Modern Day Dharma: Recent Episodes
Geetha
Each of us unconsciously make nearly 35,000 choices each day. That's a rough 2000 choices every waking hour. You deciding to even land on my podcast involved a small set of choices too... While we're constantly deciding what to do... Do we really have time to think if they're right or wrong? How can you know what's right or what's wrong? This is where my curiosity towards Dharma started... Our elaborately written scriptures have laid out ways we could live our life to the full extent, whilst following Dharma. Many quickly mistake following Dharma, to the equivalent of being superstitious, or meant for the older generations. But I've come to realize that's probably not the case... Its for each and every one of us born as humans.In this podcast, I will try and pick the brains of those very wise people who have spent a major part of their lives learning these scriptures. People who are better well versed in Dharma than I am. I'm aiming at exploring the practical applications of Dharma to our life.Please join me in this journey and give me your precious inputs so lots of others out there can learn and live better fulfilled and happier lives.
Rama Returns back to Ayodhya and Maharishi Vasishta advices he get coronated immediately.
Rama agrees and All brothers, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna along with Vibheeshana and Sugreeva are finally have managala Snaana. Rama and Sita get Coronated in a great celebratory event.
Don’t miss out the phalashruthi this great epic and story offers for all who listen to it. With folded hands, I Thank all who took the interest to listen.
Jai Sri Rama
Ravana brings twice as much army with him. A war like no one can ever imagine takes place between Rama and Ravana..
Rama cuts off the head of Ravana 101 times.. hoping he would give up the fight and surrender. Finally, when clear that Ravana wouldn’t budge, Rama kills Ravana. He falls to the earth.
Gods including Bramha and Shiva shower blessings from the sky. Everyone is rejoicing the death of Ravana
Mandodari, wife of Ravana comes to the battle field and sheds lots of tears. She understands that Rama is Vishnu himself. Vibheeshana takes her back to the palace. All the last rites are done for Ravana.
Garuda comes and sprays Amruta because of which all the dead monkeys come back to life. A few Rakshasas come back to life too but would be better people under the king Vibheeshana
A voice from the sky calls Rama. Rama immediately identifies his father Dasharatha who was like a God. Dasharatha is very happy and offers a boon. Rama asks for forgiveness for their mother Kaikeyi and Bharatha.
Sita was brought. To stop the stampede, Rama asks Sita to walk down so everyone can have a glimpse of her. Rama asks her to take a test of fire. She does Agni pravesham and comes out successful.
Vibheeshana offers his pushpaka vimaana to take Rama back to Ayodhya quickly.
Kumbhakarna is woken up from his sleep for the sake of war. He creates a havoc amongst Rama’s army. Literally scooping up the monkeys and eating them or crushing hundreds under his feet. After speculating on what’s the best way to deal with such a huge enemy, Rama decides to tear him apart, part by part.
Ravana is feeling the heavy loss of his brother kumbhakarna and is loosing his confidence when Indrajit, the ever powerful son of Ravana steps in to help his dad.
Indrajit puts the entire army to sleep so he could buy time to do his Nikumbini yaaga, which would ensure he’s never defeated.
Lakshmana’s sleep is causing his heart rate dip to dangerous levels. Hanuman manages to wake up Rama who gets immediately worried about Lakshmana. The doctor from Rama’s kingdom, Sushena is brought in to treat Lakshmana. Sushena says the only way to save Lakshmana now, is to treat him before sunrise with a herb that’s available only in Himalayas
Hanuman flies to the Himalayas and brings in the mountain with the life saving herbs. Sushena wastes no time and treats Lakshmana who immediately recovers.
Vibheeshana urges that Lakshmana has very less time remaining to kill Indrajit as only a person who hasn’t slept for 14 years is able to kill Indrajit. Without wasting a second, despite his weakness from recovery, Lakshmana goes to the secret place where Indrajit’s yaaga is going on. They have a fearceful war and Lakshmana finally manages to kill Lakshmana.
Ravana is broke. He’s unable to accept his son is lost too. He finally decides to go in to the war himself with the reserve army.
Rama is unstoppable. He exhibits the peak of his valour, destroying crores and crores of Ravana’s army single handedly.
