Ramayana on TV on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanthi

 

Ramayana on TV on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanthi

The first story was by Sri Velukkudi Krishnan in Sriramanin Arulamudham in Podhigai TV.

This series on Ramayana has just begun after the completion of Bhagavatham and is in introduction stages. Sri Velukkudi Krishnan explained today how we have to proceed from Krishna to Rama with the help of Hanuman, who was present in the times of both the Avatars.

He began with the mention of a Hanuman sannidhi next to the sannidhi of Parthasarathy in the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum. (I have not had the opportunity to visit this temple so far).

During his extensive travel, Arjuna reached the southernmost part of the country. When he saw the ocean, he wondered why Rama strived to make a bridge with stones and not just with his arrows across the ocean to reach Lanka. There was a small monkey around and the monkey said it was not practical to make a bridge with arrows as it would not have taken the weight of the vanara sainyam (monkey army). Arjuna did not accept this and said he will make a bridge with his arrows. He made a bridge in a jiffy and the lone monkey tried to walk across and the bridge gave away. He tried not once but thrice and the same thing happened. Krishna could not see his dear friend Arjuna failing and came there in the form a young boy. The boy asked Arjuna to try building a bridge again and this time when the monkey walked, the bridge was intact. Both Arjuna and the monkey looked at the boy and Arjuna said “Hey Krishna” and the monkey, which was actually Hanuman said “Hey Rama”. God showed himself as both Rama and Krishna to his respective devotees.

Here is the link to the above programme

The next story is part of Vijay TV Bhakthi Thiruvizha - “Vibeeshana Saranagathi” by Sri Thamal Ramakrishnan. Today was the last part of this discourse.

Vibeeshana has just reached Rama’s camp and requests the vanaras to recommend his case to Rama. He tries to convince them by narrating different stories. One such story was very cute and I would like to share here.

Chased by a tiger, a man climbs a tree in the forest. He thinks he can sit on the tree till the tiger goes away. By the time he settles down, he sees an old monkey atop the tree. The monkey bares its teeth and the man is frightened. He straightaway takes hold of the monkey’s feet and requests the monkey to save him. Since he said saranagathi, the monkey ensures that the man is saved and takes care of him over the next few hours by plucking fruits from the tree for the man when he is hungry and even allowing him to sleep on its lap when he is tired. The tiger from below the tree suggests that the monkey pushes the man when he is fast asleep. The monkey does not accept this. By afternoon, the man wakes up and the monkey asks the man if it can sleep on his lap as the monkey is very tired now. As soon as the monkey goes to sleep, the tiger tells the man that all it needs is meat whether it is human or monkey, so push the monkey down. The ungrateful human tries to push the monkey down. Waking up, monkey catches hold of the lower branch and climbs up again. The shameless man again catches hold of the monkey’s feet and the benevolent monkey still promises to save him. Vibheeshana narrates the above story to the vanaras highlighting the greatness of monkeys over man and beseeches with them to take his saranagathi message to Rama!

Here is the you tube link

I heard that Hanumath Jayanthi is being celebrated in some parts of India today, hence the title!