Adhyathma Ramayana-Balakanda

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Once upon a time Lord Siva was

seated on the mount Kailas and the Divine mother Parvati Devi started speaking

to him out of mercy to eradicate the sins of the people since all are her

children.

 

She said that she wanted to know

about the ancient truth about the Supreme Being and the means of crossing the

ocean of samsara. How can the devotion and detachment be practised , which will

bring release from bondage and will provide eternal joy.

 

She further said that devotion is

mentioned as the easiest path to salvation and that Sreerama is the Supreme

Being and by meditating on Him day and night one will attain the imperishable

state of mukthi. But Rama was supposed to be under the influence of his own

maya and had to acquire the knowledge of Athman only through the instruction of

others such as Vasishta. Moreover if he was the Supreme Self why did he lament

over the loss of Seetha like an ordianary man?

 

Siva was very pleased that she

asked about the Supreme knowledge, which he said that no one had ever asked him

about. He said that he was very happy that Parvati wanted to know about it and

she was endowed with bhakthi and Sraddha. Hence he said that he would tell her

about it in detail.

 

Then Siva started explaining the

real truth behind the Ramavathara.

 

Sreerama is the aadhipurusha, the

first cause of the universe. He is anandasvaroopi, personification of eternal

bliss. He transcends the maya and incomparable. He is the one who has created

the whole universe through His maya and pervaded it in and out like the akasa

and also the inner self of all beings. Those who are ignorant do not know this

and they superimpose their ignorance of Rama and consider Him as an ordinary

mortal. Hence they perpetually go through the cycle of transmigration.

 

As there could be no darkness in

the Sun the ignorance can never enter Rama who is the light of lights. He is in

every heart but the foolish never know Him as the one who is unaware of the

necklace on his neck.

 

The meaning of the above analogy is as follows:

One who wears his necklace around

his neck but is not aware of it searches for it everywhere. This can be more

easily understood in the modern days by citing the example of the one who wears

his spectacles on his head and searches all over ! but the moment some one

points out it to him, he realizes that he was having it on him all the time.

This function of pointing out is done by the sastras and by the guru who

imparts the knowledge of the Self.

 

Hence Siva said that Rama was

never deluded and was under the influence of His own maya as it is generally

believed. And Siva started to relate the conversation that transpired among

Rama, Seetha and Hanuman, which is known as the Sreermahrdhayam, which when is

supposed to be auspicious and chanting it three times in front of Hanuman one

finds that all his wishes come true. The text and the meaning of the passage we

shall see next.