Sri Ramananda (1400-1476) was a Vaishnava saint, and he was born in Allahabad in a Brahmin family. He was the founder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, and he lived in the holy city of Varanasi. Ramananda was well known for composing his works in Hindi language, and his writings are very simple and easily understandable by everyone.
SRI SITARAMAYANA was a wonderful work written by Sri Ramananda, who was a staunch devotee of Lord Rama, Ma Sita and Lord Hanuman, and in this wonderful text, apart from the main Ramayana Story, the significance of Ma Sita was also mentioned in detail.
Some of the excerpts from that wonderful divine text, SRI SITARAMAYANA, are as follows:-
Ma Sita is the main character and she is the most pious and holy woman as per Ramayana. She was adopted by King Janaka of Videha and his wife, Queen Sunaina.
Ma Sita, the holy consort of Lord Rama, who is well known for her patience, chastity and Pati Bhakti, is the main heroin of the entire epic Ramayana, and the Ramayana story revolves only around her. She is the incarnation of Ma Bhudevi, and similar to her mother, she maintained strict patience throughout her lifetime, and she contained very good qualities, which we cannot imagine in this present day world. Though she was born as a princess, she happily joined with Lord Rama during his 14-year exile term in the forest, and during that period, she used to eat only fruits, greens and vegetables, and even then, she never showed her anger at any point of time to her loving consort Lord Rama.
Even during the time of suffering at the Ravana’s Ashokavana, she kept chanting the names of Lord Rama, and also kept great confidence on Rama that he would wage a war with Ravana, would defeat him, and would take her to the Ayodhya. While she met Lord Hanuman in the Ashokavana, she eagerly enquired about the wellness of Lord Rama, and also asked Hanuman to tell about her difficult position.
Ma Sita contained great Pati Bhakti on Lord Rama, and that’s why, when Rama asks her to perform “AGNIPRAVESHA”, she didn’t get angry with him, and she patiently entered into the fire without having any fear on her mind. Lord Agni Bhagavan was unable to destroy her, due to her chastity, and hence, he came out from the burning fire, took Ma Sita in his hands, by considering her as his own daughter, and handed over her to Lord Rama. But when Rama had again asked her to perform “AGNIPRAVESHA”, in order to prove her purity and chastity before others, Ma Bhudevi, the mother of Sita Devi, got angry with Lord Rama, and hence, she had permanently taken Ma Sita Devi to her abode.
The story of Ma Sita acts as a good example for everyone, both males and females, and at this present period, we should maintain strict patience, and should think that whatever happens to us is for good only, and we should keep great faith and bhakti on god, and we should never curse him. But most of us are losing patience even for small, small things, and due to that, we are getting angry with the almighty even for silly things, and due to that, we ourselves shoots up with high blood pressure. Though Ma Sita is an incarnation of the earth goddess, Bhudevi, but she had suffered a lot during her lifetime due to her fate, and whenever we suffers from any problem or from any diseases, instead of lamenting about that, we must have to sincerely pray to Ma Sita, in order to get rid from our problems. Ma Sita, who is the pious, chaste and holy consort of Lord Rama, would definitely shower her utmost grace on us, and would make us to prosper in our lives.
Everyone knows about the significance of chanting Rama Nama, and from Lord Hanuman we can know about its great importance. Hereafter, instead of simply chanting the Rama Mantra, “JAI SRIRAM”, we can add the word Sita before ram, and henceforth we can chant the mantra, “JAI SRI SITARAM”, in order to glorify our beloved Sita Mata.
“JAI SRI SITARAMACHANDRA MOORTHY NAMO NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR