Tag: Rama

Welcoming Lord Rama to reside in our heart this Diwali

If on the auspicious day of Diwali, we welcome Lord Rama to reside in our heart forever then we will attain complete perfection. Miseries will disappear from our life. And we will always be in peace and bliss.

Diwali is the day when we light diyas at our home to remove darkness and spread light. This festival is celebrated because on this day Lord Rama returned back to Ayodhya after 14 years.

When Lord Rama had to leave Ayodhya because of Kaikeyi, entire city plunged into gloom. Everyone in Ayodhya became sad. They could not imagine their lives without Rama.  

It is said that many were so much disturbed that they even stopped lighting even a single diya at their homes. Their life became dark and also their houses.

Entire 14 years they kept waiting when Lord Rama will return.

In spite of having everything, everyone was suffering in Ayodhya

It was not that Ayodhya started suffering any economic crisis when Rama was not there. Or Bharat was an incompetent ruler.  

Under the able leadership of Bharat, none of the citizens were facing any difficulties. There was economic prosperity, security and no scarcity of food, clothing and shelter. But still they were not happy. Why? Because Ayodhya was without Lord Rama. And without him how can one be happy.

The saddest person was Bharat. Although he was the king, but he did not want to be in that position. If we study the life of Bharat given in Valmiki Ramayana, we will find that for 14 years he lived a very austere life.

Bharat’s sacrifice

He never lived in the palace. Instead, he lived in a cottage at the outskirts of Ayodhya called Nandigram. Daily, he ate barley soaked in cow urine. He wore tree bark. And he never sat on the throne. Instead of him, Lord Rama’s paduka (sandal) sat on the throne.

Bharat was very clear what he wanted in his life. He was clear that his life is for Lord Rama, and he did not have any slightest doubt about it.

Although, he had all the opportunity and authority to enjoy all the opulence, but he voluntarily chose not to do so. Because he knew that nothing material can satisfy his heart. Heart only experiences happiness when it is filled with the love of the Lord.

Why we won’t be happy in spite of material riches?

In our life too, we may get material prosperity or whatever material desires we may be having can get fulfilled. But unless we have Lord Rama in our life, our life will be bereft of happiness.  The word Rama means one who gives pleasure to all.

We think that material pleasure is all in all. But if we study scriptures, we will find that the pleasure which devotion to Lord gives is priceless and is not comparable with anything of this world.

This is why we see many great devotees who had all the riches happily gave up all their material prosperity and lived a simple life completely absorbed in singing and chanting the names of the Supreme Lord.

Sabari’s unlimited joy

What opulence did Sabari had? Materially she was penniless. But she was told by her guru that one day she will get an opportunity to have darshan of Lord Rama. Not just darshan but she will get an opportunity to serve Lord Rama. Just hearing that she will in future will be serving Lord Rama gave great joy to her heart.

From that day onwards, she always lived remembering Lord Rama and she patiently waited for Lord Rama. She had complete faith in the words of her guru. And also, she had complete faith in the mercy of the Lord.

And Lord Rama who knows the heart of all fulfilled the desire of Sabari giving her unlimited transcendental joy. She attained complete perfection after getting an opportunity to serve the Lord.

Lord Rama wanted to know Bharat’s desire

The Supreme Lord as Paramatma resides always in our heart. And he reciprocates with us as per our desires. He is always there for us. But if he sees that we are not much interested in him then he does not interfere with our desire to not have him. But as soon as he sees that our heart longs for him, he immediately comes to us.

After killing Ravana and his demon associates, Lord Rama with Mother Sita and brother Lakshman was to return to Ayodhya because 14 years was coming to an end. He had promised to Bharat that the moment 14 years is over, he will be there in Ayodhya.

However, before returning to Ayodhya, he wanted to check if Bharat wants to continue as the king of Ayodhya or if he actually wants to hand over the rein to him. To know this, he sent Hanumanji.