After talks with Angada failed, The war was inevitable. One of the major trouble for Ravana’s army is that the army on the other side is a completely untrained army whose main weapons were nails and teeth.
For the first 3 days, Ravana’s army was winning. On day 3, Indrajeet launches the Nagaastra. The snakes released from the weapon paralyses the entire Rama’s army. Seetha is brought to the battlefield to see Rama in the state. She’s distraught at the sight and is not able to fogive herself. Vibheeshana’s wife informs Sita that its not reality.
Majestic Garuda enters the battlefield and scares away all the snakes. Hanuman informs the recovered Rama that Sita was here. Rama strings his bow to generates the sound to ensure Sita he was alright.
Ravana was shocked to see they were alright now. Ravana enters the battlefield on Day 5 of the battle. Rama manages to Everything Ravana was wearing. His chariot, armour, crown and everything including his footware. Rama allows Ravana to leave the battlefield, rest and come back the next day.
Ravana’s ego is severely hurt. He’s unable to sleep for the night and decides to wake up his brother Kumbhakarna. Despite knowing that waking Kumbhakarna would mean his untimely death, Ravana decides to go ahead and take his help in the war.
Loads of different ways are engaged to wake up Kumbhakarna who finally does wake up for the smell of food.
After Vibheeshana’s Pattabhisheka, they decide that the best route to reach Lanka along with the huge army is to build a bridge across. Vibheeshana suggests its Rama’s turn to do Sharanagati to the sea God. Despite waiting for 3 days, nothing happens. Rama gets angry on Samudra, the God of sea and gets ready to leave an arrow to dry up the entire sea. Samudra appears immediately and asks sorry as he was too scared to come out.
Samudra suggests Rama and his army could bring in stones for the bridge. He would make sure they’d never sink. He also advises that Nala, the son of Vishwakarma has mastery in building bridges and so he take the lead in planning and building it.
The bridge gets build in 5 days. The entire Army now reaches the shores of Lanka at astonishing speed.
Ravana and Indrajeet are beyond surprised at the feat Rama and his army achieved. But still in denial mode.
Angada is sent as one last messenger to check if Ravana was to change his mind. But that never happened. Angada returns back. War is now unavoidable.
In this part, Yuddha Khanda starts. Rama along with Sugreeva, Jambavanta, Hanuman etc were discussing on the stratergy to reach Lanka asap. Rama wakes up very early next morning and starts walking towards the sea closest to reach Lanka. They take 5 days in total.
Meanwhile in Ravana’s court, Ravana and his ministers are speculating on what if more such monkeys land on Lanka.. would they really be able to handle? Kumbhakarna advices Ravana should not have taken Sita this far. VIbheeshana adds his observations and criticizes Ravana for abducting Sita. He insists Ravana approach Rama, make friends with him and return Sita with great respect.
Ravana is angered by Vibheeshana’s statements. Indrajeet criticizes his uncle to be a coward. Ravana ends up kicking his own brother. VIbheeshana immediately leaves the court and heads towards Rama along with 4 of his trusted friends.
Vibheeshana reaches the shores of the sea where Rama and his army are camped. He requests the monkeys to inform Rama of his arrival and that he’s willing to help Rama. Despite lots of opposing suggestions, Rama takes Hanuman’s advice and accepts friendship with Vibheeshana.
Rama also coronates Vibheeshana as the King of Srilanka
Hanuman sets off to start eating something out of the plush garden filled with fruit bearing trees, but he’s on to something more mischievous…. He starts destroying the personal garden belonging to Ravana. It came as a surprise to Ravana’s guards and army to see a monkey so powerful.
Ravana sends a sizeable army to catch the ‘Monkey’. Was enormously surprised to see that some of his best generals couldn’t stop him either. So, he finally sends his son Indrajit.
Ravana’s son Indrajit, with a history of having won over Indra was a very powerful man. He shoots a Bramhastra at Hanuman. But Hanuman had a boon that even the Bramhastra wouldn’t work on him. Out of respect to the weapon, Hanuman stops the destruction and surrenders. He’s now tied up and taken to Ravana’s court.
