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Power of Rama Nama - Part 1 Date: 2019-04-14 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev. Today is the auspicious day of Sri Rama Navami, the appearance day of Lord Rama. Our beloved Gurudev had a special attachment for Lord Rama and that attachment has resulted in Lord Rama manifesting today in the Radha Neelamadhav Dham at Rajkot in the new temple - The Glory of Saurashtra. The pastime of Lord Rama have many great lessons for humanity as an ideal human being, ideal king, ideal friend, ideal brother, ideal son etc., From the spiritual point of view, the pastime of Lord Rama explains the power of the holy name of the Lord i.e. Rama nama. The power of Rama nama and Rama katha has been brought very well in the Valmiki Ramayana and other scriptures. There are many instances where this point is brought and we will see a few instances among them. After Mother Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, Lord Rama sought the help of Sugriva and a portion of his army of monkeys headed by Hanuman were sent to the southern side to search for Mother Sita. While searching on the southern side, they finally reached the sea and beyond that they did not know what to do, since they need to cross the ocean to continue the search further. They were very disappointed and decided to give up their life as they were clueless what to do next. At that time, Sampati, brother of Jatayu saw them fasting to death. His feathers were burnt and he could not move anywhere. So he thought if all the monkeys die, it will be a feast for him for months. But when he overhead the conversation of the monkeys which also contained information about his brother Jatayu, he became curious and asked the monkeys for details. The monkeys told him the whole story and Sampati informed the monkeys that Ravana was carrying one woman who was constantly chanting, "Rama, Rama". He told the monkeys, "He has mostly kept Mother Sita in the Lanka which is beyond the ocean. If one of you can cross the ocean, you can find her and save her". At that time, the monkeys expressed their inability to cross the ocean. At this point Sampati spoke the following sloka (Adhyatma Ramayana, Brahmanda Purana 61.8.55) which was a great tonic to the monkeys to cross the ocean, yan nāma smṛti mātro aparimitam samsāra vāramnidhim tīrtvā gacchati durjano' pi paramo viṣṇo padam śāśvataṁ tasyaiva sthiti kāriṇā tri jagatām rāmasya bhaktāḥ yūyaṁ kim na samudra mātra tarane śaktaḥ katham vānaraḥ Just by constantly remembering the name of Lord Rama, even Supremely sinful persons, are able to cross this immeasurable ocean of material existence and attain the Supreme abode of Lord Vishnu. Your are all servants of Lord Rama, His dear devotees and messengers. So what is the difficulty for you in crossing this ocean? This sloka is very profound and served as a great impetus for the monkeys, especially Sri Hanumanji to cross the ocean and he also later admits that he was able to cross the ocean inspired by the holy name of Lord Rama. We will meditate on this in the further offerings, Krishna willing. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev, Narahari Krishna das Rajkot. Power of Rama Nama - Part 2 Date: 2019-04-15 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev. This is in conclusion of the series titled, "Power of Rama Nama" where we are meditating on the sloka spoken by Sampati to the monkeys who were bewildered about how to cross the ocean. Sampati told them that by chanting/remembering the name of Lord Rama, one can cross over the ocean of samsara which is immeasurable. But the ocean to Lanka is measurable and limited. Similarly, by chanting the holy name of Lord Rama, even the worst of sinners can cross the ocean of samsara and reach the other side of ocean (which is the spiritual world). The monkeys are not sinners but great devotees and servants of Lord Rama and trying to find Mother Sita as a service to Rama. So they need not feel despondent and they should take shelter of the name of Lord Rama to cross the ocean. Hanumanji took the clue from this statement of Sampati and when he was encouraged by Jambavan (who reminded Hanumanji of his strength and abilities), he meditated on the name of Lord Rama and prayed to all the devatas such as Indra and Vayu. He then expanded his form to very huge size and leaped into the sky and crossed the ocean. When he met mother Sita, she asked Hanumanji how he was able to cross over the ocean to reach Lanka. The answer given by Hanumanji is very interesting and this is stated in the Rama lila of Narasimha purana verses 51.38-39 as follows, katham atrāgato vīra tvam uttīrya mahodadhim ity ākarṇya vacas tasyāḥ punas tām āha vānaraḥ goṣpadavan mayottīrṇaḥ samudro 'yaṃ varānane japato rāma rāmeti sāgaro goṣpadāyate Mother Sita asked Hanumanji: How you were able to cross this great Ocean, O Monkey warrior? Hanumanji hearing this question replied, This ocean was crossed by me like hoof print of a cow, O beautiful lady. I was chanting the holy name Rama, Rama again and again and because of this the ocean appeared like a hoof print of a cow. Just like the ocean appeared as hoof print of a cow to Hanumanji since he took shelter of the name of Lord Rama, for devotees the ocean of material existence becomes very small like a hoof print of a cow so that they can easily cross over. The Bhagavata purana goes one step beyond states that for devotees who takes shelter of the Lord, the ocean of material world is like hoof print of a calf (not even cow). The below sloka from Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.58 states this, samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. Let us all pray at the lotus feet of Sri Sita Rama and Lakshman Hanuman who has graciously appeared in the new Rajkot temple so that they give the mercy of the Lord’s holy name and take us beyond this material existence. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev, Narahari Krishna das Chennai..
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