Valmiki Ramayan Ke Ram

Episode 23 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla begins with Bharat declaring his innocence. He states in clear terms that he has no intentions to take the kingdom of Ayodhya. He declares that his mother has acted on her own and he does not wish to benefit from her wrongdoing. He curses everyone with whose efforts and desire Ram has gone to forest. The curses are a long list of...

Episode 22 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with a discussion about how Ram should be addressed – whether as Ram or Shri Ram. Getting back to the developments at Ayodhya, after the death of Maharaj Dashrath, Guru Vasishth orders fast-paced horsemen to go to Bharat who at his maternal grandfather’s place. Bharat comes back to Ayodhya and is shocked by all that has hap...

Episode 21 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla describes the events of the night when Maharaj Dashrath breathed his last. Kausalya is immersed in sorrow and is very harsh on him, blaming him for the departure of Ram, Laxman and Sita. Maharaj Dashrath begs her with folded hands to not hurt him anymore. Kausalya accepts her mistake and begs pardon. Maharaj is pleased and goes to...

Episode 20 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla begins at the point when Ram had left for the forest. Maharaj Dashrath returns to the palace, but not of Kaikeyee, of Kausalya. The trauma of the past twenty four hours has made him lose his eyesight. He is in extreme sorrow. Kausalya is also extremely sad. Sumitra, Laxman’s mother, consoles Kausalya. Sumantra, the charioteer of M...

Episode 19 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla describes the departure of Ram from Ayodhya. Maharaj Dashrath is extremely disturbed that his daughter-in-law is standing like a poor beggar woman. He orders for good clothes and ornaments to be brought for Sita. Though the ornaments that are brought are not the types that Sita would have liked, she puts them on. Kausalya loves it...

Episode 18 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla continues with the meeting where Maharaj Dashrath publicly meets Ram, Laxman and Sita. After the harsh words of Sumantr, Maharaj instructs Sumantr to order the army to move with Ram. He also orders for all women who earn livelihood by dancing and pleasing others to move. Further, he orders all traders, prominent men and women as w...

Episode 17 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with describing the way Ram and Sita distributed their complete wealth and belongings including furniture, ornaments, clothing and household goods to learned men and the assistants / servants who had been serving Ram. Sita, Ram and Lakshman went to meet Maharaj Dashrath and take his final order and blessings for going to fo...

Episode 16 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla relates to a dialogue between a loving husband and wife. When Ram informed Sita about his decision to go to forest, he also advised Sita to remain in Ayodhya and do her duties to her father-in-law and her mothers-in-law. Sita strongly objected to Ram’s advice to her to remain in Ayodhya while he went to the forest. She insisted on...

Episode 15 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla describes the sensitive manner in which Ram handled Laxman’s anger about Ram’s decision to go to forest. Laxman was furious and extremely sad at the same time. He felt that Maharaj Dashrath and Kaikeyee had played dirty on Ram. Laxman felt that they had cooked up a story to only deprive Ram of his rightful due. Laxman wanted to ta...

Episode 14 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with describing Queen Kaushalya’s personality and psychology. Ram comes to Kaushalya and informs about his decision of going to forest. Kaushalya is shocked. She begins with strong expression of sorrow and recounts how she has been unfortunate all along. Ram tries to solace her. She orders Ram to not go to forest. She tells...

Episode 13 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with describing the enthusiasm in Ayodhya regarding coronation of Ram. The city was crowded with large number of kings and visitors who had come to attend the coronation ceremony. Ram receives the message from Maharaj Dashrath and Kaikeyee calling him. He is surprised, but goes anyway. As he moves out of his palace to go to...

Episode 12 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with a moral question about how actions should be judged. Manthra and Kaikeyee, both, thought that they were doing their dharm as employee and mother. However, in reality both of them were acting against dharm. Manthra tutors the Queen about strategy to demand coronation of Bharat. Kaikeyee follows the strategy, throws up a...

Episode 11 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla deals with the developments after it is decided that Ram should be appointed as the Crown Prince. Maharaj Dashrath gives instructions for the preparations so that the ceremony can take place the next day morning. Ram is called to the gathering of learned men and kings. Maharaj Dashrath preaches to Ram about four points that he sho...

Episode 10 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla deals with the process which was adopted to approve the proposal for appointing Ram as the Crown Prince. Maharaj Dashrath thinks of the qualities of Ram and how Ram is more popular and is also better than him in all aspects. Maharaj Dashrath first consults his own cabinet of ministers and after getting their approval calls for a m...

Episode 8 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with discussing anger. Ram was said to have conquered anger. Ram’s anger was always purposeful and fruitful. Ram exercised restraint when needed. There were times when he renunciated and there were times when he collected. Ram understood the central element of dharm, arth and kaam. Anil Chawla explains the trivarg of dharm,...

Episode 9 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla starts with discussing moksh. Valmiki Ramayan as well as Rig Veda are silent about moksh. Yogita asks about the qualities of Ram which made him well-qualified for becoming a king. Ram was never lazy. He was never intoxicated. He was never boastful, never jealous. He understood the circumstances of time and local country. He was an...

Episode 7 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla is the start of Ayodhya Kand. Ram and Sita reached Ayodhya. Everyone in Ayodhya was all praise for Ram. This episode first describes three qualities of Ram that all of us can emulate. Ram was known to win hearts with his art of conversations. Key qualities that made Ram so good as a conversationalist are described. (Ref. Chapter 1,...

Episode 6 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla narrates the story of how Rishi Parshuram came and challenged Ram to a war. Ram faced Parshuram with poise and confidence. Parshuram challenged Ram to take the bow of Vishnu. Ram took the bow from the hands of Parshuram. Ram harmed Parshuram but spared Parshuram’s life. At the end, Ram worshipped Parshuram and Parshuram worshipped...

Episode 5 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla narrates the story of the marriage of Ram and Sita. It also discusses the concepts of swayamvar (girl selects her bridegroom from the assembled boys) and viryashulka (boy has to demonstrate capabilities to get the girl’s hand in marriage). (Ref. Chapters 66-73, Baal Kand, Shreemad Valmikiy Ramayan)  *****  Website - http://samarthb...

Episode 4 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla describes the story of Rishi Gautam and his wife, Ahilya. King of devtas, Indr, approached Ahilya and expresses his intention to make love to her. Indr is dressed as a muni. But that does not fool Ahilya. She recognises Indr. She is flattered by Indr’s interest in her. She consents to make love to Indr. The two indulge in sexual in...

Episode 3 of the conversations between Yogita Pant and Anil Chawla begins with a question about status of women at time of war. In modern wars, millions of women are killed or raped either during the war or after the war. During the war, both sides bomb civilian populations on the other side killing women and children. After the war, the victor army routinely kills and rapes women on the defeated...

Episode 2 of the conversations related to Ram begins with Yogita Pant asking about the friendship between Guh, who apparently belonged to a lower caste, and Ram. Anil Chawla replies that Ram never thought in terms of caste. Ram actually got up from his seat, walked up to receive and welcome Guh. Ram accorded full affection and respect to Guh. The tendency to view people from a caste orientation is...

Valmikiy Ramayan is the original epic which narrates the story of Ram. It is a detailed work which describes Ram as a human being who faced all the difficulties of life. Ram of Valmikiy Ramayan faces dilemmas, discusses with his family and friends, accepts guidance from learned men and suffers hardships. He always takes the right decisions and follows the path of dharm. This series of conversation...