Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (8)- Introduction of the Royal House of Mithila

Now we have the first scene in the Royal house of Mithila. We can see Raja Janak along with Rani Sunayna and Kulguru Shataanand performing a Shiv puja. Really a nice way to introduce a ‘Pious’ family. The same was done in the beginning while introducing the royal family of Ayodhya, with a prayer to Kuldevta Suryadev. Truly, Ramayana helps us to ‘connect wth the Divine Lord’ in each of its scenes. It portrays the ‘ideal way to lead our life’.

Here are the videos of this part:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAoV8ooX1Z0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP03uNzeeMQ

Coming back to Mithila- while performing the puja, we can see Sita Mata for the first time. Really really a beautiful entry. They talk about the oath of Raja Janak about ‘Shiv-Dhanu bhang’. We find that the task is really a difficult one. Rani Sunayana asks Sita to pray for a virtuous and noble husband, she gets worried about the futue of her daughter. But Shataanand suggests Janak to have Faith in the oath, implying that, the Power which inspired him to take the oath with see to its success. The background music of this scene is soooo Divine!! I always cry while listening to it, the same music has been used in many of the scenes after this and each time I get filled with emotions while listening to it! Very very powerful tune indeed!

Now a messenger informs Raja Janak about the arrival of Muni Vishwamitra, who is staying in the 'Arma vatika' of Mithila. Raja Janak, Sunayana Devi and Shataanand –all become very happy to recieve the news of the arrival of Vishwamitra. They feel his presence will make the ambience more pious!

We have another good news in this scene- the brother of Janak, Kushadhwaj with his family also come to attend the Swayambar. All the members of both the families become very happy to meet each other. Then Janak decides to go to welcome Sage Vishwamitra personally. We will discuss about that scene in my next post.

Jai Shri Ram!

Prev posts on Ramayan:-

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (7)- Ahalya Uddhar and Journry towards Mithila

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (6)- Tadka Vadh

Next Post on Ramayan:

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan(9)- Ram-Lakshman in Mithila

'On Another's Sorrow'- A Poem By William Blake

William Blake

On Another's Sorrow

From Songs of Innocence

Dear Friends, today I am sharing a wonderful poem by William Blake, where he tells us how the Lord is ALWAYS with us in happiness as well as in sorrow. When we feel sad, He is right there with us, He wants all of us to be happy. He never leaves us. We just need to be aware of the fact and only then we can 'perceive' His presence in every momeent of our life. I was really so overwhelmed by this poem when I read it for the first time.  The link was provided by Dear Sister Lola and I thought to share it with you all. Really a great poem portraying the way Lord FEELS for all of us. 

Can I see another's woe,

And not be in sorrow too?

Can I see another's grief,

And not seek for kind relief?

Can I see a falling tear,

And not feel my sorrow's share?

Can a father see his child

Weep, nor be with sorrow filled?

Can a mother sit and hear

An infant groan, an infant fear?

No, no! never can it be!

Never, never can it be!

And can He who smiles on all

Hear the wren with sorrows small,

Hear the small bird's grief and care,

Hear the woes that infants bear -

And not sit beside the nest,

Pouring pity in their breast,

And not sit the cradle near,

Weeping tear on infant's tear?

And not sit both night and day,

Wiping all our tears away?

O no! never can it be!

Never, never can it be!

He doth give His joy to all:

He becomes an infant small,

He becomes a man of woe,

He doth feel the sorrow too.

Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,

And thy Maker is not by:

Think not thou canst weep a tear,

And thy Maker is not near.

O He gives to us His joy,

That our grief He may destroy:

Till our grief is fled and gone

He doth sit by us and moan.

.

Bigolito Koruna Janhobi Jomuna- Bengali Film

This is Bengali film which is based on a journey towards Kedarnaath and Badrinath. It has a group of pilgrims who are going to visit the shrines to fulfil their wishes. The main Protagonist, (played by Shubhendu Chatterjee) is going there only to observe the journey, the different aims and the tries to understand the purpose of this journey.

The film is very very rich in music. Pankaj Kumar Mullick has done such a marvellous job here that you'll only have to listen to it one. After that the tunes/ shlokas will keep on repeating themselves in your mind. The 'Charaaibeti' is one of the most used shloka here. There are other chants also. The theme music throughout the whole film is sooo Blissful and Divine!

The narrator meets the family where the elder sister is going for the welfare of her husband and the younger sister is going to correct her mistake- once she showed her disrespect towards God and lost the power of her legs. The hero follows her and they start sharing their views, accepteach other as companions and start the journey for the final phase.

There they face a snow storm and gets buried under the snow. The last sc of the film just freezes the shot. I liked that effect. It tells us that the end is actually endless...

Faith is one of the chief theme of this story. The hero wants to have Faith in this rituals/ journey towards the shrine, but he does not have enough. The heroine never had faith in God, but after losing her strength, she realises her mistake and decides to undertake the pilgrimage. In the course of the journey, she gets her strength back (really a nice sc) and the hero watches her, empathizes with her journey. In the last sc, we find that the hero realises the element of faith from the heroine only. He finds it in the eyes of her and that moment gets freezed, it becomes eternal!!

Really a nice movie. The shooting has been done in the original locations, so you'll get the flavour of the original journey in the mountains, the tough climbing, the typical setting of a 'choti' to take rest, the different characters, whom we meet during the journey, each of them has a story, the naarator obsereves them and gather the experiences, learns from them and moves ahead. Very very beautiful to realise Spirituality thr' the nature, thr' the journey, (which can be termed as a 'spiritual journey' undertaken by each individual), thr' the music, thr' the river, thr' the characters... Really a nice experience!!

I only got one link in ref with this film, may be you'll get some Pictures of the movie from here:

http://www.banglatorrents.com/showthread.php?12641-Bigolito-Karuna-Janhabi-Jamuna

Some related posts:

Omrito Kumbher Shondhane- Bengali Film.

'Keno Jaagena Jaagena':- Bengali song by Rabindranath Tagore

'Chiroshokha He'- A Song By Rabindranath Tagore

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (7)- Ahalya Uddhar and Journry towards Mithila

Now we are starting our journey towards Mithila, the sc starts from here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnUX68Y9zEQ&feature=related

And continues till:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gs3AO069eE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAoV8ooX1Z0&feature=related

During their stay in Vishawmitra’s aashram, Shri Ram and Lashman come to know about the envoy from the King of Mithila- Raja Janak. Vishwamitra asks them to accompany him to Mithila and as obedient students, they they follow him.

Here we also have the story of the birth of Sita. That once when there were draught in Mithila, then King Janaka himself started ploughing and found a baby girl in the plough filed, and named her Sita.

Now we have the song- ‘Chale Ram Lakhan muni sanga’, where they visit the Ganges and Vishwamitra tells them about the history of Sagar Raja and Bhagirath. I love the line- ‘Jagpaavani Ganga’ from the song. The music here is so pious!! It just expresses all about the Mahima of Maa Ganga!

Continuing their journey they come to the deserted place which was the ashram of Rishi Gautam once. Now the famous Ahalya uddhar takes place! It is So Powerful that words are not enough to express the impact! The Lord uplifted the lady who was rejected by her husband. It is such a great feeling that you have to go thr’ the emotions to ‘Realise’ it. The lines from RCM (in the original version of the song) as well as the changed words in the new version- both are sooo True!! I cannot quote a single line from that composition, it is beautiful as a whole! But yes, I love the line ‘Pad raj ki mahima bhaari’ and ‘Jo tribhuvan pujita, Lakshmi sevita, un charno me sthaan diya’:- all these expressions are so Beautiful!!

And just before the sc, when Vishwamitra says that only a Lord can uplift the wretched one! I just Love those words!! It proves the ‘Karuna’ of the Lord regarding All the creatures!! Another overwhelming sequence!

After Ahalya uddhar they reach Mithila, from where we’ll start in my next post.

Jai Shri Ram!

Links of Prev posts On Ramayan:

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (6)- Tadka Vadh

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan(5)- Nice Family Moments and The Arrival of Rishi Vishwamitra

Next post:-

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (8)- Introduction of the Royal House of Mithila

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (6)- Tadka Vadh

Continuing my journey with Ramayan after a gap of two months :).

In my previous post we have seen Rishi Vishwamitra arriving in Ayodhya and asking Dasharath for Shri Ram and Lakshman. Now we have Shri Ram and Lakshman going with Sage Vishwamitra to kill the demons so that the rishis can perform the yagna in the proper way without any hinderance.

During the journey, we have a very nice doha from Ramcharit Manas- ‘Purishsinha dou veer'- it tells us about the Beauty of the Lord! I Love to listen to this composition. Specially the lines- ‘akhil biswa kaaran karan' (The Lord is the ‘reason’ as well as the ‘performer of any action’ in the creation!)... The description the Lord is sooo sweet!

Then Sage Vishwamitra tells them about the Demon Tadka and Shri Ram kills her with the aim of the ‘Welfare of mankind’. After that both the brothers keep guarding the sages while they perform the ‘Yagna’ uninterruptedly. The way Shri Ram and Lakshman protects the ‘yagnasthal’ – I feel so secure to watch that sc! In the same way the Lord protects all of us, all His children, each moment! Only we forget that and become worried about our future, ourselves, our success and all… But actually He is there always and we are safe only because of Him!

After the success of tha Yagna, all become very very happy and Sage Vishwamitra tells them about the researches the sages go thr' for the development of society. Now that can be continued as Shri Ram has watched over the yagna. So Vishwamitra wants to give some more Knowledge to Shri Ram, so that He can use all those for the Welfare of he Creation. Here we have the song- ‘Tab rishi nij naath hi...’ and we have this nice line- ‘Vidya nidhi kahun vidya dinhi’- so Significant!! The Sea of Knowledge taking knowledge from the Sage!!

And the next sc, where He eats ‘kand-mool’ with all the sages and bocomes Happy/ Contented with that! When we consider a Prince doing it, we really Wonder!!

