Text 3] The Pastimes of Lord Ramacandra 51
TRANSLATION

O King Pariksit, the transcendental activities of Lord Rama-
candra have been described by great saintly persons who have seen
the truth. Because you have heard again and again about Lord
Ramacandra, the husband of mother Sita, I shall describe these ac-
tivities only in brief. Please listen.

PURPORT

Modern Raksasas, posing as educationally advanced merely because
they have doctorates, have tried to prove that Lord Ramacandra is not the
Supreme Personality of Godhead but an ordinary person. But those who
are learned and spiritually advanced will never accept such notions; they
will accept the descriptions of Lord Ramacandra and His activities only as
presented by tattva-darsis, those who know the Absolute Truth. In
Bhagavad-gita (4.34) the Supreme Personality of Godhead advises:

tad viddhi pranipdtena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jndnam
Jnaninas tattva-darsinah

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire
from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized
soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” Un-
less one is tattva-darsi, in complete knowledge of the Absolute Truth,
one cannot describe the activities of the Personality of Godhead.
Therefore although there are many so-called Ramayanas, or histories of
Lord Ramacandra’s activities, some of them are not actually authorita-
tive. Sometimes Lord Ramacandra’s activities are described in terms of
one’s own imaginations, speculations or material sentiments. But the
characteristics of Lord Ramacandra should not be handled as something
imaginary. While describing the history of Lord Ramacandra, Sukadeva
Gosvami told Maharaja Pariksit, “You have already heard about the ac-
tivities of Lord Ramacandra.” Apparently, therefore, five thousand years
ago there were many Ramdyanas, or histories of Lord Ramacandra’s ac-
tivities, and there are many still. But we must select only those books
