Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001                                                                                                                                                      www.kksongs.org

Glorification of Lord Ramacandra

On Rama Navami this year, (April 6, 2006), the special feature included on KKsongs.org was the overview of the Ramayana, the scripture describing the earthly activities of Lord Ramacandra. After posting the Ramayana summary online, I began to wander about the glorification of Lord Ramacandra.

 

As confirmed in various scriptures, Lord Ramacandra was the form of Lord Vasudeva in Treta Yuga to serve as a moral man and an ideal king. Due to this highly righteous personification, many people in India take the name of Sri Sri Sita Rama, the righteous man and woman, husband and wife, and king and queen. It is not uncommon to hear the chant of raghupati raghava raja rama, patita pavana sita rama chanted all over. The original chant came from a great devotee of Lord Ramacandra, Tulasi Dasa. However, people with poor fund of knowledge begin adding extra verses to the original chant, which are not truly bona fide, and does not accurately convey the message of Tulasi Dasa or the original goal of rama-bhakti. In Krsna Consciousness, devotees spend more time trying to glorify Lord Krsna, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Their devotees and associates. The pastimes of Lord Ramacandra are not well spoken or sung, unfortunately. Having these thoughts on how to glorify Lord Ramacandra through kirtana made me think about the songs I have collected for KKSongs for the past five years.

 

 

The “raghupati raghava raja rama patita pavana sita rama” is the most common way devotees chant to please the Lord. Other chants include, “sri rama jaya rama jaya jaya rama, sita rama, sita rama, sita rama, jaya sita rama; jaya sita rama laksmana bhakta hanuman.” However, through my search of bhajans on KKSongs, there are more longer versions of glorifying the Lord. The most traditional bhajan I found was “Rama Jinaka Nama Hai,” which is a spin-off of the more famous bhajan “Krsna Jinaka Nama Hai.” Mira Bai, although her devotion was exclusively for Lord Giridhara, was intelligent to know that Rama as the same as Lord Krsna. The song she sang in praise of Lord Rama was “Japo Re Rama Nama Sukhadai.” Some people would say that she has written another more famous bhajan, “Payoji Maine Rama Ratana Dhana Payo.” However, the original song by Mira Bai did not say “Rama Ratana” but “Nama Ratana.” The original lyrics started off as “Payo Ji Maine Nama Ratana Dhana Payo.” Sura Dasa, like Mira Bai, had his devotion for songs glorifying Lord Krsna, as his only savior. However, he acknowledged how Sri Rama ate the fruits of Sabari, which were covered in devotion. The verse of is found in the song “Sabse Unchi Prem Sagai.”

 

As far as Gaudiya Vaisnava literature is concerned, Lord Rama’s glories are certainly not ignored. In a Back To Godhead magazine question in 1998, the “hare rama” aspect of the mahamantra was able to represent Lord Balarama, Lord Krsna, who is Rama (reservoir of pleasure), and Lord Rama, who is Lord Ramacandra. Vasudeva Ghosh’s song “Jaya Jaya Jagannatha Sacira Nandan” has a line singing of Lord Gaura past avatara of Lord Rama, who killed Ravana. Bhaktivinoda Thakura sang in the song “Vibhavari Sesa Aloka Pravesa” that “the killer of Ravana” is verily Krsna. He glorifies Lord Rama, dasarathi rama, or the son of King Dasaratha.

 

Millenniums before contemporary Vaisnava acaryas, Sri Valmiki Muni had written the history of Lord Ramacandra in great detail, known as the Ramayana. Later, Srila Vyasadeva summarized the Ramayana in a few verses in the Ninth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

For more specific glories of Lord Ramacandra, there is one astakam found in the book “Sri Krsna Caitanya Carita” by Murari Gupta. Murari Gupta was considered to be the form of Hanuman in Kali Yuga. Hanuman was a pure servant of Lord Ramacandra. Hanuman was blessed with the power to remain immortal on earth, as long as the glories of Lord Rama were sung. Even though Hanuman lived many years on earth, as the world kept falling prey to the power of time, he remembered the final words of His beloved master before His returning abode. Before Lord Ramacandra left the earth for His abode, He requested Hanuman to stay on earth until the end of the age of Kali and sing the glories of Lord Rama and help His devotees attain devotional service. Srila Prabhupada often mentioned that the pure devotee would never hanker for liberation, freedom from birth or earth, or spiritual liberation. All the pure devotee is hankering for is pleasing the Lord, and being able to love and serve him, whatever the conditions may be. Hanuman recognized the return of His Lord, through Lord Krsna, and served Him by protecting Him and Arjuna during the Mahabharata war. In Kali Yuga, he took form as Murari Gupta, who was a devotee of Lord Rama and glorifed the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. The Ramastakam that Murari Gupta has written have the first words, “Rajat-Kirita-Mani-Didhiti .”

 

Another famous prayer is found in the Harivamsa Purana, describing Lord Rama’s arrival at Ahovala glorifying Lord Nrsimhadeva. This set of prayers is known as the Nrsimha Pancaratna has the first words of “Ahovalam Narasimham Gatva.” Jayadeva Goswami glorifies Lord Ramacandra through his Dasavatara Stotram in his book, Gita Govinda. The seventh verse describes how He killed Ravana, and sent his ten heads to the deities of the ten directions. A contemporary Vaisnava, Atulananda Acarya, has written an original song glorifying the son of Kausalya and Dasaratha in Spanish. The first words of the song are “Como Hijo De Kausalya y Dasaratha.” In the Krsna book, the first prayer found is a verse in the Caitanya Caritamrta. The song is “Krsna Krsna Krsna Krsna” which has the lines rama raghava rama raghava rama raghava raksa mam.

 

In conclusion, Lord Ramacandra’s glories are well sung and recognized by the Vaisanva acaryas. Of course, as the main goal of serving the Lord as Radha Krsna, it is important to meditate on the original form of the Lord. However, in respecting the Lord’s various forms, it is important to offer prayers and worship in devotion to other forms of the Lord, such as Lord Nrsimhadeva, Lord Jagannatha, and Lord Ramacandra to name a few. In the spirit of Sri Rama Navami, I invite everyone to select anyone of the highlighted bhajans of Sri Ramacandra and appreciate and savor the way the Gaudiya Vaisanvas and other devotees of the Lord worshipped Sri Ramacandra, Srimati Sita-Devi, Sri Laksmana, and Their devotees.