Naam Ramayana 12 – Devotion is the inner buffer to outer storms

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank You Raka Chandra Samanana Anana is face Sama is like Chandra is the moon Raka is on a dark night Raka Chandra Samanana Rama that actually lord Ram’s face is very beautiful it is illuminating just as in a dark night when the bright moon comes it illuminates everything it illuminates the whole night sky and it’s illumination is not just in terms of the light but it’s all in terms of pleasantness in terms of being very soothing when the sun is in full blaze it also illuminates but it’s not very comforting it’s scalding often scorching but in contrast to the scorching sun the moon’s warmth illumination and warmth are soothing so the lord’s face we described is like that Raka Chandra Samanana Rama Anana is face a great poet a devotee poet has described lord Ram’s face he said lord Ram’s face is as beautiful as lord Ram’s face he looks around the world and he finds a metaphor to describe lord Ram’s face beauty and he finds that no metaphor is adequate and therefore he says it’s comparable only with itself it’s not comparable with anything else of course the poets do use the devotees do use metaphors to describe the lord’s beauty because by those metaphors we at least get some idea otherwise if there are only self-referential descriptions and those who cannot refer to those who have no experience of the experience of what is being described those of all like all of us who have not experienced the lord’s beauty we will not be able to get any inkling of that beauty so that’s why many times different metaphors like here moon on a night that metaphor is used to describe the lord’s face in the vanita madhava rupa Goswami describes that the kings who had been imprisoned the kings who had been imprisoned by Jarasandh and they were released those kings and other kings also when they glorify Krishna they say that actually earlier we glorified you as we thought we were glorifying you very much very appropriately but now that you have bestowed your mercy on us and we have seen your potency we have seen your glory and we understand that actually what we offered you as praises were actually insults because your attractiveness is so great that to disglorify you with metaphors of this world is like describing the emperor of the world as a landlord in a village the glorification becomes a denigration and yet although the glorification is inadequate still the glorification is offered because the glorification because we want to express our devotion to the lord so there are two things the great devotees who have had experience of Krishna they want to communicate to us their experience of the lord be it Krishna or Ram or Vishnu they want to communicate that experience to us and that’s why they use metaphors although they know that the metaphors only inadequately and imperfectly describe the intensity of the experience of god so for them they use it to give us some idea of that experience and we also may use some metaphors to describe the lord’s beauty and the purpose of that is to use our intelligence to use our creativity in devotional service to express whatever devotion we have to express our desire to glorify the lord by the metaphors that we can summon with the best of our understanding according to scripture so so so that lord who was a soothing moon on a night that lord remained soothing and comforting even when he was faced with injustice and atrocity and calamity what was that because of the scheming of Kaikeyi and because of no fault of his lord Ram was exiled sent to the forest exile is a very brutal punishment it is given for the worst of criminals normal criminals are may be fined some more severe criminals are jailed some may be jailed for life and worse than life imprisonment is banishment and punish only punishment that is higher than management is execution hanging, killing, gullitoning whatever it may be whichever way the killing might come about so it’s a very severe punishment and lord Ram had done nothing wrong to deserve it but just because his father instructed it so lord Ram accepted it to honor his father’s words Pitruvakya Ashrita Kananna Rama so Kananna there is a poetic rhyme over here Ananna means face Kananna means forest so Ashrita Kananna he took shelter in the forest now that lord is the shelter of the whole world he is the shelter of the goddess of fortune and even the best of palaces are not best of this world’s palaces are not worthy of him because he is so great and yet that lord took shelter in the forest that is how he demonstrated his utter selflessness and sacrifice in order to do his duty as a obedient son and demonstrate how an ideal human being should act in this world so that lord Ram who is all attractive who is all glorious that Ram who descends in this world he teaches thus to us and we can understand the depth of love that is there between him and his devotees and the exalted nature of his character by which he can practice dharma even at great personal cost to himself such is the lord who is filled with virtue who remains calm and composed and dignified and compassionate even amidst great atrocity and calamity and if we can take shelter of him then we can also face life’s ups and downs with dignity rather than being tossed by life’s ups and downs by remembering him we will be inspired by his example and by his potency and thus we will be able to take shelter of him and we will be able to stay stable in whatever situation we are externally we will be buffeted but internally we will be buffered we will be sheltered by the presence of the lord by the remembrance of the lord and thus we can grow through life’s inevitable ups and downs and we can march towards the lord’s eternal abode which is ultimately free from worldly ups and downs and that process of taking shelter of him that progress on the journey towards him, all that happens through our calling out to him, through our remembering him, through our loving him and through our serving him and that is the opportunity which we have whenever we practice bhakti thank you