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Lessons for everyday living from Sundarakanda/Billerica
Lessons for everyday living from Sundarakanda.... Presented by Tenneti C. Rao Garu.... Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering..... University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854..... Sundarakanda is the fifth kanda of Ramayana and is the only one not to be named according to the events taking place in that chapter, by Sage Valmiki.... Succinctly, the story is about Hanuman crossing the ocean to Lanka to find the whereabouts of Sita and inform back the same thing to his king Sugriva..... Sundara in Sanskrit means two things: beautiful and also someone who brings immense joy to others. This kanda is known for beauty of words (sabda sundarata), beauty of the similes and metaphors (ardha sundarata) and beauty of feelings (rasa sundarata). The main character here is Hanuman and he brings so much joy to imprisoned and grieving Sita by conveying the message from Rama. Some other ardent devotees consider Hanuman as the acharya or teacher who helps to unite the jivatma in the form of Sita and the Paramatma in the form of Rama..... It is believed that the reading the entire kanda is as much beneficial as the reading of the entire Ramayana and hence Sundarakanda Parayana is very much prevalent in the whole country of India..... We certainly notice the glimpses of the greatness of the important and main characters of the whole epic by reading this kanda....... There is another aspect of Sundarakanda which deals with the problems faced by every individual in his day-to-day life....... Several messages and instructions about dharma principles are intertwined with the main story...... When Hanuman was not able to find Sita after several attempts, the despair and dejection he goes through, the series of emotions passing through his mind and his soliloquies are no different than our own disappointments, failures to achieve the goals and the trials and tribulations we undergo every day. His words of wisdom (anirvedas sriyomoolam anirvedah param sukham- the biggest wealth is not grieving and being happy is the greatest wealth) are a source of inspiration even to this day...... After setting the whole city of Lanka on fire, he regrets for his impulsive action thinking that probably Sita also could have perished in the fire..... He says dhanyaste purusha shreshtaa ye buddhyaa kopamutthitam, nirundhanti mahaatmano deeptam agnimivaambhasaa. The meaning is Blessed are those people indeed who can subdue their rising anger by wisdom in the same way as water puts down a rising fire..... From a higher point of view of liberation, other people also discussed the relative roles of free will and destiny, sense of doer-ship, performance of ego-free actions and absolute surrender to the Lord..... Ample illustrations will be brought forth in the discussion.
Date: 12/24/2011
Location: Shri Shirdi Sai Center of Spiritual Excellence 267 Boston Road, Suite 9, Billerica, MA 01862
Time: 6 PM to 7 PM
Cost: There is no registration required and session is open to all.
Contact: 978-276-9724
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