Jai SitaRam Sri Ranganji SG 2019 – Discourse A Brief Synopsis of the Five-day Discourse Series

நான் கண்ட மேகங்கள் இத்鏁ணண ேணை ப ா펿ந்தனம ா? நான் பகாண்ட 뿂கங்கள் இத்鏁ணண கற் ணனகள் அளித்தனம ா? நாே் பெய்뿁ே் ாதங்கள் இத்鏁ணண நிணறண தந்தனம ா? யாே잿மயன் எனத்தான் 埂றம ண்翁ே் ரா ரமே ஆ뾿ன் .... யாே் ப ற்ற இன் ே் ப 쟁க இ ்ண யகமே !

It was a five-day Ramayana festival that all of us experienced to our hearts’ content. Ramayana was reverberating in that hall during the discourse and in all our hearts all the time. As a seva, I have written and mailed a summary of each day’s highlights in some detail, each day last week. For those who have not had the opportunity to go through them here is a very brief synopsis.

On the first day, he commenced from saranagathi which he had covered in the previous year and began from the famous charama sloka of avatharam “Sakrid eva prapannaaya”. He highlighted that “abhayapradaanam” was the very essence of Ramayana. He moved on to Rama following a three day vratam, on the dharba sayanam, seeking Samudra Raja’s cooperation in their venture to cross the ocean. When Samudra Raja did not honour Rama with his appearance, Rama flies into a bout of anger and thunders that he would dry up the ocean. A very perturbed Samudra Raja appears before Rama and offers his help to support a Sethu (bridge) if Rama’s army builds one (under , the amsam of Vishwakarma). At this juncture a couple of lovely gems came out from Sri Ranganji, about “Sri Koorathazhwan’s Atimaanushastavam”, “Dhanush kodi”, “Sri Madhwacharya’s striking interpretation of the term ‘amsam’”, “the great service by the legendary squirrel” etc. The discourse beautifully painted the Sethu Bandhanam and Rama sena’s camping on the Suvela mountain. And then Sri Ranganji delivered a tender narration of the sarga describing the friendly rakshasi comforting Devi. The first day was a traditional and gentle Ramayana based discourse. The flavor was “Saatvikam”.

The second day saw a very different flavor. A fiery narration about the rich History of Bharat interlinked with the resilience of Sanatana Dharma lit up the discourse. ’s advice to to respect dharma and act as per dharma and to understand that Rama is none other than Himself, formed the base of the second day’s discourse. But then the discourse took a different shape to establish that even if Adharma seems to succeed temporarily it is Dharma which triumphs eventually. The western concept of “Survival of the fittest”and the eastern concept of “Righteousness (dharma) triumphs” were discussed by Sri Ranganji in great detail. And he concluded that Dharma triumphs because God stands behind Dharma. In a way the second day also became like a detailed treatise on the Bhagavad Gita sloka “Yadaa yadaa hy dharmasya glaanir bhavati ”. Second day’s flavor was clearly “Viiryam”.

The third day saw Sri Ranganji basing his discourse essentially on Tulsi Ramayanam (Ramcharithmanas). The ’s mission to Ravana as Rama Dhootha was powerfully narrated by him from Tulsi Ramayanam. Before that he spent a few minutes on Sugreeva’s impulsive adventure of jumping over to where Ravana was and entering into a huge one to one battle with him. The way Sugreeva introduced himself to Ravana “lokanaathasya ramasya sakhaa daasosmi ” was a classic one in this episode. The Angada episode was wonderfully treated by Sri Ranganji with Tulsidas’ beautiful narration in the rustic Awadhi language reverberating throughout the hall. The flavor of the day was “Tulsi Rasam”.

The fourth day witnessed a serene and auspicious Sita Kalyanam rich with musical offerings and lovely nama sankeerthanam, in the forenoon session. And on the evening discourse stage there was a surprise awaited everyone. Over the first half an hour or so, Baby Champaka, Sri Ranganji’s very young daughter, delivered a superb discourse on Sita Kalyanam. The way the slokas were strung together from Kandam (Atri-Anasuya Ashramam) & Bala Kandam gave the whole Sita Kalyanam discourse a very flowing and rich feel. The narration itself was full of “bhaavam”. The slokas came out from the young speaker with such crystal clarity that it was sheer pleasure to listen to. I had tears in my eyes when Baby Champaka chanted the slokas describing Sita Devi as she was being led by King to Prince Rama in the vivaham (tathas Siitaam samaaneeya sarvaabharana bhuushithaa). Some of her expressions such as “ராமர் நாணை 毁ை்羿 இ폁க்埁ம்ப ா鏁 毀ணை뾿ன் மனை்ணை뿁ம் 毁ை்羿 இ폁ை்ைார்”, “ராம쏁க்埁 அꮿ믁கமாக 毀ணைணை நி쟁ை்鎿னார்” were all extremely captivating. Sri Ranganji continued with his discourse of Yuddha Kandam. He systematically explained the strategic placements of the different divisions of the rival armies and their assigned leaders, by both Ravana and Lord Rama. While discussing the first battle of Ravana, the narration covered how an unconscious realized his swarupam and became so heavy for Ravana that he found it impossible to lift him … and how with devotion when lifted him he became so light for him …. Was very thought provoking. The episode of Garuda coming over to the battle ground to release Lakshmana from the Nagastram of Indrajith, and Garuda’s very puzzling interaction with Sri Rama saw a magnificent narration by Sri Ranganji. The day ended with a detailed narration of Ravana- Rama yuddham where Ravana loses everything and Rama leaves him free to go back and refresh himself for the next day’s battle …. “இன்쟁 ப ாை் நாணை வா”. With Sita Kalyanam function in the morning and Sita Kalyanam discourse by Baby Champaka, the day’s flavor was undoubtedly “Shringara rasam”.

The fifth & final day saw a brief exposition by Sri Ranganji on why Ramayana yuddham has to be understood as a “Dharma Yuddham”. Then the discourse went into the episode of in the battle field and his eventual destruction in the hands of Rama. The tender moment of the day was when Sri Ranganji brought out the finer emotions of the brothers Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana exchanging their affectionate enquiries and Kumbhakarna’s appreciation of Vibhishana sticking to Dharma while Karma beckons Kumbhakarna. With this episode of Kumbhakarna vadham and Lord Rama standing victorious in the battle ground, the discourse came to a fitting conclusion. At this juncture, Sri Ranganji indicated that next year would see the conclusion of Ramayana Discourse of the nearly twenty years, with Pattabhishekam.

Sri Neelabala Sarmaji delivered a short but rich talk pointing out the wonderful concept of “Sarve Janah sukino bhavantu” (which dominated the early part of Sri Ranganji’s discourse that day) and the power of sathsangam with Mahans like Sri Ranganji. He praised Sri Ranganji as the representative of Sri Sri Anna himself. When he said this, the term ‘amsam’, on which Sri Ranganji had elaborated much during the week, came to my mind immediately. As Sri Neelabala Sarmaji rightly mentioned, all our prayers To Lord Sita Rama to bless Sri Ranganji to be coming to Singapore for many many years to come and keep guiding the devotees in the marga of bhakthi.

Jai SitaRam

V.Prabhakar Rao Coimbatore/Singapore Feb 26 2019