SRI RAMACHARITRA
MANJARI
(In this edition, the
significance of Siddhashrama has been narrated. Please read, comment and share.
SDN)
“SiddhAshramasameepE vidyamAnAm
lOkOpadravakAriNeem TATakAm hatwA…|
Sri Rama killed Tataka, a female
demon, who was residing near Siddhashrama and torturing everyone.
About Siddhashrama: Bali robbed
the entire wealth of Indra and other deities. Divine Mother Aditi, who could perceive
that all the deities, including Lord Indra, were facing problems, decided to
somehow get her children relieved from the trouble. She appealed to her husband
sage Kashyapa, who said that if she could impress upon the mind of Lord Sri
Hari by observing Payo Vrat, he would himself take birth as her son and would
relieve the children from all the problems. Aditi observed the Payo Vrat by strictly adhering
to the directions of Sage Kashyapa. Sri Hari took the incarnation as Sri Vamana
and as desired by his mother, he reached the Yajna Shala, where Bali was
performing a sacrifice. This Emperor Bali was not a sinner like Ravana and
other demons, who had committed capitals sins like abduction of the wives of
some others. On the contrary, he was a very dedicated devotee of Lord Vishnu
and had indulged incessantly in spirituous and meritorious acts. Therefore, Sri
Hari decided as follows: “I should not kill him with power or bravery like I
did with Ravana and others. I should beg with him to part with all his wealth
and hand it over to Indra. Then, I should bless him with the wealth in Sutala
Loka, which would be more than the wealth in the heavens. I should bless him with
the rights ot rule the Sutala Loka and be gracious and generous to him by
taking charge as the doorkeeper of his nether world empire. Let him be there as
king till the end of this Manvantar and up to the beginning of the next
Manvantara called Savarni. During Savarni Manvantara, I should make him the
next Indra.”
Sri Vamana gave huge quantity of
wealth to Indra and other deities from one of his forms. With another form, Sri
Hari went with Emperor Bali. To make the Brahmins aware that they could only realise
the truth through penance, Lord Hari pretended to be doing penance. Learning
about the penance undertaken by one of the forms of Vamana, hundreds of sages
came to the place where Lord Vamana was doing penance. All of them launched a
penance, alongside Vamana. Because of doing penance in the presence of Vamana,
they attained realisation very quickly. In Sanskrit, Siddhi means realisation.
Therefore, the hermitage in which the sages earned realisation, it came to be
known as Siddhashram. On their way to this Siddhashram, Vishwamitra, Rama and
Lakshmana reached a forest that was named as Malada and Karusha.
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