Develop Love And Consider All As Brothers And Sisters

3 April 2009, Rama Navami, Prasanthi Nilayam

Published English.

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Sweeter than sugar, tastier than curd, sweeter indeed than honey is the name of . Constant repetition of this sweet name gives one the taste of divine nectar itself. Therefore, contemplate on the name of incessantly. (Telugu poem) (India) is the motherland of many noble souls who earned great name and fame in all the continents of the world. This is the land of valorous people who vanquished foreign rulers and attained independence.

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This is the land that excelled in music, literature, and other fine arts. Having been born in this great land of , oh boys and girls, It is your sacred duty to protect its rich cultural heritage. (Telugu poem) THE (Indians), today, do not know their greatness, just as the elephant does not know its own strength. It obeys the command of the mahout and sits when he asks it to sit and stands when it is asked to do so. In the same manner, the are imitating western culture under the influence of western education. The are endowed with great potentialities, and their hearts are full of devotion. There is none among them who does not chant the divine name from their very birth. They name their children after the various names of God, thereby remembering God all the time. Every village in (India) has a temple of . Villagers of all small hamlets, even, set up a shrine for , , and in a little hutment or some rustic abode for regular worship.

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Right from the beginning, gave more importance to spirituality than to worldly and material pursuits. The main factor that is responsible for the peace and progress of is the devotion of for God. At present many countries of the world are in the grip of great problems and difficulties. But is by far free from such difficulties. The people of may have some financial problems, but they are happily leading their lives totally surrendering to the will of God. place their trust in the Self as the basis of their life rather than material possessions, property, and wealth. In fact, their entire life is based on this trust, and they have achieved progress in spite of many difficulties and deprivations. Having based their life on the trust in the Self, how can give any importance to worldly and materialistic pursuits? Even in their day-to-day conversation, they refer to their Self, saying, “Only the in my heart () knows this.” Do not limit or to a particular name or form. These names were given to them after their birth. They were not born with these names. have realised the truth that God is the resident of a person’s heart. That is why they are able to withstand all difficulties and sufferings and lead their lives happily. “One should remain equal-minded in happiness and sorrow, gain and loss, victory and defeat (), says the . Pleasure and pain are part of human life. Whenever they have to encounter sorrows and difficulties, they consider them as the harbingers of happiness. They have attained exalted positions due to such noble feelings. Their faith in God is unshakable even in the face of mishaps such as bomb blasts, floods, and plane crashes. Those who base their life on faith in God will never encounter sorrows, suffering, and difficulties. Their difficulties will come and go like passing clouds. One who is born in this world is sure to die one day or the other. Nothing is permanent in this world. Only one thing is permanent, and that is the or the Self. People aspire for liberation, heaven, and (’s heaven), but even they are not permanent. The only thing that is permanent is the , and that is the only truth. You may see so many forms in this world, but none of them is permanent except the .

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The story of Let us now dwell upon the . had three wives: , , and . first gave birth to a female child, who was named . gave her to one of his friends, who adopted her as his daughter. She was married to Sage , who conducted ’s (a special sacrifice for the sake of having a child). When oblations were offered in the sacrificial fire with the chanting of related for the , an effulgent being came out of the fire and handed over a vessel containing sweet pudding () to , with instructions to distribute it equally among his queens. Accordingly, distributed the pudding to , , and . and took their share of the pudding to their respective worship () rooms. Each of them was happy, thinking that her son would be the future king of . But had no such claims. She was a paragon of virtues. Her name ‘’ itself signifies that she was a good friend to one and all. She carried her bowl of pudding to the terrace and placed it on the parapet wall while drying her hair in the sun. Suddenly, an eagle swooped down and carried away the bowl. rushed down and told and about what had happened. and came to her rescue and shared their pudding with her. gave half of her share to , and so did .

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The intimate relationship of the brothers In due course, gave birth to , to , and to and . and had one son each, whereas had two sons. The sons of and happily played in their cradles while ’s sons cried all the time and were not taking milk. was at a loss to know the reason for their crying. Ultimately, she went to Sage and told him about her predicament. Sage closed his eyes in meditation. His yogic vision enabled him to know the truth. He said to , “Since you partook of the sacred pudding given by , you gave birth to , who is a part of . Similarly, is born out of the share of pudding given to you by , so he is a part of . Keep by the side of and by the side of . Then they will rest peacefully.” did as instructed. Both and stopped crying and started playing blissfully in their cradles. This was the basis of the intimate relationship between and , and . Both sons of , namely, and , were always in the company of and . In this manner, all four sons of grew up in an environment of love and happiness. was very happy because she thought her son would serve and would serve when they grew up.

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Where was born? Many people have many doubts about the place of His birth. He was born in . Was the city of built by some ordinary mortal? No, no. It was built by (divine architect) himself. He built it in such a way that no enemy could enter it.

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The divine marriage When won the hand of by stringing the bow of in the court of , His marriage with was performed in amidst great rejoicings. The people of were beside themselves with joy and sang merry songs.

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Welcome to all for ’s wedding; together we shall witness the joyous scene. Many have gathered already, decked up in all their finery; with necklaces the ladies are adorned of jewels pure and gleaming. shall tie the knot today to beauteous ; oh, what a fine match they make. Father has made ready bounteous feasts. All learned sages are assembled with presiding. Oh, what a multitude has assembled to rejoice, hearts with joy overflowing. Wedding of the holy pair and , such a sight is indeed rare. The sight shall confer great merit. looks the cool full moon, and is a matching double. The compassionate who loves all will confer his grace on us all. Come quickly to see the holy wedding of and . (Telugu poem) It seemed as if the entire population of had come to to witness the marriage of and . , all his ministers, and all family members prominently participated in the marriage. After the marriage function, all left for .

