SB 2.7.23–25 – Sri Rama-navami

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Again, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven – “Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions”

TEXT 23

asmat-prasāda-sumukhaḥ kalayā kaleśa

ikṣvāku-vaṁśa avatīrya guror nideśe

tiṣṭhan vanaṁ sa-dayitānuja āviveśa

yasmin virudhya daśa-kandhara ārtim ārcchat

TRANSLATION

Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in the family of Mahārāja Ikṣvāku as the Lord of His internal potency, Sītā. Under the order of His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, He entered the forest and lived there for considerable years with His wife and younger brother. Rāvaṇa, who was very materially powerful, with ten heads on his shoulders, committed a great offense against Him and was thus ultimately vanquished.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

Lord Rāma is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His brothers, namely Bharata, Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna, are His plenary expansions. All four brothers are viṣṇu-tattva and were never ordinary human beings. There are many unscrupulous and ignorant commentators on Rāmāyaṇa who present the younger brothers of Lord Rāmacandra as ordinary living entities. But here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the most authentic scripture on the science of Godhead, it is clearly stated that His brothers were His plenary expansions. Originally Lord Rāmacandra is the incarnation of Vāsudeva, Lakṣmaṇa is the incarnation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, Bharata is the incarnation of Pradyumna, and Śatrughna is the incarnation of Aniruddha, expansions of the Personality of Godhead. Lakṣmījī Sītā is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of Durgā. Durgā is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Śiva.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.7), the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion. Lord Rāmacandra also appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of the Lord’s internal potency, and by Lakṣmījī Sītādevī.

COMMENT

So, here Srila Prabhupada is referring to Bhagavad-gītā 4.7

TEXT

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

abhyutthānam adharmasya

tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

TRANSLATION

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.

COMMENT

And I will read a little from Srila Prabhupada’s purport because it relates directly to Lord Ramachandra as well as to Lord Krishna.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

The word sṛjāmi is significant herein. Sṛjāmi cannot be used in the sense of creation, because, according to the previous verse, there is no creation of the Lord’s form or body, since all of the forms are eternally existent. Therefore, sṛjāmi means that the Lord manifests Himself as He is. Although the Lord appears on schedule, namely at the end of the Dvāpara-yuga of the twenty-eighth millennium of the seventh Manu in one day of Brahmā, He has no obligation to adhere to such rules and regulations, because He is completely free to act in many ways at His will. 

COMMENT

So, this is very significant and fortunate for us because Krishna in His original form appears only once in a day of Brahma and Lord Chaitanya also appears once in a day of Brahma in the Kali-yuga, that immediately follows the Dvapara-yuga, in which Krishna appeared. So, we are very fortunate to be living in the universe just five thousand years after Krishna in His original form appeared and just five hundred years after Lord Chaitanya appeared and we are even more fortunate because we have come in touch with Srila Prabhupada. Lord Chaitanya predicted

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma

sarvatra pracāra hoibe mora nāma

“In every town and village in every country of the world, My name or Krishna’s name will be preached or chanted.”

And for many decades, even devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu could not understand that such a thing could actually take place. They thought perhaps it was some sort of metaphor or poetic exclamation and it was really our beloved Srila Prabhupada who fulfilled that desire and prediction of Lord Chaitanya. So, now go back to the purport to the verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.7.23

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

Lord Rāmacandra was ordered by His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the King of Ayodhyā

COMMENT

So, the history is that Maharaja Dasaratha had three wives. One was Kausalya who was the mother of Rama and one was Kaikeya who was the mother of Bharata. So, Kaikeya had served her husband very well when he was in a difficult situation and he offered to give her two benedictions. She said, “I will not take the benedictions now but when I require them, I will approach you.” So, on the eve of Lord Ramachandra’s coronation, she approached her husband and said, “You remember you promised me two boons?” 

“Yes”

“And I told you that I will ask for them when I require them.”

“Yes.”

“So, now I want those benedictions. The first benediction I want is that my son Bharata should be installed on the throne and the second is that Rama should be sent into exile for fourteen years.” Because she considered that Bharata might become the king but then Rama might return with an army and take over the kingdom. So, she was very diplomatic and she added the condition that Rama should go to exile for fourteen years. Actually, Rama loved Kaikeya just like He loved His own mother and she also loved Him like she loved her own son but she had a maid servant named Mantara who gave her very bad advice. Mantara, in a very selfish way, was thinking of her own position that if Kaikeya’s son Bharata becomes the king, then Mantara’s own position will be better. So, Maharaja Dasaratha was a righteous king and he kept his promise and Rama was also the perfect son and accepted the order without any argument.

So, coming back to the purport.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

Lord Rāmacandra was ordered by His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the King of Ayodhyā. One of His younger brothers, Lakṣmaṇajī, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, Sītājī, desired to go with Him. The Lord agreed to both of them.

COMMENT

Actually at first, Lord Rama discouraged Sita devi. He said, “You are the daughter of the king. You are used to living a very comfortable and luxurious life. Life in a forest will be very difficult for you. So, better you stay with your father.” But Sita devi refused. She said, “I am your wife and I must follow you wherever you go, no matter what the circumstances are. Just like the shadow follows the person.”

So, back to the purport.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

The Lord agreed to both of them, and all together they entered the Daṇḍakāraṇya Forest, to live there for fourteen years. During their stay in the forest, there was some quarrel between Rāmacandra and Rāvaṇa, and the latter kidnapped the Lord’s wife, Sītā. The quarrel ended in the vanquishing of the greatly powerful Rāvaṇa, along with all his kingdom and family. Sītā is Lakṣmījī, or the goddess of fortune, but she is never to be enjoyed by any living being.

COMMENT

So, we always worship the Lord’s energy along with the Lord as Radha-Krishna, as Lakshmi-Narayana, as Sita-Rama.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

She is meant for being worshiped by the living being along with her husband, Śrī Rāmacandra. A materialistic man like Rāvaṇa does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch Sītādevī from the custody of Rāma and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the Rāmāyaṇa that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Supreme Lord is the policy of Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Laṅkā, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord Rāmacandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, Sītā, Rāvaṇa was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.

Lord Rāmacandra is a full incarnation with six opulences in full, and He is therefore mentioned in this verse as kaleśaḥ, or master of all opulence.

COMMENT

So, now I will relate some significant pastimes related to Lord Ramachandra. When Rāvaṇa abducted Sita, Lord Ramachandra began to search for her throughout the forest and while He was looking for her, He came across Jatayu, who was a bird, an eagle, and Jatayu had seen Rāvaṇa carrying away Sita. So, he fought with Rāvaṇa and although Jatayu was very powerful, he was quite old at the time and therefore, he was not able to defeat Rāvaṇa. So, when Lord Ramachandra came upon Jatayu and heard the story of how he fought with Rāvaṇa and how he was defeated, He was very touched by Jatayu’s sacrifice and He took on His lap and caressed him and eventually Jatayu left his body and Lord Ramachandra performed the funeral rite for him just like a son would do for the father.

So then, Lord Rama made some alliances with some monkeys who lived in the jungle and eventually they came to the southern tip of India and they wanted to build a bridge to cross the ocean to go to Lanka. So while they were at the shore, Hanuman, the great Hanuman, was heaving huge boulders into the ocean and there was a little squirrel who was flicking grains of sand into the ocean and Hanuman chastised the squirrel, “Can’t you see that I am heaving these huge boulders into the ocean? You are just getting in my way.” And the squirrel replied, “But I want to serve Lord Rama too.” So, Sri Ramachandra overheard the conversation and chided Hanuman that, “You are serving Me to your capacity and this small squirrel is serving Me to her capacity. So, in My eyes, you both are serving the same. And besides, I am the one who is making the boulders float. So, why are you taking the credit?”

So, I will just skip ahead to the verse that concludes this section and it is a beautiful verse. It is one of my favorites. It is Text Twenty-five, just two verses later.

TEXT 25

vakṣaḥ-sthala-sparśa-rugna-mahendra-vāha-

dantair viḍambita-kakubjuṣa ūḍha-hāsam

sadyo ‘subhiḥ saha vineṣyati dāra-hartur

visphūrjitair dhanuṣa uccarato ‘dhisainye

TRANSLATION

When Rāvaṇa was engaged in the battle, the trunk of the elephant which carried the King of heaven, Indra, broke in pieces, having collided with the chest of Rāvaṇa, and the scattered broken parts illuminated all directions. Rāvaṇa therefore felt proud of his prowess and began to loiter in the midst of the fighting soldiers, thinking himself the conqueror of all directions. But his laughter, overtaken by joy, along with his very air of life, suddenly ceased with the tingling sound of the bow of Rāmacandra, the Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

However powerful a living being may be, when he is condemned by God no one can save him, and, similarly, however weak one may be, if he is protected by the Lord no one can annihilate him.

COMMENT

Yes, it is said – rākhe kṛṣṇa māre ke, māre kṛṣṇa rākhe ke—that if Krishna wants to kill someone, who can save him? And if Krishna protect someone, who can kill him? So, Rāvaṇa was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and in the end, when he was in difficulty, Parvati said to her husband, Lord Shiva that, “Rāvaṇa is your great devotee and now he is in difficulty. Why don’t you do something to help him?” And Lord Shiva replied, “When Rāvaṇa is destined to be killed by Ramachandra, what can I do?”

So, Hare Krishna, my dear devotees. Thank you for listening so patiently and attentively. So, now if any of you have any questions or comments, any reflections, you can raise your hand, your virtual hand.

Devotee: Maharaja, this is Vijay Krishna dasa from the Portuguese yatra. [Unintelligible 1:02:33–1:02:35] archipelago.

Giriraj Swami: Very good!

Devotee: Maharaja, thank you very much. You are very kind. My humble obeisances. Maharaja, Sita devi went to the forest although she was a princess and princesses are meant to live in the palaces with all the comforts. So, princesses are not meant to live in the forest because how harsh. . .

Giriraj Swami: That is exactly what Lord Rama told her.

Devotee: Yes, but still she went. So, in a similar way, Srila Prabhupada did the same. Although he was living in Vrindavan with all the spiritual comforts to be offered to him because of living in Vrindavan dhāma and because of being the exalted Vaishnava he was, he did it in a similar way. He abandoned Vrindavan dhāma and he went to the Western countries in order to fulfill the instruction of his spiritual master. So based on all of this, my question is what is the inner motivation in both hearts, in the heart of Sita and in the heart of Srila Prabhupada, for them to act as such?

Giriraj Swami: The inner motivation of Sita was that She wanted to serve Her husband and accompany Him and serve Him as His wife. And the motivation of Srila Prabhupada is that he wanted to serve the order of his spiritual master and make people happy, people who are suffering in ignorance of their eternal relationship with God, he wanted to make them happy through Krishna consciousness.

Once, I told Srila Prabhupada that I had heard that all of our service here in this material world is ultimately meant to bring Radha and Krishna together. And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “Lakshmi, or wealth, is in the possession of the Westerners and they are like Rāvaṇa, trying to exploit Lakshmi and I am like Lord Ramachandra, who crossed the ocean to save Lakshmi or Sita from Rāvaṇa and just as Lord Ramachandra was assisted by so many monkeys, I have been assisted by you all.”

Devotee: So, Maharaja, if I may say it, very helpful, as to be expected, such a beautiful answer to my question. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna and Happy Rama-navami.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you very much.

Devotee: You are most welcome Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: You have make it more happy.

Devotee: Thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Any other questions or comments? Hemagauri dasi.

Devotee: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja. Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Guru Maharaja, I have a question. Actually I have two questions, but I will go one by one. What is the actual color of Lord Ramachandra? Because in the temples we know that Krishna has a bluish complexion, because there doesn’t exist any blue marble, so they make it either black or white, but I have never seen a greenish image of Lord Ramachandra. He is always in fair color, so what exactly is the color of Lord Ramachandra?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, He is greenish and it is described that He is the color of grass. I think the exact color of grass but in terms of deities, He is usually shown in white.

