One Min Ramayana 11 — Why Vasishta Maharshi named Lord Rama as “Rama”?

In Sanathan Dharma, names of individuals have meanings. You can think about your name and you will know there is a meaning for it. For eg, if parents name their son as Anand, they want their son to be Happy (Anand means happiness). If they name their daugther as Lakshmi, they want their daughter to be prosperous like Goddess Lakshmi. Most parents name their kids as Rama or Krishna or Venkateswara or Lakshmi so that their kids would have the blessings of their God.

When Dasaratha Maharaja requested Vasishta to name his first son, Maharshi Vasishta knowing Lord Rama is Avatar of Maha Vishnu wanted to name him in such a way that, anyone who chants his name would be blessed.

In Hinduism, the two most important mantras are “Om Namo Narayana” and “Om Namah Shivaya”. Vasishta took “Ra” from Om Namo Narayana and “Ma” from Om Namah Shivaya!

Without Ra, Om Namo Narayana would be meaningless because it would be Om Namo Na-yana which means there is no Vishnu

Without Ma, Om Namah Shivaya would become Om Na-h Shivaya which means there is no Shiva.

These two “Ra” and “Ma” sounds give completeness to those 2 very important mantras. So Vasishta wanted everyone to remember both Shiva Vishnu at the same time.

Also when Parvati Devi asks Lord Shiva if there is a shorter form of Vishnu Sahasranamam, Lord Shiva tells Parvati maatha,

Shri Rama Rama Rameti, Rame Rame Manorame;
Sahasrenama tattulyam, Rama Nama Varanane

In above mantra, Lord Shiva tells Parvati maatha that if you recite Rama 3 times it is equivalent to chanting 1000 names of Bhagawan Vishnu.

In Sanskrit, Letters can be equated to numbers. “Ra" is assigned number 2 and “Ma" is assigned number 5 in Sanskrit.

So when you say Rama 3 times, it translates to 2*5*2*5*2*5=1000.

Rama Namam is a very powerful name that has saved lot of lives. It is very common in Hindus to do Ramakoti rachana meaning to write Rama name 1 crore times!

Lot of Rama bhakts attained Sadgati by chanting Rama namam.

Sri Rama Jayam.

Source: Sri Chaganti Pravachanam.