Ramo Vigrahawaan Dharmaha

17 April 1978, Ramanavami, Anantapur, AP

Published English.

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Man's life is like a cot full of bugs This life on earth is full of diseases Happiness is unreachable and far away These words are nothing but truth "Tastier than sugar, tastier than butter, Far tastier than honey is this name. Recite continuously 's name with gusto As it is the very ambrosia itself."

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In India, there is no village without 's temple; 's name is the essence of . Sage in his sacred had compared 's history to the milky ocean. It is a mistake to consider righteousness, wealth, desire, and liberation as of highest importance. This is only a half-truth and not an integrated view. Half of life should be spent in endeavoring for the Grace of God. The other half may be utilized in pursuance of the above four aspects. There lies the perfection of humanism.

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Sri was like the river , which originates in the . It means the mind was 's birthplace. His brother was born on the peak of (awareness) like the Ganges. , the Ganges, had merged into the river called .

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had dedicated his life to like the merger of the Ganges in the . The flow and taste of was like compassion; 's devotion was nectar of love. Just as Ganges and merged, the principle of love had merged into the principle of compassion. is not confined to rules and regulations only. Heart must be filled with compassion and love. Everybody must strive to practice the ideals of .

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had divided this into six , namely , , , , , and Kanda. One meaning of Kanda is (water). The other meaning is sugarcane. This is a beautiful and appropriate name given by to mean 'chapter'. What is the relation between (water) and (God)? He reclines on the milky ocean. Water is the sustainer for (, , and ) all the worlds of the universe (different worlds are named as , , and depending on their sizes).

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Juice Of Compassion The earliest , that is , was born in water. It is the water in the mother's womb that is the basis for the birth of a human being. Water is the basic sustainer for all living beings.

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The second meaning of Kanda pertains to the naturally segregated part or division of sugar cane. In spite of so many divisions, sweetness of its juice is same all along. The juice of compassion is the same throughout the . While reading , we come across several biographies pertaining to demons, unrighteous people, notorious people, etc. But it is the primary duty of a reader of to grasp its essence which consists of truth, righteousness, love, and compassion.

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After buying a mango fruit from the market, we discard its skin and kernel and preserve its juice with care. In the same manner, we must discard unrighteousness, unruliness, and bad practices, and must imbibe the juice of compassion. Sage had handed down to posterity this story which is filled with nectar of compassion and ideals. had renounced everything. There was no need for him to extol the story of a prince. Then what was his motive behind describing 's history? Even though he was aware of the fact that was God who incarnated in order to slay and other demons, had hidden this aspect and promoted his humanistic ideals.

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There is an interesting episode that describes how the sages had considered him. Sage was doing penance in the forest. Lord came and invited him to heaven. rejected the offer saying, " is about to visit this place along with and . Having their vision is heaven for me." Here conveyed the connotation that the vision of is more important than heaven.

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While in the forest, came to 's along with and in order to spend some time there. was aware of the fact that Lord himself had descended as . Even then he directed them to a different place in order to facilitate abduction of . "! You are a (householder). Mine is an (hermitage). It is against the norms of an for the householder to live in it. At a distance of 16 miles from here, there is a place called on the banks of river ! That place is suited for you to live" he told . The reason behind this is that in case and lived in his it would not be possible for to enter the and to abduct . Thus helped in the plan for keeping at , bringing and the consequent abduction.

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Follow Human Traits Of had established as valiant as , but did not describe as '', God. Right from 's birth up to his departure from earth, described him as an ideal human. Otherwise, had 's identity as been revealed, he would have remained aloof from ordinary people. But, identified himself with ordinary humans and mingled among people extending and sharing ideals of brotherhood and affection. Or else people might have resorted to worshipping instead of cultivating the ideals.

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Principles behind 's qualities were described in . Aspects of , , and are inherent in all of us. Human being is an embodiment of this complex. It is necessary to ruminate on which of these qualities are to be fostered at what time, which one is to be curtailed and which quality is to be adopted. How to contain when it tends to ascend? How to reform, what is its right place, what is its place of origin, how to curtail this Tamo- (grossness) how to foster our aspect?

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As a young man, obeyed his Guru's advice and went along with with a resolve to protect the . also followed him. and were like two lion cubs, and their effulgence had spread all over the forest. was thrilled because the very Himself was following him. In the meanwhile there was a big thud. queried about the big sound. said that he would know about it soon. In no time a giant of a woman demon stood before young . , upon 's command had cut off her head. Thereafter he proceeded towards the city of . On the way he came across another Woman called . He redeemed her and continued his journey to where he met . had garlanded and had accepted her. Who are these three women? The first woman was essentially filled with the quality of . The second was filled with and the third woman was full of quality.

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had destroyed the Tamo-, reformed the and accepted the -. Accordingly, we must get rid of our and qualities and foster quality that likes. This is the moral lesson that teaches man who has these triple qualities within his personality.

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Come, let us go and see 's marriage, Oh wonderful women folks. There are buntings of pearls, Windows at corners and Porches studded with diamonds and sapphires. There are thousands of sapphires In hundreds of bazaars. Come, let us go and see. (Telugu poem) The women folks of the city of were discussing among themselves.......... "Women are shining in heavy jewellery. Before the courtyards will tie the thread on Lovely pair this, whom God had made is a good match for ."

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Entire city was shining with decorations, diamonds, gems, sapphires, and pearls, and pathways became soft with the spread of rose flowers.

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"What a sight! Shining swords Bedecked horses Showers of flowers Wonderful women, wonderful jewelry. Decorated courtyards ties knot on What a sight!"

