Video 3

3. Ramayana: Dasaratha

[Music] [Applause] i salute the supreme lord hari known as rama the cause transcending relative causes whose mysterious power controls all beings in the worlds including brahma the devas and the asuras whose substance gives reality to all things just as the rope does to the snake appearing on it and whose feet alone before a spiritual aspirant as a boat for crossing the ocean of samsara the devotees friends we are reading ramayana but we are not going through all the stories as we always said we'll be remembering those great people that is characterized in the ramayana and we know that the whole thing started with a conversation between the balmiki and narada the in the in our first this is the third time we are reading the ramayana in our first episode we discussed that the narada came to balmiki and valmiki was by that time an accomplished person the balmiki he started his life very humbly we know that there are some there's a they say that he was a son of a rishi but afterwards he lost in the forest and he grew up under the foster father who was in profession a hunter so balmy his name was ratnakara the ratnakara also learned hunting but to maintain the big family he started looting people also so he became a decoy to a side deck and that he used to take out all the positions of the people this balmiki one day he was waiting because people were aware that there is a dangerous person in the jungle so they used to avoid that particular path so balmaki was not getting any income balmiki means that time ratnakara and ratnakara was waiting as was the wish of god the great narada was coming through that way the ratnagara went and wanted to take out all that he was possessing narada was only having a musical instrument and nothing else here's narada is a monk he was not having any gold any money any other costly things only a beena that he used to carry to play that and to sing the song of god taking the name of god then what happened this narada told can you please tell me why you are taking this bad and the filthy profession like looting the people killing the people torturing people why you are doing this by doing this you are incurring sin and you will suffer in your next life but he said no that is not going to happen because i am doing it to maintain my family and i am sharing whatever i am earning by doing this i am sharing it with my father my mother my wife and my children so obviously even if i am incurring the scene it is distributed among all the family members uh of my portion of sin will be very less than not as a toll no it cannot be whatever the bad work that you are doing in in cutting the scene it will be only yours nobody is going to take share of it and nobody can okay if you don't believe me you better go back to your parents ask them ask your wife are they ready to share your scene and then come back and do whatever you like to do with me then that ratnakara the ferocious person it will okay i will tie you with this tree and i will go and ask he went back home and he asked his father father is the question i am earning by looting people and naturally it is not a good work and i am incurring all scenes are you not going to share my scenes then the father told son i helped you to grow up and now it is your duty as a grown-up son to take care of the parents i don't know how you're earning i am not going to share your scenes the mother also replied the same way then the wife told when you married i promised that i will take care of your family i am looking after and i am taking care and whatever way a wife can do a mother can do i am doing so i am doing my dharma swadharma i don't know how you are maintaining your family i am not going to share the scene and he went to the children children told father now we are not earning so you are helping us to grow up when we grow up we will take care of you but at this moment we don't know how you are earning so obviously we cannot take any share this thing turn the whole mind he understood whatever the bad the people they don't understand and they think because of the maya because of the delusion they think that i should maintain my family my wife my children and give them lot of comfort and for that i will go on earning in whatever way and all sin will be distributed wrong thing it cannot be the spiritual life is alone journey it's a lone journey no one can help adi shankaracharya he is telling that suppose your father has taken a loan from someone and he will get somebody else to pay back that loan but the scene that you are committing or the good work that you are merit that you are earning that you cannot share with anyone the spirituality spiritual life is a completely lonely life you have to move on alone so that is the way then he came back he told sir now i have understood and so many bad things i have done now how can i purify myself now i have understood that the work that i did for that i have to go to hell and i will be tortured over there now how to purify my mind then as the guru always say the narada became the guru of the ratnakara and he said sit over here and go on repeating the name of sri rama so say sri rama the balmiki could at that time the ratna could not even pronounce the word rama and say rama he became maura rama the mora like that he was telling because he used to kill people so the maura the death or dead body he knew about that you could pronounce that but the pure name of god it you could not pronounce in the beginning and his guru the narada said no problem you go on repeating this whatever you can the way you can pronounce you pronounce and repeat it and and go on praying oh god whatever wrong thing i have done i'm sorry for that so he was going on repeating repeating repeating he never moved never even went out for eating or drinking he was going on repeating the name and he was a his mind was very strong so this is the important thing those who are doing some bad work they have a very strong mind disciplined mind to do this work very courageous mind and once they turn that mind for the good work immediately they can become good only it is all mind is not the body so that is the hindus never say the eternal damnation hindus always say just you think that i am going to change myself and you will be changed this is possible so he was going on thinking in that way and after a long long time narada