Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 08.01.2017 evening, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Monday)

Rama bolo!

Why? Why should we chant ‘Rama’? There must be a reason why?

Well, the holy name of Shri Rama is very powerful. So much so that it can change the laws of nature. You don’t believe, but I’ll tell you one story.

Rama is very handsome, He is a prince. And He’s got a beautiful wife – Sita. They are like an ideal couple. But there is some trouble in Their history. Due to some intrigue Rama has to go into exile to the jungle. Just imagine: the beautiful young prince, giving up the royal home and entering barefoot the forest – this is very painful. But the story is more horrible. Because His beautiful wife goes with Him. Just imagine – to live in the forest for a young lady is very difficult. So, They start Their journey. Long years They had to spend in this exile. Fortunately meanwhile They found some friends and helpers, the brother of Rama was also going with them. They served the munis who performed their sacrifices, protected them from demoniac attacks. Meanwhile the bad news reached them that the father of Rama had passed away. So it’s a very deep and very painful story.

But the real tragedy starts when this beautiful wife is kidnapped. Then Her husband Ramachandra is devastated. Where to find His beloved one? Separation makes it so intensive, so painful. And after a lot of different encounters finally Rama understands that Sita is in custody in Shri Lanka, on an island. Ravana, who kidnapped Sita, tries to seduce Her. But of course Sita is a very faithful wife. And due to some curse Ravana cannot touch a lady; only if she is willing to go with him. Then it’s a dead end story for him, because Sita will never go with him. And in this separation Sita is very sad, although She’s got all the facilities, because this Ravana is quite a wealthy guy and he provides a pleasure garden for Sita Devi. She is sitting in a very depressed mood under a special tree. What is that tree? That tree is called ashoka tree. And the meaning of ashoka is ‘no lamentation’. You see! And She is sitting under such a tree that brings you no lamentation, but She is fully sad, due to the separation from Her beloved husband. But when the news reached Ram that Hanuman, a very obedient servant, had found Sita in Shri Lanka, they decided that they would free Her. But there is the ocean; Rama is on the continent, Sita is on the island – what to do? Of course for God it is nothing special to walk on the water. But this time Ramachandra decided it in a different way: “Let’s build a bridge across the ocean.” Quite a nice engineering task, hm? But He had good and very powerful friends, like the monkey soldiers and some other helpers who brought all the rocks and stones. But you know, if you drop a piece of stone into the water, what will happen? It will sink in the waters. It’s very similar to a devotee who gives up his practices. He will also drown in the ocean of ignorance. Therefore some magic must be done over these stones, so that they don’t sink in the waters. Then what did they invent? They started to write the name ‘Rama’ on each stone. And when they threw the stones into the water what happened? They didn’t submerge. They were floating. In this way it was so easy to build the bridge. You see, the name or Rama helps the laws of nature to change.

Now you say: ‘Ah, legends from the old times.’ But as I told you, it’s not necessary to believe anything in our process; better you try. Once we visited one temple in India. A very simple, isolated temple – nothing special. But the swamiji of the temple said: “And by the way, have you seen the floating rocks?” I said: “Floating rocks? Yes, I have heard about that, but I haven’t seen them.” Then he said: “Come with me.” They had a little pond inside the temple complex, in the center of the pond there was a little shrine. Swamiji helped us to come closer to the water and he told to one disciple: “Please show the stones.” And the miracle happened. They brought the stone, put it onto the water and it started to float. It’s not necessary to believe; you can go, I can give you the directions. But we do believe that the divine name can overwrite the rules and regulations.

(to be continued)