Welcome to kasarabada.org :
January 20 , 2012
We are unable to start the new short series on Ramayana this week as alreday annnounced due to technical problems. The short series on Role models from Ramayana will however start at the earliest . The content is put together by Shri Turaga Rajendraprasad. All of this will be appearing under Ramayanam.
The Ramayan and the role models are a perennial fascination for us and we had also published some books ( Raamudu- Sugunaabhiraamudu) and articles earlier !! . This is available for download !!.
Without doubt we are starting this series with excitement and some 'Trepidition'. This is almost like what was stated by Rt Hon'ble Srinivasa Sastri while delivering a series of talks on Ramayana ( 1944) at the Sanskrit Academy in Madras (Chennai) . Ramayana is literally an ocean. A poet sitting on its shores may be thinking in rhapsodies on what meets his eye. A philosopher sitting on the shores will muse and perhaps recontruct the very structure of the great thought that put those things together in space. You may have a very pious man who simply takes his mind in contemplation of the "Supreme Being" who made the ocean , sky and all those things that revolve in eternal Samsara!. There can also be children admiring the ocean and playing on the beach throwing sand into each others eyes playfully. Each deos his part sitting in front of that ocean admiring the ocean in their own way . In that sense our effort in bringing rolemodels from Ramayana , may be no better than those playful children enjoying the sea breeze.!!
The Valmiki Ramayana starts with a query from Narada about who is that "best of men" who meets all the exalted requisites of such a person. Narada answers in the same vein that the one from the line of "Ikshwakus" namely Sri Rama, the son of King Dasaratha is sucha person. No where in this dialog is there a mention of divinity. If God took shape to live like one among the human race it is possibly with the purpose of giving us an instruction on how to live , how to prepare for our parts in life and how to go through it. There is probably a logic to the statement that while reading Ramayana we ought to think of Rama and Sita as the human incarnations who went through all the extraordinary trials and tribulations to emerge victorious and hence they are also role models for the human race. If we are to think of them as Gods then whatever was achieved by them is not extraordinary because as Gods they had the unlimited powers. While that may sound logical, for millions of us, Rama and Sita remain as Gods personified !! Along with Rama and Sita, Hanuman is the personal deity in a pantheon of Gods for millions!!
The One more thing brings out the the sixteen qualities enumerated by Valmiki as part of his question in search of the person meeting those sixteen qualities. The answer ofcourse is Sri Rama !!.
This week Bhagavatam continues with Chapter 79 of Dasama Skandha. Chapter 79 details of the Piligrimage of Balarama.
Athato Brahmajignyasaa continues . with elaboration on Upanishads in continuation of the earlier elaboration on the "the Vedas", and the "Mahavakyaas".
We continue our requests for contributions and suggestions .
Om Tat Sat
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Witty Wisdom !
- contributed by KamarajuTuraga
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