In the court, Ravan sees Hanuman. A conversation takes place between them in which Hanuman is advising Ravana to return Sita to Rama. Not to underestimate the power of Rama and his strength. He reminds Ravana that Rama has already killed a few whom Ravana couldn’t win over.
Ravana’s ego couldn’t accept praise for someone else. He is angry beyond control. And is ready to get Hanuman killed. Ravana’s brother Vibheeshana stops him and advices that messengers should never be killed and that there are other forms of punishing them. Its decided that Hanuman’s tail should be set on fire and so, it was set on fire.
Hanuman takes this as an opportunity, jumps out and uses the fire on his tail to set fire to every corner of Lanka. Somewhere in between, Sita is informed that Hanuman’s tail is set on fire. She prays to the lord of fire, Agni to not burn Hanuman.. suddenly Hanuman starts feeling the fire to be very cooling on is tail. He understands this must be some blessing from somewhere.
Finally, while cooling his tail in the sea, Hanuman suddenly realises Sita Mata is in the very Lanka that he set to fire. He flies immediately to check if she was ok…. And Yes, she was. She blesses him and asks him to return quickly with Rama.
Hanuman reaches the shores where his friends were waiting. He shouts again and again that he saw Sita. The entire group of monkeys is rejoicing his victory. They immediately reach Kishkinda. In the nearby forest, they drink honey and eat all they can. Finally, they’re summoned by Sugreeva to meet him and Rama immediately.
Hanuman relates Sita’s story and gives the choodamani Sita sent. Rama is overjoyed and Hugs Hanuman. The best gift anyone can receive from Rama.
Hanuman and Sita sit down to chat with each other.. Sita is very curious to know how Rama got in touch with the king of monkeys and she felt it rather strange that there could be friendship between Humans and monkeys.
Hanuman explains that Rama got in touch with Sugreeva, a king in exile, helped him get his kingdom back from his brother Vaali and so, now has the backing of the entire army of monkeys. Sita was very happy to hear that.
Even then, she continues to test Hanuman by asking him to describe how Rama and Lakshmana look. Hanuman began describing how beautiful Rama’s eyes are… Even the monkeys, which are always distracted stood still in admiration of Rama’s eyes.
Sita is now very convinced about Hanuman being a messenger from Rama.
Hanuman then gives her Rama’s ring. Sita feels very relieved to see it and narrates a story related to the ring.
She then tells him 2 other stories so Hanuman to relate it back to Rama when he’s back. She then hands him the choodamani that Rama made for her.
Its nearly evening now and Hanuman is too hungry. He requests if he’s ok to go and eat some fruits off the lovely garden. Sita.
Hanuman sits on the Pushpaka Vimaana and meditates on the Beeja mantra.. He then finds a little walk way from Ravana’s bedroom into his huge private garden, the Ashoka Vana. Hanuman discovers the Shimshupa Vriksha under which a really tired lady is sobbing. He sees she’s being guarded by loads of Rakshasis.
He sits on the tree looking down at the lady… He has a feeling it is Sita Maata. But he chose to observe her for a while. She’s constantly chanting Rama’s name.
Its very early in the morning when there’s a lot of noise. Hanuman sees that Ravana, along with a huge following of wives and servants is hurrying towards Sita. He’s constantly looking at Sita with Lust…. Asking her to give up waiting for Rama and just marry him. He’s ready to give up his riches and provide her with every possible pleasure the 3 worlds can offer her. He warns her that the one year he’s given her has only 2 more months to completion. Right after, if she still refuses, he could eat her up for breakfast.
Ravana keeps away from touching Sita as he had a curse. He would meet his death if he touched any woman against her will… this kind of saved Sita to some extent.
Sita now takes a blade of grass in her hand, turns her face away and shows it to Ravana, she says he’s worse than the blade of grass and he’s making a big mistake by forcing Rama’s wife. That he’s no better than a Dog that ran away in scare of Rama and Lakshmana.
Her statements make Ravana very angry. He removes his sword and charges towards her but is stopped by one of his wives. Ravana returns back to his palace. Sita is sobbing at her fate.
Amongst the Rakshasis guarding her, Trijata, calms her friends from tormenting Sita any further. She speaks of her dream in which the whole of Lanka was burning and Vibheeshana had a white umbrella (signifying a kingly status) and how Sita protects all the guarding Rakshasis.
