Bala Kandam

Translation into English from Thunjathu Ezhuthachan's Malayalam translation of Adhyathma Ramayanam

By P.R.Ramachander

This first chapter of Ramayana starts with the prayer of the author, his request to the parrot to tell the story of Rama, The importance of Ramayana with a concise entire story as told by Lord Shiva to Goddess Parvathi, The request of mother earth, devas and Brahma to Lord Vishnu to put an end to the troubles caused by Ravana, the conduct of Putrakeshti by king Dasaratha, Birth of Rama, Bharatha, Lakshmana and Shatrugna, their education, visit of sage Viswamithra to Dasaratha with a request to send Lord Rama to help him to protect the Fire sacrifice he is conducting to please the manes, Killing of Thadaga, Killing of Subahu, conduct of the fire Sacrifice, story of Ahalya, lifting of curse on her by Lord Rama, prayer of Ahalya addressed to Rama, Visit of Rama to Mithila, his marriage with Sita, and the destruction of pride of Parasurama.

I.1 Prayers by the author

Rama, Rama, Rama, victory to Ramachandra, Rama, Rama, Rama, victory to Ramabhadra, Rama, Rama, Rama victory to the ever pretty one of Sita, Rama, Rama, Rama, victory to the stealer of the mind of the world, Rama, Rama, Rama, victory to the killer of Ravana, Rama, please make my mind joyous, Rama, Rama, The soul of Raghava-Rama, the consort of Lakshmi-Rama, Salutations to Rama, who has a very pretty mien, Salutations to Narayana, Salutations to Narayana, Salutations to Narayana, Salutations to Narayana, Oh she parrot who came singing the name of Rama, Without any hesitation, please tell us the story of Rama, That baby of the parrot saluted those who are great, And started telling with the memory of Rama.

Prayer to Ganesha

The causal leader of the ganas, The one who has the soul of Brahma, The epitome of mercy, the god made possible By Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi, The one who has an elephant face, Is being saluted by me to the best possible extent, So that he helps me to completely cross the blockades created by my fate.

Prayer to Saraswati

Please come, and live always on my toungue, Oh Goddess Saraswathi, who has a pretty varied form, Who is the soul of Vedas, Without and sense of shame please dance on my tongue, Oh Goddess with deer like limbs, like the one dressed by sky in the forest, Oh Bala, who lives in the face of Lord Brahma, born out of a lotus, Like the tides in the wide ocean, Make the words of the language come in front of me from time to time, Oh Goddess with auspiciousness, Do not bother to see appropriateness again and again.

Prayer to Lord Krishna, Sage Vyasa, & Sage Valmiki

Let Lord Krishna who was born in the clan of Vrushnis, And who was Lord Vishnu, the soul of the world, bless me specially, I salute sage Vyasa who was born in the family that started from Vishnu, Who was really a sage who can be considered as incarnation of Vishnu, And who was the one who saw the illusory history of Lord Vishnu, And who was the one who wrote all the epics. I salute that sage Valmiki who wrote Ramayana, Which is equal to the four Vedas And who was deeply respected by Lord Brahma with four heads, And who was a great sage so that he grants me boons always.

General Prayer to Brahma, elders, & teachers

I should be helped by the devas like Lord Brahma, Great sages like Narada, Goddess Parvathi, the consort of lord Shiva And also my goddess Lakshmi who was born out of a lotus. I salute the causal Brahmin leaders, who examined my work, And also removed all the weakness in my work by toiling effort. My teacher told me That, all the Vedas, Are the God who is basis of different worlds. Those who are the basis of all the Vedas, Are to be seen as the great Gods of this earth. Through them and are on the part of Lord Vishnu, Shiva and other lords, And they who were the part of Vedas, To whom they will teach all they know?

Introduction by Vyasa

(The author gives a brief introduction to Ramayana and expresses that he is not a Brahmin and says that in spite of that he will pray God that he becomes capable of telling the story of Ramayana)

This servant who has been working under their feet, Who is the wise man among the lowest Hindu Varnas, Am attempting to tell the old Ramayana which has been approved by Vedas, In such a way that even the ignorant would easily understand it, And I pray that the Vedas, vedangas and knowledge emanating from Vedas, Should become clear to my mind and I would try my best in my attempt.

Let Lord Indra, the lord of Devas, Agni who is the Lord of Swaha, Lord Yama who is the lord of manes, Varuna, the Lord of water, The wind God, Kubhera the God of all wealth, The treasure of mercy Lord Shiva, Moon who is the Lord of stars, Lord Ganapathi who is the son of Lord Shiva, Lord Shiva who is the leader of Pramadhas, Lord Sun who is the soul of hearing and speech, the Lord of lands, All the beings of this world which move and do not move, Should bless me who does not have the support of any one, And I salute all of them through my innermost mind. My elder brother who is much greater in scholarship to me, My teacher who lives with very many disciples, Let Rama the teacher and all the chief elders who are my teachers, Should always live and bless me from my innermost self.

The Ramayana was composed by Lord Brahma in olden times, And had hundred billion slokas in this world. Once a hunter chanted the name of Rama, And he became a great saint and seeing this Lord Brahma, Ordered him to write Ramayana so that, It would help in the salvation of all beings on this earth, And Lord Narada then taught him Ramayana, And the Goddess Saraswathi occupied the tongue of Valmiki.

Let her also live like that in my tongue also, But I feel ashamed when I realize that I do not have sufficient wisdom, As I am not authorized to learn Vedas and Sasthras, I request you to please overlook and pardon this. This Adhyathma Ramayana gives rise to divine wisdom, And is also kept as very secret and has been told by Lord Shiva himself, And all human beings who learn this great book, Would definitely get salvation even within this life. Please hear all this with great devotion, This greatness of Rama has been told to you in a summary form, Also if this is happened to be heard by wise people, They would get rid of all problems immediately and also attain salvation.

For lessening the burden of this earth, When Brahma and other devas, with great devotion, Prayed Lord Vishnu who was sleeping on a snake in the ocean of milk, He was born in the clan of Sun god as the son of Dasaratha who was greatly valorous, And sent asuras who travel at night like Ravana, To the town of the son of Sun God(Yama), And later attained first the divine position, And I salute the divine feet of him who is the consort of Lakshmi.

I.3 Uma Maheswara samvadham

(The dialogue between Shiva and Parvathi where a Summary of Ramayana is being told)

That goddess who is the pretty daughter of ice mountain
And who lives on his left side saluted and asked with devotion,
Him who lives on Kailasa mountain with the light of billions of suns,
In the purest of temple sitting on the jeweled throne in the yogic pose,
Who has an eye on his forehead, who is served by sages, devas and Sidhas,
Who has a blue red colour and who is her husband.

“Oh Lord who is the soul of all beings, Oh divine God, victory to you.
Oh God who lives on all worlds, Oh god of all, Oh greatest god,
Oh Sarvaa, Oh Sankara, Oh God who likes people who surrender to you,
Oh God of all devas, Oh Lord of all universe, Oh Sea of mercy,
Even if a matter is that which is a great secret,
Those people who are greater than the greatest,
When they see devotion, faith and services,
It seems teach it to their great devotees.
And so I have taken courage to ask your great self,
Along with great expectation and a mind full of devotion,
“If you have at least a small mercy on me,
Now teach me the principle of the God Rama.”

Difference in philosophies, renunciations involving sciences and wisdom,
The real symptoms of devotion, Sankhya, Yoga and other aspects,
The result of going to temple and starving, the result of doing fire sacrifices,
The result of taking bath in sacred waters, the result of charity and gifts,
The dharmas of different castes and the dharmas suiting period of life,
Are heard to be with me always due to the blessings of the great yourself,
And my heart is filled with happiness due to it,
And having heard the cause of attachment as well as renunciation,
My mental blindness has completely left me, Oh God of the universe.
“I have great desire in my mind to hear the story of God Rama,
And if I am suitable to hear it, Oh sea of mercy, please shower your grace on me,
For except you oh great God there is no one who can tell me this.”
The Goddess Karthyayani, Parvathi, Bhagwathi,
Said like this to the Parameshwara who is a great God,
And hearing this the great God, who is the lord of entire universe,
Answered her with a very happy smile.

“Blessed one, wife, daughter of the mountain, Hey Parvathi, Hey lady,
Oh Darling no one has devotion to god as much as you have,
It is great luck that in your mind that a desire was formed,
To hear the principles of the God Rama.
So far no one has requested for this and on your oath,
I also have not told about it to anybody, oh darling of the soul.
To get a great desire to know the very secret,
Principle behind the divine God shows your wonderful devotion.
Which increased greatly in the branch of your mind,
I would salute the lotus feet of Rama and summarize,
The wonderful and essential principle. Please hear it from me.”

God Rama, the divine God, the God who is in divine bliss,
Lord Vishnu, the cause of nature, one who is alone and divine,
The greatest of men, God,The endless one, the primeval lord,
Teacher, the merciful one, the greatest one, The divine Brahmam,
The God who is responsible for creation, upkeep and destruction of the world,
The God who is himself Vishnu, Brahma and Lord Shiva,
He who does not have second, the first one,
He who loves people, The God who is Rama the soul.
The divine one who is the meaning of principles,
He who is in all souls, he who is God,
And those who think that he is only a man are ignorant ones,
And since the mind is dark due to it being hidden by illusion,
And since The hearing of the discussion between Rama, Sita and Hanuman,
Is the one which leads to salvation, I will tell it to you, darling, please hear.

