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Ramayanam which was authored by the great Hindu poet 'Kamban' is not a history or biography. It is only a Hindu mythology. One cannot understand Hindu Dharma unless one knowns Rama, Sita, Bharata, Laskhmana, Ravana, Kumbakarna and Hanuman.

Mythology is an integral part of religion. It is as necessary for religion and national culture as the skin and skeleton that preserve a fruit with its juice and its taste. Mythology and holy figures are necessary for any great culture to rest on its stable spiritual foundation and function as a life giving inspiration and guide.

Traditions of the Ramayana

Professor S Pathmanathan in his article on Sri Lanka and Ramayana refers that the traditions of the Ramayana form an integral part of the shared cultural heritage of India and Sri Lanka.

He says that no other religious poetic work has influenced the thought, life and culture of the people in the ancient work as the Ramayana. The characters of Ramayana became the repositors of valour, virtue, spiritual insight and compassion. They exemplify the pursuit in establishing a moral order in an imperfect world.

Annual Kamban Vizha

In fact, the Colombo Kamban Kalagam has made elaborate arrangements to conduct its annual Kamban Vizha for four days at Wellawatte, Ramakrishna Mission, Colombo 6, commencing from April 21 to April 24, 2011, presided by the Kamban Kalagam President T Eeswaran.

The former President of Kamban Kalagam and retired judge of the Supreme Court C V Wigneswaran will deliver the keynote address.

Indeed, there will be several programmes including religious speeches, debates, kavi arangam, and felicitation ceremony for those who have tremendously contributed for the development, promotion and propagation of Hindu religion, Tamil language and literature, epics like Ramayana, Mahabharatha and art and culture.

Furthermore, great religious personalities and Tamil scholars from Sri Lanka and India will participate in large numbers for this Kamban Vizha.

Kamban Kalagam which was established by the great religious and Tamil scholar Kambavaruthy E Jeyaraj in 1980 in Jaffna has already completed treasured 30 years and has rendered immense service for the Tamil speaking people, particularly younger generation who have not read or heard about these epics like Ramayana and Maha Bharatha which teach Dharma to lead a useful and purposeful life and to maintain tranquility, equanimity, serenity, placidity, peace and harmony in our life.

In fact Kambavaruthy Jeyaraj is a great religious and Tamil scholar of international repute and an accepted and acknowledge authority in Ramayana, Mahabaratham and Thirukural. Further, he is the most sought after speaker in Sri Lanka and abroad. He is a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional personality with a vision, mission and foresight and maintains humility and high degree of discipline inspite of his heavy work.

Dedication and devotion

He is a dynamic organizer who gets the support and cooperation from youths who always come forward to help him spontaneously to conduct this annual Kamban Vizha to the greater satisfaction of everyone.

During the Kamban Vizha the youths participate in large numbers and take every possible step for the success of this great religions and literary festival in which people from all parts of Sri Lanka participate in great numbers.

In fact, Kambavaruthy's dedication, devotion and commitment have been immensely commended by not only great religious and literary personalities, but even by eminent Supreme Court judges, educationists, professors, Vice-Chancellors, great Tamil scholars, Members of Parliament and even Ministers.

Even, he has been conferred with several titles and awards for his contribution in the literary and religious world. Further, his religious discourses are of high standard and keeps the audience spellbound.

Kambavaruthy Jeyaraj has established a temple namely Iswariya Lucksmi in front of the Kamban Kalagam building at Ramakrishna Garden at Wellawatte, Colombo 6.

It was the land of two principal characters namely Ravana and Vibushana. Although brothers, they were men of opposite ways. Ravana swayed from the path of Dharma while his brother Vibhushana was steadfast in his adherence to the principles of Dharma.

Referring to Sri Hanuman, poet Kamban says that he represented the most cultured youth of his time and also expressed maturity, intelligence, alertness, calmness, smartness, nobility, courtesy - all bundled together.

Further, Sri Hanuman is the embodiment of dedication and enthusiasm. He created confidence in Sita's mind by telling that he is the messenger of Rama. When he gave the ring with Rama's name engraved on it, she gazed at it and was greatly delighted.

