. We must have faith which comes from reading and hearing from senior devotees. This helps us develop faith in ones Guru and also removes our doer-ship mentality. One feels detached from worldly matters. HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaj and HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj say that one must never compromise on chanting - whether travelling for office work, etc. In fact one must strive to be better in chanting today than yesterday.
As Srila Prabhupada says, that our perfecting in Krsna consciousness depends on chanting. One may go all around the world while chanting. But when one is actually hearing attentively then one is not able to think of anything else but Krsna, Rama and Hare. One may think that I have a full life to chant but our life is very short. So as one become attentive while chanting , then one develops Ruchi - liking for the holy names. So this is the only way to chant nicely.
It time up now. It was an extempore lecture for me. Please forgive me for any mistake.
Hare Krsna!