Hanumanji was not supposed to ask Bharat whether he wants to continue as the king or not. He just had to just see the expression of Bharat when he was to deliver the news that Lord Rama is going to come back to Ayodhya.

But as soon as Bharat heard that his dear Rama was to come to Ayodhya, tears of love and joy started coming from his eyes. He immediately embraced Hanuman and thanked him in choked voice for informing him that his dear Rama is coming back to Ayodhya.

This Diwali, like Bharat let us welcome Lord Rama in our life forever

When Lord Rama was completely sure that Bharat wants him back in Ayodhya, he immediately returned back to Ayodhya. Bharat was delighted to see the Lord. All the citizens of Ayodhya were dancing in joy seeing their beloved Lord Rama back in Ayodhya.

Their life came back. The day when Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya was celebrated as Diwali or festival of lights. On this day everyone lit their house with lamps.

Each and every nook and corner of Ayodhya was beautifully decorated and unlimited number of diyas were lit to welcome Lord Rama. Seeing the eagerness of the devotees to have him back in Ayodhya, Lord Rama felt happy.

And seeing the Lord happy, everyone felt happy and satisfied. This is spiritual life. The devotees are eager to please the Lord and the Lord is always eager to reciprocate with the desire of the devotees.

This Diwali let us too open our heart to Lord Rama and welcome him. Let us shun all our desire for material enjoyment. Let our heart have only one desire. And like Bharat that desire should be to have Lord Rama in our life forever.

Begging Lord Rama for the shelter of his lotus feet

Dear Lord Rama, on this auspicious occasion of Ram Navami, I beg for the shelter of your lotus feet. Your lotus feet is the only shelter of all the conditioned souls of this world who are struggling hard in this world. But surprisingly because of being covered by your illusory energy most of the people do not even realize that they are suffering.

What to speak of others, I myself though suffering think that I am not suffering. And in fact, in spite of being beaten severely by the laws of material nature again and again I still carry a hope in my heart that I can be happy in this world.  

A helpless life

My condition is akin to a helpless chicken struggling for survival under the butcher’s knife.  I see at many places dozens of chickens are stuffed in a small iron cage and are carried by the butcher to the shop to be sold as meat.

Their legs are tied with each other and with the cage and they jostle with each other for fresh air. Just to make sure that the chickens do not die before being sold, the cruel businessman puts some grains and a bowl of water inside that prison.

And the poor and powerless chickens eat those grains and drink the water and consider it to be their life. In the slaughterhouse, in front of their eyes they see their fellow mates being picked one by one and butchered.

But still a chicken thinks that yesterday I survived and today I may survive too. When it is hoping in this way the butcher puts his hand in the cage, grabs it by its wings and pulls it out of the cage. Then he puts the chicken on the weighing machine to measure its weight so that he can get proper price from the buyer. And then picks up its knife to sever the head.

The chicken in the hand of the butcher struggles hard for life, but neither the butcher nor the buyer shows any mercy and the people around it too does not show any sympathy.

False hope

My condition is not very different. I see every moment people struggle for survival but still they fail to survive. The ruthless time can knock us down at any moment.  But still I hope that a day will come when I will live here happily forever.

In this world, I am being constantly tossed up and down by the miserably waves of the material nature. I go through physical pain, emotional pain. Fellow beings betray me, insults me but still I continue with my wretched material life hoping that things will become normal in due course of time. But the truth is that expecting happiness in this material world is like expecting fresh mango juice in a desert.

So, I need to understand that for my own good I have to come out of the miserable material life and take to spiritual life. I know the truth now. So, I want to give up all my material attachments and want to get attached to your lotus feet forever.

I fail to take shelter of lotus feet of Lord Rama

Your lotus feet can only provide relief to me from all material miseries.

Dear Lord Rama, I want to just grab your lotus feet and be there forever and experience peace. If I remain under the shelter of your lotus feet which can grant any wish then all my wishes will be fulfilled.

But I have only one wish and that is to always remain under the shelter of your lotus feet.  If you grant me this wish, then my life will be successful. I will serve you eternally and be happy forever.