But long, long ago, the lord of the universe, The God Rama,
Who has a lotus like eyes, Who is blessed with divine joy,
After killing Ravana with ten heads who defeated several devas,
Reached Ayodhya immediately along with his brother and wife,
And immediately crowned himself as the king of Ayodhya.
He who has the purest of souls, the God of all,
The Lord who does not change,
Who was being served by friends and their sons,
By the group of several type of friends,
By greatly pure people, by the brother valorous heroes,
By Lord Bharatha son of Kaikeyi, By Vibheeshana,
And by Vasishta the son of Lord Brahma and other sages,
And who Shined with a luster which was equivalent to billions of suns,
Heard the stories which are famous in this world and became very happy,
Along with his Wife Janaki who was Maya devi,
And while he was sitting on the golden throne studded with purest of great gems,
That Lord of divine joy, saw Hanuman the son of air who was standing there,
Saluting him and that merciful god smilingly saw Sita and told her,
“Hey pretty one, are you not seeing Hanuman?
He is always within me and you, always without fail,
With his mind filled with the division less devotion.”

Great one, he does not have any desire for,
Anything except the knowledge of the divine God.
He is pure and deserves to be given knowledge about soul,
As he has no attachment and is forever first among Brahmacharis(Bachelor),
Please understand that he does not have any stains,
And so without hesitating please tell what is in your mind,
Oh divine one, Oh one who spreads all over, One who is only goodness,
And one who is completely filled with illusion,
He is fit to be taught about the knowledge of Brahmam,
For among those who seek that knowledge he is the first.
When at that time after Sri Rama told like this,
The Goddess called Hanuman and told him thus,
“The leading stone of the crown worn by valorous heroes,
The greatest among devotees of Rama, please hear what I say,
Please decide within your mind that God Rama is the,
The divine joy, the one and only one, one who does not have a second, the divine Brahmam,
The one who does not move, One who is not attached to anything, One who is only essence,
And that thing which cannot be known in spite of determination,
You please understand that this God Rama is pure, without stains,
One without properties, one who is not having any feelings,
One who does only good, One who is peaceful, One who is the divine soul, one who is forever happy,
A thing which does not have any birth or death and he is the divine Brahmam.
Please understand that God Rama is the cause of all, one who is spread everywhere, one who is the soul of all,
One who is everything, One who is the God of all, one who is witness of all, one who is forever,
One who is everything and basis of all, one who is spread in all gods and a without sensations.

Now I would tell you the principle of mine in real terms,
To you I have become the primeval causal basis,
And my husband who is the divine God
Allows me to create anything just by his presence.

All those which have been created by me due to his presence,
Are understood by foolish people as the real divine form,
Not understanding that his form does not have any birth,
For only those who have realized him will know About it.
In this earth, in the clan of the sun God, in Ayodhya,
The God of all was born in the form of Sri Rama,
And for killing Asuras who eat flesh of humans,
When he went along with sage Viswamithra,
He killed on his way the very bad Thadaga,
Who approached him with anger and saved,
The hermitage of the sage and also protected the Yaga(fire sacrifice),
And accompanied the very great sage called Koushika,
To the kingdom of Mithila and on the way,
Ended the curse of Ahalya who was the wife of sage Gauthama,

After blessing her who saluted his lotus like feet
He entered the town of Mithila with all respect,
And then broke the bow of the enemy of three cities(shiva),
And then married me and when he was returning,
Lord Parasurama came before him and prevented him,
And he destroyed his pride and entered the city of Ayodhya,
And lived there happily for another twelve years,
And at that time his father made arrangements for his coronation,
And due to this being prevented by his mother Kaikeyi,
Along with his brother Lakshmana, the son of Sumithra,
He reached Chithrakoota and during that time,
His father expired and entered the city of death,
And hearing this with mind full of sorrowful thoughts,
He performed the after death rites and sent,
His devotee Bharatha to rule the kingdom.

When he entered Dandakaraya forest,
He killed Viradha and visited Agasthya born out of a pot,
And he promised before the learned men and sages,
That soon he would completely decimate the clan of Rakshasas,
And then he entered Pancha vati and when he was living there,
Soorpanaka the sister of the Lord of Rakshasas,
Came In the grip of the arrow shot by the God of love,
And Lakshmana cut off her nose,
And this made the highly placed Khara angry,
And he came to fight with fourteen thousand Rakshasas,
But they were all killed within one and half hours time,
And later Soorpanakha went to Ravana and told him about this,
And Rama gave salvation to Mareecha by using an arrow,
When he came in deceit as a deer made of gold,
And after Ravana went away taking the duplicate illusory Sita,
That man of illusion gave salvation to the bird Jatayu,
And later went and later gave Salvation to Kabandha,
Who came taking the form of a Rakshasa,
And later he went and saw Sabari,
And accepted the worship by her,
And he entered the banks of river Pampa,
And there he saw you and along with you,
He saw Sugreeva the son of Sun god,
And signed a treaty of friendship with him,
And killed Bali the son of Indra who was the enemy of Vruthra.

Later they searched for Sita in the southern ocean,
Built a bridge, destroyed Lanka and later,
Killed the enemy Ravana who came ready for war,
Along with his sons, friends, mothers and servants
Using an arrow and saved the three worlds,
And later crowned his devotee Vibheeshana.

I who had taken to hiding inside the fire,
Was brought out making the world agree on my purity,
And riding the Pushpaka which was made by the rays of the sun,
And after taking permission of the devas also,
The lord of the world crowned himself as the king of Ayodhya,
And remained worshipped by devas and others.

“He is the Narayana addressed by Yajnas and he grants,
Salvation to those who are devoted to him, he is without any stains,
He always makes all actions of his to be performed by me who is his Maya devi,
And he is the teacher of the world Rama who is without properties,
He is the mind catcher of the world, one without change, One who is many,
One whose soul is joy, The one who entertains the soul, one who does not have second,
Divine one, one who does not have stains, One who is a garden to the bee like learned ones,
One who is firm, One who is peaceful, God Narayana
One who is beyond going, sitting, becoming wonderstruck or becoming sad,
A soul without feelings, One shining whole which arrows cannot pierce,
And he would not do any action at any time,One who is pure, One who does not change with time,
A collection of joy, a divine being, one who is full of illusion, and he makes,
His illusory consort do the job and make it appear as if he has done it,
Because I completely obey his conduct of illusion.”

After the philosophy of the existence of Rama,
Was explained by Goddess Sita to the son of Anjana
Lord Rama with a pretty smile told him,
“ The souls that we all see is but the refection,
Of the form of the divine soul that exists everywhere.”

Oh great monkey, My lustrous illusion,
Without any doubt has the image in you,
Like in each and every lake, the great sky,
Can be directly seen by you, and similar to that,
The real Divine Brahmam, the form for which.
The divine God is himself the witness is very stable, my friend,
You should understand the principle behind me,
By the great Vedic sayings like “You are That”,
And my devotee due to the grace of Guru,
When he understands this, without any doubt,
Would reach me and my form.

“Those who are not interested in my devotion, jump,
Into all places where science is mentioned and love that place,
To those who do not have devotion, even after hundred thousand births,
They would not get knowledge of philosophy and salvation,
Do not inform those men who do not have devotion to me,
This fact which has been told by me as God anytime.
There is no divine advice which is above this.”
Thus Lord Shiva told Goddess Parvathi,
About the greatness of Rama, which is holy and held as great secret,
And which was told by the real Lord Rama himself to the son of wind god,
And it leads to salvation, it destroys sins, that which starts killing of darkness of the heart,
And which is the meaning of all Vedanthas, And is the principle behind Lord Rama.
All these divine words which were taught to lord Hanuman,
If read by a man always along with great devotion,
Without any doubt will set him free.

Great problems like Brahma hathya, even though,
They have been earned in several of your births.
Would all get destroyed, told Lord Rama,
To the great Monkey and is it not the truth.
Even though he is a Man who is hated in his clan, one who steals other women and money,
Sinner, killer of mother, killer of father, one who kills Brahmins,
One who does crime to groups of yogis, one who steals gold, bad man,
And one who is found fault by the entire world,
If he chants the name of Rama with devotion,
He would be worshipped by the gods with respect,
And not only that for he would reach the land of Vishnu,
Which is even difficult to get for kings among those who sacrifice,
And there is absolutely no doubt in that.

Hearing the way that it was told by the great God,
The Goddess told with ebbing devotion in her,
“Oh auspicious one, my husband, Lord of the universe,
Lover of Ganga, The greatest God, Treasure of mercy,
One who is decorated by snake, I am now blessed,
I have become honoured, I have become contented and all this now and also peaceful,
Now All my doubts have been torn in to pieces,
All my desires have been destroyed due to your blessing,
The pure philosophy of Rama is a compound of nectar,
Though I drank that which flowed from your mouth to full capacity,
There is no possibility that my mind becomes contented,
And because of that I have to tell you one thing.

What you have told me in summary and that did not satisfy me,
All the greatness of the real Lord Narayana,
Would not add knowledge to those who consider time as insignificant,
And would not add to the wealth of those who consider property as insignificant,
And would not give daily happiness to those who consider loans as insignificant,
And would not improve the status of those who consider Gods as insignificant,
So without any laziness, please tell me in detail the holy story of Rama.

The God, the greatest God, The divine God,
When he heard the question of the Goddess,
Broke in to a pleasant smile and that divine Chandra Shekara told,
“Hey pretty one, please hear. In the olden times Lord Brahma,
Wrote Ramayana in detail with Thousand billion stanzas,
And this was accepted by the Vedas.
Under the orders of Lord Brahma, sage Valmiki wrote this again,
Using only twenty four thousand stanzas for the salvation of man.
And that was further summarized and told to us by Lord Rama.

This was named as Adhyathma Ramayanam for.
Those who read this would get knowledge of the divine soul,
They would also get wealth of children, increase of wealth,
Long life, wealth of friends, fame and freedom from diseases
Their devotion als would increase and they would get salvation,
And though it is a great secret, please hear it from me.

