Publisher: AdiDev Press
Genre: Motivational & Spirituality
Book buy link : @Amazon
Man is considered the most superior of all creatures. The deeds of his past life determine, what form a creature takes in his next life. This proves that the human form is the result of good deeds done in past lives. To make this life worthwhile and to attain liberation, man should strive hard.
Praying to god is one way of attaining the relief from
this cycle of birth and rebirth. It is
the one enjoyable way. Prayer ensures
success in this world and in the other worlds.
The puranas tell us that prayer is the most potent way of destroying our
sins.
Prayer is the mode of devotion, and when it is
directed towards the Supreme Lord, one attains peace, pleasure and prosperity.
Constant chanting of Divine Names or Nama Sankirtanam
or any Stotram is recommended for all humanity at all times especially in the
present scenario. A stotra a par excellence and a work profound with literary
devices and pragmatic meaning, its importance can be gauged from the fact that
each and every human wished to chant the glory of Sri Rama.
Rama is the manifestation of Lord Vishnu who possesses
innumerable and immeasurable kalyana gunas i.e meritorious qualities or
nature. Among them the basic six qualities Jnaana, Bala, Aisvarya, Veerya,
Sakthi and Tejas which are commonly known as Bhagams; who possesses these
bhagams he is called Bhagavan=Almighty.
The word almighty suggest mainly three natures namely omni-presence,
omni-potence and omni-science of the Lord.
The following verses from the Svethaasvathara
Upanishad (7 & 8 - VI) comprehends these qualities of the Lord Vishnu in
brief that –
“Tham eesvaraanaam paramam mahesvaram
Tham dhevathaanaam paramam cha dhaivatham l
Pathim patheenaam paramam parasthaath
Vidhaama dhevam bhuvanesam eedyam ll
Na
thasya kaaryam karanam cha vidhyathe
Na
thath samas cha abhyadhikas cha dhrusyathe l
Paraasya sakthir vividhaiva srooyathe
Svaabhaavikee jnaana-Bala-Kriyaa cha ll”
We are really fortunate in having been enabled by the
Grace of The Lord Rama to have this book titled “My First Prayer To Lord
Ram”. The five verses in Sanskrit in
praise of the Lord Ram composed by the great saint Tulasi Das in his Rama
Charita Manas rendered well in English Translation and illustrated beautifully.
After Valmiki Ramayana and Adhyathma Ramayana, the
saint Tulasi Das has rendered the same spiritual version of the great hero Rama
400 years back in lucid way. Here Rama
is not only a great Hero, an exemplar of the esteemed ideals of Dharma, but the
very Divine Incarnate, God in the form of Humane, revealing and fully
remembering His spiritual greatness and bestowing liberation to all the people
who cajoled Him.
These beautiful five verses contribute immensely
towards the devotional edification of the devotees who adore Rama as their
favourite deity. It is highly
appreciable that the translation is so simple and with proper explanation to
the words highlighted with arrow marks were made by the translator without
polluting Sanskrit Grammar.
The beautiful drawings of the illustrator are enhancing
the quality of theme of this book. It
reveals out a figure of speech (Roopakam) which is one of the literary devices evaluating
the merits of the composed works. Here
Rama is described that he is having eyes, face, hands and feet which are equal
to the lotus flower. Lotus like face tells the Upama i.e., simile. But here Rama’s face itself lotus (Kanja-Mukha:
Kanja=lotus; Mukha=face). Hence it is Roopakam i.e., Metaphor. It can be easily understood by the following
idea that the colour of Upamaanam i.e standard of comparision is fully imparted
to Upameyam i.e., object to be compared.
In other words Upameyam\
shines in the colour of Upamaanam.
Roopakam is so called because Roopam or colour formed of Upamaanam is
ascribed to the Upameyam. The essence of
Roopakam is Aaropa which means superimposing the qualities of Upamaanam on Upameyan. The classical example of Aaropa is Mukham eva
Kanjam = Mukha-kanjam - The lotus in the form of the face. The illustrator
proved her workmanship by supporting the descriptive skill of the translator.
It is the prime duty of the parents to teach children
to have devotion towards the desirable deity.
This idea should be inculcated from the childhood. This book comes in handy to take baby steps
towards learning a prayer.
Lord Krishna Says in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita that “Na
hi Kalyanakruth kaschith Dhurgathim thaatha gacchathi” means a person of
beneficial deeds never attain a tragic end.
So, it is the desire of these esteemed, cultured and devoted Trios (Chitwan
Mittal, Sarita Saraf and Aparajitha Vasudev) that this handy and attractive
book must be put to the best use by the ardent devotees/readers/children who need
to study its contents and reflect on its great spiritual import so that they
may thereby secure the blessings of their own favourite deity Sri Rama. It is therefore advisable to use these verses
for Parayanam = daily devout study.
It is understood that reading this book titled “My
First Prayer To Lord Ram” and chanting of the verses would keep a spiritual
seeker away from the stress and strain of life and also lead him from darkness
to light. Hence, attempt this.
(This book review is a part of Blogchatter's book review program : https://www.theblogchatter.com/book-review-program-from-blogchatter)
