Spotlights On The Ramayana - 1.

Dedicated
TO
MY HOLY MASTER
SATGURU SRI SWAMI SIVANANDAJI MAHARAJ
Sri Swami Premananda

1.
Instruction by way of narration through heroic poems written in stimulating language has been in all countries an effective medium of awakening the drooping spirits in man to a vision of the forces that operate in the universe. The Ramayana of sage Valmiki, which had its immortal successor as the great work of Sant Tulsidas and several others in the languages of India, is regarded as the first Sanskrit poem ever, which recounts the deeds of Rama, his exploits, forming the various scenes of his life.
The work is a reservoir from which flowed countless streams of powerful poetic works touching upon some one or the other of the incidents and episodes of the epic. The importance of the Ramayana is in its perennial appeal to the spirits of humanity in general, whose different sides are ably touched by the deft imagery of Valmiki, and the line of poets who followed in its wake.

The present publication throws some light on certain aspects of the Ramayana, which presents an interesting reading to students and the public who are devotees of the valuable scripture. The approach departs markedly from the usual devotional and religious reading common among the Ramayana circles, not because the holy epic is not a superb masterpiece of religious literature, which it really is beyond doubt, but because the supernatural features of the epic seem to call for a novel study these days in the light especially of western thinking for which a natural interpretation might provide a diversion well expected. The work also includes a few pages on questions and answers on different themes.

Sri Swami Premananda
To be continued  ...