On the 5th of April 2017, Ramakrishna Mission Singapore, will hold their palms together in deep veneration and celebrate the festival of Sri Rama Navami at Bartley Road Singapore. Bhajans, discourses, aarti and prasad of pure vegetarian cuisine prepared by volunteers as labor of love will commemorate this occasion at Ramakrishna Missions Singapore . On this holy occasion Swami Samachittananda, Assistant Minister of Ramakrishna Ashram of Argentina will be performing the bhajans.
Ram Navami is a religious and traditional festival, celebrated every year with great enthusiasm by the people of Hindu religion. The spring Hindu festival of Rama Navami celebrates and consecrates the birthday of god Rama. He is important to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism, as the seventh avatar of Vishnu..
Rama Navami is celebrated to remember the birthday of the Lord Rama, son of the King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya, of the Ayodhya kingdom. Lord Rama was the 7th avatar from the Dashavatar of the Lord Vishnu, a Hindu God. According to the Hindu calendar, this festival falls every year in the Shukla Paksha at 9th day in the month of Chaitra. Ram Navami is also called as the Chaitra Masa Suklapaksha Navami which ends as nine-day long Chaitra-Navratri celebrations.. This typically occurs in the Gregorian months of March or April every year, The day is the ninth and last day of Chaitra Navaratri It celebrates the arrival of Vishnu’s 7th avatar, god Rama. It is marked by devotees with puja (devotional worship) such as bhajan and kirtan, by fasting and reading passages about Rama’s life. Special cities in India that venerate the Ramayana Legend which talks about Lord Rama’s life These include Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu), Bhadrachalam (Andhra Pradesh) and Sitamarhi (Bihar). Some locations organize Rath-yatras (chariot processions), while some celebrate it as the wedding anniversary festival (Kalyanotsavam) of Rama and Sita. In Ayodhya, many take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu and then visit the Rama temple
BRIEF INFORMATION ABOUT RAMAYANA
The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Sanskrit Itihasa.
The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, narrates the life of Shri Ram Chandra, the legendary prince of Kosala Kingdom, his banishment from the kingdom by his father, King Dasharatha, his travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnap of his wife by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him, and Rama’s eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
The Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly 24,000 verses (mostly set in the Shloka meter), divided into seven Kandas (books) and about 500 sargas (chapters). In Hindu tradition, it is considered to be the adi-kavya (first poem). It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king. The Ramayana was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Hindu life and culture
Ram Navami History
Ramayana is the great and religious Epic of the Hindu religion, tells the history of King Dasharatha and his son Rama of the Ayodhya. Once, there was an emperor in the Treta Yuga called King Dasharatha who had three wives (Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi). He had no children and was longing for a future emperor of the Ayodhya. One day he was advised by the great Rishi named Vasistha to perform the Puthra Kamesti Yagna to fulfill his desire for a child.
He was told to specially invite the Maharshi Rishyasringa in order to perform yagna. After performing the yagna, he was given a bowl of the divine Kheer by the Yagneshwara. He was requested to offer that bowl of Kheer to his all three wives. Some days after eating that Kheer, all his wives conceived. At the day of Navami (at 9th day) in the Chaitra month at noon Kausalya gave birth to Rama, Kaikeyi to Bharata and Sumitra to twin boys named Lakshmana and Shatrughna.
Kausalya’s son Rama was the 7th avatar of the Lord Vishnu who took birth to come to the Earth to finish Adharma and maintain the Dharma. Lord Rama had protected his devotees from the attack of rascals. He had vanquished Adharma from the earth and maintained the Dharma all over the earth by destroying all the Asura including Ravana. People of the Ayodhya were very happy with their new King Rama and started celebrating his birthday every year with great joy and enthusiasm as Ram Navami which is still traditionally and religiously celebrated all over the India by the people of Hindu religion. Rama Navami is a not a major festival of Hinduism and not a national public holiday, but an optional restricted holiday in India.
Significance of Ram Navami Festival
Ram Navami festival is the festival of great importance for the people of Hindu religion. Celebrating the festival of Ram Navami on the 9th day of Chaitra month indicates the removal of bad powers and entrance of divine power on the earth. To remove the Asura power on the earth in order to maintain the Dharma, Lord Vishnu had to born on the earth as a son of the Ayodhya King Dasharatha. Ram Navami is a ritual celebration for the people of Hindu religion which they celebrate enthusiastically for their soul and body purification. Lord Rama came to the earth to perform a special responsibility means to destroy the demon Ravana in order to maintain the Dharma
BY SUCHITTHRA SHREIYAA VASU
