Sriramayana-5

[Guest guest]

Srimathe ramanujaya namaha

Om Asmath Gurubhyo Namaha

 

Continuing on the authenticity of Valmiki's Ramayana,our Purvacharyas consider

only selected texts as Pramanas,(most truthful and authentic) and along with

Vedas and Puranas, the 2 ithihasas that are considered Pramanas are SriRamayana

and Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Whenever they teach us important things they take

contexts only from Pramanas which makes it more important and valuable.Now let

us move on to SriRamayana.

 

In the third sarga, sage Valmiki sat in meditation upon darbhasana after

touching the water for purification (while doing sacred things we must keep

ourselves pure physically, mentally and spiritually). Here sage Valmiki did all

these three things to start Sriramayana. (Udakasparsa) 1)Touching the water

denotes physical purification, 2) sitting in a stable posture on darbhasana will

give the mental concentration to meditate and give spiritual purification. In

our daily aradhana also we shouldn't yawn,lean on the wall, get distracted etc.

But being humanbeings we are, we maynot be ablt to control sometimes.That's why

our elders have upaya for quite a few apacharas. eg: We have to cover our mouth

and nose while yawing etc. and immediately touch the water for purification.

Coming to our story, Yogi He was,sitting on His dharpasana while meditating

Valmiki saw the whole story in his mind with the grace of Brahma and He narrated

Sriramayana. In this sarga, the synopsis of whole Valimiki Ramayana is given. He

narrated Sriramayana in a beautiful manner, just like He is giving the running

commentary of a live telecost. He narrated even the feelings,

Cheshtas(reactions), and movements of the people, the conversations between them

and he finished the whole story except Uththara kanda.

 

The 4th sarga starts, with sage Valmiki thinking, who would be qualified to

propagate Sriramayana to the rest of the world. Meanwhile Lava and Kusa came to

pay their respects to Valimiki. They were living near His Ashram, with their

mother Sita at that time. They had already learned all the Vedas and to teach

them the meaning of Vedas (vedartha), Valmiki maharshi decided to teach them

SriRamayana. Kusalava learned Ramayana from their Guru Sage Valmiki and gave

their first performance (arangetram) in the ashrama itself to the other

Rushimandali. They sung Sriramayana sweetly and beautifully and the performance

was very enchanting. Actually Sriramayana itself is nectar to the ears either

by singing, chanting or reciting, since it was composed by mixing all the

navarasas like sringara, karunya, hasya, veera etc.Valmiki gave a message to

mankind on how to deal with the thrigunas (sathvaic, rajas, and thamo) and

acquire four purusharthas (dharma, artha,kama, moksha). Every Rishi felt elated,

and elevated by hearing Ramakatha and by the children's performance. They wanted

to bless the children and offer them something in return for their unlimited joy

of hearing Ramacharithra for the first time. Being Sages who doesn't have any

earthly possessions, they offered the Kamandalas, pavithrams,dharbas and new

clothes to Kusalava.

 

Eventually Kusalava went to Ayodhya, to propagate Sriramayana and upon the

invitation of the ruling King SriRama they went to the palace to perform in

Rajasabha(court).In the beginning of the performance Srirama was seated in his

simhasana (throne) where everybody can watch Him, and as the story and the

singing continued He saw how much people were enjoying the sweet voice of the

children. As a king if SriRama stood up, the rest of the crowd will also get up.

To avoid the situation He sneaked out of His Simhasana and sat amongst His

people, and thoroughly enjoyed Himself by clapping His hands, putting thalam on

His thighs, and sometimes even on His neighbours' thighs. None were the wiser

that the King was missing or that He was amongst them. This is the greatness of

SriRama's story that enthralls people, and makes them forget themselves and all

the procedures and protocols.

 

Let us continue to visit the King's court in the next sarge also.

 

Jai Srimannarayana!

JET Prajna Teachers