One day, Rama was informed that it was time for him to die. He had no problem with that. He understood that creatures who take birth have to experience death. “Let Yama come to me. It is time for me to return to my heavenly abode, Vaikuntha,” he said. But Yama dared not enter Ayodhya. Yama, the god of death, was afraid of Hanuman who guarded the gates of Rama’s palace and was clear no one would take Rama away from him.
To allow Yama’s entry, it was necessary to distract Hanuman. So Rama dropped his ring into a crack in the palace floor and requested Hanuman to fetch it. Hanuman reduced himself to the size of a beetle and entered the crack only to discover that it was no crack but the entrance to a tunnel that led to Nagaloka, the land of serpents. Hanuman met Vasuki, king of serpents, there and informed him of his mission.
Vasuki took Hanuman to the centre of Nagaloka where stood a mountain of rings! “There you will surely find Rama’s ring,” said Vasuki. Hanuman wondered how he would do that. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. But to his delight, the first ring that he picked up was Rama’s ring. To his astonishment, even the second ring he picked up was Rama’s ring. In fact all the rings that made up the mountain of rings were Rama’s ring. “What is the meaning of this?” he wondered.
Vasuki smiled and said, “This world we live in goes through cycles of life and death. Each life cycle of the world is called a kalpa. Each kalpa is composed of four yugas or quarters. In the second quarter or Treta yuga, Rama takes birth in Ayodhya. Then one day his ring falls from earth into the subterranean realm of serpents through a tunnel. A monkey follows it and Rama up there dies. So it has been for hundreds of thousands of kalpas. All these rings testify to that fact. The mountain keeps growing as more rings fall. There is enough space for the rings of the future Rama.”
Hanuman realized that his entry into Nagaloka and his encounter with this mountain of rings was no accident. It was Rama’s way of telling him that he could not stop death from coming. Rama would die. The world would die. But like all things Rama would be reborn each time the world is reborn. So it would be forever.
To allow Yama’s entry, it was necessary to distract Hanuman. So Rama dropped his ring into a crack in the palace floor and requested Hanuman to fetch it. Hanuman reduced himself to the size of a beetle and entered the crack only to discover that it was no crack but the entrance to a tunnel that led to Nagaloka, the land of serpents. Hanuman met Vasuki, king of serpents, there and informed him of his mission.
Vasuki took Hanuman to the centre of Nagaloka where stood a mountain of rings! “There you will surely find Rama’s ring,” said Vasuki. Hanuman wondered how he would do that. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. But to his delight, the first ring that he picked up was Rama’s ring. To his astonishment, even the second ring he picked up was Rama’s ring. In fact all the rings that made up the mountain of rings were Rama’s ring. “What is the meaning of this?” he wondered.
Vasuki smiled and said, “This world we live in goes through cycles of life and death. Each life cycle of the world is called a kalpa. Each kalpa is composed of four yugas or quarters. In the second quarter or Treta yuga, Rama takes birth in Ayodhya. Then one day his ring falls from earth into the subterranean realm of serpents through a tunnel. A monkey follows it and Rama up there dies. So it has been for hundreds of thousands of kalpas. All these rings testify to that fact. The mountain keeps growing as more rings fall. There is enough space for the rings of the future Rama.”
Hanuman realized that his entry into Nagaloka and his encounter with this mountain of rings was no accident. It was Rama’s way of telling him that he could not stop death from coming. Rama would die. The world would die. But like all things Rama would be reborn each time the world is reborn. So it would be forever.
very nice story about the cycle of the death and birth
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