By Nirooshitha Sethuram

Krishna and Balarama were growing up.  Krishna was so good a flutist, everyone was mesmerized by the music and sat listening to it for hours and hours.  Not only the people of Vrindavan, but also the birds and animals went through the same experience.  Both his father and mother, King Nanda and Yashoda, were so proud of their son, not really knowing who Krishna was.  Of course, if he had a flute in his hands, who would not experience a blissful state?

One day, taking the calves out for grazing, Krishna and the gopalas went along the Yamuna River to where a multi-hooded black serpent, Kaliya, lived with his family.  Kaliya previously lived near the banks of Ramanaka Dvipa, but had been chased away by Garuda, the king of the eagles, because Kaliya had been polluting the waters with its venom.

Now Kaliya was poisoning the Yamuna waters, knowing that Garuda wouldn’t come there due to a curse by Saubhari Muni.  Kaliya’s poison contaminated not only the waters, but also spread miles around, even polluting the air such that flying birds would fall unconscious or dead to the ground.  No one from Vrindavan went to the vicinity of Yamuna where Kaliya lived.

Reaching there, the boys were very tired and desperately thirsty.  They drank the poisoned water from Yamuna and fell unconscious on the riverbank.  Seeing this, Krishna immediately revived them with his divine powers and decided that Kaliya must be stopped.

Krishna climbed one of the largest trees on Yamuna’s bank and jumped into the middle of the poisoned body of water. His huge splash woke Kaliya, who started searching for the intruder.  Finding Krishna, Kaliya slithered near, furious that Krishna had entered its territory and disturbed its rest.  Not knowing who Krishna was nor his intentions, Kaliya ferociously attacked Krishna.

Krishna’s friends on the shore, except for Balarama, were terrified.  Some of them ran back to Vrindavan for help. The ones who ran back informed King Nanda and Yashoda about what was happening at the riverbank.  The whole of Vrindavan quickly followed King Nanda and Yashoda to gather where Krishna and Kaliya were fighting.

When they arrived, Kaliya had grabbed Krishna in his mighty coils and was squeezing him hard.  While Krishna was calmly watching what was happening from within the coils, the villagers were trying to figure out a plan to help Krishna.  On seeing this, as usual, Yashoda fainted, screaming her son’s name, ”Krishna!  Krishna!  Krishna!“

Balarama was enjoying the show, laughing inside because knew exactly what was going to happen.  When King Nanda was preparing to jump into the river, Balarama calmly restrained him and others from going in.  Then he attended to Mother Yashoda.

Krishna had been in Kaliya’s grip for a long time, though Kaliya was not able to crush Krishna.  Yet the villagers were in distress.  Deciding to relieve them from the distress, with one push Krishna came out of Kaliya’s grip.  This enraged Kaliya, as no one had ever escaped his coils, so he tried to sink his fangs into Krishna.

Kaliya spat poison all over Krishna, who was evading all the snake’s attacks.  The battle went on for a long time, above and under water.  While Krishna was having fun, the villagers were highly tense, but Balarama was enjoying the show.

After a while, Krishna jumped on top of one of Kaliya’s hoods and started dancing, embossing his feet on the snake’s hood.  Krishna moved from one hood to another, making Kaliya spit out all the venom and some blood too.  Krishna made sure that Kaliya didn’t have any venom left to harm anyone.  While on the snake’s hood, Krishna started to dance and play his flute with a blissful melodious sound.  Everyone could see this dance from the river bank, all puzzled about how this was possible.

The serpent got weaker and weaker, losing all his venom and energy.  He was at the verge of losing his life, so all of Kaliya’s wives prayed to Krishna to let their husband live.  They bowed to Krishna.  Krishna stopped his dance, with Kaliya barely conscious.  He ordered Kaliya and his family to leave Vrindavan, never to return to the vicinity.  He also commanded them to return to Ramanaka Dvipa, promising that Garuda will not hurt Kaliya due to Krishna’s footprints embossed on Kaliya’s head.

After gaining full consciousness, Kaliya complied with Krishna’s command, promising never to attack anyone, and returning to Ramanaka Dvipa with his family.  No one knew of the conversations between Krishna, Kaliya and his family, but everyone was relieved that Krishna was safe and Kaliya was gone.  Yashoda was the happiest!  Balarama was the only one smiling and calm through what was going on.  Since that day, that portion of the Yamuna was back to its original beauty and resourceful state.

It was already night.  The villagers of Vrindavan were all very tired from witnessing the long fight between Krishna and Kaliya as well as Krishna’s divine dance.  Their day had been filled with intense emotion and they had little energy to walk back to their village. The cows were hungry and tired too.  So, they decided to spend the night on the Yamuna riverbank.  King Nanda was worried about Krishna, thinking he may have been poisoned by Kaliya, so he wanted to keep an eye on him.

While they were sleeping, a great forest fire broke out.  It spread quickly due to strong winds. When the villagers felt the heat of the fire, they woke up and cried out for help. Hearing their cries, Krishna immediately opened his mouth very wide.  With one gulp, he swallowed the whole forest fire, saving all the villagers and their cows once again, as always the Lord protects his true devotees. Krishna was taken in grand procession back to Vrindavan by his friends, parents and villagers singing and rejoicing his victory and safe return.

King Kamsa was very tired of losing all his demons to Krishna.  He called the strongest demon he knew, Pralambasura, ordering him to kill Krishna.  They devised a plan to separate Krishna and Balarama, as it would be easier to kill them one by one.  Pralambasura waited for Krishna and the children in the area for few days.

One evening, Krishna, Balarama and their friends were playing in the meadow while the cows and calves were grazing.  Soft breezes carried the fragrance of the flowers over the meadow, through the forest and into the whole area of Vrindavan. The boys played different games each day, like hide and seek, tag, swinging under the trees, wrestling, and sometimes they would innovate new games as well.  They would dance while Krishna played the flute, or they admired Krishna’s dancing while they sang and clapped.

That particular day was hot and sunny, so they went deep into the shade of the forest, staying cool under the trees.  Pralambasura disguised himself as a boy and went toward the children.  He hid behind the trees. waiting for a good opportunity. Krishna saw him, a boy hiding behind a tree, and realized it was a demon in disguise.  Of course, Lord Krishna knows all things, including past, present and future, so he recognized the boy as Pralambasura.

Krishna invited the disguised Pralambasura to play with him and the gopalas.  He proposed they play tug-of-war, dividing them into two teams.  The losers were supposed to carry the winners back to the village when it was time to return.  Everyone liked the idea of a joy ride, hoping their team gets to win.  With Balarama on one side and Krishna on the other, Pralambasura joined Krishna’s team.   Pralambasura, as the boy, thought that his plan was working, that Krishna was so stupid as to invite him to play with him.

The tug-of-war ended with Balarama’s team winning.  Pralambasura devised the brilliant idea to carry Balarama away, he can deal with him first. He offered to carry Balarama back to the village while the other losing team members carried the winners.  As they started running, Pralambasura lagged and strayed, taking Balarama deeper into the forest, going in a different direction than the village.  Slowly Pralambasura shed the boy’s body, taking on his real form, hurrying to take Balarama away in order to kill him.

When Balarama identified that he was riding on a demon, he shouted, “I am being carried by a demon in the opposite direction of where my friends are headed.”  Krishna heard him and understood that Balarama wanted Krishna to stay with their friends and take care of them.  Their friends were worried that a demon had taken Balarama.  Krishna told them that he was worried too, but not about Balarama.  Krishna was worried about the fate of the demon.

Krishna was right; Balarama fearlessly began to strike Pralambasura. First Balarama tightened his legs around the demon’s neck, strangling him.  Then Balarama used his mighty fist to land a single blow on the demon’s head. The demon let out a fierce roar and fell to the ground, dead.

The loud sound was heard miles away. Balarama came dancing towards his friends. The gopalas embraced Balarama with great affection and began to praise him.  With his divine smile, Krishna stood looking at his beloved brother.  Pretty soon, all of Vrindavan resounded with the tale of Balarama’s strength.  His foster father, Nanda, remembered why he was named “Bala” Rama and Garga Muni predicting his extraordinary strength and valor at the naming ceremony   Kamsa had failed again.

by Nirooshitha Sethuram

Krishna was growing up fast in Gokul, his brother Balarama by his side.  They loved each other so much that one couldn’t live without the other.  Both of them were very mischievous.  Especially Krishna, whose many amazing exploits reminded Yashoda of the words of Garga Muni, who named Krishna, announcing that the Supreme Lord had appeared as this child…

It was another beautiful day, almost noon-time.  A woman was walking with a basket of fruit on her head, shouting “Fruits, fruits…”  She was poor and had only a few fruits to sell to keep her family fed.  Krishna heard her calling and ran out to the street to get some fruit.  He didn’t have any money.  Those fruits looked very yummy and Krishna wanted them badly.  He looked around and found a pile of grain.  As bartering was usual those days, picked up a handful of grain and ran to the fruit seller.  On the way to the seller, because of his tiny little hands, he lost half of the grain he had taken, leaving only a few grains in his hand.  He reached out and gave the woman the few grains he had in his hand.  Looking at the few grains, the woman smiled at Krishna, the grace-filled little boy.  She happily gave him the fruits he could hold.  Krishna jumped up in joy, took the fruits and ran back into the house to eat them.

Wondering how she was going to feed her family, she lifted the basket to go home, and was amazed to find the basket heavy with gemstones, including rubies, emeralds, diamonds instead of the grains, with gold ornaments and other precious metals.  She was unable to understand what happened but thanked God for them and went home glorifying the divine.  Krishna was watching through the window laughing at the amazement of the woman.

Though Gokul had been a peaceful place to live, all the recent demonic attacks had made it unsafe.  Nanda and the elders met to come up with a solution.  They decided to move to the nearby village Vrindavan, both for safety reasons and because it had lush grass for their cows, along with the nearby forest and of course the river Yamuna, as in Gokul.

Within a day, they packed up everything in their carts, gathered their cattle and started their trek to Vrindavan. On the way, the Gopiis started to sing about Krishna; it was a delight to all the travellers. When they arrived, the Govardhana hills, the rich green pastureland and the beautiful Yamuna river was in sight.  It seemed a great place to live and all were happy.

