Video 5

Ramayana 05 : Sri Rama On His Way To The Forest

ramachandra sri rama chandra he was the prince of ayuda and his father dasharatha was a great powerful king but in every place you know that there is something that happened though the rama was none other than the vishnu himself so he had to follow the tradition and the system and to teach the ordinary people like us that even as a prince he was suffering because of the promise why the promise has to be kept why because that is dharma sometimes we we are confused to what is religion which what is righteousness and here from the ramayana it is very clear we understand that keeping the promises keeping the vows keeping the words is the dharma and it needs a very strong mind to keep the promises and in the story of sri rama chandra we find that the one of the mothers of the rama because his father was having three queens and the youngest queen kaikei she saved the sharatha in one of his uh the in in the war when he was fighting in favor of the the devas tibus means the good people somehow he was surrounded by his enemies and it is his wife the krikii and she was a very good archer she saved the king and for that the king promised that he will give the two boons kiki obviously say that it is no problem i can take the boon afterwards and i am so happy with all that when as you know the story that the sharatha decided to make the rama the the crown prince the koike's maids one of the maid particularly and she went on telling that this is the time you should ask the sharatha to keep his promise and what are the things that he he harsan bharata should be the king and the rama should go to banish for 14 years in the jungle etc so that was the the scenario and almost all the writers they are writing how the people are reacting but what we should learn from that ramachandra in that condition he was unperturbed just a day before he was sure that he is going to the crown prince and he was so happy and his newly married wife shita was also happy all people who are happy to forget that he's a god or anything just think about a family the princely family is a rich family and in our family this type of things are coming then what we should do how we should behave the father himself is telling rama i don't like to keep up the promise and the mother is telling rama as the eldest son it is your responsibility to look look after me and you should not go you should be here and there is no power under the sun that can defeat you so no one will be able to take away the the kingdom from you all these temptations were there prayers were there request was there but even then rama was completely dedicated to the dharma so when about the bhagavad-gita swami vivekananda is writing they have come to establish the dharma and what is that dharma righteousness and what is the righteousness keeping the promises and the life of sudama krishna also we find he kept all the promises that his mother did suramar krishna's mother she also promised sirama krishna kept that those words and whatever he said each and every word he the promise that he made he kept so this is the dharma that we learn from ramayana and then rama he is going out when the rama is going out lakshmana is also following like a shadow lakshmana though he was also born in that same family of the same father but his behavior was completely different as you always see that he is a very strong and very powerful prince and he wanted to kill this person that person but ramayana constantly going on pacifying his brother telling that being a shattriya being a powerful person you should not harm the ladies or the women rather you should protect them so that is called the dharma that is called the tradition the rama is going on teaching pacifying and the lakshmana though he was the brother he's not transgressing the order of the rama and we follow the shita the shita she could stay back she knew in the jungle it will be very difficult and she was a princess she became a queen but still then shita was telling my dharma as a wife to follow the husband the the last time and i say many times that when we the people they marry they take the oath the oath the husband is taking the word that i will protect my wife and wife is taking the oath that i will follow my husband in whatever condition he is i am always with him so this is called dharma friends we are studying ramayana not for the story but to learn the spirituality to learn the dharma to learn the righteousness so this is the constantly in every page we will find that the different characters and we will discuss this character afterwards individually today i will try to follow the path of ramachandra maybe it will take one more class to complete the path of ramachandra slowly rama coming out and when he is coming out all people are following fell unconscious rama's mother wanted to come along with rama but the rama said as a wife it is your duty to look after the father he is asking his mother to go back to look after the father and lakshmana's mother though she is not getting much importance by the composer of the ramayana but her role is also very important when the lakshmana decided to go our mother never said no our dedication we should not miss because her mother knew that ramachandra is not ordinary person ramachandra was not having any ego or the desire he must be god and serving god should be our motto the godly person ramachandra lakshmana right from his childhood he was very much attached to ramachandra and he decided to go and his mother sumitra and she told you must go but son you should consider your elder brother as your father you should respect him as your father and the wife of your elder brother the shita is your mother and you should serve them as your father and mother wherever you stay you should consider that you are living in the palace of ayodhya