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!