In the city, Kamsa still clung to his thought of eliminating his enemy, killing Krishna.  After the death of the demons he’d sent, Putana and Trinavarta, he knew his enemy was no ordinary being.  He understood that he needed a far more powerful demon than the ones he sent earlier.  He was very anxious because he didn’t know where Devaki’s eighth son was.  He sent his spies all around, thus finding out the whole village of Gokul had moved to Vrindavan.  This made him very suspicious.  Some time later his suspicion was confirmed to be true:  a spy confirmed that Krishna was in Vrindavan.  Happy now, Kamsa could target Vrindavan in order to kill Krishna.  He called upon a ferocious demon called Vatsasura (the calf demon), ordering him to go to Vrindavan and kill Krishna.

Krishna, Balarama and their friends were big enough to take the calves out for grazing daily.  One day, while they were attending to the calves, Vatsasura took on the form of a calf, mingling with the other calves in order to get near Krishna and do the job he was sent for.  As soon as Vatsasura entered the herd, Krishna noticed him and gestured to Balarama, who is always ready to confront danger.  While Vatsasura was trying to hide and blend in, Balarama went right in front of him, to distract him.  Krishna snuck behind the demon and caught hold of the calf’s hind legs.  Lifting the demon high above his head, he whipped it round and round and threw him toward a huge tree.  Hitting the tree hard, the calf fell to the ground.  Vatsasura returned to his demon form, lying dead on the ground.

The residents of Vrindavan heard about Krishna’s valor, which increased their love and devotion towards him more than before.  They begin to believe their Guru Gargacharya’s predictions about Little Krishna, that he is no ordinary child, that he is a Divine Incarnation.

This was another failure for Kamsa.  He was troubled and worried, thinking he needed a stronger demon.  He remembered Bakasura (the crane demon), a much stronger demon and Putana’s brother.  Kamsa told Bakasura that he had found his sister’s killer, Krishna, who was living in Vrindavan.  Kamsa promised Bakasura a handsome reward for killing Krishna.  As soon as Bakasura heard the name of his sister’s killer, he was enraged.  He accepted Kamsa’s request and took off without wasting any time.

Krishna, Balarama and their friends as usual took the calves to the pastures early in the morning, then to the Yamuna River for water.  When they were resting, they saw a shadow of a crane over the river and pasture.  The bird looked like a mountain with its beak stretching several yards in front of it.  Krishna knew it was Bakasura who had taken the form of a crane.

Krishna walked towards the crane while the others held back.  Acting quickly, as soon as Krishna was close, Bakasura snatched him up with his long beak and swallowed him, thinking he had successfully killed Krishna.  Seeing this, all the kids froze in fear except for Balarama, who obviously knew what Krishna was up to.

While in the crane’s long throat, Krishna glowed with radiance, producing a lot of heat.  Unbearable heat!  The crane spat out Krishna in a hurry as its thin throat was being burnt.  Krishna jumped to the ground.  Bakasura attacked him with his beak again.  Krishna grabbed hold of the beak and tore it apart, killing Bakasura.  Another demon killed.

The younger brother of Putana and Bakasura learned that Krishna killed his siblings.  Aghasura (the serpent demon) felt so much vengeance that he decided to wipe out the whole of Vrindavan.  He disguised himself as a giant serpent, waiting for the children with his mouth open.  He resembled a mountain cave, his lower lip resting on the ground, with his upper lip touching the clouds like a mountain peak and his tongue resembling a path through the mountain cave.

Krishna and his companions were coming along in groups, playing and dancing while herding the calves.  The first two or three groups entered what they thought was a mountain cave, impressed with the smooth road, which was actually the serpent’s tongue.  They fell unconscious due to the venomous fumes inside the snake’s mouth.

Aghasura kept still as his goal was to kill all of them, especially Krishna, so that their parents would also will die in grief.  Thus, the whole of Vrindavan would be destroyed.  Krishna recognized the demon immediately when he saw it.  He had to devise a plan to kill the serpent without hurting his friends and the calves already in its stomach.

Krishna walked into the mouth of the huge serpent. Aghasura was very happy that Krishna had fallen into his trap.  In the serpent’s throat, Krishna started growing larger and larger, blocking its airway.  This made the serpent unable to gasp any air, so it died.  Krishna opened the snake’s mouth and brought all the boys and calves out.  He brought them back to consciousness by his divine powers.

Aghasura attained moksha by the grace of Krishna.  The Devas and all the celestial began celebrating this divine union. The celebration and news of Krishna’s glory reached Satyaloka, the residence of Lord Brahma.

After slaying Aghasura, the boys were having lunch, joking and laughing.  But when they finished eating, they noticed something strange.  Oh no!  All the calves were missing…  where did they go?  Did they wonder around and lose their way?  Krishna wanted all of them to stay calm and to stay in one place, so he went to look for the calves.  Searching everywhere in the forest, he couldn’t find any trace of them.  Wondering what had happened, he returned to the spot where his friends were waiting for him to tell them the sad news.  But all of his friends were now gone.

Through his divine powers, Krishna saw what was going on.  Lord Brahma had a little doubt in Krishna, as to whether he was really Lord Vishnu, especially since Krishna was acting just like a little boy, playing with other kids, even being a usual teenager with some might and powers.  So, Lord Brahma was testing him.  Lord Brahma had put the calves and the kids into a deep sleep and hid them in a cave.  Krishna smiled to himself, planning an answer for Lord Brahma.

The all-pervading Krishna manifested as each and every one of his missing friends and the missing calves, exactly how they were.  He returned to the village as usual with all his friends in the evening.  The mothers of the Gopalas and the calves welcomed them like never before, pouring their love out to them as they never had before. They didn’t know that this was because they had the opportunity and the highest blessings of being the parents of Lord himself.

After some time, Lord Brahma came to see what Krishna was doing without his friends.  To Lord Brahma’s astonishment, Vrindavan was as it had been before he’d hidden the kids.  In disbelief, he went back to the cave where the kids were hidden, thinking maybe Krishna had found them, but Lord Brahma found them still sound asleep.  He went back and forth between the cave and Vrindavan a couple of times to make sure.

When Krishna saw this, he turned himself along with all his friends and the calves in Vrindavan into Lord Vishnu’s form, only for Lord Brahma’s eyes.  Seeing Krishna’s true form and understanding his mistake, Lord Brahma rushed down to offer his respect to Krishna and brought all the kids and the calves back to Vrindavan.  Everything was back to what it was earlier.

Now Krishna, Balarama and the other friends were older, so they started to take the calves and the cows further into the pasture.  One day, going farther along one of the pathways, they came to a beautiful forest, where they could smell the fragrance of the fruits and flowers.  They had been warned to stay away from this forest of palm trees called Taalavana, due to Dhenukasura (the donkey demon).

Dhenukasura was surrounded by other small demons, also taking the form of donkeys, not letting anyone into that forest so that nothing was taken from there.  The kids were enthusiastic to go in and get some of the never before eaten fruits.  Krishna hinted to Balarama to go in and do the needful.  Balarama went into the forest, followed by Krishna and their other friends.

Balarama shook the trees with his mighty strength, making the ripe fruits fall to the ground.  Jubilantly picking and tasting the fruits, the kids completely forgot about the demons who were taking their afternoon nap.  All the noise from Balarama’s shaking of the trees woke Dhenukasura.  Angry that someone had entered his forest and awakened him from his nap, Dhenukasura appeared in front of Balarama and started kicking his chest with his hind legs, sounding like an earthquake.

At first Balarama was patient, though it was not his usual nature.  But then he got very angry and took hold of Dhenukasura’s hind legs, wheeled the donkey around and tossed it up into the treetop.  The demon came crashing down, landing dead on the forest floor.  The wheeling and the tossing made the forest look as though a tornado had hit the area.

The fight between Balarama and Dhenukasura woke all the other demons.  Wanting to avenge Dhenukasura’s death, they charged at Balarama.  Skillfully, both Balarama and Krishna killed all the demons by doing the same thing Balarama had done to Dhenukasura.  From the monkeys to the birds, all the creatures of the area were so happy to be able to come to the forest to enjoy the fruits for the first time.

More to come…

by Nirooshitha Sethuram

The whole town of Gokul was in joy, especially Nanda and Yashoda, the new parents of Krishna, named for his dark complexion.  The cowherds of Gokul were so happy that their leader had a child to continue leading them that they decorated with garlands to celebrate Krishna’s birth.  From that day onward, the life of all the Gopis (milkmaids) and Gopalas (cowherd boys) revolved around Krishna, the divine baby.

But in the city, King Kamsa was very upset that he had been unable to kill Krishna, the prophesied eighth child.  Still targeting the children who were born in the month of Shraavana, Kamsa sent out one of his seven demons, Trinavarta, to hunt for the eighth child.

Trinavarta could change himself into a whirlwind.  He roamed all around and came to Gokul.  Krishna was at the crawling age.  Yashoda was cradling him on her lap but felt his weight as unbearably heavy for some reason, so she put him on a mat on the floor and went about household work.  Knowing Trinavarta was in the area, Krishna crawled to the doorstep so that Trinavarta could see him.

Trinavarta saw Krishna, whose appearance matched what he was seeking.  Becoming a whirlwind, he made the whole of Gokul dark with the dust, picked up Krishna and took him away.  Yashoda came checking on Krishna, found him missing and fainted.

Trinavarta carried Krishna for a while but found Krishna’s weight increasing.  It increased to a point where Trinavarta was unable to carry Krishna anymore and fell on the ground, coming out of his whirlwind form.  He fell with Krishna on top of him.  The weight of Krishna increased to a point where Trinavarta choked and died under the unbearable weight of Krishna.  The villagers found Krishna playing on the chest of Trinavarta’s body.  They picked Krishna up and Trinavarta’s body turned into dust.  This was another failed attempt by Kamsa.

Krishna was so powerful, as made evident on another occasion.  This happened on his first-year birth star (janmashtami) ceremonies.  The whole of Gokul was invited, including the wise and learned pundits who beautifully recited Vedic hymns to bless Krishna.

Yashoda gave Krishna a holy bath (abhishek) and got him ready for the ceremony but, after the bath, little Krishna fell asleep.  She laid him under a cart outside for shade, a cart filled with heavy items.  Yashoda asked some older kids to keep an eye on Krishna.  She got really busy, taking care of the pundits’ and the guests at the ceremony.