so you should not say oh why i have followed drama and so much of challenges so much a problem in the forest no food and you don't know what is going to happen any moment anything can happen so naturally our mothers teaching the lakshmana this is unique way and this is called mother the mother always trying to grab though no no no why should you go you are my son that is ramachandra is other lady son let them suffer we should not involve in it never so this is called dharma this is called tyaga these are the points that we should notice in ramayana and we should learn how the sacrifice one day we are going to die someday we must die because whenever we are born we are destined to die today or tomorrow but the human birth human life if we are not following the righteousness if we are not following the correct path then human life is a complete wastage that i have seen here the squiggles because it is throwing too much but for the food they are coming out some somehow jumping coming to our door and uh one of our brahmacari keeping some nuts taking the nuts and is so cold outside the poor teacher can't stay there jumping back and then eating something somehow the leaving is that life is the human life we are getting food we are getting a shelter we getting clothings a little bit of social other relations and then we are happy we die no there is something higher than this life the human life is very good because it is one of the best life if we compare with other creatures the birds the animals and all human life is wonderful and then when the human life we think though if we are rich if we are comfortable it's good okay but after that what so there comes the religion the religion gives us the another dimension we move to another dimension and there it teaches love and unselfishness if we remember these two words the love that is already there within us but that love when embraces each and every one and we feel for others pray for others they know it for sure that you are proceeding towards the god realization god is nothing but the embodiment of love and unselfishness here we find the lakshmana's mother though not getting much importance in the ramayana but she is a very pious lady and she is sacrificing our own son to serve the living god which is ramachandra so that means we can understand she had the spiritual development so she could understand the rama is not ordinary now this two brother and the shita of course she was keeping her promises and was following her husband ramachandra she could stay back with all the jewelries and comforts in the palace but she told no wherever my husband will go i should follow and whatever he will do i should support so that is the ardhangini and they call it that husband and the wife they are half-half because the at the time of creation lord vishnu made his own person half male half email female so these two so that is called the husband and the wife father and the mother and the creation and the all this thing is nothing but this too so here he she is going so we learn from her that when i am in that situation in that condition whatever may be i should keep up my promise and it needs tremendous mental and strength and courage and this courage what type of courage not that i can face the the wild beast and all that not that type of courage the courage to keep the promise now these three they came out and slowly they were going and they were of course the king provided the best horses for them to go and that was the king's his own chariot was given to them very comfortable so that they can go king himself wanted to go but rama persuaded now you should not come so there the king's friend and also his advisor he was the chadiate he was drawing the and the horses that was drawn slowly slowly they were going and thousands of the people the subjects they were following sri ramachandra why they loved sri ramachandra why because rama was god when we love it thousands of people are accepting a person loving him for no selfish reason just for love's sake bhagavan si ramakrishna said know it for sure that the god's power has manifested within that person here we can find that sri rama chandra his attraction he's he's no more king not a prince he's not going to give anything rather he is going to suffer for 14 years even then instead of waiting for his brother or that our bharata or bharata's mother nothing all people the brahmana the shatrias and all sorts of people walks of life people they were all following sri ramachandra the rama naturally could not go fast so he was slowly slowly they were going and afterwards after a day or two they reached the bank of tamasa tamasa is a small river the tamasa river and he was addressing the lakshmana he told see now these people they are tired for a few days they are following walking and they are not resting and this is not good if they don't go back as they see here also the ramachandra sometimes some people the very recent history is proving that sometimes the leaders they think all people should die for me all people should break all these and that for me and they're so happy but here the ramachandra the leader was not happy the subjects the people they were following him he told this is nothing king is there kingdom is there society is there you should go back and do your duties and i will come back rama loved them rama liked them but rama was not wanted that because of him the whole kingdom should be in turmoil so this is called the divine ruler rama knew everything but still the rama is going the small small the picture that we find from the ramayana and they went on the bank of the tamasa camped over there under the big tree they lied down that was the first time that all the two prince and princess they were lying on the the grasses and under the tree they slept and on that condition all people they were tired they were also sleeping rama got up very early morning when all they were sleeping in different places then he called the lakshmana lakshmana was very close the lakshmana get up and now we should move from here as quickly as possible before these people they get up from the sleep otherwise they will again they will follow me and my apologies this will be very difficult this will be very difficult if we are not uh under going right now so this is the way the citizens uh for some distance followed the track because they got up and they were cursing ah curse the sleeve they were telling why i slept now the rama lakshmana shita they already left and the sumantra he was driving so he also left there was nothing only the marks of the wheels of that cart so some people they followed through some ext distance then they didn't find anything they had to come back all people went back rama was going and here the description we find that he entered into a region which is and he found but both side of the road plowed fields flower gardens and villages on both sides of the road friends so why this description then the ramayana that we can understand that india was very rich prosperous country and there was no poverty anywhere so this is the reason when you know that i will also send you i think you have already got that we are going to start the hinduism the the class for 10 months course in five different every two month the one course you will study you can become a student and can learn hinduism influence of the economy on religion that is also one of the chapter and in india the people they always is to think about the complete freedom from the bondages they never thought about the the heaven but the many other religions they are only stopping up to heaven why if you go back to their the beginning the condition of that place they were so tortured by so many other oppressions were there and they were so poor they used to think only about the food and the comfort so their religious goal was only heaven and what is heaven that they will go get good food and the good place to live etc etc but hinduism takes you up to that then says this is not the end of our journey we have to go back to the source from where everything has come and that is the brahman that is the ultimate when the ramachandra is passing he sees the very well developed villages and all cultivated land and flower garden he was going on then after crossing the cigarette stream veda vedas shruti vedastruti rama proceeded towards the south in the rama came out when he was very young and he traveled the very good all the these areas with his guru vishwamitra so he knew where he was going so he was directing and he was going towards after crossing this river the koshala the last limit of the koshala and then he he was crossing this river rama proceeded towards the south after some distance he crossed the gomothy flowing into the ocean so we find that one after another the river they are crossing and then he crossed over the resounding of the crackling nodes of the swans and the ducks here rama pointed to shita the region which manu made over to king ikshaku ikshaku is the beginning of the rama's clan rama's family iksaku the clan so he noted that particular place manu means the first creator and he created the iksaku the first of this clan and from the ikshaku bamsha is that says so rama showed from here only it began so they were very happy rama then turned towards the ayuda and said with the folded hands ah my beloved city governed by the rogues i bow down to thee and to all the deities that protect thee and leave in thee i shall greet you again and also my parents returning from the forest after being observed the depth of the vowel the ramachandra he was now going beyond the border of their own kingdom so he is saluting his own kingdom rama raising his hand addressing the people said you have shown sufficient regard and love for me who are these people people of that region the people who were following him from ayodhya they went back but the rama was so popular and all people knew and this is very interesting in india we think that india was not well connected but look at it wherever he went people knew that he is ramachandra the prince of ayuda and he has been banished from his kingdom though he was righteous and very nice person they still because of this kriki and all that so the all sympathy for the rama and all the knew about it not only that much afterwards the rama was in the beginning of the civilization we can say and then much afterwards when the krishna was there the krsna's brother son they were at that time in the gujarat he came to know that there is a beautiful princess in asham how he came to know about so this that means there was a well connection was there and naturally in those days the shattriya prince he went all the way from gujarat to asham to marihar and when the her father said we don't know you who is your father your father should come and naturally he wanted to abduct the princess and he was arrested the krishna balarama and all others right from gujarat they went all the way to the northeast to assam that means they used to know each other all the days to keep information and there were people used to go to the different places language which language they used to talk even today if you go to different parts of india it is so difficult to talk from the eastern part if you go to the southern part of india you won't be able to converse either in their own language so you have to take the help of english or to some extent hindi the same is in different parts but still in those days that was sanskrit the sanskrit was the lingua franca in those days they used to talk the people is to talk about we in the sanskrit language we are mentioning these then afterwards we will come to know when the ramachandra will go to sri lanka