"Today, when I ask you to chant the Divine Name, you may go and hide;
Where can you go and hide when Yama, the God of Death is at your doorstep?"
Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
The way - Faith
Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
A Bhakta — Sir, is there no way out for such a worldly man?
Sri Ramakrishna — Certainly there is a way. Now and then one must seek the company of holy men and at times one should go to meditate upon God in solitude. And one should practise discrimination and pray to God: 'Grant me bhakti and faith.'
"Once you acquire faith, your work is done. There is nothing higher than faith.
(To Kedar) "You have heard of the power of faith! The Purana says that Ramachandra, the Perfect Brahman and Narayana, had to build a bridge to reach Lanka. But Hanuman by dint of his faith in the name of Rama jumped across the sea. He had no need for a bridge. (All laugh.)
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Meaning
Pallavi : O Lord Sri Rama, Why should we worry (when you are there)?
Anupallavi : O Prince of ayodhya! O Wish Tree of true devotees! O bestower Fortune!
Charanam : Holding in your hand the strings (of the puppets) of your grand drama, how harmoniously you make us - the puppets - dance without missing even a beat, to the appreciation of the whole universe! Aha! O Lord worshipped by this Tyagaraja and praised by Siva – Lord of Mountains!
Pallavi
mAkElarA vicAramu marug(a)nna
SrI rAmacandra
Anupallavi
sAkEta rAja kumAra
sad-bhakta mandAra SrI kara (mAkEla)
Charanam
jata gUrci nATaka sUtramunu
jagam(e)lla meccaga karamunan(i)Di
gati tappaka(y)ADincedavu sumI
nata tyAgarAja gir(I)Sa vinuta (mAkEla)
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Wish you all Happy Rama Navami !
Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji
If you question, "Is it enough if I do not try to assimilate Rama's qualities but just surrender to Him?" Well! The answer is simple. "Surrender to him. You will become one like Him. He will transform you!' Ramavatãra has been so great.
When we are in the presence of God or a Mahãtma we are seized with fear. Not merely out of respect or devotion. Being Jnãnis they possess 'aparoksha jnãna', 'aparoksha drishti'. When we are in His Presence ('sannidãna') the Mahãtma can very easily read our thoughts. The very thought of all our wrong deeds hurt us deeply. Their recollection makes us feel small. We cringe with the thought of, 'How can I be in His Presence having committed such sins.' We have no courage to face it. Gathering up courage when we do somehow manage to go to their Presence what do the Mahãns do? They pour their grace on us! They do not 'see' our faults ('dosha'). But even if they 'refuse' to see our 'dosha' it is only due to the greatness of their very Presence ('sannidhi visesha') that we are able to stand before them. But for this we would hesitate to go to them.
But the pronouncement ('theermãnam') of Ramavatãra is - "A man hesitates to go to the Presence of God due to his flaws. But this sort of a situation should not arise. When we go to either God's or a Mahãn's Presence, the God or the Mahãn should tremble on seeing us! They should be amazed at us, "What a Truthful man ('Satyasanda') he is! What a righteous ('dharmãtma') man he is!" God and the Guru should tremble on seeing us/our virtues! A man should hold himself in such a position as to create awe in God and the Guru. This is the essence of Ramayana.
Rama was one such 'Satyasanda' and 'dharmãtma'. Out of devotion for Rama and with the desire to become one like Him, if we read Ramayana, appreciating all His virtues and exert even a little effort towards this we will, without doubt, become a Mahãtma. On the other hand if we feel, "Rama's virtues are too great to be adhered to but I will surrender to Him", even this would suffice. Either try to possess His qualities or out of devotion surrender to Him.
If you question, "Is it enough if I do not try to assimilate Rama's qualities but just surrender to Him?" Well! The answer is simple. "Surrender to him. You will become one like Him. He will transform you!' Ramavatãra has been so great.
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
We all use mantras or words all day long -- repetitive, out loud, or silently -- phrases such as "It's hard," or "I'm tired." "I don't know what I'm doing," "It will never happen ... .. I'm stressed," "There's not enough time," or "There's not enough money." We don't even notice them becoming part of our reality by repetition. We act out on what we say, live on how we think. If our mantra is, "I am stressed," we will be stressed. Or if our mantra is, "It's never going to happen, " it's never going to happen.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was God. So powerful are our words to ourselves and to others and the power of positive thinking and expressions of positive thinking through words are very important.
The words in manthras are chosen not only for their meaning as words, but also for a scientific reason that goes far beyond pure definition. All mantras we use are based on the science of "Naadam" -- the secrets hidden in sound.
The roof of our mouth has eighty-four meridian points, all along the upper palate. Mantras were given to us as special gifts. Long ago, highly evolved Rishis went into deep meditation. They began reciting certain sounds that made the tongue hit these meridian points in the mouth in certain combinations.
It's kind of like playing the piano -- if certain notes are struck, a beautiful song is produced. With every word we speak, or in this case the mantras we recite, we hit certain "keys." If the right combination of keys is struck, then the hypothalamus, thalamus, and pituitary in the brain are all stimulated in such a way as to bring our minds into a meditative state, and even into ecstasy.
Which ever combination of letters gave the ancient seers this peaceful feeling or helped them heal their ailments, they passed it on to us. Every single manthram in the vedas are the results of their experience. Nothing is accidental.
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
In the Kaliyuga people became evil-minded gave up the practice of prescribed rituals. They lived by the wealth acquired in sinful laws. The scholars of the Vedas made the study and practice of the Vedas a business. The kings started abusing the Vedic scholars. The traders failed to respect the regulations prescribed for them. The unwise became kings. Learning became a way to make money. Household life was used for lustful pleasures. Saintly life was taken up for ostentation. The life of a forest-dweller was chosen for the sake of profiting by money-lending. Thus when the Primeval Dharma (Sanatana Dharma) – got shattered like this by the spread of evil propensities of Kali, all people became sinners and were bound to reach Naraka (the hell). The root of the existence of the universe is dharma. Lord Shri Narayana Himself is rooted in dharma. All happiness available on this earth and in the spiritual realm are based on dharma. Hence, dharma must be adhered to. Slipping away from the denoted path of righteousness, all people became sinners and turned into atheists completely forgetting the recitation of the glory of Lord Hari. The saints who had knowledge of the truth and were men of perception, prescribed singing of the glories of Lord Vasudeva in the various Shastras, as the only remedy for the maladies of Kali. Due to the evil tendencies of Kali even the scholars consider the recitation of the glory of the Divine Names as mere rhetoric and they lead an ostentatious life.
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi
Talk 413.
A visitor asked: While making nama-japa and after continuing it for an hour or more I fall into a state like sleep. On waking up, I recollect that my japa has been interrupted. So I proceed again.
BHAGAWAN RAMANA MAHARISHI.: "Like sleep." That is right. It is the natural state. Because you are now associated with the ego you consider the natural state to be something which interrupts your work. You must repeat the experience until you realise that it is your natural state. You will then find that japa, etc., is extraneous. Still, it will be going on automatically. Your present doubt is due to the false identity. Japa means clinging to one thought to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That is the purpose of japa; it leads to dhyana which ends in Self-Realisation.
Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
