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The Endless Glory of the Rāmāyaṇa

A discourse on the glory of the Rāmāyaṇa and the sacred city of Ayodhyā.

"The glory of God is Ānanda, endless. There is never an end to God’s glory."

"In those hearts where God is known, that heart is a temple. Otherwise, it is a cave of the Rakṣasas, or a grave."

The speaker expounds on the infinite, joyful nature of the Rāmāyaṇa's wisdom, explaining its transmission from Lord Śiva to Pārvatī and then through Tulsīdās. He describes the divine qualities of Lord Rāma, the holiness of Ayodhyā and the Sarayū River, and emphasizes remembering God in all circumstances. The talk connects devotion to environmental reverence and concludes with the liberating power of the sacred land.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

The Rāmāyaṇa, the glory of God Rāma, is in every aspect. It is full of joy and happiness. Those who listen to it will gain wisdom and bhakti devotion, and will cross the ocean of ignorance. This Rāmacaritra, this Rāmāyaṇa, is as beautiful and pleasant as the full moon. Its light gives everyone a feeling of pleasure, and it is especially joyous for the saints and bhaktas. In this way, Lord Śiva has been explaining the Rāmāyaṇa. Jai nī prasanna, jai bhāṭī bhavānī, jai vidhi śaṅkara, kaha bakhānī. So sabhā hetu kahaṁ meṁ gāī, kathā prabandha vicitra banāī. Likewise, Lord Śiva explained it to Pārvatī. Parvatī asked the question to God Śiva, and Lord Śiva began to explain it all to her in detail. I will try my best to tell in detail all that God Śiva has told through Pārvatī, said Tulsīdāsjī. Jaiya katha suni nahi, sohi Janayacha raju kare. Suni sohi Katha yalokika sunahi jai gyani. Nayaacha raju kare hi asa jani. Those who have not listened to this Rāmāyaṇa before, and those who have an opportunity to hear it for the first time, should not wonder. The wise ones who listen to this Rāmāyaṇa are not surprised. Because in this world, the glory of God, this Rāmāyaṇa, is limitless. There is no border. The glory of God is Ānanda, endless. There is never an end to God’s glory. God is endless, beyond all boundaries, and therefore His play, His mercy, His Līlā is endless. That is why the knowledge also has no end; it has no limitations. When you dive into the ocean of wisdom, you can swim thousands of kilometers—it is endless. So it is when you enter into spiritual consciousness. When you enter into the wisdom, and especially when you enter into the glory of God, then it is very pleasant and soft, very gentle. It is very divine and full of bliss. Hari is Anant, Anant is Hari; the Kathā, God and His Līlā are endless. Therefore, in this world, there is no limitation to God’s telling. Those who know this will also understand the different incarnations of God Rāma. He said, "There are millions of Rāmāyaṇas, and there will be millions of Rāmāyaṇas." All the holy books which speak about God, different divine incarnations, and the glory have been like this for many ages, and will be for many more. Kalapa-bheda-hari-charita-suhai, bhaati-aneka-muni-sanagai, karyana-sansaya-asaura-hani, suniya-kata-sadara-ratimani. According to the time, all the great saints have been singing the glory of God, the miracles of God, in many different ways, not only one. They always had in their heart the love for God. Therefore, Tulsīdāsjī said that when you hear the glory of God, it does not matter in which way; you should never have doubts in your heart. Listen to the glory of God with great respect and love. And therefore, Tulsīdāsjī said: Rāma-ānanta-ānanta-guṇa-amitra-kathā-viṣṭhāra. Śrī Rāma is endless, and His qualities, His guṇas, are also endless. His līlās and the telling about Him are also without any boundary. This means that those who have nirmal vichāra, pure thoughts, when they listen to this glory of God, they will not wonder but will enjoy. It is something of their nature; it belongs to their Self. We like to listen about God. Why? Because we are a part of Him. When you go far away and someone tells you about your parents and siblings after a long time, you receive the news from them. How happy you are! Sometimes, in some countries during war, all communications are blocked: no telephone, no post. When you finally get a message, how happy you are. Likewise, we have lost our relation to God through this worldly war—the war of kāma, krodha, mada, lobha, īrṣā, hate, jealousy, complexes, and greed. But suddenly, some message of God comes, and someone tells us; our inner Self enjoys because it belongs there and would like to listen more and more. Why? Because you are part of Him. You are a relative of Him. You are the essence of Him. That is natural. Those guṇas you have within you; if you develop this kind of feeling, then you will come closer and closer. As soon as doubts appear, complexes appear, then jealousy appears, then anger appears, then other things all disappear. And you have disappeared in many, many lives. You have disappeared, but now it seems that you appear again. So do not lose this chance. That is why Tulsīdāsjī said the wise ones, the bhaktas, are not surprised, but they know and they enjoy. It is like when a battery is empty and you connect it to electricity; it begins to recharge. Different batteries need different kinds of power; otherwise, the battery will explode. Similarly, different bhaktas need different treatment. Different bhaktas need different kinds of knowledge, slowly, step by step. But in everything is His play, His love, His divine divinity. Therefore, they will not be surprised—those who have nirmal vichār, pure thoughts. Likewise, I give up all my doubts at the dust of my Śrī Gurudev’s holy feet. I put it on my head as a tilak, and again I am with folded hands. I request all my listeners: if in this telling you find some mistakes, they are my mistakes. It is not the mistake of God’s glory. Please listen with love and respect. It is God’s name. Holy books are the embodiment of God Himself because His words are there, His vākyas are there. Guru Nānak said, "Every word of the Gurudev you should carry on your head." Now, with great respect and adoration, I bow down to Lord Śiva. With this adoration, I pray to Lord Śiva to bless me that I can describe the divine qualities of God Rāma. I bow down my head to Śrī Hari, and I begin to write this. He wrote the date: 16,031 (Vikram Samād, not after Christ). On the ninth day of the moon, I think it was Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday, and beautiful. In the month of April, the light of this Rāmāyaṇa, the glory of God, I began to write. On the day of the incarnation of God Rāma, all the holy places, all holy pilgrims come there to have darśan. This month is somewhere in April, the 9th, Monday, Tuesday. In Allahabad, which is also known as Ayodhyā, this Rāmāyaṇa has been written. In Kumbh Melā, we will be there. We will try to go to some pilgrim places there, some old āśramas, of which there are several. They are thousands of years old, several thousands of years old: Vālmīkī’s, and where Sītā lived, and where Rāma lived, and so on. I think we will go. I am not promising you; it depends on circumstances. Muni Deva hai karhi, Raghunāyaka sevā janma moho chāv rachhī sujana karhi, Rāma kāla kīrti gāna. Asuras, nāgas, the snakes, the birds, the humans, the sages, the goddess—all come to Ayodhyā, and all do sevā to God Rāma. They come to serve Him, and all the wise ones celebrate the day of God Rāma’s incarnation and sing the name of God, the kīrtan, the glory. Śrī Rām Jaya Rām Jaya Jaya Rām. Śrī Rām Jaya Rām Śrī Rām Candra Bhagavān. All the sages and bhaktas come there on that day, and they bathe in the holy river Sarayū. The Sarayū River flows near the palace where God Rāma was born. Every day He used to bathe in that river. Also, when He went back from this world, they all entered into the river, and the river gave them way again to Vaikuṇṭha, Svarga Loka. They all come and bathe in that holy river, and in their heart they meditate on the blue God Rāma. They repeat His name all the time; the name of God is on their lips. Anything happens, good or bad, always the bhakta says, "Rām, Rām..." Like you say, "Oh God, God." An accident happens, you say, "Oh God." Something good happens, you say, "Thanks to God." But you will notice that when a negative happens, you say suddenly, automatically, "Oh, God." When a good thing happens, sometimes you do not say. You say, "Really? Is that like that?" We forget God. Therefore, it is said: Dukhme sab sumiran kare, sukhme kare na koy, jo sukhme sumiran kare, to dukha ye ka hoy. When there is trouble, everyone remembers God and repeats mantra. But when there is happiness, they do not remember God. If you remember God in happiness also, intensively, then the troubles will not come. So always, bhaktas, remember God. Always on their face and on their lips is the name of God, and a smile on the face. When you remember God, the face and skin are relaxed. The whole body is relaxed. But when you remember something different, like your enemy, then your face is like dried. That’s it. So always keep God’s name in mind. When you have God in the mind, everything is positive. Therefore, it is said: The Vedas and Purāṇas, all saints—when you have a darśana and when you touch the lotus feet or you touch that river, or God’s feet, then you will be very happy, and it purifies your karmas. Where you wash yourself in the water, all dirt is cleaned away. Similarly, darśan of the saint and touching the feet of the saint is like bathing, which will remove the impurity of the karma. That river Sarayū is very pure, divine. Tulsīdāsjī said the glory of that river is also endless. You know, a river is life. A river is a source of our life also. Water is life. In the rivers, there are many creatures existing, and all human civilizations are based on the banks of rivers. All those thousands-of-years-old cultures and humans were based on the banks of rivers. And that river is a divine river in which God Himself incarnated and bathed inside it. That is something divine. That river must have some good karma. Once a poet said: Oh, Rādhā, how fortunate you are. What kind of tapasyā, sādhanās have you done in past lives? The Lord of all three worlds and liberator of all three worlds is always obeying you. She must have done some good sādhanās. When she said no, He said okay. That sādhanā can only be bhakti, love. In that bhakti, there should be no doubts at all. Similarly, that river must be holy. That tree must be holy, and that piece of land where His divine feet stepped must be divine and holy. That divine energy never disappears; it is always there. So you remember, I told you yesterday: in those intellects there is no name of God; in those minds, no name of God; in those words, there is no name of God; in those hearts, no name of God; and in that action, there is no devotion to God. That body is just a cave of the Rakṣasas, a cave of the devils. But in those minds, intellect, speech, and actions where there is God in the heart, that is a holy temple, a holy pilgrim place. Unfortunately, that physical form of God has disappeared, gone. For us, only memory remains, or those objects which had been witnesses to Him, touched by Him. Only we can satisfy our mind through that touch. Even the wind, when it blows from that direction, carries immense spiritual energy. Only bhaktas can receive that energy. You see the sun shining, and now we know there’s a lot of solar energy, but we do not utilize it properly. Those who made the techniques to gain the solar energy are using it. It’s like a wonder, but the sun doesn’t lose energy. It’s not that now someone has put so many solar panels, and now the whole Czech Republic will be cold or dark. Spiritual energy is like that. Millions of people can think of you and take energy from you; you are still Pūrṇa. Pūrṇa is always Pūrṇa, completeness. Like that, the river Sarayū’s glory is also endless. Tulsīdāsjī said, "Even the pure-minded goddess Sarasvatī, the goddess of wisdom, is not able to describe the glory of that river." So, what can we describe? What are we humans doing? We don’t understand the rivers, and we are polluting them. We pollute all the rivers of the world, and all the life is dying inside. As an American Indian wise man said, "When the last tree will be chopped off and the last fish will die, oh man, then you will realize that you cannot eat your dollars." You may have a bag full of dollars, and when you are hungry, you can’t eat them. You need an apple. An apple you cannot grow on your dollars, only on a tree. So we have to protect the environment. We have to protect the rivers and oceans. Let’s work towards this. It is said that charity begins from one’s own home. So the first steps you have to do. You have to open your door to walk. In America, there was some tradition or law: when a white person stepped into the bus or train, black people had to get up and give them a place. One day there was a black lady. She was pregnant and sitting in the bus. All seats were occupied, and one white man stepped in. She said loudly to herself and to others, "Now I will not get up." From her, it began in the consciousness of other people, so they finished this law. All understood, and there was no more fighting. So one has to begin. Everyone is throwing everything, but you should not throw. Tell your friends, tell your children, tell your colleagues. Slowly, slowly we can protect our environment and the rivers also. This is not just for yourself; it is for your children. A very interesting thing is that, in case you are not liberated, you have to come back. Then you will be so angry at your ancestors. They were stupid, they polluted all. Those ancestors, you see, so that’s how the karma recycling comes back. Therefore, healthy thinking keeps a healthy atmosphere, keeps a healthy world. Charity begins at home. Anything you want to do, any good things, do it yourself first. Thank you very much. That’s it. Rāma-dhāma Pūrī Suhavanī Loka Samasthā Vidhita Yatī Pāvanī Charikhanī Jagjīva Aparā Havadta Jetanu Nahī Sansāra. That beautiful, glorious Avadhapurī, Ayodhyā. Avadhāpurī, not Avatārpurī. Avadhāpurī. You think of Avatārpurī. That is the birthplace of God Rāma. It is very famous in all three worlds because from all the spiritual worlds, all go there to have darśan of that holy land. As in the bhajan said, from Lālā Nānjī, I think: How fortunate or glorious is that land where the Satguru Dev is born, that birthplace. All the creatures who come through the four different ways of entering this world—these are Aṇḍajas, Svedajas, Udbhijjas, and Jarāyujas. Aṇḍajas are creatures which come through eggs. Svedajas develop through moisture or bacteria. Udbhijjas are vegetation. Jarāyujas are those born as babies, like we are. These are the four doors to enter this world. And there is one door to go out again: that is death. So Tulsīdāsa said, all will get liberation there who come there—all creatures, endless. Anyone who dies there will get immediate liberation, come to God. They will not come anymore, again, into this world. They will not come again to birth and death. That must be the adoration, love, and respect that brought Tulsīdās to God Rāma’s birthplace. And that should be. That is how the bhakta thinks. How pure their consciousness is. How clear is their vision. That’s very important. So keep God in your heart, and you will always be happy. Why are you happy? Because you are a part of Him. In those hearts where God is known, that heart is a temple. Otherwise, it is a cave of the Rakṣasas, or a grave. So let us make our heart a temple.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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