Bala Kanda Part 2: King Dasharatha's worship

 Hari Aum.

Having introduced the Ramayana and Bala kanda in recent posts, let me now delve further into the Bala kanda. Let us look at the description of the circumstances that led to Narayana taking a human avatar in the form of Sri Rama. 

[By the way, I have purchased a copy of the Ramayana from the well-known Gorakhpur press in India (as I found the online translation confusing) and am reading this currently. This contains the entire original writings in Sanskrit with English translation. My writings on the Ramayana are based mainly upon their translation (and upon my own very basic knowledge of Sanskrit). 

This is the first time that I have purchased a scripture published by them and I must say that I am very satisfied (there are two volumes which are beautifully printed and illustrated). I would recommend them to anyone else who may be interested (I bought them on Amazon and was happy that they arrived within a couple of days).]

The Bala kanda: King Dasharatha's worship 

Ayodhya

Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom known as Kosala. This was a fertile and beautiful land filled with great wealth and prosperity. Its capital was a city called Ayodhya. And what a city it was. It was a marvel in many ways-- filled with riches, with grand buildings made of various precious materials, and with great natural beauty. The splendour of the city of Ayodhya is described as rivalling that of Amaravati, the capital of the demi-gods of the celestial realm, Svarga.

In the wonderful city of Ayodhya, in a magnificent palace, lived the ruler of the land of Kosala. His name was King Dasharatha. He belonged to an illustrious family of kings descended from Surya deva, the demi-god of the Sun. And, even as Surya lit up the sky every day with his brilliance, his descendants shone like many jewels upon the Earth.

Great indeed was Ayodhya, and equally great was its king, the mighty Dasharatha. The king tended lovingly to his people even as a father would care for his own children. Their every need was his concern and he worked tirelessly to ensure their welfare. The people, in turn, loved and adored their ruler and regarded him as their very own, as one of their own family. They were skilled in many arts and sciences, both material and spiritual. They were protected by a large and powerful army. Thus, it appeared that the kingdom of Kosala was greatly blessed by the Divine and had everything that could be desired. 

However, despite all this good fortune, there was one source of sorrow for the king-- he had no heir. He yearned to have a noble and valiant son, one who would make a fitting heir to the throne of Ayodhya. One who would care for the people even as he had done during his lifetime.

King Dasharatha had three wives, namely, Queen Kaushalya (the senior most), Queen Sumitra, and the youngest and most alluring, Queen Kaikeyi. The three queens too mourned their lack of children. Like the king, they too yearned to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet in the palace. 

(Note: Just to clarify, a king in those days was permitted to have more than one wife as marital alliances were often symbols of political alliances/connections between kingdoms. Everybody else in the kingdom was permitted to have one spouse only!)

The prophecy

One day, the king, feeling heavy at heart, discussed this painful matter of childlessness with his closest council of eight wise ministers. One of them, his chief minister, was the excellent and highly intelligent Sumantara. The chief minister later sought to speak with the king in private. He told King Dasharatha that he was aware of a wondrous prophecy that had been made in ancient times by the great sage Sanatkumara. 

The sage had predicted not only the birth of King Dasharatha in the solar dynasty, but had also said that he would obtain children after performing a special worship of the Supreme Being for this purpose.

King Dasharatha was filled with joy and wonder upon hearing of this prophecy that he was destined to have children through a special worship. He asked Sumantara for further details and his minister explained that the sage Rishayashringa was the one who was destined to help the king with this.  

(Note: In the Ramayana, Sumantara refers to the sage Rishayashringa as the 'son-in-law' of King Dasharatha. How can a childless king have a son-in-law one might ask! The answer is revealed in a different scripture known as the Bhagavatam. 

In the Bhagavatam, it is mentioned that King Dasharatha and Queen Kaushalya had had a child, a beautiful baby girl whom they named Shanta (she was born many years before Rama). However, by a strange twist of fate, they were compelled to give up their daughter to a childless royal couple to raise as their own. That royal couple were King Romapada and Queen Varshini who lived in the neighbouring kingdom known as Anga (Varshini was the older sister of Kaushalya). 

In time, Shanta had grown up into a beautiful young lady and had married the sage Rishayashringa. She lived with the sage in the palace of her adopted parents).

King Dasharatha was beside himself with excitement at the prospect of finally having a child after so many long years of waiting! 

He quickly went to meet the royal Guru, the great sage Vasishtha and shared the news with him. He requested his Guru to help him perform the elaborate rituals of worship required to obtain a child and Vasishta gladly agreed. 

Grand arrangements were made for the performance of the worship. This included the construction of a beautiful altar and area for worship, gathering various sacred and precious materials, and getting together various priests and other assistants who were highly skilled in the performance of sacred rituals.

The arrival of Rishayashringa and Shanta 

Meanwhile, King Dasharatha travelled to the neighbouring kingdom of Anga and met with his friend, King Romapada. He explained that he needed the help of sage Rishayashringa to perform the sacred ritual to have a child. King Romapada immediately agreed to do whatever he could to help.