Baby Krishna woke up and started crying, wanting milk.  With all the noise around her, Yashoda couldn’t hear his cry.  Krishna got angry and kicked the wheel of the cart with his tiny feet.  The huge heavy cart crumbled down into pieces.  No one in Gokul could believe that Krishna was the one to wreck the cart.

These events confirmed to the Gokul residents that Krishna was not just any child.  But what they didn’t know was that cart wheel was none other than a demon named Shakatasura who was sent by Kamsa to kill Krishna.  Shakatasura attained mukti (liberation) due to the fact that the Lord’s feet touched him.

Krishna was growing up fast in Gokul, his brother Balarama by his side.  They loved each other so much that one couldn’t live without the other.  Both of them were very mischievous.  Especially Krishna, who would provoke Balarama and all their friends into doing mischievous activities.  Sometimes they would grab the ends of the tails of the calves.  The calves would then run here and there.  The children would hold on to the tails tightly, pretending they too were scared.  The Gopis would come to their rescue and it all will be very dramatic.

Krishna and Balarama would go into all the houses in Gokul, stealing the curd (yogurt) and butter from the household, most of the time escaping, but sometimes getting caught.  Everyday there were a few villagers at Yashoda’s and Rohini’s doorsteps, complaining about the kids.  But there was no way to stop the brothers from stealing the milk, curd and butter.

All the brothers did was sit silently, like good boys, yet they were planning the heist for the next day.  Different strategies and different techniques had to be planned every day as the villagers made hurdles and preventive methods against the previous strategies the brothers had used.

For example, the pots containing the curd and butter were usually kept on the floor. Then the villagers moved the pots to high tables.  When that too didn’t work, they hung the pots from the roof.  The brothers were so bad that, if they were unable to get to the curd and butter, they broke the pots and ate whatever they could, making the rest unusable.  The villagers were having quite a time with the mischievous brothers.

Krishna was always the leader, while he made sure he shared it with all the kids in Gokul, thus they were always on his side.  He shared it not only with his human friends, but also with his animal friends, especially with the charming monkeys, who were as mischievous as he.

Yashoda and Rohini didn’t know what could be done.  However, much punishment was given to Krishna and Balarama, they always found a way to convince their mothers to forgive them.  One day, Yashoda and Rohini sat the two brothers in the garden and made sure they didn’t get any food, as their punishment.  The brothers were hungry.  Krishna took a handful of dirt, ready to put it in his mouth.  Balarama saw this and thought their mothers would be angry if he let Krishna eat dirt.  Trying to stop Krishna, he couldn’t get the dirt out of Krishna’s mouth.  He took Krishna by his hand and pulled him over to mother Yashoda, telling her that he tried to stop Krishna from eating dirt. but Krishna wouldn’t listen.

Yashoda was worried that Krishna was going to get sick and asked him to open his mouth so she could get the dirt out.  First, he refused to open his mouth, then later he opened it, due to his mother being persistent.  Yashoda looked inside Krishna’s mouth and saw all the worlds, stars, galaxies and universes in it, including all that exists, movable and immoveable.  Most surprisingly, she saw herself just as she was at the very moment, looking in her darling Krishna’s mouth.  Unable to comprehend, she fainted and fell on the floor.

On regaining consciousness, she was unable to describe what she had seen.  All she could do was hug Krishna and not let him out of her arms for the longest time.  It was the play of Lord himself, filling her with great maternal affection, making her forget the vision she’d witnessed.

The complaints about the butter thieves kept on coming.  On another day, Rohini locked Balarama in a room.  Yashoda took a stick in her hand and chased Krishna, who was running as fast as he could, through houses, courtyards and gardens.  At last she caught him!  She tied Krishna to a mortar.  Of course, the Lord let himself be caught by his mother.

It wasn’t easy for Yashoda to tie little Krishna to the mortar.  A motor is a cup-shaped receptacle made of heavy hard wood, in which ingredients are crushed, ponded or ground, using a heavy pole with a smooth bottom, especially used in cooking and pharmacies.  As she picked up the rope to tie around him, she found the rope to be two inches too short.  She found another piece of rope and tied it to the first one, wrapping it again.  It also was two inches too short.  Then she tried another one and another one, but they were always two inches too short.

She was bewildered and got tired of trying to tie little Krishna.  Lord Krishna felt compassion for his mother and decided to get bound, because of her true love for her son.  Yashoda thought that the mortar was so heavy that small Krishna would not be able to get around to his mischiefs.  She went to the kitchen to continue her household work.

Krishna couldn’t stay long.  He got bored so he started pulling the motor around the garden to try and get free from it.  He came across two gigantic arjuna trees, growing side-by-side.  Thinking that was the way for his great escape, he pulled the mortar between the two trees, thinking that will free him.  But, with his mighty power, he uprooted both the trees, which fell on the ground with a thud.  Two celestial beings appeared out of the trees.  They worshipped Krishna in a thankful manner and disappeared joyfully.  Who are these two celestial beings?

Once there were two brothers named Nalakubera and Manigriva, sons of Kubera, the king of wealth.  Handsome and wealthy, they were accustomed to worldly enjoyment such as drinking, smoking, dancing and pursuing other mundane desires.  One day they were so enamored of their wives that they didn’t notice the arrival of the great Sage Narada.  Insulted by their behavior, Narada cursed them to remain as two trees in Gokul forever.

Hearing this, their wives fell at the sage’s feet, asking him to forgive their husbands and take back his curse.  Narada relented, but a curse once given cannot be retracted; it can only be modified.  So Narada amended the curse, such that Lord Vishnu would release their husbands when he incarnates as Krishna.  Thus, Lord Krishna fulfilled the prophecy of his dear devotee Narada.

Yashoda and Nanda heard a thunderous sound, as if a thunderbolt had struck the village, and came out running.  The found that Krishna had uprooted the two huge trees which had been next to each other in the garden.  Shocked to see what Krishna had done, Yashoda stood amazed.  It was, after all, impossible for a little boy to knock down two huge trees.  But they remembered the words of Garga Muni, who named Krishna, announcing that the Supreme Lord had appeared as this child.

More to come…

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

Though Devaki’s seventh child was presumed dead in her womb, he had been transferred to Rohini’s womb in Gokul.  When born, he was called Balarama, Lord Vishnu’s eighth avatar.

Kamsa knew the prophesied eighth child was next.  Thinking that prevention is better than cure, he ordered Vasudeva and Devaki chained to different pillars of the dungeon so that they could not be with one another.  Kamsa was happy with his brilliant plan to stop the birth of the baby.  Vasudeva and Devaki were so heart broken.  They prayed to Lord Vishnu, as they didn’t have any way to bring the eighth child, who would end Kamsa’s tyranny.

By the grace of Lord Vishnu, Devaki became pregnant.  Kamsa was both upset and puzzled as how his plan didn’t work.  With the help of his guards, he’d been monitoring every move of Vasudeva and Devaki.  He was so worried that he ordered extra guards added so that he will be informed as soon as the eighth baby was born.  Thus he could kill that baby too and get rid of the threat that came from the voice from the sky.

At the same time, in Gokul, Yashoda was also pregnant.  Nanda and Yashoda were jubilant about expecting a child, as they had been childless for a very long time.  As planned by Lord Vishnu, he himself was growing in Devaki’s womb while Yoga Maya was growing in Yashoda’s womb.  Vasudeva and Devaki were worried, not only for their baby’s safety, but for the greater good of their kingdom.

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As she got closer to delivery, Lord Vishnu appeared to them, affirming he will be born as their eighth child.  He also revealed that this is the third time he is being born to them, according to their wishes from a previous birth.  He told them to take the baby to Gokul and switch him with Vasudeva’s friend’s (Nanda’s) baby.  Then he disappeared.

This brought great peace and joy to Vasudeva and Devaki.  Yet they wondered how to switch the babies while they were chained in the dungeon with all the added security around them.  Everyone has to have something to worry about at all times!

He was born on the eighth day of the waning moon, called the Krishna Paksha (dark side) Ashtami (eighth), in the lunar month of Shraavana (August-September), with the constellation of Rohini in the ascendant.  Late in the evening, the sky was dark due to it raining heavily with thunder and lightning.  Just before Devaki went into labor, all the guards fell asleep.

Devaki gave birth to a beautiful divine baby boy, who was as dark as the clouded sky and with beautiful curly hair.  As soon as this divine baby was born, the chains binding Vasudeva gave way and fell on the ground.  What a miracle!  The guards were asleep and Vasudeva was free.

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Though they didn’t want to part with the baby, Lord Vishnu’s command to switch the babies had to be obeyed.  With tears in her eyes, Devaki handed the baby over to Vasudeva.  As soon as he took the baby into his arms, the dungeon doors opened.  Putting the baby in a basket, he carried the basket on his head, right out of the dungeon.  He found the castle doors open.

It was so dark that Vasudeva couldn’t see the direction to go.  He looked up to the sky and another miracle occurred.  The clouds gave way for the moonlight to guide him, even in the midst of the thunderstorm.  Adhishesha, the five-headed serpent, immediately appeared and spread his hood over the basket, protecting the baby and Vasudeva from the gusty wind and heavy rain, doing his seva to his beloved Lord.

Vasudeva walked as fast as he could towards Gokul.  He came to the banks of the river Yamuna, flooded and flowing wildly due to the rain.  Vasudeva had to cross it.  Stepping into the river, he started across.  The water level rose higher and higher, up to Vasudeva’s nose, as though the river Yamuna was eager to touch the baby.  The baby put one of his feet out of the basket and touched the water; instantly the water level subsided.  The river Yamuna gave way, giving clear ground for Vasudeva to cross.

After walking for hours, Vasudeva reached Gokul.  When Vasudeva entered Gokul, everything stopped.  Nothing moved.  It was as though the universe had come to a standstill.  Vasudeva walked to Nanda and Yashoda’s home.  A baby girl lay next to Yashoda, who had been born at the same time Devaki had given birth.

Vasudeva switched the babies and carried Yashoda’s baby the same way he’d carried his own, on his head in the basket.  As soon as he left Gokul, everything was back to normal movement.  He was able to return to the dungeon before daybreak.  The doors remained open and the guards were still asleep.

