An ancient story about Valmiki ji who wrote Ramayana

23 Jan 2024 · 2 min

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The video narrates the traditional legend of Valmiki, beginning with his life as a ruthless robber and murderer who amassed wealth to please his family. He confronts a forest sage demanding material riches, only to be questioned about the sinful means of acquiring them. When the sage asks whether his relatives would share the karmic consequences of his crimes, they refuse, revealing that his pursuit of wealth brings no moral support. Realizing this, the criminal accepts the sage’s counsel, renounces his violent ways, becomes a devoted disciple, and ultimately transforms into the sage Valmiki, composing the epic Ramayana. The story emphasizes spiritual wealth over material gain, the inevitability of karmic reaction, and redemption through devotion.

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There was once a murderer thief. So he used to rob people, and then with the money he would rob, he would buy his wife nice sarees, diamonds, and give other gifts to his family members. So one day he stopped a great sage and said in the forest that, "Give me all the wealth you have." So Sage said, "I have a lot of wealth." Because a sage always has wealth. A sage is never poor. He has spiritual wealth. "But tell me, who do you want this wealth for?" "For my wife, parents, children, brothers, sisters. I want them all to live happily." And the sage said, "How have you been obtaining wealth so far?" "By robbing and murdering people." "Do you realize all this is a sin for which you'll have to take on sinful reaction?" "No problem. All my relatives will share it with me. After all, I'm doing it for them. I'm still eating the same amount I ate before. The Bhāgavatam says just because you're trying to accumulate more wealth doesn't mean you can put more chapatis in your stomach. Doesn't mean that because you have more money now you're going to need more place to lie down on the ground. Doesn't matter how much wealth you have, you still need the same amount of place to lie down on the ground and how much you can put in your stomach. So when this criminal went to his relatives, parents, wife, children, said, I have learned that I'll have to take the sinful reaction for all my crime, I Are you willing to share the reaction? Only 25%? Everyone said no. So then the hunter realized, I'm committing all this crime for the pleasure of my relatives and they're not willing to share any reaction. And then he went to the sage and said, yes, you are right. None of them are ready to share any percentage of sinful reaction. And then on the advice of the great sage, this criminal became a devotee. And then this sage became Valmiki, this criminal became Valmiki and compiled the Ramayana.