Showing posts with label Ramayana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramayana. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Inspiration for Masala Dialogues in Movies?

After shUrpaNakha gets insulted by Lakshmana and goes to her brothers Khara and DuuShaNa, they get very angry and invade Rama with 14000 of their henchmen. Khara abuses and heaps insults on Rama and says 'I'll kill you at this instant'.

Then, Rama says to khara:

प्रहर त्वं यथा-कामं, कुरु यत्नं कुलाधम !
अद्य ते पातयिष्यामि शिरस्‌ ताळफलं यथा ॥
meaning,
[You want to kill me? You want a piece of me?] Come, kill, give it a try if you wish, you wretched fellow!
Today I shall make your head fall like a palm fruit from its tree.

Don't think Samskrit is just for stotras.
This is how you can express your human feelings in Samskrit :-)

Sri Raama - A Loser or Super Hero?

People talk about Ramayana. But how many of us know what Rama said in his own words, in various circumstances? For many, Rama is a maryaadaa puruShottama. By that they mean a humble, simble (simple), gendleman (gentleman) - an "idealistic" person, meaning not practical. If Rama were to be born today, he wouldn't survive for a minute with all the cunning, duplicity, diplomacy, business-savviness etc. needed to thrive. Some don't say it aloud for fear of blasphemy, but I sensed that many (except a few old-minded people) think that Ramayana is too idealistic and hence not very relevant to today's conditions. Nobody wants to be like Rama, as that'll be considered to mean a 'loser' and a 'sop'. There are others who worship him from a distance, but say that's too difficult a role model to imitate.

Today's hero is the ambitious person. It's the corporate CEO or the one who can swindle the largest mass of men with his mesmerizing speech and intellect. In Vedic psychology, the person adored today is the Rajasic man - the ambitious achiever and conqueror.

I will post a series of original Samskrit shlokas from Valmiki Ramayana that portray Rama's aggressiveness, acumen, diplomacy, leadership, resolve, 'can-do' attitude - the rajasic qualities that people look for today.
I will post them under the category, "Rama Vaakyam".

I feel we need to memorize some of these shlokas because, you never know when a thought inspires you to action.