The Divine 'Raama-nama'

August 4, 2005

Hare Krishna,

The Divine ‘Raama-Nama’ .

Bhagavan Mahavishnu, the Supreme God of this universe, has taken several avataras (incarnations) to grace His devotees and to redeem this world from all sinful effects. His incarnation as ‘Rama’ the Divine child of Emperor Dasaratha, is a precious one and reciting the very name ‘Raama’ one’s mind gets purified leading to a life of happiness and contentment. ‘Raama-nama’

has great spiritual significance.

There are various spiritual facts about the sacred ‘Raama-nama’. It is a combination of the two divine mantras Narayana (ra) and Namasivaya (ma) the key syllabi in those mantras. So by clubbing the same we get ‘Raama-nama’ . The coordinal principle of spiritualism is ‘ Tat Thwam Asi ‘ . Here Tat is represented by Ra (Paramatman) and Asi (Jivatma) and the syllabi in between the two ‘a' connects the two as a link thus establishing the recital of the Raama-nama is in essence the union of ‘Jiwatma’ with

‘Paramatma’ . Therefore, the chanting of ‘Raama-nama’ fulfills the basic requirements of spirituality .

There is a story that the sage ‘Pretchas’ composed a text of (100) crores verses. As usual the denizens of the three worlds, heaven, earth and the under world fought among themselves to take possession of the same. The situation reached a flashing point and the Creator Lord Brahma had to intervene to act as an arbitrator. An agreement was made among the inhabitants of three worlds. As per that, each world will get a portion of the verses equally. Thus each world got 33 crores, 33 lakhs, 33 thousands, 333 verses. There remained one verse which contained 32 syllables. This too was divided 10 each leaving 2 syllables which could not be divided among the three equally. Those syllables are 'Ra' and 'Ma'. Then Lord Brahma ordained that, those two syllables should be respected by all the three worlds with due reverence and the same was accepted .Thus the ‘Raama-nama’ came into existence.

The Raama-nama has similarity with that of ‘OM’ the primordial sound energy and therefore this sacred ‘ nama’s ‘ repetition in the spirit of ‘saranagati ‘ (refuge ) un to the Bhagavan Rama , will purify the heart of Chanter as well as those hearing it , and accruing them with all benefits .

Undoubtedly, Raama-nama is the divine ‘Taraka mantra’ . This is a most celebrated nama-sankirtana in this age of all round catastrophe ,non belief, commitment of sins etc.

Saint Thyagaraja stands tall among the devotees of modern ‘Bharat’. He had great affection for the Raama-nama that it is said he recited it one crore of times and had the vision of Bhagavan Sri Rama. He did penance of divine music to bring the Bhagavan down to earth. He composed kritis (songs) and sang them repeatedly in various ragas inviting his ‘Personal God’ Sri Rama whom he took as a child, warrior, master, friend, and Para Brahmam to come down to earth. He pleased ‘Bhagavan Rama’ by his devotional music and got His vision. Thyagaraja by his ‘Bhakti-yoga’ merged with Bhagavan Sri Ramachandra who is absolute Para Brahman. Thyagaraja wrote as many as 700 songs euologising his loving Deity Rama. So every year during his ‘samadhy’ day a great music festival named Thyagaraja-aradhana is conducted at his birthplace Tiruvayar (Tamilnadu) . Almost all the carnatic musicians of all hues irrespective of

their experience in music flock together and sing the kritis of Thyagaraja who got the name of Thyagabrahmam. It starts with the famous (5) kirtanas and all musicians take part to create a blissful spiritual atmosphere and aradhana is done to the samadhy of this greatest devotee of Sri Rama. It is also believed that wherever Rama- nama is being recited there comes ‘Anjaneya’ hearing the beautiful name of his Lord, standing with folded hands and tears gushing from his eyes. It is a prven fact that many ardent devotees of Sri Rama Bhaktas have experienced the presence of Hanuman in ethereal form.

Such is the potency of Raama-nama which has the effect of a great mantra and the reciter will surely get peace of mind, prosperity, happiness and eventually as his bhakthi-yoga grows he may even be lucky to get the vision of Bhagavan Sri Rama, and will find Him as his protector always.

in the ‘bhala-sruthy’ for ‘Vishnu Sahasranama’, Lord Siva states “ Raama-nama is equal to that of Vishnu Sahasranama . ‘Rama’ is the primal energy. Recite the Raama-nama always as the same is like a boat which carries the reciter from ‘samsara’ shore to the eternity on the other side of the shore” .

Jai Sri Ram !!!

A humble servant.

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NB – The above is excerpt of an article by Mr.G.Raman.