EARLY YEARS:
Valmiki was born to sage Prachetasa, and was called Ratnakar in his childhood.One day, while in the forest, young Ratnakar got lost and was adopted by a hunter. Under the love and care of his foster parents, Ratnakar forgot his own parents. With his foster father's guidance, Ratnakar trained to be an excellent hunter himself. He was marries to a beautiful girl from a hunter's family.As his family got large, he found it impossible to feed the,m. As a result, he took to robbery and began looting people passing from one village to another.By the time he became a fearless decoit. Everyone was afraid of Ratnakar! When he walked in the forest, even the birds would fly to their nests, and the animals would look for a place to hide.
TURNING POINT:
One day, Ratnakar was hiding by the side of a forest pathway, waiting for a victim. He happened to attack the great sage Narad who was passing through the jungle. Narad was playing on his Veena and singing praises of the Lord.
Ratnakar jumped out in front of him and demanded, "Hand over all the things you have or I will kill you!"Sage Narad replied, " O dear! All that I have are these clothes and Veena. But I have one more priceless treasure! If you are interested, I would happily share it with you and thats the chanting of the Name of God. Ratnakar gazed in the eyes of Narad, his cruelty started melting.
This began a transformation in Ratnakar. Sage Narad questioned him why he was commitiing so many sins. He replied that it was for the maintenance of his family. Narad then asked him whether his family would share the fruits of his sins. Ratnakar replied that he had no doubt they would. Narad told him to go and get this conformed from his family. When ratnakar asked his family the same question, he was dismayed to discover that none of them was willing to share the fruits of his sins. This incident taught him about the selfish nathure of everyone in the world.
Ratnakar went back to sage narad and asked how he could attain God. Sage Narad asked him to chant the name " RAM". Ratnakar was unable to bring the Divine Name of the Lord to his lips, because of the heavy burden of his sins. Narad then asked him to utter "Ma Ra" repeatedly, until he returned. Ratnakar obeyed the instuctions of his Guru completely and sat in one spot, continuously chanting "Ma Ra, Ma Ra " for years.
He was so deeply absorbed in his chanting that in course of time his body was covered by anthill. The sage Narad finally returned, removed the anthill and bestowed his grace on him. Ratnakar began to called Valmiki, or the one who was coered by an anthill.Narad also gave him the title of Brahmarshi, or God-realized Saint. Valmiki then established his ashram on the bank of the Ganga.
AUTHOR OF THE RAMAYAN:
Valmiki wrote the entire Ramayan, in the poetic meter. The most amazing thing was that he wrote Ramayan before the actual descension of Lord Ram. By virtue of his Divine vision, he was able to foresee the leelas that Shree Ram would do during His descension on the earth.
LATER YEARS:
Valmiki made his ashram in the forest and continued to reside there, awaiting the descension of Shree Ram to take place.
During His descension period, Lord ram, Lakshaman and Seeta came to valmiki's ashram. Valmiki received them with utmost devotion.
Later, Lord Ram's children, Luv and Kush became Valmiki's first disciples to whom he imparted the wisdom of the Ramayan.
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