Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixty fourth sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
SrIrAma
viSwAmitra was distracted from his goal by mEnaka for ten years but realizing his folly and having been trapped by the gods in pursuit, moves to the banks of river yamuna and performs intense penance that terrifies the gods! He is awarded pre-eminence among the Rshis – mahaRshi title for his efforts. He understands from lord brahma that he is yet to conquer the senses completely and continues intense penance. Onwards…
The gods are alarmed by the single minded penance being pursued by sage viSwAmitra rising way above his senses and having abstained from food. They wanted to test his resolve again and this time they send another apsara rambha.
Lord indra summons Rambha and addressed her sweetly – “O rambha, this is the work of gods. You must go and seduce the sage viSwAmitra by virtue of your beauty”. rambha, with folded hands, modestly replied – “O lord this sage viSwAmitra is of a very angry temperament. He inflicts terrible curses of which I am really afraid. You should excuse me of this responsibility”. To which, the thousand-eyed indra replied again and said – “don’t be afraid rambha, please execute this order of mine. Be well. When the spring seasons dawns with the trees in full bloom, I shall be present there in the form of a cuckoo cooing passionately with the god of love kandarpa by my side. You can then approach the sage viSwAmitra with all your grace, beauty and gaiety and distract viSwAmitra from his penance”. With the assurance that she will be helped by indra and kandarpa, she agreed to this proposal and in the spring she tried to court the glowing sage viSwAmitra.
In the sylvan setting of spring, as the cuckoo sang melodiously and there was romance in the air, rambha approached viSwAmitra with a sweet smile and displaying all her feminine grace and beauty with a view to allure the sage viSwAmitra. The sage heard the incomparable notes being rendered by the cuckoo coinciding with the mind-blowing appearance of rambha and her amorous acts and instantly recognized that this is the ploy of indra to distract him once again from his goal. With instant rage, he cursed rambha to be motionless as a stone for ten thousand years for the sin of trying to seduce a sage who is out to conquer desire and passion! He further said, “after the duration specified by me, an effulgent brAhmin shall redeem you”. Having heard the terrible curse, indra and kandarpa made good their escape and rambha instantly transformed into a rock.
The gods were successful in deferring the dues of the sage, at the cost of rambha! viSwAmitra was however overcome with regret for his inability to control his anger. But his resolve got stronger. He decided that in order to control his anger, he shall not even breathe a word and thus tame his temper. Further he resolved to give up food completely and dry up his physical frame. He was ready to do the long yards by remaining so in penance for as long as he didn’t get the coveted title of brahmaRshi. Knowing that the limbs of those indulging in austerities don’t deteriorate, he made a determined bid to control his senses, his anger and temperament and thereby be awarded the much desired title of brahmaRshi which was the single biggest pursuit of his life! Satanananda continued – “O rAma thus viSwAmitra took a terrible vow to remain without food and speech for a thousand years in pursuit of the ultimate goal”
Here we conclude the sixty fourth sarga of the bAla kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 