Article sent from The Hindu on indiaserver.com

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

The unfailing grace of the Almighty

 

CHENNAI, MARCH 5. Human beings have to experience both joys and

sorrows in their lives because their birth is the result of the

actions performed in previous births. It is the accumulated Karma

which has started giving result that determines the life of an

individual and so after being born in this world one cannot

escape from one's Karma. Then what is the way out of this vicious

circle because life in the world involves accumulating fresh

Karma in this birth?

 

It is only by realising God that man can overcome Karma totally

and thereby be liberated from bondage. Study of the epic Ramayana

which delineates the life of the Lord when He manifested in human

form as Rama will enable the devotee to put an end to

transmigration. Though the Almighty incarnated in human form it

should be remembered that His births are not due to Karma as in

the case of human beings but is assumed by His will with specific

purpose.

 

Study of the Ramayana benefits not only the person by absolving

him of all his sins but also several generations of his family,

besides conferring a long life and worldly necessities. Saints

who have realised God attest to the fact that only the Almighty

is a boundless ocean of grace and will never let down His devotee

who reposes faith in Him.

 

All other worldly relations including one's kith and kin might

forsake a person in distress but never God if he has implicit

faith in His saving grace. The life of Ajamila illustrates the

truth that devotion to Him is never in vain. Though Ajamila was a

great devotee he fell into bad company and went astray and when

his end came he called out to his child whom he had named

Narayana, and even this unintentional utterance saved him from

being reborn in this world. Such is the potency of the Divine

name.

 

In his discourse, Sri M.R.Nagasubramanian said that the Ramayana

was a documentation (Itihasa) of the life of Rama written during

His advent in the world for which there was internal evidence in

the epic itself. The Ramayana opens with the question raised by

Valmiki to the celestial sage, Narada, when he visited his

hermitage as to who among those living then personified all the

desirable virtues and was upright in conduct. It was in reply to

this query that Narada related the life of Rama who was the

personification of inimitable traits and was ruling in Ayodhya

then.

 

As the epic of Valmiki gives in brief the entire Ramayana at the

outset as narrated to him by Narada, this section concludes with

the benefits that accrue to one who peruses this epic instead of

relegating this to the end as is customary in such treatises.

 

 

Copyrights: 2000 The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu & Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.