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Upanishad Ganga - the story of Valmiki

May 21, 2012



I've been meaning to see the Upanishad Ganga series on Youtube for several weeks. I finally got round to seeing it yesterday. This is a TV series, produced by the Chinmaya Mission, currently being broadcast on Doordarshan in India on Sundays at 10 am except that these episodes are also uploaded to Youtube every week. Episode 3 is particularly relevant to readers of this blog since it begins with the famous verse from the Geeta:

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् |
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ||६-५||

uddharedaatmanaatmaanaM naatmaanamavasaadayet.h .
aatmaiva hyaatmano bandhur-aatmaiva ripuraatmanaH .. 6\-5..
Let a man lift himself by his own Self alone, and let him not lower himself; for, this Self alone is the friend of oneself, and this Self is the enemy of oneself.


The story of Valmiki Rishi is the perfect illustration of this verse. Ratnakar, a dacoit (bandit for the non-desis) is transformed when Naarada muniji challenges him to discover whether his family will share in the results of his paapa (sinful activity) even though they may share the spoils of his looting. When Ratnakar discovers for himself that they won't, he returns stunned by the revelation and seeks refuge at the feet of Naarad muniji. Thus begins his journey from a dacoit to becoming the poet-saint, Valmiki, who narrated the immortal epic RaamayaNa.

Watch this episode and other Upanishad Ganga episodes in the series at the earliest and make it a habit.

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

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