Ratnakar's Mantra

Ratnakar lived by hunting and robbery.

Then he met Narada, who spoke of karma. "Everything you do has consequences."

"But I don't know what to do," Ratnakar told him.

"Meditate on God," said Valmiki. "Do you know Rama?"

"Rama?" said Ratnakar. "I do not know this word."

Narada smiled. "Do you know the word mara?"

"It means tree!" said Ratnkar. And so Ratnakar meditated on "ma-ra-ma-ra-ma-ra-ma" and before he realized it, he was meditating on the name of Rama.

He spent years in that trance. Eventually he emerged. He was then known as Valmiki, and later he composed the Ramayana.

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Inspired by: Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana by Devdutt Pattanaik
Notes: This story is on p. 283 of the book. The Sanskrit word mara means death, but Ratnakar hears the south Indian (Dravidian) word mara, meaning tree.