Naam Ramayana – Devotion requires no qualification except the desire to serve

Transcript

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Naam Ramayan Aranya Kanda Names 39 and 40 Ghrudradhipa Samsevita Rama Panchavati Tattasustita Rama Ghrudradhipa So Ghrudra is Jatayu who was a vulture Ghrudradhipa Samsevita Rama He was served by Ram Panchavati Tattasustita Rama and then Lord Ram resided at Panchatoti Here Lord Ram’s journey into Dandaka forest is further described When he entered the forest he had to rid it of Viradha and then he was blessed by the sages After Dushta, Viradha, Vinashina, Rama then he blessed the sages and he was blessed by the sages Sharabhanga, Sudeeksha, Narasita, Rama Agastya, Anugraha, Vardhita Rama And now after that his interaction with other beings in the forest is described Ghrudradhipa Samsevita Rama Ghrudradhipa Ghrudra is vulture, Adhipa is actually one who is the overseer or he was not just ordinary vulture, he was a very powerful vulture, he was like the king of vultures in that area Samsevita Rama Lord Ram was served by him So Jatayu was actually an old friend of Dashrath Maharaj and as a friend of Dashrath Maharaj Jatayu actually was had a paternal relationship with Ram, Lakshman and Sita So just as young people come to the house of an elder at that time the elder becomes delighted Oh you come to my house he wants to host them and you are in my house so I will take care of you and you know in this case of house it may also be a broader thing, suppose some relative has come and some acquaintance has come to our to our city and they are staying in our city and if they are right now unfamiliar with the things where they are in the city and they ask us, we will tell them and we may even go out of our way to help them okay where do you find this thing where do you find this shop, where do you find this particular amenity and we will help them so similarly it was similar sense of kinship and an offering of service was done by Jatayu Kridhradhipasam sevitarama that he served systematically he welcomed them and he told them that now you are in my forest not in a possessive sense but in a welcoming sense that you are in my forest and I will be happy to do whatever I can for you he will help them find a proper place where they could have a hermitage they could build their hut and there they could live and he also told them something which would eventually turn out to be catastrophic for them, for him now Ram and Lakshman their primary concern in the forest was they were themselves warriors and they knew how to take care of themselves in the forest but they were concerned about Sita and her safety so Ram Jatayu recognizing this concern which Ram had he assured that I will also keep and I will also protect Sita if there is any danger for her I will be there to protect her and later on when Ravana tries to abduct Sita at that time it is Jatayu who actually does the necessary thing by, who actually tries his best to stop Ravana from abducting Sita and he lays down his life becoming a martyr in that process they are welcomed and served by the best of the vultures actually a vulture is not a particularly glorious creature but the lord is so inclusive that he sees all living beings as his parts that all living beings are my parts and being my parts they are all his that when one acquires knowledge when one gets knowledge properly having got this knowledge doesn’t fall into illusion once again one sees all living beings as connected with Krishna as devoted to Krishna and as meant for Krishna so by seeing thus one this is what the enlightened person’s vision is what then to speak of the person who is the source of all enlightenment Krishna himself he sees all living beings as his and he accepted service from even the vulture and as the Rama was moving southward in search for a place where he could stay for the remaining part of his exile so he came to Panchavati Panchavati Panchavati is even now a place in the city of Nasik there are said to be five at that time when lord Rama came there were five vatavakshas famous in the past especially in the areas which were not urban and there in such areas actually there was a lot of the primary landmarks would be trees often some trees are huge or some trees are specific then some specific characteristics then they would become the distinguishing landmarks in that forest and the whole forest would be named based on that landmark that’s what happened here Panchavati Panchavati so lord Rama found Panchavati to be a pleasing place an attractive place and Sita also liked it Lakshman also felt that it was not very insecure although the demons were there the demons were still a little bit on the southern side and there at that particular place the danger was less so lord Rama decided to reside there and When Ram was in the forest at that time, he was, from the material perspective, he was to be a king and suddenly he had been dispossessed and left penniless, but he delighted in the simple environment of the forest and the simplicity, the satisfaction of simple living among those who love and care for us and among those whom we love and care for, that is a sublime joy.
So although externally their life continued to be austere in terms of they having to, nobody was there to serve them in the forest, whatever they wanted, they could just give a, ring a bell or give a command and there would be hundreds of people who would run to at their beck and call to do whatever they wanted. But here, they had to do everything on their own in the forest, everyday Ram and Lakshman would have to go and search for food, even if they could stock food for some time, but still there would be the anxiety of any danger coming in forms of predators or even demons. So it was not exactly a secure existence and certainly not a comfortable existence from a material perspective, but the real comfort comes not from our condition, the real comfort comes from our consciousness.
So if our consciousness is misdirected, if our consciousness is craving for things, then even if we have lots of opulent things, lots of luxurious, comfortable things, still if we will feel as if something is lacking in our life, we will look at the things that we don’t have. We may have a row house and we think I need a villa, we may have a villa and we think I need a, I need a mansion, I need a palace and that way the contentment will never be ours if we keep looking at what we don’t have. So, yes, physical things, physical assets provide some comfort, but that is primarily comfort for the body and discomfort, if there is dissatisfaction in the mind, then whatever comfort men may have at the bodily level, that comfort becomes not at all satisfying because the mind is closer to us than the body and the mind’s perceptions, the mind’s emotions, the mind’s prompting influences quite often more than the body.
So satisfaction or comfort, they don’t just result from having physically comfortable things, they come from, they depend on our consciousness. And if we always look for the positive, value what we have instead of glamorizing and craving for what we don’t have, then we can be, then with that disposition of the mind, we can be satisfied even amidst constrained circumstances. So Panchavati Tata Sustita Rama, Lord Rama became situated in Panchavati and Sustita, well-situated, comfortably situated and he became in the association of Lakshmans, of Sita and Lakshman.
They were all happy, although they were living in the austerity of an exile in the forest, being enriched by the simplicity and beauty of nature and being enriched by their mutually rich relationships, they were happy even there.