Devotee: Thank you guru Maharaja, and my second question is when Sita Mata was, after the battle, when Lord Ramachandra brought Her to the kingdom, She had to undergo this agni pariksha and then there was a sequence that, because of the comments made by a washer man, Lord Ramachandra had to tell Sita to go into the forest. So, if She already did that agni pariksha, why did Lord Ramachandra send Her to the forest?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it is true that after Lord Ramachandra delivered Sita from Rāvaṇa, there was some question because she had spent the night away from Her husband. So, she was put into fire to test her and actually, the original Sita was taken into custody of the fire God, Agni, and the Sita that was in Lanka was maya Sita, not the original Sita. So, during the examination by fire, Agni took the original Sita from his custody and, she passed the fire test. But the reason that Rama banished Sita is not because He had any doubts about Her chastity. He banished her, as you said, because of the, you could say, malicious gossip of the washer man because Lord Rama, as the ideal king wanted to be above suspicion, so He banished her.

Devotee: I mean, guru Maharaja, we see in the Rāmāyaṇa, I mean, from the beginning, Lord Rama had to be in exile, then He was separated from His wife and then He had to tell His wife to do the agni pariksha and then He had to tell Her to go to the forest; it is so painful and yet, the very name of Rama signifies pleasure, bliss.

Giriraj Swami: Externally, it was suffering but internally, it was bliss. I will read one verse and purport that. . . So, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Nine, Chapter Ten. There is a summary of the Rāmāyaṇa in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Nine, Chapter Ten and Eleven.

So, on this point of the apparent distress being bliss, I will read Canto Nine, Chapter Ten, Text Eleven and to save time I will just read the translation and purport.

TRANSLATION

When Rāmacandra entered the forest and Lakṣmaṇa was also absent, the worst of the Rākṣasas, Rāvaṇa, kidnapped Sītādevī, the daughter of the King of Videha, just as a tiger seizes unprotected sheep when the shepherd is absent. Then Lord Rāmacandra wandered in the forest with His brother Lakṣmaṇa as if very much distressed due to separation from His wife. Thus He showed by His personal example the condition of a person attached to women.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

In this verse the words strī-saṅgināṁ gatim iti indicate that the condition of a person attached to women was shown by the Lord Himself. According to moral instructions, gṛhe nārīṁ vivarjayet: when one goes on a tour, one should not bring his wife. Formerly men used to travel without conveyances, but still, as far as possible, when one leaves home one should not take his wife with him, especially if one is in such a condition as Lord Rāmacandra when banished by the order of His father.

Of course, this is the material side of strī-saṅgī, but the situation of Lord Rāmacandra is spiritual, for He does not belong to the material world. Nārāyaṇaḥ paro ‘vyaktāt: Nārāyaṇa is beyond the material creation. Because He is the creator of the material world, He is not subject to the conditions of the material world. The separation of Lord Rāmacandra from Sītā is spiritually understood as vipralambha, which is an activity of the hlādinī potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead belonging to the śṛṅgāra-rasa, the mellow of conjugal love in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world the Supreme Personality of Godhead has all the dealings of love, displaying the symptoms called sāttvika, sañcārī, vilāpa, mūrcchā and unmāda. Thus when Lord Rāmacandra was separated from Sītā, all these spiritual symptoms were manifested. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, the eternal form of knowledge and bliss. Thus He has all the symptoms of spiritual bliss. Feeling separation from one’s beloved is also an item of spiritual bliss.

Devotee: This is for the devotees. 

Devotee: Perfect, thank you so much Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Alright.

Devotee: I think Maha Lakshmi has her hand raised. I don’t know whether it is a mistake or she wants to ask a question.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, there is time.

Devotee: Hemagauri was asking the colors of Lord Rama and we also explored how Lord Krishna how He is bluish, so there are many colors in the spiritual world for personalities and even for cows. It was very shocking. Although we know that Krishna is bluish and Lord Ramachandra is greenish, I said, “Wow! It is. . .”

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible 1:28:28-1:28:33]

Devotee: And there are more colors, besides bluish and greenish that we hear?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, golden.

Devotee: Oh!

Devotee: Also there is a color, white color in Satya-yuga, as appearance of Krishna in white and red in Treta-yuga.

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible 1:29:08-1:29:11]

Devotee: How wonderful!

Giriraj Swami: Alright my dear devotees. Again, thank you for joining us for this Rama kathā on the occasion of Sri Rama-navami. Now, if there are no more questions and comments, I suggest we end with vaiṣṇava-praṇāma.

vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca kripa-sindhubhya eva ca

patitanam pavanebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo namah

Ananta-koṭi vaiṣṇava-vṛnda ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!