*Ashish Sharma/Ram* AT#36 Dhanurdharaya Ram !!! - Page 92

Once in the court of Ayodhya kingdom a debate took place among the wisest of scholars. Great sages like Narada, Vasishta and Vishwamitra were also present in the court. The topic was the debate was, who/what is stronger, Lord Ram or His name ? Rishi Narada stated with confidence that it was Rama Nama (Ram's name) and that He could easily prove his statement.

That day, when the court was about to disperse, Devrishi Narada, known for His interest in creating discord between two people, went upto Hanuman, who had been a silent witness to the debate. He told Hanuman to respect all sages except Rajrishi Vishwamitra, since He was king. Hanuman being the obedient person He was, followed the Devrishi's words and greeted all the other sages except Vishwamitra. Sage Vishwamitra also did not probably mind it. But Narada made it a point to go to Vishwamitra and point out disrespectful Hanuman was being, by not greeting only Him. On hearing this, Vishwamitra got thoroughly worked up so much so that, He even went up to Ram and asked Him to issue a death sentence again Hanuman, for not respecting Him. Vishwamitra was Ram's guru and He could not disobey His guru's words. Thus Ram ordered that Hanuman be killed the very next day. He also said that He would Himself shoot the arrow to kill Hanuman. Hanuman got scared and He went to Narada and asked why He was being punished for listening to Narada's words. Narada asked Him to stay calm and not worry about anything. He also asked Hanuman to take a dip in the river and stand on it's banks chanting the Rama Nama.

The next day, Hanuman obeyed Narada's words and stood on the banks of the river, waiting for Ram to come and shoot the arrow. Ram came. Hanuman looked at Ram with full devotion and started chanting "Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram", continuously. Ram kept shooting arrows but none of them could harm Hanuman. They would reach Hanuman and fall down at His feet. Ram got exhausted. Finally He took out the strongest weapon, the Brahmastra. But much to the amazement of the people gathered around, even the great Brahmastra failed.

In the mean time, Narada went to Vishwamitra asked Him to stop the fight. He confessed that it was all started by Him and that it was His way of proving that the Rama Nama was stronger than Ram himself.