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The encounter of with On the way home, they heard a deafening sound. When they looked around to find where the sound had come from, they were confronted by , who looked very fierce. All of them were perturbed, and they began to think, “What is this great impediment after the glorious celebration of the marriage?” Good and bad always follow each other. After experiencing great joy in , they were confronted with a difficult situation on their way to . and others became fear-stricken. came forward and asked, “Who broke the bow?” “I did it,” said . “If that is so, let us see if you can bend my bow.” Saying so, he gave his bow to . strung and armed that bow with an arrow with His left hand. Seeing that, offered his salutations to and went his way. Experiencing the joy of victory, all of them reached and participated with great joy and enthusiasm in the festivities held there. The people of held joyous celebrations. Like his mother , ’s wife was also a woman of great virtues. When went to inform her that he was accompanying to the forest for fourteen years, she said, “It is your greatest good fortune. Consider and as your mother and father and serve them. In you have , , and , but in the forest you have only one mother, and that is . Forget even me and serve and with total dedication.” was happy to hear ’s words and said to himself, “What a virtuous wife I have!”

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follows the command of his father After the departure of , , and to the forest and the death of , came back to . When he was offered the crown of , he refused to accept it, saying that it was the right of only the eldest son, so he would go to the forest and pray to to come back and rule . When he went to the forest to appeal to , told him, “We have to follow the command of our father. Without that, our life itself is a zero.” promised that he would surely return to after the period of 14 years of his exile. Then requested to give His sandals, which he would place on the throne and worship them. On his return to , did not enter the palace. He lived in a small hut and led the life of a renunciant just as was living in the forest. During the sojourn of , , and at , came in the guise of a mendicant and abducted . was put to great difficulties, but He faced all difficulties smilingly. went in search of to . He could cross the ocean with the power of the divine name of . In fact, any stupendous task can be achieved by contemplating on the name of . It was with the power of ’s name that the monkeys had made the bridge over the ocean so that and His army could reach .

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rescues from ’s prison had to fight with , the king of demons. In the course of his battle, was hit by a missile and became unconscious. was very much distressed and lamented, “I may get a wife like , but I cannot get a brother like .” brought , the medical expert of , who said, “There is an herb called on a mountain in the Himalayan region. If you bring that herb, can be revived.” was sent to bring the herb to revive . did not know how to recognise that particular herb. Therefore, he lifted the whole mountain on which the herb existed and placed it before .

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With the help of the herb, was revived. Then hugged him and said, “, My life is meaningless without you. You have always been with Me and protected Me in many ways. There is nothing more dear to Me than you in this world. In fact, you are verily My life.” ultimately killed and rescued from his prison.

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welcomes for coronation as king Meanwhile the period of 14 years of exile of was over. As the end of fourteen years drew near and could not see any signs of ’s return to , he got ready to give up his life by immolating himself on a pyre. As had anticipated the situation, he sent in advance to inform that He was on His way back to . was overjoyed on hearing this good news. All the people of as also and the entire family were eagerly awaiting the arrival of in . When , , and alighted from ’s chariot (which they used to travel home), and all the people of offered them a hearty welcome. Soon after their arrival, arrangements for ’s coronation were made. People of were full of enthusiasm at the prospect of becoming their king. The students just now sang this song, . Always worship the Lotus Feet of , son of , which are dear to and worshipped by and is in the abode of peace, is served by and , and which redeemed ).

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was overjoyed on hearing the kind words of . had great love for , more than anybody else. Similarly, loved most dearly. He never disobeyed ’s command. In fact, all the brothers - , , , and - had great love for each other. They ruled over with great unity. It was not alone who administered the entire kingdom; all his brothers helped Him in conducting the affairs of the kingdom. The teaches us many lessons in morality and ethics. In fact, all the characters of this great epic set great ideals for mankind to follow. Sweeter than sugar, tastier than curd, sweeter indeed than honey is the name of . Is there anything greater than (repetition of the name )? We should understand this truth and contemplate on His name day in and day out. Great epics like the and the teach us many moral and ethical values. Truth is the highest among these values. “There is no righteousness () greater than adherence to truth ().” is born out of truth (), and from emerges peace, and from peace emerges love. Where there is love, there can be no hatred. One who has love will adhere to nonviolence. Truth, righteousness, peace, love, and nonviolence are the five cardinal human values. One who practises these human values is a human being in the true sense of the term. Even if one lacks one of these, one cannot be called a perfect human being. Therefore, we should develop all these five values. Unfortunately, when we look at the present scenario, we do not see truth anywhere, and we don’t even hear the word . Therefore, people today are beset with unrest. People want peace, but what they get is only pieces! Due to the lack of peace, love has become non-existent in humanity. Therefore, we should develop peace. Then only will love develop in us. When love takes root in us, we will have no enemies. Then all will become our friends. Hence, one should develop love and consider all as brothers and sisters. This is the main essence of the .

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It is only to demonstrate this principle of love that I have done this housing project in . We should love and help each other. The calamity that has befallen them can happen to anyone. When you make them happy, you will also be happy. Therefore, we should all be united. Let us all move together, Let us all grow together, Let us all stay united and Grow in intelligence together, Let us live together with Friendship and harmony.

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(Telugu poem) Only when we grow in intelligence together can there be unity. We should move and work with unity. No one should hate anybody. If any thought of hatred comes to you for a moment, brush it aside and develop the feeling of unity from the very next moment. It is only love that unites all. ( concluded His discourse with the song (), “”).