Does Rama need the prefix “Bhagavan”?

Beings who like Rama are free to use the term Bhagavan as a prefix to his name if they wish to. In fact, they can alternatively choose any other word from a big list of similar words, including Paramatma, Para Brahman, Parameshwara, Para Shakti, and Purushottama. Yet the truth is that Sita-Rama, unlike many other forms of the Divine, does not need any of these titles. Such terms can not be combined to create the beautiful sound of Ramanama, but these terms simply remain eternally seated around Rama’s name as adjectives [1, 2].

Though Rama is extremely calm, his leela speaks out for itself. During Sita Devi’s swayamvara, right after Rama broke Shiva’s bow, an incarnation of Vishnu had begged Rama for his own karmic purification. Because this incarnation, who accepted Rama’s grace, can also be addressed to as “a form of the Divine” by jivas, the incident highlights the extensive difference between Sita-Rama and other divine beings. Besides, in today’s world, more and more mortals have started claiming themselves to be Bhagavan or Brahman. This gives another reason to why these words no longer eulogize Rama as they could.

Happy birthday to Rama, who is beyond thought!

[1] The same also holds for Bhavani-Shiva, whose name is independently blissful and beyond such theoretical adjectives.
[2] Also read an earlier post on why Goswami Tulsidasa feels that we can never praise Rama enough.

Devi Parvati’s dedication for Shiva

Though Bhagavan Shiva is extremely benevolent towards all, it was not easy for Devi Parvati to please him and have him accept her marriage proposal. After obtaining the panchakshara mantra [1] from Devarishi Narada, the Mother Goddess started her tapasya for Shiva in a forest of the Gangotri region. Meditating full time, she ate only fruits from the surrounding trees in the first year and accepted only leaves in the second year. A few years later, she even renounced leaves. Due to her austerity, this forest became an equal of Kailasa [2], as the Shiva Purana tells us, where all jivas had turned spiritual. The fauna, blessed by her presence and surprised by her brilliance, developed friendliness towards each other, and new species of flowers and beautiful plants appeared near her ashram.

After thousands of years passed, the glow released from her dedicated tapasya began to create distress for the gods and the world. The gods took the shelter of Lords Brahma and Vishnu so that Shiva could be convinced. Shiva, out of his grace on all souls, got ready for marriage but designed a couple of tests for Parvati before accepting the proposal. First, the saptarishis [3] were sent by Shiva to test her bhakti. In the second test, Shiva disguised himself as a Brahmin and tried to discourage her from thinking about him. But Parvati’s determination for Shiva was unyielding; she aspired for nothing but Shiva. As a result, we all get to celebrate the Shivaratri.

Happy Mahashivaratri!

[1] the five-lettered mantra for Shiva
[2] the abode of Shiva
[3] the seven sages

Reading the Bhatkhande notation

What we have below is a popular composition of Raga Asavari, written in the contemporary notation system used by learners of classical music. The full bandish can be found in many books, including the Kramik Pustak Malika; only the sthayi has been retyped in English with a slightly modified presentation.

The musical notes appear in the top row and the lyrics are below the notes. Just by looking at the notation, we can get a count of the number of beats in the rhythmic cycle used. The taal here is teentaal. This can be confirmed from the presence of 16 beats per row (please count this again) with four divisions (vibhag) per row, where each division has four beats.

In books, compositions generally start from any of the four divisions. Though not a big deal, I like to move the text around so that the sam appears in the first column. This makes it much easier for new students. The symbol for sam in the Bhatkhande notation is an “X”, “2” stands for the second division, “O” stands for khali, and “3” stands for the third division. The large “S” in the lyrics is an avagraha, and the dash (–) in the notes is a rest. While higher octave notes have a dot above them, lower octave notes have a dot below them and komal swaras are underlined in this notation system. Grace notes (kana swara) are placed above the primary notes.

The uniqueness of the Bhatkhande notation system is that a single beat is grouped together using a curved bracket. This makes the system different from Western notation and the Paluskar system of notation. If PaDha is a single beat, we can automatically infer that both Pa and Dha would each last for half a beat. Recognizing this Math is not mandatory for students as long as they distribute the time interval between the two swaras of the beat equally. If there is no bracket, the note has an interval of one beat.

If you have questions or something needs clarification, please use the comments section.

Is your Ramayana authentic?

Whatever we read forms a karmic impression in our mind. If we are devotionally a beginner, say someone with partially-developed faith in Sita-Rama, and start reading the wrong Ramayana, just because its author has been gifted with literary talent, his or her persuasive writing and inappropriate content can spiritually disconnect us, at least temporarily.

How does the Ramayana become genuine? If the author, like Goswami Tulasidasa, has taken Hanuman’s permission to write and has had a darshan of Rama, his or her writing would indeed be genuine. But for professional writers, trust in Sita-Rama as the Divine may be a good starting point to put together a manuscript that is devotional and does not disable the reader’s spiritual connection.

As we have already seen in an earlier post, if we do not want to believe that Rama is Godhead, reading literature will not change our viewpoint. In your own neighborhood, you may have heard well-educated literary experts saying, “The divinity of Rama was invented by Tulasidasa in the Ramacharitamanasa.” Experts making such opinionated comments never look at the other authentic Ramayanas — the Valmiki Ramayana, the Adhyatma Ramayana, or the Kamba Ramayana. They also miss that Rama is seated as the Supreme Being in the Mahabharata, all the Puranas, and the teachings of almost all other bhakti saints.

Non-violence: Ahimsa

Hinduism offers a very comprehensive support to non-violence (ahimsa) — its outlook is practicable and up-to-date. To give an example, a Hindu might suggest, “An old lady verbally abusing her daughter-in-law is violence, but an army officer annihilating a terrorist is non-violence.”

In Hinduism, ahimsa is not a theoretical concept where killing any living being is bad karma but involves a fine balance between karma and dharma (what was done vs. what the universe expected from us). At the same time, because karma includes what we say or think, hurting an innocent being’s feelings by our words counts as violent karma.

Would you agree with the example above (in bold)? If not, please tell us why?