Hari Om Dear Parents,
Here is the update from our last Class
Week 9. Dec 11th 2020
We started our class with Likhita Japa "Om Namah Shivaya" and opening prayers. We chanted Dhyana slokas led by a youth. As in the last class we used Naama Ramayanam chanting and the meaning of the same to recap Aranya kandam portion we covered in the last Class. One of the volunteer youth sang along.
Ramayana Story: Aranaya Khanda (Contd)
The Surpanakha Episode: Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana, lived in Panchavati. Ravana was then the most powerful Asura king who lived in Lanka (today's Ceylon). One day Surpanakha happened to see Rama and instantly fell in love with him. She requested Rama to be her husband.
Rama was amused, and smilingly said, "As you see I am already married. You can request Lakshmana. He is young, handsome and is alone without his wife."
Surpanakha took Rama's word seriously and approached Lakshmana. Lakshmana said, "I am Rama's servant. You should marry my master and not me, the servant."
Surpanakha got furious with the rejection and attacked Sita in order to devour her. Lakshmana swiftly intervened, and cut off her nose with his dagger.
Khara and his Army Liquidated: Surpanakha ran away with her bleeding nose, crying in pain, to seek help from her Asura brothers, Khara and Dushana. Both the brothers got red with anger and marched their army towards Panchavati. Rama and Lakshmana faced the Rakshasas and finally they were all killed.
The Path of Ruin: Surpanakha was terror stricken. She immediately flew to Lanka to seek her brother Ravana's protection. Ravana was outraged to see her sister mutilated. Surpanakha described all that happened. Ravana was interested when he heard that Sita is the most beautiful woman in the world, Ravana decided to abduct Sita. Rama loved Sita very much and could not live without her.
Ravana made a plan and went to see Maricha. Maricha had the power of changing himself into any form he wanted along with the appropriate voice imitation. But Maricha was afraid of Rama. He still could not get over the experience he had when Rama shot an arrow that hurled him far into the sea. This happened in Vishwamitra's hermitage. Maricha tried to persuade Ravana to stay away from Rama but Ravana was determined.
"Maricha!" shouted Ravana, "You have only two choices, help me to carry out my plan or prepare for death." Maricha preferred to die in Rama's hand than be killed by Ravana. So he agreed to help Ravana in the abduction of Sita.
The Golden Stag: Maricha took the form of a beautiful golden deer and began to graze near Rama's cottage in Panchavati. Sita was attracted towards the golden deer and requested Rama to get the golden deer for her. Lakshmana warned that the golden deer may be a demon in disguise. By then Rama already started to chase the deer. He hurriedly instructed Lakshmana to look after Sita and ran after the deer. Very soon Rama realized that the deer is not a real one. He shot an arrow which hit the deer and Maricha was exposed.
Before dying, Maricha imitated Ram's voice and shouted, "Oh Lakshmana! Oh Sita,! Help! Help!"
The Good Bird Jatayu: Sita heard the voice and asked Lakshmana to run and rescue Rama. Lakshmana was hesitant. He was confident that Rama is invincible and the voice was only a fake. He tried to convince Sita but she insisted. Finally Lakshmana agreed. Before his departure, he drew a magic circle, with the tip of his arrow, around the cottage and asked her not to cross the line.
"As long as you stay within the circle you will be safe with the grace of God" said Lakshmana and hurriedly left in search of Rama.
From his hiding place Ravana was watching all that was happening. He was glad that his trick worked. As soon as he found Sita alone, he disguised himself as a hermit and came near Sita's cottage. He stood beyond the protection line of Lakshmana, and asked for alms (bhiksha). Sita came out with a bowl full of rice to offer to the holy man, while staying within the protection line drawn by Lakshmana. The hermit asked her to come near and offer. Sita was unwilling to cross the line when Ravana pretended to leave the place without alms. As Sita did not want to annoy the sage, she crossed the line to offer the alms.
Ravana did not lose the opportunity. He quickly pounced on Sita and seized her hands, declaring, "I am Ravana, the king of Lanka. Come with me and be my queen." Very soon Ravana's chariot left the ground and flew over the clouds on the way to Lanka.
Rama felt distressed when he saw Lakshmana. "Why did you leave Sita alone? The golden deer was Maricha in disguise. "
Lakshman tried to explain the situation when both the brothers suspected a foul play and ran towards the cottage. The cottage was empty, as they feared. They searched, and called out her name but all in vain. Finally they were exhausted. Lakshmana tried to console Rama as best as he could. Suddenly they heard a cry. They ran towards the source and found a wounded eagle lying at the floor. It was Jatayu, the king of eagles and a friend of Dasharatha.
Jatayu narrated with great pain, "I saw Ravana abducting Sita. I attacked him when Ravana cut my wing and made me helpless. Then he flew towards the south." After saying this, Jatayu died on the lap of Rama. Rama and Lakshmana buried Jatayu and then moved towards the south.
Rama's Journey: Today the focus was Ramtek(Nagpur) where Rama met Sage Agasthiya. A student volunteer presented some facts about Ramtek, Nagpur
Discussion about the forthcoming monthly program. We closed in the theme for the monthly program and will discuss the details for this in the next class. We still need to come up with a name for the program.
Gita time-- we learned verse 11 and 12 from Chapter 2, following Swamiji's chanting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb869bQUafc&feature=youtu.be
We concluded with arathi and pledge along with closing Prayers.
Next Class on Dec 18th
Thank you. Hari OM
Shankar , Purnima and Vidhya
