Appearance of the Most Pleasing Personality of Godhead

March 24, 2010

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Ram Navami - Appearance Day of the Most Pleasing Incarnation of Supreme Personality of Godhead

Date : Wed, March 24, 2010

Fasting till noon Then

in the eighteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order

to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman

powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then killing the atheist

King Ravana, who was on the other side of the sea - (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.22)

Lord

Rama, the most pleasing incarnation of God, appeared on Rama-navami. He

is known as Maryada Purusottama and is the emblem righteousness. His

life and teachings of morality in office are as relevant for us today

as when He appeared nearly 20 million years ago.

Rama Navami falls on the ninth day of the shukla paksha, or

bright phase of the moon, in the lunar month of Chaitra (April-May).

The first day of Chaitra , or Ugadi, also marks the beginning of the

Indian year. According to legend, Rama was born at noon.

The country of Kosal was situated on the banks of the river

Sharayu. Ayodhya was the capital founded by the king rishi Manu. During

the reign of king Dasarath, Ayodhya reached a period of great

prosperity. But Dasarath faced a big problem: he had no children.

Therefore he decided to perform a sacrifice known as " ashvamedh " , or

horse-sacrifice. Elaborate and difficult rituals had to be observed. A

very holy man, rishi Rishyashring, was chosen to conduct the sacrifice

with the utmost accuracy. The performance of this sacrifice was a great

event in Ayodhya. At the end Rishyashring recited a mantra and made an

offering to the fire. Then the gods, gandharvas, siddhas, and rishis

present arid began to pray to Brahma.

At that time Ravan, king of Lanka, was terrorizing the people, and

all were longing for liberation from his menace. Ravan had acquired

great power because he had obtained from god Brahma the boon that he

would never die at the hands of gods, or gandharvas, or yakshas

(demigods) or demons. As he was not afraid of men he did not care to

include men in the list of his potential slayers. So Brahma declared

that Ravan would die at the hands of a man. Then the gods went to

Vishnu with the request, " Dasarath is a glorious king. Please, take

birth in the wombs of his three queens in four different degrees of

your divinity. "

When Dasarath's sacrifice came to an end a shining figure appeared

over the sacrificial kund, and offered the king a divine beverage

called " payasam " to be given to his queens Kausalya, Kaikayi, and

Sumitra. In due time Kausalya gave birth to Rama, Kaikayi to Bharat and

Sumitra to Laxman and Shatrugna. Rama was born at noon of the bright

ninth day of Chaitra.

Rama was the first of the four sons of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya.

When it was time for Rama to be made crown-prince, his stepmother,

Kaikeyi, got Dasharatha to send him to the forest for 14 years. His

wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana also accompanied him. In the

forest, Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. Rama,

together with Hanuman and the monkey army, built a bridge to Lanka,

killed Ravana, and brought Sita back.

It is believed that listening to the story of Rama cleanses the

soul. Meditating on the noble Rama and chanting his name is believed to

ease the pains of life and lead one to moksha, or liberation.Though Rama Navami is a major festival for Vaishnavites, it is widely celebrated by worshippers of Shiva, too.

It is considered auspicious to undertake a fast on the day in the

name of Rama. The more devout fast for nine days, from Ugadi to Rama

Navami. The objective of the fast is not to ask for special favours of

the deity but to seek perfection as a human being. Devotees perform

elaborate pujas and chant the name of Rama. Temples of Rama have

special services and bhajan sessions through the day.

Sacred places associated with Rama, like Ayodhya, Ujjain and

Rameshwaram, draw tens of thousands of devotees. In Rameshwaram,

thousands take a ritual bath in the sea before worshipping at the

Ramanathaswamy temple.

Many places in North India host fairs in connection with the festival, culminating in spectacular fireworks on Rama Navami.

In this material world the conditioned soul is very much distracted from his original all-knowing, all-blissful nature as Krishna's eternal servant because he is carried away by the so-called taste of material sense gratification. This artificial taste is encouraged and exploited by the materialistic propaganda mongers who make a handsome profit by misguiding the people in general promoting cigarettes, liquor, prostitution, meat eating, etc. The foolish sense enjoyer tries to become happy by squeezing as much pleasure as possible out of these things, but because there is no factual pleasure in sense gratification, the poor soul is ultimately left in a state of frustration and bewilderment. If, however, he will reconnect with his original transcendental nature diving deep into his eternal identity as the servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he will taste a pleasure that is unlimitedly sublime and will go on increasing forever.

Chant:Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare