After Sri Rama, Lava - Kusha ruled Ayodhya and made the people of Ayodhya, devotees of Sri Rama. Today's [21st August 2009] lecture is from Valmiki Bhavan.

In Ayodhya, Valmiki Bhavan is an important spot. It is built as a large building. The entrance itself speaks of the grandeur of the building. Inside is Maha mantap, which is very large, capable of accommodating about 5,000 persons to conduct Bhajans and lectures. Ground floor is very large. There is an upper floor. All are built with marble stones. In every pillar's base, Acharyas' pictures are carved. Pictures of all Acharyas' of India are here. Valmiki wrote 24,000 slokas and each sloka is valuable in millions. All these slokas have been carved on the walls of the two floors. Like a child feeling happy in the laps of its mother, we are also happy to be amidst all slokas in this building! There is a large Library in this building. It contains Thousands of books and all the translations of Ramayana in every language.

Another feature is that from Himalayas to Kanyakumari, many people write 'Ram', 'Sri Ram', 'Sri Sitaram', 'Sri Jayaram', 'Sri Ramajayam', etc., and all those books and notebooks are collected here. During Kumbhmela or during Sri Ramanavami, collected books are presented to Sarayu river, by immersion. Kulasekara Alwar, in one of his pasurams, says that Sri Rama heard and enjoyed His own story from the singing by His own children. At that time He desired to know the author of Ramayana. He then met Valmiki and Sri Sita. Later, Sri Sita joined Mother Earth and reached Sri Vaikuntam.