This sc along with the prev song- are expressive of the Greatness of the Lord! The Bliss which he generates among the persons around Him (His devotees) by accepting whatever they have to give- is Such a Novel Gesture!! The effet of all these sc.s are Immense when we FEEL the emotions the characters present in the sc are going thr’.

From next post we’ll start another part of the story, i.e.- the journey to Sita- Swayambar.

Today we started our journey from here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t7U-Q1hoU&feature=related

And here the sc continues after Tadka Vadh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fyhtjQrypk&feature=related

Jai Shri Ram!

May be you'll also like these posts on Ramayan:

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (7)- Ahalya Uddhar and Journry towards Mithila

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan(5)- Nice Family Moments and The Arrival of Rishi Vishwamitra

Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan(4)- 'Gurukul' Episodes

Meera ke Girdhar- Hindi Film

This is a film based on the life story of the great devotee Meera bai. The title role played by Upasna Khosla. It is a nice film, depicting the Devotion of Meera for the Lord. It does not have unnecessary emotional/ dramatic scenes, very very neat work by the direcor Vijay Deep and the Music Director- Kanak Raj. The music is really nice, some are very sweet and devotional.

The political backdrop was such an integral part of the story of Meerabai that it is impossible to omit, so here we find politics in the palace of Maharaj Sangramsingha. But Meera with her Pure Devotion exceeds all the social barriers to meet her Lord and takes refuge in him, which we find in the last scene.

Many many scenes are really excellent- I specially remember the scene where the grandfather of Meera offers her to the idol of Shri Krishna (in her childhood), the scene where Meera talks to the portrait of her late grandfather where he reminds her about her connection with Shri Radhe Rani, the moment when Meera's husband wins over his desires and finds out the Greatness in Meera and starts feeling Respect/ Devotion for her as well as for the Lord, the death sc of Meera's husband- Raja Bhoj, the way Meera spontaneously starts dancing with joy when she sees the new temple for Shri Krishna, the way Meera decides to leave the palace and start her journey towards Vrindavan, and her last reply to the Acharya of Vrindavan about Shri Krishna as the 'only male' and the all the devotees as females. The last song- 'Sansaar ko chodke chali re Meera'- is also very nice.

Overall, a nice movie, worth watching for some good music and the element of devotion which is the intrinsic part of each and every scene of Meera. Very nice performance by Upasna Khosla.

These are the best songs of the film, which I really loved while watching it for the first time:

The title song: (also watch the film from this link, following the numbers as thyt appear in the related videos list)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSNZc8wzHJY&feature=related

Mere hai Girdhar Gopal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXeK1jPvfZ8

Bhoolkar reet saari:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yr7cvZ65Js&feature=relmfu

If you want only the songs:

http://www.esnips.com/web/My-Hindi-Film-SongsMEERA-KE-GIRIDHAR

May be you will like these posts -

'Meera'(1947) -  Hindi film on the life of Meerabai

'Man Mohana'- Song

Jai Shri Krishna!

Omrito Kumbher Shondhane- Bengali Film.

It is a Spiritual Fim which tells us about the journey to the Kumbh Mela by all the protagonists, directed by famous actor Dilip Roy (the third Pic). The story is originally written by Kaalkut (Samaresh Basu), the cover pic of the book is the second one. And the first one is the poster of the film.

Shubhendu Chattopadhyaya plays the role of the narrator with whose eyes, we are watching the story. He meets many characters in the course of his journey and comes to know about their life story from the short meetings. We have a bengali shopkeeper, three wives of an old man, an old woman attending the 'snan' with her grandson and daughter in law, a 'vairaagi' with his wife, a blind singer, a saint sharing his life story, story of a simple village woman becoming a famous devotional singer, a father searching for his daughter, a daughter in law taking unconventional steps to make her father in law happy, a wife searching for her lost husband and so on... Many many stories, really nice one... You won't able to forget the characters. All the actors have done such superb work that they are edged permanently in our memory even with a role lasting for only 5 min on screen...

The messege which I got from it was that we all are searching for something. Some get or attain it in the Kumbh mela, their journey ends there and some don't, their journey still continues. And even after all these incidents ( i.e.- after the sad happenings or so-called 'tragedies') happen in our life, the life still goes on and on. That is the 'Ultimate Truth' that everythig is transitory. The events of today become past if we look at it tomorrow...

Really an excellent film, worth watching for the sheer congregation of characters, the actual location of a mela, the river and the angle of a 'silent observer' in front of whom, all these events are taking place. When we consider this , then we can actually understand that life is a journey, we move constantly, from one place to another with our different aims, very few people have left this phase to be 'aware' and to 'look at the life', not to move with it in an unaware state (i.e.- with the masses)... Brilliant book and Brilliant direction, acting, casting, script...

This is what Wikipedia says about the Film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita_Kumbher_Sandhane

A review: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060421/asp/etc/story_6110092.asp

And you can watch the film here:

http://www.bharatmovies.com/bengali/watch/amrita-kumbher-sandhane-movie-online.htm

(watch it here, also with some detailed info):

http://www.banglatorrents.com/showthread.php?14860-Amrita-Kumbher-Sandhane-(1982)-Bengali-Movie