As soon as he entered the dungeon, all the doors shut themselves.  Vasudeva gave Yashoda’s baby to Devaki.  The chains grabbed on to Vasudeva again.  Nothing looked changed.  All of what happened was incomprehensible to Vasudeva and Devaki, but they knew it was all Lord Vishnu’s doing.  They had a moment of relief when the baby started crying, which woke up the guards, startled from their slumber.  Not knowing what had transpired, one of them ran to Kamsa to inform him of the birth of Devaki’s eighth baby.

Kamsa jumped up from his bed and rushed to the dungeon.  He saw the baby next to his sister, Devaki.  Devaki screamed, begging for mercy, saying that it is a girl and not to kill her.  Neglecting Devaki, Kamsa picked the baby up by its leg as usual, laughing arrogantly.

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When Kamsa swung around to throw the baby into the dungeon wall, the baby (Yoga Maya) slipped out of his hands and appeared as a bright light in the sky.  With derisive laughter, she said, “Fool, you will not be able to kill me and even if you did, what is the use?  The one to kill you is safe elsewhere not too far from here.  You cannot escape from him, however mighty you may think you are!  The only reason I’m not killing you now, is due to you touching my feet.  Thus I bless you that the Lord himself will kill you.  It is so great to have the chance for this blessing!”

After saying this, Yoga Maya disappeared.  Kamsa was shaken to his core, unable to understand what had happened.  He returned to the castle, hearing his sister say that he cannot alter his fate however much he tries.  These words, reverberating in his ears, piercing his heart with guilt and sorrow, for torturing his sister and her husband.  Yet his arrogant mind won him over.

The whole town of Gokul was in joy, especially the delighted parents, Nanda and Yashoda.  No one knew how, what they thought was a baby girl the previous night, is actually a baby boy in the morning.  But no one cared and didn’t have the time to think about it, as the baby was with a smiley face, attractive radiant eyes and dark mesmerizing divine look.  For the dark complexion, the baby was named Krishna (Krishna = dark in Sanskrit).

The people in Gokul were cowherds.  Nanda was their leader.  They were so happy that their leader had a child to continue leading them.  They decorated the whole of Gokul with garlands and celebrated Krishna’s birth on a large scale.  From that day onward, the life of all the Gopiis (milkmaids) and Gopalas (cowherd boys) started revolving around Krishna, the divine baby.

Kamsa was very upset that he had been unable to kill Devaki’s eighth child.  He devised a plan to kill all the newborn babies who had been born in the month of Shraavana, so that Devaki’s son also will be killed.  He called upon a demoness called Putana to implement his plan.  Putana started her work, disguising herself as a noble lady, going around and poisoning all the babies born in the month of Shraavana.

This dreadful news reached Vasudeva’s ears.  Nanda, as one of the chiefs in Kamsa’s kingdom, came to pay his taxes in Mathura, the capital city.  Vasudeva took advantage of this opportunity to meet his dear friend Nanda.  After congratulating Nanda about his newborn, he also inquired about Balarama growing up in Gokul.  Then Vasudeva succeeded in warning Nanda about the danger to his newborn baby.  Hearing this, Nanda rushed back to Gokul right away, fearing for the safety of his beloved son.

Meanwhile, Putana entered Gokul.  It was the tenth day her search.  She heard about Nanda’s son, who perfectly fit the profile of who she needed to kill.  Looking to be a beautiful and charming lady, Putana comes to Yashoda’s house as a guest.  Yashoda and the other women in the house let her be in their midst.

Putana saw this most attractive, radiant baby in the cradle.  She started getting caught up in Krishna’s beauty when she remembered the orders of the cruel king, Kamsa.  Putana had come prepared, with poison to apply to her breasts in order to kill the baby.  This technique had worked on hundreds of babies around the area for the past ten days.

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She took baby Krishna in her hands, kissing him, and put him to her breast.  Krishna suckled her life out of her.  Putana fell dead on the floor, revealing her true form as a demoness.  Her body was so huge, yet Krishna was smiling and playing on her lap.

The elder Gopiis immediately picked Krishna up from Putana’s lap, everyone amazed to see what had happened.  Nanda returned from Mathura just in time to see Putana’s body.  All thus knew that she was the rumored child-poisoning woman, roaming in the area and killing all the newborns.  They didn’t know how Putana was killed, but everyone was thankful and prayed to Lord Vishnu the savior for protecting their little Krishna.  They definitely knew that Krishna was not an ordinary child.

The people of Gokul cut Putana’s body into pieces and cremated it in a wood fire so that no one would know she’d died in Gokul.  She died at the hands of Krishna, so she was freed from her sins, completely purified.  The burning of her body parts produced an incense fragrance, as opposed to what everyone expected the smell to be.

Putana was missing in action, and Kamsa didn’t know what had happened.  He waited for her return for weeks, finally realizing she is no more and that his plan had failed.  Not knowing how and where Putana died, he was unable to find the eighth baby.  He continued with his atrocious activities against all the people, devising further plans to hunt and kill the eighth child of his sister.

Krishna with Mother Yashodha

More to come…

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

The asuras (demons) and their descendants were taking over the earth, harming the good, righteous, virtuous people and influencing others to harmful deeds.  The earth was not in a good state: the people were in turmoil all the time, fighting with each other, using devastating weapons that harmed Bhudevi (Mother Earth).  She couldn’t bear the devastations so She sought help from Lord Brahma.

She went to Brahmaloka and stood in front of Lord Brahma with flowing tears and deep sorrow.  Lord Brahma was deeply touched and decided to escalate the issue to Lord Vishnu, who is the savior of the three worlds.  Together with Bhudevi and all the devas (Gods), Brahma went to Vaikuntha seeking help from Lord Vishnu.

While the others were praying and singing to Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma was meditating.  He received a message through his heart and shared it with all.  The message from Lord Vishnu was that He would be born into Yadu Kula (the Yadava clan), to save the world from the evil which prevailed on Earth.  He also commanded the devas to be born into Yadu Kula,  Also, Adishesha (the five-headed snake, the part of Lord Vishnu serving him as his bed) will join him as his elder brother.  And his Shakti Maya, Lakshmi, will also have a role in this incarnation.  After revealing this information to the devas and Bhudevi, thus calming them down, Lord Brahma returned to Brahmaloka.

Here on earth at that time, king Ugrasena ruled Mathura, one of the leading cities.  Belonging to the Bhoja Vamsa (family), he had a son and two daughters.  Though Ugrasena was a very kind-hearted king, his son Kamsa was a cruel ill-natured prince.  Yet Kamsa’s sister Devaki devoted her life to the worship of Lord Vishnu.  When she came of age, her father arranged her to marry Vasudeva, a Yadu Kula prince, son of King Surasena.  [Please note that the name Vasudeva differs from Vaasudeva, a name for Lord Vishnu, often used to address Krishna.]

It was a splendid wedding, the two kulas coming together as one.  On the day when the newlyweds departed from Mathura to go Vasudeva’s kingdom, Kamsa himself offered to drive the chariot, as it’s the tradition for the brothers to go with the sister to her new home.  Many golden chariots were following the hundreds of elephants, horses, maids, etc.  While this wonderful procession was going on, all of a sudden, a thundering voice from the sky startled everyone.  It said, “Kamsa, you fool!  You are innocently serving them your sister, yet her eighth son is going to be the cause of your death.  He will kill you.”

Being cruel by nature, Kamsa immediately drew his sword to kill Devaki.  Vasudeva, shocked by this action, jumped in front to protect Devaki.  Being a wise person, Vasudeva decided to handle this situation with intellect.  He told Kamsa, “Devaki is not the threat.  Killing your newlywed sister is going to bring you a lot of karmic repercussions.  All you want are her children, so I promise you that I would deliver them to you when they are born.”

Though he was already mourning his unborn children, even hoping it wouldn’t happen, Vasudeva said this to save his wife from the heartless Kamsa.  Kamsa was somehow convinced by Vasudeva’s words and let them go.  Vasudeva quietly went home with his wife, having succeeded in putting off the danger.

Maharishi Narada was watching all this drama, not too happy about the postponing of Lord Vishnu’s avatar, so he decided to visit Kamsa in order to provoke him into action sooner.  As everyone knows, Narada makes a lot of trouble, but always for the greater good of the world.  All the mischief and trouble he causes, at the end always brings happiness to the world.

Narada planted seeds of fear in Kamsa, saying he’d made a bad decision that in letting Vasudeva and Devaki go, trusting them to deliver their children.  He also revealed Lord Brahma’s plan, including about the devas being born into Yadu families, and anxiously awaiting and preparing themselves to protect Devaki’s eighth child, who will be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.  Upon receiving this news, Kamsa wanted to imprison Vasudeva and Devaki.  His father, Ugrasena, objected, so Kamsa overpowered him, imprisoning him and taking over the kingdom.

Kamsa pronounced himself as the king of Yadu, Bhoja and Anthaka clans.  Then he imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki in the dungeon.  Thereafter Kamsa’s tyranny threatened all, even including the sages.  Especially he targeted the Yadu Clan people, harming them and making them flee into other cities and villages, living in exile, disguised, hiding from the tyrant.

Devaki gave birth to her first child.  The guards informed Kamsa who came to the dungeon.  Even though he knew that only the eighth son is his enemy, Kamsa, being a oppressor, decided to kill all of Devaki’s children, afraid that they may be Lord Vishnu’s avatars.  As Devaki cried out for sympathy, Kamsa took the newborn baby by his feet and throws him towards a dungeon rock wall, killing the baby instantly.  Laughing arrogantly, Kamsa returned to his palace, above the dungeon.

There was nothing Vasudeva could do, but to console his wife and give her courage.  An year passed, the second child was born and Vasudeva and Devaki faced the same fate.  This cruel act of Kamsa continued with each child until the sixth.  The people spoke in hushed tones, afraid about this evil deed of their king.  Even the relatives and friends of Kamsa couldn’t stop him, so they ended up praising him, afraid for their own life and position.

It was time.  Lord Vishnu ordered Adishesha to be born as Devaki’s seventh child.  Devaki could tell that this child was different and was more scared for the safety of the child.  Yet she knew that, without help from Lord Vishnu, the fate of the child could not be changed.

