{"id":4932,"date":"2019-09-29T18:11:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T12:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/?p=4932"},"modified":"2022-01-24T16:35:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T11:05:15","slug":"lord-rama-the-invincible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/lord-rama-the-invincible\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Qualities of Lord Rama – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaya Sri Ram! As we enter into the auspicious ten days of the Dasara, which will culminate in the Vijayadashami, the day of victory of Good, represented by Lord Rama<\/a> over the Evil-Ravana; we bring you a series of narrations from Ramayana, describing ten transcendental qualities of Lord Ramachandra, one for every day of the Dussehra.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please read and relish, like and share these articles, and you may also leave your comments to us.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Quality-1: Lord R\u0101ma, The Invincible<\/h1>\n

Invincible is the one who is too powerful to overcome. Lord R\u0101ma, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, possessed invincible prowess. The entire R\u0101mayana is proof of the invincible feats accomplished by Lord R\u0101ma.
\nLet us go through one of the earliest feats of Lord R\u0101ma which displays His invincible prowess.<\/p>\n

Once the mystic sage Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra visited Ayodhy\u0101 and instructed the gatekeepers, \u201cTell the king that Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra, the son of G\u0101dhi, is at his door.\u201d Da\u015baratha quickly went with his ministers to greet the sage, respectfully brought him in, sat him down and personally washed his feet. Standing with folded palms before the sage, Da\u015baratha, respectfully inquired, \u201cWhat can I do for you today?\u201d
\nThe sage explained how he was impeded, in his attempts, to perform a sacrifice. Whenever the sacrifice was close to its completion, the rakshasas Maricha and Sub\u0101hu would appear overhead and drop-down volumes of flesh and blood, ruining it completely.<\/p>\n

Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra, himself capable of killing those rakshasas with his powerful spells, chose not to do so, as it was the duty of the Kshatriyas. The sage was well aware of Prince R\u0101ma to be the Supreme Lord Himself. Hence, he ordered the King Dasharatha, the undisputed ruler of the world, to send R\u0101ma and Lak\u1e63mana along with him to stand as the protectors of his sacrifice.<\/p>\n

After receiving the blessings of their father, Princes R\u0101ma and Lak\u1e63mana set out with the sage to his hermitage. As they walked, the brothers suddenly stopped at the edge of a forest which bore a desolate look, with trees bared of leaves. The princes looked around in disbelief. The forest ahead was enveloped by darkness and awful sounds emanated, from it. Lord R\u0101ma curiously asked Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra, \u201cO sage! What is this dreadful nature of the forest ahead, it appears inaccessible and foreboding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The holy sage replied that once Indra had founded these flourishing cities but due to a Yaksha woman, Tataka, they had turned into a desolate forest, by her malicious presence. Fearsome and filled with malice towards all beings, she attacked anyone who approached the area.<\/p>\n

Encounter with Tataka<\/h2>\n

The sage wanted the end of the evil Tataka who mastered mystical powers and was as powerful as a thousand elephants.\"\"<\/p>\n

On receiving such a command, Prince R\u0101ma hesitated for a moment, for he was asked to kill a woman. Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra encouraged the invincible R\u0101ma that Tataka was not an ordinary woman, but an evil demoness and hence, He need not dither to kill her.<\/p>\n

Prince R\u0101ma accepted the sage\u2019s order and grasped his bow. He then twanged his bowstring, which produced a rumbling sound and all of the forest animals were scared by the noise, Tataka herself was stunned. Overwhelmed with anger, she emerged from the cave, swearing, \u201cWho dares to challenge me? He will soon regret his foolishness.\u201d Uttering those words, she ran towards the source of the sound.
\nNoting the evil Tataka at a distance emerging from the forest in a fury, R\u0101ma told Lakshmana, \u201cBehold Lakshmana, the very sight of this Yak\u1e63a woman can break the heart of timid.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Prince R\u0101ma spoke, Tataka rushed towards him roaring with her arms upraised. Creating a swirling cloud of dust, Tataka confounded the brothers and then vanished. Using mystical powers, she employed numerous conjuring tricks. She assumed many forms, one after another, sometimes appeared in front of them and again suddenly appeared behind them. One moment, she appeared as a furious horned animal and in the next, she became an abysmal looking fiend. Howling horrendously she swooped down upon them as a giant clawed bird and hurled upon them huge rocks.<\/p>\n

R\u0101ma shot arrows with blinding speed. Shooting razor-headed arrows He severed Tataka\u2019s two arms. Still, undeterred Tataka came running towards him. Enraged Lak\u1e63mana fired some sharp arrows, precisely slicing off her nose and ears.
\nShe instantly disappeared and rose up to the sky. Although deprived of her arms, she used her sorcery to throw down massive trees and boulders. Remaining invisible, she moved hither and thither, screeching all the while.<\/p>\n

Slaying the beast<\/h2>\n

Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra witnessed as the boys got tricked by the Rakshasi\u2019s sorcery. He realized they were holding back because Tataka was a woman. The sage explained again that the sinful and wicked woman, Tataka shouldn\u2019t be spared. She thoroughly deserved death at their hands.<\/p>\n

Invincible R\u0101ma then showed His skill at archery. Using his shabda- bhe\u1e0d\u012b vidy\u0101, he released arrows capable of striking an invisible target by seeking out its sound.
\nR\u0101ma soon covered Tataka in a network of arrows which reduced the falling stones to dust. Prince R\u0101ma, with his arrows, pierced the Rakhsasi and she screamed in pain. She quickly brought herself back to land again and assumed a vast form. Tataka furiously rushed, like a storm towards the brothers.
\nInvincible R\u0101ma quickly fired an arrow imbued with the energy of a thunderbolt. It hit the Rakhsasi in the chest. Her heart was ripped apart, with a hideous cry, she fell dead.<\/p>\n

Having watched invincible R\u0101ma slay the demoness, the gods assembled in the skies and applauded, to which R\u0101ma and Lak\u1e63mana humbly bowed their heads. Vi\u015bv\u0101mitra was impressed. Tataka was dead, the turn of Maricha and Sub\u0101hu had come. They marched on towards the hermitage of the holy sage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaya Sri Ram! As we enter into the auspicious ten days of the Dasara, which will culminate in the Vijayadashami, the day of victory of Good, represented by Lord Rama over the Evil-Ravana; we bring you a series of narrations from Ramayana, describing ten transcendental qualities of Lord Ramachandra, one for every day of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-4932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-krishna-katha","8":"tag-lord-rama","9":"tag-qualities-of-lord-rama"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4932"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6287,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions\/6287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iskconbangalore.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}