During the Mahabharata war, Lord Krishna showed his vishwaroopa (superhuman appearance) in the battlefield of Kurukshetra and preached the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna to convince him to fight the battle. This, I think, is known to majority of the Indians or, at least, to most of the Hindus.
Have you heard of the vishwaroopa of Lord Sri Ram? Purandara dasa, a great devotee of Vishnu and composer of Carnatic music (from Karnataka state, India), talks about the vishwaroopa of Lord Sri Ram in one of his songs. According to the song, Lord Rama showed his vishwaroopa on the battlefield, during the Ram–Ravan war at Lanka.
In the epic Ramayana, when Lord Sri Ram’s wife Sri Sita was abducted by Ravana in the forest, he took monkey-king Sugreeva’s help to rescue Sri Sita. Sugreeva being a monkey-king, his army comprised of monkeys and bears and Ravana’s army was comprised of raakshasas.
Poet-saint Purandara Dasa mentions in a song that when Ravana entered the battlefield and started fighting, the monkeys and bears saw his amazing power and started running away from the battlefield. Understanding their panic, Lord Sri Ram decided that he should not remain a human anymore. He displayed his divinity (superhuman nature) by becoming every being in the battlefield. As a result, every raakshasa on Ravana’s side saw the raakshasa in front of him as Lord Sri Ram and he being their enemy the raakshasas started killing each other.
What happened on the other side of the battlefield? Sugreeva’s army comprising monkeys and bears also saw Lord Sri Ram. Each monkey and bear saw the monkey or bear in front of him as Lord Sri Ram. For them it was a sight to behold, the man of their dreams standing in front of them. Overwhelmed with joy, the monkeys and bears hugged each other and started dancing. So, at the end, everyone in the battlefield saw in front of him Lord Sri Ram only.
Although it was the same Lord Sri Ram who appeared in every being on the battlefield, the raakshasas wanted to kill him as they considered him as their enemy, whereas the monkeys and bears wanted to embrace him as he was their friend. What a beautiful thought Purandara dasa, the composer of the song, had? The song goes like this:
“When you see there, it is Rama
When you see here, it is Rama
Wherever you see, only Rama is present (in the battlefield)…”
Even if God appears in front of a person, he will appear like a demon if that person has devilish tendencies. On the other hand, to those who are good, everyone will appear as divine and they would look upon every being as their own.
How nice it will be if we can visualize what Purandara dasa was able to see…
R. Padma
Have you heard of the vishwaroopa of Lord Sri Ram? Purandara dasa, a great devotee of Vishnu and composer of Carnatic music (from Karnataka state, India), talks about the vishwaroopa of Lord Sri Ram in one of his songs. According to the song, Lord Rama showed his vishwaroopa on the battlefield, during the Ram–Ravan war at Lanka.
In the epic Ramayana, when Lord Sri Ram’s wife Sri Sita was abducted by Ravana in the forest, he took monkey-king Sugreeva’s help to rescue Sri Sita. Sugreeva being a monkey-king, his army comprised of monkeys and bears and Ravana’s army was comprised of raakshasas.
Poet-saint Purandara Dasa mentions in a song that when Ravana entered the battlefield and started fighting, the monkeys and bears saw his amazing power and started running away from the battlefield. Understanding their panic, Lord Sri Ram decided that he should not remain a human anymore. He displayed his divinity (superhuman nature) by becoming every being in the battlefield. As a result, every raakshasa on Ravana’s side saw the raakshasa in front of him as Lord Sri Ram and he being their enemy the raakshasas started killing each other.
What happened on the other side of the battlefield? Sugreeva’s army comprising monkeys and bears also saw Lord Sri Ram. Each monkey and bear saw the monkey or bear in front of him as Lord Sri Ram. For them it was a sight to behold, the man of their dreams standing in front of them. Overwhelmed with joy, the monkeys and bears hugged each other and started dancing. So, at the end, everyone in the battlefield saw in front of him Lord Sri Ram only.
Although it was the same Lord Sri Ram who appeared in every being on the battlefield, the raakshasas wanted to kill him as they considered him as their enemy, whereas the monkeys and bears wanted to embrace him as he was their friend. What a beautiful thought Purandara dasa, the composer of the song, had? The song goes like this:
“When you see there, it is Rama
When you see here, it is Rama
Wherever you see, only Rama is present (in the battlefield)…”
Even if God appears in front of a person, he will appear like a demon if that person has devilish tendencies. On the other hand, to those who are good, everyone will appear as divine and they would look upon every being as their own.
How nice it will be if we can visualize what Purandara dasa was able to see…
R. Padma
Amazing! It is not easy for us to practice this but the day we learn to, I am sure it will make our life better. I have been putting efforts to do this for a long time.
ReplyDelete