Lord Vishnu called upon Yoga Maya, the Shakti of the universe, asking her to transfer the embryo in Devaki’s womb to Rohini, another of Vasudeva’s wives, who was secretly living with her sister’s family in Gokul.  Revealing his plan to be born as Devaki’s eighth son, he also wanted Yoga Maya to be born at the same time, in Gokul, as the daughter of Queen Yashoda, the wife of Maharaj Nanda, head of cowherds.  Hearing this from Lord Vishnu, Yoga Maya executed the command by switching the unborn child from Devaki’s womb to Rohini’s.

Thus Devaki’s seventh child was presumed dead in her womb and Kamsa was blamed for harassing her into this state.  Kamsa didn’t care about the blame; he was happy that the seventh child was dead, not knowing what really transpired.  Devaki was in a lot of grief and worry, not only due to losing her seventh child, but also thinking of how she was going to save the eight child, so he could save the world from her tyrant brother.

In Gokul, Rohini gave birth to a son, an incarnation of the powerful Adhishesha, all by the grace of Yoga Maya.  Gargamuni, their family priest, secretly performed the rituals for the newborn baby, naming him “Rama,” and adding “Bala” to his name, predicting his extraordinary strength and valor.  Thus he was called Balarama.  Lord Vishnu’s eighth avatar had taken place, Adishesha being part of the Lord himself.  Balarama was growing up in Gokul, expecting Lord Vishnu to arrive soon.

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

The last of Lord Vishnu’s avatars that have already taken place are the eighth, Balarama (the powerful one) and the ninth, Krishna (the one with dark complexion).  His avatar that will come in the future is Kalki.

As Rama Avatar, Adhishesha incarnated as Lakshmana, the younger brother of Rama.  He obeyed Rama and spent his entire life to serving him.  Lord Vishnu wanted to return the favor in His next incarnation: to honor Adhishesha’s devotion he made him be one of his Avatars while also making him his elder brother.  Therefore, Balarama Avatar was at the same time of the Krishna Avatar, Krishna being the younger brother of Balarama,

Krishna always obeyed Balarama; Balarama protected Krishna at all costs.  Unlike Krishna, Balarama was fair complexioned.  Otherwise they looked alike in many aspects.  Both these avatars of Lord Vishnu will be written in the same story, which is part of the great epic Mahabharata.

What is the Mahabharata?

The Mahabharata is the longest epic poem in the world.  It consists of numerous branches of stories, with hundreds of characters shaping the story line.  With over 100,000 slokas (a couplet), meaning 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages, it has around 1.8 million total words.  It is about ten times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined, nearly four times the length of the Ramayana.

In the Indian tradition Mahabharata is sometimes called the fifth Veda, after the well-known four, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.  In the Mahabharata, unlike Rama in the Ramayana, Krishna uses some of his divine powers to get things done, steering the way through the evil he is trying to overcome.

Through all of Lord Vishnu’s avatars, there is a progression in where good and evil reside.  In the first few avatars, they were far apart in different worlds. Then in Vamana and Parashurama Avatars, they came into the same world.  In Rama Avatar they came to the same area in the planet.  In Krishna Avatar. Good and evil came into the same family.

Now, we are in Kali Yuga, with good and evil residing in the same person.  The yugas (ages) have progressed, from Satya Yuga to Treta Yuga, to Dvapara Yuga and now to Kali Yuga.  In this cosmic timeline, the state of affairs has degraded from all good to mostly evil.  With this progression, who can predict what Lord Vishnu will have to do and what powers he will have to use in his final avatar, Kalki?

The Mahabharata is divided into 18 sections or books, with many sub-stories supporting the main story line.  The main story line revolves around two groups of cousins, the Kaurava and the Panḍava princes, and the war between them, the Kurukshetra War.

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, the Bhagavad Gita was given to the world by Krishna as a teaching to Arjuna, one of the Pandava cousins in the war.  The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important texts of ancient India.  The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis of Hindu ideas about dharma, theistic bhakti and the yogic paths to liberation or self-realization.  It talks about four paths to spirituality: karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga and jnana yoga.

Known as the “Father of the India,” Mahatma Gandhi referred to the Bhagavad Gita as his “spiritual dictionary.”  He used it as a guide in leading the Liberation Movement of India, helping gain independence from the British without a war, through upholding ahimsa (non-harming).

While Krishna and Balarama are the third set of cousins in the Mahabharata, Krishna is the center of all the drama that takes place.  He directs everything to perfection, teaching humans about what evil can bring about in the world.  In contrast to Rama Avatar, where Lord Vishnu as Rama shows the world how a person should live, in Krishna Avatar he shows how people should not live.

Vyasa (often called Veda Vyasa) is the author of this great epic.  He is credited with classifying the Vedas, writing the eighteen Puranas, writing the Yoga Bhasya (a commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras), and composing the Mahabharata, among other things.

It is mentioned in the first section of The Mahabharata, that Lord Ganesha wrote down the text as Veda Vyasa dictated it.  As per the legend, Vyasa wanted to compose the Mahabharata.  For this he needed a very intelligent person to write it down.  So he prayed to Lord Brahma to help him find such a person.  Brahma said that the only one capable of handling such a task would be none other than Lord Ganesha.  Vyasa prayed to Lord Ganesha, requesting him to help.

With a smile, Lord Ganesha agreed to Vyasa’s request but under one condition.  Ganesha will not stop writing once he starts the work and, if at any point Vyasa lags, then Ganesha would stop writing and Vyasa would need to find someone else.  Vyasa agreed to the condition and made one of his own.  He requested that Lord Ganesha needs to understand each sloka before writing it down.  This bought Vyasa some time to in order compose the following sloka.

The writing of the Mahabharata began; Lord Ganesha was writing and Vyasa was dictating.  Halfway through, Lord Ganesha’s pen broke.  As he had given his word that he would not stop writing, he broke off one of his tusks in order to continue writing.  This is one of the many legends regarding Lord Ganesha’s one broken tusk.

Vyasa, son of Rishi Parasara, gave the Mahabharata to his son, Sukha Muni and his other disciples.  The sage Narada gave this knowledge to the devas, and Sukar gave it to the gandharvas, yakshas and the rakshasas.  Sage Vaisampayana gave this knowledge to the earthlings at a great yaj~na performed by Janamejaya, the great grandson of the Pandava prince Arjuna.  This knowledge was also shared by Suthar to all the rishis lived in the Naimisaranya forest.  This is how the Mahabharata reached our modern times.

We are concentrating on Krishna’s and Balarama’s life story, with the Mahabharata in the background.  In other words, if focused on the Mahabharata as the story, the start and progress of the story line would be different.  Yet the entire plot will be covered.

We will start with Krishna’s and Balarama’s birth, their growth, the Krishna leelas (mischiefs), their young age, Radha and Krishna, Kamsa’s (Krishna’s uncle’s) end, entering into adulthood, Balarama’s wedding and Krishna and Rukmini.  Then we will move on to the Pandava and Kaurava brothers’ ancestors, Pandavas’ and Kauravas’ birth, their growth, the conflict between these cousins, the dice game, Pandava brothers’ twelve years of exile and year incognito, the peace talks, the Bhagavadgita and Kurukshetra War.  Also we will covering Jaya and Vijaya’s liberation from their curse, due to their third human birth as Shishupala and Dantavakra, enemies of Krishna Avatar.

Balarama is usually depicted in blue garments, wearing bracelets and armlets.  His weapons are the plow (hala) and the mace (gadaa).  His hair is tied in a topknot, showing his strength, the reason for his name.

Krishna is often depicted wearing a peacock feather on his wreath/crown.  Playing the flute, he is usually shown standing with one leg bent in front of the other.  He is sometimes shown with cows or calves, which symbolizes the divine herdsman, herding the souls.

The story begins in the next installment.

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

Sita is living in Valmiki’s forest Ashram while Lord Rama, her husband, is performing the Ashvamedha yaj~na to benefit his kingdom and all the people in it.

The yajna horse wandered around the land unchallenged, ending up near Valmiki’s ashram on its way back to Ayodhya.  Lava and Kusha found out about Rama’s horse from their friends, so they caught the horse and tied it to a tree nearby, specifically so their mother would not know about it.  Lava stayed to guard the horse with a few friends while Kusha went to get the flowers for his mother’s puja.

Shatrugna and his army followed the horse, arriving at the Ashram.  The guards at the front of the group were surprised to see the horse held captive by acetic children.  They thought the kids were playing a joke, advised them not to interfere in royal business and went towards the horse to untie it.  An arrow from Lava’s bow landed right in front of the guard’s feet.  The guards fought back, but were defeated in a minute.  They ran to Shatrugna.

Shatrugna came over and found Lava and his friends.  Shatrugna  was amazed that an ascetic child defeated the guards.  Thinking the guards had been fooled, Shatrugna politely asked the children to release the horse.  However, they were very serious about the matter and refused to do so.  Not knowing the powers they had received from their Guru Valmiki, Shatrugna challenged them to a battle for the horse.  He and the rest of the Ayodhya army were defeated instantly by Lava.

The news about Shatrugna’s defeat reached the palace, as well as the fact that Shatrugna, the army and the horse were in captivity.  Lakshmana rounded up the rest of their troops and went there.  He also found these lovely little boys, Lava leading them, and thought that Shatrugna must have made some mistake to end up in the fate he was.

Thinking that these were just ascetic children, not knowing how Valmiki trained them for battle, Lakshmana started talking to them, asking them to release the horse and his brother Shatrugna.

When Lava realized it was Lakshmana speaking, he condemned Lakshmana for leaving a pregnant woman (Sita) in the forest without any help.  As usual, everyone knows Lakshmana is very short tempered.  Thus, the peace talks didn’t last long.  The battle between Lava and Lakshmana began.  Lava fought bravely and bound all the troops Lakshmana brought.

Unable to withstand Lava’s skill, Lakshmana used his “Nagastra” (arrow of the cobra) to tie him up.  Lakshmana carried Lava to the chariot, preparing to liberate the horse, Shatrugna and the army.  The other children escaped, taking the news to Kusha, who was just returning from gathering flowers for Sita.  Kusha immediately jumped in front of Lakshmana. stopping him from liberating the horse.  He demanded that Lakshmana free Lava.

Lakshmana advised Kusha not to make the same mistake his brother had made by confronting him.  Kusha invited him to a battle to settle the matter.  The fight was intense.  It was a desperate situation, needing to free his brother, so Kusha used one of the special arrows given by his Guru Valmiki, by which he was able to defeat Lakshmana.  Then Kusha unbound Lava and imprisoned Lakshmana.  Then the twins sent one of warriors to inform Rama what had transpired.

