Ramayana was originally written by Sage Valmiki. As the very name suggests it reveals the story of Lord Rama. God when he manifested in this world as the son of King Dasaratha. This great & extremely beautiful scripture reveals the ways & means to fulfill all the four goals of human life in a very simple yet profound language & style. It not only talks about the do's & don'ts to make the best of our lives, but also shows that Godhood with its omniscience & omnipotence can manifest while in this very human body, inspite of all its limitation of time & space, and also tells what exactly is implied by Godliness in our day to day activities. After the immortal work of Sage Valmiki there were renderings of this text in various other Indian languages, out of these Ramcharitmanasa of Goswami Tulsidas, Adhatma Ramayana of Veda Vyasa and the Kamban Ramayana in Tamil have become very well known. In North India Ramcharitmanasa has become synonymous with all what religion stands for. It's popularity is just astounding. It has effectively achieved what no other modern means of communication has ever attained. It has taken the message of righteous & holistic living to the remotest part of the country and carved out a whole culture. It has & is still guiding & inspiring millions of people, and the faith towards the text was one of the reason of the great popularity & success of the recent TV serial on Ramayana. It is indeed one of the greatest literary work of the whole world. The basic format of all Ramayana are same with some differences here & there. The Ram-charit-manasa of Tulsidasji also has eight chapters, but are called Sopana's - the steps to go to the river in ghats. Sage Valmiki called them as Kand's. Tulsidasji has used an allegory of a Lake. There is a beautiful, divine Lake of the 'story of Lord Rama', revealing his character, values, vision, compassion & knowledge etc. There are four ghats on this lake, and on each of these four ghats a pair of teacher & student are sitting and discussing some facts of life. The thrust of the discussion on each ghat is Gyana, Bhakti, Karma & those incapable of all the above. Lord Shiva is the teacher on the first ghat, predominantly revealing the secrets of Gyana, Kak Bhushundi is on the second discussing Bhakti, Sage Yagnavalkya is the teacher on the third talking predominantly about Karma, and Goswami Tulsidas sits on the fourth ghat talking specifically about those people who for any reasons are incapable to tread any of the above paths. All of these teachers are teaching their students taking the story of Lord Rama as the basis. The story is one but underlying messages are many. Irrespective of the level of person, he or she will discover that the text is as though specifically answering my queries. As the story continues we find occasional references of statements by these four teachers interpolated in the story. If anyone can cull out & separate the statements of all these four teachers from the text, then he will certainly have a compendium of tips to students of Gyana, Bhakti, Karma or to the fourth kind. It is a unique style. One story simultaneously catering to different students. Ramayana is something to be studied thoroughly & not merely read or chanted, and that also with a truly open mind. Even though the very chanting or even the hearing of the text is a great experience by itself. It will indeed be a great tragedy if someone has missed out on this immortal, epoch making text. The direct fruit of the study of the text is to be blessed by the devotion to the one, all-pervasive, divinity called God. You cannot but fall in love with God, such is its profound effect. Our salutations to those Sages who have blessed us with such immortal literature. Jai Sri Ram!