I know that you give shelter to anyone who comes to you with pure heart. But in spite of knowing the necessity and urgency of taking shelter of your lotus feet my heart which is still attached to the mortal things and mortal beings of this world does not allow me to fully dedicate my life to you.

I am trying hard to give up all material love but I am not able to do so. My mind and senses are impregnated with unlimited material desires and it forces me to suffer in this world.  I am not sure what to do. Also, I do not have the capability and strength to come out of it.

I am utterly helpless. Just like the demon Ravana captured mother Sita, similarly I am also in the captivity of my uncontrolled mind and senses. And they have confined me to this material world. I know that you appeared in this world and performed wonderful pastime with your eternal consort, mother Sita, to teach us many invaluable lessons.

Build a bridge to cross over the ocean of material existence

And one of the lessons which Mother Sita taught us was to never leave your lotus feet in any situations and circumstances. Although Ravana kidnapped her, threatened her, tried to torture her, tried to destroy her faith in you but she never succumbed to it. With great patience, determination and faith that you will surely come to rescue her she continued with her devotion.

You empowered monkey warriors headed by Hanuman and Sugriva to build a humongous bridge on the ocean to go to Lanka. In Lanka, you annihilated Ravana and his evil army of demons for mother Sita.

I do not have the capability to come to you. Just like you built a formidable bridge to reach to your beloved Sita, please build a bridge so that travelling on it I can swiftly cross the ocean of material existence and reach to your lotus feet which provides complete protection from all miseries.

Kill my material desires & I will never leave your lotus feet

Just like you killed unlimited armies of Ravana, similarly, please kill unlimited material desires which like a ghost constantly give me unlimited anxiety. You rescued mother Sita from the captivity of demon Ravana by shooting an arrow in his heart and killing him.

Similarly, shoot your arrow in my heart and kill all my material attachments which is keeping me away from you. And also impregnate my heart with the desire to always serve you and always love you. 

Once my heart will attain freedom from all unwanted worldly desires, it will attain freedom from all miseries.

And once my heart is flooded with the desire to be constantly under the shelter of your lotus feet then I will attain complete perfection and will become eternally happy.

Dear Lord Rama, I will then never leave the shelter of your lotus feet.

The most important reason behind Ravana’s death

Lust was the most important reason behind Ravana’s death. Shurpanakha, his sister cunningly planted the seed of lust in Ravana’s heart which became the cause of his downfall.

Shurpanakha wanted revenge because Rama and also Lakshman had refused her proposal of marriage. In anger, she tried to attack Sita and so Lakshman had to cut her nose. It was just a token punishment. She was furious. With her disfigured nose, she barged into the assembly of Ravana.

Shurpanakha describes Sita’s beauty to Ravana’s

Crying pitiful she said, “Ravana, my beloved brother, in the forest I saw a woman called Sita whose beauty is incomparable in the entire creation.  Such a lovely woman who is more beautiful than any celestial woman is meant to be your wife. For you, I tried to snatch her away from her husband, Rama. But Lakshman, Rama’s brother, attacked me and cut my nose. For your sake, I suffered. Sita’s beauty is not of this world. She has a tender body, lotus eyes, soft lips and glowing face. If you get her, you will enjoy pleasure more than what the celestial beings enjoy. Go in the forest to see her beauty. And if you have any feelings for your sister then do punish the two brothers.”

Shurpanakha’s description of Sita’s beauty charmed the heart of Ravana. The more he thought about her, the flame of the fire of lust made him mad for her. He became desperate for her. He wanted Sita, Rama’s wife, at any cost.

Shurpanakha succeeded in her mission. She had cleverly planted the seed of lust in Ravana’s heart. She knew her brother was lusty. So, he will definitely try to get Sita. And when Rama and Lakshmana will oppose, his brother will kill the two brothers. Thus, she will succeed in avenging the insult.

Why Ravana failed to satisfy his lust?