The messenger came to Rama with the news.  Rama was astonished that two ascetic children had defeated the mighty Ramarajya troops, and especially his brothers.  He decided to go in person.  As usual, accompanied by Hanuman, Rama arrived and found the two ascetic children were those who sang the Ramayana at the palace.  Like his brothers, Rama tried to make peace by talking to them.  They were not ready to listen, decisively refusing to release the horse.  They called Rama out for a battle, saying he had no right to do the yaj~na without his wife Sita.

Watching all this, Hanuman took on his gargantuan form, saying they would have to go through him first to get to Rama.  Knowing it is impossible to win a battle with Hanuman, Lava and Kusha said that it would be very easy and whispered to their friends to start the repetition of “Sri Rama.”  All the other children started dancing and singing “Sri Rama.”  In an instant, Hanuman came back to his normal form and started dancing and singing with the children.  The children slowly moved towards the Ashram, Hanuman following them, dancing and chanting.  Rama was amazed to see this happen, realizing the children were no simple matter.  Yet he had no other option, so he resolved to fight with them.  The fight began, Rama battling Lava and Kusha.

The children and Hanuman reached the ashram.  Mesmerized, Hanuman came back to his senses, finding himself in Valmiki’s Ashram.  Hearing the chanting of Mata Lalitha Devi’s mantra by a very familiar voice, he jumped up in joy, recognizing it as Sita’s.  He ran into the puja, fell down at Sita’s feet, and shouted, “I found Sita Devi again, I found Sita Devi again…”

All the ascetics, who had been with Sita all these years, we astonished.  Everyone fell at Sita’s feet.  Suddenly Hanuman realized this was the area where he left Sita years ago, when the young sages found her.  Putting everything together, it occurred to him that the twin children must be none other than Sita’s.

Hanuman trembled, thinking of the fight that was happening between father and sons.  He explained what had happened in the past few days, between Rama’s yaj~na horse and the twins.  He also told her about the battles that had taken place and the one now taking place.  Sita was in the middle of a puja that should be uninterrupted, but realized the gravity of the situation.  Even though the other ascetics tried to stop her, she ran out, asking Mata Lalitha Devi for forgiveness for the interruption in the puja.

Sita and Hanuman came to the battleground, seeing that Rama, as a last resort, had taken the “Ramaastra” in his hand to shoot it towards the twins.  Sita shouted, “Stop!”  Hearing the voice of Sita, Rama dropped his bow and arrow, looking at her and saying, “That is my Sita’s voice…”

Sita grabbed both Lava and Kusha, sobbing, “How could you take up arms against your father?  It is all my fault!”  Lava and Kusha were stunned by their mother’s words, and quietly asked, “Are you Rama’s Sita Devi?”  Sita nodded her head and hugged them both.

When she released them, Lava and Kusha fell on Rama’s feet, “Forgive us father!  We have committed a crime by taking up arms against you, not knowing that you are our father.  Please forgive us!”  Rama said, “The crime was mine, banishing my beloved Sita from Ayodhya and being separated from her all this while, missing my children’s youth years.”  He hugged both Lava and Kusha.  Looking at the father and sons united, Sita was so happy.  Rama asked Sita to come to Ayodhya with him.

Refusing, she said she cannot come to Ayodhya again.  Bidding farewell, she called upon her mother, Mother Earth, to take her into her arms if Sita is pure in her heart and has not lost her chastity.  As soon as she uttered those words, the earth split open.  Up came Mother Earth, took Sita in her arms and disappeared into the split earth.  Unable to do anything to stop Sita, Rama, the twins and Hanuman cried their eyes out.

Everyone returned to Ayodhya with a very heavy heart.  Rama conducted the Ashvamedha Yaj~na with Sita’s statue at his side, as planned.  Lava and Kusha helped their father with the yaj~na.  Slowly, by the Ashvamedha Yaj~na effects, Ayodhya started flourishing again.  Now that the kingdom was getting back to its glory days, Rama started thinking about giving the kingdom’s rule to the children, both his and his brothers’.

One day while he was thinking about his plan, a guard announced that a sage was waiting to see him.  Immediately, Rama ordered the guard to show him in.  The sage came in and Rama offered him a seat.  The sage said, with a little hesitation, you need to know who I am before you offer me a seat.  Rama replied that whoever who visits, even if it is a foe, the first order of business is to extend hospitality.

After the greetings, the sage said that Lord Brahma sent him, and that they need to have a private meeting, with no one disturbing them.  Immediately, Rama called upon Lakshmana to make sure no one disturbed them, to guard the door at all cost.  As usual, taking Rama’s command, Lakshmana stood guard at the door.

Inside, the sage revealed his true identity as Yama-Dharma-Raja, the God of Dharma in charge of ending lives (God of Death).  He continued that he had been instructed by Brahma to give prior notice to avatars such as Rama about their return time approaching.  He also pointed out that Shri Lakshmi Devi, who was with Rama as Sita in this world, had already returned to Vaikuntha, and that Rama needed to send Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrugna before his own return.

Outside, Lakshmana was guarding.  The great sage Durvasa, son of Atiri, arrived, wanting to meet Rama to discuss an urgent matter.  Lakshmana tried his best to calm him and have him wait, but Durvasa became very agitated.  Knowing Durvasa to be both short tempered and powerful, Lakshmana knocked on the door hesitantly.  He knew he was disobeying Rama’s order for the first time ever, but it was to evade sage Durvasa’s curse that would destroy Rama’s whole lineage.

The discussion between Rama and Yama-Dharma-Raja was coming to an end.  Knowing that Lakshmana would not knock without a pressing need, Rama opened the door.  Meanwhile Yama-Dharma-Raja again disguised himself as the sage who had entered earlier.

Lakshmana explained the reason he disturbed them, due to the visit of sage Durvasa.  Thanking the sage (Yama-Dharma-Raja), Rama extended his hospitality to sage Durvasa.  After sage Durvasa left, Rama sat down to consider how he could free himself from the Ayodhya kingdom.  Sita had already gone.  He didn’t need any other reason to complete his mission as avatar.

Rama came up with a plan to divide the country and give it to all 8 children, his and his brothers’, before leaving the earth.  Rama called Lakshmana in and revealed the visit by Yama-Dharma-Raja.  He explained that Lakshmana must go Vaikuntha before himself.  Lakshmana jumped up, saying that the one thing guaranteed is that all who are born in this world have an exit day.  He said that he hoped he wouldn’t have to wait long in Vaikuntha for Rama to arrive.

As Rama’s plan was being set in motion, the world around seemed to react.  Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra died one after the other, in very short intervals.  All four brothers felt sad and starting talking about mothers.  Lakshmana said he needed to clear the air, since people talked ill about Kaikeyi’s actions in the past.  He said, “Our mother Kaikeyi’s actions, in sending our brother Rama to the forest, was to keep her husband Dasaratha’s promise to her own father Ashwapati.  Ashwapati’s grandson must be the heir to the throne.  Everyone has misunderstood her actions erroneously.”

Rama was happy that this fact, which he already knew, had been brought to light by Lakshmana for the world to know.  After this, Lakshmana said his goodbyes to everyone.  He went to the Sarayu River, dipped himself in the water and saw Indra come in his flying chariot to take him to Vaikuntha.  Rama was devastated that Lakshmana was not with him anymore.

Dividing the country up and naming the rulers for each portion happened very quickly after.  The news about Lakshmana’s departure and Rama’s planned departure spread like wildfire.  The citizens of Ayodhya were there with Hanuman, who obviously never released Rama from his sight.  Rama says that he will not take Hanuman with him.  Instead Rama commanded Hanuman to be on earth as a chiranjivi (immortal), continuing to repeat Rama’s name.  With tears in his eyes, the never disobeying Hanuman accepted Rama’s command, looking at Rama dipping in the Sarayu River to go to Vaikuntha.  The children and Hanuman remained with a very heavy heart.

Sarayu River – Ayodhya (today)

It is said that Hanuman lives on this earth eternally.  He will be at any and every place where the name “Rama” is spoken, even only once.  If you are in trouble, all you need do is call out Rama’s name once and Hanuman will be there to take care of you.  Jay Shri Ram!

Om Namah Shivaya

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

Sita, abandoned by her husband Ram, found love and support from Valmiki and his disciples in the Ashram.  Especially the female ascetics took special care of her, as she was pregnant.

After a few months, Sita gave birth to twin boys.  Valmiki blessed them, naming them Lava and Kusha.  Lava, the youngest, was like his mother Sita in features, complexion and mannerisms, fair and gentle.  Kusha had his father’s features, complexion and mannerisms, dark and kind.

They were brought up by the guidance and teachings of Valmiki, their beloved Guru.  Valmiki taught them everything they needed to learn including the Vedas, martial arts, and war tactics.  But especially, he taught them the “Ramayana,” the story of Rama, the king of Ayodhya, a poem he composed.  They learned to recite the Ramayana, accompanied by a musical instrument called the “veena.”

Lava and Kusha enjoyed singing the Ramayana, but without knowing that they were singing about their own parents’ story, as Valmiki had promised Sita that he would not reveal her identity to anyone, which included Lava and Kusha.  Valmiki also taught them special astras (energetic weapons), to be used only in unavoidable situations.  The twins were great in their studies as well as in combat training.

Meantime in Ayodhya, the wives of Rama’s three brothers (Mandavi, Urmila and Shrutakirti) also gave birth to two children each.  Lakshmana and Urmila had Angada and Chandraketu.  Bharata and Mandavi had Thaksh and Pushkal.  Shatrugna and Shrutakirti had Subahu and Shatrughati.

As much as these events were to be celebrated, somehow things were not the same in Ayodhya ever since Sita was sent away.  Rama couldn’t be himself without his beloved wife Sita.  Rama’s state affected all in Ayodhya Kingdom.  Rama didn’t have the heart to see the people and help their lives as a king.  Ayodhya started to dim in its glory.  The royal mothers were very worried.  Vasishtha, Rama’s Guru wasn’t pleased with what was happening either.  He needed to do something to restore the glory and happiness back to Rama-Rajyam (Rama’s Kingdom), Ayodhya.