came back and he found that there is a bulky there is a heap of ants that ants usually leave in the earth so they made that and inside from that is coming a sound rama rama rama rama so he broke that and here and took out that person and because he was there narada discovered him the ratnakara from the ant hill it it became valmiki bulky bulky is the and so bulky a hill of that ants it became balmiki so this is the first poet of the human society why but before him no one composed anything that it goes like that he was the first person who composed a man a person who's to kill the human being who is to loot who's to torture now one day after this penance it's called penance if i have done something wrong if i go on taking the name of god and repent for that my mind become purified and when the mind become purified means it is not going to any object of the world rupa russia gandha all these things the beauty the sound the smell the test when i'm controlling the mind from all those and give it constantly the thought of god's mind become purified so what is the purity thought of god so he was going on repeating the name of god that is called purity and this purity after becoming pure one day he was going to bed in the ganga and he saw that the one he were he was belonging to that particular cast the hunters he saw the hunter killed a bird and dad gave him a pain and he said to the hunter what have you done why you kill that bird how much the food you will get out of that so by that way when he expressed his grief it came out in a very political way it's called the poetry first poetry so baal miki became very famous the ratnakar became baal miki this story of ratnakar transforming into balmiki that show proves one thing anyone at any point of time it can transform and become good so that is why they say every saint had a future and every sinner no sorry every saint had a past every sinner has a future they can transform themselves the moment we take the decision now just remembering that once i went to bombay and i went to a another jail they asked me to give a talk before the uh all those people they were there but they were not ordinary thieves or are they all decoys they were underground people they are the chota sakhil and all those very terrible people so they took me over there to give a spiritual talk before them i was thinking what can i say before them and so many people so many of them mainly young people so they were sitting over there then i started like this friends why you today sitting on the floor and all around the polish people standing guarding you and when they are addressing you they are addressing you you know in hindi they address very roughly when they are talking with this type of people the thieves and all they say then they were touching them with their the feet and they were asking hey get up and go over there very humiliating i told look at me i am a human being and they are giving me so much respect to me they have garlanded me they have given a very good seat and they are respecting me and they are not giving any respect to you people rather they are insulting you almost every moment why because by the grace of god i took a good path and unfortunately you made a mistake in your life that much and nothing else your the physical strength your intellectual strength and your knowledge about other people are much more than me and and though they were so good looking people i was wondering i was thinking the bad people means they'll be very rough but it's not like that very good looking and young boy like hardly 20 22 he was also sitting over there very fair complex and very good looking then i was asking him what what has happened to you why you were in this group then he showed his like this and he was telling because of my bad karma so these people i told see whenever you want you can become good just decide from now this moment i am going to become good just resolve now then another year is coming 2020 will be over within a month and then a new year will start and what the people they do they enjoy and celebrate their first january but that is the time we are supposed to take the account of our work what have i done in my past and what i am going to do in my future so that way one should think and resolve from today i am going to be good and how i am going to be good just by thinking good that's all and nothing else so that ratnakar who was a decoy who used to kill people he decided to become good and he became balmiki and he became so famous this balmiki and people started worshipping him and so many they came they accepted him as their guru the balmiki was respected and then narada came then the conversation that we have already discussed in our first class that the narada came and valmiki told why i am not satisfied and can you please tell me is there anyone a perfect person in this world and he was telling who can be the perfect person then the narada gave him the life of sri ramachandra you may remember and it is there in the youtube also so you can fast and the second we discussed about that this is the life of balmiki which teaches us that even if we even if we have done something wrong if we decide we can become good it's not like eternal damnation the conception some of the philosophies they are having no it is nothing like that any moment i can turn towards the god and i can become good now friends there are the great characteristics like the dasharatha the dasha rata belongs to the ikshaku family this ikshaku family they are the family of the sun you know that there are two great families that one belongs to sun another two moon so surya wangsha and chandra bamsha when you are reading some of the old stories of the indian the the king's lives you will find they will always say we belong to the sun another will be moon surya are chandra bamsha these were the two great the families and this dasaratha belonged to ikshaku family and he was the son of ajah and they were related to the sun dynasty and they their the kingdom was koshala kaushala was very big in the south it was drabila then the sindhu sobida surastra dakshinapata then the bengal banger then the anga means asham then magadha that is bihar then matsa and kashi all these whole almost the whole undivided india they were ruling so it was the huge huge kingdom and he their capital was ayodhya ayodha it was a very big by