In Bhagavad Gita 2.62 – 2.63, Krishna says that our miseries start taking shape as soon as we start contemplating on the objects of the senses. Contemplation gradually leads to attachment for the object and attachment give rise to lust. A lust haunted person tries his best to satisfy his material desires. But the way this world is created that no matter how best we try, we cannot fulfil our lust. Trying to satisfy lust is like pouring ghee in fire. The more we try to satisfy our lusty desires, our craving for that desire keeps on increasing. And our sufferings too increase in that proportion.

Just like a spark if unchecked has the capability of burning the entire house. Similarly, even a tiny little material desire if not checked slowly becomes too big to handle. It completely overpowers us and compels us to act on that desire. Many times, our worldly desires force us act in a sinful way for which we have to suffer.  

Ravana’s misery began as soon as he developed a desire to enjoy Sita. To satisfy his nasty craving he kidnapped Sita and brought her to his kingdom, Lanka. But he failed to enjoy with Sita. Whenever he approached Sita, she rebuked him. He was insulted again and again by Sita.  The mighty king of Lanka had become a laughingstock. 

Did Ravana had a chance to rectify his mistakes?

It was not that Ravana, the demon king, did not have the chance to rectify his mistake.

His well-wishers tried to reason with him, make him understand the dangerous path he was pursuing.

Vibhishana, his brother, told him that it is improper to kidnap another’s wife. Mandodari, his chaste wife, who was herself extremely beautiful, tried to counsel him to give up attachment for another woman.  Hanuman, Lord Rama’s dearest devotee, too tried to persuade him to return mother Sita. But Ravana, the ten-headed lusty fool refused all the good advice.

And finally, Lord Rama had to kill him.   

Most important reason behind Ravana’s death

No one was the cause of Ravana’s misery, humiliation and death. Lust was the main reason behind Ravana’s death, the cause of his ultimate annihilation.  History is testimony to the fact that lusty men (and also women) have never lived happily. Many powerful kings lost their kingdom because of their obsession for opposite sex.

The lesson which we should learn from Ravana’s life is that we should never allow lust to grow in our heart. We should constantly check our heart for any lusty desires.  If it is there then nip it in the bud. Because if left unchecked then it will completely destroy us.

Everything begins with contemplation.  Ravana heard about Sita’s physical beauty then began contemplating upon it and eventually started acting on that wrong desire.  And finally, lust became the main reason behind Ravana’s death.

How can we engage our senses in positive spiritual activities?

What we see, what we hear, what we read and with whom we associate plays an important role in shaping our thought process. So, we should not allow our senses to indulge in any wrong activities. But senses need constant engagement and mind cannot remain empty. So, we should give our senses positive engagement. 

• If we engage our eyes in reading spiritual literatures like Krishna book or Ramayana then our mind will constantly contemplate on the pastimes of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama. We will slowly lose taste for reading books which arouse lusty desires.

• If we engage our eyes in seeing the beautiful deities of Krishna and Rama then our eyes will remain absorbed in relishing the divine form of the Lord. Eyes will then not look for lusty objects.

• If we regularly hear kirtan and pastimes of the Lord then those transcendental words will constantly reverberate in our ears. In fact, our ears will again and again look for an opportunity to hear those divine words.

Association with devotees of Lord can transform our life completely.  There are several examples in scriptures regarding this.  A prostitute, Lakshahira, full of lusty desires went to Haridas Thakura to pollute him. But instead of polluting the great devotee, she quickly got purified of her lusty desires because of Haridas Thakura’s association. Haridas Thakura would always remain absorbed in chanting the names of Krishna. When Srila Prabhupada went to west in 1965 then scores of American boys and girls were quickly able to give up their sinful habits because of Prabhupada’s association. They became sincere devotees of Krishna. 

How a devotee develops distaste for all lusty desires and enjoys spiritual bliss?

Sincere devotees of Lord never allow their senses to go astray. They carefully engage their senses in devotional activities of the Lord. So, they do not get enticed by any lusty desires.  Devotional services to the Lord are so satisfying and pleasing that the devotees lose all taste for all material desires.

