Bala Kanda - hidden upanishad insights

Following are some points from guruji Sree Bhasyam Appalacharya's pravachanams on Ramayanam- Bala Kanda:

1. To begin with, we see many people saying that Rama was just a good king, but not God. They do not believe that he is god.

Guruji explains this as follows:

Suppose a person has fallen into a well by mistake and seeking help from someone. A person who knows swimming jumps into the well to get him out of it. Now the first person should not say to the 2 nd person that 'Hey! You are also like me..we both of us are in well'. Here the first person has fallen in the well by his own mistake and the second person jumped into the well to rescue the first person. This is analogous to : We commit sins and take birth again and again to experience the fruits of our karma (papa and punya) (i.e., we are in karma bandhanam). This is the reason for our birth. So we fell into this deep bottomless pit, and never coming out of it.

Where as Lord's incarnations come to get us out of this birth & death cycle. Avataram means God coming down from his exalted position to rescue us. He does not have karma, he is just coming down with his causeless mercy to rescue us from this samsara sagaram. This is analogous to the person who knows swimming jumps into the water to rescue. So we should not think that he is also like us. Only great devotees like Akrura, Bhisma, Vidura and Udhava etc., recognize the divinity of god.

2. Balakanda and Sundarakanda have some similarities. Rishi Vishvamitra and Lord Hanuman unite the  Mother Sita with Lord Rama in balakanda and sundarakanda respectively. 

3. If we read bala kanda of valmiki ramayanam, we will come to know that Rama janana sarga begins with Rama jananam and ends with sage Vishvamitra coming to meet Dasharadha in Ayodhya (i.e., Rama's entire balyam is covered in just one sarga. Rama was 13 year old when VishvAmitra comes to ayodhya. There is no description of his  childhood activities though the name of the kanda is bala kanda).  Guruji says that Rishi Valmeeki has embedded hidden meaning in it. The meaning of baaludu (i.e., boy) is as follows from the upanishads definition: a) He who wants to get protected only by God and withdraws all his efforts to protect himself (i.e., sharanaagathi). b) Whose thought and deed are same unlike common man who deceives, lies, talks outwardly something, but has something else in his mind. 

In balakanda, Valmiki is referring to Maharshi viswamitra in this context. VishvAmitra comes to Dasharatha and says the following: "I am planning to do one yAgam for SIDDHI and some demons are disturbing the yAgam and in this context, I need lord RAma's help". Though VishvAmitra knows entire asthrAs and shastrAs, he did not protect by himslef. Instead, he gave entire dhanurvidya upadesam to Rama and got protected by him. This way, he has dedicated everything Rama to obtain SIDDHI..Hence he is referred to as baludu..

Guru ji explains this nicely as follows: Sea contains lot of pearl shells. During summer, the sea water evaporates. Later, in rainy season, pearls will be formed when the rain droplets fall into the pearl shells specifically on days when Sun comes in Swathi nakshatra. This is how we get pearls from sea. If suppose, the sea starts thinking that why should I give water to the sun (i.e., water evaporation) and why all this process of rain water falling back into the pearl shells. Instead, I can make pearls since I have pearl shells and lot of water. But pearls will never be formed that way... So this is similar to VishvAmitra dedicating all is astras and shastras to Lord Rama and get protection or siddhi from Rama.

Also, if we see, VishvAmitra splits to Vishva + amitra meaning he who is not friendly to vishvam. However, this samAsam is not true in this context. If a common people like us keep that name, then it means he who is not friendly to vishvam. PAnini has mentioned in his vyAkaranam that, for sages, there comes extra deergham when we split the sandhi (i.e., Only for sages, rishis, vishva + mitra = vishvAmita is true). Suppose if we keep the name as vishvAmitra, it splits to vishva + amitra, where as for sages, rishis, vishva+mitra=vishvAmitra). Why is he mitra to vishvam ? It is because, he united Rama with his consort Sita and established the pathway for the Ramayanam.


If we observe sage vishvAmitra's life, he had experienced kAma, krOdha, mada, matsaryas and finally conquered his inner enemies (i.e., indriyas and manas) and became brahmarshi. In our life also, we experience all these feelings and he has setup an example on how to achieve perfection in spite of committing many mistakes in life.