The Greatest Ode to Lord Ram is a selection of some of the most evocative stanzas from the original text, accompanied by succinct commentaries. While centring the philosophical aspect the immutability of the soul over the merely corporeal; the transience of worldly pleasures; the placing of wisdom above knowledge-it allows us to see the devoted son, the loving sibling, the committed lover, the ideal ruler and also the human, almost bereft of divinity. Ram is a god and a man; he is comprehensible.
This compelling new selection and commentary brings alive the aesthetics, romance and imagery of the original work as also the deep philosophical meaning that informs the conduct of a great god.
Author of over a dozen successful books, Pavan K. Varma was conferred an Honorary Doctoral Degree for his contribution to the fields of diplomacy, literature, culture and aesthetics by the University of Indianapolis in 2005.
He was also conferred the Druk Thuksey, Bhutan's highest civilian award, in 2012.
Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, which literally translates into 'the splendid lake of Ram's exploits', is arguably the greatest ode to Lord Ram. Based on the much earlier Sanskrit epic Ramayana (dated variously between the fifth century BCE to the first century BCE), written by Valmiki, the Manas is a shorter version of the same story, but with the inimitable stamp of Tulsi's loftiness of mind and poetic genius. Although shorter, it is nevertheless an epic, consisting of 12,800 lines divided into 1,073 stanzas, and seven kands or sections.
Goswami Tulsidas's work is a lyrical outpouring of the greatest devotion-bhakti-to Ram. The poet is well-versed in the philosophical intricacies of Hinduism, including the dichotomy between a nirguna (attributeless Absolute) and a saguna (attribute-full) deity, but while displaying deep insight into these arguments, of which he gives great evidence, his personal preference is to overarch them, and posit the argument of unblemished and unalloyed devotion to the fount of grace and compassion-Lord Ram.
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