I.4 Shiva tells the story

Due to always being burdened by Ravana, And his great army of Rakshasa. Goddess Earth took the form of a cow and along with crowds of sages and devas, Reached the land of Brahma who sits on a lotus and cried. And when she told about all her pain to Lord Brahma, And Lord Brahma after deep thought for some time, Came to the conclusion that there is no alternative, Other than going and appealing to Lord of the Vedas, God Vishnu, And after thinking like this Lord Brahma with greatly added sorrow, Took all of them and reached the ocean of milk,, And prayed the Lord along with the devas and sages.

He then prayed the lord with great devotion, Using Purusha Sooktham and was waiting, And at that time he was able to see Lord Vishnu, With lotus like eyes with a shine similar, To ten thousand suns raising on the east.

The God’s form was pretty and could not be seen, Easily even with great Sidha Yogis and which had, Smile like the light of the moon, which had a pretty form, Which resembled the full moon and that God had eyes like lotus flower, Had the colour of blue sapphire, was divine and he had, The very pretty goddess Lakshmi on his chest, And he was like the worshipful rise of God, And he was the God decorated by Sri Vathsam. His lotus like feet where very dear to his devotees, He was like the celebration of the entire world, He was served by the good, he was wearing a crown, Resembling the Meru mountain, and decorated by, Ear studs, pearl necklaces, armlets bangles, belt, ring, And his body was mind bewitching, he was epitome of mercy, And seeing him thus, The Lord Brahma became deliriously happy, And using very pretty and sweet words started praying him thus, “Oh God of divine joy, Oh God of luck, victory, victory.

Oh God whose lotus like feet is extremely difficult to see, Even to the great Sidha Yogis who thirst after salvation, My prayer and salutations to you forever and ever, Oh Lord of all universes, Oh forever pure God, My prayer and salutations to you forever and ever, Oh true wisdom, Oh Joy, oh deathlessness, Oh God without a second and who is one and only one, My prayer and salutations to you forever and ever, Oh Ocean of mercy, Oh Lord of the universe, Who creates, upkeeps and destroys it, salutations, My prayer and salutations to you forever and ever,

One can never get emancipation in this world through, Learning of Vedas, penance or through fire sacrifices, But if we want to get salvation, there is no other method, Except deep devotion to your feet, and the two lotus like feet, Of yours have been seen by me today, due to my luck.

I need to get complete devotion always and forever, To your lotus like feet, Which are daily worshipped with complete devotion, By The great among the sages who are peaceful in nature. Oh God who loves his devotees my prayers.

To the men who are suffering in the wheel of birth and death, And have a worried mind, there is no other medicine except devotion to you, And in my mind I have great pity towards them when I think of their death Oh God who is the treasure house of mercy, Please give me a boon that they think about, Your lotus like feet which are like the baby sun During the time of their death when there is a growing need for, Thinking about your feet, Oh giver of mercy, Salutations, I surrender to you God, Oh consort of Lakshmi, Oh Consort of earth, Oh God who is personification of divine joy, Oh God, victory, victory, Oh divine one, Oh divine soul, Oh God who is the divine Brahmam, victory, Oh God pervaded with divinity, Oh diviner than the divine, Oh God with lotus like eyes, victory, Oh God who blesses, Oh Narayana, Oh Vaikunta, victory.

When Lord Brahma prayed like this to Lord Vishnu, He sweetly with a great smile in his face, Asked “Why have all of you come, Here at this time as a group and with unity, Please tell me about this. ‘ and hearing this, Lord Brahma made him understand the situation like this, “There is nothing in this world, that is not known to you, But still I will tell you. In all the three words, Sorrow has reached its peak, Oh Lord, Due to Ravana the son of sage Poulasthya, All the three worlds have been completely destroyed, Oh God of universe.”

Alas, Becoming proud due to the strength of boons given to me, Without any kindness he is destroying the entire world, He shook even the guardians of the world, And created different rules in all those places, In the war he tied Lord Indra and created, Only one rule in this world, that Ravanan, Due to that fire sacrifices were stopped, And not only that he also eats, Great yogis and great sages and catches and takes away Virtuous wives and so all good has been destroyed. Oh Lord of the world, it has been earlier decided, That he does not face death from any one else other than man, And so your goodself should himself be born as a man, And should kill that Ravana, Oh treasure of mercy, And I again and again salute you for that, oh enemy of Madhu, I should be able to think about your very tender feet.

When Lord Brahma told him like this, Lord Vishnu with lotus eyes smiled and told him like this, “With a pure heart, in olden times, Kasyapa Prajapathi served me, For some time wishing to get a son, and I am happily, Fulfilling his wish and I am going to do it now.”

Kasyapa became a king called Dasaradha,. In a place which is in earth, Of Brahma, And kasyapa’s wife Adhithi became Dasaratha;’’s wife kousalya, And I would be born as a son to them, And there would be brother’s for me, And in the divine form, the goddess of universe, who is my friend, Who is the Goddess Yoga Maya would enter the house of Janaka, As the death to the clan of Rakshasas, not being born to any mother, The devas should be born in the world as monkey warriors, For the sake of reducing the burden of Goddess earth,” Told Lord Vishnu, and when the Lord of Vedas disappeared, Lord Brahma saluted him with great devotion.

At the time the worries of all devas came to an end, And facing the direction where the primeval lord disappeared, Bereft of all sorrow in the mind and with great love there, Fell on the ground and saluted the Lord. After giving great hope with words of solace to the Goddess earth, Lord Brahma addressed the devas and told.

“The enemy of asuras, the treasure of mercy, the consort of Lakshmi, Would take an incarnation of a great human being, In the clan of the Sun God, in the city of Ayodhya, And all of you who are devas also should one thing. For the sake of helping Lord Vishnu as servants to him, You all should be born in the earth and also, Fight with great heroes of the army of Rakshasas. Without delay You should become monkeys, And occupy all forests, hills, mouth of caves and on all trees.”

After telling to Indra and other devas, about the order, Of his Lord, he became happy and immediately, Went to his Sathya loka and Goddess earth became, Free of all her worries and became contended and happy.

Then Indra and all other great devas, Took the form of monkeys for, The sake of helping Lord Vishnu in the human form, And with very fast valour on mountains and trees, Along with a body which is equal to a mountain, And where those great monkeys lived happily, In earth and waited for the appearance of Lord Vishnu.

1.5 Puthra labha alochana

(The thought of getting a son)

When King Dasaratha who had extremely good qualities, Who was pure, king of Ayodhya,, Soul of justice, valorous hero, Equal to one born in clan of devas, Really great valorous one, One equal to God of love and one who is the gem of mercy, Along with queen Kausalya and with the two queens Kaikeyi and Sumathra, Who were giving great credence to looking after their husbands, And along with his ministers, after thinking over the problems and blessings, Was ruling over the entire earth and due to his being not blessed by sons, Along with great sorrow saluted the two lotus like feet of his guru and asked, “How and when can I get good sons, kindly tell me for, If I does not have sons, for me all the wealth that I have only leads to sorrow.”

The great sage of penance, Vasishta, after hearing this, Laughed and told to king Dasaratha like this, “ You would soon get four sons, so do not be sad, Thinking about this in your mind, Oh king, Without delay get sage Rishya Srunga, And immediately perform the Puthra Kameshti sacrifice.”

1.6 Puthra Kameshti

(Fire sacrifice to get children)

As per the words of his Guru sage Vasishta, The king got the help of the sage Rishya Srunga. He constructed the place for doing Yaga, in the shores of Sarayu, And that Lord of earth observed the penance of the Yaga, And after performing the Aswamedha sacrifice, That Dasaradha who was like the Lord of the world, Along with the sages performed with devotion the Puthra Kameshti, For the incarnation of The Lord of the earth.. All the devas and Gods were satisfied by the offering in fire, Made by sage Rishya srunga and at that time, From the fire place rose the God of fire, Along with a pot of Payasa (Sweet porridge).

“For the sake of getting sons, take this porridge, Which is made by Gods, “ Said the Fire God, And gave it to the great king and disappeared, And as per the orders of sages, he took it.

He gave them their fees and saluted them with devotion, That great hero Dasaratha, and immediately with love, He gave half the quantity to his wife Kousalya, And with great love gave the other half to Kaikeyi, At that time queen Kousalya, gave half of what she got, Without any hesitation to queen Sumathra, And seeing this Kaikeyi also gave half her share to Sumithra, And seeing this the king became very happy, And the three queens got in to the family way, Giving great joy to the citizens of Ayodhya.

Right from that time, the king of the earth, Dasaradha, Started assembling great learned Brahmins, And performed chanting fire sacrifice etc for the safety of the pregnancy, And when in those pretty women, the proper signs of pregnancy started appearing in time, The love in the mind of the great king also increased.

Like the ornaments for his queens, to the Brahmins, To the citizens, to the earth and to the gods, Sorrow became very less daily, and Great luster increased for those who talk less, He performed rituals like Seemantham and Pumsavanam, And the king also gave money to charity to his full desire, And the pregnancy came to an end and at that time, Four children were born to him at the time, When five planets in exalted position, and at that time, Lord Vishnu became the son of queen Kausalya, His star was Punarvasu and the thidhi (moon’s phase)was Navami, And the great Lord was born at the time when, Lord Jupiter was along with the lord of his birth star, And it was in Karkidaga Lagnam, it was in greatly exalted position, Lord Sun was greatly exalted, Sani was in Thula Rasi, Lord Venus was in Meena rasi, Lord mars was in retrograde, And was greatly exalted in Makara rasi, All the Gods were crowding in all directions, And at that time in Poosa star Kaikeyi got a son, And the next day queen Sumithra got twins.