the [Music] we come to know this is the dasharatha he was so courageous he was so strong he was so good person and people were so happy all the people those who used to leave under him in that kingdom they was all happy so why i am telling because a person was having so much of good wonderful capacity so he also not only a good warrior and a good king a ruler but also he realized the brahman he achieved that great knowledge so he was rajarshi raja plaza rishi that dasharatha he became so much attest to the sons when he was having four sons that is rama lakshmana bharata and satra these are the four sons and he became very much attached to ramachandra particularly but he has a weakness to his third wife and sorry second wife so that made him suffer any way if we have any weakness to these worldly things we are going to suffer so that that always they say that we suffer because of these about their kingdom it is said the best people of that time they wanted to leave into that kingdom into that koshala and particularly the ayodhya and it is said siddhanam db in the ramayana balmiki ramayana it says siddhyanam taposa adigatam dibi it that even the realized soul siddha siddha means realized soul those who have already realized the god even those they wanted to reside over there in that country why because it's a very good country and if the king is good king is just the people the good people like to live under him because the protection that will be there peace will be there so then the good people mainly their thinkers so they can think properly they can write down the books or they can meditate they can do some good work if the social and the political condition is not good how people can survive the dasharata was named as the rajashi he was a very good person this rasharatha was having the very honest eight very intelligent ministers any king should have a very good ministers the only king alone cannot do the ministers are supposed to help the dasharatu was having a group of eight very good ministers and of them the best was sumantha the sumantha was almost his friend and not only that they used to be always together this sumantha though he was a lowborn so this is the beauty of the hinduism though sometimes nowadays they are talking about the caste system and criticizing all the time all people the only criticism about the hinduism is casting god's system but that is a very good system but when you are utilizing it wrongly even the good thing also become bad that those who were intelligent they were called brahmana though who were courageous they were the shatrias those who were having the good knowledge of economy they became the boshes and the other became the sudra because they could work well the handyman they were very helpful in the society that these only four systems were there and this suta putra the suta putra means from the lower caste he chose that sumantha as is the prime minister the prime minister became from that caste why he was very intelligent and at the same time his character was very good it is not the king mainly the ministers they rule the country and that brings good name to the king or the bad name for the king so one should be very very careful the in choosing the ministers that dasharatu was having these eight ministers and he was having three wives they were also in their characteristics the wonderful character the one is kaushallah and kaikei and sumitra we will come to that dasharatha he as if when he used to drive the chariot as if he is driving the team chariots dasha dasha means stain rather means chariot in those days that was a great skill so when he is driving the chariot he was so skilled to control the horses as a people used to think that the teen ruthers chariots are moving coming and he'll be manipulating that so his name became dasha 10 rather the chariots this is the about the dasharatha then afterwards he was having his guru that you bashishta this about the vashishta we will come to know afterwards this dasharota the lord vishnu he came advented as his son and lord vishnu came in four forms rama lakshmana bharata and satrukna though immediately after ramachandra came the bharata maybe if only a few months or a few weeks there are age differences but after the rama immediately we say lakshmana why because the lakshmana and rama they were very close to each other and bharata and satra they were close four brothers in that way the koshal son was rama these four brothers they were there now if we will see how this king who was so a good person slowly slowly his mind got attached to the second wife why because that wife came from the almost from the punjab in the punjab in those days and she was very courageous and she was very good warrior in one war when dasharatha was almost captured by his enemies then these wife she went along with the sharatha and she was a very good archer and she started shooting the arrows and saved the life of dasharatha and brought him back to safety it proves to another thing that in those days even the girls were also highly trained in military arts and military training and they were good educa education also that was good for them good good in them they were highly educated and also courageous and they knew all these things this is one part secondly as a good person the sharatha promised and what he promised whatever you ask from me i will give you that was the promise whether this the wife told at this moment i don't need anything rather when i will think i will ask so that is the background story the four sons were born the fast son was the rama now there is another story before this birth of rama and others so he was having a prayer meeting and then that prayer and the yagya was going on in that yagya the god brought some porridges paisam for the wife because that was the putra yagya the that they were praying they were performing the yanya only to pray to god give me a son instead of one they gave that paisam and said you better distribute this among your wives so dasaratha gave half to kaushallah and the balance have he distributed to the other two wives but the kriki was not very respectful as they say was not very much respectful in taking that kaushallah was very respectful she took the whole thing and then ate that but the kosher la koiki took it but when she was eating a portion of it that fell from her hand and there was a bird that