Princess Shanta and her husband, Rishayashringa were then informed of King Dasharatha's need for their help. They too gladly agreed to provide this; the two of them and their baby then accompanied Dasharatha to Ayodhya to stay for some time with the King and his queens. The queens were delighted to see Shanta along with her husband and baby and they all spent some very happy times together.

Now that everything was in place, the worship began in right earnest. King Dasharatha and his queens, Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi, took solemn vows to conduct a series of sacred rituals and worship the Supreme Being for the sake of obtaining a worthy and noble child. 

They performed these sincerely with utmost devotion under the guidance of sages Rishayashringa, Vasishtha and others. They worshipped the Supreme Being, Narayana, along with His manifestations in the form of various demi-gods, and gave great gifts in charity to many worthy recipients.

Final stages of the sacred worship

After several months of worship, came the time for the final sacred fire ritual. This was the crucial moment and the homam was to be performed by Rishayashringa himself. In the presence of King Dasharatha, the sage declared the ceremonial vow (or 'sankalpa' in Sanskrit) that he would now perform a sacred fire ceremony to pray to the Supreme Being so that the king may be granted children. He stated that the ritual was intended to grant the king four great and mighty sons to take forward his lineage.

The king was overjoyed at hearing these words from the sage and the fire ritual commenced. In accordance with the scriptures, the Supreme Being was invoked in the sacred fire. Sage Rishayashringa pronounced the various elaborate mantras perfectly as he offered clarified butter (ghee) into fire. Other priests supported him in the worship. 

The plea of the demi-gods

As the worship proceeded, the various divinities who had been invoked appeared there (seemingly in invisible form). This included Brahma, the divine Creator and the demi-gods (all of whom were various manifestations of the Supreme). They had arrived to accept the offerings that were being made to them and to give blessings in return.

While assembled at the place of worship, the demi-gods sought help from Brahma for a great sorrow of their own. They told him that a demonic being known as Ravana had been tormenting them and a number of living creatures in various realms. They could not bear it anymore, they said, and needed help to get rid of him so that they could all live in peace.

In times gone by, Ravana had performed great austerities and thus managed to obtain a special boon from Brahma. According to the boon he had asked for, no demi-god, celestial being or demon would be able to kill him (and he thus became very powerful). He had regarded human beings as weak and beneath him, and had therefore not bothered to ask for any protection from them.

Hearing the plea of the demi-gods, Brahma pondered over the problem and brightened as he thought of a solution. Based upon the boon, the demon could only be killed by a human being. Thus, he told the demi-gods, Ravana could be killed but a suitable human being was required who could achieve this extraordinary task!

Narayana's pledge

At this moment, Narayana Himself appeared at the place of worship as His presence had been invoked by the sages and King Dasharatha.

Seeing Narayana, the demi-gods rushed to Him with a plea to resolve their difficulty. They told Him that Ravana had taken over their celestial realm (Svarga) and had occupied their positions. They and other living beings were suffering greatly as a result. 

Ravana's pride had no limits, they declared, and he enjoyed making other creatures cry out in pain and fear. He was very cruel, a monster in every way, and could not be allowed to carry on committing atrocities upon other living beings in this manner. He simply had to be removed from Earth.

Asking Narayana to help, they therefore begged Him to take on an avatar as a human being for this purpose. "Please be born as the son of King Dasharatha who is currently conducting this ritual for a child!", they pleaded.

Hearing their prayer to be relieved of this torment, and in keeping with His ancient promise to take an avatar when needed to protect the good and destroy evil, Narayana accepted their wish and blessed them.

He replied to the demi-gods saying that He would be born as the son of Dasharatha. While living on Earth in human form, He declared that He would destroy Ravana along with numerous other demonic beings, and thus restore dharma (righteousness/goodness) and peace upon Earth. 

The demi-gods greatly rejoiced upon hearing these sweet words of reassurance and extolled Narayana with hymns of praise. 

Thus, the stage was set for the birth of Sri Rama! I will describe this in the next post.

Om Sri Ramaya Namah. 

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Bala Kanda Part 1: The Sita Charitam Mahat (Ramayana)

 Hari Aum.

The Bala Kanda is the section of the Valmiki Ramayana that describes Sri Rama's birth, childhood and early youth. I would like to say that when writing about the Bala Kanda (and about the Valmiki Ramayana in general), I will mainly focus on the life of Sri Rama Himself (as mentioned in my previous post, the book also contains some descriptions of the lives of other persons, which are not necessarily that relevant to the story of Rama and so, in general, I will not discuss too much about these subjects here).

I will provide you a brief outline of the Bala Kanda and then go on to discuss certain parts of it in more detail. 

Overview of the Bala Kanda: a succinct summary

The sages:

Sage Narada and Sage Valmiki meet. Valmiki asks Narada to tell him of the most excellent human being, and Narada tells Valmiki the entire legend of Sri Rama in brief.  

The demi-god, Brahma, the Divine Creator (an aspect of Narayana) then visits Valmiki and tells him to compose a poem (in a special Sanskrit metre) that describes the entire life of Sri Rama. To enable him to perform this task, Valmiki is then given divine vision whereby he is able to see in detail every aspect of the life of the Rama avatar. 