At Valmiki’s Ashram, Lava and Kusha were preparing for their journey to Ayodhya.  They were going to fulfill their Guru Valmiki’s command to recite the Ramayana there.  They went to their mother to get her blessings.  Sita blessed them and told them to meet Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, and to get his blessings before coming back to the Ashram.  The twins were very excited to have a chance to meet Rama and Sita in Ayodhya.

They started their journey towards Ayodhya by singing the story of Rama along their way in all the villages and cities.  They were instructed by Valmiki to introduce themselves as his disciples, which they did proudly.  People in thousands gathered to see the twins recite the Ramayana.

The news about two young children reciting Rama’s story reached the palace grounds.  The queen mother, Kaushalya requested her guards to invite these children to perform in front of her and the rest of the royalty.  The twins were very happy that they had a greater chance of meeting Rama and Sita at the palace.

When the children arrived at the assembly, their looks and divine presence mesmerized everyone.  When they started singing, the audience was in awe about their talent and their devotion to the King Rama.  Rama himself heard them singing and rushed there to hear them.  The minute he saw them, he felt something in his heart.

After the twins finished reciting the Ramayana, he inquired about the composer of this beautiful poem, and asked the children who they were.  They answered that they were disciples of Maharishi Valmiki, who composed the poem and taught it to them.  Rama felt some sort of happiness after a very long time.  He wanted to reward them with jewels and pearls.  They refused to accept any gifts and only wanted to see the queen, Sita, as they were so eager to meet her.  Without a word, Rama turned and went into his chamber, his head bent down in sorrow.

The twins worried that they said something to hurt Rama.  They asked Kaushalya, “Did we say something wrong, to hurt our hero, King Rama?”  With a heavy heart and eyes full of tears, the queen mother broke the news that Sita been sent away.  The children were very disappointed to hear about Rama renouncing his wife in order to fulfill his duty as a king to his constituents.  They were too small to understand the sacrifice that Rama had made.  They were angry, to a level of hating Rama, for him making such harsh decision.  They went back to the Ashram convinced not to sing Rama’s story anymore, as they felt betrayed by Rama due to his actions towards Sita.

Sita was waiting at the Ashram, eager to ask the twins about Rama.  But she saw their disappointment and anger in their faces.  She asked them about Rama’s well-being.  The twins answered with disgust that he was doing fine.  Then she asked why they were annoyed and angry.  Thus Sita came to know about what had happened at the palace.

She advised her children not to be angry, explaining that Rama has to follow his dharma as a king, fulfilling the laws of the land.  The children were not ready to accept her argument, also saying they were worried about what would have happened to Sita in the forest.  They also told her their decision not to sing Ramayana any more.  Sita was devastated to hear the children feeling such hatred towards Rama, as she was expecting the exact opposite from them after they met him.

Whatever Sita said didn’t appease the children.  Finally, Sita said that she would not speak to them ever again if they don’t sing the praise of Rama.  Without any other way, half-heartedly, the children agreed to continue to sing the Ramayana, for the sake of their mother’s happiness.

In Ayodhya, poverty and depression was on the increase.  Drought was taking hold.  Food shortage was becoming a big issue and, the never-before heard word in Rama-Rajyam, crime was staring to take root.  Maharishi Vasishtha, Guru of Rama, had to do something to get Ayodhya out of the desperate situation it was in.

After a lot of thought, consulting with the queen mother and Rama’s brothers, he decided to ask Rama to perform a ceremony named “Ashvamedha,” for the benefit of the kingdom.  In an Ashvamedha yaj~na, a horse with the king’s flag was sent on a tour through all the lands, to return to the yaj~na if no one opposed it or imprisoned it.  If it was imprisoned, the king will have to free it by peace or force.

Hearing this from his Guru, Rama was puzzled because a king without a queen cannot perform this yaj~na.  The only way to perform this mighty yaj~na would be for Rama to remarry.  When this was suggested, Rama became unusually angry and outright rejected the plan.  He told everyone that he is a follower of the ‘eka-patni-vrata’ (vow of loyalty to one wife), that his love for Sita was only for her and cannot be shared with anyone else.  Rama was a living example of righteousness.  He said he couldn’t even dream of being with another woman.

Vasishtha suggested they make a golden statue of Sita, to have next to Rama while conducting the yaj~na.  Rama agreed, only to fulfill his duty as a king.  The citizens of Ayodhya brought all the gold they had, to be used for the statue of Sita, saying that the state of the land was their fault to begin with.

This was the first time they were able to see Rama after Sita was sent away.  They were so happy to see their king.  The statue was made and the yaj~na begun.  Rama’s brother Shatrugna led Ayodhya’s army, following behind the horse, chosen especially for the tour of the land, carrying Ayodhya’s flag.

The news of Rama’s Ashvamedha Yaj~na reached Valmiki’s Ashram.  Sita was devastated to hear the news, as she knew a king had to have his wife in order to perform such a ritual.  She fainted, as she couldn’t bear the thoughts of Rama with another queen.

Rishi Valmiki knew what was happening with Sita and went to her rescue.  While she was unconscious, he was able to transmit his meditative energy, to lift Sita out of her physical body on a trip to Rama’s chamber in Ayodhya.  Sita saw the devasted Rama treating her golden statue as her, pouring his heart out to the statue.

This made Sita even sadder, but at the same time relieved that her husband’s love for her had not diminished.  Seeing her husband’s devotion towards her, even after he had renounced her, brought peace to Sita.  She travelled back to the Ashram, reentered her physical body and thanked Valmiki for the revelation.

She was filled with remorse and shame that she doubted her beloved husband, so she wanted to do reparation for her action.  As suggested by Rishi Valmiki, Sita decided to do a puja for Mata Lalita Devi, to be done uninterrupted for ten days.  For the puja she needed one thousand lotus flowers.  Lava and Kusha promised to bring them to her.

Guru Valmiki had an important event to attend and left the ashram for a few days.  Sita started her puja and immersed herself in the worship of Mata Lalita Devi.

More to come…

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

After Rama’s crowning, his Ayodhya kingdom was flourishing.  Some time passed with the citizens in unbounded joy.  One day, as Rama was doing his routine checks on his citizens by going in disguise from street to street, he overheard a conversation that concerned him.  A husband and wife were arguing.  The wife had been away from home for some time and had just returned home to be with her husband.  He was refusing to accept her back, since she had been away from him for a long time, as he was doubting her chastity.  Thus, the husband was shouting at her, “Do you think that I am Rama, King of Ayodhya, accepting his wife after her being away for so long, staying under the custody of a stranger?”

Rama felt as if his heart was pierced by an arrow.  He thought, “All this time, I have been living by the law of righteousness but I have not realized about what my citizens thought about my actions.  I need to understand my citizens’ feelings in order to be able to rule the country well, with laws that fit everyone!”  His heart was filled with sorrow as he returned to the palace, thinking he failed on his duties.

Being a democratic ruler, he decided to banish his pregnant wife Sita from Ayodhya, though it was with unbearable pain.  He asked Lakshmana to take Sita to the forest, there to inform her of his decision.  No matter how much Lakshmana tried to present a case against Rama’s decision, it didn’t work.  Lakshmana found that he was hurting his brother more, for he was already in unbearable sorrow with what he had ordered.

Taking his brother’s orders, Lakshmana left to fulfill this duty.  With a very heavy heart he took Sita to a nearby forest and told her that Rama had ordered him to leave her in the forest, giving all the details.  At his first explanation, Sita cried out, “How can Rama do this to his pregnant wife, who proved her chastity in Lankapuri!”  Then, coming to terms with what was happening, she decided to abide by her husband’s wishes and said farewell to her beloved brother-in-law.

Unable to bear what he was doing, Lakshmana sought Hanuman and let him know what had transpired.  Without a word, Hanuman just leapt up to fly in the direction where Lakshmana had abandoned Sita.  Nothing was the same after this: the Ayodhya kingdom was in darkness, as was Rama, who preferred to be alone with his thoughts of his beloved Sita.

In the meantime, after a long search Hanuman found Sita, but he kept himself hidden since he had not gotten any orders from Rama to help her.  But he promised himself that he will not let any harm come to Sita.  Sita roamed in the woods for hours and days, sobbing in grief.  Hanuman silently followed her around with no direct way to help her, leaving fruits on her way for Sita to eat.  In her state of mind, she only nibbled on them and continued to wander aimlessly through the woods.

Sita was very tired and sat down to rest a bit.  Some young sages-in-training walked by her and stopped in surprise when they saw her.  They wanted to know who she was.  Not wanting to reveal who she really was, Sita said that she is a pregnant woman seeking shelter.  They started hurrying back from the way they had come, saying they were going to bring help.  Taken by her divine beauty and her sorrowful state, the young sages went back to the ashram and told their Guru Valmiki about what they saw.

Who is Valmiki?

There once lived a hunter named Ratnakara, a thief and ruthless man.  He killed harmless birds and gentle animals for food, robbing anyone and everyone who passed through the forest in which he lived.

One day he came across the Saptarishis, the seven great sages of all times.  He decided to rob them as well.  He stopped them, threatening them with his weapons, demanding all the wealth they possessed.  The sages explained that they had surrendered themselves to God and didn’t own any wealth.

They then asked him why he was stealing?  Ratnakara explained that he had to support his family, so he chose robbery as the means.  The sages asked him whether his family would partake of the sin that came from what he does for his livelihood.  Ratnakara answered without a doubt, “Yes!”  But the sages asked him to go get the answer from his family, promising to wait for his answers.

The hunter went straight to his wife and asked whether she is willing to share his sins.  Even though she was benefiting from his sinful life, she refused to share the sins.  Hoping that at least his children would partake of the sins with him, he was heartbroken by hearing the same answer from his children.  In disbelief at what he had heard, he returned back to the sages with a heavy heart.

Ratnakara threw himself at their feet, asking to redeem his soul.  The sages blessed him and gave him a mantra.  He couldn’t remember and say the holy name of “Rama,” so they gave him the mantra “ma-ra,” meaning “kill,” but which is an inverted version of “Rama.”  He was asked to repeat the mantra without interruption until they returned.  Ratnakara sat in a meditative pose, reciting the mantra for years.  An anthill formed around him, ultimately covering him fully.

After many years, the seven rishis returned and brought him out of his great tapas (austerities).  He came out a person different in every aspect.  The rishis blessed him as one of the great rishis, naming him “Valmiki” since he came out of “valmik” (anthill).  With the rishis’ blessings and with his spiritual energy and knowingness, he earned the respect of everyone from everywhere.

