Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram and Sundara Kanda.

 Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram.

Sundara Kanda.

22^nd. January 2024 is an auspicious day as Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram.

During the auspicious occasion of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony, the idol undergoes a significant ritualistic process before finding its place in the temple. Before this event, the idol remains immersed in a mixture of water and grain, symbolizing a period of sanctification.

The Sanskrit word Pratishtha means "resting" or "position", used in connection with a murti. Prana means "life force, breath, spirit". The phrase Prana Pratishtha is a ritual that means "establishment of the image in its vital breath" or "bringing life to the temple". It is also referred to as Murti Sthapana (image placement inside the temple).

The ritual typically involves a Puja, chanting of Sanskrit mantras, as the deity is moved from outside into the centre place. It includes inviting the deity as a resident guest of the temple, and bathing and cleansing the deity, like welcoming a revered guest after a long journey. This is followed by dressing and seating the deity in a place of comfort. The image's face is tilting towards the east (signifying the sunrise), followed by the ceremony with hymns (the act of touching different parts of the murti, symbolizing the presence of various gods as sensory organs – Indra as the hand, Brahma as the heart, Surya as the eyes, etc.) The priest recites specific mantras and performs rituals to infuse the idol with prana. During this process, the deity descends into the idol, making it a living representation. After the infusion of prana, the deity is considered consecrated and blessed. Devotees often seek the deity's blessings at this point. The ritual also includes the spraying of scented water and flowers.

The image is then considered blessed. In large and ceremonial public temples, the murti may be retired at sunset, retiring to bed and then woken up at sunrise with pleasantries, washing, offering of fresh clothes, food and interaction with the devotees.

When the Supreme Being, known only to Vedas, has taken form as the son of Dasaratha, the Vedas also transformed themselves into Ramayana, through Valmeki, the son of the Sage Prachesta.

Valmiki too in naming his work 'Ramayana', literally meaning 'Rama's travels', had his intentions clear. He had vividly described the length and breadth of Bharatavarsha, in the form of travel narrations of Rama. Rama's travel route from Ayodhya to Lanka united the Northern India with the Southern India. Rama's brother Bharata's travels to the west and his brother Lakshmana's travels to the east united the East and West of India. Truly, Valmiki's Ramayana is the glue that unites Bharatavarsha into a single whole!

Vyasa together with Valmiki are the true forefathers of Bharatavarsha; emperor Bharata is its founder.

Well, supreme poet, and his immortal work of writing anything upon Rāmāyana, I know perfectly well that not an inch of space was left for explanation of any fresh thoughts. But out of devotional curiosity and enthusiasm, I did not pause to consider either the futility- or the superfluity of the venture. I am exactly in the position of the legendary squirrel, as regards the other colossal commentators. It brought so much and was stuck to its wet body each time, to cement the great bridge while the great monkey warriors were carrying huge mountains as so many pebbles. If all my ideas acquire any validity, it must be due to the grace of Rama and Rama alone, as the said Squirrel was fortunate enough to be blessed with His Grace. The squirrel played its part.

Bhagwan Valmiki created a powerful mantra, which is a garland of 27 (an auspicious number 1/4x108) names of the exploits and the high qualities of the head and heart of Hanuman, which is known as Sundara Hanuman mantra, and he flowered forth from this Kanda. Rāma also has a claim to this description Sundara, (beautiful). Thus, serving both ways this Kanda is called Sundara Kanda. In this Kānda only, all the great activities are Hanuman’s exclusively.

In the next Kānda (Yuddha Kānda) he shared the honour with the other mighty monkey chiefs, except in the two amazing deeds of bringing the mountain having the life-saving herbs for Lakshmana. It is proved true that by a devout reading of this Kānda, one gets all his reasonable desires fulfilled by the grace of Lord Hanuman.

Again, this Kānda contains many splendid descriptions of various objects the ocean, the sky, the city of Lanka, its gardens, and the superb description, of Moonlight, the pathos of Sita Davi’s form and situation in superb abstract similar and the most beautiful physical features of Rama, in their most ideal aspects. Thus, this Kānda fully deserves its title Sundarā Kānda, which is more appropriate than any other title. The Kānda, by its varied sentiments, in various situations created by this mighty poet in various meters is superb (as scholars say).

Again, there is mention of the marriage of Lord Hanuman with Suvarchala Devi, the daughter of the Sun God. It says that Hanuman can assume any form (Kamaroopi) and in whatever form he assumes he is Sundara (very beautiful). He is beautiful as a bachelor (at the first meeting with Rama), as a householder, as a Vanaprastha hermit (third order of life) as Yati (wandering monk), as a very old person (with Bheema in Mahabharata), as a young person, or as a boy, or as a simpleton (a dark horse by curse), or in a very small form (in Lanka, while searching for the Devi Sita) or in his cosmic form; and he is most beautiful in the three worlds, even though he is born as a monkey.

Again, standing on the Mahendra Mountain, the great Hanuman was like the Mandhara Mountain placed on the back of Maha Vishnu, in his incarnation of Tortoise for churning the milky ocean. When then mount Mahendra shook under the weight of Hanuman, the tigers, in the caves, out of fear, ran out of the caves, holding their cubs with their mouths.

Standing on the mount Mahendra, Hanuman, the mighty, intended to take to the skies of the celestial Charanas, to find the place of Sita, carried off by Ravana. For this most difficult task of flying over the ocean and against all odds, he erected his head and neck and was like a powerful full and he freely walked about the cool green pastures there, like a great lion and killing many wild beasts and uprooting the trees with dash of his chest. Gandharvas, Kinneras and Yakshas were adorned with jewels found there and celestial-like snakes resided on the sides of the mount. He was like a huge elephant among the elephants in the lakes there.

Describing the attempts of the great Hanuman to ready himself for his great flight. A great critic sees in it a brief exhibition of the most difficult sacred and mysterious Kundalini Yoga (activating the dormant primordial cosmic energy - "serpent power" located in the person, in the region where the legs commence. When Kundalini is activated by this Yoga (discipline), It is said to "wake up" and pass up through the Sushumna Nadi (an Astral nerve along the spine) through the higher "chakras" and finally reaches the thousand-petalled chakra or Padma in the brain. The holy union, results in samadhi, the superconscious state where mental modifications cease to exist. When this Kundalini is travelling up, the Sadhaka will be having mystic experiences and great celestials will be coming into his mental vision. That is what the great Yogi Hanuman had got. The great poet, in this Kānda, speaks of two mystical disciplines- Gayatri and Kundalini Yoga - an additional reason for this Kānda being named Sundara Kanda.