When God, divine soul, Mukunda, Narayana, God of the universe, One who does not have births, One who has lotus like eyes, And God of the earth, was born along with the symbols of Lord Vishnu, Kausalya saw him as thousand rays of light coming together, As if one who rises up like thousand suns, As one wearing a honourable crown which was venerated, By Lord Brahma, sages like Narada and Sanaka, As one having pretty hair and with prettiness of the curly locks, As the one having eyes which were filled with the nectar of mercy, With hips dressed with silk of the rising sun in the sky, With hands shining with conch, wheel and mace, As one wearing a necklace of Kousthubha gem in his conch like neck, As one who is having Srivathsa mole which was extremely clear, So that his devotees who love him would be able to identify him, As one wearing ear studs, pearl necklace, anklets, girdle and other decorations, As one having a moon like face, as one having a feet which earlier measured the world, As one sporting the divine joy which has been seen and seen, And a the divine God who is responsible to give salvation and is the witness of the world, And when she understood him as the real God Narayana, And that very pretty Kausalya saluted him, And started singing his praises continuously.

“Salutations to God of gods who wears the conch and the wheel, Salutations to Vasudeva, the killer of Madhu and Hari, Salutations to Narayana, Salutations to killer of Naraka, Salutations to the God, the archer, Salutations to Lord of universe, Your great self using the goddess of illusion are always, For Creating, looking after and destroying this universe, And depending on the three character class like Sathwa, Even the very pure great ones are not clear as to why this is for that.”

The greatest, He who is not any other one, The divine Brahmam, the divine one, The divine soul, The divine Purusha, the complete one, Achyuthan, The endless one, the not clear one, the imperishable one, he who is the one, He who does not move, he who is unequalled, He who gives salvation, he who is forever, He who is pure, he who is untainted, The God of the soul who does not have emotions, The calm one, who is disinterested, he who is personification of absence of pride, He who does not have any divisions, the purest one, the just one, he who does not have any stain, He who does not have any characteristic, He who is worshipped by words of Vedas, the lord, He who does not do anything, He who does not have a form, he who does not age, He who is honoured, He who does not have desires, he who lives in the mind of just ones, He who does not have a second, he who cannot be defeated, he who is forever joyful, Lord Narayana, The learned one, the bee that hovers round the mind, the enemy of Madhu, He who is truthful, The god of all souls, He who does not have beginning, The being which collects truth, he who is served by sages like Sanaka, The personification of meanings of philosophy, he who pervades all over universe, He who is only essence, I surrender to your feet.

In your honour’s stomach daily and endlessly, All the universes are always lying, And what is the cause of that type of yourself, Living within my stomach, salutations to you. And me who is foolish is now experiencing, The sensation of great devotees now.

Being daily drowned in the sea of husband, children and worries in life, I am completely confused and due to the strength of great illusion, Today I am lucky enough to see your lotus like feet.

By your mercy, we have to live comfortably, And though this form of yours is to destroy bad actions, Your great illusion who is prettiest in the world, Oh God of universe, should not make me desire for it, Oh consort of Lakshmi, The form of Vaishnava maya is very unusual, Oh God of devas, please hide this form before others see it, And take the form of a child which is more suitable to hug you, And bring you up with care, and show me, oh treasure of mercy, And I with a reason of affection towards my son, Would serve you and cross the ocean of the sad samsara.

When she with great devotion, saluted and prayed to him, The God who is the darling of his devotees, That great Purusha told, “Oh mother, I do not have any problem in taking a form, That is liked by you and it would come as you think, For killing Ravana who is roaming with great pride, And to bring good life to all the people on earth, Once Brahma, Shiva and the great Lords of devas, Prayed me with holy words and served me. And I decided to be born in the clan of Manu, As your child, taking the form of a human being, And I was born as your son, because you, Served me once with a wish in your mind, That I only should be born as a child to you, In your previous births and due to that reason, I only showed you my real form.”

Seeing me in this form can only be done rarely, And this is meant for getting salvation to you, If you can meditate on this form with devotion daily, Then do not have any doubt that you would get salvation.

That man who reads or hears with devotion, The discussion that took place between us, Will attain my Saujya(salvation) definitely, And at the time of his death he will remember me,

Saying this he took the normal form of a little baby, And immediately started crying shaking his arms and legs, And he was extremely pretty with the colour of blue sapphire, Also one having lotus like eyes, Mukundan, soul of divine joy, One saluted by those present in the lotus like temple of Shiva, And thus he took incarnation in his world.

Hearing the news of the birth of a son, That king was blessed with divine joy, And to all those servants who told the news of son’s birth, He gave cloths,ornaments and lots of wealth, After Seeing the face of his son, he went with great joy, And after taking a very cleansing bath and as per the orders of the Guru, He performed the ritual of birth and also meditated afterwards, To Kaikeyi a son was born the next day, And to Sumithra two sons were born, And Dasaratha who was the killer of enemies, also, Performed ritual of birth to all the children, And after that all his citizens shed tears of joy.

To the Brahmins countless and innumerable, Gold, jewels, cloth, land and other material were given as charity, And in the land of Gods also there was a big festival, And for Lord Indra all his thousand eyes became clear.

Remembering that that all souls of all the worlds, Are happy daily because of him, Vasishta, Gave the name of Rama, to the pretty boy of black colour, And due to his,Being an expert in administration, The son of Kaikeyi was called Bharatha, To the son of Sumithra who had all good features, He called him as Lakshmana, and due to, His quality of killing all his enemies, The other son of Sumithra was called Shatrugna, And after giving these names to all his four sons, The king lived happily along with his wives.

With the very pretty group of his brothers, The black coloured, world bewitching God, With the glance which was full of nectar of mercy, With clear colour of the lake, with nectar like music, With the prettiness which used to attract the universe, With softness of body that gave rise to real joy, With the taste of the kiss of his lips which are like red hibiscus flower, With the humour emanating from his pretty teeth, With the two feet which rest on the land, And with his pretty and attractive movements, He gave love to all the sense organs, Of his father, mother and people of the town.

With The beauty of curly tendrils enhanced by wearing on his forehead, The mark of sandal wood,In the shape of a golden leaf of a peepal tree, The side long glances out of his eyes made more pretty, Due to his wearing black eye paint on them, The ears shining due to the handsome ear globes, The cheeks which were shining like a golden mirror, The very eminent nails,, the necklace of corals, In which here and there beads made of gold, Which he was wearing around his neck, Necklaces of pearls, garlands of forest flowers, The broad long chains made of thulasi leaves, The incomparable light emanating from the sri vathsa, Armlets, bangles and golden rounds that he wore, The Arms which were shining due to his rings, The yellow silk upper cloth that he was wearing like a belt, And Other anklets and lotus flower that he was wearing, The Lord of goddess along with his brothers heightened the beauty of the earth.

Goddess Lakshmi started living very happily, In Ayodhya where her husband was living, From that day onwards every thing in earth, Heightened its existence and the world was a happy place.

Their childhood made their parents very happy, And slowly their youth also approached, And the great sage Vasishta who was the son of Brahma, According to dharma made the children wear the sacred thread, And taught them Vedas along with several branches, As also the human law book as well as their branches, And surprisingly all these were learned them without any effort, For they are all very difficult to teach and learn, Due their being taught by sage Vasishta, The son of the God who arose from a lotus flower, To the god who was the teacher of all moving and not moving beings.

Dasaradha seeing that his sons have returned, As great experts in the sea of the science of archery, Became happy with the ebbing joy of his mind, And greatly made happy the great sage. Among Rama and Lakshmana the feeling, Of The lord and his assistant grew up, And in the hearts of the pretty Bharatha and Shatrugna, There Developed a feeling of God and his servant, And this grew more and more with the passage of time, And at that time one day Rama with lot of happiness in his mind, Speedily climbed on a great gem of a horse, And along with Lakshmana who was like his soul, Armed themselves with weapons like bow,arrow and sword, Started travelling inside the forest for the sake of hunting, And killed very many groups of cruel animals.

He killed very large number of wild animals like, Deer, Monkey, elephant bear, mountain boar, And lion and brought and kept them at the feet of his father, And as per the practice saluted him by falling at his feet.

Getting up at really very early morning, taking bath, Doing with great devotion the salutations of dawn, Saluting the lotus like feet of his father and mother, Thinking about affairs of ruling of the state along with his brother, After always bringing about peace without crossing the limits of law, After looking after Dharma, and then after taking, Very tastey and quality food along with relatives and elders, After hearing Dharma Sasthras and historical events, Daily with a pure mind completely merging with divine joy, That great one, the one who was divine, one who is like divine Brahman, One who is outside everything, Lord Vishnu, the divine soul, the personification of divine joy, After taking incarnation in this world as a man, Lived with the ideal role of a ruler of earth.

If we think and see it in our mind, he is the one, Who does nothing but the real truth and there are, No feelings and further evolution in him, And the divine joy of the soul is but an illusion, strange, strange.

1.7 Protection of the fire sacrifice of Viswamithra

At that time the great sage who was called Viswamithra, Came on a visit to Ayodhya, knowing that Rama, Was born in this earth due to the act of illusion, And is really the divine soul who has taken a pretty form, And with a view to see the real wisdom and endless nectar of joy, He came with desire filled in his mind and mind ebbing with devotion.

On seeing sage Kaushika, the king Dasaratha, With great nervousness started welcoming him, And along with sage Vasishta, the son of Brahma, He saluted him and with great devotion and smile, Told that great sage as follows: “Due to your coming my birth has become fruitful, And by the coming of your great self, the soul within me, Has become contended, oh great sage, The country which your great self has visited, Would become auspicious and wealth will come there, Oh treasure of mercy, be pleased to tell me, With what objective did you come here? I would do anything which is possible by me, Without hesitation, Oh lord among sages, please tell the real reason.”