Sri Hanuman

Her beautiful face brightened with joy just like the moon emerged from the eclipse and she welcoming Hanuman with affection and cheerfully said, "You are undoubtedly clever, bold and heroic."

Further, Sri Hanuman never took credit for anything he achieved. In fact, he even went to the extent of praising Sita. Undoubtedly virtues are the ornaments of a cultured person. Sri Hanuman exemplified all the good virtues and ever remained as the servant of Sri Rama.

In regard to Sita, she may appear a helpless, weak, grief stricken person, but in truth she is an embodiment and personification of strength.

Undoubtedly to a world lost in error and beset by perplexities, forces of darkness, conflicts and contradictions, trials and tribulations Kamba Ramayanam will redeem millions of people from violence, hatred, jealousy and envy and definitely lead them to the path of Dharma.

What do Hindu idols symbolize?

The Vedic deities symbolize the forces in nature as well as inside human beings. While discussing the symbolic significance of Vedic deities in his The Secret of the Vedas, Rishi Aurobindo says that the gods, goddesses and demons mentioned in the Vedas represent various cosmic powers, on one hand and man's virtues and vices on the other.

Why worship idol?

Idol worship and rituals are at the heart of Hinduism have great religious and philosophical significance. All Hindu deities are themselves symbols of the abstract Absolute, and point to a particular aspect of the Brahman. The Hindu Trinity is represented by three Godheads: Brahma - the creator, Vishnu - the protector and Shiva - the destroyer.

Why worship different deities?

Unlike the followers of any other religion, Hindus enjoy the freedom of worshipping their personally chosen icon to offer their prayers to the indefinable Brahman. Each deity in Hinduism controls a particular energy. These energies, present in man as wild forces must be controlled and canalized fruitfully to infuse a divine consciousness in him. For this, man has to gain the goodwill of different gods who stir up his consciousness accordingly to help him master the different forces of nature. In a person's path of spiritual progress, he or she needs to develop the various attributes of these godheads in him or her to attain all-round spiritual perfection.

Symbolism of Gods and Goddesses

Each Hindu God and Goddess has many characteristics, like dress, 'vehicle', weapons, etc., that are themselves symbols of the deity's power. Brahma holds the Vedas in his hands, which signifies that he has the supreme command over creative and religious knowledge. Vishnu holds a conch which stands for the five elements and eternity; a discus, which is the symbol of the mind; a bow that symbolizes power and a lotus which is the symbol of the cosmos.

Shiva's trident represents the three gunas. Similarly Krishna's flute symbolizes divine music. Many deities can be recognized by the symbols associated with them. Shiva is often symbolized by the 'linga' or 'tripundra' - the three horizontal lines on his forehead. In the same way Krishna can be identified by the peacock feather he wears in his head and also by the prong-like mark on his forehead.

Vehicles of the Gods

These vehicle, which are either animals or birds, represent the various forces that he or she rides. Goddess Saraswati's vehicle, the graceful and beautiful peacock denotes that she is the controller of the pursuit of performing arts.

Vishnu sits on the primal serpent, which represents the desire of consciousness in humankind. Shiva rides the Nandi bull, which stands for the brute and blind power, as well as the unbridled sexual energy in man - the qualities only he can help us control.

In search of the Supreme Being

Every human being is discontented. We all feel that something is missing. We want more. No matter how much we possess, it is never enough. We are afraid to die. We want to live longer, be healthier, look younger and accumulate more wealth. We want to increase our knowledge and awareness. We want to experience more joy and happiness. All these lead to unbearable restlessness. Ultimately we're driven towards finding the ultimate reality. We search for spiritual succor, and we become conscious about the existence of God - a Supreme Being, who we call "Brahman."

What is Brahman?

