Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa Mahima

Chapter 23 of the Rājya Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells of events that show the great power of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa itself. A messenger of Rāma’s court recites the whole text and is chosen prime minister of another kingdom by a royal elephant. Thousands of others are taken to higher lokas by hearing or reciting it. Yama’s city becomes empty, and Bhagavān Śiva, Brahmā and all the devas come to Ayodhyā. Vasishṭha then names the fruit of each of the nine khaṇḍas.

The dūta who became prime minister

A dūta (royal messenger) in Rāma’s service asked leave to stop his court duties, go home and do tapas. Rāma allowed it. The dūta went home, made himself pure, and spent nine days on the full pārāyaṇa (complete recitation) of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa.

When he finished and came out of his house, he found an unusual scene. In a nearby kingdom the king had died and left a young son. The people and ministers could not agree on who should rule for him. So they decided to let loose a royal elephant with a garland in its trunk. Whoever the elephant garlanded would be prime minister. The elephant was decorated and let go into the city.

The elephant came all the way from that kingdom to Ayodhyā. It walked through the market streets, found the dūta who had just come back, and put the garland round his neck. The people of the other kingdom had followed the elephant with great wonder. They knew at once that this was a divine sign, and they accepted the dūta as their prime minister. They took him and his family to their country and set him in office with full ceremony. He served as their prime minister from then on.

The mass rising to higher lokas

The news of the dūta’s rise spread through Ayodhyā. Thousands of other dūtas in Rāma’s service went quietly home, and so did thousands of soldiers of kings from across the seven dvīpas (island-continents) of the earth. They recited or heard the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa with devotion, and at once they were carried to higher lokas.

Some went to Svargaloka. Some went to Indra-padha, Agni-pura, Yama-pura (the realm of Dharmarāja, not the realm of punishment), Nirṛti-loka, Varuṇa-loka, Vāyu-loka, Kubera-pura, Candra-loka, Dhruva-padha, Brahmaloka and Vaikuṇṭha. Where each one went depended on his own earlier puṇya (merit) together with the puṇya of the pārāyaṇa.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says that they did not wait for their natural lifespan to end. Its power was so great that they were carried in their own bodies to their lokas the moment the recitation was finished.

When kings came to visit Rāma, they found that their armies had gone. Rāma told Lakshmaṇa to call the palace guards, and there were none. The armies of all the kingdoms had gone to higher lokas in the same way.

Yama’s empty city

So many people reached higher lokas through the power of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa that Yama’s Saṃyamanī Purī (the city of the dead) became empty. No new people were arriving from the earth, and those already there were being lifted up. Yama had never faced this. He went to Brahmā and complained that he had nothing to do and his city was empty.

Brahmā and Yama went together to Kailāsa. There Bhagavān Śiva, himself a devotee of Rāma, heard what had happened. He laughed with Pārvatī, mounted his bull Vṛshabha, and came to Ayodhyā with Brahmā, Yama and the other devas. Rāma received Bhagavān Śiva with great honour, seated him on the throne, and honoured him with pūjā together with Sītā. He also honoured Brahmā, Yama and all the devas.

Brahmā said to Rāma: “Look at Yama. He has nothing to do. Hearing the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa has emptied Yama’s city and filled Svarga to overflowing. Please think about what to do for those who are still to come.”

Rāma called Śatrughna and sent him to Vālmīki to bring him to the assembly. When Vālmīki came and heard what had happened, he laughed and said: “Rāghava, whatever my poetry (kavitā) has done, it cannot be undone. Let whatever happens happen, with your joy.”

Rāma’s restriction

Rāma then spoke a restriction: “Only those who have gathered the puṇya of seven lifetimes of Rāma-pūjā will have the real wish (abhilāsha) to hear, recite or study the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa. Others will not be drawn to it.”

The power of the text was not made smaller. But only those who had grown ripe in devotion to Rāma (Rāma-bhakti) would be drawn to it.

From that time, Rāmadāsa tells Vishṇudāsa, the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa became known to very few. Among a thousand people, perhaps one would have the seven-lifetime Rāma-pūjā. Only such a person would know the text.

Vasishṭha names the fruit of the nine khaṇḍas

Rāma asked Vasishṭha to explain what had happened to the armies. Vasishṭha first confirmed the structure of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa and the fruit of each khaṇḍa:

• Sāra Khaṇḍa: hearing it frees one from the ocean of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).
• Yātrā Khaṇḍa: gives the puṇya of all pilgrimages.
• Yāga Khaṇḍa: gives the puṇya of performing great yajñas (fire rituals).
• Vilāsa Khaṇḍa: those who hear it gain joy with the apsarasas.
• Janma Khaṇḍa: gives children and sons.
• Vivāha Khaṇḍa: gives beautiful and virtuous spouses.
• Rājya Khaṇḍa: gives rājya-lābha (the gain of a kingdom, or rule).
• Manohara Khaṇḍa: fulfils all wishes of the heart.
• Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa: gives pūrṇa-pada (the full state of moksha).

Those who hear the whole Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa from beginning to end become one with the nature of Rāma himself, sachchidānanda-rūpa (the form of being, awareness and joy).

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23