Becoming pleased sage Viswamithra told, With great hope to Dasaratha at that time, “On every new moon day, meditating, On the mane gods, I do a fire sacrifice, But this is being stopped by Rakshasas, Like Mareecha, Subahu and their assistants, For killing them and protecting the fire sacrifice, Oh king, you have to send God Rama, And he told this to sage Vasishta also, And without any hesitation you have, To send Lord Lakshmana also, Let all that is good come to you, oh king, Oh auspicious one, oh treasure of mercy, Oh lord of men.”

Getting worried that king belonging to the clan of Sun, Calling his Guru told to him in private, “Oh teacher, what should I tell him, It is not for sacrificing my son that, at a time, When I was weak and desiring for a son, I got by God’s grace Rama as a son and by parting with him, I will definitely die and if I do not give Rama, Viswamithra would completely destroy our clan, Your honour may be pleased to tell me now, After great thought, as to what I should tell him.”.

“Then please hear from me the secret of the devas, Which is being kept as greatly secret and oh king, There is no reason for you to be sorry about. Oh great gem among men, Rama is not a man, The divine soul who is forever joyful and who does not have any measure, As a result of prayers done earlier by Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu who is in Vaikunda, who is Narayana himself For the sake of reducing the burden of this world, Has taken incarnation as your son and Kausalya’s son.

Oh Dasaratha, I will now tell you about your previous birth. Earlier you were Kasyapa Prajapathi, son of Lord Brahma, And Adhithi who was your wife then is now Kausalya. Both of you together did very tough penance for several years, To get a son and repeated it again and again, Addressed to Lord Vishnu along with worship and meditation. That God who likes his devotees, who blesses and who is divine, Came in person before you and asked, “ You receive the boons from me,” And because you immediately requested him, “You should be born as our son,”. today that lord, Has born as your son Rama, please understand this. Oh king Lord Adhisesha is born as your son Lakshmana, And Vishnu’s wheel and conch have been born as Bharatha and Shatrugna, And so leave away all these doubts and also hear the following.”

In Mithila, The Goddess Yog maya has been born, Without born from any being, in the stage of penance And you understand that Sage Vswamithra who has come here, Would make a meeting possible between them, This is a great secret and should not be told to any one, And so without hesitation send your son.”

Dasaratha who became very happy, saluted, Sage Kausika, worshipped as per procedure and along with great devotion, Saying “You can take Rama and Lakshmana along with you,” The king gave his sons to him with great joy, and he calling, “Come Rama, Rama, come Lakshmana “ Took them near to him, And embraced them close to his heart in a tight manner, Caressed and caressed them,, kissed them on their head, And told them, “Go so that all good will come to you,” Those lads then saluted the lotus like feet of their father and mother, And also saluted the feet of the sage who was their guru, And later went and saluted sage Viswamithra. For the sake of protecting the world the sage took them,’ And sage Kasyapa and along with those royal lads armed with, Bow, quiver, arrows and sword, bid farewell to others after blessing them. Along with those lads of divine feet Viswamithra walked, And after seeing some countries after a sauntering walk, Smiled at them and told them, “ Hey Rama, Hey Raghava, Hey Rama, Hey lad Lakshmana, please hear. You both are only handsome lads and you since both have been brought up, Without knowing what is hunger and thirst, for you not suffering from, Hunger and thirst, there are two great lessons called Bala and Athibala. Without any hesitation please learn them and then chant the same.”

The sage to ld them that this knowledge is made by devas, And he taught them these manthras, Learning which the boys got rid of hunger and thirst, And immediately sage Viswamithra crossed the river Ganges with tem.

1.8 Killing of Thataka

They then reached the forest of Thataka, And Viswamithra told with a mysterious smile, “Oh Raghava,, Oh ocean of valour, Oh Rama, These times no body goes these way, Do you see this forest, This is a horrible place, Where Thadaka who can take any form lives. And fearing her none of the people of earth, walks on this straight road, Oh lord of earth, salutations, When the great saint told, “You have to kill her,” there are no problems, to whatever group or clan she belongs, Rama twanged the string of his bow slightly, And at that time when the entire world shivered, That Thataka who travels at night became very angry, Rushed towards Rama to eat him, And Rama at that time sent an arrow, And that arrow of Rama went and hit the chest of Thataka, And that horrible looking Thataka fell on the ground, Like a mountain falling on earth when its wings are cut, And there a pretty Yakshi decorated fully, With ornaments of Gold and jewels appeared, And when she told that she became a Rakshasi, Due to a curse, Rama permitted her to go and She reached the world of devas, and That great sage called Kausika taught, Both Rama and Lakshmana several divine arrows. Those pure lords and that great sage, Lived in the Kamasrama in that pretty forest, And after the night, they completed their morning rituals, And they re started their travel in the early morning.

Then they entered the Sidhasramam of Viswamithra,, And they were received there by the chief sages, They also saluted them at that time and Rama, As well as Lakshmana also saluted the sages. With great love the sages treated them hospitably, And after taking rest the honourable Rama, Looked at sage Viswamithra and asked with love, “Oh great sage, please conduct your fire sacrifices now, And by doing whatever is needed, I would protect it, Without much trouble to you all, if you show, Those very bad asuras,I would destroy with my arrows.”

Sage Koushika started observing Yaga at that time, And the Rakshasas came there with an army, And at after noon, they started the rain of blood, And without even seeing them, Rama sent two arrows, Aimed at the heroes called Mareecha and Subahu, And one of those arrows immediately killed Subahu, And at that time With great fear Mareecha started running away, But the Arrow of Rama followed him again and again, And the very tired Mareecha ran for another Yojana distance, And That Marrecha went and fell in to the sea, But even there the arrow went to burn him.

Later since there was no other method to save himself. He surrendered to Rama saying “ Pease save me”, And since that lover of devotees gave him protection, Mareecha from that time became a devotee of Rama, And the god of death to his enemies Lakshmana, Killed by his arrows all the rest of their army, The devas rained flowers due to great happiness, The deva drummers at that time their drums loudly, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Sidhas, Charanas and Gandharwas, Immediately saluted them and started singing their praise, And sage Viswamithra became extremely happy, Caressed them and with his lotus like eyes full of tears, Hugged them tightly and gave them his divine blessings. With great love he offered food to those lads, And for the next three days sage Kousika related, The epics and made them extremely happy.

After telling this on the fourth day the sage again told, “You should not unnecessarily waste time doing nothing, The great king Janaka is conducting a great fire sacrifice, And hey lads, we would go to see it without delay, There is a famous bow belonging to the great god Shiva, Called Trayambaka in the kingdom of Videha king, It has been kept there at olden times by Lord Shiva himself, And it is daily being worshipped by the rulers of earth, And so you who were born in a family that rules the earth, Should see that gem of a bow which is a great holy thing.”

He also told like this to the great sages who were there, And Viswamithra went along with the sons of the king. They reached the shore of Ganga and there they say the hermitage of Gowathama, Which was having a great luster, which was holy and capable of giving joy. It was full of divine trees which were laden with flowers and fruits, It was greatly pretty and was bereft of the traffic of animals. Rama saw that and became curious and seeing Viswamithra asked, “To whom does this pretty hermitage, which is suitable for living, Which does not have various types of animals,belong? My mind is full of positive emotions of joy, And see kindly tell me, why is that?”

1.9 Ahalya Moksham

Hearing this, sage Viswamithra told, The divine one who sleeps on a snake “please, Hear the truth about what happened in the past, Oh prince, When Sage Gowthama who did very great unfading penance, At the shore of river Ganges, in a very good hermitage, Was living here, which is auspicious and suitable for penance, Lord Brahma gave his daughter Ahalya, who was prettiest in the world, And who was a divine damsel to sage Gowthama to marry. With happiness those wife as well as husband. Sage Gowthama, Observing her service to the husband and living according to Dharma, Became very pleased with her, lived with his wife Ahalya in this hermitage for some time.

Seeing the form of Ahalya who was bewitcher of the world, Lord Indra fell under the influence of God of love, Lord Indra thought how to enjoy Her mouth which was like a red flower, Her breasts which were lie ball,and her extremely pretty thighs, And due to the effect of god of love which extremely increased, Her pretty form occupied his mind and he became mad with love.

Due to his pain in the inner soul that Indra, Wanted to find an end this and find a chance, And Indra took the form of Gowthama, the great grandson, Of Brahma and during the last ending period of night, When sage Gowthama went to do his morning oblations, He entered the hermitage of the sage completely lovelorn.

At the time, When he urgently started from there, after, Making love to Ahalya using a trick, sage Gowthama, Seeing that the time for rising Sun has not yet come, And getting a doubt returned early and urgently, And Indra seeing the sage at that time became scared, And started shivering all over the body.

Seeing one who has taken his own form, That great sage became very angry and asked, “Stop, stop, Hey bad soul, who are you? Tell, tell the truth to me completely, Why did you assume my form, Hey shameless one, which great sinner are you? Tell the truth and if I do not understand, Who you are, I will burn and make in to ash.”

He told at that time, seeing that great sage, “I am the servant of passion who rules the heavens, Due to my weakness and foolishness I have been caught, All these may kindly be pardoned by your great self.”

“From today you would have thousand generative organs, On you, bear the results of bad acts that have been committed by you,” Thus the great sage Gowthama cursed devendra and entered the hermitage, There Ahalya stood sweating and seeing her he told her, “Alas, hey woman with bad character, this your bad behavior, Hey woman with a bad mind, your cleverness is really great, To put an end to the bad acts of yours, I will tell, A great penance for you, so that you will repent.”

“Hey servant of passion, You should take the form of a stone, And live here always thinking of the feet of Rama, Suffering in snow, sun, wind and rain, Without any food during day and night, And no beings would ever come here, And live In this pretty hermitage of mine.”