Sita is lost in a flood of emotions and thoughts. She’s distraught that it’s 10 months and she hasn’t heard anything about rescuing her rom Rama. Hope seems like a lost thing. She decides to hang herself with her own long hair. Looking for a low hanging branch, Sita wraps her hair around her neck and the branch….
But Sita is surprised by the positive signs showed by a little bird….She pauses and thinks.
Hanuman, observing all this is suddenly aware that he has very less time left. He sings the Ramayana for Sita. Sita is very happy and delighted to hear Rama’s name in the wretched land. She looks up the branchesand realises theres a little golden monkey sitting there….For a while she thinks she’s hallucinating but then realises its not a dream..
Hanuman chooses not to jump down immediately as it could scare her. He Eventually gets talking to her on how Rama is trying everything her can to reach her. Sita feels very happy and relieved seeing the choodamani Rama has sent with Hanuman.
Sugreeva approaches Rama after the 4 months of rainy season. Rama is astonished to see a sea of Monkeys and feels humbled that they were ready to help him.
Angada and Hanuman are assigned to divide the army of monkeys into 4 groups to go in 4 different directions in search of Sita. By now, it was pretty evident that Sita was more likely to be on the south side.
Hanuman, Angada, Jambavanta were in the south side army. They look in every possible place. They finally end up in a cave that was brightly lit and were astonished to see the cave full of lovely fruits and honey. They monkey army was tired and hungry. They meet Swayam prabha, the lady in charge of the cave. She allows them to eat to their contempt.
They request her to let them out of the cave. That’s when she informs that there is no exit to the cave. But she knew Rama’s task of finding Sita and so helps them out to the sea side.
The entire army is demotivated as they hit the end of the road and find no other route to look for. They discuss Rama’s story and mention Jatayu’s name. Suddenly, they see a huge bird hopping towards them as he had no wings. The giant bird speaks to them and asks why Jatayu’s name was mentioned. He introduces himself as Sampati.
Sampati feels sad to hear the news of his brother Jatayu’s death. He helps the army by informing that he is able to see a lady in the far land, that she’s very upset and she’s constantly remembering Rama.
Sampati immediately gets his wings back and flies away to give last rites to his brother. The army is now hopeful again but is troubled with the fact that there is no one who could go to the far off land. Jambavanta finally reminds Hanuman on his boon of strength and that Hanuman is capable of flying that far. Hanumantha realises his strength, climbs the Mahendra parvata and left with a huge force and leaves to Lanka.
On his way, a Golden mountain starts emerging from the sea. Its called the Mynaka parvata. He’s the friend of Hanuman’s father. He requests Hanuman to eat something on the mountain and relax before proceeding on the journey. Hanuman refuses as he’s on Rama’s Mission.
He then encounters Surasa. She opens her mouth wide enough to eat up Hanuman. Hanuman reduces his size to the size of a bee and quickly escapes out of her mouth. Surasa appreciates the thinking capability of Hanuman.
During the onward journey, a Daemoness, Simhika, with a capability of pulling creatures by pulling their shadow, starts pulling Hanuman towards her to eat him up for lunch. But Hanuman was strong enough to fight and kill her. Therefore releasing her from a curse.
Hanuman completes the rest of his journey, a total of 300 miles in 4 hours to reach Trikoota Shikara.
He manages to get a glimpse of the city of Lanka from the mountain top. He wonders if this is the city of Indra, the King of Gods. The richness of the city is undeniable. He waited until sunset.
He reached the city of Lanka, reduces to a small monkey and was about to enter the City, when he was stopped by Lankini. A daemoness who was guarding it. She wouldn’t let even a fly pass through and was sure the catch Hanuman. She asked him a few questions and asked him to return back. Hanuman tries to negotiate his entry into the city but realises it’s a waste of time. She tries to attack him, which is when Hanuman grows to the size of a huge mountain and touches her on the forehead.
Lankini is unable to stand the touch and collapses. She quickly gains back consciousness and tells him that She’s now free from a curse and that Bramha had given her a boon. The day she gets defeated by a monkey would be the last day on this job and the first day of Lanka’s collapse. She thanks him and allows him in.
