RAVAN

RAVAN

Do you know he was named as Ravan by Lord Shiva?

Can we humans really erase Ravan's name and his existence just by burning his effigy?

Can the name that has been given by Mahadev efface so soon?

Here, in this blog-post, I'll be sharing about 5 astonishing facts of Ravan and his top 3 secrets/words of wisdom!

(If you're in hurry, you can skip facts but do glance through 3 Secrets of Ravan mentioned below & you can thank me in comment section for this:p)

FIVE FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT RAVAN:

1.He was grandson of Lord Bramha and was half-brother of Kuber. His birth name was Dashagriv and Dashanan but he was named Ravan by Lord Shiva. (Ravan means loud voice in Sanskrit)

2. He wasn't just a splendid warrior but was also a Great Poet, Scholar of Vedas, Master of Sciences and Ayurveda, Great at Astrology, Music Maestro and  Stupendous at Statecraft. He was so much into music that he had invented several music instruments using a part of his head and his nerves. An instrument called Ravanhatta still exists in Rajasthan after him!

3. It was Ravana, a Brahmin, who performed the rites of a purohit, when Lord Rama constructed the Rama Sethu to lead his monkey brigade to attack Lanka.

4. Ravana was supremely powerful and once he had commanded all the planets to stay in their places for the immortality of his son. He had held even the Shanidev captive for not obeying his command.

5. Ravan's empire is spread over Balidweepa (today's Bali), Malayadweep (Malaysia), Angadweepa, Varahdweepa, Shankhadweepa, Yavadweepa, Andhralaya and Kushadweepa.  

   

    (Image: Isn't weird that it is we, who create Ravan before burning him?)

WORDS OF WISDOM BY RAVAN / THREE SECRETS TO LIFE

Ravan was great at statecraft and diplomacy and when Lord Ram had sent Laxman to learn the Statecraft from Ravan, he had shared 3 most important secrets of his failure which indeed became 3 great lessons for us to follow and do good at life! Here's the summary of his wisdom...

1.GOOD DEEDS FIRST:

Ravan emphasizes that one must complete an auspicious task as fast as one can while delay performing a bad act as much as one can!

Ravan says that he took a hasty decision of abducting Sita and regrets not delaying a war with godly man like Ram which led to his destruction. 

He recapitulates it as "Shubhasya Shigram". 

Shubh - Good

Shigram - Earliest

Meaning good deeds at the earliest!

2.NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENTS:

Ravan acquired a boon from Lord Brahma by beseeching that no god, demon, kinnar or gandharva could ever kill him.

He was granted this boon, but he did not seek the boon for protection from human beings and monkeys.

He took monkeys and humans as weakest and thought that he was too strong to be killed by humans and too smart to be killed by monkeys.

Ravan says that he committed a mistake of underestimating Ram and Vaanar Sena which indeed led to his death.

3. NEVER REVEAL YOUR SECRETS TO ANYONE:

Ravan says that one shouldn't reveal one's life secrets to anyone, no matter how dearest they  may be!

Ravan says that he had shared the secret of presence of amrit in his belly button with his brother Vibhishan which inturn led to destruction of his life.

We must also try to abide by these 3 life-lessons/his words of wisdom to live a better life!

Ravan wasn't Dashanan just because he had 10 heads! He was called as Dashanan because had control over 10 organs, he was hailed by people in all 10 directions, he had mastered 10 Maha Vidya (Super Natural Powers) and he was in possession of Dashosiddhi!

He was such a great man! 

Do we really have to continue burning the effigy of Ravan year after year?

When Lord Ram himself was deeply moved after killing Ravan then how can we celebrate killing him?

This Dussehra, let's not rack Ravan's soul! Indeed burn these 10 innate bad qualities! 

I am grateful that you've made it till the end of this post! I hope this post had been a significant one! I wish you a very happy and an exuberant Dussehra!

                   ---VOGUE ROG

                       HARSHITHA JAIN.