Life Journey of Sage Valmiki

Understanding Narendra’s present life transformation becomes easier when compared with the dramatic transformation of Valya the Hunter, who later became Sage Valmiki. This illustrates how profoundly life circumstances can change through divine intervention and Guru’s grace. Everyone knows that Valmiki was once *Valya the bandit*, whose daily life involved stopping travelers, threatening them, beating them, and robbing them without any sense of dharma. His only justification was that he did it to support his family.

One day Sage Narada, knowing Valya’s excellent past-life merits, stored karma, and astrological destiny, wondered how such a soul had fallen into ignorance and cruelty. To awaken him, Narada approached in the guise of a simple Brahmin. Valya caught him and prepared to rob him. The Brahmin calmly said: “Do not harm me. I will give you whatever you want — but answer one question first.”

Narada asked: “All the sins you incur by robbing people — will your wife share half of that burden?” Valya replied confidently that she would, since he committed those acts for the family. But Narada insisted he should confirm directly. Valya asked his wife, and she responded: “Why should I share the sin of your actions? I only use what you bring home to run the house.”

This shattered Valya’s belief. Confused and internally shaken, he returned to Narada and asked for guidance. Narada said: “Chant *Rama Rama* and everything will transform.”

Unable to pronounce the divine name, Valya was told to chant “Mara Mara”, which naturally becomes *Rama Rama* when repeated rapidly. Valya obeyed and entered such deep tapas that ants built an anthill over him. In that timeless meditation, the bandit dissolved and Sage Valmiki emerged — the composer of the entire Ramayana even before Rama’s birth.

Valya’s evolution shows that even a violent or misguided person carries a continuous soul-history shaped across lifetimes. The *jiva* carries karmic tendencies from birth to birth. Sage Narada, who knows past, present, and future, understood the moment appropriate for intervention. His single question awakened Valya’s dormant spiritual merit.

Just as Narada transformed Valya, Sadguru Vyankatnath Maharaj transformed Narendra’s life. A reckless, undisciplined man slowly became spiritually refined under the Guru’s deliberate shaping. Maharaj would often say: “We take a raw stone, strike it again and again, shape it into an idol, and finally bring it to life.” This is what Gurus do — they awaken the divine within even the most unlikely individuals.

Did not Dnyaneshwar Maharaj make a buffalo recite the Vedas? Such actions, impossible for ordinary beings, are effortless for Siddha Gurus.

Guru Charitra Chapter 1 states in Ovi 82: “With a restless heart, the distressed seeker calls the Guru. Praise or criticism from others does not matter. The Guru protects the sincere devotee.”

In Narendra’s life too, the same pattern appears — a deep inner pull toward the Guru, an expectation for guidance, accompanied outwardly by disbelief, restlessness, and doubt. Yet the Guru’s grace silently shapes him from within.