Blessings of Divine Mother Sita
Spiritual Grace of Shri Satguru Datta Chile Maharaj
Inspiration from Shri Satguru Thakur Maharaj
Humble author
Dr. Pradeep Wagh, Ph.D
SITA SHAKTI KAVYA
Invaluable guidance:
Brig. P.V.Gole (Retd.), AVSM, Chairman, D.E.I.S.,Pune
Dr. Umashankar Upadhyaya, Hindi Department, Pune University
Dr. Siyaram Tiwari, Vishwabharati,Shanti Niketan
Dr. U.M.Pathan, Ex-Vice Chancellor, Marathwada University
Dr. S.P.Mishra, Vice Chancellor, Devsanskriti University, Haridwar
Mr. Kelvin Duncan, MD, Community Commn., New Zealand
Mr. Wilfried Claus, Netherlands Mr.Bharat Gohel , USA
Inspiraton: Mrs. Netra Wagh, Anuya, Kashmira, Omkar
Research and Hindi composition: Dr. Richa Sharma
Women Role Model Survey: Ms. Lindy Stewart, University of Calgary, Canada
Paintings: Mr.Pratap Mullick
Web Development: Mr. Sanjeev Chaudhary
Multimedia and assistance : Ms. Mayura Inamdar Joshi, Mr. Dhiraj Laddha, Mr. Mukhtar Shaikh, Mr. Rizwan Querishi, Mr.Pramod Potdar, Mr. Kumar Patankar
e-books : www.Bookganga.com search for Author Pradeep Wagh
©Development Education (International) Society, Pune.
Foreword
Ramayana, probably the oldest 'epic' in the world, and certainly in India, has been known to project ideal virtues in it's heroes and heroines, that is, Lord Rama, Lakshmana, Bharat, Hanuman, Sita, Lav-Kush, Mandodri and others.
Therefore, Sita's role as a dutiful and sacrificing wife naturally comes out as extraordinary, keeping in line with the philosophical and social perceptions of that age. The epic brings out how she devoutly refused to be left behind in the palace in Ayodhya and chose to follow her husband Lord Rama into the forests for exile. Even under great duress, Sita remains devoted to her Lord Rama, as is borne out by the way she repulses all the advances and allurements of the demon-king Ravana when she was abducted by him. Further, after Sita is freed, she even goes through "Agni Pariksha" (trial by fire) to prove her fidelity to her husband. She went through all this for her unflinching love for her husband, Lord Rama.
Rama has himself been idolised in the epic as a picture of a perfect son, a perfect king etc. Kingship was then considered as a form of 'trusteeship', where the king looked after the entire well-being of the citizens, who placed their whole- hearted trust in the king. Therefore, all personal considerations of the king had to be sacrificed to his duties as a king.
Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman have all been depicted as the ideals that emphasize various virtues suiting their particular roles. All of them sacrificed their own personal needs to their own respective relations to Rama.
Probably because of this, other virtues of Sita's character, other than that of a faithful and dutiful wife, were not fully portrayed. No wonder, then, that Sita's role as a strong mother (to bring up her twins Lav and Kush as ideal world citizens) has not found sufficient emphasis.
It is this latter aspect which struck Pradeep Wagh, the author of this Sita Shakti Kavya. As a result of study, research and introspection, the anthology of Sita Shakti Kavya to depict Sita as a strong mother took shape. Not only effort, but a divine inspiration has played a key role in the blossoming of this vibrant Sita Shakti Kavya. The result is that many incidents in the anthology, not recounted in other versions of the life of Rama and Sita, have found place for the first time in Sita Shakti Kavya.
This aspect has been accepted and noted by eminent scholars of Ramayana like Dr.U.M.Pathan, Dr. Umashankar Upadhyaya and Dr. Siyaram Tiwari.
On a personal level, Pradeep would often discuss with me the bits and pieces of the anthology, sometimes as soon as they were received by him and penned down. It gave me immense happiness to share my perceptions of the anthology as it emerged over a couple of years.
It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to recommend to all young and old to peruse this unique Sita Shakti Kavya. I hope that it will give them the same joy and peace as I have got from it.
Brig. P.V.Gole (Retd.), AVSM,
Chairman,
Development Education (International) Society,
Pune, India.