Hanuman is astonished and mesmerised by the beauty of the city… every pillar made of Gold and studded with expensive stones
Rama and Lakshmana approach the Rishyamookha parvatha. Sugreeva observes this from the top of the mountain and requests Hanuman to find out who the two humans were… Hanuman disguises as a brahmana and approaches them.
Rama is quick at identifying the real Hanuman behind the disguise. They exchange pleasantries and introductions. Hanuman convinces Rama and Lakshmana to sit on his shoulders so he could fly them to the top of the mountain.
The King of monkeys, Sugreeva and Rama, take an oath to be friends and help each other. Rama promises to kill Vaali, the brother of Sugreeva.
Sugreeva tests Rama by asking him to strike down 7 trees before he is completely convinced of Rama’s capability in killing Vaali.
Sugreeva asks Vaali to come in for a fight. Vaali nearly thrashes Sugreeva to death. Sugreeva is left wondering on why Rama did not shoot the arrow. Rama clarifies later that they both looked too similar and so did not want to risk shooting Sugreeva.
Sugreeva invites Vaali for another fight just after 3 days. Tara, wife of Vaali warns him that Sugreeva could have a veiled plan in place. She tries to convince Vaali to let go of his brother Sugreeva and make friends with Rama and Lakshmana. But the over confident Vaali pays no heed to her words.
Sugreeva is now wearing a special garland to differentiate himself from his brother.Rama finally shoots the arrow at Vaali. This leads to Vaali collapsing. But before he breathes his last, he questions Rama on why he shot him by hiding behind the tree…
Curious to know the answer? Listen to know the actual reasons.
Ravana reaches Lanka along with Sita in the Pushpaka Vimaana. Sita refuses to stay anywhere in the palace. So, she’s finally settled into Ashoka vana in Sri Lanaka. The only entrance to which, is from Ravana’s bedroom.
On the other hand, Rama meets Lakshmana half way through the forest and shudders at the thought of something happening to Sita. They both run back and see she’s missing with some fruits etc fallen on the ground. It couldn’t have been an animal dragging her out as there are no drag marks. They observe huge footprints of another person. Rama is completely distraught, confused and angry at why none of the nature’s forces are giving him clues on where Sita has disappeared. He decides to curse the entire universe which is when Lakshmana tries to pacify and console him. They decide to go in search of Sita towards the south.
On the way, they hear someone chanting Rama’s name. On approaching, they realise its Jatayu lying in a pool of blood. He’s breathing his last. He manages to inform Rama that Sita was taken by someone in a Vimana (flying machine) towards the south. Rama and Lakshmana perform his last rites.
They walk further south and realize they’re being dragged by someone’s hands. They decide to chop the hands off. They then find out, they were the hands of Kabandha. A daemon who cannot move from his place, had an open mouth near his belly button, had no head, and eyes near the chest… but could expand his hands upto 100 miles. Kabandha thanks Rama and Lakshmana as he has been waiting for a very long time for their arrival. He requests them to burn up the body.
Rama and Lakshmana dig up a huge hole in the ground, throw in some firewood and set Kabandha on fire. A beautiful looking Yaksha comes out of the body and explains how he was cursed by a Rishi for teasing him. The Yaksha guides Rama to walk towards Mathanga muni Ashrama where Shabari is waiting for them and then proceed to Rushyamookha parvata. They thank him and move accordingly.
Rama and Lakshmana are surprised and delighted to see a decorated path. They meet Shabari and realise she has been waiting for them as Matanga Maharshi had asked her to guide them when they arrive. She’s kept enough fresh ripe fruits ready for the two to eat. They then witness her self immolate and attain moksha.
