Greatness of Ramayana

What is the greatness and beauty of the Ramayana?  This epic is sung by the gods.  It is sung by Rishis.  It is sung by great saints and devotees.  And in fact, the first composer of Ramayana was Lord Siva himself.  He wrote one billion slokas – caritam raghunathasya satakoti pravistaram ekaikamaksaram pumsam mahapatakanasakam.  Every letter of the Ramayana has the power to remove even the most heinous sins – mahapatakas.  It is said that even though Lord Siva wrote Rama’s glory in one billion slokas, he could only describe one-billionth of His glory!  This shows the immeasurable depth of Sri Rama’s story.

Valmiki Ramayana

After Lord Siva, came adi kavi Maharshi Valmiki, who wrote the famous Ramayana.  In the beginning of Valmiki Ramayana is a story that Valmiki Rishi saw two birds (kraunca paksi)[1] – in a loving embrace.  Just then a hunter came along and killed the male bird.  The female bird cried bitterly.  Seeing this, Valmiki Rishi was agonised.  He cursed the hunter: “What a heartless person you are that you killed one of that loving couple!  May you not find peace for many, many years – ma nisada pratistham tvamagamah sasvati samah yat kraunca mithunad-ekam-avadhih kama-mohitam.”[2] However, when he came back to his ashram, he regretted the fact that he had cursed.  He was so overwhelmed with grief at seeing the bird killed that he had uttered the curse spontaneously.  Being a Rishi, how could he curse someone?  At that time Lord Brahma, the Creator, appeared before him and told him not to feel guilty about it.  It was Saraswati Devi who had motivated him to do it.  The curse had flowed out in the form of a perfect sloka – valmikeh sokah slokatvamagatah.  His soka (grief) became a sloka.  “In this metre you will write the entire Ramayana as it was briefly told to you by Devarshi Narada,” said Lord Brahma and that is how the Ramayana flowed out as a metrical composition through Valmiki Rishi.

          Sage Valmiki, who was a contemporary of Rama, sat in meditation and it is said that he saw an entire action replay of the Ramayana in meditation.  Earlier, Narada Muni had told him the Ramayana in brief.  Valmiki Rishi was a great seer, whose heart was pure, and he was blessed by Lord Brahma and Mother Saraswati.  When such a person has composed the Ramayana, can it be an ordinary text?  Goswami Tulsidas has also said: sambhu prasada mati hiya hulasi ramacarita manasa kavi tulasi[3] – By the grace of Lord Siva, I have received this wonderful inspiration and have composed the Ramayana.  So, both Sage Valmiki and Goswami Tulsidas composed the Ramayana inspired by divine grace.

          There are so many versions of the Ramayana in various languages that if you try to list all of them, that will be a book in itself.  Thus, the beauty of Ramayana, the greatness of Ramayana, the sweetness of Ramayana is that it has been composed by gods and rishis, saints and devotees whose hearts were pure.  Pure-hearted composers sing the glory of God without any selfish purpose, but only to kindle the love of God in the hearts of all beings.  The stature of the composer, the purity of his mind, the nobility of his intention and the greatness of the glorified one – Sri Rama Himself – contribute to the beauty and sweetness of Ramayana.  This is the secret of the eternal charm and attraction of Ramayana.

Rama – the Hero

The hero of the story has to be great, only then there will be greatness in the composition.  If the hero is a lowly person or a criminal, you may tell the story in the most interesting manner, but it can never become immortal.  It cannot become an object of worship.

          There is a famous sloka telling us who Rama is:

veda-vedye pare pumsi jate dasarathatmaje,

vedah pracetasadasit saksat ramayanatmana.

When Paramatma, who is known through Vedanta, took human form as the son of Dasaratha, the Veda-mantras also incarnated through Valmiki in the form of Ramayana.

Blog No. 2 from Ramayana Saundarya. One blog from the series will be posted every week. The author is the Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide.