Vanamali - The Complete Life of Rama: Based on Valmiki’s Ramayana and the Earliest Oral Traditions

Sri Ramaya Namaha!

Dedicated to my revered father Rama, who was a living embodiment of Sri Rama

Sri Hanumanthaya Namaha!

I bow to Lord Hanuman,
the sole witness to the story of Rama

The Ramayana

May he bless us with ears to listen
and hearts to understand.

Vedavedye pare punsi jate Dasaratatmaja,
Prachetasadasit sakshadramayanatmana.

The Ramayana is indeed a Veda, which was revealed to us by the sage Valmiki, since the Supreme Being, who is known only through the Vedas, manifested himself as Rama, the son of Dasaratha.

Foreword

By His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidanandaji Maharaj

After first reading Mata Devi Vanamalis earlier book, The Complete Life of Krishna, I read it again and again, as it was so charming and inspiring that every reading brought added pleasure. So when the author telephoned to say that she would be publishing The Complete Life of Rama and asked that I write a foreword for the same, I was filled with joy that I would be able to go through the manuscript in the near future.

I am supremely happy that Devi Vanamali was inspired to write The Complete Life of Rama. It is different from The Complete Life of Krishna in that anyone who reads this wonderful book cannot but be moved to tears. Though the book deals with the life of an avatara, who played the part of a perfect person upholding dharma at any cost, the trials and tribulations Rama had to pass through during his sojourn on this Earthexcept for a few years of his childhood and wedded lifewere severe and heartbreaking.

As the author mentions, the Ramayana is a love story. Sri Rama loved Sita Devi dearly. He also had great love for his father, mothers, brothers, and subjects, but his love for dharma surpassed everything. He sacrificed everything, including his wife, father, and brother, to uphold dharma. Such incidents, which are many in the Ramayana, depict the characters concerned in striking color, leaving a deep impression on our minds and stirring our emotions so intensely that its as if the entire scene is being enacted before us. We feel we are moving with Sri Rama right from Ayodhya to all the places in which the original scenes were enacted.

Many readers of the Ramayana are perplexed when they encounter some of the controversial issues, such as why Sri Rama abandoned his wife, Sita Devi, whom he loved most. Before leaving Ayodhya for the forest, he folded his agitated wife in his arms, kissing her tears away, saying, Not knowing the strength of your purpose, O Janaki, I tried to deter you, not because I wanted to leave you but only because it was my duty to point out to you the dangers of forest life. You know that I cannot bear to cause distress to you, my lovely princess. O beloved Sita, even heaven has no charms for me without your bewitching presence. I, too, would love to sport with you in the woods and glades of the forest and on the mountain tops, so make haste to give away all your jewels and costly clothes and prepare yourself for a sojourn in the forest with me.

The same Rama in later years asked his brother, Lakshmana, to take Sita Devi, then pregnant, to the forest and leave her there alone. What a sacrifice! And for what purpose? Only to uphold dharma. Then the killing of Vali, and so on, are all controversial points for those who give the epic only academic value, whereas any devotees who love Sri Rama as the avatara purusha will try to accept whatever the Lord has done as perfectly correct, and no question bothers their minds. They know that our puny intellect cannot understand the ways of the Lord and, therefore, the best thing is to accept them, as he knows best. The author, however, has taken pains to beautifully explain such controversial subjects. Whatever Sri Rama did was to uphold dharma and, therefore, for the good of humanity.

The beauty of this book is that it is written by one who has great love and devotion for Sri Rama. The subtle chords it touches in the readers heart will engender ecstasy. The more we read it, the more devotion we develop.

Those who have read Sri Krishna Lila will surely be eager to possess this book. Thus may it reach every house so that by reading it and listening to it, and chanting Sri Ramas glorious name, pure love and devotion may overflow from the hearts of all to charge the atmosphere in the house with the fragrance of Sri Ramas eternal presence, and cause all to live a life of righteousness.

Aum Sri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram!

SRI SWAMI SATCHIDANANDAJI MAHARAJ (19192008), born Anantasivan, was a devoted student of Swami Ramdas (Beloved Papa). He began living at Swami Ramdass ashram, Anandashram, in 1949 where he received the title Satchidananda from the Beloved Papa. He lived his life in devotion to his gurus, Swami Ramdas and Pujya Mataji (Beloved Papas nearest devotee and mother to the ashram community). Swami Satchidanandaji recorded the day-to-day life of his masters in The Gospel of Ramdas. In 1989 he inherited the running of the Anandashram from Mataji, which he carried out with love, compassion, and devotion.

Foreword

His Holiness Sri Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj

The Ramayana of the sage Valmiki is a literary masterpiece in the Sanskrit language; it excels in beauty, style, and diction. Both the Ramayana and the Gayatri Mantra begin with the word tat, and it is believed that the twenty-four seed letters of the Gayatri Mantra are hidden within the Ramayanathe first word of every thousand verses starts, in consecutive sequence, with a word of the Gayatri. The holy Ramayana is believed to be the Veda itself: Vedah prachethiasath aseed sakshath Ramayanatmana. Spiritual seekers read it as protection against all the problems of life, believing it acts as a shield. Some make a regular practice of reading the fifth book of the Ramayana, Sundara Kanda, in order to absorb the strength and prowess of Hanuman. No one can fully plumb the depths of meaning in Valmikis Ramayana.

Usually the reading of the Mahabharata is done in the morning, the Ramayana in the afternoon, and the Sreemad Bhagavatam in the evening. The Sanskrit verse that describes this is as follows: Good people engage in playing dice in the morning (meaning they read the Mahabharata), talking about women at noon (referring to Sita, wife of Rama, in the Ramayana), and at night, in thievery (meaning the