VANARA GITA 14: PURANAS (EPICS) CONTAIN MESSAGES FOR PEOPLE BELONGING TO EVERY STAGE OF LIFE

All the stories contained in our epics and Puranas such as Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. have the capacity to dispel all the doubts and confusions of the human race in each of the 4 Yugas (eons). The power to convey the right message to people across all the eons rests in these epics. For this reason, they are recollected even today. Lord Brahma himself declared that Ramayana will be in people’s memory for as long as the mountains, oceans, stars, Sun, Moon, and rivers exist on earth. In such an eternal Ramayana, the story of Hanuman appears.

To a true devotee, the story of his Lord is always like nectar. ‘O Rama, nee naamame yenta ruchira’ (O Rama, what a lovely taste exists in your name) sang saint Ramadasa. One who has enjoyed the inherent taste that exists in chanting divine names will never give it up. The taste (ruchi) multiplies as the recitation increases. ‘Rama, Rama, Rama’ or ‘Hanuman, Hanuman, Hanuman’ as one continuously recites his joy only multiplies. Those who recite the glories of God as well as those who listen to it, both lose track of the time spent in it. Enraptured in singing the names of Vitthala- Vithala, Vithala, Vithala, Vithala…, devotees are oblivious to the passage of time.

An erroneous misconception that people entertain is that the stories of the Lord are to be heard only in old age and that too only for the sake of earning some merit (punya). The truth is that every child should be introduced to them right from infancy! Lessons required for every stage of life are contained in these epics. They contain some stories that are suitable for children; stories that are apt for the youth and some other stories which are for the aged. Take for example, the Mahabharata. It contains stories that are suitable for people from all stages and phases of life. Be it a yogi (saint) or a rogi (diseased), a youth (yuvaka), a king, a pauper or a poet every one can draw lessons from it. The traits and the characteristics of every human being have been incorporated into the characters of this epic. Hence every being can draw a suitable inference from this epic.