and that invasion sri ramachandra going to the forest and all these things then shita was abducted rama invaded the sri lanka and once again all the story the european uh the scholars they like to mention in this way that this is the invasions of the aryans the advanced race among the completely savage races so aryans and non-aryans these are the two words they wanted to use swami vivekananda protested and he said adians are nothing but a culture it is not the race that this is the proof sri ramachandra traveling and he is conversing with the people even whom we are calling that they are nothing but the rakshasas but in which language rama is to talk to them we will see that rama is meeting the mohave and talking that they had a long conversation so that means there was a common language which is sanskrit and all educated people could talk to each other as we are now using the english and wherever we are going we are using this english to talk with others the ramachandra is going and as a great son of the country he is bowing down and praying to god and saying that you have shown the sufficient regard and love for me you must not suffer any more now go back and allow me to proceed to my destination ramachandra is asking he his followers even in that place he followed by people that upon the people written after saluting ramachandra they again and again stopped on their way to have a look of rama but their eyes were not gratified on seeing rama again and again the love for the sri rama sri rama at last rama vanished out of their sight like the evening sun and left behind the kingdom of kaushala inhabited by generous people where the vedas are continually chanted which abounds in tanks and mango groves and is rich in wealth cattle and grains and is crowded with hamlets and worthy of monarch's care the kings is to look after those people so they were so this is the picture of the different parts of india wherever ramachandra is going we can see that the prosperity people were so happy they were healthy they were wealthy so that was the picture of the india the ancient india the india of sri ramachandra's time and the kings were also very just king they were very good at the kings they used to maintain all of them ramadin reached prosperous sri sri garbha pura rama is again an another province beautiful with gardens there he found the sacred ganga flowing with the deep murmuring sound there the the crystal water of the ganga as cool and transplant like the james and the beautiful hermitage stood on its bank the rishi is giving a beautiful picture many of the people nowadays also they go try to follow this path everything everything's changed of course but sri ramachandra he went to the jungle in the forest but in the beginning few days he was in the company of very good people and wherever whichever part of the country he was visiting it was all wildy and some places resolved mango grove some places cultivated land some places the animals so the wealth was always there people were very rich and very happy ramachandra found so many hermitages hermitage means the rishis used to live over there who are these rishis a section of the society who dedicated themselves for the research it's not a completely different person from the society not like that nowadays all over the world in the advanced countries they have the research scholars and in the universities they have the laboratories and the colleges and all other there they go there is do the research this type of people are not disturbed by any other problems of the society why that completely concentrated to develop now we know the last one here all over the world all the researchers they were trying to find out some solution of the kawaii 19. now they have found the kovit 19 the solution and slowly slowly all over the world that is spreaded and different companies are working the governments are working and they were giving that to protect the people who found out the solution these researchers and same way in ancient india there were people who were completely given freedom to do the research what type of research how to grow more the horses the cows the cattles and also a different type of fruits different type of agriculture research and also a group of people completely dedicated to know the truth about the creation and the creator these people are known as the rishis and all these knowledges are recorded in the veda not not that in the veda we find only discussions about god and heaven and the spiritual life the whole social life is recorded over there and they were constantly developing and developing this is the beauty of the sanatana dharma of the hindu dharma that we know now that was known as the sanatana dharma the eternal religion what is that to make a human a divine god so slowly slowly transforming the mind changing the mind for better and better so rama ramayana is our history but at the same time is a sacred book holy book because from here from these characters from this incidents we go on learning different things about the transformation of the human life into divine life we find over here the rama has come back to the ganges and he noticed that there are good people rich people but at the same time hermitages why on the bank of the ganges because water was very good so these two now the description of the water is crystal clear water the water was very good not muddy nowadays if we go you see that ganges water has become muddy because of different reasons different causes but the previously ganges water was constant the crystal clear so the rishis used to come and all through on both the banks of the ganges this to set their cottages stay over there research on different things look to mantra at a short distance from the river their stands and tree drowned by the bluesomes and leaves we shall put up there the rama he noticed