said the crow it was nearby the crow swept over there and took that and was flying then indra noticed it and he said he doesn't know crow doesn't know what it is it should not grow should not eat it the brother he asks the bayou the bayou devotee the ear you go catch that bird and take that porridge from it and the bayou took it then asked the indra who i am going to give it he said you better go and see on a hill one lady alone sitting and praying she is also praying for a son give that portion to her and that was anjaneya this anjaniyah the mother of hanumanji that portion he took to that lady anjaniya gave it to her she also took and hanuman was born that's why you will find in the ramayana they accept hanuman also in the same family of ramachandra sita bharata lakshmana they say in that way the same way that it is the rama and also lakshmana bharata sita sita the power of rama hanuman how can hanuman come in the same family because of this hanuman and because the bayou took that parish to their mother they say bayou putra in that sense so this is the the whole story of the ramayana and these four they were growing up and afterwards this ramachandra that was the system in those days that they used to send their children to their teachers all the four brothers from the six years to sixteen years you are supposed to be with the guru griha in the guru griha and learning so their four brothers went into the gurus they learned and ramachandra and other three brothers came back and this we find in the yoga that after coming back the 16 year old ramachandra he was not the the same old rama as the people they saw him it completely changed why because a great transformation came in the life of rama after studying the scripture and what the scripture is teaching that there is only one brahman the consciousness and nothing else and all that you see that the world everything is changing and those that is changing are going to be destroyed one day why you should put your mind and soul to acquire this thing don't put that because everything is changing i purchased a plot of land i constructed the house and then one day i found that i am dead and then it remains nothing for me so nothing remain nothing remain we have to be very careful about that but people they forget they always think i am going to survive whatever is happening all around but i am going to survive and they always think that i will make my houses in the stone so it will be remaining there and nothing is going to be lost and if you go and see the ruins of the castles all over europe and in india all the kings they took out the money from the poor people and they built huge huge castles and where are those kings now and what are these castles all ruins no one lives over there now they are developing only for the 2d spot so how to earn little money by showing the tourist over there so by seeing that one should understand but whatever we are earning that we should use only for the best what is that best for me whatever i want that and then distribute it for the development of the society because after that nothing after me nothing is going to remain so this is the teaching of the spirituality everything is temporary including my body and mind because it is changing ramachandra took it very seriously and he started withdrawing his mind but his father was planning that he will become the prince and then afterwards he will become the king the father wanted to retire and because he is the senior son rama's mind completely withdrawn and when the father asked him rama what has happened to you i am planning to make you the prince of this country and all peoples they love you so much then he say tell me father everything is changing even if i become a king i am also going to die someday why should i become a king then why not i should utilize my mind concentrate my mind and develop this passion and love for god so that was the debate and afterwards the great personalities they they came and they taught the ramachandra that is the story we will discuss afterwards and for today the dasharata he though he was a very good king but only one weakness destroyed the whole thing when he was planning to make the the rama the preens of that country then this lady the second wife came she was also a very good lady but you know sometimes some of the people working around you they always come and give you different type of advices there was another that elderly lady like that and she came all the way from the qui case the parental house and she used to look after quickly and she told koike this is the opportunity now the king promised that he will give you whatever you want and still that is waiting this is the time that you should go and tell the dasharata that you promised now keep the promise and what was that prayer my son bharata should be the king that is the first demand second demand you must send rama to in banishment for at least 14 years so that was the two prayer this lady thought and why not all the queens they think that my son should be the next king so he went to dasharatha and took made that reminded him of his promise rashford told whatever you want i will give but don't please ask this the banistery ramachandra maybe i can give the kingdom to your son bharata but don't ask me to banish the ramachandra without rama i cannot survive because the king was a religious person he had the development and he was a brahmagyani too and he knew the rama is not the ordinary person he was the visnu himself the lord vishnu so if the rama is very close to me i can get the liberation that was the idea so this is the way he was praying to the second wife but the wife was not leaving no you have to pro keep your promise now came ramachandra he was not knowing anything of it he came back and his brother bharata was also not aware of it bharata went to his maternal uncle's place that was at the very far away in the western part of india so bharatha was also not knowing the mother is planned planning like that but his mother the second wife kriki and she became so ruthless she wanted to pressurize on the the king the sharatha and the old man could not resist it then he started crying they stopped taking food and fainted again and again then the ramachandra came you know what the father said this is the history of the hindus the father said son you declare yourself as king and then you