Once he was visited by Maharishi Narada.  Valmiki welcomed Narada with great respect.  Narada blessed Valmiki and they started conversing about great beings living by righteousness.  Valmiki asked Narada to name the most perfect being, who is living a dharmic life.  Narada immediately named Rama, the King of Ayodhya.  Narada started telling the wonderful story of Rama, which fascinated Valmiki.  Valmiki was very grateful to hear the story of Rama, and continued to repeat it in his mind all the time as though he were hearing it afresh.

One day Valmiki was on his way to have a bath in the Tamasa River, attended by one of his disciples.  He saw two birds on a branch of a tree, courting and cooing together.  Mesmerized by the birds’ love for each other, Valmiki stood there watching them.  As he was admiring them, a hunter killed one of the birds; the other one was devastated and in deep sorrow.

In his grief, Valmiki cursed the hunter for being so cruel.  The Sanskrit words he uttered spontaneously, because of his grief (shoka), came out in verse form, with melody and rhythm.  This was the first “shloka” (Sanskrit stanza) ever.  At that very moment, Lord Brahma, the lord of creation, appeared in front of him and requested Valmiki to write the story of Rama as narrated by Narada.  Brahma blessed him to write what he knew and that the unknown would be given to him.

With that blessing, Valmiki sat in a meditative pose and the story started unfolding in front of him as though he was witnessing the whole thing all over again.  Valmiki started writing the first epic of all times, “Ramayana” in stanza form.  After finishing writing the Ramayana, he started reading it to the public at large.  The crowd was spellbound by the story.

Back to the main story…

A little while later, the young sages returned with their Guru, Rishi Valmiki.  As soon as the Rishi saw Sita, through his spiritual insight, he knew who she was.  He introduced himself as Valmiki and invited Sita to his hermitage, greeting her with utmost respect, offered her help, assured her of his guidance and protection.

Not revealing Sita’s true identity to anyone, Valmiki asked everyone at the ashram to treat her with all the love they had.  Sita, abandoned by her husband, found love and support from Valmiki and his disciples.  Especially the female ascetics took special care of her, as she was pregnant.

More to come…

By Nirooshitha Sethuram

As soon as the bridge was built, Rama commanded the army to move across the sea to Lankapuri.  The troops crossed the sea, reached Lankapuri and made camp at the shore.  Ravana sent two spies to gather information about the army.  They turned themselves into monkeys and roamed around the camp.  Vibhishana identified them as rakshasas and started punishing them.  Rama intervened and released them, instructing them to carry the message about the strong and aggressive army to Ravana.  When the two spies returned, they described the monkey army and its strength, but it still didn’t change Ravana’s mind.  The mandate was sent to Ravana’s commanders to roundup the troops for battle.

As Ravana’s troops were getting ready for the war, Ravana played one of his tricks on Sita, to persuade her to marry him as a last try.  He brought the severed head of a person resembling Rama, saying Sita’s husband is dead and that the only way left for her now is to marry him.  At first Sita fell, trembling, on the ground.  When she regained consciousness, she asked Ravana to behead her so she can join her husband.  At that moment a messenger arrived, bringing Ravana word from the chief of his army.  Ravana left in haste and the head of Rama disappeared, revealing to Sita that it was a yet another trick by Ravana.

Ravana left Sita at the news that Rama had reached Suvela Mountain.  Rama and others went to the top of Suvela Mountain, from where they could see the city of Lankapuri.  Ravana stood there, above a gateway to the city.  Seeing him, Sugreeva sprung into action, leaping on top of Ravana.  They dueled for a long time.  Finally, after reducing Ravana to exhaustion, Sugreeva stole his crown and came back to Rama.

Rama wanted to give a chance for Ravana to make peace so he sent Angada as a messenger.   At the palace, Ravana asked Angada who he is.  Angada replied, “I have seen you once before, when I was a baby.  One day, when my father was doing his daily pujas to all the eight directions, you followed him around due to curiosity.  Annoyed by your constant interruptions, with one blow he brought you down and tied you up in his tail so he could finish his pujas.  Afterward, forgetting that you were helplessly tied to his tail, he visited me at my crib side.  To stop my crying, he shook his tail and realized you were tied to it like a toy.  Looking at this, I stopped crying, amused by your pathetic state.  I am sure you remember my mighty father, Vali, with whose power I stand here, his son Angada.”

Embarrassed by this, Ravana replied, “I will die before making peace with my enemy.”  Angada tried his best to convince Ravana to settle it all in a peaceful manner, but Ravana was firm about going battle instead of conceding defeat.  Angada then firmly planted his foot on the ground, challenging anyone in Ravana’s court to uproot his foot.  If they could, Rama would admit defeat and return home.

All the mighty Rakshasa commanders, including the mighty Meghanada (Ravana’s son, also called Indrajit) tried their best to uproot Angada’s foot but none succeeded.  Angada warned Ravana, that this was his last chance to save himself and his kingdom.  Ravana ordered him seized, but Angada jumped to the ceiling and escaped.  Angada returned to Rama, giving him Ravana’s refusal to make peace.

So, the inevitable war began.  Ravana led his army himself on the first day of battle.  The battle was fierce, but at the end of the day Ravana’s army was destroyed and Ravana stood in the middle without his chariot or his weapons.  Rama said to Ravana, “It is not right to kill someone who has no weapons to defend himself.  I give you time, to think.  Go back today and come tomorrow if you still feel that you must go to war.”  The disgraced Ravana returned home.  Even after his defeat, he didn’t give up on his lust and greed.

The next day Kumbhakarna was awake, disturbed from his six months of sleep, with diminished powers.  He had been informed what had happened and tried his best to bring his brother Ravana to his senses, but was not successful.  Even after Ravana’s ill words against him, Kumbhakarna decided to fight for his brother, for family’s sake, unlike his other brother, Vibhishana.  Yet Kumbhakarna knew he was not on the side of righteousness.  He gathered the troops and marched to war on the second day.

Kumbhakarna did his best, but with his diminished ability and strength, was in no way a match for Rama.  By the end of the day, Rama killed Kumbhakarna, freeing the gatekeeper Vijaya from his second life on earth, leaving only one more to go before he reaches the gates of Vaikuntha again.  Over the next couple of days, Ravana’s younger sons went to battle, encountering the same result as their uncle.

Ravana went into unbearable pain due the demise of his brother and sons.  Seeing his father’s grief, the powerful Meghanada, Ravana’s eldest son, went into battle.  Meghanada had a lot of astras (energetic weapons) from boons he’d received due to his long austerities and worship.  He fought valiantly for days.  He first bound everyone on the enemy’s side with his Naga-astra (cobra astra), making all of them faint.  Garuda (Lord Vishnu’s eagle mount) came in to break the bindings.

Meghanada then wounded Lakshmana with one of his arrows.  Hanuman flew off and brought the physician Sushena to cure him.  Then Meghanada used his Brahma-astra (Brahma’s astra) to disable everyone except Hanuman, who flew to the Himalayas to bring back the hill with the “Sanjeevani” herb to cure everyone.  Having failed to defeat Rama’s monkey army with his astras, Meghanada went into a secret place to perform a yaj~na to get more powers.  Finding out about this, Vibhishana helped Rama to find Meghanada.  Lakshmana battled with him, killing Meghanada after a fierce fight.

Ravana lost his senses when he heard that his eldest son had perished.  Yet, even after all this, Ravana didn’t want to concede defeat.  He gathered all the Asuras who were alive and led them into battle.  At first he was fighting with ferocity, annihilating the monkey army by firing arrows with his twenty hands.  Using magic, he replicated himself, confusing the monkey army.  Ravana seemed to be unconquerable; though Rama cut off one of his heads several times, another took its place as soon as one head rolled off.

With the battle seeming like it would go on forever, Vibhishana revealed the secret that Ravana’s nectar of life was stored in his navel.   At the end of the war’s eighteenth day, Rama killed Ravana by firing arrows at his navel, his heads and his hands at the same time.  Thus, Jaya finished his second birth on earth, joining his brother Vijaya.

Vibhishana went into unbearable grief due to his brother’s death, and performed all the last rights for his brother.  Ravana’s wife Mandodari sacrificed herself on the funeral pyre.

Rama crowned Vibhishana as the King of Lankapuri.  Then Vibhishana released Sita from the palace’s forest garden, Asoka Vatika.  According to Rama’s request, Sita took the test of fire to prove her chastity to the world.  Then Rama performed a penance at Setu Beach, a ceremony to Lord Shiva, for being the cause of countless lives lost in the war.

Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman started their voyage to Ayodhya, just as the fourteen-year exile was nearing its end.  On the way back, they stopped at Kishkinda and the sage Bharadwaja’s hermitage.  Rama’s brother Bharata received Rama with the greatest joy.  Ayodhya was exuberant due to the return of their beloved Rama.  Vasishta and the other priests crowned Rama as King of Ayodhya. Rama ruled Ayodhya in a righteousness manner, a golden time period called “Rama Rajya.”

Spying on God

By Sadguru Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati

Rama returned to Ayodhya one day early, before the 14 years was complete.  He refused to enter until his vow was complete, so he and all his party camped outside the city walls.  The sage Narada came for the great events along with many others who were awaiting the auspicious morning.

In the wee hours, well before the sunrise, Narada began to wonder, “Who does Rama worship? Maybe I can go spy on him!”  Creeping quietly through the dark campground, Narada positioned himself outside Rama’s tent.  He saw the flickering light of a flame and heard soft chanting and a bell, so he peeked through a slit in the canvas.  Ah!  Rama was worshipping Shiva!  Narada thought, “This proves it; Shiva must be the highest God!

But then Narada thought again, for Shiva was there in the camp as well, incarnated as Hanuman.  Creeping through the dark, Narada approached Hanuman’s tent.  Again he saw flickering light and heard soft chanting.  Peeking through the flap, Narada saw Hanuman worshipping Vishnu, who had incarnated as Rama!

Thus Narada, the great devotee, was confused.  Who is the highest God?  Vishnu has incarnated as Rama, and is worshipping Shiva, but Shiva has incarnated as Hanuman and is worshipping Rama.  The answer is found in the greatest mystery of all — there is only One.  That One is found within.