Shoorpanakka runs to her brothers with her deformed and bleeding face. Her brothers are baffled someone could actually do this to her. They send the best 14 Demons to kill Rama and Lakshmana. In just about 15 mins, they realize Rama and Lakshmana are way to strong for a small army. Shoorpanakka advices they take the entire army of 14000 soldiers. Rama takes up the challenge of going on war against all the 14000 soldiers alone. He takes 45 minutes to fight off the entire army of Rakshasas. Right after, Sita realizes how valorous and tactful her Husband Rama is… She regrets the statement she’d made just before they left Ayodhya. Shoorpanakka reports this straight to her brother Ravana… She changes the narrative and tells Ravana that she was there to bring the most beautiful woman Sita to him and so she got her nose and ears cut for his sake. Ravana is now curious to see Sita. He visits their kuteera or hut even before approaching Mareecha. He was filled with Awe for Sita… he then approaches Marichi to help him abduct Sita. Marichi tries his best to explain that Ravana should never think of doing something that dangerous. Ravana threatens to kill Mareechi if he doesn’t help. Mareechi prefers to die at the hands of Rama rather than Ravana. He disguises himself as a beautiful deer and runs around Sita’s hut to get noticed. Nonetheless, Sita does get attracted to the deer. She requests Rama to get it for her. Rama and Lakshmana were very sure it was a trick being played by the daemons. But Rama decided to hunt it down for Sita. The deer, runs deep into the forest to take Rama far enough from the hut. While Lakshmana was protecting Sita, they hear the voice of Rama calling out to Rama and Sita. Sita is obviously disturbed and requests Lakshmana to go and see what’s happening…. Lakshmana refuses to leave her alone. But Sita speaks some hurtful things to make him go in search of Rama. Ravana takes this as an opportunity and disguises himself as a Sanyasi. The Sanyasi approaches Sita asking or alms. Sita requests or return of Rama and Lakshmana before she could give him something to eat. But the Sanyasi gets angry and threatens to curse her. Sita decides to step out and give him some fruits… Ravana immediately changes his form and abducts Sita by holding shadow of her long hair and the earth under her feet. He hurls her into the pushpaka vimana, a flying plane and sets off Sita is crying out for Rama and Lakshmana. Jatayu hears this and tries to rescue her. He fights with Ravana but with no luck…. Ravana chops off the wings of Jatayu.
Rama and Sita meet Atri and Anasuooya. Rishi Durvasa and Dattatreya are their sons. Anasooya listens to the story of Sita’s swayamvara. She gifts Sita some celestial jewellery. They move on to meet more tapasees. He notices multiple whitish hills. The...
We get a glimpse of the lifestyle of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. They enter Dandakaranya forest and see how dark and cold it was, due to the thick cover of trees around. Rama’s entry into the dark forest illuminates it with a cool moonlight kind of light. On seeing them, the numerous saints and Rishis living there for thousands of years realise its Avtar of Vishnu and pay respect to Rama, Lakshmana and Sita We did deviate a little away from Ramayana in this episode into a more interesting and related topic of life in Vaikunta after a person’s earthly death. We realise how Shoorpanakka is made the Queen of Dandakaranya by Ravana.
Rama gets to know Dasharatha is no more. He offers his last rites to his dad with the bare minimum food he eats these days. Its been 4 days since and neither Rama is prepared to go back and Bharata refuses to go back without Rama. Janaka also visits his daughter Sita in the forest. He appreciates her for the dharma she’s following and offers her to come back to Mythila, Janaka’s palace if she would prefer. Sita refuses upright. Vasishta reminds Bharata, it isn’t ideal for his mothers to stay in the forest for too long. Decisions need to be made quick. He suggests Bharata could go back with Rama’s paduka. Rama agrees for Bharata to take his padukas. Rama confronts Bharata on why he is treating Kaikeyi differently and warns him it isn’t good practice to ill treat your mother.
Bharata had been having bad dreams for a while. Infomers from Ayodhya reach and request him back. He’s desperate to see his father Dasharatha. He reaches Ayodhya and realises there’s a sense of loneliness, disparity. He reaches the palace and goes to Dasharatha’s room. Surprised he’s not around, he visits his mother Kaikeyi’s chamber. Kaikeyi appears cool and asks him about his stay back in kekaya Rajya. Desperate Bharata repeatedly asks about his father. She then informs him of the death and the two promises she made Dasharatha give. Bharata is filled with sorrow and is beyond angry with his mother Kaikeyi. He reaches Kausalya and convinces her he has nothing to do with what Kaikeyi was demanding. Last rights of Dasharatha were performed and just after the required number of day to finish all necessary oblations, Bharata sets off to the forest to look for Rama. Lots of people from Ayodhya join him. His intentions were to convince Rama enough to come back to Ayodhya. He traces the path of Rama with the help of Sumantra and later Guha. They take a pitstop in Bharadwaja’s ashrama. Finally, Bharata gets to meet his brother Rama.