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In this region, there is a custom called '' forming part of a marriage, wherein the bride and groom exchange showers of sacred rice over each other's head in a sportive manner to the delight of the onlookers. had arranged for pearls in place of rice to be used as '' befitting his status of an emperor. Pearls were placed in 's hands held like a cup. 's body had a natural shade of a (brownish gem). The color of her palms reflected onto the pearls appearing as though the pearls were turned into . placed them gracefully over the white headgear of . At that time the pearls appeared like white jasmine flowers. When the pearls slipped onto 's blue-colored body, they appeared like dark blue sapphires. Now, the same pearls were brownish in the hand of , white when placed on 's head, and were blue while falling down. What are these three colors? was born in earth (nature). By nature, man is endowed with .

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Follows Invariably When one is accepted by he becomes in . Leaving these two qualities, man falls into Tamo- (grossness).

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had disregarded and aspired for (earthly nature). was 's wealth. There is no nature or creation without God. When one takes refuge in , then will naturally follow. When one aspires for only nature disregarding the supreme soul, it implies an evil desire. As a result had lost all his kith and kin. He caused the ruin of heavenly . Therefore, if we desire to enjoy nature, we must take refuge in God. God's grace is the divine aspect that brings forth holistic fulfillment. We must emulate and discard worthless things and must grasp noble things. compared and his brothers with . always followed Truth and Righteousness. - propounds righteousness. Therefore, is comparable to Rg- which accompanies -. As kept reciting 's name, he was compared to -. was like -, because he had conquered internal as well as external enemies and obeyed commands of his elder brothers. All these four were born in 's home as Rg, , , and .

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Some look only bad in . They only refer to people like , and other bad characters. But they do not look at good characters. ‘’ (one becomes as his thoughts are). Therefore, everyone must ‘mark’ their and ‘park’ them at appropriate places. had beautifully brought out the relationship between and (individual soul and Supreme soul).

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had been dispassionate and equanimous. was not a mere son of , 's disciple, 's brother, 's son or mere husband of . means the power that brings joy to the heart. This is the religion of . This is 's principle. This is the sages' pursuit. had smiled in joy when he was told about his proposed coronation. Later, when he was told that he must go and spend fourteen years in the forest, he displayed the same smile of joy on his beautiful face as he did a few hours before. never expressed his feelings to anybody other than because he considered as a part of his own being.

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had considered this turn of situation as neither joyful nor sorrowful. It is a normal human trait to exchange feelings of sorrow and happiness, especially among close relatives and friends.

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has been extolled as bestower of joy to people,leader of the clan and as the son of .' iti Ramah' ‘’ implies Bliss pertaining to super consciousness. We must endeavour to cultivate experiences beyond the senses. Meaningless worry at each and every issue is a quality of the ignorant people. When we delve deep into the nature of joys and sorrows it is possible to develop equanimity.

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is extolled as , 'Patitas' are those who are weak in either body, mind, or intellect. had redeemed three such 'Patitas'. was one among them. She spent all the time in meditation on . Daily she was cleaning the rocks so that could sit on them. She was trimming bowers to facilitate the tall to enter freely into her . She scrutinized every fruit to find out whether suitable for 's consumption. In this manner, every act of turned into an offering unto . So much so, had sanctified her life. As was going towards 's , some sages raised objections as she was a woman sage. But had totally ignored them all and went straight to . Is it a new kind of society that we need today? Or is it a new system of constitution? Or a new educational system? None of them indeed. What men need today is purity of mind. There is no use in uttering ', ' while keeping murkiness in minds. The main aim of is to purify the minds and hearts.

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The second 'Patita' was . When the demon king was in the act of abducting , the bird king , even while aware of its own old age and incapacity, had waged a fight against in order to protect . In the process, lost its wings and somehow sustained life in order to convey the news to . While searching for , heard 's feeble voice and held its head on his lap and stroked his hand gently over its body. Thus, died in 's lap. 's father had shed life while was away. had this fortune of dying in 's lap which was not possible for even .

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The third 'Patita' was , a low caste tribal chieftain. He was able to obtain 's immense love and affection. While was asleep, was keeping vigil along with . They both were engaged in a conversation. was praising 's qualities. Even as he closed the eyes was listening. was saying, "What sort of difficulties for , the repository of auspicious qualities? Why is this forest life for him? I will somehow endeavor so that returns to . Otherwise, I will terminate my life." This episode was proof of 's love and devotion for . Thus merited 's close friendship. is known by the epithet: '' because he redeemed these three Patitas.

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Look For Within The Heart If not as God, even if we consider as an idealistic human, we can achieve fulfillment. We must realize the who is present within us. We must subdue the senses. It is wrong to aspire for everything we see. What sort of life should we cultivate? We must search first for the humanism that is within us. Dharmic morals are verily the lamp posts on the path of human life. When these '' are absent, our lives become (monkeys). Monkeys have a tail and hence they are called ''. Men are rid of this tail and hence called '.' Therefore; we must prove our humanism instead of remaining as monkeys.

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Really speaking, animals and birds are much better than humans. Are they going to any bank to open a deposit for the sake of life? Are they growing any kind of crops to sustain life? Men are subjecting themselves to untold miseries just for the sake of the small stomach and are resorting to any number of devious ways and evil plots. No doubt everybody has certain needs. There is a proper way for achieving anything. There is a proper way to convey or convince anybody. No one has the right to resort to cruel deeds or cruel thoughts. As educated people, we do have requisite skill and dexterity. The educated are endowed with discriminative power. I hope that you will develop that kind of discrimination. I conclude my discourse with a blessing that all of you will be able to prove yourselves as ideal individuals following 's path.