“Like that when several holy years have passed, God Rama and his brother would come here, And that day when you are touched by the feet of Rama, Understand that all your sufferings will come to an end, They you should worship him with great devotion, And go round him properly, salute him, And when you pray that Lord, you would get out of this curse, And if your mind becomes pure, you can also serve me,” Saying like this that sage entered the Himalaya mountains, And from that day Ahalya is staying here.”

Thinking and thinking that when she will get coated, By the fine dust of your flower like feet, with a sad mind, She who is the daughter of Brahma and wife of Gowthama, Is always living here, Hey wish giving tree of happiness, Hey wish giving gem, and that lady with a body of stone, Is here in a form which cannot be found out by any One, Doing very great penance, and today itself,please destroy, Completely without leaving even a bit so that, Ahalya in her very pure form will come here.”

After telling thus to Lord Rama, Sage Viswamithra, Held his hand and lead him inside the hermitage, And showed him the stone form that, Was doing the great penance there.

God placed his lotus like feet in a tender fashion, And that God who is consort of Lakshmi, the lord of Raghu clan, Good lord, lord of the universe told with happiness, “I am Rama” and saluted the wife of the great sage. At that time Ahalya was able to see Lord Rama, And words cannot tell about how much happiness she felt, Along with sage Kaushika who was excelling in penance, With a wish that all her problems should be over, And along with his brother, that God who can destroy problems, Appeared with is bow and arrow, dressed in yellow silk, With Sri Vathsa on his chest, With a pleasantly smiling face, With eyes that resembled the leaves of a lotus plant, With a glittering body of the colour of blue sapphire, With feet that is worshipped by all vasus and devas, With a shine which lighted all the ten directions, That God who loved his devotees stood in front of Ahalya.

She now remembered the words that were told earlier, To her by her husband who is the great sage Gowthama, This definitely is Lord Narayana, the lord of the universe, Who has lotus like eyes, who is as pretty as a lotus flower, And thinking like that in her mind, she stood up and with devotion, Immediately worshipped him with materials for the worship, And along with tears of joy flowing from both her eyes, Due to her pains being over and saluted him on the floor, With the ebbing devotion in her mind, She stood up and again and again saluted him, Along with a body with bristling hair due to real great joy And with a choking voice that made her not clear, She saw that great worshipful god with no second, And was suddenly transported to the great sea of joy and prayed him.

1.10 Ahalya Sthuthi

(Prayer of Ahalya)

Oh Lord of the universe, I have been blessed, Due to my being able to see you, not only that, I will tell further, By your grace I have been able to get little of the dust, Which are attached to your lotus like feet, Which is very difficult to get even by Brahma and Shiva, And this would not have been possible, However much penance that I did all my life, And oh Lord of the universe, this is because of your play, And today you appear to me as man and make me attracted by your greatness.

Filled with joy, a great magician, One who is complete, He who does not have differences between low and high, He who does not move are all your great self, The dust of your lotus feet is like a holy ganges, And purifies Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma and others, Due to your great power, and I too was able to, Get the touch of your feet just now.

Oh Vaikunta, how can I describe the good deeds, That I must have done earlier, to attain that which was not, Reachable by lazy souls, Oh Lord Vishnu, Oh God who was born as a human being, Oh Rama who attracts the mind by his pretty body, Oh pure one, Oh wonderful one, oh valour, oh prettiness, Oh expert archer, Oh principle which does not have a second, Oh truthful one, Oh God who does not have beginning or end, Oh God who is forever, who does not change, from now I would sing about you daily, And I would not pray anybody else with devotion

That lotus like feet that is being searched by Vedas, That navel was one from which was born Lord Brahma, That name which is being chanted by Lord Shiva, That God Is being saluted by me daily in my mind, Lord Brahma and the goddess who is consort of Brahma, Daily and always are singing the story of Rama, Which removes all ills and which is the essence, For removing passion and other feelings and getting joy, And I am also daily praying that God Rama.

The primeval one who does not have a second, One who is not clear, one who is peaceful, One who is not subject of veda but one who is an expert in Vedantha, The topmost one, divine among divines, the divine soul, the divine one, He who is called as divine Brahmam, personification of divine happiness, The Lord,The Purusha, the very primitive one, The one who shines within himself, The teacher of moving and not moving beings, the personification of mercy. Has assumed a form that attracts the world, And has come to the earth to bless it,

I am going to sing with mind completely full of devotion, The Ramachandra with those properties always, Let my mind be occupied by that independent one, That complete joy, that Rama of the soul, The tricky one, he who with properties which are real, Wants to be the cause of the creation, upkeep of the universe, He who is limitless, He who takes up the names, Of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, assuming different forms, Though he is one who is bereft of any properties And the one who is being studied by Vedantha.

Hey Rama, Hey Raghava, I salute your lotus like feet, Pervading with auspiciousness, it is being worshipped, By lotus flowers by Goddess Lakshmi with both her hands, It is also being meditated by countless number of devas, And it has measured the three worlds in number of steps less than three.

That lotus like feet has been washed by Brahma’s hands, And it is pure and inlaid with conch, wheel and lotus flowers, It is a place where my mind stays, it removes all ills, It is the place where the pure souls find a resting place, Salutations, You are depended upon by the universe, you are the universe, And you are the primeval being of this universe.

Oh God are you not something that stands alone within each being, Oh god you are without change and the witness to everything, You do not have birth nor death, you cannot be won and you purify, You are that joy which is beyond the description by words.

You are all over the world with difference between meaning and sound, Be pleased to help my words to describe you who is beyond words, The differences between action, cause and the doer, Is shown in various different ways due to illusion.

Though a very ordinary fact, even your, Devotees are not able to know about you, And to the ignorant ones your form hidden by illusion, And thy are not at all able to understand your greatness, You who are the soul of the entire universe, Is considered as a mere human being by the ignorant ones, You yourself completely fill up all places, Which are inside and outside daily.

Pure one, one who does not have second, one who is equal, One who is forever, One who is clear, one who is alone, One who is knowledgeable, one who is not clear, One who is peaceful, One who is not in groups, One who is formless, one who is strong, In presence of three fold characteristics like Sathva, The Lord who is the Jeevathma living in all beings, One who grants salvation to devotees and renounced beings, One who grants luck to those who have desires, One who gives occult powers to Sidhas.

You are the god who is the soul of philosophy, you pervade all over the world, You are expert in philosophy, one who has nothing to compare, one without stains, one who purifies, You are one without properties, one who never worries, clear one, one who does not have any support, You do not act, do not have a cause, one without pride and one who is forever, You are divine, the one beyond Sath chit Ananda, endless one and one having nectar like soul, You are the soul which is pure essence, the divine soul, all souls and the Lord, You are the true soul of divine Brahmam,, God of all, and the greatest god, You do not slip, the primeval lord and have all gods within you, When you are all these, How can I who am very foolish and blind, understand, The principle behind you but still I always, again and again salute you.

Wherever and whichever place I live, on all days, My devotion to your golden feet should not, Change and except for this boon, I do not request for any other, salutations.

Salutations, Oh Rama, Oh Rama, Oh presiding deity, Oh Vishnu, Salutations, Oh Rama, Oh Rama, Oh God who loves his devotees, Oh Rama, Salutations, Oh Hrishikesa, Oh Rama, Oh Raghava, Oh Rama, Salutations, Oh Narayana, I always salute you, I am dedicating all the actions that I do to you. Please pardon all the mistakes that I do, Oh Lord of universe.

The lord of Universe who cures sorrow of birth and death, The Rama who has the shine of ten million suns, The one who holds tightly the bow and arrow in his lotus like hand, The personification of mercy, one who shines like a water rich cloud, One who wears divine silk of golden colour, The consort of Lakshmi, One who has shining cheeks as well as golden ear studs, One who has pretty shifting eyes which are similar to lotus petals, I pray This Rama who has Lord Brahma as his devotee.

Ahalya, the daughter of Lord Brahma with folded hands, Prayed, Lord Rama and greatest among men, Who was god and was standing before her And later with the permission of the God of the earth, Went purified and after reaching Gowthama, Who was her husband, lived with no sorrow from then on.

That man who chants this prayer with devotion, Would become pure as all his sins would be destroyed, And he would attain the divine joy of Brahmam, not only that, Without any doubt the men will get pleasures of earth. If this is chanted with devotion keeping the lord in the mind, He would achieve all that he wants. If it is chanted by one wanting a son, he will get good sons, And if it is chanted by one wanting money, he will get lot of money, Even He who lies down on the bed of guru, He who steals gold, He who drinks alcohol, He who kills Brahmins, he who troubles parents, And even such man who is very base, if he daily, Keeps his mind on Lord Vishnu who loves his devotees and who is Narayana, And meditating on Ramachandra and reads this with devotion, And salutes god, even he would get salvation, If he is man of good behavior, is there a need to tell, That without any doubt that he would get salvation immediately.

1.11 Sitha Swayamvaram

(Marriage with Sita)

Then sage Viswamithra after becoming very happy, Told as follows to the Lord of the earth, “Children, Let us go to Mithila, We also should not waste time unnecessarily, After seeing the fire sacrifice and the bow of Lord Shiva, We will go speedily to Ayodhya to see your father.”

After telling like this they crossed the river ganges, And immediately went to the city of Mithila, And when King Janaka heard that, The Lord of the sages Kausika Viswamithra, Has reached the gate of the saints, With a mind completely filled with happiness, Along with great devotion and great preparations along with, The materials needed for worship of the sage, And along with his teacher reached the gate of sages, And with great joy worshiped him and stood with attention, And at that time that great king happened to see Rama and Lakshmana.