Rama meets Guha. On Guha attempting to touch Rama’s feet, Rama mentions Guha to be a dear friend and does not deserve to be at his feet. What Rama and Guha shared was the trust. Dharma is a way in which everyone does his/ her own duties. A beautiful story about a fisherman and a rishi explains this well Rama take Guha’s help to cross over the river to reach Bharadwaja maharshi’s ashrama on the other side. Rama requests Bharadwaja to suggest a place for them to stay for the rest of the years. He suggested Chitrakoota. Rama relaxed in Chitrakoota beside Mandakini river. Lakshmana makes a little house. Sumantra struggles to reach back Ayodhya. He realises the horses were tearful to leave Rama too.. they dragged their feet towards Ayodhya. Dasharatha.
Rama Enters Kaikeyi’s palace and is distraught at the immediate sight of his father lying on the floor. He rushes to lift his father to a better place to sit. Dasharatha wasn’t able to say much due to the agony. Continuously calling out Rama’s name and is partially concious. Rama offers to bring in the royal doctors to help his dad… but was refused. He finally asks Kaikeyi on what exactly happened. Kaikeyi narrates the 2 promises she got from Dasharatha long back and wants them fulfilled now. Rama shows no regret, Offers to wait until Bharata returns, finish his coronation and leave to the forest immediately. Kaikeyi wasn’t happy with the offer. She insists Rama leaves immediately. And even makes an audacious claim that Dasharatha will get better as soon as Rama leaves. Contrary to that, Dasharatha is holding Rama’s hand tight, pleading not to leave. Rama excuses himself and rushes to his mother Kausalya. Kausalya receives Rama happily with no idea on what’s coming up. Rama informs her of the change in events. Kausalya is shattered. He plight was appalling. After a good long time hugging and refusing to let him go, Rama convinces her that Dasharatha needs her more at this stage. He leaves his mom at Kaikeyi’s palace. Kausalya, seeing her husband’s state rushes to care for him. Rama heads to Sita’s chamber, she was choosing what to wear for the ceremony. She wonders why there was no one accompanying the future king. She asks if all was alright. Rama informs he has to leave. Sita stops what she’s doing and sets off to go with Rama. Rama refuses and requests her to stay back. But Sita did not give up. Lakshmana doesn’t leave Rama’s side. He insists on joining them to the forest. Sita permits Lakshmana.
Dasharatha visited Kaikeyi’s to give her the good news. She was in a kopa gruha, a part of her palace. meant only for expressing extreme anger. Dasharatha was surprised she’s in there. Sees her in a distraught state but silent enough to puzzle him. He tries different ways to convince her make her feel better. He finally promises on Rama. She then opens up and speaks of the 2 conditions Manthara advised her. First was that Bharata becomes the king and second Rama head to forest and lives life in austerity for 14 years. King Dasharatha is distraught to even hear this. He couldn’t bear the pain. He fell to her feet. He requested her not be so cruel to Rama. He cries and tries to convice her the entire night Things are all set in the kingdom for Rama’s coronation. Vasishta, Sumantra and rest are wondering where the king is. So, Sumantra sets out towards Kaikeyi’s palace. There, he discoveres the bad and distraught state of Dasharatha. As his first instinct, he attempts to pick Dasharatha fallen on the floor. Kaikeyi stops him from even touching Dasharatha Sumantra hurries into Rama’s chamber where Sita was with him and helping him dress up. Sumantra tells Rama that King Dasharatha wants to see him immediately.
