​Naam Ramayana – The supreme blesser blesses and is blessed

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
and he was elevated to celestial position. Thank you.
Nāma-rāmāyaṇa, Aranya-kāṇḍa, texts 37 and 38, names 37 and 38. śārabhaṅga-sudhīkṣṇārcita-rāma agastyānugraha-vardhita-rāma So as Lord Ram came into the dandaka forest, at that time he saw that he had enormous obstacles to face and enormous benefits also. Of course Lord Ram is playing as a human being and as a human being he does not always demonstrate his divinity.
Even his killing of demons was done more as a Kshatriya king than as God. So for God there are no obstacles in one sense, but for him in terms of his Nara-līlā, he realized that there are many demons to face. Many many demons were terrorizing the sages and the people in general.
They needed to be countered. So Ram playing the role of ordinary human being, he also wanted to get the blessings of the sages by which he would be able to accomplish the formidable task of ridding the world of the destructive demons. Now śārabhaṅga-sudhīkṣṇārcita-rāma So as he went towards South India, in the dandaka forest itself, he met these two sages, śārabhaṅga and sudhīkṣṇārcita.
These were sages who had been performing austerities for a significant amount of time and through the performance of such austerities, they had acquired the abandoned pious credits and they by their mystic vision recognized that Ram was actually God. God descended to the earth. They realized that he is not just any ordinary person.
He is not just even an extraordinary person as a king. He is a supreme person and they offered their respects. They offered their worship.
They very devotionally offered their very being to Ram and they offered as Ram reciprocated. śārabhaṅga-sudhīkṣṇārcita-rāma by blessing them. Now of course Ram did not literally give up his position as kṣatriya.
Normally kṣatriyas cannot bless. Sages were usually brāhmaṇas. But Ram, because he saw that they were approaching him in a particular mood, he reciprocated appropriately with them.
And then they informed Ram that the great sage Agastya is staying nearby. Now for us we may think that sages are all alike. Sometimes people who come to temple may see that all brahmacharis are all alike.
They all wear saffron. They all have shaven heads. But there can be some brahmacharis who are 5 years as a brahmachari.
There are some who are 30-40 years as a brahmachari. But there can be a hierarchy even among the brahmacharis. And some may be very senior brahmacharis like that.
So here among the sages also Agastya Muni was considered among the greatest sages. In fact there are retellings of the Ramayana wherein Agastya’s glory is described elaborately. And how he was responsible, how he once had the power to actually drink a whole ocean.
And how he had promised to purify areas of the world that had been very contaminated by sinful influences. How he could interact with the gods at will. How he had phenomenal powers.
Now Ram heard all these glories of Agastya as he went forward to meet him. And Agastya Anugraha Vardhita Rama. So when he finally met Agastya Rishi he offered his obeisances sincerely.
And Agastya Muni blessed him. Agastya’s wife also gave instructions to Sita about the proper conduct for a wife. Especially in general and especially when her husband is in constrained circumstances.
So Sita felt enlivened and enriched by those instructions. And similarly Ram felt enriched and enlivened by Agastya’s instructions. And along with instructions Agastya also gave something special to Ram.
And that was he gave the Aditya Hrudaya. Aditya Hrudaya was a special set of mantras which eventually Ram would use. Which eventually Ram used for killing Ravana.
After Ram had a formidable fight with Ravana. A fearsome seemingly unending fight. Although Ram got the upper hand but still he was not able to decapitate Ravana.
Because even if he succeeded in cutting off his head those heads would appear again and again. And in that way Ravana maintained his life. So Ram decided to shoot not at the head but other parts of the anatomy.
Shot the heart and the weapon that he used at that time centered on the Aditya Hrudaya. Aditya Hrudaya are a set of mantras. And they rejuvenated and empowered Ram.
So Indra Ram after fighting for a long time was feeling exhausted. Was feeling his energy sapping away. At that time when he meditated on those mantras.
By the hearing of those mantras by contemplation on the mantras. He felt revitalized. He felt energized once again.
This is this de-energization. Normally we think that our energy comes from primarily our body. And that’s why when we feel exhausted we either need to give the body rest.
Or we need to give the body food. And these are true. These are basic biological necessities.
But the body is ultimately a tool for the soul. And body also has reserve capacity. Much reserves that are not usually tapped in the routine course of life.
But those reserves get tapped when there is a specially strong inspiration, motivation to do something. Sometimes we may be physically tired. But if we are inspired by a vision.
Then we may persevere and go far beyond our normal bodily capacities. So just try sometimes people. Usually they sleep for 6 to 8 hours at night.
But when they are very inspired about doing something. There is a burst of creative energy. The author may just sleep for a few hours and work for several days like that.
That was the situation here also. In such situations when the warriors are fighting war. At that time they do stretch far beyond their normal physical capacities of fighting.
And at that time some non-physical source of empowerment or source of energy can be extremely valuable. So Ram got that from Agastya. So Aditya Hrudaya was a set of mantras which connects one with higher reality.
Aditya is the sun. Hrudaya is the heart. So Aditya Hrudaya has multiple meanings.
One meaning is that one invokes Aditya in the heart. One remembers Aditya Suryadev. One remembers Adityanam.
So Aditya is a fulgent. The sun is a fulgent. So one invokes Aditya in one’s heart and he empowers one.
That is one meaning of Aditya Hrudaya. But another meaning is that Aditya Hrudaya, the heart of Aditya. So in the heart of Aditya, Narayana is situated.
Vishnu is situated. He is the supreme being. So we are trying to invoke the presence of Vishnu in our heart.
Vishnu is already situated in the heart of Aditya. And by meditating on that supreme reality who is situated within the higher reality of the sun, we can access that supreme reality. So the necessary mantras for accessing the enormous power of the Aditya Hrudaya, the necessary mantras were taught by Agastya Rishi to Lord Ramachandra.
And in this way, Anugraha is mercy. Vardhit is to become enlarged, to become blessed, to become elevated, empowered. So by the mercy of Agastya Rishi, Lord Ram became more and more empowered.
So these two names describe his interaction with the sages of different hierarchies. They worshipped him. Whereas with respect to Agastya, Lord Ram who worshipped Agastya Rishi, sought instruction for him and was blessed with the weapon that would decisively tilt the scales in his favour when the final climactic battle with Ravana will take place.