better arrest me as a king you can do that you just arrest arrest me and become the king and all the subjects they love you so much ministers are also supporting you there will be no problem for you and what ramachandra said raghu kula riti father there's a tradition of the rogue cooler because their first person of that family was raghu that from the ragu when this is coming down that even if you die you should not break your promise once you have taken the oath once you have taken the promise that is your dharma the keeping that promise is your dharma is your religion sometimes the people they ask what is religion religion is nothing but keeping the promises whatever we do we always take an oath when we go and become a doctor or an engineer or a professional or an administrator or the ruler and the ministers the chief prime minister we always take the oath everyone before taking a responsibility including those who are becoming the householder at the time of the marriage they also take the oath and the christians marriages i have heart they are taking the promises and in hindus also they are there and to become a monk we also take the oath that i am not going to heart anyone i will love each and every one i will not have anything as my position everything for god and that type of oath and if i am forgetting that oath if i am not keeping my words then i am not a monk if someone is not keeping that promise he is not a householder he is not a minister so keeping the promise is the dharma so sri ramajandra taught it that was the first time when the human society is slowly developing the sum of the great souls were there rishis were there the bashist muni was there but ordinary people they were not that way organized the contribution of sri ramachandra is to organize them give them the teaching how they should survive how they should live so this is the way and the ramachandra came and told his father the father once you have given the promise you must keep it and don't be worried about me i'll be so happy i never wanted this kingdom what is this kingdom only taking some decision who will stay here who will go out and who is doing this and with that in a family the head of the family what he does he takes the decision who will stay in this room who will stay in that room what should we we will purchase with whom we are going to develop the relationship all the decisions the father takes are the man of the family so that that much the same way is a very extensive way they will be doing it and that is the kingdom what the king does very ordinary simple thing as because it is related with many people so it is important otherwise it is nothing ramachandra was telling i'll be very happy if i am not getting this responsibility of a king and if i go into the forest i can meet the best people of the society the rishis they used to live in the jungle they had their schools in their jungle away from all the hustles and bustles so they used to live over there i will go i'll sit with them i will discuss with them and i will learn a lot many things from them so love for knowledge i like to know i like to know i like to know love for knowledge that is the wonderful thing so sri ramachandra convinced his father but the father's mind broke and one day he died so that story we will start but before that we will have this is the story of the ramachandra we will follow the story step by step following the ramachandra and we will go to next class we will discuss about the characteristics of the mothers the great mothers the kaushal karike and sumitra today thank you thank you for organizing this wonderful meeting and and this your the vidanta society to need that i know so many people now nowadays they're listening to this ramayana and you people i have noticed are very much dedicated to the sri ramachandra you also love the ramayana the one thing you must remember the spiritual life is nothing but the original life of yourself i am not this body i am not this mind i was born over here i was born over there i belong to this family this is my father this is my mother all external thing but in reality who am i i'm a soul and that is traveling and traveling life after life the i should be aware about my own soul and which is nothing but the god but it is the reflection of the atman that is within me and that i call jivatma the soul that is within me when the soul will not be there the life will not be there this dead body will be burned nobody is going to preserve this dead body it will be burned or buried then why should he be so much attached to this body rather utilize this body to realize the wonderful knowledge that is called spirituality that i am not this body i am not this mind but i am the soul how to develop that through two ways one is path of knowledge another path of devotion we will go through the path of devotion and the devotion is to understand the characteristics of the great souls who lived and then following their paths so we will follow the path of sri ramachandra and develop our spiritual life and what we will gain in spiritual life joy and happiness and that joy and happiness for which everything we are doing only for joy and happiness the thanksgiving day people are nowadays everything is in particular in america i don't know in trinidad but here no one can invite the friends and the families they're all separated but everyone wishing each other and preparing some special dishes enjoying the food like this they're doing what is our enjoyment only food and some the friends and they're talking their company and sometimes some movies going to visit some places that much enjoyment and you know i'm sitting in meditation you can have great enjoyment much more joy you cannot imagine so if you are sitting in meditation and slowing slowly forgetting that is called spirituality because when i know myself that gives the joy and slowly your mind will be completely free from all these narrow things hating others criticizing others and thinking about others everything will be free from that as a great joy you will have so i pray to that great ramachandra the god that incarnate vishnu that incarnated in that form to bless us all so that we can realize in this very life our true nature and that is our real self thank you very much so as we always do so let us chant this rama nama a little and then we close by saying three times [Music]