Dated 25 March 2001
Preface
Shri Satguru Datta Chile Maharaj appeared as a divine incarnation on earth in the 20th century at a village called Paijarvadi, District Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. Shri Datta Chile Maharaj tried to inspire society towards love for God. He encouraged his devotees to do good deeds and perform creative work. But his inspiration had no pressure or effort to preach a particular practice. He would lead the life of a detached saint and did not try to gather a crowd of disciples. According to the nature of the desirous people, he guided them on the path of God.
I too got an opportunity to see Satguru Datta Chile Maharaj. My family and I would go to see and hear him, but our materialistic mind could not recognise his real incarnation.
In 1986, Shri Chile maharaj discarded his body voluntarily. His "Samadhi sthal" i.e. shrine of resting of bodily remains is at village Paijarwadi, Kolhapur-Malkapur Road, District Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. Even today this shrine is a place of inspiration for devotees who come from across the world.
In the year 1994, by the grace of Shri Chile Maharaj I started getting some spiritual messages. I felt that I got these messages in a state of introspection and meditation; in a sort of egoless state of surrender to my Guru. I wrote them down as per my capability. My wife Netra would also help me transcribe them, as they were spoken, almost without volition, from my mouth.
These messages were first published in a book titled "NECTAR OF WISDOM". This was distributed only privately.
The time of receipt of these messages and date and place where the messages were received is also given in this publication. Most of the messages have been received in Pune; some during my travels.
When these "Nectars of Wisdom" were being received, my mind became very affected. I used to remain in the spell of these for prolonged periods and it would be often difficult for me to come out of this trance. I also felt that the Guru did not want me to disclose his messages to others, till he would permit me to do so at an appropriate time latter. However, I was so anxious with what was going on, that on 14/15 November 1995, I met one Dr.U.M.Pathan. He is one of the greatest living scholars of Indian mysticism and was earlier the Vice Chancellor of Marathwada University, Aurangabad. Dr. Pathan was able to understand this mystical process, which to me had been incomprehensible. He guided me that I should write the messages without any hesitation, as I was only an instrument. He assured me that he too will keep the messages secret till my Guru permitted to make them public. Subsequently, I used to share other messages that came with him. He kept those messages to himself.
Around this time I also sought the blessings of one Sat-guru Thakur Maharaj of Pune. He prophetically said, "The real importance of this Kavya will be manifested to people after you (have ceased to exist)."
Many a times, the "Nectar of Wisdom" messages would be beyond my understanding. Then I would show them to my respected Brig.P.V.Gole (Retd.) AVSM, Chairman, Development Education (International) Sociey. Brig.Gole, was previously Director of Industrial Relations of AIR INDIA - at the time when the venerable Mr.J.R.D.Tata was its chairman. Brig.Gole, a learned person would be able to often understand the "Nectar of Wisdom" messages more clearly than me and would help me understand the same.
The messages received from my Guru are not related to any particular faith or sect.
The messages would be of different purport. Through them, my Guru would sometimes discipline me, sometimes he would enlighten me. He insisted that I should put these into my practice. In this way, these messages became vehicles for my self development.
I am humbly adopting these messages into my personal life and am finding them useful. I also try to practice these in my role as Secretary General, Development Education (International) Society, DEIS. This Society guides youth for self development through a series of programmes called UDYOG SADHANA.
By the infinite grace of my Guru, I feel as if sometimes I am in communion with Lord Shri Ram, Goddess Sita, Mahalaxmi, Devi Draupadi, Saint Ramdas, Bhagwan Shri Shreyansnath, some sufi saints and other incarnations and realised souls. Sometimes, I was able to see in my mind certain events from the life of these divine souls.It was almost as if I was an eye-witness to the event. I would be carried from the present to the past and re-live the experiences of these great souls. Some of these events are described in the "Nectar of Wisdom". Some messages express the state of my heart and soul at the time of receiving the message and some are almost instructions for me to follow. I must admit here that I felt that my process of receiving these messages did get enhanced when I underwent the 'Siddha Samadhi Yoga Program'.
One landmark in this spiritual journey was on Friday, 15th December 1995, when I experienced the 'astral' presence of Lord Shri Rama, by grace of my Guru.
After this experience, the verses called "Social Encouragement for Entrepreneurship Development " were received by me in Marathi. These verses led to the writing of a booklet called UDYAM SHASTRA, i.e. Enterprise Science. The Hindi and English translation of this is also available.
In this way, I was able to savour many wise messages and witness divine events. In this way, a worthless soul like me got blessed for all times to come.