Sri Yamunacarya, a great devotee of Lord, confidently says, “Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste.” Bhagavad Gita 5.21

A devotee remains engaged 24 hours in a day in the service of the Lord so that lusty thoughts and desires does not sneak in in his heart.  When the Supreme Lord Rama, the killer of the lusty emperor Ravana, sees a devotee’s sincere spiritual endeavor then with his divine arrow of love he flushes out all the desires for lust from the devotee’s hearts. The devotee then experiences everlasting transcendental pleasure which the Vedic scriptures talk about.

Does God forgive us for all our mistakes?

Will God forgive You and me for all our mistakes? Knowingly and unknowingly, we commit so many sins. So, we are always fearful of the consequences. But if we study the holy books, we find that God is so merciful that he forgives the sinners for all the mistakes. In Ramayana we find that although Kaikeyi committed an unpardonable mistake but still Lord Rama forgave her.

Lord Rama could have hated Kaikeyi, his stepmother, forever. And no one would have blamed him. She had brought great calamity in his life and in the lives of everyone who were close to him. The entire city of Ayodhya had immersed into celebration when they had heard that their beloved Rama is going to be crowned as the emperor of Ayodhya.

But Kaikeyi whom Rama loved like her own mother was seething in anger. Manthara, her personal and trusted maidservant, had convinced her mistress that if Rama becomes the king, she will be forced to live like a maidservant of Kaushalya, Rama’s mother.  

Kaikeyi desperately wants her son, Bharath, to be the king

Kaikeyi felt deeply hurt. She became petrified. Just like a wounded serpent starts spitting poison everywhere, Kaikeyi whose heart had been poisoned by Manthara started spitting words laced with hate, envy and arrogance.  “I want Bharath, my son, to be the king and Rama to be banished to forest for 14 years.”  Dasarath, Rama’s father, was flabbergasted. With tears in his eyes, he begged his wife to not to be so cruel. 

But she was so callous that the tears of her husband did not melt her heart. She saw him dying but she did not care. She thought “If my son is the king, I will be rajmata (king’s mother) and will enjoy all royal privileges.” She was obstinate. Her feelings, her emotions, her desires, her satisfaction was more important to her than anything else in the world. Lord Rama, mother Sita and Lakshman had to leave their own home.  Dasrath ultimately died in separation of Lord Rama. She was the only cause of all the sufferings in Ayodhya. 

Furious Bharath blames Kaikeyi for all the sufferings in Ayodhya

Bharath was outraged when he came to know her mother’s cruel deeds. In utter disgust he said, “You brought great misfortune upon Ayodhya. You killed my father. You gave so much pain to Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. I am so ashamed that you are my own mother.”

Bharath went to forest to beseech Lord Rama to return back to Ayodhya and become the king. He begged forgiveness for everything. But Rama refused, “I have given my words to our departed father to be in the forest. I cannot break the vow.” Bharath was in tears. “My mother is the cause of this great misfortunate,” noble Bharath lamented. But Rama disagreed. 

Kaikeyi felt ashamed for her behaviour but Rama embraced her

Despite her wicked behavior, Lord Rama had no bad feelings for Kaikeyi. Kaikeyi who had acted insanely was in tears. She felt ashamed of herself. She had realized her grave mistake. She felt at the feet of Rama, but Rama immediately picked her up and embraced her and said, “O Gentle Lady, you are not to be blamed. I am not at all angry with you.”

After a long time, she had heard such sweet words. Everyone hated her for what she did. No one respected her anymore. 

She had once thought that Rama will take away all happiness from her life if he becomes the king. She had thought him to be her enemy. But today she realized that Rama is her best well-wisher. After being rejected and shamed by all including her own son, she got shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Rama.

