MantraOnNet.com: Images & Text Of Lord Ram
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Lord Ram, the slayer of the demon king
Ravan who held his wife captive, is regarded by millions of people today (not necessarily Indians) ?as a deity, a subject for literature, and an example of moral excellence’. As an incarnation of Vishnu and as one of the most well-known protago-nists in Indian epic poetry (e.g. Valmiki’s Ramyan and Tulsidas’s Ramcharitamanas) he has almost become an integral part of the mythology of countries beyond the frontiers of India, where he is regarded as the Universal Spirit as well as a Personal God who manifests himself in human form for the well-being of his devotees on earth. He is the compassionate lord of beauty, power, and virtue. The true nature and being of Ram, it is said, “transcends all utterance, wisdom, and knowl-edge.” He is, according to Tulasidas, beginning less, endless, limitless, changeless, and beyond all description. He is pure consciousness and Pure Bliss; the Very light untouched by illusion. |
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He is Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer
of the universe-Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh rolled into one – as well as an excellent man, Purusottam. Although chandra seems to connect him with the moon, he is not, like Krishna and Balaram, of the lunar but of the solar race of kings. He forms the seventh Avatar of Vishnu and is the hero of the Ramyan, who, to recover his faithful wife Sita, advanced southwards, killed the demon Ravan, and subjugated his followers, the Rakchases, poetical representa-tives of the barbarous aborigines of the south. Ravan is one of the worst of the many
impersonations of evil common in Hindu mythology. He has ten heads and twenty arms, symbolizing strength. This power was, as usual, acquired by self inflicted austerities, which had obtained from Brahma a boon, by virtue of which Ravan was invulnerable by gods and divine beings of all kinds, though not by men or a god in human form. As Vishnu became incarnate in Ramchandra to destroy Ravan, so the other gods produced innumerable monkeys, bears, and various semi-divine animals to do battle with the legions of demons, his subjects, under Khara, Dusana, and his other generals . |
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Lord Ram stands out as the most glorious of all characters found,
in scriptural literature. In the Ramyana sage Valmiki has symbolised Ram as an ideal of perfection. No other character has been described with such idealistic perfection |
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The human personality consists of different facets functioning in
diverse aspects of life. In most human beings only one or two of these facets are well-developed. The rest lack perfection. In the life of Ram each facet of human personality is seen projected to absolute perfection. Thus the various roles that Ram played in his lifetime were of idealistic perfection. He was a perfect son, an ideal king, a true husband, a real friend, a devoted brother, a noble enemy etc. While painting the picture of each facet of his personality, Valmiki would not compromise with its highest standard of perfection. Consequently when the sage high-lighted one facet of Ram’s personality to absolute perfection he could not do justice to the other aspects. That explains why some critics read certain apparent inconsistencies in the divine character of Lord Ram. |
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Lord Ram carried his bow and arrows all the time. This symbolises
his alertness and readiness to fight against iniquity and thus establish justice and peace. Iniquity will always be there in this world. By his example Ram gives mankind strength and conviction to fight it. Man ought not to be weak and accept unrighteousness passively. He has to rise actively against anything that is inconsistent or contrary to righteousness or morality. That is called aggressive goodness. Ram, Krishna and all other gods wielded weapons which symbolised this quality that man needs to develop. They stand for righteousness and oppose and destroy all that is unrighteous. Thus throughout the Ramyan there are several such actions and anecdotes expressing the divine brilliance of the ideal personality of Lord Ram |
