Sacred Scriptures

The Ramayana is one of India’s most influential ancient epics, traditionally attributed to Sage Valmiki. Its story brings together a vast cast of kings, princes, queens, sages, warriors, vanaras, divine beings, and powerful rakshasas, each contributing to the larger narrative of Rama’s life, exile, Sita’s abduction, the search for Sita, the battle in Lanka, and the restoration of dharma. At the heart of the story are Rama and Sita, surrounded by important family members such as Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna, Dasharatha, Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra. The Ramayana also introduces remarkable allies including Hanuman, Sugriva, Jambavan, Angada, and Vibhishana, while Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Indrajit, and other figures form the central opposing forces. Understanding these characters, their relationships, roles, and family connections makes the complex narrative of the Ramayana much easier to follow.

Tulsidas could not have been more right when he wrote these lines. Centuries after him, when A.K. Ramanujan, a scholar of Sanskrit and Indian culture, began his quest for Ramayana across India and the world, the sheer number and retellings that he witnessed were awe-inspiring. As an ode to the many Ramayanas that he got to know about, and for the many more that existed, hidden in their locales, Ramanujan wrote “Three Hundred Ramayanas”, a work popular world over for its exploration of the many Ramayanas. What the philosophy of Tulsidas and the scholarly journey of Ramanujan have in common is how they underline the awesome number of Rama stories. The central character of Sri Rama is the same in all these tales.

"The Gita says that the subject of Karma is extremely mysterious....We need to first understand the three types of Karma....However, it is exactly the opposite for a householder....This defines most of what goes on in the name of meditation today....Just like the sky, which remains unaffected by the coming and going of clouds....him to remain a mere detached spectator....believing himself to be happy because he is free from Karma....However, a true and intelligent man can discover in himself that even in physical inaction there can be intense mental and intellectual activity."

"Once Shri Krishna knocked at Shrimati Radharani's door....Krishna introduced himself with various names, the meanings of which were taken differently by Radharani than that intended by him....In the Bhagavad Gita, there are forty different names used by Arjuna to call upon Shri Krishna.....Obeying Arjuna's command, Krishna drove the chariot in between the two armies.....Krishna is the ultimate attraction, and like a magnet drawing iron filings towards it, he too naturally attracts his devotees....Here there are two modes of addressing Krishna: Keshava and Bhagvan, both of which are loaded with spiritual and contextual relevance....The 'nameless' has a thousand names, and it is through these names that the 'nameless' is to be realized."

"To call anything beautiful is always the highest form of aesthetic praise....Sita was rendered mute like an untouched vina....Gold when heated shines in even greater splendor....Sita's braid is like a serpent, making it clear that it would be fatal for a man (except her husband) to touch her....Hanuman's quest is suggestive of a much deeper symbolism than a mere search for the 'physical' Sita....Bhakti is not a path, but the goal of life....The supreme feminine emotion is to nourish her children....Rama is beautiful because of Sita."