Rama and rest of his brothers return back to Ayodhya after the weddings Bharata was taken to Kekaya Rajya. Rama grows of age and helps his Dad, King Dasharatha for 10 years Dasharatha decides to make Rama the next heir. It was welcomed by people as Democracy was part of ruling since then Rama blend with people at all levels . He attended any funerals or weddings he comes across. Lending extra money they possibly needed. This made him hugely popular among common people. He had a face that was super attractive. Extremely beautiful. People found it difficult to stop staring at him. Dasharatha was filled with happiness just by looking at his son Rama. Rama had an ocean of good qualities. Rama was completely against the rules of not meeting common people. He met people of the lowest category. Decision was made to coronate him the next day despite not being able to send invitations to some of the important neighbouring kings. There was unbelievable festivity in just a few hours. The entire city of Ayodhya was lit up, cleaned up and decorated for Rama’s coronation. Manthara sees all the festivity and gets all jealous about Rama’s coronation. She fumes when Kaikeyi expresses excitement too. And then, Manthara manages to poison Kaikeyi’s mind. The reason why 14 years of banishing Rama to forest is clearly explained.
Janaka explains about Shiva’s bow. It was a bow used in Daksha yagna. A bow that needs 150 people to move it. But Sita, as a toddler could push it. The finding of Sita… the meaning behind her name. Janaka experiences rain after 12 years as soon as he holds baby Sita in his hands. Some astonishing things Sita’s parents observed about her. How Rama picks up on the hint Vishwamitra packed into a sentence helping Rama pick the bow from the center. There’s a huge thunder and everyone except Rama, Lakshmana, Janaka and Vishwamitra fall unconscious. Rama insists his wedding happens right after King Dasharatha arrives. Sita was of very high character. She chose a lady Guru, Gargi and requested her father Janaka to setup a university exclusively for girls. Shatananda and Vasishta insist the remaining 3 sisters of Sita and 3 younger brothers of Rama too get wed. Sita kalyanam finally happens. Some of the mantras there are absolutely beautiful!. And explained by Dr Prabha. Entry of Parashurama has always fascinated me. Its today, I understand why Parashurama never came back until Mahabharata. I was surprised to know that Parashurama is still alive in the Himalayas. 10 years of blissful wedding before Ayodhya khanda starts.
In this episode, Dr Prabha walks us through how Rama questions Vishwamitra about a beautiful hermitage. Vishwamitra reveals the story of Gautama and Ahalya. We then get to listen the story of how Kushanabha’s 100 daughters and their curse. We wind up the episode with Vishwamitra’s own story which is a beautiful saga. I hope you enjoy it.
Rama’s birth was a result of a Yagna done by his parents. His birth and the festivity around is something that cannot be missed. The best part of Rmayana is when Rama is getting moulded into DHarmatma in his childhood by Vishwamitra. This episode, is packed with huge lot of those stories we’d probably have never heard. I love the way Bhaghiratha brings Mandakini down to earth and makes her Ganga. Listen to this astounding story.
Hi, Here’s our first episode for the Navratri. Lets start with an introduction to Valmiki, He reveals in Uttarakhanda that he’s the son of Prachetas, a great saint but became a hunter midway due to the friends he made as a child. Listen to the mesmerising story of how Rama meets his children, Lava and Kusha for the first time. They were 12 when he saw them first. Please let me know what you think my mailing me at ModernDayDharma@gmail.com Thanks, Geetha
Hi, This episode forms the base of the Ramayana we’ll listen over the next 9 days. Dr Prabha Sridhar, a multiple PhD holder in Sanskrit, beautifully explains how this text is not plain mythology but our history too. She explains the impact this great scripture has had in her life. I just love listening to Ramayana in any format, anywhere, anytime. Listen to know how Strong a lady Sita was as opposed to the general sober image painted about her. I hope you enjoy listening. Thanks, Geetha
Modern Day Dharma, Introduction on how I adore Dharma. But am not completely aware of how to apply it in my life. I've taken it upon myself to document through this podcast, my learnings from Gurus on how we could practically apply Dharma to our lives In this podcast, As I am not an expert and am filled with questions just like most of you out there, I will be inviting some learned and respectful guests to join us and explain in plain English, the secrets of Dharma. How we can apply them in our lives. What our Dharma towards Children, Dharma in business, towards society, towards our spouses, parents and even our own body, Yeah, I was baffled that we need to follow Dharma in caring for our body too... Following Dharma certainly helps. Join me in exploring and knowing a lot more about our scriptures and Dharma. If you have some questions, please do mail it to ModernDayDharma@gmail.com Thanks, Geetha