These messages came first in Marathi or Hindi. I have called these original revealations as SONGS. When I received them, they were in beautiful lyrical form along with musical rhythm and harmony.
Subsequently, I tried to translate some of these SONGS into English for the benefit of more people. However, it was not possible to maintain the same lyrical value or the rhyme structures as had come originally. So, I thought that it may be more important to keep the essence of the "Nectar of Wisdom" intact in the songs, rather than worry about rhyming.
In July 1998, my Satguru Datta Chile Maharaj inspired me that I should compile the SONGS and events that He had given me in connection with Lord Shri Rama and Mother Sita into a SITA SHAKTI KAVYA i.e., Sita's Empowerment Anthology. I was permitted to link the SONGS with LINK verses and also now incorporate the advice and suggestions of professionals and experts. These LINK verses are therefore written at a conscious level and I have tried to follow a rhyming A-B-C-B to the extent possible for the LINKS.
In the English version, I have also tried to include a synopsis of some of the Chapters at the beginning of the respective chapter in prose form. This was neccessitated because the translations of the original Hindi or Marathi songs could not be always precise and because not all readers may be comfortable with versified material.
Late Dr. P.N.Misra, then Executive Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, CEDMAP, suggested on 7th November 1998 that there should be a professional and scientific basis for this anthology. He suggested that some survey be done of the role models of Indian women for this purpose.
Fortuitously, about that time a student from Canada, Ms. Lindy Stewart of University of Calgary was doing her term abroad at Pune University in India. She came in touch with DEIS about that time and liked the idea of this survey for her own research. Accordingly, Ms. Lindy did a survey of "Women Role Models in Modern Indian society".
A number of role models were surveyed and interestingly, SITA turned out to be the most popularly venerated role model, especially among India women.
Dr.Richa Sharma, a professor in Hindi Department, University of Pune, took it upon herself to do further research on the literature on Sita. Dr. Richa Sharma assisted extensively in the writing of SITA SHAKTI KAVYA.
By January 1999, the first draft form of SITA SHAKTI KAVYA was ready. On 13th January 1999, the first exposure of the anthology to a select group of experts was done. The experts included Dr. S.P.Mishra, presently Vice Chancellor, Devsanskriti University, Haridwar, Brig.P.V.Gole (Retd.), AVSM and others.
It was at this meeting that Dr. S.P.Mishra advanced the suggestion that SITA SHAKTI KAVYA can be an effective tool for empowerment of women, because it is women who in the form of mothers give good "Sanskar" or values to children and this will lead to a great nation.
I do not feel that I had any control of my volition on the events connected with Sita, and hence, I would often feel doubtful about these when I wrote them down. With this sense of doubt, I once approached Dr.Siyaram Tiwari, on 19 January 1999. He was the Professor of Hindi Department, Vishwabharati University, Shantiniketan.
Dr. Tiwari is a great scholar of Ramayana and other Indian epics. According to him "The duty of the author is to only transcribe the pure divine thoughts that are emerging from the ocean of his consciousness. The author should never question whether this is right or wrong. He should only faithfully put down on paper the inspirations that kindle within. It is later the job of critics and researchers to analyse the writings ...."
In the peaceful environs of Shantiniketan, I discussed the Anthology with some students of the University. The students had a long serious discussion on the anthology. Some called it a 'Mahakavya' (epic), others talked of the long term impact this anthology may have on society. On hearing these encouraging impressions of other people, I came back with a resolve to complete the anthology to the best possible extent.
In this wonderful work, I got invaluable guidance of Dr. Umashankar Upadhyaya, Head of Hindi Department, Pune University. "This is the work of Mother Sita", he said affectionately and gave his cooperation.
I especially thank my wife Netra, who served as rock steady foundation and source of my inspiration to complete this anthology.
By December 1999, the first edition of SITA SHAKTI KAVYA in Hindi was ready for publication.
Meanwhile, Pandit Uday Deshpande, a God-loving composer of Pune, composed selected poems of the "Sita Shakti Kavya" into soulful music. Mr. Ravindra Sathe, a renowned vocalist was among the singers.
"I feel that this Kavya (Anthology) is pristine, and it has given me considerable satisfaction to sing the same", said Mr. Ravindra Sathe.
Dr. Avanish Thanawala kindly performed the first Granth-Puja (offering of the book ) in July 2000.