(Valmiki himself plays a key role in the life of the Rama avatar, the details of which we discover later, so he is also present in the poem!).

Valmiki then composes the great epic of the life of Rama and Sita. He gives this wonderful divine poem three titles, which are as follows:

i) Ramayana: meaning 'the way of Sri Rama'

ii) Sita Charitam Mahat: meaning 'the greatness of Mother Sita' 

iii) Poulastya vadham: meaning 'the slaying of Ravana'

This beautiful poem is capable of granting great material and spiritual blessings upon those who hear or recite it. The sage therefore feels that it should be taught to his disciples.

The sons of Rama and Sita: 

Sage Valmiki wonders which disciples should first receive the teaching of this wondrous poem. At that moment, two young boys, named Lava and Kusha, present themselves. They are the twin sons of Rama and Sita and reside in the hermitage of Valmiki (he is their Guru). 

The boys, who look like reflections of Rama Himself, offer to learn the poem. Valmiki gladly teaches it to them and they memorise the lengthy poem perfectly with ease.

They then recite it in melodious voices to the other sages and disciples at the hermitage. Upon hearing this wonderful composition, the eyes of everyone present fill with tears of devotion and they exclaim that it is most excellent.

Rama, the King of Ayodhya:

Sri Rama, upon hearing about the composition, brings the boys to His courtroom and they sing the entire poem enthralling the entire audience of ministers and citizens. 

Rama greatly enjoys hearing the poem because it is called 'Sita Charitam Mahat', the 'greatness of Sita'. In fact, He is so enchanted by it, that He asks the boys to recite the entire poem again to calm his mind and they obligingly do so.

At this stage, we discover that, strangely, Rama does not seem to know that the two boys are His own sons (and, equally oddly, nor do the boys display any recognition of Him as their father). 

Furthermore, we discover that Sita, the mother of the twins, and wife of Rama, is not currently present in the life of Rama. This is also rather strange (and no explanation is offered for this at this stage in the legend) and Her absence seems to be the likely reason for Him wanting to hear of Her and for asking the boys to recite the entire poem again.

The Sita Charitam Mahat:

I was initially going to continue to write about more of the rest of the Bala Kanda in this post, but, at this stage, I would like to pause. And the reason that I would like to pause is to consider and contemplate, for a short while, the 'Sita Charitam Mahat', the greatness of Mother Sita.

Before delving into the legend of Rama and Sita, before discussing the heroes and villains of the story and the lessons they teach us, I want to begin with a tribute to Mother Sita, by writing a little in praise of Her glory in order to seek Her blessings.

It is no wonder that Sri Rama wanted to hear again and again about Mother Sita-- because She was truly an extraordinary manifestation of the Divine Mother. Just as Rama was an avatar of Vishnu/Narayana, Sita was an incarnation of His Divine Consort, Mother Lakshmi. 

And, just as Rama immersed Himself fully in playing the role of a human man, Mother Sita too fully embraced the experience of life as a human woman. And what an extraordinary life it was, what a test of human endurance, what a test of faith, trust, self-belief and courage. 

We will see in the coming chapters of the Ramayana or the Sita Charitam Mahat, that Sita was the embodiment of goodness, of gentleness, of kindness and of putting the needs of others ahead of Herself. In return for this, She received much pain, sorrow and was exposed to great evil. She endured it all, and ultimately triumphed-- but not before She had shed many tears and experienced much grief.

The life of Rama can sometimes be hard to read due to the pain He endures; however, the life of Sita is, in many ways, completely heartbreaking. Nonetheless, She reminds us, as we live on this Earth today, with all its complexities, pains and sorrows, that the Divine is always victorious in the end. 

The Ramayana portrays the many aspects of human life, the nobility and greatness, and the baseness and wickedness that exist both within and outside of ourselves on this planet. 

The life of Sita also teaches us that we must careful, that we must not be naive in this world as spiritual seekers. We may strive to do good to others, but we must be prepared to receive much evil in return and need to be ready to handle this (through clinging to the Divine come what may and remaining under His/Her protection at all times).

We will see in this divine legend, how Sita's good nature led Her to trust those who should never have been trusted, how it caused Her to believe in the goodness of those who later betrayed Her, how Her nearest and dearest themselves proved to be unable to give Her the happiness that She sought in life (Like another great manifestation of the Mother known as 'Sati', Mother Sita too provides a fitting response to all those who had treated Her unfairly at the very end of Her life on Earth). 

Sita teaches us, by example, the great spiritual truth that, ultimately, we must rely upon ourselves, and specifically upon our Higher Self or God within, to find the peace and joy that we seek in life. 

This is the emphatic teaching of all the Gurus, saints and mystics of all spiritual traditions since time immemorial. God alone is the refuge, they say, and the Sita Charitam Mahat shows this perfectly.

Therefore, salutations and prostrations again and again to Mother Sita, the Divine Mother who embodies the tremendous power of endurance, and of expressing great goodness in the face of great evil-- qualities that are essential for the spiritual ascent of every seeker.

May Mother Sita bless us all.

Om Sri Sitayai Namah. Om Sri Ramaya Namah

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.