that a big tree with leaves and flowers the rama told the sumantra who was driving the chariot the let us go and rest over there there lived at that place a very powerful king of the nishadas called guhaga now here another in the social things that we can see the guha was a chandala nowadays they call the chandala what is the chandala so what they used to do mainly that it is said that the guwaka was a king of the nishada nishada's their main economy was based on the selling the meat so this to go this to catch the animals to slaughter the animals and they used to sell the meat in the market so they they were known as the nishadas and they that was their economy that was their livelihood the people maybe in the society they were not that educated so hence they were not that way respected but there was no difference in the society sri ramachandra is going accepting the invitation hospitality of this guha kachandala in one place in andaman the one gentleman came he was expounding the ramayana and as sometimes some people by mistake they always go on telling about the differences of the our society and they say the the low-cost people they should not come to the higher caste people et cetera et cetera the wrong conception it is not that by birth it is by the virtue it is by the quality we should judge a person bhagavan krishna did the same thing swami vivekananda did the same thing and each and every avatar did the same thing by mistake by some of our people they are declaring themselves that they are the religious teachers but not very clear about our society stand it is not by birth it is by the capacity this guwahaka he came hearing that the rama had arrived in the nishada kingdom the gohaka with his aged ministers and friends came to rama and embraced him saying this is very im important thing this gohak is coming and embracing sri ramachandra to show that he is a friend embracing his said friends you should consider my kingdom as your ayadah now tell me what shall i do for you it is only through the good fortune that one gets such a welcome guest the gu was saying that he is very happy that ramachandra has come they are rama lakshmana and the sita as their guest and guaca was very happy so he was showing but he never hesitated to go and embrace the that prince even today we cannot do that a so-called brahmin so called why i'm saying because maybe he's not having any quality of the brahmana but he is so boastful will never touch the hand of again the so-called low caste and here our god sri rama chandra whom we worship whom we consider our ideal embracing this person who was not that way educated the gohan chandala this nisha the king brought many fruits and also prepared very good bait for them to rest because they were coming from a long distance but ramachandra he said we have taken the bow that we will live in the forest the naturally i'm i'm so happy that you like me love me and you have brought so many a costly gift for me i cannot accept it only the father for my king the horses is that their horses are running for a long time and they need good fodder i will accept those for the horses and for us we ourselves will go and collect some fruits and roots and eat that and leave over here under the tree so that ramachandra now please accept this food and drink and the bait and the fodder of your horses he said the ramachandra deeply embraced the guwaka and said it is due to my good luck that i find you helen hearty with your friends and then rama stayed over there and the next morning sri ramachandra that the dawn break the ramachandra is telling lakshmana the night is over now let let us now cross the ganga addressing sumantra rama said go back to the king soon my journey by the car must now end ramo now decided to enter into the deep jungle by crossing the ganga and in that forest he will walk and he is not going to take any help though the rama lakshmana and sita was there guhaka told see i am from this forest my people they are very courageous and they will go along with you they will protect you all over rama denied the that and by saying no i cannot take that help too i don't need so that is called self-confidence sri rama chandra he knew the different type of difficulties may come in the jungle but he was having so much of self-confidence that he he told that it is possible there will be difficulties but i can cope up with all those so he thanked for this henceforth i shall work on food and enter the deep forest after the expiry of 14 years he will find us with janaki again he told the sumantra that sumantra was the friend of his father at the same time he was also the charioteer he used to drive that kurt and also the advisor as a mother was a minister of the king but they were so humble as a very ordinary people so he came and he he was dropping now sumantra he was telling please go and tell the father that i am very i'm all right lakshmana and ashita is also all are all right so you go and report to the father and take care of our father father and mother go and meet them convey the same to my other mother also and also koike this is the broadness of ramachandra the love and respect for the kahiki never died in the hearts of sri rama ramachandra though the kaike is the cause of all this trouble but look the ramachandra it friends again and again i try to remember that the ramayana is teaching us some spiritual spirituality how to develop spirituality these are the spirituality that we should learn from ramayana even the person who was the cause of all this suffering rama is giving all respect for her also go and remember the kaiki tell the king to fetch bharata soon and install him on the throne please also tell dear bharata that he should behave with our mothers as he will behave towards the king and to look upon sumitra and kaushallah as he will look upon kaikei rama knew his