Seeing the princes who were like the Sun and the moon, That great king asked with curiosity, “Who are these most handsome people of the world, Whom even the God of love will salute?Please tellme, Are they the form of Nara and Narayana, who have, Assumed the form of men and came before me?”

Hearing that Sage Viswamithra replied to him as follows, “Please believe my words, Oh king, Sri Rama is the eldest of the very valorous Dasaratha, And Lakshmana is his third son, For protecting my fire sacrifice, I went, And brought them along at this time. As soon as we entered the forest with one arrow, He killed a Rakshasi called Thadaga, This destroyed our fears and after entering Sidhasrama, He protected the fire sacrifice without any difficulty. And by the dust of his lotus like feet, Ahalya, Shed all her sins and was made greatly pure. He has come with a great desire to see, The illusory bow of Lord Shiva, and please show it to him.”

Hearing these words of sage Viswamithra, Immediately king Janaka treated the princes hospitably, Those well deserved princes, With love for them increasing in his mind, And sent word for his minister and told him, “Go and immediately arrange to get Lord Shiva’s bow,” And at that time Janaka told sage Kousiga, “This Raghuvara who is a lad and son of a king, Has lotus like eyes and this son of Dasaratha is pretty. Suppose he is able to tie the string to the bow, And is able to break it, he would become like a son to me.”

That sage told then, “All these happen, As per the words of god. Please bring the bow,” The great minister immediately sent the servants, And with great sound of Hum, came the bearers of the bow, And immediately along with another five thousand servants, They brought the bow of the decider of death, “ Please see the Trayambaka bow along with, Thousand bells and dressed in finery “, said the minister.

Seeing the great bow of Lord Chandrasekara, Ramachandra, Became greatly happy and saluted it and asked, “can I take the bow, can I attach the string,Can I pull the string, please tell”, And hearing this sage Viswamithra told, “ Do all that you can,, do not hesitate, By this act an auspicious event will take place.” Hearing that Lord Raghava broke in to a soft smile, Went slowly and slowly went near and saw the bow, And with shining luster he took it and with great speed, Joined the string and by pulling the string, broke the bow with least effort, During that time in all the fourteen worlds, There was a great echo and all people were wonder stuck.

With song, plays, dances, flower rain, several, Types of musical instruments, with several auspicious prayers, All the devas became very happy, and started serving, The God of gods and all the apsara maidens, Became very energetic and became happy, At the heralding of the marriage of the lord of universe. King Janaka hugged tightly the God who was the lord of universe, In the crowd of all the citizens of his kingdom. Hearing the breaking of the bow, which, Resembled a great thunder, all the kings shivered, Like the serpents and Maithili, the princess of Mithila, Became very happy like a pea hen, And in the mind of Viswamithra, there was happiness.

Maithili was decorated and made up, By her servants and her mothers, The pretty Maithili of the golden colour, Wore several gold ornaments and with luster, Wearing a necklace of gold, with respect and slowly and slowly, Came before Rama (Vishnu), with great reverence, And as soon as she came, she made him wear the garland of her eyes, And later the garland choosing him as husband, And wearing that garland, Rama with the luster of blue lotus, Appeared extremely nice and pretty.

He shined as a very good match to the daughter of earth, And all those people who saw that son of a king, Immediately fell in the ocean of joy and got drowned, And blessed that “The valorous man must live long”, And at that time King Janaka saluted and told Viswamithra, “ Now without wasting any more time, we should send our emissaries, Along with a letter to make Dasaratha come here immediately.”

Viswamithra and the king of Mithila, Wrote and send a letter containing all the news, In such a way that he would get belief. And the emissaries travelled with necessary rest, Reached city of Ayodhya, saw the king, And gave the letter to the king of the world, And Dasaratha who became happy on seeing the message, Told that there is no doubt and they should start immediately.

Vasishta who is the teacher as well as a householder, Along with his wife Arundathi started, With great happiness along with four types of army, Along with Kousalya and other wives, Along with sons Bharatha and Shatrugna, With musical instruments and cheers suiting the occasion,. Dasaratha entered the city of Mithila. The king of Mithila came and duely received him, And along with Sathanandan(his guru), he saluted, Sage Vasishta and his wife Arundathi, Gave them Arghya, washed their feet and Properly treated them hospitably, that great king.

Rama and Lakshmana saluted their father, And with happiness saluted the feet of Vasishta, And saluted in a proper fashion their mothers, Lotus like feet of Rama was saluted by his younger brothers, Lakshmana saluted his elder Bharatha, Shatrugna saluted the feet of his elder Lakshmana, And the father hugged to his chest, Rama and caressed him, And tightly embraced Lakshmana.

King Janakd holding the hands of Dasaartha, Told with joy and sweetness as follows, “I have four daughters to be married off, And your self also has four sons, So I feel that we can celebrate the marriage, Of your four sons, Please do not hesitate.” Sage Vasishta, Sathanada and Viswamithra, Fixed the good dates for marriage of the four, And a very pretty stage was erected, Gem studded pillars and decorative hangings On which gem necklaces Flower garlands and fruits were hanged, A golden gem studded seat was placed with devotion, And after washing the lotus like feet of Rama, Along with auspicious sounds of drums and other instruments, Offering in the fire was made and king Janaka, Then he gave his daughter to Lord Rama.

After he sprinkled the washed water of his feet on his head, And Janaka stood there completely drowned in joy, For that water that he sprinkled on his head, Was being worn by Lord Brahma, shiva and great sages, The lad Lakshmana married Urmila and, Sruthakeerthi and Mandavi who had desirable prettiness, Became the wives of Bharatha and Sathrugna respectively., And all people lived there very happily.

Adressing Viswamithra and Vasishta, Janaka told with a very happy smile, “Earlier I have heard in detail about the story, Of my daughter from sage Narada, When the land for the Yaga was ploughed for purification, We could see a gemn of a girl in the furrow made by the plough, I called that divine girl born in the sita(furrow), Sita, because of that fact. When I was bringing her up as my daughter, One day sage Narada came to our place.

At that time that great sage told to me thus, “Please hear about the story of your daughter Sita. The God Narayana, the personification of divine joy, That divine soul who is not born, the lord and lover of devotees, For the sake of devas and to kill Ravana with ten heads, Has taken incarnation in the clan of God Sun, As Rama who has dressed as an man of illusion, Due to the request of Devendra, Brahma and Lord Shiva.

When the Lord of Yoga becomes a man, that time, The goddess Yoga maya is born as a human being, In your house due to that reason and, So give her to Lord Rama without any hesitation.” And after telling this sage Narada disappeared, And I looked after her as my daughter but with devotion, And I can give her only to Sri Rama. How do others know when I have decided in my mind, And when I thought about this, I got an idea, About using the blessed bow given by Lord Shiva.

I made up in my mind a condition that, Only that gentleman who can break the Shiva’s bow, Would become husband of my daughter, Then I made all the kings to come here, And all those kings told that they do not have, The strength to do it and left off their proud nature, And became very suppressed due to loosing their brain, And today due to your grace, which made you, Bring this wonderful Rama with lotus like eyes, I have achieved results to my intention.

Addressing that divine one who is equal to God of love, Later Janaka talked in the clearest way, “Now the birth as a man has become fruitful to me, You who are morn with a form shining like ten thousand suns, Your honour who has been born in the clan of Sun, Are like the cloud with the streak of lightning, Oh God who loves his devotees, The wish of my mind has been fulfilled.”

I should get devotion towards your, Red lotus like feet and I should get salvation, Wearing the drops of water flowing from your, Lotus like feet Lord Brahma creates the universe, Wearing the drops of water flowing from your, Lotus like feet, Lord Shiva destroys the universe, Wearing the drops of water flowing from your, Lotus like feet Mahabali got a post equal to Indra, Wearing the flow of the dust from your, Lotus like feet Ahalya came out of her sins and became pure.

By singing the names of your honourable self, Attachments go away and salvation is also got by, The great sages who always assume the yogic pose, And so your two lotus like feet should be rembered.

Like this Janaka prayed him using different words, And with great devotion, he gave great wealth, Janaka gave Hundred elephants,, ten thousand chariots, And horses, hundred thousand men of infantry Three hundred lady servant maids, Very many different type of divine cloths, Several types of pearl necklaces, Different types of divine gems, And One hundred crore gold coins, to Sita, With great love they were accepted by Sri Rama, He also worshipped the sages who were sons of Brahma, In the very proper manner and saluted them. He gave very many presents to ministers like Sumanthra, And with great happiness Dasaratha started his journey. King Janaka who did not have anything bad in him, Hugged his daughter Sita and to his daughter, Who had a pure mien, he taught her, The way that a virtuous wife should live, And Lord Rama who was divine, Started his journey along with his wife.

With glorious sounds from drums like, Maddala, Aanaka Bheri, and thurya, With big pipes, small drums like idakka, With people dressed in pretty romantic way, With army made up of elephants chariots, horses and infantry, With great joy, with father, mother and brothers, With great sages like Viswamithra and Vasishta, With men and maid servants, When They started their journey speedily to Ayodhya, The entire sky was filled with aero planes

When they were walking with all preparations, Janaka walked with them and after he bid farewell to them, When they were walking speedily With white ceremonial umbrellas, With white Chowries, With ceremonial shining rounds saluting the moon, They covered a distance of three yojanas, And at that time they started seeing many bad omens.

1.12 Bhargava Darpa samanam

(Destruction of Pride of Parasurama)

At thst time Dasaratha went and saluted Vasishta, And asked him, “please tell me the reason for these bad omens,” “King, now there will be a certain amount of fear, But afterwards understand that all the fear will vanish, Do not have any fear, Only good will come, Do not become sad, your fame will increase.” When Vasishta was replying like this, They were able to see Bhargava on their road.

