Thus Spake the Divine - Sri Rama Navami

Thus Spake the Divine

Sri Rama Navami

“nanmaiyum selvamum nalum nalgume,

thinmaiyum pavamum sidaindu theyume,

jenmamum maranamum inrith theerume,

immaiye irama venrirandu ezhuthinal”.

(Kamba Ramayanam; Sirappu Payiram 14)

The above verse states: “All wealth and prosperity accrue daily; All un-virtuous and sinful acts will dissipate; Cycle of birth and death will disappear; All these are the impact of just the two-lettered mantra “Ra Ma.”

Sri Rama Navami is the auspicious birthday of Lord Sri Ramachandra, the 7 th Avatara of Vishnu. On the day of Sri Rama Navami, all people including children should chant the verses of Ramayana composed by Kambar in Bala Kandam (Birth of Ram).

People who are above the age of 20 must take up whole-day fasting aiming at purification of the mind. On the day of Rama Navami, in each village, all people, including school children, should assemble in front of a temple or in a Bhajan hall and chant the name of Ram. After that, one of them should recite “Sri Ram, Jayaram, Jaya Jayaram (the 13-lettered mantra in Tamil), and others should repeat the same while going around the village. Then, they should return to the point from where they started and again do Bhajan for 10 more minutes and disperse.

The next day of the Rama Navami, they all should again assemble in the same location and sing the verses of Kamba Ramayana, which give the vivid description of Sri Ram’s swearing- in ceremony as the King (Pattabhishekam). Else, people, who know Sanskrit, can sing the verses of Valmiki Ramayana and distribute food to the poor. On this day, they must also do the Punar Pooja (re-performance of Pooja) for Ram.

The last verse on Pattabhishekam states that when the Golden Crown is placed on the head of Sri Ram, people in all the three worlds feel excited as though they have themselves been crowned! People should seek the blessings of Sri Ramachandra Murti on the day of Rama Navami and the next day’s Punar Pooja.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.