personality rama knew that when he is telling this the obviously the bharata his brother will obey see again so much self-confidence and also the clear understanding about his brother though lakshmana again and again misunderstood bharata rama neighbor rama knew bharata is a kind-hearted good person we will come to know those stories here why we are going so deep into the story and telling because this small small thing that he is going and before entering into the forest what are the things are happening he is now just entering into the forest before that he is remembering that if the bharata is not coming back and taking the reign of the administration then it will be in a chaotic mood because the father now very sick and the mothers are also not united any enemy can come and capture so this is called the real patriotism though he was banished from that kingdom again and again he is reminding that i'm going to come back after 14 years but i don't like to disturb my own country that this is true patriotic so ramachandra he requested a father's friend the and the driver please go back please take care of my father mother tell the father he should bring back the bharata because his father was very angry with bharata as because bharata's mother kaiki wanted rama to go so naturally father was angry rama's father dasharatha is considered as a great person even then when this type of situation arises this is ramachandra who is very calm and very clear thought what should be done if there is no king for a long time obviously there will be problem so ramachandra asked then sumantra he told to ramadan persuaded sumantra to leave him and go back to the city rama asked to fetch him a boat to cross the ganga gohaka asked his people to bring a boat rama addressing the guaca friends will end over here rama he had advised his father that you should not birth from your promise second he asked their mother to look after the father then he is coming and he is accepting all the things that the people are giving their love but at the same time very careful that the promise that he has taken and how they as he has taken of austerity he should practice that then ultimately when he was going across the ganga and they'll be all alone what he is advising to this guwaka who was the king of the nishadas he is telling rama addressing the gohaka said my friend there are good many difficulties in administrating a kingdom so you should always be vigilant about your army and exchequer force and provinces can you imagine this is called the raja buddhi and his intellect how to administer a king should be alert administer administration should be alert about what first is the army why because these people are strong and with all these arms and ammunitions so obviously they should be completely controlled and know always under the brazil that they are not plotting anything different and they are not creating problem for the ordinary people if these people particularly the nowadays and the army and whoever if they are creating problems for the ordinary people so administration that they become bad names because of these people so administration should be very very careful so ramachandra he noticed the guaca as a very good person courageous man but this is how ramachandra is giving the teaching my friend there are good many difficulties in administering a kingdom so you should always be vigilant about your army exchequer forts and provinces here we can remember when the rama and shita they were sleeping lakshmana was sitting near them and with the bow and arrow ready to protect them the king came this hour the nishada king and he said we are here we'll be protecting him you better go and sleep the lakshmi told no my mother has asked to protect them all the time all every moment at this moment i cannot sleep so i'll be protecting them if you like to be you'll be also there but i am also so because they never knew this person is a new that though he was a good person even then they were not believing hundred percent so one should be careful when one is traveling and when he was making the friendship apparent things are all right but at the same time for my duty i should do like this januki with with the folded hands he said oh ganga may the prince through your grace safely fulfill the vow may he return with us after passing 14 years in the forest when they were crossing the ganga janaki was praying to the holy ganga rama reached the reach province of bhatsa rich in grains rama killed the deers and the boats and partaking their meat entered the forest in the evening sometimes some people they say nowadays they say that it is all vegetarian but they should understand they were the shatrias and in the forest they were how they can survive fruits and roots they were available but at the same time they used to eat the fish and meat also after saying his evening prayer rama spoke to lakshmana this is the first night that we are going to spain outside the city you should not feel uneasy for that because the rama and shita will be there the lakshmana should not feel uneasy henceforth we shall have to be vigilant at night it rests with us to protect what shita possesses come let us ourselves collect grass and leaves and prepare a bed on the ground and lie down on it the rama himself when asking shita also not the lakshmana you go and collect not like that rama also joining and doing everything together next we will go and first we will move who are the people rama is meeting and how he is enriching his knowledge the first meeting will be with the bharat dua jamuni bharadwaja we know many of the people they have their gothra the family tradition has the bharat dwaja so this is the bharatwaja ramachandra will be meeting thank you friends so let us chant in two three lines you also can join with me jayram sridham [Music] jaidam [Music] thank you you