According to the Vedantas, (the end of the Vedas) Brahman is the 'impersonal' God, the Universal Soul, the Supreme Being, and the Absolute Truth. The philosophy of "Advaita Vedanta" (Advaita means monism or non-dualism) - based on the interpretation of the Vedantas by Adi Shankaracharya, who explained the theory of oneness of all creation - sums up the idea of "Brahman" in three short statements:

The Nature of Brahman: This means that there is only one supreme reality, a reality called Brahman, the Supreme Being. Brahman is infinite and omnipresent, therefore nothing can be added to it and furthermore, there cannot be a place where he is not. Therefore, Brahman being non-dual in nature, there is no place for the world or man or any creature outside Brahman. It transcends all pairs of opposites and descriptions.

The reality of the world is then relative as opposed to the absolute nature of Brahman. In that sense, and in comparison with Brahman, the world is unreal. By unreal, it is meant illusory, very much like a dream, which has its own subjective reality, but which is illusory compared with the waking state.

The last of the three statements asserts that the true nature of each individual is Brahman.

Because of "avidya", i.e., our original and inherent spiritual ignorance, we have forgotten our true identity and mistakenly believe that we are little, limited individuals.

Describing Brahman: Although Brahman is beyond description, the "rishis" (seers or sages) of yore declared, based on their personal experience, that it can best be described as sat-chit-ananda.Sat means existence pure and absolute.Chit means knowledge, or consciousness, pure and absolute.Ananda means bliss, pure and absolute.

Our true nature is pure existence, knowledge and bliss. We have this knowledge deep within us and therefore we cannot settle for being mortal or experience any type of limitation to our existence, we have an infinite thirst for knowledge and constant yearning to experience joy.

Perceiving God: A man, let us call him Bob, walks at night on a dark path. All of a sudden, a snake bites him on the leg. The snake is lying on the ground just a few feet from him. Lying on the floor, he weeps in pain, knowing that his life is most likely over. He can feel the poison traveling in his bloodstream and he cries for help.

The nearby farmer hears him, and comes with a flashlight and points it to the snake. Lo and behold, the snake turns out to be nothing more than a rope!

Superimposition: Is Brahman a reality? This analogy illustrates the concept of superimposition. Bob, due to his fear of snakes, superimposed a snake upon the rope. He had been touched by a branch, and the sight of the rope was enough to create the imaginary presence of the snake and pain of the venom. Now the question is - during the incident, was the snake real or unreal? The answer is that, subjectively, the snake was very real to Bob. However, objectively, the presence of the snake was all illusory and created by Bob's mind.

Similarly, this world has its own subjective reality, but upon dawning of the knowledge of Brahman, this relative reality subsides and only the absolute reality of Brahman remains.

In the story, the snake existed only at the time of the incident (the present), while the rope existed in the past (before the incident), the present, as well as the future (after the incident).

Likewise, the world exists in the present moment only - although it is a pretty long moment - while Brahman existed before the creation of the world, exists in the present, and will still exist forever after the dissolution of the universe.

Maya Shakti: The Veiling Power: Brahman is both consciousness and power or "shakti" that operates in many ways. One such power is "maya", the veiling power, which hides the spiritual truth of the oneness of consciousness. Maya shakti creates the ignorance of perception of separateness and diversity of objects in this world.

Courtesy: hinduism.about.com


The third commemorative ceremony of the Chief Trustee Sri Sivasubramaniam Kovil Jeyanthi Nagar, Colombo late V T V Deivanayagam Pillai took place at Sri Ramakrishna Mission Hall, Wellawatta, Colombo 6 recently. Here Head of the Mission, Rev Swamy, Sarua Rupananda Maharaj lights the oil lamp to inaugurate the ceremony. Chief Organizer D Easwaran and the Trustee Board Members look on. Pic A Maduraveeran	A special Yagna Pooja performed by Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre Colombo at the Sai Shrine New Chetty Street, Colombo 13 recently. The event was organised to invoke blessing on Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Pic A Maduraveeran

The annual “Ther” Chariot Festival of the Sri Ponnambala Waneswarar Kovil, Kochchikade, Colombo 13 took place recently. Here the statues of deities paraded along the streets before being placed on the chariot by devotees. Pic A Maduraveeran	A Nathaswara Music Programme of the Sri Muthu Mariamman Kovil, Unagala, Madolkelle took place recently at their Warusabiseka Festival. Pic A Maduraveeran

'Ramayanam' - it's significance