Lord Rama

Ram Navami marks the birth of Lord Rama and falls on coming Tuesday the 27th of March. This festival is being celebrated all over the world for thousands and thousands of years. Lord Rama is the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. The name ‘Rama’ means ‘one who gives pleasure to everyone’.

Once upon a time, the great king Dasaratha was ruling the country of Kosala, which was situated on the banks of river Sharayu. Ayodhya was its capital city. During his reign, the entire country was prosperous in every means. Dasaratha was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was a very pious and noble king. Since he had no children, he performed the sacrifice of “Ashwamedha” praying to the gods to bless him with a child. The demigods seeing the unflinched devotion of Dasaratha started to pray to Brahma to bless him.

During the same period, the demon Ravana was ruling the kingdom of Lanka(now Sri Lanka). He was terrorizing people with all his demoniac powers. People started to pray to God asking for liberation from his clutches of tyranny. Ravana once acquired a special boon from Brahma that he would never die at the hands of gods, gandharvas, yakshas, demigods or demons. When acquiring the boon from Brahma, he did not include men in the list as he felt that humans are not potential slayers. He felt that the humans are too weak to harm him:)

Hence Lord Vishnu, the Supreme genius, descended down on this earth as an ordinary human to protect His devotees. To bless king Dasaratha for his devotion, He appeared as his first son in the capital city of Ayodhya. He was named Rama in a grand naming ceremony. Lord Rama had three younger brothers namely Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shatrugana.

Lord Rama was very virtuous right from his childhood days. He was perfect in every way he behaved and every action he performed. As a young prince, he along with his devoted brother Lakshmana defeated many demons that were menacing the innocent people and holy sadhus. In a swayamvara ceremony, he displayed his heroic act by breaking the famous bow of Lord Shiva and subsequently won the hand of Sri Sita Devi, the Goddess of fortune.

In order to fulfill the word of His father, He along with Sita and Lakshmana went in exile to forest for fourteen years. During the period Ravana abducted Sita devi inviting his own dismal fate. In the war that ensued Lord Rama defeated Ravana and his entourage of other demons thereby protecting virtue and goodness in this world.

Lord Rama is very merciful and blesses his devotees readily. Lord Hanuman is the most famous devotee of Lord Rama. He acquired devotion towards Rama just by ‘chanting’ and 'glorifying' the name of Rama as 'Jai Sri Ram!'. Another great devotee of Rama was Sabari. She once offered fruits to the Lord. To ensure about the ripened nature of the fruits, she first tasted the fruits herself before offering it to Rama. Deeply satisfied with her unflinched devotion, Lord Rama accepted her ‘tasted’ fruits and rewarded her by making her reach Vaikuntha, His Supreme abode in the eternal kingdom.

Lord Rama is the model of reason, right action and godly virtues. He was very loyal to his duties and is always worshipped with awe and reverence. Hence Lord Rama is called as Maryaada Purshottam. He always lived a life of righteousness. His life exemplifies the ideal son, ideal husband and an ideal ruler.

To get the special blessings of Lord Ram, Sita Devi and Lord Hanuman, please visit a Ram temple or an ISKCON temple on Ram Navami, this Tuesday, the 27th of March.

Jai Sri RadhaKrishna!