When he was of the colour of the rich blue cloud, The disciple of Lord Shiva, one who is like a forest fire, Armed with axe, bow and arrows came, And stood on their way, king Dasaratha, Greatly afraid and panting saluted him, And all other people stood completely perplexed.

With great fear Dasratha saluted Parasurama, And started praising him in various ways, “Oh killer of Karthaveerya, oh treasure of penance, please protect me, Oh sea of mercy, protect the clan of the Sun god, Oh killer of Kshatriyas, Please protect me, Oh son of sage Jamadagni, protect me, Oh Lord who is son of Renuka, Oh holder of axe, protect my clan, Oh Lord liked by Lord Shiva, protect me daily, Oh Lord who took bath in the blood of the royal people, And who offered oblations to manes in it, protect me, Oh ocean of penance, Oh Lord of Brugu clan, I seek the protection of your feet.

Not bothering about what Dasraatha told, With great anger as if a fire was starting from him, With face shining like the Sun at noon, He immediately told Rama like this, “In the three words is there any other Rama, other than me? If you are human being and a Kshatriya, Wait, wait for a few minutes to fight with me, It seems you have great mastery over the bow, then hear, It seems you are the one who broke Shiva’s bow with your strength, And please know that I have a very great bow which is from that of Vishnu, If you are born in the caste of Kshatriya and if You immediately use it, I would fight with you or I will kill all of you together as a group, Understand that there is no doubt about this, Did you not know that I am the god of death of the Kshatriya caste, And remember that we two have enmity from a very long, long time.

After the son of Renuka told like this, The mountains shook feeling that earth is not safe, All directions were enveloped in darkness, The rivers and oceans went in to great turbulence, Worried as to what all would happen, all the devas, Started thinking and great sages started crying, Dasaratha due to the great fear sweated all over, Vasishta, the son of Brahma also became very sad.

The lad Rama assumed a tone of humility, And told like this to the very angry Parasurama, “If Very famous and great middle aged people, Start saying like this to young boys, Where is the source of protection for them, Oh treasure of penance. How can they observe the right duties of their caste? Is there some thing which cannot enter your holy mind, Would they not be followed at once as they are told. Always think that the fixing of the character, Of a simple boy who cannot see, cannot be done. I was born in the caste of Kshatriyas, And do not have great ability to use the bow and other weapons, Nor do I have feelings like enmity, friendship and neglect? I do not have the power to kill my enemies, And I know that even the killer of God of death, Cannot disobey your thoughts and wishes and so, Please give me the bow, I would try to twang it, But suppose I am not able to do it, please do not get disappointed.

The pretty one, the good lad and consort of Lakshmi who is Rama, Having a body similar to God of love, The divine one with the golden eye, Who is the god saluted by Lord Shiva, Brahma, Indra, Other groups of devas as also crowds of sages, With a smile saluted all speedily and happily, Then that son of Dasaratha took the bow, And when he was standing there, all the fourteen worlds, Were filled with a very great light.

He joined the string, took one arrow, put it on the bow, Pulled the string and without effort stopped it, And that Lord of Raghu clan asked the Lord of Brugu clan, Oh treasure of mercy, please tell me with joy, My arrows never go waste and so, Oh Bhargava Rama show me its aim.”

As Soon as he heard the words of Rama, Sage Parasurama, Very happily gave answer to what he told, “Hey Rama, Hey Rama Valorous one, Husband of Sita, Hey Ramana, Hey athma Rama, Hey Rama who is pretty to the world, Hey Rama, Hey Lord who makes Sita happy, Hey Lord who is the joy of soul, Hey Vishnu, Hey Rama, Rama, Hey consort of Lakshmi, Hey Lord of Raghu clan, Hey Rama, Hey Rama, Hey best among men, Hey treasure of mercy, Hey Rama, Hey God who is the cause of creation, Upkeep and deluge, Hey Rama,. Hey son of Dasaratha, Hey Hrishikesa, Hey Rama, Hey Rama, Hey Rama, Hey son of Kausalya, Hey Hari.

But kindly here incidents of my life in the past, Oh lotus eyed one, Oh ocean of mercy, Even when I was a child, I went to Chakra Theertha, And undertook Thapas of Vishnu for a long time. By very intense penance, I controlled all my organs, And daily served the great God. Lord Vishnu who grants salvation, The God Narayana, Who is served by the victorious, one who should be sung abot, The God, the Lord, The Madhava became happy with me, Came in my front in person and told me as follows.

Oh Brahmin get up, get up, I am pleased with your penance, Understand that you have achieved the fruits of serving me, Also understand that you are born as my incarnation, Oh lord of Brugu clan, you have several duties yet to perform. You have to kill Karthaveeryarjuna, the great king of Hehaya, Who has killed your father, though he is born as a part of me, And has great ability in the science of war with arrows. Then you have to destroy all the kshtriyas on earth, Twenty one times in war and give all the land to sage Kasyapa, And then when the entire earth attains great peace, Live with powerful penance and attain peace.

Then in the tretha yuga I would be born as an incarnation, As the son of Dasaratha and we will see each other at that time, But without fail transfer my divine power to Rama, at that time, Then again do penance till the end of Brahma age, Serve me well and happily live, oh great sage.

Narayana told me like that and disappeared, And Oh Lord, till now I have been doing all his wishes, Oh Lord, are you not Lord Narayana himself, Who is born as the son of Dasaratha. I am giving to your arrow, all the power of Vishnu, That I have so that you can take them in you.

Please make in to reality all those wishes through the power of Maya That were put forward by Brahma and other devas, Sir, Are you not the real god Narayana, the witness to the world, God Vishnu and one who is spread everywhere in the world, Now I have fruitfully achieved the reason for this birth of mine, And I have today got the positive effect of all penance done by me earlier.

By being able to see your very pure form, Which cannot be even seen by Brahma and other gods, I have been honoured, satisfied and became very happy. Your form should always live within me The six stages of live from birth to death, which lead to ignorance, Is not applicable to you oh God, my salutations to you, You are completely full of the soul without any feelings, And if we examine, you are the one who gives salvation, This is like the presence of smoke in fire and foam in river water,, The greatness of the your Maha Maya is wonderful, wonderful, As long as this world is completely masked by this Maya, Till then we would not be able to understand your principle.

With the devotion that is got by good desirable company, The men who are interested in serving you would slowly and slowly, Would cross to the other shore, the ocean of domestic life, Created by you using illusion, over the march of time, But those of the men who have the knowledge of you, Would get great Gurus, to remove whatever ignorance is left over, Then through your grace, the knowledge from, The great Guru would rise inside the mind.

And it would separate itself from the attachment of actions, And get completely dissolved in your feet, But to those people who do not have devotion to you, In spite of billions of eons, this knowledge can never be got, Understand that the pleasure of divine knowledge is salvation, And I request you to remove ignorance from my mind, And make me realize you in my mind and, I should have a devotion to you without any doubt in me.

Salutations oh lord of universe, Salutations to Lord of Lakshmi, Salutations to son of Dasaratha, Salutations to the lord of all, Salutations to Lord of Vedas, Salutations to Lord of devas, Salutations to Lord of yagas, Salutations to lord of earth, Salutations to Lord of Dharma, Salutations to Lord of Sita, Salutation to ocean of mercy, Salutations to one with pretty form, Salutations to Rama and Rama, Salutations to Ramachandra, Salutations to Rama and Rama, Salutations to Rama Bhadra, Always salutations oh my God, salutations, I think about your lotus like feet, salutations, For getting the heaven, may all the Punya (good deeds) that I have earned, Become the aim of your arrow.

Hearing that and accepting it, that Lord of the universe, Broke in to a pleasant smile and told Parasurama, “I became very happy and I would now give you, All that your honoured self wants and prays,” With great love the son of Jamadagni then, Told with great respect to the son of Dasaratha, “Suppose you indicate any blessings to me, Let me always have in my mind great devotion, To the devotees of your feet as well as your lotus like feet, Oh Madhava, Oh Lord of Raghu clan, Oh Rama, Oh ocean of mercy.”

“Let that gentleman who is able to chant this prayer, Become a devotee and a philosopher and specially, When death comes near, let them get to your lotus like feet, In their mind. Kindly bless for this to happen.”

After Lord Sri Rama said, “Let it be like that,”, With great devotion the son of Renuka, Went round Sri Rama, saluted him with folded hands, And went with happiness to the Mahendra mountains. The king Dasaratha became extremely happy, And with sorrow removed, tightly hugged, His son Rama and shed tears of joy, And along with the very good sage Vasishta, His sons, army reached the city of Ayodhya, And lived there with peaceful mind and fame.

Rama and his brothers happily lived, Along with their respective wives, And Like Lord Vishnu living along with Goddess Lakshmi, In Sri Vaikunta Sri Rama lived with Sita, And that personification of joy, taking up the role, Of an illusory man lived happily daily.

Yudhajith the king of the kingdom of Kekaya, Sent a messanger to bring along with him, Bharatha, and seeing which Dasaratha, Permitted honorably Bharatha to go, Along with Shatrugna who was very close to him, And both of them happily went together, And seeing their uncle, Bharatha and Shatrugna, Became very happy and lived with him for some time.

Queen Kausalya happily lived with her son, And his wife Maithli, and Dasratha, Lived happily in Saketapura along, With Rama ana Lakshmana and their respective wives, Similar to Devendra living in his city of Amaravathi, And The personification of joy and one not moved by emotions, Took the form of a man for the sake of happiness of the world, And lived happily in the city of Ayodhya, Along with his wife Sita, who is the Mayadevi.

Ithyadhyathma Ramayane, Uma Maheswara samvadhe, Balakandam Samaptham

Thus ends the “Chapter of Childhood” which occurs in Adhyathma Ramayana, amidst the discussion between Siva and Parvathi.

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari

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