Sita Shakti Kavya in a book form in Hindi was released on 24th July 2000 at the auspicious hands of Vidyavachaspati Dr.Umashankar Upadhyaya, Head of Hindi Department, Pune University.
"I am happy to associate with this Kavya (Anthology) as it takes a hitherto untouched perspective of the life of Sita. I hope this Kavya will one day be accepted as a Lok-Kavya (People's Poetry)", said Dr.Upadhyaya.
Mrs. Shantabai Shelke, a reputed poetess of Maharashtra, released the musical cassettes of Sita Shakti Kavya. I made a multi-media presentation of the Anthology alongwith Pandit Uday Deshpande and his students, on this occasion.
"For the first time in my life, I have had the chance to see a unique multi-media presentation of a new poetry and song publication. This Kavya is a unique effort to portray Sita as an empowered mother and specially brings forth the valuable Sanskar (value-system) she imparted to her twin children Lav and Kush", said Mrs. Shantabai Shelke.
Brig.P.V.Gole (Retd.), AVSM, Chairman, Development Education (International) Society introduced me and the Kavya in the most heart warming manner. In November 2000, a dance ballet form of the Sita Shakti Kavya was presented in Pune to an International audience from Netherlands, USA, New Zealand and India. Mr.Deepak Muzumdar, a famous exponent of Bharatnatyam dance in India was the chief guest. Mr. Deepak critically appreciated the ballet and said, "I hope Sita Shakti Kavya will one day find a much bigger platform."
On 5th December 2004, the anthology was presented in front of an assembly of poets from all over India at a gathering in Allahabad and it received critical acclaim. The humble author was honoured with the title of "Sahitya Shiromani" i.e., 'literary Jewel' at the gathering organised by 'All India Hindi Sevi Sansthan'.
The first International presentation of Sita Shakti Kavya was done in Philadelphia, USA on 26th June 2005. I thank the Samarpan Hindu Temple Trust, Dosti Ladies Circle Vandemataram.com and other friends there who brought about this presentation in USA.
After seeing the presentation, or reading the book or listening to the music Cds of SITA SHAKTI KAVYA, if you feel that there is something you have got from it, then please thank the Divine energy. If you find some mistakes, then please forgive me, as I may not have correctly comprehended the messages.
With full faith, I now offer this SITA SHAKTI KAVYA at the lotus feet of my Satguru Shri Datta Chile Maharaj and pray that all readers also benefit from God's grace.
The Sita Shakti Kavya project received a Divine energy when it was blessed by Shri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji of Mysore. This happened when He saw it in Nasik. I felt that the project has taken off since then and there has been no looking back.
The Sita Shakti Kavya i.e., Sita's Empowerment Anthology was later converted into an English multimedia VCD and submitted for International film festivals. By grace of goddess Sita, this film won the following awards:
1. San Francisco Short Film Festival, July 2006, Awarded Category: Art Direction.
2. Festival De Cine De Granada, Spain, December 2006, Awarded Category: Integral Realisation.
I also welcome like-minded people to join hands in converting this anthology into TV serial or films so that it may reach the larger interested society. With these words, I am happy to place this anthology into your hands.
Dr. Pradeep Wagh,
Author.
June 2007.
Foreword to Sita Shakti Kavya 2018 Edition
The first publication of SITA SHAKTI KAVYA, SSK took place in year 2000. Thereafter there have been several more publications.
The SSK 2018 Edition has incorporated some improvements.
It is a matter of great joy that in 2006 this SSK was converted into a dance drama video film. This film went on to win National and International Awards and recognitions.
1. San Francisco Short Film Festival, July 2006 , Award for ART DIRECTION
2. Festival De Cine De Granada ,December 2006 Award for INTEGRAL REALISATION
3. At a national level assembly of poets under the aegis of :
Akhil Bharatiya Hindi SeviSansthan , Allahabad
This Anthology writing was awarded
SAHITYA SHIROMANI 2004
I invite you all to continue your association with the beautiful onward journey of this SSK and take pleasure in placing this new edition in your hands. All your critical comments are welcome.
I have one more request to make. This anthology is now uploaded on our web portal:
I invite you all to visit this site.
Pradeep Wagh
August 2018
(Office) : Development Education (International) Society,
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Website: www.sita-radha-laxmi.org
deisPc2/F:\Old PC G drive\Sita_Shakti_Kavya_Pc2\SSK_English_for web_portal2018\SSK_Credits_web.docx