Rama Rahasya Upanishad

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Rama Rahasya Upanishad
Veda
Atharvaveda[2]
Chapters5
PhilosophyVaishnavism, Vedanta[3]

The Rama Rahasya Upanishad (राम रहस्य उपनिषत्) is a minor

Upanishadic text written in Sanskrit. It is one of the 31 Upanishads attached to the Atharvaveda,[2] and classified as one of the 14 Vaishnava Upanishads.[1]

This is a late Upanishad exclusively devoted to the Hindu god

satcitananda and liberation.[6][7] The text also includes sections on Tantra suggesting the Bīja mantra based on Rama.[6]

Development

Neither the author nor the date of composition of this text is known. Moriz Winternitz makes a passing mention in a footnote stating that it belongs to the same period as the other Rama-related Upanishads.[6]

Not much is known about this text, states Ramdas Lamb, and it is to a large extent different from the other Rama-related Upanishads.[8] The Ramarahasya Upanishad, along with the Rama tapaniya Upanishad, presents Rama as an avatar of Vishnu, and these are therefore classified as Vaishnava Upanishads.[9] The Christian missionary in colonial British India, Farquhar included it in the list of 123 Upanishads.[6] The Vedanta philosophy had a major influence on this and other Rama-related Upanishads, states Lamb, along with the 12th century Rama-related Agastya Samhita text.[6]

In the

Muktika canon, narrated by Rama to Hanuman, it is listed at number 54.[10] The Upanishad is not part of the anthology of 52 popular Upanishads in north India by Colebrooke, nor is it found in the Bibliotheca Indica anthology of popular Upanishads in south India by Narayana.[11]

The first chapter of the text, states Paul Deussen, is also known as Hanumadukta-Ramopanishad.[10]

Contents

Who is Rama

I Think of that Rama
Who lives in Ayodhya
Who is decorated with gems
Who sits beneath a golden canopy
Whose doorways are festooned with mandana flowers.
He, who is seated on a throne
Surrounded by celestial vehicles
Who is revered by rishis
Who has Sita on the left
Who is served by Lakshmana;
Who is the blue complexioned,
Whose face is tranquil,
Who is adorned with ornaments

Rama Rahasya Upanishad.[12]

Ramapanchayan, the five associated with RamaSita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna, and Hanuman.

The narration of the text is presented as replies by Hanuman to the questions posed to him by many

Atman (soul), and he is the medium to attain moksha or emancipation.[3] The text presents goddess Sita, the wife of Rama, as the cause of creation, and Hanuman as the completely absorbed example and ideal devotee of Rama.[14] Together, Rama and Sita are asserted to be the source of all existence.[15]

Rama is, asserts the text, same as other major

Hanuman advocates the importance of reciting the six syllabled Rama Mantra, Rama Ramaya namah. In section 1.13, states Lamb, Hanuman informs

Vibhishana that constant recitation of the Ramanama (Rama's name) mantra removes the bad karma of a person accrued from committing the sin of killing his father, his mother, his guru, or a Brahmin.[6] The text also recommends the reading of the Rama Gita.[12]

The text enumerates many

mantras, assigning them tantric powers, which it forms by combining root mantras.[6] All these mantras are associated with Rama, but each formulation connotes a different role.[6] The syllables in the mantras vary from 1 to 24, and evolves mantras like Om Ramaya hum phat swaha and Om srim Rama Dassarathaya Sita vallabbhaya sarvabhita daya namah.[6] Out of these mantras those with two to six syllables are claimed by the text to be most beneficial, states Lamb.[6] In contrast, Mahadevan interprets the text as glorifying eight syllable mantra, in the form "Sri Ramah, sa-ra-nam ma-ma" or "Sri Rama is my refuge".[16] The single syllable Rama signifies the supreme reality Brahman, whereas split into two syllables "ra – ma", it emancipates according to the text.[6]

The Upanishad text has verses that relate to dhyana or the contemplation of Rama.[12] The text, states Dalal, asserts that the "rahasya" or secret of "energising the body" (Nyasa) is to recite Rama mantra it discloses while touching different body parts.[12]

The Upanishad, states Dodiya, asserts that the roots of syllables "र, आ, मा" or "r+aa+ma" form the word Rama.

maya or Mayatita, implying the unchanging reality that is Brahman.[7] The syllable आ (Ā) suggests svarupa, which is influenced by the maya (mayavishista) element or principle.[7] This mantra Rama is the Bija or the seed of the Rama Mantra. Hence Rama as Brahman, states Dodiya, is endowed with maya, or the observed empirical universe.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Tinoco 1997, p. 87.
  2. ^ a b Prasoon 2008, p. 82.
  3. ^ a b Lamb 2002, pp. 191–193.
  4. ^ Dalal 2010, p. 60.
  5. ^ Catherine Ludvik 1994, p. 10.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lamb 2002, p. 193.
  7. ^ a b c d e Dodiya 2001, p. 118.
  8. ^ Lamb 2002, pp. 191, 193.
  9. ^ Lamb 2002, pp. 191–192.
  10. ^ a b Deussen 1997, pp. 556–557 with footnote 5.
  11. ^ Deussen 1997, pp. 561–564.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Dalal 2010, p. 61.
  13. ^ Dalal 2010, p. 60-61.
  14. ^ Catherine Ludvik 1994, p. 10, 13.
  15. ^ Lamb 2002, p. 191.
  16. ^ Mahadevan 1975, p. 220.

Bibliography