Crying pitifully, she said, “No one in the three worlds would have forgiven me for my cruel behaviour. You are not an ordinary person. Now I understand that you are the Supreme Lord. And so, you are so merciful, so generous and so forgiving. Please guide me to the path of righteousness.”  Lord Rama smiled and said, “Meditate upon me and you will be freed from all the attachments of this ephemeral world. You will live peacefully, and you will attain me.” Kaikeyi felt relived. She was now happy. She understood the goal and purpose of her life. She paid her obeisances to the Lord of the universe and circumambulated him.

God never leaves us, he always resides in our heart as Parmatma(Superosul)

The Supreme Lord, our eternal father, is magnanimous. He does not hate anyone. He loves all. We the living entities may dislike him, disobey him, and may even despise him. But still, he never leaves us. We commit so many abominable activities but still he does not abandon us. Scriptures tell that the Supreme Lord as Parmatma(Superosul) accompanies us in any species of life we get. If because of our sinful activities, we get the body of a dog or a hog or we become an insect in the stool still he is present there with us. Wherever we are, he is with us. As Supersoul he always resides in our heart.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad explain that the living entities (soul) and the Parmatma (Supersoul) are like two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One bird is the soul and the other Supersoul. The soul wants to enjoy independently from the Supersoul. The Supreme Lord (Supersoul) who is the creator of the soul allows the soul to enjoy the material world.  The soul turns away from the Lord and suffer immensely while trying to enjoy the material world. In spite of being neglected, the Supreme Lord never leaves the living entities (soul).  The Lord desperately wants us to return back to him. He anxiously waits for the moment when we will turn towards him and express our feelings of love to him.  

God forgets and forgives us for all our sins and mistakes

As soon as we consciously take a decision to bring the Supreme Lord in our life, he forgets all our misdeeds. He forgives us for all our mistakes. Not just that, he burns all our sins so that we get freedom from all physical and mental sufferings. Our life becomes an ocean of bliss.

Srila Prabhupada explains, “A conditioned soul is very often apt to commit mistakes, and the only remedial measure to take against such unintentional sins is to give oneself up to the lotus feet of the Lord so that He may guide one to avoid such pitfalls.”, Sri Isopanisad Mantra 18 purport.

स्वपादमूलं भजत: प्रियस्य
त्यक्तान्यभावस्य हरि: परेश: ।
विकर्म यच्चोत्पतितं कथञ्चिद्
धुनोति सर्वं हृदि सन्निविष्ट: ॥ ४२ ॥

sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ priyasya
tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ
vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid
dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ

“One who has thus given up all other engagements and has taken full shelter at the lotus feet of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is very dear to the Lord. Indeed, if such a surrendered soul accidentally commits some sinful activity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is seated within everyone’s heart, immediately takes away the reaction to such sin.” Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.42

When we turn turn towards God, we attain Supreme Joy & Complete Satisfaction

Kaikeyi suffered because she exiled Lord Rama from her life. She desired to enjoy the kingdom of God without God.

You and I are also trying our best to enjoy in this world. But in spite of our best efforts, we fail to find joy in our life. Sufferings accompany us like a shadow. Most of the time we live in fear and anxiety. We always remain dissatisfied.

So, let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves, “Why are we not getting the happiness which we are looking for? Why we feel incomplete. Why we suffer again and again?”

Kaikeyi understood her folly. She welcomed Lord Rama back in her life for her own benefit and felt blissful and complete.

You and I have also exiled the Supreme Lord from our life. This is our biggest mistake. And this is why we always suffer.  Let us turn towards the Lord and invite him to reside in our hearts. The Supreme father will accept us. He is our best friend and best well-wisher (suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, Bhagavad Gita 5.29). No matter how abominable our sins may be, he will forgive us and purify us.  We will then experience the joy and satisfaction we are looking for!

Important lessons to learn from Ramayana

With just his tail, Hanuman effortlessly burned the entire city of Lanka. But he too wasn’t successful in burning the lust and ego of Ravana, the powerful king of Lanka. 

In fact, Ravana’s real well-wishers such as his brother Vibhishana and his chaste wife Mandodari had tried their best to counsel him several times against kidnapping Sita, wife of Lord Rama.

Ravana did not just refuse to listen to them but he even humiliated them.  Upon being reminded by Vibhishana that kidnapping someone else’s wife is an immoral act and he would suffer the consequences for this nefarious deed Ravana became mad with anger at his brother and threatened to kill him.

He finally forced Vibhishana to leave his kingdom.  Ravana thought he would succeed in killing Rama and would then forcibly enjoy with Sita.

Hanuman was just one of the soldiers of Lord Rama and had almost decimated the entire Lanka. Any sensible person would have easily gauged the strength of his opponent seeing the power of just one of the soldiers of his opponent.

But lust and ego had created such a thick covering over Ravana’s intelligence that he was not able to see his imminent disaster. 

Just like Ravana we too want to enjoy the property of the Lord claiming to be ours.  And when reminded that everything moving and non -moving in this world belongs to Lord we refuse to accept it and we start making plans to defeat the plans of the Lord.

The material energy of the Lord keeps on demonstrating as how helpless we are in front of her. We see devastation everywhere in the form of flood, famine, earthquake, tsunami, war, deadly diseases and death.

But like Ravana we refuse to learn from it and always think that with my efforts and prowess we will be able to subjugate the material world and will enjoy it by becoming the controller.

Lord Rama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and for him to kill Ravana wasn’t difficult. He is the creator and maintainer of all and when required he destroys everything.  But just like a father who always hopes that one day his disobedient son would get reformed and will finally return home, similarly Lord Rama the Supreme father was hoping that may be Ravana would give up his demoniac mentality and would come back to him.

And this is why he waited and through Hanuman and Angad sent him messages that he should act righteously else his end is certain.

Since the dawn of creation we have seen that the purpose of the Lord’s appearance has never been just to annihilate the miscreants, this he can do very easily as he is the most powerful Personality in the entire creation.

But most importantly Lord comes here to invite us back to the spiritual kingdom, our original home.  And he is ever ready to take us back forgiving and forgetting our past misdeeds. 

When Vibhishana left Lanka and came to take shelter of Lord Rama then Lord Rama’s generals like Sugriva and others were against Lord giving shelter to the brother of his enemy.

But Lord Rama happily welcomed Vibhishana and said that even if Ravana comes to him then he would accept him without any hesitation. This shows the magnanimity of the Supreme Lord. 

In fact in all his incarnations as Lord Krishna, as Lord Rama or as Lord Chaitanya he has exhibited this quality.  When he appeared as Lord Krishna he said that “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me. I will deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do no fear”. (Bhagavad Gita 18.66).

He invited all to his abode and said that those who come to his kingdom will never take birth again in this material world.

Bhagavad Gita 15.6

When he appeared as Lord Chaitanya then he freely distributed his mercy to all, he even delivered ruffians like Jagai and Madhai by transforming their hearts.

Lord Chaitanya was so concerned about the well-being of all that he would ask Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakura to go to everyone’s house and beg people to chant the names of Krishna so that people could be delivered from the miseries of material existence.

Lord appears in this world to remind us about the spiritual abode wherein life is eternal and bliss is unlimited. He also sends his dear devotee to educate us that we can never be happy if we try to enjoy separately from Lord. 

Ravana refused Rama’s invitation and met with annihilation.  

History clearly shows that no one till now has ever succeeded even remotely in living happily by going against the laws of Lord – Ravana, Duryodhana, Hiranyakasipu are few such examples.

We too have choice, we can be either on the side of the Lord or we can go against the will of the Lord.  

If we go against the Lord then suffering is inevitable but if we are on the side of the Lord then victory, glory and happiness are guaranteed. 

The concluding verse of Bhagavad Gita 18.78 says that wherever there is the Supreme Lord, Krishna, there will also be certainly opulence, victory, extraordinary power and morality.

(Published in Dandavats)

Let not tears torment us

Lord Rama was even ready to embrace Ravana

He is such a dear friend, let us not neglect him